Andante con Brio

LXXXVIII

Keep your voice neutral. Your eyes calm. Come on, mate. 
He repeated the thought to himself like a mantra as he walked down the stairs. And you would think that he had had enough practice at this sneaking around, right? But he could feel the excitement coursing through him hard, and it was difficult not to run, not to sprint down the stairs. 

Calm it. No need to show her just how much this means. 
"Hey mum."
See? That sounded nice and neutral. 
"Mum, Brett just called me, his parents are out for the evening. So I'm thinking I could go over there and practise with Brett the whole night. I could crash there, too."
His mum turned around from the sweet and sour sauce she was stirring with a slight frown. 
"I have dinner almost ready." 
"I know, mum. But can I maybe eat it tomorrow? I love your sweet and sour sauce, but if I don't go soon we get less practice in. We'll just eat something quick there, I think Brett's mum has left him something."
He really didn't know that at all, to be honest. He just wanted out of here, he wanted over there, he wanted to grab Brett by the collar, push him against the hallway wall and kiss him, again and again. 
Mate. Calm. She'll see your eyes glitter. Calm now. 
His mum gave him an appraising look before shrugging and turning back to the sauce. 
"Please let me know sooner than this in future, Eddy." she said sternly in Mandarin, piercing him with her sideways glare. "I don't like cooking for no one."
The pang of guilt sliced through him hard. Shit, in his haste to get over to Brett he hadn't even thought about how she would feel. He blinked. 
"You're right, mum. I guess I can eat here and then go."
He could only see her profile but he saw it soften. 
"No, Eddy. It's fine. I'll put it in the fridge. It heats well. Go and practise hard."
He stepped forward before he could think anything else and grabbed her in an awkward hug. 
"You sure? Thanks, mum."

He looked back from the door to the hallway with a frown, at the little figure stirring the pot. She seemed smaller to him, somehow, nowadays. He had always known she was short but she had seemed so formidable to him as a kid. Now that he wasn't a kid anymore everything was suddenly so different. He tried to shrug off the guilt as he ran upstairs, threw some clothes in a bag, picked up his violin and walked down the stairs again. 
"Bye, mum!" 
He wanted to add the 'are you going to be okay?' but he couldn't. She may have looked smaller, but she was still formidable. Those piercing eyes would burn him to death. 
"Bye!"

With every step he took, the muscles in his legs bunching strong, his tread light, his right hand supporting the violin case that was bouncing on his back, the pang of guilt he had felt dissipated more and more and the excitement started coursing through his system again. He hadn't really told his mum how out Brett's parents were. That they were off to family for an impromptu visit and wouldn't be back until the next day. That he was finally, finally going to have a whole night alone with Brett, with no one there to overhear anything they were going to say, anything they were going to do. 
Anything they were going to do. 
A little shiver pulled through him as the implications of that thought sank in and he walked even faster. 

"Hey." 
"Hey." 
Brett said it quite neutrally, but his eyes reflected that he felt it too. 
"You comin' in then?"
Eddy thought the silly smile would split his face in half as he stepped over the threshold and kicked off his shoes. 
"Definitely."