Twoset Gloved

6. Distracted

"Eddy."

"Brett."

"..Can I sit with you, Eddy? Please?"

"Yeah, sure."

It was their 10 am tutorial session. They still had plenty of time before it started. Eddy liked coming in early to revise his notes prior to the tutorial session and took full advantage of the convenience of living on campus to do so. Eddy looked up at the clock in the tutorial room. It was still only 9:10 am.

"You're here early Brett..?"

"I came in early to see you."

"Oh."

"Cos you're always here before me."

"Oh."

"Look, Eddy, I'm sorry I didn't get to have coffee with you the other day. I so wanted to call you after I dropped off Monica at her place but her mother came out of the house and started fussing over me and then insisted I come in and say hello to Michael and Mr Wu and.."

"Oh, so you met Monica's dad as well?"

"Um, yeah."

"I bet he was happy to meet you.."

"Um.. Yeah I suppose he was alright."

He must have really liked you if he didn't try to kill the guy who walked home his daughter.

"Eddy?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't care about all that stuff. Look, can I just.. get to know you a bit? Please?"

Eddy smiled.

"Oh absolutely mate, ask me anything!!!"

Eddy recoiled in horror when he recognised the voice of his distant cousin, Ray, as he poked his head into the tutorial room.

"Brett, don't waste your time asking itty bitty questions. Just ask uncle Ray the big questions, I've known him since he was in nappies, I'll tell you everything!!"

Eddy rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, oh my god, Ray!!"

"Uncle?"

"More of a distant cousin."

"Oh yeah, I remember you told me."

Little bro, you're so early. You guys were meeting up here?"

"N, no, we just happen to meet here early."

"Yeah right, Little bro. Sure, sure. Well, I'll leave you, young boys, to it. Behave, yeah? And Brett, if you ever wanna know anything about Eddy here, just come and ask Uncle Ray."

Ray winked and left the tutorial room.

Eddy let out an exasperated sigh.

"Geez Brett, we just can't seem to get any time to ourselves without interruptions..!"

Brett let out a giggle.

"Well Eddy, maybe we could hang out at my place after uni. We could minimise interruptions that way?"

"What..? Your parents' place?"

Brett recoiled in horror.

"Ooooh no. Most definitely not. I've got my own place."

"You do? But you live so close to uni!"

Brett shrugged.

"Well... um, of course, that's if and only if you don't mind coming over.."

"Are you nuts? Of course, I would not mind. But are you sure you are okay to have me over..?"

"I.. I think I will be. Since you're aware of my.. condition. I wouldn't ask you if I felt I couldn't cope."

"Okay.. sure, thanks."

"Good. I look forward to it."

Eddy was stumped. Then he went red as a beetroot. He awkwardly stammered in an attempt to change the subject.

"Um, Brett, um, look, I, I.. have to go over my notes.. I've neglected them for a while so the whole topic we covered this week is one big mess..."

"Okay, well Eddy do you mind reading my summary? If it's any good it might help you and if it's bad, I'll do another summary with you while you point me in the right direction?"

"Um.. yeah sure."

Brett opened up his laptop and brought up a document.

"Here it is.."

"So.. um Brett, would you like me to be mindful that I don't touch your laptop?"

Brett looked at Eddy.

"No, it's okay.. I don't mind you touching my laptop because I've.. cleaned it beforehand. But thanks for asking."

"Okay. I think these things are important to know beforehand."

"...Thanks Eddy."

"Wow, Brett.. these are great summary notes."

"Yeah? Thanks."

"I really enjoyed reading your perspectives you wrote as annotations. They are all either very insightful or very witty. You've got a wicked sense of humour. I really liked it."

"..Really?"

Eddy looked up hearing the tone of Brett's voice. His baritone had hitched up to a high tenor in delight. It was rather adorable.

"Yes, really, Brett. Hey, do you have more stuff that I could read?"

"What..? I mean, I beg your pardon?"

"..Do you have any other work that I could read? Not uni notes but more stuff like articles or journals... I would really love to read some if you have any.."

"You wanna read more stuff that I wrote? Like, more personal content? Ooooh no way."

"Why not? You're a very engaging writer. I'm intrigued."

"Really? Wow, thanks. Ooooh, but no, I can't. It's too embarrassing."

"But don't you want to become a journalist? Well look, if you ever want someone to read any of your work, please let me know. I'd be honoured to read it."

The tutorial started and not a single word made it into Brett's brain as he was so preoccupied, going through all the stuff he'd written over the years, in his head, trying to decide which piece he could ask Eddy to read for him.

Likewise, for Eddy, not a single word from the tutorial made it into his brain as he was preoccupied about how he was going to spend his afternoon with Brett at his place.