Archive of Our Own

For Eddy, he didn’t mind running late anywhere. He has always been late to everything. But this time, he knew he would get enough scolding to chew his ear off. As he biked across town, he frantically kept looking back and forth from his wristwatch to the road. He was already 30 minutes late because of his late chemistry lecture. He let out a string of whispered expletives and started pedaling faster. 

As he reached the house’s porch, he let his bike drop down on the clean-cut grass and firmly knocked on the door. After a minute, the door finally swung open to reveal his friend with a hand on her hip.

“Eddy! You’re 30 minutes late.”

“I know! I am sorry. I didn’t mean to. Professor Ford was talking too much during chemistry class. But I brought the stuff!” Eddy explained, fishing the walkie-talkie out of his backpack. 

She grabbed the item and inspected it. “This just came out?”

“Yes, just did. This week, actually.” Eddy was glad Sophie had already forgotten. 

“Good, we’re going to need that. So, you were late because you grabbed one of these for me?” Or not.

Eddy desperately shook his head no. “I told you, chemistry class. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been late. Besides, I already bought that 3 days ago. I just keep forgetting to give it to you.”

She grabbed his shoulder while rolling her eyes to haul him inside the house. “Don’t be a smart-ass; you still would be late regardless. I am your best friend, besides Brett, I guess. Don’t think I can’t read you when you lie.”

He took another look around along the picture frames neatly arranged and plastered all around the walls of her house. Her house was huge, and she was undeniably rich. Infinitely better than the small house his family had. Despite their differences, she never made Eddy feel like they weren’t equal with each other. 

“My parents aren’t home, so we can have a lot of fun today,” she excitedly exclaimed. Her bedroom was at the end of the long hallway that Eddy was already familiar with. “Before you ask, yeah, they’re on a business trip again, but I am not alone; my sister will come home a bit later from university. I wish I was in university. She’s always in parties there.”

She opened her pink door and practically shoved Eddy inside the room. “I specifically picked this day when my parents wouldn’t be home and we’d be alone.”

Eddy sat on the soft bed, lightly bouncing in the process. “Why? Is something the matter?”

“I haven’t told anyone about this, and I am not even sure why I am telling you,” she whispered lowly even though it was just the two of them inside the whole house. “It’s a really big thing. A big deal, rather. You can’t tell anyone else. Even Brett.”

Eddy frowned. “Okay? I don’t think Brett would be interested anyway. So, what is it?”

“That was rude. Anyway, promise me you won’t judge me,” she said, joining him on her bed, sitting cross-legged in front of him. 

“When did I ever judge you, Sophie?”

He watched as his friend, Sophie, flushed in embarrassment, looking hesitant. She didn’t answer and handed him a letter instead. 

“I just…?” 

“Yeah, open it,” she confirmed. He gently unfolded the paper and read the letter out loud.

“My dearest Sophie… I’ve been missing you. Things have been busy during basketball practice, but I’ll be sure to clear up my schedule for you this weekend. How about the movies? Just you and I.” Eddy frowned deeply as he read it. “Love, Josh.”

When he glanced back at Sophie, her face was all red. “What is this…?”

“It’s Josh!” Sophie answered, as if it was common sense.

As Eddy processed the whole thing, he gasped in awe. “You have a boyfriend?!”

“Yes! That was what I was trying to tell you.”

Eddy handed the letter back to her. “Why would you be embarrassed about it, Sophie? It’s normal to have a boyfriend, and it’s normal to tell your friends about it. Even though, I am your only guy friend.”

She sighed. “I am embarrassed because I told you multiple times that I hated his guts! That I’d never date a jock guy like him. Also, my parents would kill me if they found out that I have a boyfriend.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Okay, so, how exactly did you guys start dating?”

Sophie visibly twirled her braids as she recalled. “You know how I have a paper on sports writing stuff for my club, right? The journalism club?”

“Oh…yeah, that.” Eddy nodded.

“Well, I was on the bleachers, writing stuff, and then, suddenly he was just behind me, reading my paper out loud,” Sophie chuckled to herself. “I told him to back off or I’ll smack him with my bag, but he was just smiling at me. He knew I needed to interview a school athlete and he volunteered himself.”

Eddy scoffed. “That sounded a lot like a romance movie.”

“That’s because of the alarming amounts of romance movies you watch with Brett during the weekends,” Sophie rolled her eyes. “Anyway, yeah, after I submitted the paper, he just asked me to go out, and we’ve been dating ever since. I never thought it was that easy to have a boyfriend. Years ago, I would’ve thought it was impossible.”

“That’s really sweet, Sophie. I am glad that he wasn’t what you thought he was.”

Sophie smiled. “He really wasn’t. I thought all of them were assholes, but he was so nice. Although….”

“Although….?” Eddy trailed off. 

“Besides that, I want your help to do something. Something that we’ve talked about a long time ago. I don’t even know if you remember it.”

Eddy nodded slowly. “I’ll do it as long as it doesn’t involve you sneaking out in the middle of the night to go on a date with him because you know how scared I am of your dad, and I can’t lie flawlessly like you do.”

“No! It isn’t that.” Sophie held his hand dramatically. “I want to do a boyfriend test on him.”

Eddy’s eyes widened. “The boyfriend test? The boyfriend test we’ve been planning for years now for when you get a boyfriend?”

“Yes, that one.”

“Chills, I almost forgot we did that.”

“So, are you in? Or are you out?” Sophie shook his shoulder. “Please tell me, you’re in and you have to join me, so I don’t feel lonely.”

Eddy stared at her, confused. “Okay, I am in, obviously. But I don’t see why I should join you for real. I think of it as I would help you observe him, you know, with the questions we made.”

“You don’t want to join? You don’t want to do the boyfriend test on someone?”

He looked at her as if she had grown two heads in the span of one minute. “Are you love-hazy right now? Did you forget I don’t even have boyfriend or a girlfriend? Won’t me having a boyfriend be gross?”

“Why would it be gross?” 

“Because it’s not normal. I should be with a girl.”

Sophie scoffed. “Who cares about what’s normal and what isn’t? We’re like sixteen now, and it’s the 90s; they just need to get over it.”

“You know what people would say.” Eddy hesitated. “It’s not a good thing. I know it’s not a good thing.”

Sophie nodded; she understood what he meant. “But it wouldn’t be gross if it was Brett you’re doing the boyfriend test on, right?”

Eddy paused to think. She was right, surprisingly; he suddenly didn’t mind if it was Brett. They’d been best friends since childhood, after all. If Sophie wanted him to join her, he could work with that. Finally, after some thinking, he nodded to Sophie, and the girl squealed out loud, jumping up and down on her queen-sized bed. 

“Stop, you’re going to break the bed from jumping!” Eddy laughed, toppling over as he clutched on his stomach. 

“No chicken now, okay? Once you’re in, you can’t back out. We start next week. I’ll have to look for the list first. I remember we wrote it on a paper and had it on my time capsule box, right?” Sophie rummaged through her drawers. “It’s a bit boring, isn’t it? I just thought of something.”

She paused, turning around to look at him again. “What if we score our boyfriends, and at the end of the test, we grade them and compare them? The one who wins would have to go on a date.”

“But Brett’s not really my boyfriend. At least not like you and Josh.” 

“Okay fine then, for you two, it would be a hangout instead of a date. How’s that?” Sophie flung her arm, turning back to look for the list in her drawers. 

“I guess that’s more appropriate.”

1. He goes out of his way to spend time with you even when he has other important responsibilities.

“Sophie, are you there?” Eddy clicked the button on the walkie-talkie as he spoke through the line. He held the speaker up to his ear and pulled the antenna further to get more signal. “Sophie?”

“Yes! I am here, got any problem encountered with the test?”

“How are we going to assign points for each question?” he whispered into the device as he walked to the cafeteria after his biology exam. “So, we can get the total in the end and compare their scores.”

“Hmm… Good question. I think we should just rate them out of 10 for each.”

Eddy nodded in agreement. “I agree. So, that’s settled. How are you dealing with yours?”

“I know he’s got an important last basketball practice this Wednesday, and I’ll ask him on late notice to go shop with me at the mall. That’ll work. How about you?”

He sighed as he got a tray and lined up with the other students at the counter to grab his food. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t even seen him today. I’ll update you when I do it. I am sure it’s going to be easy with Brett.”

“Alrighty then! Over and out!”

“Over and out.”

“Would you like the pizza with broccoli?” The bored looking lunch lady asked him in a monotone voice. Eddy felt awkward and decided to get it. As he finished up with his tray, he looked for a table to eat on. 

Frankly, he didn’t exactly know why he agreed to Sophie’s plan. After all, she’s the only one who actually would get something out of this. He thought he would just help her observe Josh but it didn’t turn out like that at all. He sighed, taking a bite out of his stale pizza as he zoned out. 

“Eddy!” He would recognize that voice anywhere. As he looked towards the voice, there was a figure running towards him. “Found you! Sorry, I took so long. I helped the professor carry her stuff to the faculty.”

“Oh, Brett. I haven’t seen you this morning,” he said, scooting over to make room for Brett. Even though there was another chair in front, he knew Brett would rather sit beside him. “How are you?” 

