Andante con Brio

LXXIX

"Hey, Eddy!"
They were walking away from the staircase and down the hall with the dark red doors to the cafeteria. He turned around. 
"Oh, hey, Natalia! This is Brett. Brett, Natalia. She was playing Mendelssohn before me in her lesson with Mr. Hill."
Brett held out his hand and shook Natalia's small slender one. 
"Nice to meet you, Brett." she said sweetly. She was holding Brett's hand for just a fraction too long as she subtly looked him up and down, and for some reason Eddy instantly wanted to step closer, wanted to take his hand, wanted to tell her that Brett was his. 
He couldn't, of course. And she had stopped looking now anyway, so he was just being stupid. His mouth ran before he could stop it. 
"We're just going to the cafeteria to have some coffee with our friends."
Natalia nodded and Brett smiled. 
"Wanna join us?"
Brett's tone was soft, kind, the way he always spoke to others. Other people didn't usually get to hear any of the other inflections he was capable of; just the soft, kind one. Eddy managed a smile as Natalia agreed to come. 
Look. It would be fine. Natalia seemed nice. And she could certainly play the violin well enough. How bad could it be? 

He grimaced at Todd somewhat apologetically as he squeezed himself in between the next chair over and the table and sat down. Todd didn't seem to mind though, he just looked at Natalia quite neutrally and said hi. 
"Ian." Ian said as he too shook her hand. Now it was his turn to look her up and down and for the first time Eddy realised Natalia was probably quite pretty. She was, right? With her super long hair, light brown eyes, even features? 
Pretty or not, he was feeling more than a little bit awkward. He liked things the way they were, with the four of them, people he knew, was out to, could trust. But he instantly told himself off for thinking that. Natalia was probably really nice. It would be ridiculous to not meet new people, even if he was shy. Even if he found it uncomfortable. He would just let Brett and Todd do the talking and he would be fine. 
Brett's eyes found his briefly over the other side of the table and he could see the smile in them, he could see that he was thinking about what they had just done upstairs. He smiled back for real, with his mouth. His mouth, that had just been on Brett's, up there in the stairwell... ohh, that had been so nice. He shifted slightly in his seat. 
"So, how long have you been a student here, Brett?" Natalia asked. 
"This is my second year. You?"
"I'm first year." she answered softly. "Just moved here from the south." She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "So I don't know many people yet."
"Well, you know us now." Brett said, but there was something in his voice that Eddy didn't quite understand. Was he enjoying the conversation? Or was he uneasy, somehow? Eddy blinked as he looked at his boyfriend, trying to work it out. 
"I think there's a party at my dorm tonight." Natalia said, her eyes firmly fixed on Brett. "You guys should all come. There'll be lots of cute girls there."
Eddy stopped himself just in time before he snorted. 
Not much call for cute girls in this group, Natalia. You could try your luck with Ian, I suppose, but you haven't so much as glanced in his direction yet. 
"Cool." Brett said. "We... I'll have to see if I can make it."
"It would be fun." she said as she raised her left shoulder in a coquettish move. "Anyway. I gotta run."
She got up, gave them all a little wave, and then she was gone already, gone through the double doors at the end of the cafeteria. When he looked back Brett was eyeing him a bit helplessly. 

What the fuck was all that about?