Broken String

XCII

Oh, it's nice to be outside. So, very, very nice to be outside. He doesn't even care that he's being pushed, he doesn't care that the lady in the bakery will see he's still in the wretched chair, that she'll probably ask how he is. The world has taken on a new shine it never had before and somehow none of the details matter right now.
"Hey, love. Oh, no. You still in the chair? And who is this lovely looking man you've brought with you? Does he have a girlfriend, by any chance?"
The lady behind the counter flutters her eyelashes at John and Eddy grins.
"Wrong gender, I'm afraid." John says kindly behind him. "But I hear this is the place to be for the best chocolate orbs?"
The lady shakes her head in mock disappointment.
"Oh, man, just my luck. The gorgeous ones are always gay, huh?"
"Not always." John smiles. "I can tell you from first hand experience that plenty of the gorgeous ones are not."
The lady giggles.
"Aww. Poor thing. But anyway, yes. We do make the best orbs, here. Two? And how are you, deary?"
Ah. Deary, that's him.
"I'm okay. I had a scan. Waiting for results."
She nods and packs a couple of orbs with practised fingers, throwing in a cinnamon roll without having been asked.
"Please keep me updated?" she says to him as she hands John the carrier bag. "And you." She sends John an exaggerated wink. "You can come here any day and eat chocolate."
John grins again, pays and bows his head.
"Maybe I'll be back, then. It was nice to meet you."

"Does that happen to you a lot?" Eddy asks as they're moving along the pavement to the park he's pointing John towards.
"What, middle aged ladies liking me? Enough."
Eddy laughs.
"You handled it with grace."
"Surely you get your share of that, though?"
"What, middle aged ladies liking me?" Eddy quips back. John laughs loudly.
"I hope not. Girls, Eddy. Girls."
Eddy shrugs.
"I got in a bit of trouble the other week with someone liking me."
Why is he so free? Is it just because he's so raw? Or is it what he just admitted to, and this new shine that the world has? He's not about to tell John that he actually knows the girl he's talking about very well, though. He could never do that to Anna.
"Oh dear."
"I spent the night with her." Eddy says honestly. His filter must be in Alaska, hiding from the heat or something. "And it meant more to her than me. I felt so guilty, because I hadn't known anything about how she felt."
"Oh no. Has it all worked out?"
"I think so."
John pushes him onto the first gravel path and Eddy points forward, to the place he loves so much.
"There is a bench, there. I sit there with Brett, sometimes."
"Okay. How very romantic. So what did Brett make of you spending the night with her?"
The images flash through Eddy's brain. Sombre eyes in the night on their roof terrace. He saw them then, in passing, he didn't make anything of it. But then ages later at the bench they're about to see Brett almost insisted that maybe all he needed was a fling with Anna. So what did all that mean? Did he mean that?
Romantic, John has said. And he's right. Fuck it, he's right. It was.
He's in so much trouble.
"I'm not sure. That was... before... you know."
John grins softly.
"Something tells me he didn't like it. Anyway. This the bench?"
Eddy nods. It looks the same, here. Pond. Ducks. Bench. But the world is all different. Jesus fuck, what has he just admitted to? He takes a large bite of his orb and chews thoughtfully.
"You agree, with Brett?" he says then.
"Oh, yum, this is good! So I agree with Brett on what?"
"Talking when I'm better." Eddy says quietly.
John opens his mouth to say something, but Eddy's phone buzzes the arrival of a text and he grabs for it before he can even think it's rude. Is it from Brett?
It is, and his heart is in his throat. There are no ducks in the pond, no, there are swarms of butterflies.
So, so, so much trouble.
He slides his finger over the screen and opens it.

Hey, bro. How are you? All good? Break here. If you need me back, say, yeah?


The smile that grows on his face must be ridiculous. He can see it reflected in John's benign grin.
"Speak of the devil?"
"Not a devil." Eddy says softly as he types.

I'm good here, just hanging with John eating chocolate yet again (please throw away any scales nearby me). Take your time, I'm good. See you soon.