The other boy was all smiles, like the sun itself. He slid on the chair next to Eddy with his own tray. Somehow, his own tray looked healthier and fuller than Eddy’s despite having the same exact contents.

“Busy, but it’s all good,” the other boy answered. “How about you? What are you up to? I see you’ve got the new version of the talkie there. You didn’t tell me you were going to buy one; I would’ve gone with you so we could get the pair package.”

Eddy chewed on his crusty pizza mouthful as he answered. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve already got the pair with Sophie.”

Brett paused, frowning. “Sophie? Did you get the pair version with her?” 

“Yeah, we’re using it to communicate. We just used it a while ago before you came. It’s actually a pretty good model. I could hear her very well.”

The other boy quieted down, settling on his seat. “I see. That’s good that you’re getting along with her so much that you would get the pair of walkie-talkies with her.”

Eddy noticed he sounded off, but he figured it must’ve been because he was exhausted. He knew Brett would tell him if he wasn’t feeling well. Other than that, he knew Sophie and Brett weren’t that close with each other even though he’d tried so hard to make them friends as well. It just never worked, and Brett always seemed so quiet around her. 

“By the way, what were you saying about your family dinner?” Eddy reminded. They were talking about Brett’s schedule this week last night when suddenly Brett’s mom called for him to sleep, and their conversation through the telephone was abruptly cut off.  

Brett shrugged. “Yeah, well, I don’t really want to go. I have a lot of aunties and uncles there that I don’t even remember. But you know, my mother’s strict, and I have to be there as an obligation, or else she’d kill me.”

It was as if a lightbulb had lit inside of Eddy’s head as he lightly touched Brett’s arm. “That’s on Wednesday, right? I actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to get ice cream with me during that day, but I guess it can’t be helped. Family is more important.”

Brett’s mouth flung open, and he stuttered. “Oh… well…”

“It’s fine, Brett—“

“I’ll go with you,” Brett blurted out without hesitation, cutting off Eddy mid-sentence. Eddy was surprised, to say the least. Brett had never missed a family dinner before. Certainly not for a mere ice cream hangout. “It’s fine; I’ll just have to make an excuse to my mother.”

Eddy nodded. “You know she won’t agree. You’re going to get scolded pretty badly.”

“I’ll pretend to be deathly sick to not go.” Eddy could hear the clear determination from Brett’s voice.

“But why? You never cancelled before, why do you wanna go with me now instead?” Eddy’s pizza hung sloppily on the tray as he starts to neglect it, processing Brett’s words.

Brett looked as if he was going to say something but decided on something else. “Because you asked me to go out. I never turn down hangouts when it comes to you.”

That’s already a check on the checklist, Eddy thought to himself. He sighed, surprised. “Oh, well. I am glad to hear, but you sure it’ll be fine?”

Brett shrugged and took a bite of his own cheese pizza. “Sure. I can handle it.” He peeked at Eddy’s own tray and frowned in confusion at the choice of toppings. “Did you really choose broccoli on your pizza, or were you too kind to refuse the lunch lady?”

Eddy sighed, slouching on his seat. “The latter. You know I hate veggies. She looked like she needed more people to eat it, I don’t know. I felt bad that nobody else was getting it. She put all her efforts into making them.”

“Well, then—“ Brett grabbed both of their trays and smoothly switched it using his two hands. “I can eat for you if you don’t want it.”

Eddy’s face lit up. “Really? But why? You also don’t like veggies?”

“Eh, I could use some. I need to be healthier for my clubs. I can handle it better than you do,” Brett said, taking a huge bite of Eddy’s crusty broccoli pizza. If he didn’t like it, he certainly showed no signs of it. “This surely isn’t that bad.”

The other chuckled. “Maybe eating pizza is not the best start to your health journey.”

“I am eating pizza with vegetables, though.” Eddy playfully shoves him in response as he exaggerates chewing the pizza. Eddy didn’t even know you could get this happy with another human being until he met Brett. With Brett, everything was just easy. Laughing is as easy as breathing. Every moment he has with Brett, he never wants it to end, ever. So, he always cherishes it with all of his heart.

“Anyway, what would we be doing after getting ice cream?” Brett asked, finishing up on the pizza he’s holding in his hand. 

Eddy started digging in his salad; it looked good. “I don’t know. Maybe we could go to the mall? Do some comic book shopping or maybe go to the record store? Just anything. I’ll be fine with anything as long as we’re hanging out.”

“Sure, that sounds good,” Brett responded as he sipped on his orange juice. “I almost forgot. I was meant to ask you what you did over the weekend. I am sorry we weren’t able to hang out; my mother needed some help with groceries and stuff around the house. Even my brother got forced to stay in and cancel on his friend’s birthday party.”

“Dude, that’s a bummer, but I don’t think you two have a choice with your mother anyway,” Eddy winced. “Well, I went to Sophie’s since her parents were out on a business trip, and we just hung out.”

Brett paused while sipping on his straw. “Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What did you guys do?” Brett asked, creases starting to form on his forehead. 

Eddy shrugged, trying to play it cool. “Nothing interesting. We just talked.”

“About what?”

He sighed. “About… Sophie’s crushes, or something of that sort. She can’t really talk about it to her other friends, so she mostly talks to me. I am not supposed to reveal that to you, but I never said the name. That should be fine.”

The other stared at him before looking away and nodding. He didn’t know why Brett acted like that. He and Sophie had always hung out before during weekends. However, he figured that now’s not the time to ask him. He already tried multiple times before, but Brett always brushed it off and changed the subject.

“I see, that’s good,” Brett said, plainly, returning to his own tray of food.

Eddy couldn’t help it; he decided to ask. “Brett, why do you always act like that whenever I mention that I was with Sophie or I talked to Sophie? Is there something wrong? Something that’s been bothering you?”

“What? No! There’s nothing wrong,” Brett defensively answered. “I was just really curious since you’re my best friend and all. You don’t really talk much about your hang outs with Sophie.”

“I understand that, but I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me. I don’t know if you’re mad at Sophie or you have a crush on her.”

Brett leaned further back, staring at Eddy as if he had grown two heads. “No, I don’t like her like that, and no, I don’t hate her either. I just thought it would be a bit weird that you went to her house and it was just the two of you there. It’s not a big deal; I just wanted to ask.”

“What, you think we made out or something? That’s absurd,” Eddy scoffed, realizing how ridiculous he sounded.

The other boy looked horrified. “No…”

“Brett, we did not make out. We would never. We’re just friends. She’d probably gag at the thought of it.”

“I know, and even if you did, you don’t have to tell me.”

Eddy scoffed once more. “I promise, nothing happened. We just talked, and she told me about her crushes. Just how friends talk and hang out.”

Brett raised both of his arms to surrender, laughing. “Okay! Okay! I believe you. Besides, I wasn’t implying that, not really. Even if you did, it would be good for you to have a girlfriend, and Sophie would be a nice pick.” Brett looked away as he said it, glancing over the other people at the cafeteria. 

“Sophie would never be my girlfriend. Again, that’s absurd. That’s like dating my sister,” Eddy chuckled, finishing his salad. “We were actually planning for a surprise for our other friend.”

“Is it a friend I know?”

“I don’t think so. They’re Sophie’s friend that became a little acquainted with me when I hung out at her house one time.”

“Oh, I see.”

Their conversation was harshly interrupted by the loud ringing of the bell, echoing throughout the cafeteria. Some of the students rushed out quickly with their friends, while some ignored the bell. Both of them quickly gathered their things and disposed of their trays back in the counter. They decided to walk together to their next class. Their next classes were right next to each other. Brett had Math, and Eddy had English next. 

They paused beside the door to Eddy’s next class. His classmates were already coming in, situating themselves to their usual seats.

“I guess I’ll see you later,” Brett said. “Don’t forget about the Wednesday ice cream and mall hang out, okay? I’ll be by this door as soon as my class ends, and we can walk home together.”

Eddy nodded, smiling brightly at his friend. “Sure! Go to your class now, or you’ll be late.”

“It’s just next door. See ya!”

“See ya!” Eddy waited until Brett had gone inside before heading in himself, with their English professor just behind him.

As soon as he got home, he prepared his walkie-talkie to communicate with Sophie. He pulled the antenna from the device and pressed the button to locate his friend.

“Eddy, wash up now and get straight to bed!” his mother called from downstairs. “You still have school tomorrow, so don’t stay up late!”

“Okay, Mom! I am just calling my friend!” he answered, waiting to hear Sophie’s voice from the other line. As if on cue, a static noise formed from the device. He pressed on the button again and spoke to the microphone. 

“Ed-Eddy!” Sophie’s voice came through.

He pressed it again to answer. “Sophie! The signal’s not really good, but I can hear you! Did you manage to ask him?”

“Not quite yet…..I feel nervous even though he’s literally…..my boyfriend…..I am slightly hinting at it, though. How about you? Did you tell Brett something?” The line was static-y, but he could still vaguely understand what she was talking about. “I bet you already did.”

