Denial - a Breddy fanfic

49.

Eddy barely managed to avoid the park on their way to Bryggen by making up some excuse about he wanting to explore a different way. Victoria had giggled about it.
"You're so adventurous! No wonder you call yourself Eddy Adventure on instagram!" she said sweetly, and Eddy couldn't help but blush. He wasn't that adventurous anyway, really. 

As they rounded the corner of a old grey brick building he could smell it. The unmissable smell of fish and salt water.
"Oh man, that's intense", he commented, but got a confused look from Victoria.
"What do you mean...?" she started but then she realized it. "Ohhh, you mean the fishy smell! I'm so used to it, I didn't notice!" And then she laughed that sweet laugh of hers. Eddy thought the way she laughed was cute. It wasn't put on or anything, just when she thought something was funny she reacted naturally to it.

They passed a building that Eddy thought looked like a small version of Grieghallen, and he could see a bunch of old wooden buildings on the other side of the harbour. It was sunny out, but it was nearing late afternoon. There were a lot of people out, some who Eddy thought must be tourists.
"You know, it's very nice to sit here in the sunset", Victoria commented and gestured to a dark wooden bench. Eddy shrugged. Maybe it was nice?
Victoria, seeming completely unaffected by Eddy's absent mind, pointed at the old wooden buildings across the harbour.
"That's Bryggen over there, by the way. Where we are right now is the famous Fish Market." Eddy nodded, feeling a bit stressed about all the people moving around them.
"Is there somewhere quiet we can just sit?" Eddy asked, feeling uneasy about all the people he couldn't keep track of visually. His mind brought up the image of Chris, how he'd be in the crowd, how he'd sneak up behind him...
He felt Victoria's soft hand on his forearm, and he realized how tense he was.
"Yeah, come", she said, taking his hand and dragging him towards the wooden buildings. He didn't resist it, but his mind wandered to Brett alone in the hotel room. Was he alright?

She dragged him in between the old wooden buildings he had seen from the other side of the harbour just minutes before, and suddenly all the sounds from the city and all the people disappeared. It felt quiet, as if they had stepped inside, but the light peeked down between the tops of the houses. The floor they were standing on went from being asphalt to be wooden. The planks creaked where they stepped, and they felt like they had been there since the dawn of time.
Victoria hadn't let go of Eddy's hand, and Eddy didn't pull away either. It felt a bit awkward holding hands like this, but he thought maybe this was just a Norwegian thing? The alternative didn't hit him. Victoria's cheeks were slightly pink, looking at Eddy instead of at the narrow space between the buildings.
"There's a... bar... that's not so crowded...?" Victoria suggested, seeming slightly flustered. This made Eddy feel unsure of what to do. Sure, she was like... a fan? Maybe that would be why?
"Uh... sure?" he said and let her lead him to the bar, still hand in hand. He didn't notice the fake click sound of an iphone camera from the end of the alley.