Play!

XXI

“Eddy”, Brett hissed when Mr. Thames took his time to get the brass section to hold their phrases in the first movement. 
“Hm?”, Eddy made, eyes still fixated on Mr. Thames like the conductor was talking about new bowings instead to a group of musicians not including him.
“Wanna go grab lunch together after?”
He leaned over to Brett a bit so he could whisper the following almost toneless, “Are you not going with your friends?”
“Don’t feel like it. Much rather hang out with you.”
Was it his imagination or did it suddenly get a few degrees warmer around Eddy?
“Uhm… Dunno. Don’t wanna keep you from your folks.”
“Or do you need the time to practice? It’s fine if you don’t wanna, you know”, Brett lied.
Mr. Thames threw a stern glance in their direction, making them shut their mouths instantly. One of the disadvantages when being first desk: No secret conversations possible.

As soon as Mr. Thames was back to organizing the trumpets again, Eddy picked up a pencil which they had lying on their stand and started writing. 
I’d like to get lunch together.
His handwriting had more resemblance to modern art than actual words set together from letters of the Latin alphabet. Still (or maybe because of that), it made Brett grin like a loon. He grabbed the pencil from Eddy’s hand and scribbled a little awesome next to it, drawing out a small smile from his deskie.

When the clock hit twelve however, Cole got to Brett before he could even unwind his bow. 
“Bro, are you okay?”, he whispered, crouching down to match Brett’s level, “What was that during break?”
“Needed to get away. Sorry I just stormed off”, Brett mumbled back, putting his bow into the case. 
“Is it because of what I told you yesterday?”, Cole hit the mark. 
“Of course it is!”, Brett scoffed while his eyes feverishly searched the perimeter for anything red, “What? You think I can deal with it now when she wants to talk to me? I really don’t want to give her any false ideas!”
“So you just bail”, Cole raised an eyebrow, his signature move whenever he showed disapproval. 
“I know!”, he groaned, “I’m a child! But I really have other stuff to worry about right now!”
“You’ll always have shit you have to deal with while we’re here and you can’t avoid her for the entire orchestra camp!”
“But I can for now. Gonna have lunch with Eddy.”
A tsk escaped Cole’s lips. “Fine! But don’t ask me to cover for you when she asks!”
“Just tell her the truth, without the me-avoiding-her part, of course.”
“Nah! She shall ask you.”
Brett tried to hold Cole’s pejorative gaze and he knew his friend had every right to look at him like this. He was being a wuss and it would only be polite if he’d act like a normal human being around her and let her down gently when it came to it. For some reason though, Brett couldn’t find it in him to even try. Maybe this was some PTSD thing, fueled from that time a classmate in Senior Secondary confessed to him out of nowhere, at prom of course. He’d been so stunned he’d tried to utter something without success, prompting her to just kiss him until he’d finally managed to push her back out of bewilderment, ending this debacle by angrying her so much she’d thrown all sorts of curse words at him before running to her friends, who proceeded to death glare at him whenever he’d dared to walk pass them from a less than twenty meter distance. Needless to say, Brett had been among the first ones to leave.

And despite him being well aware that he was a few years older now and that Katie was with a high certainty a much more sensible person than that black haired, tall girl Brett had even forgotten the name of had been, he just didn’t want something remotely similar repeat itself, in orchestra camp of all places too, where everyone knew his name already because he was one of the candidates. 

That’s why Brett was determined to stick to his plan. A plan he was actually really looking forward to. 
“You ready?”, he talked past Cole to Eddy.
“Uhm, yeah. Don’t wanna interrupt though…”
“You’re not at all”, Cole said, smiling encouragingly at Eddy. Why couldn’t Brett get one of these? He could do with some uplifting, no? 
“We’d love to have you join us too, sometime. Whenever it’s good for you, you know.”
“Oh, thanks. I’m Eddy, by the way.” Eddy held out a hand.
“Cole. It’s very nice to finally meet this guy’s rival”, Cole winked, shook Eddy’s right with one hand and ruffled Brett’s mop with the other.
“Hey!”, Brett yelled and slapped the disturbance away, “Not a pet!”
“You think”, Cole shrugged, bringing a laugh out of Eddy.
“Your friend’s alright, Brett.”
“Thanks for the info. Wasn’t so sure for a moment”, Brett pouted, making both Eddy and Cole snigger. 
“Alright! Don’t wanna keep you two for too long. I know you need to practice before your private lessons, no?”
“Exactly! Eddy, let’s go!” Brett got up in one swift movement, violin case on his back and his fingers itching to take those big hands again. Was this already becoming a habit?
“Was nice talking to you”, Eddy gave Cole a small nod while standing up. 
Cole smiled. “Same, mate. See you later?”
“Sure.”
“Alright. Come on now!”, Brett said and took Eddy’s hand despite his resolution made a second ago to not do exactly that.

“He’s cool”, Eddy stated when they queued at the cafeteria to pay for their sandwiches. Brett had basically pleaded for them to get something to take outside because of obvious reasons. Some more panicked over the shoulder glances and Eddy would definitely second guess the sanity of his lunch buddy. 
“Yeah. Good violinist too.”
“Did you grow up together?”
“Nah”, Brett shook his head, “I met him at the QYO when we were like twelve or something.”
“QYO?”, Eddy asked. 
“Oh, Queensland Youth Orchestra.”
“I see.”
“Hmm”
“Also, who’s that girl you were talking about?”
Loud tinkles echoed through the hall like small bells when Brett’s change decided to scatter itself over the floor as annoyingly as possible, rolling in-between peoples legs in the line.
“Shit!”, he mumbled, crouched down and started picking up loose coins with people back and forth handing him a few.
“I have pretty good ears”, Eddy remarked, pouring a good amount of change he found into Brett’s hand.
“Of course you do”, Brett sighed. 
“Sorry if I’ve startled you.”
“Did you hear everything?”
“Kinda”, Eddy shrugged, looking like he genuinely felt bad about it.
Brett sighed deeply. There was no escaping this matter, was there?
“You don’t need to tell me, you know. It’s none of my business.”
Instead of answering, Brett grabbed Eddy’s and his sandwich and placed them in front of the cashier.
“Wha…”
“Let me pay without protesting and maybe I’ll tell you.”
“But you already bought me a coffee yesterday…”
“This was as a thanks. This is so you’ll let me off the hook.”
“You don’t need to…”
Brett laid a hand on Eddy’s forearm out of a whim while he held his card against the machine. “I know. I kind of wanna.”
That faint blush again, colouring the other’s cheeks so, there was no other word coming to Brett’s mind, lovely. He felt his own face heating up for whatever reason, quickly retracked his hand and took their food. 
“Let’s go to the park, shall we?”
Eddy smiled. “I’m down!”