Eddy smiled. “Yeah, I asked him to have an ice cream hangout, and he said yes even though he had an important family dinner on Wednesday. He’s probably going to call me later to tell me what happened. I know his mother will scold him for cancelling.”

“Isn’t it past your bedtime by then?” Sophie asked; she was moving around her room. Eddy suspected she was doing her homework. 

“I’ll just have to sneak. You know I can’t miss a call from Brett. He has strict parents, but he still goes out of his way to talk to me.”

Sophie laughed, scribbling on her papers. “You two sound like teenagers who have a secret romantic relationship with each other with how you guys are moving.” The audio finally cleared up on the walkie talkie. “It’s actually really romantic.”

Eddy flushed. “No, we’re not!”

“Uh-uh, I can basically hear you blushing through the walkie-talkie,” she teased. “You know, you can just admit that you like him. I won’t judge you. It’ll be a secret between the two of us.”

Eddy sat there, frozen. He didn’t know what to reply. “I don’t know… Sophie…”

“Eddy, you obviously like him. You practically glow whenever we talk about him.” Sophie sighed, taking a break from writing. 

He shuffled around, feeling uneasy. “Wouldn’t that be wrong? My parents would definitely get mad at me, and I don’t think he likes me like that.”

Sophie sighed. “Eddy, come on. It seriously never crossed your mind that he might like you back? Hell, from an outsider’s point of view, I would 100% assume he was the one who has a crush on you and not the other way around. I think he definitely likes you back.”

Eddy frowned. “Sophie, how long have you thought about this?”

He could hear her struggle to find her words. “I suspected it…. not so long ago…”

“Is this why you wanted me to do the boyfriend test, too?” Eddy crossed his arms, as if Sophie could see him. “You were so persistent in me joining you, and I never saw the point why I should because I didn’t have a significant other in the first place.”

“Totally…. not….”

“You know I can tell that you’re lying, right?” Eddy furrowed his eyebrows.

Sophie sighed deeply. “Who cares? Maybe this is your chance to see if he’s a good potential boyfriend? I am giving you an opportunity here. This is the perfect one!”

He groaned, burrowing his head on his pillow, groaning loudly. “You know how he’s always kind of weird whenever I talk about me hanging out with you? I feel like he likes you instead of me, which is sort of weird now that you’re pushing me onto him.”

“What?! No. He definitely likes you and hates me to death. What did he say earlier?” Sophie almost screamed into the device. 

“First of all, every time I mention it, he gets all weird and fidgety and starts avoiding my eyes. I talked to him about it, and he thinks we’re together or something? I keep telling him that would never happen, but it seems like he’s not even listening to me. He keeps pushing us together. Am I hallucinating it? There’s got to be something happening there, right?” Eddy lifted his head from his pillow as he told the story. 

The other line was quiet for so long that Eddy thought maybe Sophie fell asleep.

“I see… that’s very, very interesting,” she said, slowly. “Actually, Eddy, I gotta go. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“What, for real? Okay, see you, then,” Eddy said, taken aback by Sophie’s sudden behavior. It didn’t sound like anything serious, though. “Over and out.”

This day was on his side when he heard the lights in his parents’ bedroom switch off. He knew they were already in bed, and he could sneak downstairs to grab the telephone and answer Brett’s call. He felt like a ninja as he sped through the stairs quietly and slid near the kitchen where the phone was located. He almost stepped on the creaky floorboard, but thankfully, he was all too familiar with the layout of their house. 

He sat there near the telephone, glancing at the clock. Brett always called him exactly at 9PM without fail. He often sits there, waiting for the phone to ring, so he can swiftly snatch it before his parents could hear it. Today was no different.

Kringgg!—

“Brett!” Eddy greeted as he snatched the phone. He nervously glanced towards his parents’ bedroom. As soon as the coast was clear, he turned his full attention to the phone call. However, he could hear his sister’s footsteps walking around her own bedroom. He knew he didn’t have to worry about her, though. “Hi, sorry. That was a bit loud. Are you there?”

“No, it’s fine. It’s good to hear your voice again,” Brett replied. 

Eddy chuckled, hugging his knees, burying his chin in them. “You always hear my voice every single day and every single night.”

Brett chuckled back. He sounded sleepy. “It’s hardly enough for me.”

“Good news for you, I’ll go to school tomorrow, and we can see each other and get ice cream and go to the mall.” Eddy rolled his eyes sarcastically, hiding his fondness for the other. “You sound like you need some sleep; maybe we should actually sleep.”

“No, no. I wanted to talk to you about the reunion tomorrow.” Brett shifted on his feet.

Eddy nodded, his expression growing serious. “Okay, go ahead. What did she say?”

“As I expected, she was mad. Although, she knows she can’t do anything about it if I say I am sick.”

He winced. “How mad?”

“You know when your mom is like, disappointed in you and mad at the same time? Yeah, she looked exactly like that. She’s probably going to tell me to do all of the chores for a week. I bet my brother will be celebrating.” He could tell Brett was nervously glancing around for a sign of his parents while talking to him on the phone. Eddy decided that they should just call it a night.

He stood up on his feet. “I am sorry, Brett. I told you we could do it some other time.”

“Like I said, I really wanted to.”

“Let’s just go to bed,” Eddy suggested, worried about Brett’s state. “We can talk again tomorrow morning.”

“Are you mad at me?” he said in a small voice.

Eddy frowned, holding tightly on the telephone. “No way. Why would I be mad?”

“Because you want to go to bed instead of talking to me.”

“I am not mad and that’s not true. I am worried about you because I know you keep glancing around for your parents. If they find out we’re still talking right now, they’re probably going to punish you more. So, I think we should just go to bed so you’ll finally have some relaxation,” Eddy explained in a soft, low tone. “Please? I promise, we’ll see each other again. We’re getting ice cream, remember? We can’t let your sacrifice be in vain.”

Brett sighed. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“But wait, how are you going to meet me?” Eddy asked. 

“That’s my own problem to solve, you don’t have to worry about that. Besides, I am a ninja, you know. I’ll be there before you know it and I’ll be back before they notice I am gone,” He chuckled. “Like a ghost.”

Eddy laughed back, still lowering the volume of his voice. “Okay, ghost ninja. I’ll see you; goodbye.”

2. He initiates physical touch even when it is not necessary.

“So? What happened? Did you ask him?” Eddy asked, as the two of them sat down at the bleachers. Sophie insisted that they should watch Josh’s basketball practice. She said Eddy should join him since they will be tallying the scores for the first test. 

Sophie glanced at Josh in the court, smiling at her boyfriend. “Yeah, I asked him. It’s negative, though. He said it was an important practice, and we should reschedule on Thursday. It’s fine with me, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but he didn’t pass the test, technically.”

Eddy nodded. “That’s still sweet, though. He really does want to spend time with you if he went out of his way to reschedule it.”

“Brett definitely got a perfect score for you,” Sophie said, lightly bumping his shoulder. “Since he totally skipped his important family dinner for your date.”

Eddy shrugged. “I am 100% giving him a perfect score. I mean, he just risked getting punished and scolded for a stupid hangout. Even I can’t believe he would do that for me. He told me last night he got the disappointed stare from his mother.”

Sophie frowned. “He’d take a bullet for you, Eddy. Seriously, he will.”

“That’s a bit dramatic, Sophie. He won’t.”

Sophie rolled her eyes playfully, looking back at her boyfriend. “Isn’t he just perfect?”

Eddy showed her an awkward smile. “Sure, that’s your man. Well, should we score them now?”

She retrieved the journal from her bag containing the questions that they made. “I would score 6 for Josh and 10 for Brett, what do you say?”

Scores:

Josh - 6 points

Brett - 10 points

“Hm, I guess that’s fair,” Eddy shrugged, nodding. He peered over her shoulder as Sophie wrote the scores beside the question. “Okay, so what’s next?”

She flipped the page and read the text out loud, just enough for the two of them to hear. “It says here, initiates physical contact even when it is not necessary. That’s a good one. That would definitely spice things up.”

Eddy paused for a moment amidst the noisy basketball court. “I don’t think Brett has ever initiated a lot of touches. It might be me who does.”

The other girl shrugged. “Maybe you’re just not attentive enough, or even better, maybe it has become such a natural occurrence that when it happens, you don’t even notice. I am pretty sure I’ve seen Brett initiate physical contact with you a lot of times. I mean, he always pulls you.”

“Does that count?” he asked.

“Of course, it does! Duh! That’s still physical contact, and he initiated it,” Sophie defended. “We should observe them for a week, don’t you think? Just so we’d have more occurrences to analyze.”

The other agreed. “That’s a good idea. We should. Also, should we take note of the exact things they did so we can decide better on the score?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, too,” Sophie agreed. “Oh, wait. By the way, don’t you have English class next?”

Eddy glanced at his watch. “Shit, I do! I have 5 minutes left to get there. I’ll ring you later on the walkie! Good luck on your task!” He gathered all of his stuff and shoved everything inside his backpack. Sophie just nodded behind and waved at him goodbye before turning her full attention to her boyfriend’s practice game. 

