Et Nos Cedamus Amori

VIII.

"Dis aliter visum." -Virgil

The gods thought otherwise.

"But, I love you!"

"Eddy, we both know that's a lie... I've seen the way you look at Brett!"

"Brett's like a brother to me now... We've known each other for years... It's normal for me to look up after him."

"Eddy, what you're doing is looking at him more than that! Please stop kidding yourself around. I know you're in love with Brett... You look at him like he's you're everything."

"He is! He's like the older brother I never had. He always looked after me and that never changed!"

There's silence, until Toni was crying.

"Eddy, let's just break up... This isn't doing us any good. You need to evaluate your feelings and I need to know if you're really in love with me..." Toni said, wiping her tears.

"But Toni... I'm sure that I love you..." Eddy said, crying too.

Toni just walked out of the practice room and didn't look back at Eddy. Brett had passed Toni by and decided to ask her what happened.

"He- Eddy... He loves someone else..." Toni said, sobbing on Brett's shoulder.

"Wait, did he tell you?" Brett asked. "How dare he break your heart?" Brett added, getting upset at the thought of Eddy breaking up with her.

He might be in love with Eddy, but he knew Eddy was in love with Toni. Brett can't get in the way of that.

"Brett, he didn't tell me. I just know. He's in denial, too." Toni said.

"Shh, come on... Don't cry now, Toni... I'll talk to him, okay? Do you want I'll send you home?" Brett asked.

"Please..." Toni said, walking with Brett.

After Brett had driven Toni home, he immediately went to Eddy.

"Bro... What did you do?" Brett asked.

"Nothing! She just told me what 'I'm not seeing' apparently..."

"What you're not seeing?" Brett clarified.

"She told me that I'm in love with someone else, but I'm in denial..." Eddy said steadily, not mentioning the name that Toni had mentioned.

Brett was quiet for a while... Did Toni figure it all out?

"Well, are you in love with someone else?" Brett asked again, trying to keep his voice steady and cool.

"No..." Eddy said, quite unsure himself.

Toni just made him question everything at this stage. Was he in love with Brett? No, that's not possible. He was straight, surely. He was in love with Toni, he was sure of it.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get her back. I think she deserves an explanation and an apology." Brett said, trying to mend them back together.

It seemed that Eddy was sure, so who was Brett to get in the way of that? He's a best friend... What he should be doing is supporting Eddy.

"It's just... She told me that I look at you differently. She said that I look at you as if you were my everything. At this point, you are everything to me. I've known you for years but that doesn't mean I'm in love with you. She's just so convinced that I'm in love with you, like she's so certain of it." Eddy ranted, terribly frustrated.

Oh, Eddy, even your girlfriend sees through me. How could you not see?

"Well, all I know is you're certain that you love her... You need to get her back." Brett said, pushing the thought of pulling Eddy close away.