Andante con Brio

XXXV

Eddy had been looking forward to waking up in Brett's arms, but when he did wake up the space next to him was empty and the sun was burning hard on the roof of the tent. 
Shit, what time was it? He felt around for his phone and checked it. Eleven. And they were leaving to climb in half an hour. He pushed the sleeping bag off him quickly and shot into some shorts and a t-shirt. Shit, it was hotter than hell, already! 

To be honest he was feeling more than a little bit awkward as he made his way out of the tent and walked the couple of steps over to the circle on the tarp. All the others were there already, sipping coffee out of plastic mugs. Surely they must realise that they had been up to something the night before, no?
But then again... he knew that Lily and Matt had been too. And he didn't think that was strange, so maybe it wasn't so bad?
"Good afternoon, sleeping beauty." Todd drawled with a grin. "Got to sleep late?"
Eddy rolled his eyes at him.  
"Piss off, Todd. I need my sleep to deal with your jokes, you know."
Todd roared with laughter and pointed to the camping stove. 
"Coffee."
"Thanks."
He poured some coffee into a blue mug and sat down next to Brett. 
"Hey." he said, his hand automatically finding Brett's on the tarp between their upper legs. 
The look Brett gave him now could have started a forest fire. 
"Hey. We were wondering when to wake you. Todd was busy contemplating a pan of cold water."
Eddy grinned. 
"Considering how fucking hot that tent was getting? Not his worst idea ever."
He looked over at Lily. It was a little weird, having heard her like that last night. I mean, it's not like he didn't know she and Matt had sex, but to hear it first hand was still a little different. He really hoped none of them had heard him or Brett. She was a little pale, though, despite the heat of the sun. 
"You okay, Lils?" 
She looked at him sideways. 
"Do I look scared? Yeah, I'm a bit scared. Of falling off a rock and dying, or worse: falling and breaking something, so I can kiss my dancing career goodbye before it even starts."
Matt put his hand on her thigh and squeezed it gently. Eddy liked the way he looked at her now, kind, considerate. They seemed to be doing okay together, but at the same time he knew Matt was going to college in Sydney, not Brisbane. 
"Don't worry, Lily." Matt said. "Those ropes are super strong and those guys know what they're doing, they're not going to let you fall, I promise."
Eddy nodded. "Yeah, and if you don't want to go..." he gave a pointed look to Todd and Ian, "you don't have to either. You know that, yeah?"
She nodded feebly. "Yeah. I'll just go brush my teeth before we set off."

They all loaded into the two cars again, a bit more easily this time with just a couple of light backpacks with bottles of water and sandwiches in the boot. Ian was driving to the mountains, and Eddy automatically got into the back seat with Brett and settled into the faded grey fabric of Todd's little Toyota. 
"Hey, Bretty?" he said softly as they hit the main road towards Sydney. It was going to take a bit of time to get to the blue mountains, he knew. He didn't mind. "You can wake me up, you know, in the morning. I don't care."
Brett turned to him straight away and he smiled one of his soft, gentle smiles that were only for him. Somehow something in Brett's eyes told him that he realised instantly why he was saying this. 
"Sure thing." he said then. 
It was quiet for a long while, with one of those comfortable silences that you could have with friends you knew very well. Todd started humming faintly from the front seat. Wait, what was that? It took him a second before he recognised Dvorák's cello concerto. In the wrong key, of course. 
"Missing your instrument already, Todd?" he asked. 
Todd turned around. "To be honest, a little. That's lame, right?"
Eddy shook his head. "Nah, not lame at all. I wish I had my violin too. It just that violins and tents are not a clever combination."
"Nope, definitely not clever. But climbing's cool too, though."
Brett grinned suddenly. "Yeah maybe. We'll see. As long as I don't hurt my fingers."