David’s Frozen Delights

“I probably aced that chemistry exam. I really did study my butt off for that,” Brett ranted as he sipped on his milkshake. They were both sitting inside their favorite ice cream shop to hang out in. As promised, their ice cream plan pushed through. 

Eddy nodded, listening to his rant, as he grabbed a spoonful of his chocolate sundae. “You definitely will. I don’t doubt it. When you study hard for something, you always pass.”

“That’s the thing, though. The exam was difficult. Every person with a brain would agree to that, so even if I studied, I don’t know if it was enough,” Brett sighed, setting his drink down. “That doesn’t matter anymore anyway; I am just glad that we’re hanging out right now.”

The other boy smiled. “Me too.” Their table fell into a comfortable silence before Eddy broke it. 

“By the way, how’d you escape, and how are you going to get back to your house before your whole family notices that you were gone?” Eddy asked.

Brett chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. I got it all planned here.” He pointed to his head, indicating that he had everything under control inside his mind. “I just have to go back 2 hours before they drive home. You know, just to be sure that they really won’t catch me. My mom also told me to clean the whole house, so that would give me enough time.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Eddy responded. “This ice cream is really good.”

“Can I try yours, then? If it’s good,” Brett asked. “Only if you’re fine with it.”

Eddy offered him a spoonful, fully expecting Brett to grab the spoon out of his hand. Instead, Brett grabbed his hand, which held the spoon and brought it to his own mouth. From shock, Eddy just froze as Brett ate the sundae from the spoon. 

“Hm! That really is good. I should order that next time, but I am not really a huge fan of too much chocolate on stuff,” Brett said, gently letting go of his hand. “Eddy? Are you alright? You zoned out there.”

“Yeah! I am fine,” Eddy replied, the area in his hand that Brett touched burned like fireworks. “We should check that record store soon, though.”

The other boy nodded. “Yeah, let’s. Although, we do have plenty of time left to spare.”

“I don’t want to keep you too long, though,” Eddy reasoned. “If we take too long, you won’t have enough time for your plan.”

All of a sudden, Brett reached out and held the hand he had on his lap. “Don’t worry about me. Let’s just have fun. It’ll be alright. I planned all of it, remember? Of course I have backup plans, too. But if you insist, we shall. You’re probably too excited for The Cure’s new album, aren’t you?”

Eddy chuckled. “Of course, who wouldn’t be?”

“Then, you should probably hurry up with your sundae.”

“What?! You already finished your huge milkshake?!” Eddy gasped, stuffing more chocolate in his mouth. 

Brett patted his stomach. “All here.” He chuckled more as Eddy sped up. “I was just messing around. You can take as much time as you need to eat your chocolate sundae, Eddy.”

“But I really want to see the new album. What if we get there and it’s all gone?” Eddy said, munching on the chocolate bits. 

Brett decided to tease more. “They might be all gone.”

“Hey!” the other protested. “You’re mean.”

“Okay, they’re not gone. I am totally wrong!” Brett laughed. 

Eddy laughed in response. “Yeah, right!”

Dickies’ Records

“They still have it!” Eddy called Brett as he lifted the music record. “I am so buying this.”

Brett immediately rushed over to Eddy’s aisle. “Oh! You’re always lucky, aren’t you? By now, I’d assume it’s all gone. Yeah, definitely buy that.”

They’ve always loved this particular record store. Even the staff already know both of them. They always went to Dickies’ since, at the far section of the store, there are tables with mini record players each. They can play the records they buy and listen to them with their friends at one table.

“You can go ahead and sit at our table. I’ll fetch us some snacks,” Brett said. “You like a burger, fries, and a coke, right? The usual?”

Eddy nodded. “Yeah, thanks! Actually, can you add hot dogs with that? I am craving some of that today. It sounds so good.”

“Sure, that’ll be good. I’ll catch with you later,” Brett replied, heading to the snacks section. Meanwhile, Eddy picked their usual spot, near the window where they liked to people-watch while listening to the albums.

Eddy sat down. He pulled the disk out of the packaging and placed it on the record player. He fetched two headphones for the both of them. After a while, Brett came back with a tray containing both of their orders.

“You paid for it? I’ll just pay you back later,” Eddy said, as they unloaded their food from the tray. “Wow, this looks crazy good.”

Brett shook his head, sitting down. “No need to pay it back. It’s on me.”

“Really?” Eddy asked, laughing. “Well, I can’t say no to free food.”

The other boy rolled his eyes playfully. “I know that you don’t have enough money to pay it back anyway. You’ve spent all your savings on that record.”

He shrugged. “You know I love The Cure.”

“I know.” Brett reached for the headphones, putting one on his own head. “This never gets old. These beats.”

He grabbed the headphones for Eddy and, without hesitation, placed them on Eddy’s head. For the second time, Eddy froze, his eyes were tracking Brett’s movements. Brett gently adjusted the headphones on his head and retreated back. 

“Well, let’s have our first listen, then.” Brett hovered his hand above the play button, waiting for Eddy. “Eddy, are you alright?”

Eddy swallowed, rushing to press the play button. “Yeah! Let’s listen…”

“I was going to ask about your sister. Is she going to college next year?” Brett asked, taking a huge bite out of his burger.

Eddy nodded, still shell-shocked, but he was able to process his friend’s question. “Yeah. She’s going to be a music major. Mom tried to talk her out of it, but she really wanted it, and our parents couldn’t do anything about it. Her boyfriend would be a music major, too. At the same school. That’s also probably a reason why she was so adamant.”

“I see. Good for her,” Brett nodded. “Andy is going to accounting. Dad is actually happy about it. He said anything that is related to business is worth it.”

Eddy raised his eyebrows. “That’s good. He’s always been good at math, hasn’t he?”

“Totally,” Brett chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite nice for me. He always helps me with homework. Especially if it’s about math because you know how I am when it comes to math.”

Eddy chuckled in response. “Maybe Andy got all of the Yang math skills. That’s why he’s so good.”

Brett rolled his eyes, pretending to be annoyed. “And what did I get? Nothing?”

“Well, you got the looks definitely,” Eddy blurted out before thinking. He looked out of the window, berating himself mentally.

Brett paused. His eyes twinkled with something menacing. “Oh…”

“Brett, stop,” Eddy said. He knew he’d never hear the end of it.

“So, you think I am handsome, huh,” he teased.

Eddy rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Everyone does, Brett. At least every girl in my class does. Whenever you’re outside the door of our classroom to wait for me, they all squeal like crazy.”

“Really? I never noticed that,” Brett answered, busy with his food. 

“Yeah, because you’re always looking at me to pressure me to hurry up while I gather all my stuff,” Eddy chuckled.

Brett frowned, “That’s not why I—you know what? Let’s just eat and listen. Forget about that.”

3. He goes out of his way to help you even if it doesn’t concern him.

“So? What happened?” Sophie asked, her smile reaching her ears. “You got a lot of things? I mean, we did observe them for a week.”

They stayed at the farthest corner of the library, whispering to each other so that no one would hear. The two of them stupidly hid their conversation behind the books they picked. 

Eddy sighed, putting down the book to grab his list. “Hold on, I made a list so I could keep track of it.”

Sophie smirked. “That means Brett did a lot then; good for him, and certainly, good for you.”

Eddy grabbed his spiral notebook and went to the page where he wrote everything. “I actually thought I wouldn’t get much, but now that I am actively looking for the signs, it’s just right in front of me all along. I didn’t know he was a very touchy guy.”

“He’s a very touchy guy to you, Eddy. Last year, I shared a class with him in biology, and two of my group mates, Emily and Theo, accidentally touched his shoulder during the lab and he totally gave them a death glare.” 

The boy laughed quietly. “But that’s in lab. Maybe he’s irritated because of the laboratory work. I would be, too. Everyone is stressed during lab.”

“To the point where you glare at your classmates for accidentally touching your shoulders? Well, not me, that’s for sure,” she scoffed. “He might’ve been irritated, but trust me when I say he’s just really comfortable with you and no one else.”

Sophie sighed, “Well, let’s see the list.”

“Okay, so when we hung out, he initiated contact a lot of times. First was when I fed him ice cream, which he insisted on. Instead of grabbing the spoon from my hand like a normal person, he grabbed my whole hand!” Eddy whisper-yelled. “Then, he held my hand to comfort me and stuff. Then, when we were at Dickie’s, he placed the headphones on me.”

Sophie’s eyes grew wider as he read off of his notes, “That’s just—wow, I can’t believe he’s becoming so bold. Good for him, again.”

“Yeah, and when we were walking home from school, and even walking in the halls, he had always swung an arm over my shoulder. Which was a bit weird to see because of our height difference, but I really don’t give a shit about that.” He blinked. “Here and there, some gentle touches during lunch; you can read them individually if you like.”

Sophie did not hesitate to harshly grab the notebook from him as her eyes sped through the list that was written on the page. “Eddy, this is more ridiculous than I thought. You guys almost have the same amount of physical contact with me and my boyfriend!”

“I am sure not,” Eddy defended. “I saw you guys at the cafeteria; you looked like one of those stereotypical straight couples that will die if you separate them for a second.” 

