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LIX

   “Cole! Can we meet up?”

It took five minutes of nervously pacing around in front of the ridiculously tiny practice room he’d spent the afternoon in before a reply came in. 

   “Sure! Where are you? Everything alright? Wanna come meet us outside the big hall to get dinner?”
   “Nah, need to speak to you alone. Please?🙏”
   “🤨Sure?! Where are you?”
   “First floor in front of room 125”
   “Omw!”

“Cole, over here!”
“Brett!”, Cole waved and hurried over slightly out of breath, “Dude, you okay? Did Katie do something?”
Brett gulped and shook his head. “Nah. Can we go somewhere else? Like outside or something?”
“Of course!”
It must have been fairly obvious to Cole that Brett wasn’t in his best shape because he instantly took the lead and they were out the conservatory and in the gardens within minutes, where Brett was finally able to breathe properly. 

“Alright! What’s wrong?” Cole’s concerned gaze was on the one in question.
Brett stepped from one foot to another, almost hitting his violin case against the trunk of the tree under which they were standing. 
“I… fuck… I don’t know. Something’s not right with me, Cole.”
“In what sense? You freaking out because of tomorrow? Did the masterclass go bad?”
Brett moved his head left and right. “Nah, nothing like that”, he croaked, his voice thinning out the closer he got to trying to make sense of himself by speaking things out loud that somehow scared him to death, even though he wasn’t sure what exactly they were about.

Cole inhaled deeply and placed both hands on Brett’s shoulders. “Mate! Whatever it is, I’m here for you, okay? So, if it helps, don’t be afraid to say whatever it is that bothers you.”
He caught Brett’s fearful eyes. Brett blinked and nodded once, swallowing hard again.
“It’s about…” Yet, hesitation got the better of him and Brett looked away. Shit! Why the fuck was that so difficult?
Cole tilted his head, “Yeah?”
“I… I can’t…”
“Brett, it’s just me here. No one else, alright?”
Kind, kind words, and still, Brett had to try his hardest not to tear up, silently cursing his stupidity. What was the worst that could happen? Cole laughing at him, which was a highly unlikely scenario anyway?

“It’s about Eddy”, he whispered at last. 
It was a miracle Cole even heard him through the sound of birds singing and the distant chatter and laughter of visitors in the park.
“Eddy”, Cole frowned, “What, was he mean to you? Did you two have a fight?”
“No… not at all. It’s…” His panicked eyes desperately searched for some sense of safety in his friend’s features. Anything he could hold on to as his heart wanted to jump out his chest and join the fishes in the nearby ocean. “It’s what happens when I’m around him. Or think of… think of him…”
“Oh…”, Cole breathed, realization visibly dawning on his face, “Oh… oh! What… Brett. Is it what you feel when you’re around him?”
Brett bobbed his head and now, the tears did blurry his sight. Fuck!
“And what do you feel?”

“I’m too fucking preoccupied with this guy!”, Brett suddenly called out loud, vocal chords working again. “It doesn’t even matter if he’s with me or not, all I can think about is him!”
“Mhm”, Cole hummed, his stare wide and expectant.
Now, Brett started to pace around for good measure. “I had a freaking masterclass with Benjamin Goulding the past few hours to prepare for the competition tomorrow and who’s at the forefront of my mind? Eddy! When I play the concerto and freak out, the thought of him is what calms me down. Everything he says, he does… and heck! He doesn’t even have to do anything! As I said, he doesn’t even have to be around and all I can think of and care about is Eddy!”
“More than the competition?”
“I feel like that faded into the background some time ago, actually. Not that I don’t care or don’t worry, but it’s not at all the first thing I think of when I wake up.”
“Okay… and what is it in particular that, I don’t know, messes with you? Is it his talent or the way he speaks?”
“Everything!”, Brett yelled and hit the tree with his fist sideways, not a smart move, considering what he yet had to use his fingers for, “How he looks, how he plays, how he freaking walks around, how he…” 
… smelt, felt like, how warm he was, how unbelievably at home Brett felt with him, how undeniably beautiful Eddy Chen was in his eyes to the point he blurted it out right in front of him!
“Everything”, Cole repeated quietly. “Brett, I gotta ask: What happened last night when you went to see Eddy?”

Brett’s knuckles turned white. This. Oh, this! How the hell was he supposed to explain what had gotten into him without coming across as a complete weirdo?
“In the club, did you see us dancing?”
“I remember vividly how you forced him to join you on the dance floor, but other than seeing you dragging him behind you, not much. Too many people.”
“Right.” If Cole hadn’t noticed, there was a sure chance it hadn’t appeared sus to outsiders, “Well, I tried to teach Eddy how to dance. You know, since he’s never been to a club.”
“Makes sense”, Cole nodded slowly. 
“Right? So, I mean, how do you show someone? You have to hold them, grab their hips and stuff if they’re stiff like a board…”
Brett’s friend froze. “Brett, what have you done?”
“Nothing bad!”, Brett waved his hands when he realized what Cole must be thinking, “But after I got away from Katie and he was gone, I kinda thought it might have been too much, so I went to go look for him.”
Cole’s eyelids flew up and down several times. “Shall I ask what exactly it is you did?”
“Look! I just held his hips! You know how it is on the dance floor and how people are squashed to each other.”
Brett hadn’t forgotten the small spin Eddy had made, making them end up only centimeters apart from each other, but he wasn’t sure how wise it was to tell Cole about it.
“Okay, and then?”
“Well, I did find him outside.”
“And that was before you came back minutes later and asked everyone for his number?”
“Exactly.”
“But you’d already found him, no? Didn’t you talk things out then?”
“I tried. But there were still some misunderstandings when he went back to the dorms, so I had to find him again.”
Cole shook his head. “God! You’re normally good at this shit.”
“Not when it comes to Eddy, I swear!”

Cole’s gaze travelled up to the leaves above them in a defeated manner and sighed deeply before saying, “Brett! I still have no idea what was going on yesterday, but I’m just gonna ask: Did something happen when you were at his place? In his room?”