Andante con Brio

CXXXII

Eddy set himself down on his chair on the podium with a humph. Look, he knew full well he was grumpy by now, moody because of lack of sleep and having his plans interrupted this morning. The fact that Brett had been quiet, on the way here, during warming up... well, that wasn't helping one bit. He looked at him now, over at the second desk. But Brett never looked in his direction. His black hair flopped around a little as he put his violin on his shoulder to tune, his eyes strictly forward on his sheet music. 
Well. Fuck that, and fuck everything around it too. 
He feebly tried to tell himself how cool it was that he was first now, which he had wanted to be for so long, but he already knew in his heart that this was not going to be his day to be upbeat. 

The rehearsal went reasonably though, and as all of the students started making their way out of the auditorium he was determined to corner Brett and ask him what was going on. 
"Hey." he said as he caught up to him by the door. 
"Hey. Eddy." Brett said, but his tone was all weird, all off. "I forgot... my toothpaste has run out. I'm just going to quickly run and get some."
Eddy stared at him in astonishment. He had seen Brett brush his teeth just this morning. His toothpaste had clearly not been empty, and he thought there was even a spare in the cupboard still. Plus... really, was this so urgent that he had to rush off to the drugstore in their lunch break, when they had lessons again soon after? And if this was about toothpaste, why the fuck was he being so awkward about it?
"Er, okay." he said feebly. "Want me to come with you?"
"Nah, don't worry about it. I'm just gonna run quickly, I'll be back in a minute."

He was already jogging down the stairs, his eyes on anything but Eddy, and suddenly Eddy wanted to scream. Brett didn't need toothpaste, no, he was sneaking away. He was sure of it. 
Brett's words from earlier floated through his mind. 
Quite the opposite. I'll tell you later. Just an idea of mine. 
What the fuck was going on? He followed Brett at a slower pace, all the way to the entrance hall. Look. He could force the issue, go with him. But they weren't alone, here. And Brett had made it pretty clear he didn't want him to come. There was no way. He leaned his forehead against the glass wall and sighed. 
"Hey, Eddy, you comin' to lunch?"
He nodded once to himself before he turned around. Look. Whatever Brett was doing right now, it was definitely no business of Todd's, or Ian's. So he made very sure he had a hold of himself before he turned around. 
"Yeah, of course I'm coming."
"Where's Brett gone?"
"He said he was out of toothpaste." Eddy said with a deliberate smirk, and in an impressively neutral tone, if he may say so himself. "I think he's full of it because I think there's a spare, but hey. His loss, right?"
Todd grinned and started walking to the cafeteria, his cello case gently swaying from side to side on his back.  
"Maybe he just wanted a walk or something."
"Yeah, maybe."

Todd was right. Maybe Brett did just want a walk. But Eddy knew full well he would have been invited, should have been invited if that were the case. He stood in line with Todd and Ian, to buy some curry soup and a bread roll, then he sat down with his friends at their usual table, as if nothing was going on at all. He stared at the yellow soup somewhat morosely. 
What the fuck was Brett up to?

A/N. Hello to the world's loveliest readers! I just wanted to say Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, wherever you are! I hope you are safe, healthy and warmly surrounded by loved-ones! 
Much love from Author-San.