“That’s a reach.”

“No, it’s not a reach. You guys were all over each other. I’d say it was gross, but you’re my close friend, and I still want to keep you around,” Eddy joked. “I am glad that you’re comfortable showing your affection, though. That’s a huge step for your relationship.”

Sophie nodded, twirling her long braided hair. “I know, right? I am really happy to be with him. He’s not like anything I first thought he would be. He was much more than that.”

“What about your list?” Eddy asked. 

Sophie picked up her notebook that was resting on the ground and handed it to Eddy. “It’s nothing revolutionary, just normal boyfriend and girlfriend things. I am sure you won’t be surprised by it anymore.”

Eddy read through the whole list, his eyes wide. “I am pretty sure some of these I am not allowed to read.”

“Are you kidding? You’re one of my best friends; of course you’re allowed to read it. Plus, these aren’t even that bad.”

“No, I meant because they’re so intimate. Is this really how it is to be in a relationship? It seems like you guys are having physical contact 24/7,” Eddy scrunched his nose. He didn’t know if he liked the idea of having a relationship at all. “I don’t know if this is really for me.”

Sophie nodded, listening intently. “I get your point. I am sure you won’t think it’s gross when you have your own relationship.”

“I don’t think it’s gross. I just probably might feel uncomfortable.”

“Brett would listen to any of your requests; you just have to have good communication with him. I am pretty sure he won’t do anything that you would be uncomfortable with.”

Eddy frowned. “We’re not sure if I am actually ending up with Brett.”

Sophie snatched her notebook from Eddy’s hands. “Oh, I am sure. You just have to see for yourself.” She stood up and extended a hand to help Eddy get on his feet. Eddy gladly accepted her hand and lifted himself off the ground. 

“Whatever,” Eddy rolled his eyes. “I think Josh should score a 10 and an 8 for Brett?”

“Yep, I agree to that.”

Scores:

Josh - 16 points

Brett - 18 points

Eddy wrote it down in his notebook. “So, the next is acts of service, I guess.”

“This is such perfect timing since we have that big project for biology class, right? Like a cell model, was it?” Sophie asked. They both talked while walking towards the library counter to return the books they borrowed properly. “I am not sure if Josh will help me. He’s not very good at arts, and he also admitted that to me the other day.”

Eddy laughed. “Jocks normally aren’t good at art. That’s why they’re in sports.”

Sophie huffed as they returned the books on the tray and headed towards the exit. “You know that’s offensive, right?”

“It’s a joke, snowflake,” Eddy scoffed. “By the way, I have to run. My partner and I for the project decided we’ll start on it today.”

“Wow, Eddy. You’re too early; that’s like due in 3 weeks,” Sophie chuckled. 

“Well, we want to have a good grade,” Eddy defended himself. 

Sophie raised her arms in surrender. “Yep, forgot you’re a huge academic achiever or whatever. I’ll meet with Josh, so see you tomorrow!” 

“See you tomorrow, Soph,” he waved goodbye as Sophie ran down the halls before getting scolded by a professor walking towards the library. Eddy couldn’t help but laugh on his way to the quadrangle. 

“Eddy, you’re here early.” He felt a soft tap on his shoulder. As he looked up, he saw Tommy’s curly ginger hair, with his usual blue-rimmed glasses. “I brought the materials we talked about.”

Eddy scooted to the side to make room for Tommy on the bench. “Oh, Tommy. Thanks, these look good.” 

“By the way, I’ve already thought about what model we should do. I think it would be easier to do a DIY if we did a bacteria cell model. What do you think? It also fits with the materials that you bought,” Eddy suggested, as Tommy unloaded the materials from the plastic. “It would be easy, too.”

Tommy sat down, nodding. “I think that’s a decent idea. I can print a reference photo from the library. I still have my library card with me.”

“Sounds good,” the other replied. “I lost mine ages ago.”

“Everyone loses their library card at some point, but I can do it myself. You can start working on the base, if you’d like,” Tommy said. “Oh, and don’t forget that we should have our names on the board base, as well as the grading rubric.”

Eddy nodded, “Alright. I can do that. Thanks, Tommy.” He waited there, starting on the board base as Tommy printed their reference photo from the library. 

“Ooh, what are you up to here all by yourself?” Eddy almost dropped his pen in surprise as Brett suddenly appeared behind him. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you. You’re jumpy these days.”

Eddy held his chest. “Brett, how did you even find me here?”

“I mean, you’re out in the open,” he chuckled handsomely. He glanced over the table, seeing another set of backpack that wasn’t Eddy’s. “Well, I guess you’re not alone, then?”

Eddy went back to his work while still talking. “Those are Tommy’s things. We’re partners for the final biology project.”

Brett nodded. “You’re doing it very early.”

“Yeah, we wanted to finish it right away and hopefully get a good grade.” He finished designing and writing their names. He littered glue all over the back of the paper and stuck it on the board. “What about you and your partner? When will you start working on it?” 

The boy shrugged, leaning on the table. “I don’t know. My partner doesn’t seem to be interested.”

“Not an arts kid, I take?” Eddy asked.

“I guess you could say that,” he sighed. “Should I help you two, then?”

Eddy paused while drawing, staring at Brett. He remembered the next test he and Sophie had. There was no way it was working this early. They just opened the challenge this morning. “Sure? But I should ask Tommy too when he comes back. We could use extra manpower, though.”

Brett stared back at him. “Let’s wait for Tommy, then.” Before Eddy could say something else, he looked away. As Eddy designed the board more, Brett watched in complete awe. He had already made it look good and it was only the base. 

“Hey, Eddy! I got it,” Tommy called, placing the printed photo on the table. “Oh, Brett. You’re here, too. I should’ve guessed. Are you going to watch us do our project? You know I don’t like sharing ideas.” Tommy had a knowing smile on his face as he said those words that Eddy didn’t dare miss. 

He shook his head. “I am not going to copy anything. I already have another model and method in mind. I could help with your project, though.”

Tommy chuckled, sitting down. “You’re sitting on my seat, but I know better than to keep you away from your dear friend.”

“You’re funny. What can I help with?” Brett replied, picking up some colored paper from the materials.

Tommy shook his head, taking the colored paper away from Brett’s hands. He grabbed the other glue he bought and shoved it on Brett. “Frankly, I don’t trust you with art stuff. I only trust my humble partner with that. You can glue our creations to the base.”

Brett raised his eyebrows. “I appreciate your honesty, Tommy.”

Tommy nodded. “Why do you want to help us anyway? Don’t you have better things to do?”

“I always have time to help Eddy,” Brett answered in a straight tone. 

“I am sure you do.” Tommy went back to writing the parts of the bacteria with its functions, while Eddy drew a plan for their model. He started working on the model. 

Eddy groaned. “I don’t think glue is going to hold up these labels. We don’t have toothpicks to hold it up on the parts.”

“Do you have yarn? I think that would work and would look better appearance-wise, too,” Brett suggested. Tommy handed him the yarn, and he cut it into pieces to make a line from the specific part of the model to its label and function. He stuck it on the clay for it to hold. “See? Works good.”

“Wow, it does look better!” Tommy commented. “But what about the layer on the center, what could we do about it?”

Brett hummed, thinking. “Plastic cover should be good. I know Eddy always has one roll inside his bag with him.”

Eddy rummaged through his bag. “Yeah, I always have one with me. That should work.”

After a series of construction, the project was finally complete. The three boys leaned back to admire their cell model. 

“This looks awesome! Better than what I imagined.” Tommy smiled wide. “Thank you, guys. We can store it in the science room. It rarely catches dust in there.”

He proceeded to glance at his square watch. “Oh no, I am late for my robotics meeting. Is it okay if you guys can bring this to the science room? I’ll just send the report to you later, Eddy, so we can discuss the presentation. I gotta run!” 

“Sure, Tommy. Thanks for your help,” Eddy said, lifting the board with Brett. “Now, we just have to bring this to the science room.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Brett responded, tidying up their workplace. On their way to the science room, they almost bumped into different people, but they kept the project safe and intact. Eddy always thought the science room was cold and he always felt the chills inside. Brett didn’t seem to mind the cold, though. 

Eddy glanced at Brett with a thankful smile on his face. “Thanks, Brett. You did a lot for Tommy and me today. We never even expected we’d finish the job today. We thought it would take us at least a week, but you made it seem easy with your ideas.”

“Oh, that was no problem. I had nothing better to do anyway.” Brett looked away, fixing his glasses. “Besides, you were really good, too. I’d be honored if I were your biology art project partner.”

“At this point, you really were,” Eddy snickered. They looked around the science room for a while, observing the anatomy models and dissecting projects. “What did you have in mind for your project?”

Brett shrugged. “Nothing revolutionary. I just thought that since I am better at cooking than at arts, I can make a food model of a plant cell.”

Eddy nodded, impressed. “That’s actually a good idea. Should I come along for a taste test?” 

“Yeah, actually. I’ll need you there since I am sure my partner and I won’t get along that well. I don’t even remember his name,” Brett scoffed. “I’ll use your favorite food, so you won’t be able to resist.”

