Play!

XVII

“When did you come to Australia?”

They were slowly on their way back, passing by some grand streets with tall, illuminated glass and concrete towers on each side Brett had missed when they’d rushed to the bubble tea place. The few stars twinkling above them were barely visible due to the bright city lights, chasing away all darkness and tranquility. Could one observe more heavenly bodies in the Royal Botanic Gardens where there was less artificial light? Maybe Brett could stay there a bit after practicing. As he recalled however, they closed the gardens during the night… 

Eddy glanced at him while slurping at his bubble tea, chewed around for a bit before answering, “When I was eight.”
Brett nodded slowly. No wonder Eddy’s Mandarin was that good. 
“You?”
“We moved to New Zealand first.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, have you ever been?” Brett took another sip from his tea. This really was some good boba Eddy had introduced him to!
“Never. I’d like to go though!”
“You should! Lots of sheep.”
Eddy sniggered. 
“So how long did you live in Taiwan then?”
Brett titled his head and pursed his lips. “Until I was five, I reckon? We go back often though. Still have like most of my relatives there.”
“Same man! Like for Chinese New Years and stuff?”
“Haha, exactly! Christmas, sometimes even when some aunt has a decadal birthday or when one of my cousins gets married”, Brett said, looking left and right before they crossed yet another road. 
“Asian marriages are wild, man. I haven’t been to many, but my social anxiety just kicks in most on those occasions”, Eddy sighed.
“Same! Even I get all timid and shy. Mostly because I don’t want anyone to ask me to play something for them… and because I don’t want them to notice how much my Chinese sucks.”
The taller laughed, the bubble tea in his hand slushing up and down. “I bet it’s not that bad. Oh!”, he suddenly called, “Should we speak Chinese? So I can be the judge of your proficiency, you know.”
“Nah! No way that’s happening!”, Brett exclaimed, eyes big and his steps suddenly doubled in speed. 
“Just kidding! Hey, wait up!”
“我不跟你講中文! 才不要! (Not gonna speak Mandarin with you. No way!)”, Brett said despite his stupid insecurity concerning his mother tongue, even if it was just to show Eddy that he wasn’t completely incapable.
“哇! 不錯啊! (Wow! Not bad man!)”
“Now if you don’t want me to immediately return to the hotel, we should switch languages like, right now!”
“Oh, well.. I mean… if you wanna go back…”
“What? No!”, Brett exclaimed, surprised how Eddy had taken his words seriously, “That was a joke, man! Except you gonna pull out a Chinese language test from somewhere, I’m gonna stay… unless you don’t want to?”
“Oh, no, no!”, Eddy hurried, waving his bubble tea-free hand in front of him, “No, it’s cool.”

It was kinda funny, how one moment, they were bantering back and forth with ease and how another a hesitancy overcame them. Figures, Brett thought. After all, they were just getting to know each other. Brett gave Eddy a small and what he hoped, encouraging smile. 
“Don’t want to keep you from your bedtime though. We need to be on top of our game tomorrow.”
Because tomorrow, they were going to have private lessons for the first time. The organizers hadn’t revealed any teacher names yet, but normally when people made a fuss about something, it would turn out to be pretty epic. 
Eddy shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m a helpless insomniac.”
“Oh, really?”
He wouldn’t have put hard working Eddy in that category, but then again, he did say and prove that he was always late. 
“Yeah. Night owl. Can’t go to sleep at a normal human being’s time for the life of mine.”
“Your mum must love you”, Brett repeated the line from before, making Eddy’s laughter echo through the evening.

So they took their time strolling back to the uni grounds, finishing their drinks and chatting about their expectations for the private lessons. With the level of secrecy they at least had to be some well-known Korngold violin concerto interpreter, maybe even famous soloists? Brett and Eddy’s eyes got shinier the more they imagined themselves getting all the tips and help to improve their playing and it had nothing to do with the crescent moon crawling over the skyscrapers being reflected in their orbs.

The night had gotten even cooler when they reached the harbor. Brett breathed in deeply with eyes closed while a gentle wind ruffled his hair.
“You alright?”, Eddy asked carefully. 
Brett opened his lids and looked into his new friend’s kind face. 
He nodded and very truthfully answered, “Yes. You?”
“Yeah.” And to Brett’s delight, it sounded genuine.
“Wanna go to the front of the Sydney Opera House by the sea?”, Eddy suggested and pointed to the iconic building a few hundred meters down.
“Sure!”

There weren’t many people around at this time on a weekday. Eddy guided Brett around the building to the promenade where they had a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and all the water dividing the city.
“Wow”, Brett made once again.
“Yeah…”
“You come here often?”, he asked after a few minutes of them just gazing at their surroundings.
“Once in a while, to get some perspective.”
“Sounds philosophical”, Brett meant and dared to softly bump the other’s shoulder. Eddy didn’t seem to mind. 
“Really isn’t. I come here when I want to be alone.”
“Isn’t this one of the busiest spots the city has to offer?”, Brett wondered with a huff. 
Eddy fell quiet for a moment. 
“Sometimes, the loneliest places are the busiest ones.”
Brett blinked at him while an almost desperate sadness, if there really was such a thing, suddenly washed over him. He grabbed Eddy’s shoulder out of an uncontrollable impulse and turned him towards himself. 
“Eddy! You don’t need to be lonely, you know.”
Eddy’s wide eyes spelled surprise, but also something else. Was it… hope?
“Uhm… I didn’t say…”
“Just”, Brett interrupted. He wouldn’t have if he didn’t feel like Eddy was about to deny what Brett had read into Eddy’s last statement. “A lot of people admire you. They’re nice, you know. And… I know we don’t really know each other, but if you ever wanna talk, I’m here. At least for the next three weeks.”

They started to swim again, reflecting the lights of the street lamps and the moon shining over the two boys. Those incredibly open, and Brett found, beautiful eyes. Eddy gulped, visibly trying to tuck away anything that could betray what he really felt. Why? Brett asked himself. Why was there a defense mechanism activated inside Eddy Chen when someone simply offered help?
“Uhm… I…”
Brett put a squeeze on those shoulders, hoping it would yield some of his inner walls. 
“I… thanks, Brett.”

That little word, paired with his name. It wasn’t much. But it was enough, for now.