The Art Class

9. Left hand III - felt 2

Eddy's voice was shaking. He closed his eyes and a tear fell along his cheek. Brett's eyes widened in fear for upsetting his friend so much.

"Eddy..I'm sorry. Please tell me, how did I upset you so much?"

Eddy opened his eyes and Brett thought he was glaring at him. Eddy leaned in and hissed again.

".. Brett... I.. I FELT THAT. Now please, please tell me what you were doing...!!"

Brett's eyes shot open in surprise.

"Eddy...!!"

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Brett's voice started to strain, too;

"Eddy, I... all I did was squeeze your fingertip.. on your nail.. with my thumb, that's all."

"Brett.. do that again.. please do that again now"

Brett was so nervous, his hands were shaking as he picked up Eddy's left hand and gently pinched the tip of the index finger with his thumb and index finger. He used his thumb to rub Eddy's fingernail.

"This was what I was doing.."

Eddy's voice hitched;

"N...no! I.. I.. can't feel that.. y, you must have done something else..!"

"Eddy? Brett? Are you two boys okay?"

Brett and Eddy both flinched and looked up towards their Art teacher. Another tear fell as Eddy looked up.

"Eddy? Is everything okay?"

Brett reached over and grabbed Eddy's sling off the table.

"Sir, may I escort Eddy outside so that he can get some air please?"

"Yes, of course."

"Thank you. Hey, c'mon Eddy, let's go."

Brett placed his palm on Eddy's back and nudged him to get up. Eddy held his left wrist as he stood up and was lead out of the door.  After they had taken a few steps away from their art room, Brett walked on ahead and peered inside the adjacent room, then moved on to have a look at the ones further down the corridor.

"Brett..?"

Brett turned back;

"I'm just looking for somewhere where we can do this properly without any disruptions."

Brett further checked the next art room and once he identified three empty rooms, Brett opened the door to the one in the middle.

"Here. We'll go in here. Take a seat, Eddy."

Eddy walked in and took a seat on one of the stools and Brett sat next to him on Eddy's left side.

"I'm going to try again, okay? I think you should look away or close your eyes because you weren't looking when you felt it before."

"Okay.."

Eddy looked away and closed his eyes as Brett took Eddy's left hand into his. As before, he pinched the tip of Eddy's index finger as he rubbed the fingernail with his thumb.

"Okay, I'm ready, Brett."

Hearing Eddy's words, Brett's heart sank. He looked up towards Eddy's face which was turned away from him. Eyes closed, Eddy was focusing like he did when he was listening to his violin. He was trying so hard to sense the touch.

"..Have you started, Brett?"

Brett bit his lower lip.

"..Let me try this properly. Your hand was on the table."

Eddy opened his eyes and looked at Brett. Brett forced a smile in an attempt to reassure  Eddy as he gently placed Eddy's hand onto the table.

"Well Brett, you weren't sitting next to me, we were facing each other."

"Yeah, good point, okay, I'm gonna move around."

Brett got up from the stool next to Eddy and went around the table and pulled out another stool across from him and sat down.

"I think you should try to do a task to distract yourself. Maybe doodle something.."

Brett got up from his stool and found a piece of paper and a pencil and placed them in front of Eddy.

"Okay.. I'm just gonna start drawing something random.."

Brett carefully tried to remember what he did. He was observing Eddy's fingernails but he didn't actually lift Eddy's hand off the table. Perhaps the subtle angles of the wrist or finger made a difference? Brett tried to make sure he lifted up and squeezed Eddy's fingertip exactly the way he did when Eddy said he felt something.

"...There!! I just felt it!!"

Brett's eye's shot open as he looked up towards Eddy's face.

"You did?!"

"You squeezed."

"I did. ..How many times?"

"...Three."

"Oh my god...oh my god, ...Eddy..!"

Eddy noticed a change in pitch in Brett's voice and turned towards him and widened his eyes in surprise.

"Geez, Brett how come you're crying?"

"F*ck, you're weirded out that I'm crying? I actually wanna hug you if you weren't so weirded out."

Eddy looked away.

"...I'm not."

And with that Eddy burst into tears.

Brett quickly got up from his stool and walked around the desk while Eddy slowly stood up.

Brett hugged Eddy as he laughed out loud and rubbed his cheek against Eddy's.

"Congratulations Eddy, I'm so happy for you. It's happening! And it's only gonna get better, I can feel it...!"

Between sobs, Eddy wrapped his right arm around Brett as he managed to whisper back;

"Yeah, I can feel it too. Thank you, Brett..."