Andante

CXXIII

Eddy felt like he would burst, that last period in school. Time crawled so slowly, it wasn't even normal, and he'd started making little deals with himself about the clock.
I won't look at the clock until I'm completely sure that at least fifteen minutes have passed. 
He sat and waited, and waited, and waited some more as he tried to focus on the science happening on the white board in front of him, looking everywhere but at the wall where the timepiece hung. He waited forever and then some until he finally, finally allowed himself to look at the clock again.
It must be at least half an hour now. It must be!
He looked, and fuck. It had only been ten minutes. He scrunched his eyes shut in frustration. 
Let me out!  His soul seemed to scream. Let me out and do something I love! Let me be with Brett, or make music!
He very, very seriously would have to get his act together on this one, he really had. 

Of course, the bell rang exactly when it always rang and he gathered his things at the speed of light and ran home again, almost colliding with his mum in the hallway in his haste to get upstairs. 
"Hey mum." he said softly. "Sorry."
She gave him that wondering look again. 
"Everything okay, Eddy? Everything okay at school?"
He nodded straight away, his reflexes working just fine, thank you very much.
"Yes mum, it's all fine. I'm getting all my work done and I practised violin before school again this morning, like I guess you heard."
She nodded slowly. "I heard, yes. You're sounding okay, but don't forget to keep working hard!"
"I won't forget, mum." he told her, and he almost smiled.
Yeah, she didn't have to worry very much about whether he was going to work hard on that one, did she?
"Thanks, mum." he said then, and he meant it.
She nodded. "Have some tea to take upstairs. It's important to drink enough and green tea has good antioxidants."
He nodded again and he made his way over to the kitchen to grab a mug. 

Brett was early, today, the door bell rang at three twenty, and he skidded back down the stairs in an instant. He was nervous now, his heart fluttering erratically in his chest. He knew why as well, of course. He so badly wanted to open the door and see a happy Brett, a normal Brett. He was so scared he might see those dark rings under Brett's eyes again, evidence that he would have suffered. 
He would gladly take any suffering himself so Brett wouldn't have to. 
He breathed in and opened the door, and to his surprise and relief Brett was looking well. He was smiling and his eyes were clear.  He had his backpack on his back, which seemed unusually full, somehow. 
Eddy cocked his head, question marks appearing above it in the air, and Brett smiled widely. 
"I thought we could take a walk." he said then. 
"O-okay." he replied. He turned around to go ask his mum.
Of course, both their parents thought they were studying together on these afternoons, and only going out for bubble tea or playing video games when the work was pretty much done. And they both made absolutely sure their work was always done, so no one would stop them from having this time with each other. So he guessed, in the end, their relationship did their school work more good than harm, and he felt fine about being a little deceiptful about their activities when they were together. Still, he would have to ask if he could go out straight away. 
"Mum?" he said as he turned around, an idea already forming in his head. "It's really nice out today, can we take our school stuff and work outside in the park?"
His mum popped her head out of the kitchen. 
"Okay. As long as all your work gets done."
"Of course, mum." he said, almost giddy with excitement now as he started running up the stairs to grab some token books, so he could leave for what he was pretty sure was basically a date, with Brett.