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LXXIV

“Scared, Eddy? Brett sounded pretty good, huh?”
“Lauren, please!”, Cole groaned.
“What? Just stating facts here!”
“I told you I don’t need any hype men!”
“Hype woman, please! Besides, I’m sure you’re gonna slay! Without a doubt!”
“I agree”, Eddy said, leaned back and crossed his arms, exuding a coolness which made Brett next to him shiver. All heads at the table turned to him, momentarily forgetting their lunch. “His playing this morning was exceptional. It’s gonna be tough for me to beat him.”
Brett threw a quick glance around before whispering to Eddy, “You don’t have to say that.”
“No, she’s right”, Eddy looked at Brett, “I think I’ve never been this unsure about my victory as in this competition.”
Victory. Brett grinned as the word reminded him of the part of Eddy’s personality he’d put down as an ass a week ago. 
“Hah! See? Yeah you’re gonna lose, Eddy Chen! And the Queensland con is gonna rise to the occasion!”
“You make it sound like it’s on us and not on these two”, Cole remarked with raised brows while taking another bite of his lasagna.
“Brett’s one of us! Of course it’s about us!”, she called out and almost threw a glass of coke over, making Angelica next to her flinch, “The Sydney people will have their friends and families over, so we’ll be at a disadvantage anyway. We should draw fan posters to hold up. To even out the imbalance!”
“True!”, Cole exclaimed, ignoring their principal violists’ craziness, “Will your parents come, Eddy?”
Brett whirled around and stared at the taller. This thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. Would he maybe meet Eddy’s mum tonight for the first time? 
Eddy nodded with a small smile. “My mum’s gonna be here.”
Brett gulped while picturing his encounter with Mrs. Chen. He had no idea what she was like, but he knew already he was very likely gonna die out of nervousness before even being able to utter a word to her. He pictured her strict somehow, but maybe that was just any Asian parent’s trait.
“Wait, are your parent’s gonna be here too? With you being in the competition and all”, Angelica asked Brett.
“Nah”, Brett shook his head, “It’s too far. They said if I’m really gonna be the soloist for the concert, they might think about coming then.”
“See?”, Lauren cut in, “It’s so unfair that Eddy gets moral support when Brett doesn’t!”
“Lauren, let it go”, Cole said with a warning tone.
“I’ll ask my mum to make a poster for Brett, how about that?”, Eddy suggested and started a wave of laughter around their table, difusing the tension in the process.

“Man! Lauren’s just too much! I thought she was done after last time, but apparently…”
“Don’t sweat over it. At least you got some strong support on your front, no?”, Eddy winked. They were walking back to the conservatory to start their afternoon practice and leaped from shade to shade to not get burnt to a crisp by the sun.
“Yeah, you’ve seen me jump for joy because of her, right?”
“You sure got some tough luck with women”, Eddy sighed, causing Brett to choke on his own saliva and nearly cough his left lung out.
“Please don’t mention any of that in front of me, will ya?”, he wiped some tears away, “And talking about women, your mum’s gonna be here tonight?”
Eddy glanced at him. “Yes. Kinda forgot to mention it. She’s almost always around when I play in a competition. I tried to talk her out of it when I was younger but gave up at some point. She just meant if she’s the one paying for lessons, it’s her right to listen to me at any time.”
“Fair point”, Brett sniggered, “So you’re used to her listening when you perform?”
“Oh, yeah. I mean, she shows her support like that and I appreciate it. She might be disappointed in me after tonight though.”
“Doubt that”, Brett pursed his lips.

This time, they got their practice room keys handed out before even asking for it. 
“Mr. Yang, you’ve got room 109. Mr. Chen, 214.”
“Thank you”, they nodded at the young lady at the front desk.

“No sharing practice rooms this time, huh”, Brett noted with a small, yet exaggerated sigh. 
Eddy laughed. “I think that would go against their whole ‘This has to be a secret’-policy.”
“Guess so”, Brett said while they climbed the stairs to the upper floors, “But it’s so dumb! What if we just tell each other? I mean, they can’t do anything about it if we spill something, right? Also, if someone already knows which movement they want to play from the start, people will notice right away.”
“Traditions, man. But I’m kinda excited too. I like that I don’t know”, Eddy winked when they reached the first floor, “And I can’t wait to hear your performance tonight. I will do my best as concertmaster to support you.”
They smiled at each other and out of a whim, Brett held out his hand. 
“I’ll do the same”, he promised, because there was no way he was gonna act differently. It would go against his very soul to not do everything in his power to make Eddy Chen shine.
Eddy’s smirk widened. He took Brett’s hand, drew him in in a tight bro-hug and said, “Come say hi when you need a break.”
“You too”, Brett hummed, dizzy from the warmth and Eddy’s smell enveloping him. He closed his eyes, allowed himself to bury his face deeper into the other’s shoulder before letting go. No distractions anymore, no mulling or thinking or wondering or day-dreaming! They had a competition to prepare for!

“Don’t forget to bring bubble tea when you stop by.”
Eddy chuckled, gave Brett a small wave and took two steps at a time to the second floor.