Duet Partner

Chapter 5

The sun is shining, the sky is laughing and Brett Yang is nervously gazing at his newest unopened email.

For July, it's a beautiful, mild day and he and Alex (who wanted to make the best of the good weather) are sitting under the old basswood tree in the park near the conservatory. Both brought their notebooks – homework unfortunately doesn't finish by itself – and have now been working in silence for the last hour. Brett is by all means content with his travail, was almost ready to put the laptop away and close his eyes for a few minutes –

Ping! That's the sound of his mail inbox. After a few clicks he can see the consignor: Michele Walsh.

And – this shouldn't hit him this far in, but Brett is suddenly second guessing himself. What did he think, asking Eddy Chen – of all people – to be his duet partner? Is it even allowed to play with a non-music major? Somehow, seeing Professor Walsh's answering mail made him realize that this is real. There's no turning back now.

Coincidentally, Alex looks up from his screen just in time and immediately spots Brett's distressed expression. "Bro, what's up, you okay?"

Brett takes a deep breath. He's okay. He has to be okay – because this is his life, a reality with foreseen circumstances, shaped by his own decisions.

"Yeah, all good. I just realized I really have to practice and play a recital with Eddy Chen. What the hell got into me?"

Alex sniggers, and then, before he can change his mind, Brett plucks up the necessary courage and opens the mail.

Dear Brett,

thank you for your email! It's great to hear from you and to see that you took matter in your own hands. Fortunately, I'm able tell you that the faculty has granted its approval for you to play with a student of a different major. Usually, this is a little bit frowned upon, but regarding the current situation with you and the concerto competition, we decided to make an exception – so please don't go around telling the whole student body about this ;)

Concerning possible repertoire, I attached a list of pieces that will be played at the recital by other violin duos and a few suggestions for you two, so that there won't be any doublings. I would appreciate a quick response.

Best wishes, Michele Walsh

All the tension in Brett's body subsides and he can only sigh with relief. It worked out, thank god.

Alex, who has been reading along, lets out a whistle. "I can't believe it; Zoe is right! You really are getting the favorite student treatment!", he laughs – and Brett has to laugh now, too.

"Maybe Zoe just has to practice more", he says while opening the word file with the piece recommendations.

"Oof", Brett's friend is almost choking now, "that was harsh!"

He seemingly gave up on his own homework and decided to rather advise Brett on his problems. But who can blame him – music theory (and there's no way to deny it) is a fucking dry subject.

They are reading Professor Walsh's list together now. Brett is kind of disappointed when he spots Sarasate's Navarra under the taken pieces, it's one of his favorite duets – but it probably would've been too hard to rehearse within two weeks anyway.

One of the suggestions in the list is Suite for 2 Violins & Piano by Moritz Moszkowski and Alex raises an eyebrow.

"Dude, that piece is tough! Do you even think that Chen is on that level of playing yet?"

Brett shrugs. "To be honest, I don't know, I haven't heard him play that much. What I heard was pretty good though – I'm not even sure if I could play the Sibelius that musically. If you told me he was a violin performance major, I would've believed you."

Alex nods knowingly, his smirk has turned a bit devilish now.

Brett has no clue why. "What?", he asks, brow furrowed.

The answer comes in form of a cough from above and Brett closes his eyes in despair while he feels his cheeks flush. Not again. Why is this man always where he isn't supposed to be?

"He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

"Speak of the devil", Alex snorts while quickly gathering his things and getting up. "See you later; Bretty!", he yells – and is gone before Brett can say son of a bitch.

He turns around slowly now and looks at Eddy – only to find the color of his face matching his Brett's own. Huh. But when he opens his mouth, Eddy Chen – this absolute bastard – still manages to sound self-satisfied.

"I know I'm great, but it's nice to know you like my playing so much, Bretty", he teases. "What praise coming from the conservatory's best violinist!"

The blush on Brett's cheeks deepens. Even though Eddy's tone of voice was definitely sarcastic, it sounded like a compliment. Was it meant to be a compliment? To say that he's a bit confused would be an understatement right now.

So, Brett stays quiet. The silence is awkward, is what it is.

Eddy's expression shifts, he sheepishly rubs his neck and after a couple of seconds, he can't seem to take it anymore. (Maybe he's just as much of a people pleaser as Brett. How... interesting.)

"I'm sorry", he says with a sigh. "I didn't mean for this conversation to go like this. Let's just start from the beginning again."

Yeah, Brett can live with that. So – rewind.

"Hey", Eddy smiles. "I figured we left a few things unanswered yesterday, so I came looking for you."

Brett motions him to sit down and the taller accepts the invite gratefully, letting first his bag and then his body fall on the grass. They are nearly at eye-level now and Brett can feel himself relax.

"You actually had great timing –"

(Eddy meets his eyes with disbelief)

"– no, really! I just got an answer from my violin professor, telling me the faculty will permit us to perform together. She also send a list with duet recommendations and I wanted to talk about that with you before deciding."

Brett turns the screen of his laptop and watches the others face as Eddy reads the names of the pieces, eyes squinted and lips silently moving. He's got pretty eyes, their brown a little bit lighter than Brett's own, and his eyelids are mismatched. They're weirdly charming and –

No. He's going to stop his mind right there. Brett looks away, forcing his gaze on the device in front of him.

See, this is kind of a dilemma. Of course, Eddy Chen is attractive – that's something everybody is aware of and even Brett has never denied it. But – and this is the problem – it's Eddy Chen.

Looks don't matter if you got the personality of the lovechild of a slug and a gorilla. At least that's what Brett has told himself up until now.

But luckily, the object of his contemplations can't read his mind.

"Okay", Eddy says slowly. "If I got this correctly, we got to pick one of these pieces down here. Only one movement or the whole thing?"

"As far as I know we have a time limit of 15 minutes, but most students stay below 10. I guess it depends on the piece – and judging by the rehearsal time we have left, I'd suggest we stick to one movement."

Eddy nods in agreement. "Do you already have an idea?"

Brett doesn't, but he's not going to admit that. So naturally, he improvises. The best ideas come to mind when speaking anyway.

"Well, initially I wanted to play Sarasate's Navara, but that's already taken. From the pieces on this list, I like the Back Double the best. Another possibility would be the Heifetz arrangement of Passacaglia. It's not on here but I've been listening to it recently and I think we could make it work."

"Nah bro, I don't wanna play the viola part!", Eddy whines and Brett suddenly has to laugh out loud.

"Bach Double it is, then!"