The Art Class

3. Pose

This time Brett looked surprised. He looked up at Eddy with his eyes filled with tears.

"W, what for?"

Eddy bit his lower lip.

"I dunno. It just felt like you might be the first person who might actually understand what I'm feeling."

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After Brett cried upon learning that Eddy had lost any feeling or mobility in his left arm, Brett seemed to have shied away from Eddy for the rest of the day, too embarrassed to have cried in front of the younger. For the rest of the day, Brett sat quietly by himself looking almost as sad as Eddy.

However, from the next day onwards, Brett always seated himself within close proximity of Eddy during art class and whenever the instructor asked students to pair up, Brett would scoot over with his stool towards Eddy and start working with him without initiating any conversation.

Eddy remained quiet and detached, disinterested in most of the activities but too polite not to participate or disrupt the class. And he was grateful for Brett's actions. After all, Brett did seem like a really friendly and nice guy. He could have easily made new friends in this art class, in fact, he did. During break times Eddy noticed Brett was now in one of the "main" groups of younger students, talking and laughing, while Eddy kept to himself. Eddy had no idea why Brett even bothered to pair up with him during class when he could've easily paired up with anybody.

Eddy did find some of the stuff they did in art class okay.. learning about some of the art theories such as perspectives was interesting, but the practical aspects of certain drawings were almost impossible to do on his own, for example, perspective drawings since Eddy struggled to use a ruler to draw focus lines in his sketchbook. He could've taken his left arm out of his sling and used it as dead weight to hold down his ruler but he felt too self-conscious to use his immobile arm. Brett peered over from 2 seats away;

"Hey Eddy... would you like me to draw your focus lines?"

"No thanks."

It was the first time Eddy spoke to Brett in 3 days.

"Okay."

Brett was getting used to Eddy's short responses, whether they were verbal or just a shake of his head and never pushed further after one refusal. He never stopped offering help though.

Another day at art class and the cheery instructor smiled as he addressed his students;

"Good morning everyone! So, class, we are seeking models today."

The whole class looked confused.

"Any volunteers?"

One of the older male students called out;

"What, in the nude?"

Many of the older students laughed out loud. Brett and Eddy looked at each other. Brett pulled his cringed face first and even Eddy returned a cringe.

"No, I do not expect you to pose in the nude. Very well, let me pick a pair of models... How about you two.. Brett and Eddy."

The two yelped out together;

"Us!?"

"Yes, would you two please come to the front and pose for us."

Eddy stammered;

"P, pose!?"

Brett followed;

"H, how are we even supposed to do that?"

"Please come forward you two and I'll give you instructions."

Brett and Eddy looked at each other again and reluctantly stood up from their stools and walked up to the front of the studio where their art teacher sat.

"So, is there any activity you two enjoy?"

The 2 boys looked at each other for the third time, confused.

"You know, for example maybe you could pose as skateboarders or football players..."

The 2 boys raised an eyebrow simultaneously. They both fought the urge to roll their eyes, sharing the same expression of oh please...

"It would be like a game of charades. Except you will be standing still, no movements. See if you can show us something you do and we have to guess what it is."

Eddy's mind was boggled;

Oh my god, this is so sudden and random!! What the heck are we supposed to do...

Then Eddy noticed a change in Brett's facial expression. Brett slowly turned his head to the left in an ever so slight angle that Eddy recognised instantly. Eddy quickly followed suit. It was a very special, an exhilarating feeling to mimic Brett's movements, it made Eddy realise how he missed it so much.

Once the two both got their chins in the correct positions, Brett proceeded to raise his left hand in position. Eddy couldn't, as his left arm stayed immobilised in his sling. So Eddy patiently waited. Brett then proceeded to move his right hand which first gently floated up, then glided in towards his body in a smooth arc and Eddy followed suit with a very similar fluid movement. He noticed Brett had sent Eddy a quick glance and by reflex, Eddy had given him back a small nod. Eddy heard Brett take a sharp breath in through his nose.

And they stopped. The two boys froze.

The class called out.

"Violin players...!!!"

For the next 30 minutes, Brett and Eddy stood almost still. Brett occasionally moved his fingers along his invisible fingerboard and Brett had actually successfully made Eddy give out a little smile, for the first time,  with his fingering and humming of the Witch's Dance.  Brett then made Eddy cringe with his fingering and humming of Canon D. Brett had then showed the fingering of something Eddy did not recognise, whatever it was, it was fast and fluid. Staring at Brett's nimble left hand flying across his invisible fingerboard, Eddy thought Brett's dexterity was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Eddy had also noticed how beautiful Brett's hands were.  For the first time, Eddy became curious about Brett as a musician and wanted to hear him play.  Moreover, he actually wanted to see Brett's beautiful hands hold a real violin.