Andante con Brio

CXCIV

What was it, about this outing? I mean, they were still hiding, of course, pretending just to be friends, but still... now that it was just them, together in a foreign place, he had never felt more free. Or maybe it was what had happened in the clearing? 
They walked into a little restaurant, slightly off the most busy part, and took a table by the window. 
"It's supposed to be famous for fried tofu I think. That good?" Brett asked. 
"Sure."
He looked out of the window while Brett made the order, at the crowds outside, and just over there in the distance he could still see the entrance to their trail, all but hidden among the greenery. 
He wasn't going to forget that trail in a hurry. 
Brett's foot was against his, under the table, and he smiled at him. 
"This is the best trip ever, Bretty."
"Yeah?"
Eddy nodded. 
"Yep. You sure know how to spoil me."

This time around the gondola didn't have a glass floor, and to be honest, Eddy was glad for it. It would make Brett's trip down the hill slightly more relaxed, he knew. They sat down on the little bench and he stared at the view as the gondola started going. 
You really could see all of Taipei from up here, from the green slopes to some very old, ratty highrise at the bottom of the hills, to the mountain ridges and centre of the city behind them, all the way down to where he knew the ocean was. 
"Wow." he said. "We should take some photos of this, we can show the guys later."
"What, like, tell them what they missed?"
Eddy laughed. 
"Trust me, they wanted to miss some of what we did up there."
"You're right, that bit they definitely wanted to miss."
Eddy sat back on the little bench and looked out over the tea fields to his right. He was suddenly a bit sad, a deep sense of melancholy washing over him. Was this really about to be over? Had he ever had a better day than this? But he could already see the zoo coming up in the distance, where they would be taking the metro and going back to the hotel, and even though he would hold the minutes, keep them tight so they never ended, they slipped through his fingers and before he knew it they were getting off the gondola. 

"Hey, guys, there you are! Did you have a good time?"
Todd was there, in the lobby of the hotel at the big reading table in the middle, reading some magazine or other and sipping a cappuccino. Eddy plopped down on the other side of the table. 
"The best time. You'd've loved it. Well, most of it, anyway."
Todd nodded, skilfully avoiding those last few words without batting an eye, and closed the magazine. 
"Cool."
Eddy grinned.
"So, what did you guys do?"
"Oh, we just slept in, walked around another market until my feet started killing me, ate some more great food. You know, same old, same old."
"Cool." Todd's faux-bored tone made Eddy smile. It was blatantly obvious that he was loving it here. "And what's the plan now?"
"Well, we found some sort of supermarket on our way home so I've got some beer and some weird Taiwan wine type thing upstairs. And I've got some movies on my laptop that I downloaded before we left. So if you want we can go and watch those?"
He looked right, to Brett, just to check, even though who was he kidding? Of course Brett wanted to go. 
"Absolutely, bring it on. We just can't get drunk again, because tomorrow we're rehearsing."
"Would I get drunk? Never."
"Uhuh, yeah. So you didn't have a headache this morning?"Brett piped up.
"Fuck you, Brett."
"Now, now, no fighting, kids, let's just go upstairs." Eddy quipped as he got up and started walking towards the lift. 

He took a deep, happy breath. I mean, between the hike today, their clearing, drinking Oolong and eating tofu with Brett, and now an evening having beer and wine and watching movies with his friends? 
By now he was wondering whether he ever wanted to go back to his normal life in Brisbane.