Andante

CLXXXIII

The weeks had blurred into greyness, the gloom only broken up by short bursts of light. 
Busking, with Brett. Rehearsing for the masterclass with Brett. Those few violin lessons where he managed to not suck completely. He would lie in bed at night, punching his pillow as he thought about those lessons where he had sucked, and sucked hard. Those times when his teacher would say nothing, but he could feel it all the same. 
The biggest burst of light had been the end of the school year, because now at least there was only one year of that to go. They had celebrated as a group at the Bubble tea place with Todd and Ian, both of whom had graduated. They had auditioned a couple of days after Brett and had been accepted into the con as well, of course. Lily and Matt had been there, together, sitting close and smiling as they sipped tea and chewed on tapioca balls. He was getting the feeling were doing alright, again. And of course Steven had joined them, and he had brought along this cute girl named Lisa. She had looked up at Eddy with doe eyes and smiled shyly. 

Yeah, it had been refreshing to not be the most shy person in the group for once. He hoped he had succeeded in making her feel welcome. It had been a great way to take his mind off the fact that he was the youngest one of the quartet, that he was the only one who had to go to high school for another year while the rest of them were off to the con, off to do what he could only dream of. 
At least Lily was his age, in his class. So she would still be there, sitting on their bench with him in the intervals chatting about everything and anything, making his days bearable... 

He actually jumped when he saw Brett coming down his street. Oh! Brett was here! He was carrying his violin on his back and he was pulling a wheely luggage behind him. Eddy's face broke open in an ear-splitting grin. There would be no more gloom, now! He was off to Perth, with the best guy in the world. He picked up his own case, which had been lying there, fully packed, since this morning, and jumped over to his desk to pick up his violin. He couldn't help himself; he quickly opened the clasps to check.
Yep. One violin, two bows. He was good to go. 
He ran down the stairs as fast as he could without dropping several items of great importance and opened the door in time to see Brett on his stoop, his right index finger outstretched to the bell. 
"Hey." he grinned, pointing at the bell. "Wanna ring that? You can, you know."
Brett lifted one eyebrow at him. "Nah, I think you've well and truly stolen my thunder on that one."
Eddy was still grinning as he turned to call his mum, but she was already there, walking out of the kitchen. 
"Thanks for driving us to the airport, mum." he said. His enthusiasm spilled out on all sides of the sentence. 
"Of course." she said, with a tiny smile. "Do you have everything, Brett?"
"I think so, Mrs. Chen, thank you."

Eddy blinked as he looked away from his mum and down to his sneakers. Despite all the enthusiasm, the little pang was still there, that little pang that seemed to be a permanent thing now, that Eddy couldn't help but feel every time he looked at her, ever since he had come back from that fantastic weekend at Brett's. He knew she knew that he was keeping his distance from her, as well; he just hoped she didn't know how sad it made him, and how he wished that he could fix it.
Maybe this trip would? Somehow? 
God, he hoped so. 

He squared his shoulders and he was the first out of the door and into the car.