The other smirked. “I feel like it would be burgers for the granum.”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it and surprise you.”

4. He tells you how important you are to him.

Eddy sighed to himself, mindlessly doodling on his notebook. He was expecting two friends in his house today, but at two separate times. He knew Sophie and Brett didn’t exactly get along too well for some unknown reason. If he had invited the both of them at the same time, he knew how awkward it would be. 

Before Sophie could come, he decided to finish all his homework. It was his mother’s condition. She said she’d let him have friends over if he finished his assignments before they arrived. He could suddenly hear static come out of his handheld radio. 

He pressed the button to speak into the device. “Sophie? You there?”

“Yeah, I am already outside your house, dork. I don’t want to bother your mother and ring the doorbell, so open up; it’s freezing out here,” her voice came. “By the way, I bought some snacks. I came with my mom to go grocery shopping yesterday. I love grocery shopping.”

Eddy snickered, getting up from his bedroom. He made his way to the door downstairs as Sophie rambled more about the grocery shopping she did. He ran into his mother on the way, but she paid him no mind and went to their living room.

As soon as Eddy swung the door open, Sophie shoved the plastic of snacks to Eddy. “Josh didn’t help me at all this week, so you have to comfort me.”

Eddy immediately held onto the plastic in shock. Sophie let herself in, closed the door behind them, and pulled Eddy away. “What do you mean? Why didn’t he?”

They reached his bedroom and plopped down on his bed. Sophie groaned, burying her head on her knees. “I didn’t ask him, but that’s the point of this, right? You don’t have to ask. But I know he’s very busy with his practice and stuff. He probably doesn’t have time to do his own homework. It probably didn’t even cross his mind.”

“Yeah, I also think he’s just busy. But why is he always practicing again? Does he have a basketball tournament or something?” Eddy asked, grabbing a bag of chips from Sophie’s bag.

“He does, next week. I think he’ll be exempted from the biology cell model. I wish I was also exempted. I hate my partner,” Sophie sighed forcefully, fixing her ponytail. “He does always help me carry my bag, get my tray at the cafeteria, and pick me up for our dates, so does that count?” 

Eddy nodded, already munching on the chips. “We’ll count it. You guys are an official couple, so I would assume acts of service already come naturally for him.”

“He’s really a sweetheart, but sometimes, I can’t help but think he still doesn’t know me too well. I wish we’d been good friends first before we dated.” She faced Eddy as she talked. “It’s given though, we’ve just been dating for two months. I hope he’ll be ready to know more about me in the future.”

“I get what you mean. I do think you should just go with the flow, though. Don’t take things too seriously, or you might lose it,” Eddy shrugged. “However, don’t stop looking for signs because even though Josh treats you well in your face, I still don’t fully trust him yet.”

Sophie nodded. “Yeah, thanks for that, Eddy. I don’t know what I’ll do without you. I don’t even talk about this to my other girl friends. I need an opinion from another close friend that’s a man, so I would be able to understand Josh more.”

Eddy chuckled. “If only Josh and I were similar. We’re the complete opposite, Sophie.”

“I know, but you’re both men, and all men think the same,” Sophie teased. 

“Yeah, you’re right. I can’t blame you,” he laughed. He handed Sophie another bag of chips for her to snack on. 

Sophie couldn’t hide the twinkle from her eyes, showing a mischievous smile on her face. “What about Brett? You seem to be in a very good mood lately. I just know something good happened.”

Eddy sighed. “Don’t laugh. He helped Tommy and I finish our project even though he and his own partner haven’t started anything. We thought it would take us a whole week, but we had Brett, and we finished it. He’s just so smart, and we work together.”

“Goodness, he’s so in love with you, Eddy,” Sophie huffed. “I just wish you’d see it.”

Eddy leaned back against the headboard. “That’s the thing. I mean, when we started this, I actually thought there might be something more there… between us. But as we’re progressing with the test, I am just realizing that maybe he just thinks of us as friends and he’s doing this because we’re best friends and that’s what best friends do. I just don’t think Brett is the one to like men.”

“How so? Has he shown you any indicators that made you think that?” 

“I think his actions during the test are the indicators,” Eddy explained. “Touching, helping your best friend, and wanting to spend time with your best friend, among other things, are probably just platonic things to him.”

Sophie hummed. “What if you just ask him? Just tell him.”

“Are you insane? If I tell him, that’s the end of our friendship. I don’t want to lose him just yet.” He buried his head on his pillow, repeatedly banging his head on it. 

“If you don’t tell him, you’ll keep wallowing in grief like you are doing now. What will you do if he gets with someone else?” Sophie continued. When Eddy didn’t respond, Sophie decided to get on with her plan. “Maybe you need a little bit of help. A little bit of push.”

He raised his head from the pillow. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll help you.” Sophie’s eyes gleamed. 

“Help me how?” There were question marks all over Eddy’s face. 

“Make him jealous.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Besides… he’s already jealous of me. I think it’s a completely brilliant plan.”

Eddy frowned. “You think he’s jealous of you because of our closeness?”

“That’s my theory on why he hates me so much. He hates that he has to share your time with me, or quite literally any girl out there. He’s always looking at you when you’re not looking.” She snapped at his face. “So? What do you say?”

Eddy chuckled, rubbing his face. “Let’s do it. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“I don’t know, probably him getting mad and screaming at our faces, but at least you’ll finally have your man.”

He sighed. “But what if he actually likes me? Then, I just hurt his feelings.”

“At least you’ll know that he likes you. There’s no other way. There’s always going to be someone who will need to risk. I just don’t want to see you get depressed over him. But if you ask me, I say it’s obvious that he likes you. Maybe he’s also scared? You two just need a little push, a little challenge.”

He nodded. “Okay, fine. Let’s do it. But if it doesn’t work, you drop this subject forever.”

Sophie sighed. “Whatever.”

“Promise me that you’ll drop it.”

“I promise.” She made a gesture of cross on her chest. “Let’s just score them.”

“I think Brett deserves a 10 for that. What do you think about Josh?” Eddy asked.

Sophie hummed, thinking. “I think I’ll give him a 7, maybe? Do you think it should be lower?”

“He is always helping you, but that’s just boyfriend duties. However, it is a boyfriend test. I think the score is fine.”

Scores:

Josh - 23 points

Brett - 28 points

“Perfect! What’s next?” Sophie clapped both of her hands. “Tells us how important we are to them. Sounds about right.”

“Yeah, I think this one would be easy for Josh, wouldn’t it?” Eddy commented. “Brett, on the other hand… I am not sure about it. We haven’t exactly had a heart-to-heart talk lately.”

Sophie placed a hand on his knee. “But he is going here today, right? Maybe invite him to watch the stars with you on the roof. Atmospheres like that can evoke a sense of vulnerability. You can initiate the conversation, too.”

Eddy nodded. “Yeah, that would be good.”

“Don’t worry about me, Eddy. I can handle it.” Sophie winked. “We’ll do the plan after the last test. I’ll make a bonus test for you since Brett seems to be getting perfect 10 scores. I’ll compose a jealousy test.”

She stood up and prepared to leave, claiming she had chores at home. “Eddy! Brett’s here!” 

Their heads shoot up to the door where the voice of Eddy’s mother came from. Eddy and Sophie exchanged a confused look. “Well, either he’s early, or we just got so caught up. I haven’t even left.”

“Shit! Sophie, he’s going to get all awkward again when he sees you!” Eddy stood up. 

“Eddy? You there?” He heard a knock on his door. He immediately knew it was Brett behind it. 

Sophie smiled wickedly. “Can’t you see? This is like phase one of the jealousy test. A perfect opportunity. I am going to prove to you that he is indeed jealous.” Before Eddy could stop her, Sophie pulled the door wide open to reveal a shocked Brett, as if the wind was knocked out of him. 

She greeted him with a wide smile. “Oh, Brett! I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”

Brett’s eye visibly twitched; he glanced once at Eddy, silently questioning him. He directed his attention at Sophie once again. “I am…. fine, Sophie. I didn’t know you were coming to Eddy’s too. I would’ve bought more snacks.”

“That’s quite alright. I was actually just leaving,” she answered, the menacing smile not leaving her face. “Did he not tell you that I was coming? Oh, maybe we didn’t notice the time. We were just so busy.”

He nodded slowly, eyes squinted. “It’s okay… I wanted to be early, but I guess… I shouldn’t have come early.”

Eddy gently pushed Sophie out of the room. “She was just leaving, like she said. Bye, Sophie!”

Sophie laughed quietly. “Bye, Eddy. Bye, Brett. It’s fine, I’ll just see myself out. I had a great time! I’ll come back here tomorrow, toodles!”

Sophie shut the door on them. There was a huge silence between them as Brett stood inside his room, dumbfounded. 

Eddy sighed. “Sorry, Brett. I didn’t know you were coming early.”

Brett nodded, swallowing hard. “It’s fine. You shouldn’t have kicked her out like that just for me. It looked like you two were genuinely having fun.” He placed the snacks on Eddy’s table, glancing at the photo frame of their picture together sitting next to Eddy’s lamp. 

