Allegro con fuoco

IX

The big auditorium's doors were wide open as they walked into the music school. He had seen it before, in passing, catching a glimpse of red velvet chairs. Why where they always red velvet anyway? Was that some unspoken rule with theater builders the world around? But this was the first time they would be in here, for the first tutti rehearsal. He walked in after his friends and set down his violin case. And he would have been fine, happy even, being quiet, incognito, but he could see the orchestra's powerhouse concertmaster Anna barreling down towards him already. 
"Eddy! Hi! How was your day off?"
He had to stop himself from glowing over, right then, as delicious memories from the mountain and the hike flooded his brain, but he managed a neutral, kind smile. 
"It was nice! We visited Maokong."
"Oh! I hear that's cool. I have family that lives not too far from there. Oolong tea, right?"
"Yep."
"Cool." she enthused as she put her hand on his arm. "Well, I was talking to John yesterday and he seems really impressed with your quartet. I can't wait to finally hear it!"
Wait. John had told Anna he liked the quartet? A little ounce of pride swelled inside of him and for a moment he forgot himself. 
"He said that?"
Anna grinned.
"Yup. Well, I'd better get tuning this orchestra."
He nodded and looked after her as she skipped back on the stage, but before he could bend down to take out his sheet music he felt the sober eyes of Anna's boyfriend Trevor, over there in the woodwind section, on him. 
Oh God. 

He shook his head and walked into a row of red chairs to sit down and listen. 
"Did you see the way Trevor glared at me?" he whispered as Brett sat down next to him. 
"Yeah, I did. The other day, as well. He's jealous, right?"
Eddy nodded. 
"Fuck it, and he doesn't know there's absolutely no reason to be."
"Do you think you should tell him about us?"
Eddy turned to his love, tensing and untensing his lips. 
"I don't know. It's someone else who can out us. But they're gonna be at the con, and Anna's nice. I don't know if we can trust him to keep his mouth shut."
Brett nodded thoughtfully. His eyes were on the stage, and Eddy knew he was finding Trevor in the sea of faces. 
"Well, see how it goes. I'm fine if you do, up to you."
The orchestra started the run through, then, and there was no more time to say anything, but worried thoughts were floating around Eddy's brain the whole time. Even when John turned and beckoned them on stage Eddy found himself avoiding Trevor's gaze. He simply sat down on the first chair and tuned the quartet, and then tried his best to focus on the beautiful music. 

"John was right, you sound awesome!" 
They had only just started packing up when Anna was beside him again. "Do you want to go grab some lunch?"
"Oh, yeah, sure, let me check with the others. Is the group going again?"
"Yeah, think so. Hey, Trevor! We going to lunch?"
Trevor appeared by her side, and Eddy looked away quickly. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What was he going to do about this? He could feel Trevor's eyes boring into the back of his head, and he almost jumped when he felt a big, manly hand on his back. 
"Eddy, can I just have a quick word?" Trevor said in a low, carefully neutral tone.
Eddy almost fainted as his heart thumped out of his chest and through the floorboards. I mean, what the fuck was he going to say to him? 'No'? There was no way. He tried his best to breathe and he nodded automatically. 
"Yeah, sure, of course. Brett, give me a sec, okay?"
He walked out of the auditorium with a silent Trevor, his knees weak, his heartrate spiking, and the last thing he saw was Brett's and Anna's stares, worried, crestfallen even.