The Test of Time

Six

If you have started reading this story from the beginning before Monday, August 31st, please go back and look at Addition 2 to the note at the beginning of the book before proceeding to read this chapter, as some events may upset a few of you otherwise.)

          Eddy jumped. The knock had startled him, he was so deep into his own thoughts. He took the shoulder rest off, loosened his bow, put his violin back in its case, and went downstairs. He let out a breath, glad he had let it all out through his playing. He opened the knob.

          "Hey, man!" Brett greeted him, "What were you just playing? It sounded great." Brett had been listening? It sort of made sense, he had only knocked after Eddy's last note had died away. 

           "Oh, you were listening?" Eddy asked, "I was playing Vivaldi's Concerto in A minor. How much did you hear?" He was worried. He didn't know why, though, there was no way that Brett could tell what he was feeling through just listening. However, something about his playing a moment earlier felt way too personal to share. 

          Brett's face broke into a grin, "Yeah, I was listening, how could I not? I've never heard that concerto played that way, it was incredible. As for your question, I probably heard half of the third movement?"

          Eddy froze. He mustn't let Brett find out why the piece sounded so different. Conceal, don't feel, right? "Well, thanks," He knew that he should be much more appreciative of the high praise from Brett, but at the moment, he just needed to change the subject, "So, are we going to go eat first or record first?" 

          "It's whatever you want to do, Eddy," Brett replied, "I really don't care. I'm hungry enough to eat now, but I could also wait. Ya know?" 

          Eddy laughed at Brett's rambling, "We should probably record first, even though I haven't eaten yet today." 

          "Oooh, you're giving me suspense to where you're taking me to eat?" Brett teased, in a joking tone. 

           Seriously, was Brett doing this just to get on his nerves? Eddy wondered. This was the second time today that Brett had done something to stir up the butterflies inside of Eddy's stomach. It wasn't fair that Brett could do this to him without feeling anything. If Eddy tried it on Brett, he knew his heart would shatter. 

          Outwardly, Eddy just rolled his eyes and walked into the recording studio with Brett in tow. They sat down together, just like they had the day before. "What are we recording today?" Eddy asked.

          "Emotions charades," Brett answered with a smile, "I got Jordan to fix us up some cards." 

          Eddy was a bit relieved, and felt the knot in his stomach loosen. He knew that it was unlikely Brett would pick anything that involved physical or eye contact, both of which he knew he would not be able to handle right now, but having it confirmed was comforting. He turned on the camera and they sped through their intro. 

          "Scissors, paper, rock," they played, to determine who would play first. Brett won. His turn to play went smoothly. He played 'happiness', 'surprise', 'frustrated', 'desperate', 'shocked', and 'disgusted'. Eddy guessed most of them with reasonable speed. He found that it was easier to focus today, considering he had to use a lot of mental energy to connect the dots between piece and emotion, so he didn't have enough mind space to think of Brett.

        Then, it was Eddy's turn. He was to play, 'proud'. He sure as heck didn't feel proud of the emotions that were swirling around in his head and stomach. He puffed up his chest, trying to manifest emotions that weren't there. He learned quickly, though, that fake emotions don't come out well through playing, only real ones. 

          'Anxious', this one was easy. When they normally played charades, Eddy didn't try to display his current mental state through his playing. He wasn't slowly loosing sanity because of feelings toward his best mate when they normally played charades though, either. He let his fear of Brett finding out flow through his arms, into his bow and controlling his vibrato. 

          Eddy pulled the next card out of the bag. 'Relaxed'. Really? He imitated what he had just done for 'anxious', while doing the opposite action right after. 

           'Sorrowful', was his next pull. The guilt he felt was translating itself into sadness, and playing it was easy. His vibrato matched what it had been doing while playing Vivaldi's concerto in A Minor earlier. He began to get nervous then, Brett hand't gotten any emotions pertaining to romance. If he got any of those, he was done for.

          Fortunately, he got, 'angry' next. He played Vivaldi's Summer with all his might. Through it, he showed that he was angry at himself for the feelings he was harboring. He wished it would all stop, that it would all go away. Of course, that was not the case, though.

          He pulled out, 'Passionate'. He looked at the card intently. He knew what he was supposed to play, but in an attempt to crush his feelings, he turned it into being passionate about work stuff. Brett couldn't guess it.

          Eddy almost screamed aloud when the next card he pulled was, 'love'. He had about had enough of this game. His mind blanked, and panic set in. He had no idea what to play. He lifted his bow and just let this sad, melancholy string of notes ring out. Brett looked confused. Eddy tried to make the melody a bit more gentle, lively. He wasn't playing any piece, he was just playing what he felt. His mind took over then, he started composing in his head, having the notes make sense. He played and played, letting the melody go from lively to extremely sorrowful. He incorporated techniques from his favorite composers that they used to convey a message. 

          Brett's look of confusion slowly, but surely, melted away. He listened to the melody for a few more bars, then looked up at Eddy. His eyes shone, and behind them, Eddy saw understanding. How much understanding Brett had, Eddy didn't know. Brett held Eddy's gaze, then guessed correctly, "Love".