“No! I mean, yes. But we were just joking around… you know, typical friend stuff.”

“Sure, sure… friends.” He gently picked up the photo frame and turned it on its back. 

‘With Brett! 

Our Summer.’

“You still have this on your desk,” he said, turning to Eddy. “I told you to remove it. You said you didn’t like how you looked in the picture.”

Eddy paused, realizing that Brett was talking about their picture. “Oh, I wanted to keep it, after all. We really looked happy there.”

“I see. We really did.” He left it on the table and sat next to Eddy on his bed. “You know I’d support you, right? You don’t have to hide things from me.”

Eddy nodded. “Of course. Why would you think I was hiding something?”

The other swallowed. “I don’t know… maybe it’s just my problem.”

Eddy leaned closer. “No, tell me. I’ll listen. Like I always do.”

“I am happy that you’re friends with other people and you seem happy, but I just feel like I am also losing you like that. I feel like you’re more comfortable telling things to them than to me,” Brett blurted out. “You’re allowed to have fun and have friends outside of me, that’s never been in question. But I feel like, I don’t know… I am slowly losing you?” 

Eddy held his hand. “You’re never going to lose me, Brett. Even if you don’t want me around anymore, I’ll still follow you until you’re eventually tired of me.”

Brett chuckled weakly. “I’ll never not want you around, Eddy. You’re the only one that I—“ He stopped himself, clearing his throat. “You’re the only one that I can consider my friend.”

“Really? What about Ibo and Hyung?” Eddy teased, lightly bumping the other’s shoulder.

“You’re different from Ibo. You’re different from Hyung. No one really is like you to me. I don’t even know if you get that,” he said. 

“I get it. You’re different too. None of my other friends are like you,” Eddy smiled.

Brett returned the smile. “I am just so grateful to have you. You’re the most important person to me.”

“Well, you’re in luck because you’re the most important person to me too,” Eddy chuckled. 

“Good, because that would’ve been embarrassing if I wasn’t,” Brett joked. 

“Eddy! Are you calling about the danc-“

“Sophie! I don’t want to do it. I can’t do that to him,” Eddy called in the middle of the night after Brett had just left, distressed. “He’s my…. everything.”

“Okay, calm down for a moment. What happened?” Sophie said, her tone worried. 

“We had a small talk, and he’s really a sweetheart. I can’t hurt him. Ever,” Eddy sighed, bumping his head harshly against his bedroom wall. “I don’t even know if he likes me like that, but I don’t want to risk him getting hurt because of this stupid plan that we’re making.”

Sophie hummed. “We won’t do it. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do. But how else are you going to solve this, Eddy? You can’t just be miserable about this all your life. You have to do something about it whether you like it or not.”

Eddy sighed again, biting the inside of his mouth anxiously. “I’ll— I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him how I feel, and I’ll take it. No matter what he’ll say or do. I’ll take it.”

The other line was quiet for a while. He assumed that Sophie was also in shock by his decision. She never assumed he would do it. “That’s great, Eddy. I think you should just say it too. Brett loves you, and no matter what happens, I promise you, you’re not going to lose him. I’ll be with you no matter what.”

“I’ll tell him tomorrow. We always walk home together, so I’ll tell him then.”

“Okay? That’s good. Update me; I always have my talkie with me.” He heard Sophie’s bed creak from the other side as she sat down. “But I swear, Eddy. He does love you back. Not just platonically, but also romantically.”

Eddy groaned. “I’ll do it. I swear I’ll do it. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” she echoed. 

Eddy didn’t expect tomorrow to be so soon. He sat all by himself at the cafeteria, at the farthest corner. He knew by now Brett must be looking everywhere for him. He recalled he had mentioned to Brett that he would never sit at this table of the cafeteria since it was so isolated. Look at him now.

He repeatedly thumped his head on the table, squeezing the last bit of his strawberry milk. Sophie was also trying to reach him through their device, but he wasn’t answering. He didn’t know it would be this nerve-wracking to risk his friendship with Brett and admit his feelings. He tried distracting himself by answering his math homework, but it wasn’t helping even one bit. 

“Eddy! What are you doing here? Brett has been looking everywhere for you,” Tommy exclaimed. Eddy pulled Tommy down in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Shh!” he cut him off. “I am hiding here. Don’t tell Brett I am here. I am not ready to face him yet.”

Tommy frowned. “He said you won’t be here when he asked me to help find you, but you’re here. I guess I was right that you were hiding from him.”

“Yes, I hid here because I know he knows I don’t want to sit here ever.”

“Why are you hiding from him?” Tommy asked, whispering. “Did you do something bad?”

Eddy groaned, thumping his head on the table again before Tommy stopped him. “I will do something bad later!”

Tommy’s eyes widened. “Like what?”

“I can’t tell you, Tommy. I wish I could but—” Tommy glanced at his notebook. “It’s really bad.”

“Wow, it is bad because you’re doing the math homework this early,” he winced. “Don’t tell me you’ll kill him because he hasn’t asked you on the dance? I mean… who else would Brett ask other than you? At this point, you should automatically know that he’s going to be asking you out—”

Eddy frowned, his whole face turning to confusion. “The what?”

“Huh? The dance?” Tommy asked, just as confused as Eddy. “You didn’t know about the dance?”

“No!” Eddy sighed, hiding further in his jacket. “Plus, I don’t even have time for that. I have to study for the test.”

Tommy chuckled. “Well. There’s a dance, and I reckon Brett’s finding you to ask you to go together.”

His frown deepened. “Did he tell you that?”

“No, but it’s obvious.”

“Well then, that’s not confirmed! He always finds me to eat with me at the cafeteria. Not because he was going to ask me to the dance,” Eddy sighed, slumping on the table. “He’s probably going to ask some random girl to go if he really wants to go.”

Tommy scoffed, adjusting his glasses. “You’ve got to be a bit dumb to not know.”

“Not know what?! Quit being cryptic, Tommy.” The bell interrupted their conversation as it rang loudly at the cafeteria. “Perfect! I’ll see you around Tommy, I have to get to class before Brett sees me.”

The bespectacled boy sat at the table as Eddy ran, unimpressed. “Oh, he really doesn’t know.”

Eddy sprinted through the halls, almost bumping against five different people. He was the first person to arrive in class due to the stunt he pulled. He had time to catch his breath and think about the dance that Tommy mentioned. There’s just absolutely no way Brett would ask him that, right? Right?

Surprisingly, he distracted himself by listening intently to class. He even got to answer all of their professor’s questions. He felt a bit proud of himself, but then it all shattered whenever he remembered what he would do later. 

After the class ended, he breathed to calm himself down. He knew Brett would always wait for him at the locker area. So, he would definitely find him there. 

“Okay, deep breaths, Eddy. You got this,” he whispered to himself, his body stiff, as he walked towards the locker area. There he was, as handsome as ever, leaning against Eddy’s locker while reading his book. For a moment, Eddy’s breath was caught up in his throat. Brett was casually glancing every second at all of the people walking past him, hoping to find Eddy. Finally, he glanced in Eddy’s direction, a smile forming on his face. 

Eddy knew someday that Brett with those glasses of his would kill him. 

“Eddy! Over here!” he waved. Eddy didn’t have any choice but to walk to him. “I didn’t see you at the cafeteria at all today. Where were you? Tommy couldn’t find you either.”

He bit the inside of his cheek. “I was—finishing up the math homework at the library.”

Brett squinted at him, crossing his arms. “You didn’t eat?” 

“I did… if you consider one strawberry milk as lunch.”

Brett slung an arm around his shoulder. “It’s bad if you don’t eat enough. I could’ve done your math homework for you if you really needed to finish it that time.”

“Even though you absolutely hate math?” Eddy teased him.

“Even though I absolutely hate it,” Brett grinned. He rummaged through his backpack and gave him a neatly packed ham sandwich and a slice of cheese pizza. “Eat up while we walk home, so your stomach doesn’t ache later.”

Eddy abruptly stopped walking, almost making Brett stumble. “I have to tell you something.” They stopped directly at the entrance as other students were walking past them. “I have to tell you something really, really important. That explains why I was also gone during lunch.”

Brett nodded, his face clouded with concern. “What is it? You can tell me anything.” Brett held his shaking hands.

Eddy couldn’t focus and kept staring at the poster behind Brett, remembering Tommy’s words. The poster was about the dance this upcoming Friday. Brett hasn’t said a single word about it. Tommy was completely wrong. Brett noticed after a while that Eddy was staring behind him. He turned around and saw a poster. 

“Oh, is it about that?” he asked, his voice having gone soft and quiet, only for Eddy to hear. “I see that you’re interested. I was going to tell you that we should go together. This Friday.”

“Really? You’re asking me to go with you?” Eddy said, glancing around them to see if anyone else heard their conversation. 

Brett nodded. “I don’t think I can ask anyone else other than you, Eddy.”

For a moment, Eddy felt invincible. He almost jumped in happiness. Before he could walk out of the entrance with Brett, Eddy looked behind him again. 

There was the dance poster for Friday… and the chemistry laboratory competition also on Friday, just right beside it in big, bold letters. In a brighter font than the dance poster.

