Andante con Brio

XXII

"You're in?" Brett breathed the second the doors closed behind the girl that had been waiting. 
Eddy looked around him to check they were alone, and then he finally allowed himself to lose it. He jumped up and down several times and pounded the wall with his hand, squealing softly. 
"I'm in!" he said, still making sure to keep his voice down enough so they wouldn't hear him inside. "They said I had promise!"
Brett was grinning at him now, just like the loon Eddy felt, and it wasn't until now, seeing him relax in so many subtle ways, that Eddy realised how tense Brett himself had been.
"Come on. Let's get out of here and celebrate?" Brett asked.
Eddy smiled widely. Sod the bread roll he had put in his bag this morning. 
"Yes. I'm so hungry, I could eat a cow. I want a burger and fries." 
He was already half-running down the corridor. 

The burger place close to the con was quiet, so early in the day, and Eddy was grateful for it. He would get to slide into a booth opposite Brett, right in the corner there, and not be overheard. Would they come here a lot, next year, when they were both students here?
The thought almost made him jump up and down all over again. 
When they were both students here. He would be a student! At the con! 
The girl behind the counter started smiling as she looked at him. 
"We're celebrating something?"
"Yep. I just auditioned and got into the conservatory." he said, before he could think. And really, he would have shouted it from the rooftops. 
"Ay really? That's awesome, mate!" she said. "What are you going to study?"
Eddy blinked once, because all at once he was having a Moment. Somehow, the second he would say this to this girl he didn't even know, it would make it real. He glanced up at the signs behind her as if he were reading the menu. Then he looked right at her. 
"Violin performance major."
She smiled at him. "Cool, mate. You should come and play a song here at some point."
Look, right now he was so happy he didn't even care that she called it a song, instead of a piece. 

They slid into the booth he had seen with their burgers and Eddy dug in as if he hadn't eaten for a week. 
"You should probably call your  mum in a minute." Brett said calmly. His foot was against Eddy's underneath the table, rubbing softly against his even though they had shoes on. 
Eddy nodded. "Yeah, I will do the second I eat my burger."
Would his mum be happy for him? I mean, she had said good luck, right, this morning? Or would she only be sad that the plan for him to become doctor was further away?
Oh well. He was so happy right now that even that couldn't mar the glow that surrounded him. 
He wolfed down his burger and then he took out his phone. 
"I could easily eat another one of those." he said to Brett, pointing to the empty cardboard box. 
Brett grinned and got up. "Well, you know what? I'll go grab you one."

For some stupid reason Eddy was nervous as the phone rang, and he hated himself for it. Why did it matter anyway, what she thought? He knew where she stood. It shouldn't matter, not now. 
"Eddy?"
"Hi, mum, I'm just calling to let you know I got in!"
There was a short  moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then there was the sound of a breath, being let go. What did that mean? Was that relief? Or disappointment?
"Well done, Eddy." his mum said then. "Congratulations."
"Thanks." he answered. "I'm just grabbing something to eat with Brett and then I'll come home, do some studying."
"Of course."
Was she going to say anything else? Suddenly he found himself wishing he hadn't told her over the phone. Maybe this would have been easier if he would have seen her face?
"O... okay, see you later." he said after a few seconds of thick silence, and he hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. He shook his head slightly and stared at Brett's back, who was still standing over by the counter to order him his next burger. 
What the fuck did that short conversation mean?