Piece of heaven

2-Those were the best days of my life

Brett had barely made a dent in the volumes of paperwork attached to the looming exams.
The workload put on his plate was astronomuos.
He slowly exhaled some of the stress as he looked at all the papers splayed across his desk.
There was always more work to be done.
He turned to a fresh page in his notebook, and felt how all motivation left his brain in the same second.

As he hunched over his laptop and all the books that talked about algebra and physics, he felt close to having a mental breakdown.
Even though the blinds were drawn close, sweat rolled down his back.
His room on the loft was always boiling hot during most of the year, but now, on a rather chill spring-evening, there had to be something else triggering his sweating.

Brett could never be fit for a deskjob! That kind of job would make him feel as if he was putting his life on the line every fucking day.
But making it in to music uni would be worth all of his work!
His righthand indexfinger had rubbed a blister from all the writing and practicing.

Brett suffered big troubles focusing.
All he wanted was  for the time to move on, he wanted to be with Eddy.
Their friendship definitely had changed, even though none of them were able to talk about it.
There was this giant thing they shared, that one thing they both got their mind stuck on to, but were never able to face, in fear of ruining something.  
He had to tell Eddy things had changed. What kind of feelings he was fighting,  besides of this extreme restlessness because of his future exams.
But what if....?
Eddy would never lie about something so consequential, would he?

He stretched to his left, reaching for his phone and dashed off a text to Eddy.
His heart did a funny little flip when he was rewarded with a quick response.

Mrs.Yang popped in and out of the door quickly, saying: -Make sure your homework's all done before you head out, ok?
-Sure, mum.
-We're leaving now.
-Ok, bye!

Brett was a mama's boy. He always had been. Sometimes that brought huge benefits with it.
Like the fact that she never checked his homework. She trusted him to do what he was supposed to do, and she trusted him to be back home when she told him to be. That last one he never failed though.  Because being this trustworthy,   there would be room for negotiation and sometimes fake excuses if he couldn't make it home in time.
Homework was another story.
Mrs. Yang admired her son's disipline and would never question his work. He got away with that one now and then.
Well, Mrs. Yang was also the first one to use the expression: "You make the time", when something was on the line.
And this time Brett had to make the time for something else than physics.  Something like... Eddy.

Brett stood up and went over to the window, watching his parents disappear down the driveway.

He couldn't suspend this any longer. It had already been way too long.
His legs felt weak as he thought about it.
The chair squeaked as he sat back down.
He made a dog-ear in his notebook and closed it.

-I am beside myself with stress. Will you come over and have a heart to heart with me before we head out to the festival?

The Brisbane festival was ending, and tonight was the riverfire.
All Brisbane-teens grew up going to this festival, it was a huge thing, expanding every year, new and bigger artists, new and bigger arrangements, lots and lots to see.

Brett usually went with some friends from school,  but this year,  he decided to go with Eddy alone. Eddy was a little bit more introvert, which was perfect for Brett right now, having his head filled with everything. He was so tense his head was about to explode.
Trying to soothe himself, he fiddled with his violin, in every hope some of the heavy thoughts might be chased away by something musical instead. 
He had to be 100% certain this would go his way, or he might end this evening being totally broken up.
He pressed his hand to his chest, trying to keep his feelings in check.