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CXXXIII

“Eddy! Please tell me your secret? What have you done with Brett that he’s… like this?”
The person who was being asked threw Brett a confused glance. Brett just rolled his eyes and shrugged before taking a sip of his cafeteria coffee. Yeah, nowhere near as good as the one they’d had yesterday in that tiny coffee house, but oh well. 
“Uhm… not sure what you’re referring to, Cole.”
“Your date! It must have been life altering. So tell me!”
Nathan, sitting at the same table, scooched closer and joined Cole in staring Eddy down with expectant eyes. Eddy gulped. 
“Uh, I don’t really know… I just took him to places, I guess.”
“And the restaurant? What’s the address?”
“Guys, I told you it’s not because of dinner I’m-”
“Pshh!”, Nathan silenced him with his index pressed against his lips but Cole threw his arms in the air. “There’s no use. Brett’s just lost for Eddy.”
Eddy turned to the crimson faced being next to him, his grin wider than a viola bow. “Are you?”
“Goddamn! You haven’t noticed?”, the smaller exclaimed and hid his face in the collar of his shirt he pulled up. 
“Ohhhh, love! You know I’m the same right?” Eddy threw his arms around a yelping, helpless Brett under loud snorts of their mates at the table. 

It wasn’t surprising that Katie caught up to them in the hallway as they were walking back to the big hall. 
“Brett! Do you have a minute?”
Brett briefly looked at Eddy who gave him an encouraging nod and strode away with Cole and Nathan.
“What’s up?”, he asked, trying to keep his tone casual despite his stupid heart going places out of nervousness again.
Her red, short hair was flattering around when she checked if anyone was nearby. 
“Uhm, I just wanted to say, I’m really happy for you.”
“Uh, thanks, I guess?”, Brett made. Of course he had an inkling what she was referring to, which was confirmed the next second. Cole had been right. She knew.
“You and Eddy. It makes sense.”
Her smile was genuine with a tint of melancholy however. Suddenly, he felt a bit bad for her.
“Thanks Katie. I’m sorry it-”
“Nah”, Brett got silenced for the second time today. Maybe he should refrain from speaking altogether. “It’s fine. I’m glad it turned out this way. I’ve never seen Eddy like this. Not that I knew him well to begin with, but he’s much more open and seems happier since he met you. And his playing improved heeps, so he really owes you a lot.”
She was a real nice girl, being happy for someone who was with the person she’d liked. It’s not like she knew they weren’t a couple yet.
“He doesn’t owe me anything”, Brett meant with a small smile and found himself adding, “And we’re still figuring things out. But yeah, it’s quite something… I don’t know. I didn’t even know before that I liked… you know.”
She nodded. “I figured. You were quite down for a while though. Are you alright now?”
“Yeah, thanks. Uhm, and are you okay too?” 
Did he even have the right to ask as the one who rejected her? Hell, he didn’t know anymore but it certainly wasn’t a crime to care, right?
“I am”, she said and he could see that she wasn’t pretending, “It’s good you said no early on, you know. Like this, I didn’t waste too much time falling for you.”
He laughed. “True.”
“And like this, the heartbreak isn’t too bad either.”
“That’s good to hear.”
They exchanged another smile and made their way to the concert hall where another round of Mozart was waiting to be played. 

“What did she want?”, Eddy whispered when Brett took his seat at the first desk and picked up his violin.
“She said she was glad for us. Said you look much happier since you met me.”
“Oh?” Eddy’s features showed surprise. “Good. Thought she wanted you back or something.”
“What?”, Brett guffawed, “No way! She’s really nice, you know. Sounded real concerned for you and stuff.”
“Why?”, he frowned and plucked his strings absentmindedly. 
“Because she’s nice?”, Brett repeated, brows raised.
“Hmm… Not sure if I’m buying this. I wouldn’t be surprised if she would try to snatch you away, you know.”
“You’re being ridiculous!”
“And I’ve said this before. You don’t see yourself, do you?”
“Hm?” Brett could see Mr. Thames stepping towards the conductor’s stand out of the corner of his eyes. 
Eddy leaned closer, his curled up lips almost touching Brett’s earlobe when he breathed. “You’re just too cute for your own good, you know?”