He cursed internally. Brett had always known he liked studying. Eddy slumped as he followed Brett out of the school grounds. So, that was it. That was his confirmation. Brett never meant to ask him to the dance. Eddy ate in silence as they walked home together. He let Brett talk about his day, offering a casual nod here and there.

They reached Eddy’s house first. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Eddy. But get ready for Friday, yeah?” Brett smiled.

Eddy felt paralyzed. “See you tomorrow, Brett.” He slowly closed the door behind him, running up to his room. 

“Tommy!” Brett whisper-yelled outside Tommy’s club room. 

Tommy thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes and his glasses repeatedly, but it really was Brett outside his club’s room. He got outside and looked at Brett up and down. It was as if the boy had just run through the whole school. 

“What are you doing here, Brett? You should sit down and take a rest,” Tommy questioned. “Where’s Eddy?”

“I think Eddy’s hiding from me again. Do you have a minute? I swear this won’t take too long.”

The other’s eyes widened, pushing him to a nearby bench outside. “For some Eddy talk? I have a whole hour.”

“Did you see him at all today, Tommy? You have a class together in biology, don’t you?” Brett asked. “Did he say something? Was he alright?” 

Tommy nodded. “I sure did. Oddly enough, he was reading mountains of chemistry textbooks that he borrowed from the library with my library card. He said he would need it for a competition. He almost got caught by our professor with how engrossed he was.”

“He’s normally really studious, but he never mentioned a competition to me. Usually, he would’ve,” Brett commented. “He’s naturally just smart about things.”

“Yeah, not that studious.”

As they’re both sitting on the bench. Tommy urged Brett to start talking. “The other day, I asked him if he could come with me on Friday. I haven’t seen him at all again today, and he told me he was going to say something important, but I guess he forgot. He also told me he would explain why he was missing the whole time at lunch, and I got nothing on that too. Now, he was missing again, and I am sure he already went home because I’ve waited 30 minutes by his locker and he never got there. I can’t help but think there’s something he’s really not telling me.”

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know, Brett. He said he was going to do something bad. He never expanded on that.”

“It’s driving me crazy. He wasn’t like this before; I don’t know what I did wrong. He’s being so secretive,” Brett sighed sadly, slumping on his seat. “I don’t even know if he’s going to come today.”

He cleared his throat, nodding along to Brett’s words. “Can I ask? Where did you ask him to go today, specifically?”

Brett frowned. “To the dance…? Is there any other event today?”

Tommy almost looked like he had won the lottery from his expression. “This is great! This is great. Uh, why did you ask him? And I mean, why did you ask Eddy specifically?”

Brett’s face looked panicked after the question. “I don’t know… maybe because I like him?”

“Aha! I was right! And he didn’t believe me when I told him,” Tommy shouted, jumping off the bench. The other people around them glanced at Tommy. “Brett, I don’t think he got the right idea. He has absolutely no clue about your feelings towards him. I don’t know if he’s just stupid, or he’s purposely ignoring the signs.”

“You really think so?” Brett asked. “I mean, why? I was pretty clear. We both saw the poster behind me. It was the poster to the dance, and I told him I couldn’t have asked anyone else.”

Tommy nodded. “Hm, that really is odd. Where did you tell him about this?”

“Just near the entrance. Where the posters are for the events.”

It was as if a lightbulb had turned on in Tommy’s head. “Sweet mother of pearl, I am a genius. Brett, you need to come with me to the entrance now.”

The two of them stared at the two biggest posters on the pinboard located at the entrance of the school. 

“See? See what I mean?! There’s a chemistry laboratory competition poster beside the dance poster. Maybe he thought you were asking him to go there!” Tommy pointed out. “I mean, you really meant the dance, right? I am not wrong here?”

Brett nodded. “Totally. I totally meant the dance.”

“Great, both the dance and the competition are later,” Tommy sighed. “You won’t have the time to tell him. Not to mention, he’s missing.”

“I can’t do anything else than tell him the truth later,” he sighed, crossing his arms. “I can do it. Just tell him the truth, it wouldn’t be so hard, would it?”

He didn’t know what to do. He was standing near the entrance, wearing his suit, looking intently at the people entering the school. Tommy was already inside with his clubmates.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. It was Eddy, at last.

“Eddy, I—“ His suspicions were right. Eddy was wearing his lab coat, a gentle smile resting on his face. 

“We should go; the science building is over there. Where’s your lab coat?”

Brett breathed before blurting out his words. “Eddy, I am sorry. I wasn’t implying for us to go to the chemistry competition. And it’s all my fault that I didn’t clarify it to you. I wanted us to go to the dance together.”

The other boy just stared at him. Then, Eddy started chuckling lowly. “I never thought I would actually go through with the strategy that I planned last night. This whole day has been insane.” He quickly shed his laboratory coat, which revealed a suit inside. 

“I wore something for the dance too. I was hoping you meant that and not the competition…” he explained timidly. “I guess I just overthought for nothing.”

Brett’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I meant the dance. I asked you to go because I like you.”

“Do you, now?” 

“Not as just a best friend.”

“Then, as who?” Eddy laughed when Brett couldn’t speak. “Don’t worry, I was just messing with you. Sophie and I tallied the scores last night as well, and you got an almost perfect score.”

“I don’t follow…” he replied.

Eddy slung an arm around him. “As a boyfriend, of course. You literally defeated Josh, and you weren’t even my boyfriend then.”

“Who the hell is Josh?” Brett frowned. 

“I’ll tell you everything inside.”

Brett held his hand. “Actually, I think we should go somewhere quieter. I know you don’t like loud places, and it was pretty loud inside. The speakers were booming with music. Just as you’d expect from a dance event.”

They walked through the gardens hand in hand. “So, are you going to tell me about this boyfriend test of yours and Sophie’s?”

“It’s a silly thing we planned years ago when we were silly younger kids. We initially planned it only for Sophie when she gets a boyfriend, but she insisted that I should play it with her and do the test on you. I never expected you would get a high score on it. I should’ve known; you’re literally Brett Yang. You’ve got the charms.” Eddy leaned against him. “You even defeated Josh, her boyfriend.”

“Wait… boyfriend?” Brett looked at him. “I thought she liked you. I even thought you liked her back.”

“I already told you that there was nothing going on between us. For me, it has always been you, and she knew that,” Eddy explained. “So, she helped me come to terms with my feelings. But this whole time, she had a boyfriend, so all of your suspicions sounded absurd to me.”

Brett chuckled. “I was just jealous of her. To have all of your attention, and as a girl, too.”

“You have my whole attention now.”

“Thank goodness,” Brett rolled his eyes, and he bumped the other boy’s shoulder with his. “What’s my reward for getting a high score on the boyfriend test? Do I get a certificate? A good job stamp?”

Eddy scrunched his eyebrows. “Well, you have me?”

“Yeah. I think that’s the best reward ever. But I’ll do you one better. What about a kiss on the cheek? Just one.”

Eddy gasped dramatically, lightly punching his shoulder. “You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you?”

“I’ve been waiting for this all my life, Eddy. Now, are you going to do it or I have to keep you hostage to do it?”

Eddy sighed, pretending he didn’t want it. “Fine.”

5. He gives you gifts of things you value the most

“Brett? Is that you on the door?” His mom called from downstairs as Brett was neatly putting his shoes back at the shoe rack. “Eddy dropped something in the mail; it’s for you. I put it outside your room!”

Brett’s eyes widened, and he stumbled his way to his room, not caring about his brother holding a glass of water. “Dude, watch where you’re going. You almost made me fall! And you spilled my water on me!”

“Whatever!” he shouted, grabbing his gift from the floor and shutting the door at his brother’s face. 

“You’re being creepy about Eddy’s gifts again! I’ll have you know that’s actually loser behavior, and he will definitely lose feelings for you once I tell him about your stupid—“

Brett opened the door and threw a pillow directly at Andy’s face. “Mind your business, Andy! Stop creeping outside of my room and get lost.” He finally got to open the gift Eddy gave, and his smile widened so much that it almost hurt his cheeks. It was a painting of their summer picture.

‘To my Brett,

I hope we’ll have a good summer again!

Love, Eddy.

(I am actually shocked that I managed to hide this from you for months. I couldn’t wait to give it to you. I know you’ll love it. You always love staring at our photo frame from my room. Happy summer break! I’ll see you next week.)’

He grabbed his tools and put up the painting on his wall without hesitation. He called Eddy on his radio. 

“I assume you got it?” Eddy’s voice came in on the other line. 

“God, yes, it’s perfect. I love it. Thank you. I’ll keep it forever in the safety of my bedroom.”

“Well, I am glad. I realized we never fully finished the boyfriend test after I dropped off my gift to you. I remembered that giving gifts was actually the last. So, I guess we’re just the perfect boyfriends for each other, then.”

“Truly. We don’t even need the boyfriend test.”

“Yes, we did. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have realized anything.” Brett could almost hear Eddy jokingly rolling his eyes. 

Brett grinned. “I guess you’re right. Same time next week?”

“Same time next week. Over and out!”