Andante con Brio

XXXI

"Eddy!!"
He could hear the enthusiastic voice and the exclamation points behind his name all the way from the kitchen. He had gotten up way too late, of course, courtesy of lying awake until at least four in the morning, anxious for today. He jumped up and ran to the front door.
"Todd, doorbells do exist." he muttered at his beaming friend, his new little Toyota shining red behind him on the street. "You didn't have to wake up the whole street on a Sunday morning."
Todd grinned. "Yeah. People who are grumpy in the morning also exist, Eddy. You ready?"
"Piss off." he said good-naturedly, and turned around. "Just let me grab a bread roll, okay? My bag is ready."
He quickly said goodbye to his mum and he was already out the door.

"So, explain to me again why you picked me up first, when Ian lives closer to you?"
He was aware he was sounding whiny, but he was just so tired still. He really had to learn how to sleep like a normal person. He looked out of the window at the passing streets of Brisbane and tried to keep his eyes open.
Todd laughed once. God, and why was Todd so damn upbeat anyway?
"He's even less of a morning person than you, Eddy. I figured this was the best way around. And Brett lives on the way to the highway, so..."
Eddy grunted and gave up the fight with his eyelids. Well. At least he got to ride shotgun. It was a long drive down the coast.

He was vaguely aware of doors being opened and closed, of guys bantering around him, but he kept his eyes firmly shut until the car stopped again and he heard the voice he would know in a sea of people. 
"Good morning, guys. You all up for it?"
"Yes, mate! Off to the beach. I think Eddy's decided he's going to sleep the whole way, though."
Eddy opened his eyes and shoved Todd in the shoulder. Then he opened his door and got out to help Brett with his bag. The small boot was already stuffed to capacity, of course, overflowing with backpacks and holdalls.
"Hey." he said softly to a slightly sleepy looking Brett, who was openening the boot with one hand, using the other to stop the stack of bags from crashing down into the street. 
"God. You're lucky Matt has taken the sleeping bags and tents and shit, Ian." he teased him over the stack. "Or you'd have had to make the trip on the roof of the car, I think." 

They had all been on board straight away of course, when he told them one night in the garden about his and Lily's plan to go on a trip. How exactly they had then come to the decision that they were camping, on a tiny site near Sydney, he could never quite figure out. 
Was he a camping person? He wasn't sure, but he was definitely a Brett person and a sitting-around-the-campfire-with-friends person, and he had been promised that both of those things would be there in spades. 
In fact, he was going to share a small tent with Brett... all week. 
God, that opened a lot of possibilities - possibilities he had been carefully considering as he lay in his bed alone, these last couple of weeks. 
"You know what?" he said suddenly, already tugging at the doorhandle. "I've decided shotgun is for sissies. Ian, you sit in the front, Imma sit in the back with Brett."
Ian grinned and jumped out of the back seat. 
"Shotgun is for sissies, or it just so happens you wanna play house with Brett over here?"
"Maybe." Eddy smirked. "So if you don't wanna see that I suggest you keep your eyes on the road."
Ian laughed as he sat down in the front and fastened his seatbelt. 
"I get the feeling I'll see plenty of that this week anyway."

A couple of bags wound up being stuffed next to Eddy, but he didn't care. He simply scooted over to his boyfriend, leaned his head into him and closed his eyes the second they were out of Brisbane. 
Yeah. Much better.