Needless to say, Brett’s InTeRestinG interpretations which didn’t really blend with the rest of the orchestra were pointed out by Mr. Thames after rehearsal who asked his scrambled brain if everything was alright.

“You gotta stop doing this!”
“What exactly?”, Eddy asked, his demeanor innocent like an angel playing harp on Christmas Day. The little devil!
“You know exactly what I’m talking about! Saying these things right before we’re playing! By the way, gotta keep lunch short! Have to practice!”
He hadn’t played a note of Korngold's violin concerto yesterday and he really needed to cram some of those difficult runs in before he had to play it this afternoon.
“Oh, this was just me stating the truth”, Eddy moved his shoulders carrying his violin case up and down, “Shall I get you something? Join you in your practice room?”
“That’d be great actually!”, Brett ignored Eddy’s comment about his appearance for his sanity’s sake and instead used his energy to get to the front desk fast. After Eddy made sure he got the practice room number right, he ventured off to get them some food while Brett set up, turning his shoulders back and forth to loosen them a bit after a whole morning of rehearsals. He pulled up the tuning and metronome app on his phone, set a slightly slower tempo than how fast he wanted those runs in the first movement to be and started his practice, making sure every tone and shift was as clear and precise as it could be.

He was so sunken into his playing he didn’t realize Eddy had entered the way too small and somewhat smelly practice room until he got startled by his love putting a plastic bag on the chair by the piano.
“Jesus!”, he called as he whirled around, almost bumping his violin against said chair. 
“Woah, you alright?”, Eddy asked with a concerned expression.
“Yea, yeah. Sorry. Didn’t hear you there.”
“I’m so sorry! I knocked and when you didn’t answer I figured I come in. How’s practicing going? You sound good by the way.”
“Dunno”, Brett let out a sigh and laid his violin into it’s case, “You think you can listen to this part? I’m not sure if it’s as clean as I’d like it to be.”
“Sure thing! Lunch first?”
“Yup!”, Brett bobbed his head enthusiastically. Eddy grabbed something out of the bag and handed it to Brett. 
“Brought us baozi, you good with that?”
“Dude! Yeah!”, Brett thused, simply lowered himself to the ground and started to unpack the steamed goodness. “You’re a lifesaver, man! Where did you get these?”
The bun was filled with juicy minced meat, a bit of egg and shiitake mushrooms, everything yummy combined in one! Brett took a big first bite and closed his eyes in delight.
Eddy unraveled his own. “There’s a small stall nearby. They’re not always around but I figured I go check and was lucky. I love it, even though it’s like ten times as expensive as in Taiwan.”
“Ouch!”, Brett groaned, “What do I owe you?”
“Nothing. Concentrate on your playing, will ya?”
Brett frowned, cheeks filled with baozi. “Nah! Can’t let you ever get food for us like this! How much was it?”
“You can pay for dinner, deal?”, Eddy winked. 
Brett mumbled a defeated “Deal.” and sat up a bit. “Reckon yours doesn’t have mushrooms?”
“Ha! Luckily no. I got sweet ones too. For dessert.”
Brett glowed. “Damn! You’re everything!”

It was said out of a whim without much thought and yet, Brett meant it with every fiber of his being. And seeing Eddy light up, oh it was everything as well. 
“R… really?”, he stuttered incredulously. Brett scooted closer to his love also sitting on the floor, his bun in hand, looking like the most adorable chipmunk Brett had ever seen. 
“Really”, he said solemnly and placed one hand on Eddy’s thigh, “And not just in regards to food.”
Eddy chuckled before leaning closer. “I sure hope so.”