Fantasia

XXXVII

You bet your ass Eddy started looking for Brett like crazy after his eyes had finally decided to stop spilling water everywhere.

It was a Sunday, so unfortuntely, he couldn't call any schools or orchestras Brett had attended and there wasn't a reply from the Queensland con yet, of course. He found the numbers online though and wrote them down for his future self to sneakily call during work hours. Eddy never called privately during work, but Eddy normally also didn't wake up and bawl his eyes out, so what the hell.

Although Eddy's digging for mutual friends in his brain hadn't presented him with any results yesterday, he slowly scrolled through the contacts on his phone, hoping his eyes would catch a name his synapsis would connect with Brett.

A, B, C,... no luck so far. He sighed deeply and moved his thumb over the screen, until he stopped somewhere at the letter G.

Gabriel. Gabriel Wright.

Gabriel had been a highschool friend of Brett's who Brett had introduced to Eddy because he'd also liked classical music and had, back then, played the Cello. One or two times, Gabriel had even joined them for busking. Eddy didn't know if he'd gone to music uni or not, because his family had moved away during his last year of highschool, but maybe he had kept in touch with Brett?
And maybe, this number was still valid?
Eddy pressed the little phone sign without a second thought.

One ring, two rings, three rings, then four. And then...
"Hello?", a raspy, low, hoarse voice answered. Eddy gulped, glanced at the clock and quickly did the math. 5 a.m. in Singapore meant 7 a.m. in Australia, way too early for a Sunday morning to be rang out of bed!
"Hiii Gabriel?", Eddy said despite his disastrous discovery. Might as well, if he woke up the other already.
"Uhm... yes? Who the hell is this?"
Damn it! He was pissed. Well, figured.
"Eddy. Eddy Chen, remember me?", Eddy tried lamely.
There was a short silence, before Gabriel called a surprised, "Eddy?", sounding a thousand times more awake than only seconds before. "Eddy like in... Brett's Eddy?"
What a weird way to capture the essence of Eddy's relationship with Brett, but Eddy rolled with it.
"Yes! Brett's Eddy. Heyy so you know who I am?"
"God damn, of course I remember! Eddy! Damn! Must have been like, what, fuckin' fifteen years or something?" Eddy heard bedsheets rustle on the other end, probably Gabriel sitting up in his bed.
"Yes, more or less?"
"Fuuck, mate! You still have my number? And then the first time you call you decide to call at fucking 7 a.m. on a Sunday?"
"Apparently", Eddy sighed, "I'm so sorry, Gabriel! Didn't mean to. I just got too excited when I saw I still had your contact." It was true. Not necessarily because of Gabriel himself, which that guy would find out soon enough.
"And why have you suddenly decided to call?"
"Uhm, I can call later if you wanna..."
"Fucking say what you wanna say, will ya? I'm awake now anyway!"
Eddy shrank into the collar of his shirt. "Sorry...", he mumbled.
"No need to apologize, dude", Gabriel stated, softer this time and Eddy knew, that all his comments before weren't meant to make Eddy feel bad about his call at such an impolite hour. It was just the way Gabriel used to talk, Eddy recalled. Deep down, he actually had quite a gentle heart.

"Okay. So, Brett... are you still in touch with him?", Eddy asked in a very inelaborate way.
"Uhh, why?", Gabriel asked back, clearly baffeled, "I haven't spoken to him since we graduated high school."
"Oh, okay. You don't know where he's living or what he's doing?"
"Hmm, I remember him going to music university."
"Mhm..."
"But as I said, I haven't seen him since. I also don't know where he's living or anything. Wait, weren't you guys inseperable? It was almost annoying sometimes. Whenever I wanted to hang with him, you tagged along."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that", Eddy sighed over yet another person basically saying they couldn't imagine them ever breaking apart. "We were close friends, but I also lost touch with him. That's why I'm looking for him now."
"Have you tried social media and stuff? He might be pretty active."
"Already checked. Nothing."
"Legit?" Gabriel's voice rang from Eddy's phone, "I reckoned he'd be the type who'd post his whole life on the internet and brag about good food and shit!"
True. Eddy would have said the same about Brett. That's why it was so odd that there was close to zero information about that guy online.
"Nah, found nothing. You don't know anyone who might know something about Brett? Who's still friends with him?"
"Hmmm...", the other made, "I don't think so. We moved away to Melbourne, so all the peeps I hang out with are here now."
"I see..."
"I can go through my contacts and see if I can find anyone in there who knows Brett too."
Same thing Eddy had been doing to find Gab. "That'd be great actually!"
"Alright. Is there anything else? How you've been by the way? Became a musician too?"
"Oh, no no. Unfortunately not. I'm in finance now."
"Eddy Chen, a finance guy", Gabriel chuckled, "not surprising really. But I always saw you more in the arts than doing something so... dry. No offence, mate."
"None taken", Eddy assured, "How about you?"
Gabriel went on with sharing a short version of his life as an interior desinger in Melbourne and a married man. It seemed, the geeky, funny cello guy from back then was doing well. Eddy smiled, despite him not really having gained more information about Brett. Nonetheless, it was nice to catch up with friends from old times.

After Gab promised Eddy to call if he found out something new, they hung up so the other could continue his beauty sleep. Even though it was even earlier for Eddy, there was just no way he could drift back into dreamland again, so he continued his search on his phone for (former) acquaintances, this time without luck. Eddy'd changed his phone many times since then and all the "useless" contacts had been mostly wiped out from his sim card. That Gabriel's number hadn't been one of them was a miracle, really.
Eddy could only hope Gab would get in touch with someone who knew how Brett was doing.