Play!

IV

They didn't speak one word to each other during the whole morning rehearsal afterwards.

Not one. 

Not because Brett didn't want to. In fact, for his social skills being on vacation in Hawaii currently, it was remarkable how many times he tried to steal a look to see if that guy's face looked more open or if the frown between his eyebrows had loosened a bit so he could maybe start a conversation.
But no. Eddy Chen remained as closed up as he had been from the minute he'd sat down next to Brett. And while his playing, as much as Brett could hear through the tutti, was clean, crisp and elegant just like a Mozart symphony required, any slight ability from his side to connect with people was nowhere to be found, or maybe it had never existed in the first place.

"What's his deal?", Cole asked when they made their way to the cafeteria to get lunch along with most of the two orchestras, "He looked like he wanted to fry you with his laser eyes."
"You watch too much Marvel!", Brett stated, not sure if he wanted to start gossipping about his deskie. When rehearsal had ended, Eddy had packed his violin at lightning speed and had left the hall basically as fast as he'd arrived without wasting time to bid goodbye, which had irritated Brett to say the least. Still, he wasn't one to talk behind people's back.
"That's a well-known fact. What's not is what you have done to him to make him look like he's sitting on coals."
"Nothing! I just greeted him, asked him if he overslept and that was it. He made it very clear that he wasn't interested in talking", Brett stated, frustration clear in his voice. Time to pull out his deadpan superpower again, he guessed.
"Really? What an ass", Cole meant, grabbed two trays and handed one to Brett. 
"Maybe he was pissed at himself for oversleeping", Brett tried, not sure why he was defending someone who'd iced him out the last two hours
"Or maybe you're just too nice", Cole suggested and pushed his tray forward.

Since it was a nice summer day, they decided to get their first lunch at the Sydney con outside on green, lucious grass under the shade of some big trees just outside the jaw-dropping Sydney con castle. They were not the only ones with this idea and were hence joined by a good mixture of Queensland and Sydney con people so the Eddy Chen-topic was quickly dropped for the sake of socializing, at first at least. The girl sitting next to Brett played french horn and they hit it off pretty well, lifting Brett's mood in the process. Her name was Angelica and she was in her second year of studying french horn performance. 
"It's great here! Have you seen the sea? It's literally like right there!", she informed and pointed towards more trees, "Also, I don't know any other conservatory that's right in the middle of a royal botanic garden."
"Your campus definitely beats ours", Brett admitted and took a bite of his second onigiri. 
"Nah! Bro! We have that red entry slash stairway thing and lots of trees too! What are you talking about?", Nathan, another violinist from their con with glorious brown locks, cut in. 
"You're not seriously claiming this red monstrosity you've just described is more epic than this?", some guy from Sydney Brett had spotted in the cello section asked incredulously. 
"We're definitely more chill", Cole winked 
"That's so true!", Brett agreed, "Even your cleaning ladies look stressed!"
"Not to mention your candidate…", Brett's friend added, earning himself some meaningful looks, Brett's included. Did he really want to bring that up?
"Chen, you mean?", the cellist specified. Cole nodded, to which the Sydney students exchanged some glances. 
"He's okay", Angelica said, "I mean, at least I think so."
"I don't think he really has any friends here", another cellist sitting next to Angelica revealed. The others nodded. 
"He's mostly alone, seldom talks to anyone and if he does, it's always about his studies or music, like if he has recitals coming up and needs an accompanist or something."
"Sounds lonely", Cole commented.
"It's not like we haven't tried", a small girl playing the violin explained. Brett was pretty sure someone had called her Katie just before. "He plays reaaally well. Like, insanely well. We have the same teacher and she's delighted to have him. And whenever I happen to sit next to him in orchestra, I'm amazed by his playing. It fits the style of the pieces perfectly, no matter which period. Who doesn't want to be friends with someone as skilled, right? But nah. He's hard to approach, I guess."
Brett knew exactly what she meant. And at least he knew now that Eddy ignoring him wasn't because of his personality, his looks or his smell.
"So, he's just like that?", he asked. 
"I guess so", Angelica nodded, "We tried to invite him to parties and stuff, but he always declined."
"Maybe because he actually uses his time to practice, unlike us mortals", Brett joked, earning himself laughs from the round. 
"You guys are alright", the cellist next to Angelica stated. 
Brett smiled. "Same."

Yeah, even if his deskie sucked, it didn't have to keep him from making other friends and at least try having a more or less decent time at that epic con, right?

It apparently also didn't keep Brett from giving it another go, although he had no idea why.

It just so happened that when the group went to get bubble tea from a Gongcha store just outside the con, they bumped into Eddy Chen queuing a few spots in front of them.
"Hey!" Brett found himself saying and gave Eddy a small wave. The guy spoken to turned around, eyes so wide Brett feared he'd get swallowed if he wouldn't take a step back. 
"Uhm", Eddy made and looked at all the others watching him and Brett as if the latter had lost his mind, "Hi."
"You getting bubble tea?", Brett asked and immediately mentally slapped himself hard for the obvious answer an Eddy Chen would give to such a stupid inquiry was, "Obviously!"
"Cool!", Brett managed a small, uncertain smile. 
"Yeah…"

And that was it. Brett, accepting that no other word would come out of Eddy's mouth, turned to his old and new friends and raised an eyebrow at their stunned faces.