Andante

LXXXIV

"What do you think he's planning?" Ian asked excitedly the second they were in the halls and out of the conductor's earshot. 
"It must be something good, no?" Todd said, "He said to bring solo repertoire!"
Eddy quickly flicked through his mental file of all the pieces he'd been practising recently. What would he choose? He'd been working on the Mendelssohn violin concerto and he loved it, but was that not way too cheesy?
"I think I'll play the first movement of the Brahms." Brett said in his quiet but sonorous way. "Or do you think that's too pompous?"
"Nah mate, it's not pompous if you can actually play it, and I know you can. Plus, you're auditioning for the con in a bit, no?" Todd shrugged as he spoke. "I'm thinking I might go for the Dvořák. What do you guys reckon?"
Eddy smiled. "Well, I've heard you play that Dvořák and it's real good. I'd say go for it."
"What will you play, Eddy?" Todd asked him.
"Erm, well, I've been practising the Mendelssohn. But isn't that a bit unoriginal?"
"No man, not at all!" Ian said excitedly. "I've heard that piece a million times and it's still wonderful." 
He eyed the rest of them somewhat morosely. 
"I hope you all appreciate the luxury of choice, here, okay? There's about two hundred times more repertoire for violin, you know that, right? But I've been practising the Bartók so I guess I'll go for that."
Todd laughed and then he looked meaningfully at Ian. "I would have complained about how much more violin repertoire there is, but then I couldn't really, not with you here, hey?"
That remark earned him a big shove in the shoulder from Ian, and Todd fled off towards the entrance of the building, laughing loudly.
"Mate! I'll need that arm if I am to play Dvořák tomorrow!" he yelled over his shoulder.
"Yeah, you come back here and I'll see if I can injure the other one, so you'll match!" Ian yelled back, his face lit up with the biggest of grins. 

They were all still grinning as they made their way to their usual spot on the grass to eat the lunch they brought from the hotel. There they sat down in their now-habitual circle, Brett on Eddy's left side, Todd on his right, and crossed their legs. The excitement was still radiating off all of them. 
God, there were so many exciting and tense things happening, Eddy felt like he was swimming in them. How was he to keep track of all of this? What would happen tomorrow? And what... what would happen later, when the door to the hotel room closed the door behind them? His mind kept going back to Todd's words. 
Just follow your gut. 
He'd never really followed his gut very much, he kind of considered himself a pretty rational guy. But... he'd followed his gut when he got into bed with Brett a couple of nights ago, hadn't he? And look how that had turned out? 
Still, he couldn't help but feel those intrepid butterflies fluttering about in his belly whenever he thought of 'later'...

Ian and Todd were still bantering in front of him, but he was happy to be quiet, for now, happily ensconced in this group of people where he felt so safe. He looked around him, to see if anyone they knew was coming from the building, but they were pretty well hidden by the road and a clump of trees that were between them and the entrance. So he softly took Brett's hand in his and intertwined their fingers. Brett didn't hesitate, he felt his fingers naturally following his own and so they sat together in this circle of friends, warmly linked, just like it should be. Eddy's mind flicked back of its own accord to the scene in the taxi yesterday, when he'd wanted to do this very thing so fiercely, and he couldn't help but be amazed at how quickly things had become so very different.
How quickly they had become so very much better. 
He sighed happily then, and he was smiling as he slowly put his head on Brett's warm shoulder and closed his eyes.