It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

XII

This is so stupid! Brett thought, over and over again. It eventually changed to I'M so stupid and as much as he was fearing the following for whatever reason, he knew he had to apologize to Eddy or else he'd just spontaneously combust and all he'd leave behind would be a pile of dark, angry, resentful ashes. He slapped the studio table in frustration, as if it was at fault for Brett's foul mood, ruffled his hair and groaned. Unpacking the filming gear was done, so there was no hiding behind seemingly productive activities anymore. There was no way around and he knew he owed Eddy this much. So he took a deep breath and stepped out of the studio into their living room.

Eddy wasn't there, so Brett looked for him before he could change his mind. After a quick search he knocked on Eddy's closed bedroom door. He heard a muffled "Come in" and did as told, looking at his friend sitting on his bed, phone in hand.
"Figured you want some space", Eddy said matter-of-factly.
How was it possible for Eddy to be so nice and civilized despite Brett being a total asshole? No accusation and not even a cold glance was thrown at him. A reason more to do, what he'd come for. He took another deep breath and finally said: "I'm sorry!"
Eddy just nodded, waiting for Brett to continue, so he did. "I actually don't know why I'm so... irritated. It's nothing you did and clearly just on me. I shouldn't have brought any of this up. I'm sorry."
"Bring what up?", Eddy asked. Brett saw genuine curiosity on his face. "I still don't know what it was, that ticked you off and I'd like to avoid that in the future. So what exactly was it?"
There it was! The question Brett didn't know the answer to and didn't, under no circumstances, want to explore any further. So how was he going to form some kind of reasonable explanation?
"I..", Good start, Brett thought, try harder, idiot! "I... really don't know Eddy. It's just... Argh, this is so embarrassing! I didn't like seeing you talking to other people, alright?"
It was as close to the truth as he could get at the moment, so he let it at that. Eddy frowned and a tad of irritation finally started to show itself on his face.

"Uhm... Brett, I gotta talk to people sometimes to, you know..., survive and stuff. You had no problem at all before and we both always have to talk to tons of people. Why now? This makes no sense!"
"I know it doesn't!", Brett yelled and let himself fall down on Eddy's bedside, face buried in the palm of his sweaty hands. "I don't know what to tell you. Maybe that stupid covid thing made it unusual for me to see you interact with other people or something or it's my condition playing mind games and I know it sounds lame and weird and inappropriate! I don't know, Eddy. It's just..."

Of all the noises Eddy could make, Brett would have never expected to hear a light chuckle interrupting his emotional rant. He looked up at Edd's amused face, buffled.
"Oh, Bretty Brett", he laughed.
"What?"
"Are you maybe... Jealous?" Eddy's smirk could have blinded a god damn pilot and cause a major plane crash, no problem.
Brett stared at him, astonished and shocked at the same time.
"Wha..."
"Well, think about it. I talk to some apparently 'long, black haired girl' and your mood turns so sour one could dissolve a corpse in it."
"You're ridiculous", Brett said, knowing exactly, that Eddy was right.
"Am I though?"
"Totally! That's the weirdest guess anyone has ever taken in the history of mankind!"
"You're being suspicious, Bretty."
"I mean it! How can I be jealous of the people you talk to? I've always been the more outgoing one, so it's really great not having to look after shy you when I socialize. Totally fine by me." Brett tried his signature deadpan to cover his fast rising embarrassment. He wasn't sure if it was working...

"I wasn't talking about you being jealous of the others...", Eddy said slowly and Brett just then noticed his mistake, turning even paler as before.
"I was talking about you envying me talking to that pretty violinist girl..."
Brett had to interrupt him quickly to save the world from an apocalypse: "Of course I meant that too! Yes! How can you just talk to some nice girl I wanted to get to know better, bro? You know, bro code and everything! I'm your senpai, so I should have seniority!"
"I've never heard you talk like that before. Where is that bro code stuff coming from suddenly?"
"But it's ok, you couldn't know I liked her."
"You like her?"
"Yes, of course, that's why I'm jealous in the first place...right?", Brett's voice almost faded at the end.
Eddy didn't look convinced at all. Brett silently prayed to God he might take the bait and leave him off the hook. They hadn't talked about girls and/or relationship stuff for forever and Eddy should, in Brett's mind, be very interested in any bit of information Brett would disclose. He'd be too, if it would concern Eddy. He actually really would be...

"So, to get this straight: You're jealous of me for talking to that violinist girl you like?"
Brett nodded furiously, not trusting his voice to work properly.
But then, Eddy slapped Brett's back hard. "Bro! Why didn't you say earlier? We have her phone number and socials! Why don't you just text...what was her name again?"
Brett froze. He didn't remember and he knew that for the life of his, he wouldn't recall that random female participant's name (sorry, violinist girl) without looking it up. "Uhm...", he croaked.
"...You don't know her name...", Eddy said matter-of-factly.
"I... I think I'm too nervous to remember." This sounded made up even in Brett's ears. He tried not to cringe too visibly and strengthened his deadpan face.

"Alright, I'm gonna make this easy for you, just because you're my best bro and I wanna help you out." Eddy took out his phone and texted their producer to ask for the girl's contacts. "There! They'll gonna send it to you and you can contact her whenever you want."
"Thanks", Brett mumbled.
"And", Eddy continued, while scooting closer, "for the off chance you might be actually jealous for me having a conversation with other people..." He sat in front of Brett now and, with Brett's big eyes following him without blinking, pressed a sloppy kiss on Brett's forehead while firmly grabbing his neck it almost hurt.
"You'll always be my number one."

Brett sat there, frozen after what his dumb flatmate and best friend dared to do to him. His brain went to overdrive and shouted words like: Move! Do something! Anything! Play it cool! In the end, all he managed was to laugh hysterically.
"Pfffft, Eddy! What the hell are you doing!?" Brett staggered back and felt his face heat up. If there would ever be a time to bail, it was now. "No no, don't worry! Again, why would I envy people who talk to you? We talk all the time and it's really not that great, so... But thanks for her phone number! I'll keep you updated!"
And with that, he didn't storm out of Eddy's room, but it sure was a close thing. "I'll hold you on to that!", Brett heard Eddy yelling behind him and all he wanted to do now, was to dig a hole the size of every Asian parent's disappointment combined and hide himself in it until LingLing would come and save his dumb ass out of this stupid mess!