Andante

CXVIII

It was a quiet walk to school, that morning. A serious walk too, made heavy by the silence all around him. He had woken up a couple of hours before, his body screaming with protest at the ungodly hour, his phone still clutched to his chest. He'd shaken his head at himself as he put it back on the night stand. 
You got it bad, mate. He'd told himself morosely. Then he had gotten up and had attacked his practice like never before. He'd played his scales, he'd played his etudes and his broken triads before he even started on repertoire, and he knew when he was done and ran downstairs to throw some toast down his throat, that he had done the best he could do. 
He could see the school building up ahead now and something in him lifted at the thought of seeing Lily. She would be there, of course, and she'd have a million questions. For once he didn't think he'd mind a million questions; he was happy to talk about it all. And he had some questions for her, too. 

He felt her arms around his waist before he'd even been able to find her in the school halls. 
"Hey!" he enthused as he turned around and kissed her cheek. "How was your holiday?"
She beamed at him, so broadly that he scrunched his face up. 
"What?! What happened? Tell me!" 
She shook her head resolutely. 
"In the break. Or we'll be late."
Well, fucking awesome. She clearly had some exciting news, and now he'd get to sit through a whole period and wonder what it was?
He rolled his eyes at her and then he walked to his first class to drop down on his chair, rolling his eyes at the window once more for good measure. He tried his hardest to focus on the formulas the teacher was throwing down on the white board, but his thoughts kept flying off to all that had happened this week, and he kept catching himself staring longingly out of that window, in the direction of the school yard. 

Lily easily slipped her arm through his as they walked out of the building together at the end of first period. They had been inseparable at school for years now and it was always effortless, being with Lily. He was also very well aware that quite a few of the other kids still wondered whether they were an item or not, and that suited him just fine. And he didn't really know why, but she didn't seem to care about that one bit either. 
He sat down on their bench, one leg on each side, and pulled her down, sitting her down opposite him. 
"Spill, lady!" he said, in a tone that he hoped didn't leave much room for her to stay silent. 
But he needn't have worried; her face instantly broke out in a huge smile. 
"So." she said coyly. "Remember Matt, that guy I told you about from the dance school?"
Eddy nodded straight away. "Yeah, of course. The gay guy?"
Her smile became even wider as he said that. 
"Well yeah, that's what I assumed. I assumed wrong."
Eddy's mouth opened in happy surprise, because he did remember her stories about Matt of course, he remembered vividly how she lamented always falling for the wrong guys. It was pretty clear to him from her face that something good had happened for his friend at last now, though. 
"So... you kissed him?" he asked her, his tone soft but urgent. 
She nodded bashfully. "Erm. Yup. And then he asked me to be his girlfriend."
He just about stopped himself from jumping up and down as he leant forward and hugged her enthusiastically. 
"Lily! This is so great!" he said in her ear. 
"I know, right?" 
Wow. He wanted to pinch himself. His great friend, who he'd seen go through heartbreak a couple of times already, in fact once at the hands of he himself, had a boyfriend.
Well, wow. That guy had very seriously better be good to her. 
"I'm really, really happy for you, Lily." he said softly, a beaming smile on his own face. 
"Thanks, Eddy." she said. "Now! Tell me! How has this week gone for you and Brett?"
He grinned, and it was suddenly his turn to look bashful now.
"Okay, well, how long have you got?"