Andante con Brio

IL

He was the first one back to the tents. He had very purposefully not waited for Brett, not wanting to make it all even more obvious than it had already been, but at the moment there was nobody here. He looked around in surprise. Lily and Matt were probably not due back until way late, but where were Todd and Ian? He walked around the fire pit on his flipflops, but saw no one but a few kids, playing on the grass field with a ball. 
"Hey, you know where they are?"
He turned around to smile at Brett. 
"No, no idea. Maybe by the water?"
"Let's head over there."

There were a few people out in the waves, finding some coolness in the fierce heat. He spotted Todd and Ian straight away. Todd's face lit up when he saw them and he hopped out of the surf and onto the sand. 
"Hey." he said. "We decided to cool off. You feeling better?"
Ian was joining them and sat down on his towel, just where wet sand joined dry. 
Eddy couldn't help the slight grin at the undertone in Todd's innocuous sentence that no one else would ever have heard. But he could see it, could sense it in Todd's eyes, he knew that he knew he had been crying, that he probably even knew what they did after. But he could also see that he wasn't about to say anything. It was a relief. 
He sat down on the sand next to Ian's towel and gathered himself. 
I mean, come on. He really had to grow a set, here. He had lost it just now, lost it hard, but everyone else had heard the same things, hadn't they? And there were alright, weren't they?
Were they?
"Yeah. You guys okay?" he found himself saying. Todd sat down next to Ian on the towel and Brett was crossing his legs next to him. The sun was way, way hot out here where there was no shade at all, even though it was evening by now. Eddy was already wondering whether they should have gone to swim first, and then showered. 
Todd sighed. 
"Yeah. I mean... I knew a little bit of that, but I didn't know it was that bad. You?"
"Nah."
Ian sniggered suddenly. 
"I'll probably have a better chance than all of you, you know."
Eddy smirked at him. 
"Still won't win me over to the viola side, Ian."
He had played viola a few times in quartets in high school, even once with Brett playing first. It was nice enough, he liked the warmth of the sound and how big it was in his arms. But there was no Sibelius concerto for viola, was there? 
"So, I've been thinking, guys." Todd said suddenly, in one of those tones that made everyone shut up and pay attention. "Maybe, next term, we could find a house with four bedrooms to rent and... share. I mean, I don't know where you guys stand, but I'd love to be out of my folks' house."

Whoa. 
He couldn't stop himself from sitting there, staring at Todd like an idiot. Sharing a house, with his friends? Making music all day long? In fact... living with a fucking quartet? 
"That... that would be so great." he said, his voice suspiciously soft. 
He could see Brett nodding beside him, his face deadpan with the fire underneath. 
"Yeah, I mean... sure! Count me in." 
"Absolutely." Ian said a second later. "You know that. It'd be great."
There was something about Ian's tone that made his head whip to his side. He hadn't spoken to Ian in ages about how he was doing, about the bullying thing and his situation at home. Ian always seemed so strong, so put together, and now that he was at the con he had kind of just assumed it was going okay. Shit, had he been a crap friend to him? He quietly resolved to corner him and talk to him as soon as he possibly could. 
"Look, the market's not easy and we'll have to be seriously on the ball when we're looking." Todd interrupted his worries. "Plus there's not that many houses with four rooms anyway. But we could try, right?"

Eddy looked back out over the sea, where he had stood with Brett the night before. Todd's suggestion was the best idea ever, of course. I mean, even apart from the musical situation...  a house with the four of them, and being able to be out, at home, always? Sitting next to each other hand in hand on the sofa, for all the world to see? Could there be anything better than that in the world?
There was a little pang in him, though. Because he could see it already. His poor mum, she would be all alone in their big house with all of its empty rooms. His sister in Sydney, he himself away with his friends... would she even be okay? Wouldn't it be selfish to leave?