Andante

CLXXXII

He walked up the stairs with heavy feet and dropped on his bed like a stone. The wretched papers were still in his hand, those papers that were trying to take away the only good things in his life. And he couldn't stop the angry tears that started falling down his cheeks. 
He wanted to go downstairs and scream, he wanted to walk out of the house and slam the door behind him, run off to Todd's house and take him up on his offer of staying there. 
He blinked into his pillow. He was seventeen. He would only be forced back. And also... he couldn't leave his mum, could he? His sister being away at uni.... she would be all alone now, since... 
He sniveled quietly. No. He couldn't ever do that. So he had no choice, had he? One day, one day when she no longer had this hold over him, he would have to talk to her and be straight with her. 
The unintended pun in his thoughts made him snigger through the tears. Then he sat up and wiped his cheeks. 
This was nothing new, was it? He knew all of this already. So he squared his shoulders and made a decision. And then he got up and got to work on his homework. 

A few hours later he closed the front door behind him and heaved a huge sigh of relief. His mum was fine with him taking a walk through the park, because all his work was done and he'd practised plenty. 
He took out his telephone the second he stepped onto the first gravel path and looked through his contacts, pressing on the name quickly before he could chicken out of this. The phone rang, once, twice. 
"Yello!" the familiar, pleasant voice came over the line. Eddy couldn't help but smile slightly into the empty air around him. 
"Er, hi, Mr. Davids. I hope I'm not disturbing you." he said demurely. 
It only took Mr. Davids a second. 
"Wait, is it Eddy? Are you alright?"
Eddy swallowed. "Yes, I am. Well, sort of. Well, to be honest... maybe not really. Erm, I don't know if you remember what you told me, that night in Perth. And... well, I guess... if you don't mind, I could do with some advice."
He shook his head at himself. Really. Did he have to stumble over his words quite this much? 
That bench that had become so dear to Brett and him came up now, and he didn't even think about it before he sat down and stared out over the bit of the park he could see from here. It would be so nice if Brett were here, to sit with him and talk it through... but then he remembered very well how happy he had been when he was walking home, earlier today. Did he really want to take that same happiness away from the best guy in the world? No way. He was going to sort this out himself, thank you very much. He cleared his throat and launched into his explanation of  the situation to Mr. Davids. 
"So... I just really don't know what to do now." he whispered after a minute, blinking hard to keep the tears down where they belonged. 

Mr. Davids was quiet for the longest moment. 
"And I take it you have zero interest in medical school."  he said then, his voice serious. 
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"How did it go when Brett told his parents? Has he auditioned?"
Eddy smiled as he remembered that day. "That went pretty well, and yes, he's gotten in. My mother.... well... she had opinions."
"Congratulations to him." Mr. Davids said. Eddy could hear the smile and the sincerity clearly, even over the phone, and it was almost too much to bear. He swiped angrily at the treacherous tear that started flowing again over his right cheek. 
Oh, to hear these quiet, matter-of-fact, heart-felt congratulations... how he wished that he could receive those from where it mattered most. 
"I'll tell him." he said softly. 
"So. You want my advice on how to deal with this thing?" Mr. Davids asked. 
Eddy nodded at the tree in front of him. "If... if you don't mind, yes please."
"Okay. Well. I can't go on record here, of course. But I can tell you what I would do? I would probably keep quiet for a bit, like you have said. You'll be in Perth soon, have I understood correctly? Why don't you and Brett come over and have dinner here, and maybe we can come up with a plan?"
"For real?" Eddy said, his voice shooting up. Whoa. Dinner at Mr. Davids' place? To sit with him, this conductor he admired, but even more importantly, who had been were he was now, to have an open conversation with him? To make a plan with him? Well, was grass green? Was the sky blue? Were water birds colourful?
"That... that would be great. I would like that." he replied softly. 
"Okay. Well, call me with details and we'll sort it out."
Mr. Davids was suddenly quiet for a long moment again, and when he spoke once more his voice was full of something that Eddy couldn't quite place.
"Do you remember what I told you, Eddy? Your mum means well. I'm sure it will all work out."
Eddy got up from his place on the bench, took one last look at the space between the trees, that led to their secret hideout. 
"I hope so, Mr. Davids. Thank you."