Miss you, not.

IV

Brett's day went about as usual. Almost as usual. His friends wouldn't let him live.

"You're smiling a lot today, Brett. I think I have a guess why." Sara raised her brows playfully.

He let out a little laugh as he packed his bag, the group was about to go and have lunch."What are you talking about? I'm just as usual as I've ever been." He feigned.

"Wow, you're dressed to kill today, tiger." Jade whistled, nodding in approval at Brett's choice in his outfit.

He was wearing some of his slightly more fashionable clothes. Simple white tee and a casual blazer in grey to match. He woke up at 6 am and spent the remainder of his time before class mix and matching clothes to find the perfect match. Maybe some mental breakdowns were involved in process but he emerged victorious. He didn't even know why he cared so much to put effort into looking good. Since when did he start to care about the little things?

"Oh, I just felt like it."

"We all know why, Brett. God, you're so easy to read, it's adorable." Jade pinched his cheek.

"Stop that." Brett whined as he tried to swat Jade's hand away.

"I think it's 'cause of someone whose name starts with an E," Ryan said teasingly in a singsong manner.

Brett rolled his eyes and sighed. "Cmon, let's go to the cafeteria before all the tables are taken."

They were bantering along the way, as usual, when Brett noticed a familiar figure sitting on a bench in the park near the cafeteria. 'Isn't that Eddy?'
He smiled brightly at the sight of his friend. His heart beat in ways he never felt before. 'What is this weird feeling?' He put a hand on his chest, trying to calm his heart. He was flustered. That had never happened before.

"Oh hey, that's Eddy! And.. Karen." Ryan said.

The said woman, named Karen, was pointing to something on the piece of paper Eddy was holding. They looked like they were in a discussion of some sorts. Sounded important. However, this "Karen" seemed rather.. audacious. She seemed to have no respect for personal space whatsoever and the way she laughed.. utterly gregarious. She was sitting so close to Eddy, that one might think she was impersonating a cat. Just begging for the attention.

Okay, maybe that was an overstatement. He quietly apologised for antagonising Karen in his mind.

Brett's heart was still beating rapidly, but for a different reason now. His face felt hot. His chest felt tight. He had his hands in fists unconsciously. The smile from before had disappeared. Is this.. anger? But why? What did it matter to him whoever Eddy was seeing?

"They sure looked super friendly huh? Did you guys know? I heard from Karen's friend that she got a crush on—" Jade rambled on before being shushed by Sara.

"Shut up, Jade." She hissed. "Brett, you're not going to go talk to him?"

Brett stared at the two people sitting, quite closely, on the bench. "No. It's fine. He seems busy. I'll be meeting him this evening anyway."

He walked away and the rest of his friends followed him in silence to the cafeteria.

—

It was time. Brett, being the nerd that he was, he came 15 minutes earlier than the promised time. He checked his hair using his phone as a mirror. He had parted it neatly but it felt a little too formal so he ruffled it up a bit. 'There. Perfectly imperfect.'

The whole thing with Karen was still fresh in his head, but he didn't wanna think about it. He just wanted to focus on enjoying the time with his best friend. Surely Eddy would feel uncomfortable talking about.. whatever that thing was with Karen in the park.

—

Brett looked at his watch, the excitement has died down a little but he was trying his best to stay optimistic. Eddy has been late before. Classic Eddy. 30 something minutes wasn't a big deal. Brett can wait a little bit longer.

After all, this was a very much anticipated hangout after over a month of very distressing academic things and schedule of all things. Could one imagine not being able to see your friend despite being in the same faculty? Their schedules were conveniently clashing to the point of parallel perfection. Not even a coincidental bump in across the campus yard.

Needless to say, a few more minutes wasn't that big of a deal for Brett.

—

"Thanks for looking through my composition for me, Ed." Her pale and slender hand lingered on Eddy's shoulder. A little too long for his comfort.

"No prob, Karen." He gave her a tight line smile.

"Owe you one, bye." She shot him a wink as she walked away and waved her hand.

Eddy waved her goodbye. Still trying his best to keep the smile on. As soon as her figure left the study room of the library, he let out a sigh, dropping the act.

'Oh god, that took way too long.'

Karen had been asking the same questions even though Eddy had been explaining to her several times over the past hour. But Eddy humoured her anyway. Because Eddy was nice.

Occasionally, she would blatantly talk about unrelated topics, in her high pitched voice. She giggled way too much, it was distracting for him to even focus on the task she originally asked for help with.

He was dealing with all of that while subtly defending from her rather obvious advances. For an instance, she leaned in so close, their faces were almost touching. Had it not been for Eddy swerving so casually to the other way to grab a document, their lips might've touched.

He has heard of the rumours. And Karen wasn't exactly being secretive about it. But he felt bad declining a request from a classmate. Plus she was one of the members of their group project. It was best to make sure they were on good terms.

He stretched his body. A little sore from sitting too long when something clicked in his head.

'Brett!'

He frantically looked at his watch. It was almost 7 pm. Brett couldn't have waited for him. He wouldn't actually wait for almost two hours at the bus stop.. right? Eddy thought.

'Isn't it raining right now?'