World Tour

Brisbane XII

Eddy had never felt less like organising a party, but he knew that that was exactly what they had to do. It had been a week since they'd met with Belle again, so now there was nothing to do but wait. 
Gah, but did time ever move slowly! Eddy felt like he was stuck in some sort of shadow realm, like Belle's belly contained Schrödinger's baby or something. Belle might be pregnant. A little clump of cells might be dividing and making its way into her womb, to grow into a beautiful baby that would be theirs. 
Or, alternately, her body might be getting ready to throw an unfertilised egg into a maxi pad. And they wouldn't know for at the very least seven days. Seven interminable days of waiting. 
Waiting sucked. 
¨Hey, my love, are you okay?¨ Brett's voice came and interrupted his reverie. 
He looked up, slightly startled. 
¨Yeah, I'm okay. It's just... you know I've never been a very patient man.¨
Brett burst out laughing. 
¨Really? I'd never noticed. Like...¨
Eddy stopped him before he could launch into examples. 
¨Yeah, yeah, I know. Shut up, we can't all be as zen as you, hey?¨
He punched Brett lightly in the shoulder, but he was grinning as well by now. 
¨Right. So. Party.¨ he said then. ¨We have one month left.¨
¨Yep.¨ Brett replied. ¨I have a small surprise. Come on, all you have to do is come with me.¨
Eddy looked at him, slightly nonplussed. What had he been arranging?

A few minutes later they were walking off, and Brett turned into an unfamiliar street. There were shops lining the street on both sides. Brett checked his phone and murmured: 
¨Number 288.¨
Eddy started looking at the house numbers now and soon enough he saw where they must be going: a small bakery. 
He turned in astonishment. 
¨What? We're going to get a cake?¨
Brett beamed at him. 
¨Yeah! I know we said low key, and we're doing low key, but I thought a cake might be nice. I called ahead and they can even do one in the shape of a violin! We can go and taste the flavours now and you can look at designs.¨
Eddy's eyes were wide, he knew, and his mouth was slightly open. Of all the romantic things!
¨Brett, my love, seriously. What did I ever do to deserve you?¨
Brett shook his head slightly. 
¨Don't be silly, come, let's taste some cake.¨
Eddy followed him in meekly, still in a mild state of shock. 

¨Hi! Mr Yang?¨ the young, efficient looking girl said. 
¨Yep, that's me. Brett.¨ Brett said. ¨This is Eddy.¨
She smiled, and Eddy knew straight away that she knew exactly who they were. 
He shot Brett a panicked glance. It wouldn't be nice if this would be what outed them. 
¨So, you're having a big birthday bash, I hear?¨ the girl said. 
Aha. So he'd been smart about it. Eddy scolded himself mentally. Of course he'd been smart about it, what did you think he was, an idiot? 
¨Yes! For a very good friend of ours. But it absolutely has to stay quiet, because in our situation he would find out very quickly if anything leaked into social media.¨
The girl nodded. ¨Absolutely, don't worry about it. Discretion is key in our business. Would you like to join me over there?¨ She pointed to a table, where several pieces of cake were lined up on small white china plates. 
¨Thank you.¨ Eddy mumbled, as they both sat down. The girl pointed out that every plate had a card on it with the flavour and left them to it. 
Eddy looked around, there was no one in ear shot now, so he said in a low voice:
¨Bretty, you don't even seem to realise how special it is that you do stuff like this. Most people don't, you know. I feel incredibly lucky that you are so romantic, and that you are so good at getting shit done. I hope you know that.¨
Brett beamed so hard that it made Eddy smile. 
¨Thank you, Eddy, but I seem to remember you orchestrating your share of surprises for me as well.¨
¨Just remember what I said, okay?¨ Eddy said as he picked up the pastry fork and tucked into the first flavour. 
¨Oh my God, but this is seriously good!¨

Fifteen minutes later there was a clear winner, and they called the girl back to iron out the details. 
Red velvet, their cake was going to be. A wedding cake, disguised as a birthday cake. The thought of it made Eddy smile some more. And as they walked home, not long after, he realised that actually a lot of the work for the wedding had been done. People had been invited, the venue was arranged, and they had a cake. It would be good. 
And by then they'd long since have an answer to Schrödinger's baby, too. Only seven more days to wait. 
¨This was really fun, Brett!¨ he said quietly. 
¨I agree, it was!¨