The Test of Time

Three

(If you have started reading this story from the beginning before Monday, August 17th, please go back and look at Addition 1 to the note at the beginning of the book before proceeding to read this chapter, as the formatting won't make sense to you otherwise.)

          After Hana, Eddy hadn't had many romantic interactions with any girls until he joined the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. During his second year with the organization, he had met Jen, a beautiful bassoonist. She fell for him first, and kept dropping obvious hints that she liked him, to which Eddy was completely oblivious. Brett ended up being the one to tell Eddy that Jen liked him. 

          He was sitting on his couch with Brett to his left, watching some Marvel movie in which Hawkeye and Laura were sharing a loving scene. "I wish that I had someone to love on like that,' Eddy commented.

          Brett laughed. "You do realize that Jen from orchestra has the biggest crush on you, right?" He asked, as if they were teenagers again, discussing who liked who. 

          Eddy almost dropped his bowl of popcorn to the floor. "What?" He asked, genuinely shocked. "Jen? The blonde haired, blue eyed, perfectly curved bassoonist?" 

          Brett nodded and laughed at Eddy again. "You really had no idea, did you? Wow, you're as oblivious as they come."

          Eddy stuck his tongue out at Brett. "Last time I checked, you were more oblivious than me. How do you know for certain she likes me?"

         Brett looked sheepish and didn't answer immediately. After a grilling look from Eddy, he broke into a grin. "Okay, okay. Mal told me." 

          Mallory was their mutual friend from high school. She had played violin for years, then abruptly switched to viola. Brett, Eddy, and many of the other first violinists she played with grilled her about it at first, but then shut up because even through moving up Youth Orchestra levels and then professional orchestra, she retained the seat as Principal violist.

          "What does Mal know about that?" Eddy shot, "She doesn't know everything!"

          Brett smiled mischievously. He pulled out his phone, and before Eddy could stop him, told Siri to call Mallory. The phone rang four times, but eventually, she answered.

          "Hey, bro, wassup?" She asked.

          "Hey Mal," Brett replied, "How well do you know Jen the bassoonist?"

          "Pretty well," Mallory answered thoughtfully, "Not as well as I know most of the orchestra, but pretty well all the same. Why, is this about what I told you the other day?"

          "Maaaaybe," Brett admitted, "Eddy doesn't believe that Jen likes him."

          "EDDY, YOU DOUBT MY SKILLS?" Mallory screamed in fake anger, "YOU KNOW I'M THE BEST MATCHMAKER AROUND! Also, I am a member of the female gender, so, I do kinda know when another girl has feelings for someone." 

          Brett raised his eyebrows at Eddy, telling him to acknowledge the truth in what Mallory had said.  "Thanks, Mal! I'll talk to you later, maybe the three of us can grab lunch soon?"

          Mallory laughed, "Yeah, sure!"

          As it turned out, Mal had been right, and Eddy ended up falling for Jen. They dated for three years before she broke up with him. Eddy tried not to let himself remember that night right then, but of course, the mind hates you when you're trying to go to sleep. He replayed the painful events of that night.

          After they had eaten, Eddy was driving Jen home. They were listening to Bach, and both were swaying to the music. When they got to Jen's house, Eddy walked around the car and walked her to the door. He leaned in for a goodbye kiss, but she pushed him away. In surprise, he gave her a questioning glance. 

          "Eddy, no...I- I don't know how to tell you this..." She started. Eddy waited for her to continue, his eyes growing wide. "I don't think we can go on with this," She managed, "I am not happy with this anymore. I went out with this other bassoonist, Jackie, and he and I have a lot more in common than we do, so I-"

         Eddy cut her off, angrily, "So you cheated on me?" He asked. 

          "Well, yes, but-" She tried.

          "But nothing!" Eddy exclaimed. "You cheated on me. You went out with another man. I gave you everything, Jen!" He tried to continue, but tears were welling up in his eyes. Jen took advantage of his silence.

          "Gave me everything? Like what? Sure, you may have done things for me, but that isn't giving. I'm breaking up with you, if that wasn't clear already." She said nonchalantly.

          Eddy turned away from her and ran back to his car. He drove away with the tears spilling from his eyes. 

           Eddy pulled out his phone to try and distract himself again. All he could see was Brett's contact picture staring him in the face, Brett's instagram profile picture, and Brett's facebook banner. He groaned in frustration, put his phone down, and

//

slid his right hand under the waistband of his sweatpants. He felt himself through the fabric of his boxers, and knew this was the release he needed right now. He pulled the elastic of the boxers down, and wrapped his hand around his half-hard member. He began to move his hand, up and down, slowly at first, trying to think of anything but Brett. He failed at that, and as soon as his thoughts did turn to Brett, he became fully hard and began moving his hand faster. Eddy gave up on trying to chase thoughts of Brett away, and instead focused only on chasing his orgasm. He felt his breathing get faster  as he imagined Brett's hand running through his hair, caressing his cheeks, and feeling his muscles. He could handle it no more when he thought of Brett kissing him. He shot strings of white all over his hand and moaned. As he came down from his high, he realized what he had just done. As he got himself cleaned up,

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he resolved to call Mallory the next morning to ask her what the heck was wrong with him. He stood up from his bed and walked to the shower for the second time that night. He couldn't believe he had just jerked to the thought of his best mate kissing him. he tried his best to chase those thoughts out of his head and washed himself as fast as possible. 

          As he dried off and got into clean pajamas, he suddenly felt full of guilt. He felt awful. Maybe that phone call didn't have to wait until the morning, he needed someone to talk to now.