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XVIII

Brett would have asked. Would have pressed just a tiny bit more to hear what was behind Eddy’s loneliness, chosen or not. Unfortunately for him, a young couple asked Brett if he could take their picture and the moment was gone just as fast as the flash of the expensive SLR. Eddy had, of course, composed himself again and asked Brett if he wanted to sit by the giant stairs in front of the opera house. They propped their elbows on the step behind them, laid their heads back and watched how planes mimicked very slow meteors with their red and green blinking lights.

“You said you live at the student dorms, right?”, Brett asked eventually, his mind growing lazy the higher the moon rose.
“Yup.”
“How’s that like?”
“Alright. Loud sometimes, when some people return all drunk from partying.”
“Must be nice”, Brett said dryly. 
“It’s annoying when they come back whenever I’m about to fall asleep.”
“You never join them?”
Eddy raised an eyebrow. “Do I come across as the type who goes out?”
“Not really”, Brett agreed with a small chuckle, “Where do your parents live?”
“North of Newcastle. Bit far to commute. But I mostly go back for weekends and holidays.”
“I see.”
“You? You live at home?”
“Yeah. Enjoying broke student life and my mum’s cooking. The campus is close to my place, so it’s very convenient.”
“Oh, I do miss my mum’s food for sure!”
“Yeah, your cafeteria’s not a gourmet restaurant, huh”, Brett sighed dramatically. 
“They have good and bad days”, Eddy sighed similar to Brett, prompting the smaller to laugh. 
“I feel your pain.”
“Nothing beats good food. We do have a kitchen somewhere in our dorms, but that would NOT be a better choice, I tell you.”
Brett laughed again.
“Sorry I can’t help out in this regard.”
“We could try to bake a cake or something, for starters.” 
There was this warm feeling once more, flooding Brett’s heart or stomach or whatever, making him want to float away. He swallowed hard before saying, “I’m down! You can get me anytime you have the ingredients.”
“Bet we gonna burn down the dorms.”
“Probably.”
“You have any siblings?”
“A younger brother. Very likely’s gonna make our parents proud since I can’t. He’s going for dentistry.”
“Ah, lucky!”, Eddy exclaimed with his eyes scrunched shut, “My sister’s a pianist, so all our parents’ hopes and dreams were set on me. She’s five years older than me. But, I did have an accompanist all my life.”
“Free accompanist!”, Brett yelled and shot a fist up the air.
“Yeah, it’s pretty handy. She lives in London now though, so…”
“Oh, you miss her?”
Eddy bobbed his head with a wistful smile. “I do. We’ve always been close, especially when-”
His voice transitioned into a sharp intake of breath as Eddy all of a sudden shut himself up.
“Hey, you okay?”, Brett asked confused, his worried eyes fixed on the other.
The panic in his gaze, like a prey noticing it had been detected by a predator. Brett clenched his fist until it hurt so he wouldn’t do something stupid like enveloping Eddy in a sideways hug. What was going on?
“… Sorry”, Eddy mumbled after a minute or so. 
“No, don’t worry”, Brett tried to calm him further, “You don’t have to tell me anything, you know that, right?”
“Yeah” It sounded honest. “Yeah, I know. Thank you.”

And Brett could sense that Eddy wasn’t going to reveal more of whatever he had wanted to say. It was just another thing, another mystery clouding part of Eddy’s identity Brett was dying to know more about, but would rather suffer that death than make Eddy feel uncomfortable. So he stayed quiet, hoping his presence was enough for Eddy to come down again. Or, did he need to be alone now?

“Uhm…”, Eddy stuttered eventually, voice still more distressed than Brett liked, “can you ask me something? Anything… or tell me something?”
“Oh, sure! Uhm…”, Brett looked around for inspiration. Something, anything! Eddy had literally begged. “What would you wish for if these were actual shooting stars?” He pointed at the airplanes in the night sky, twinkling away. 
“Isn’t one supposed to keep it a secret?”, Eddy managed to huff, prompting the huge stone on Brett’s chest to ease its pressure.
“But these aren’t any. So you can tell me”, Brett tried further.
Eddy closed his eyes and breathed in and out a few times while the fluttering of his shirt just above his heart decreased some. Brett breathed with him subconsciously. Come on! You’ve got this!

“I don’t know”, Eddy finally said, much calmer than before. Brett thanked the heavens that whatever this had been, Eddy had been able to cut off, at least it appeared so. “I mean, there are the obvious things like becoming a soloist. I’d probably go for that.”
“Good choice!”, Brett commented while his eyes didn’t leave Eddy for a second. There was some colour returning to his face now. 
“What about you?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Same, I guess?”
“Makes sense”, Eddy said.
Brett threw a careful gaze at him. “You okay?”, he dared to ask very softly. 
Eddy’s featurs were calm now when he nodded once.
“Yes. Thank you.”

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry again for the odd upload time. Was too busy to write and had to rewrite the chapter, which took more time. Hope you're all having a good weekend and wish you a very blessed Sunday.
Love, Author-san