Andante con Brio

CLXI

They had been back for a while when the woman he had seen in the committee came into the cafeteria with a couple of pages of paper, and stuck them to the bulletin board. She left again without another word, and suddenly everyone was moving forward, trying to see. 

Eddy desperately wanted to see as well, but he wasn't about to push himself to the front, or anything. He just stayed by his friends as they waited, among squeals, and sounds of disappointment. God, how would he react, once he read he wasn't through? Because he was sure he wasn't. He'd seen the crowd here. Almost all of the musicians were second, third, even fourth year students. What chance did he have among them? And he tried to tell himself now, that it would be okay, it was fine that he wasn't through. No one was expecting him to be. And hadn't the others bombed out last year, too? Todd hadn't even tried. See? It would be fine. He could take it. It didn't mean he was a bad violinist. 

It was Brett who got to the pages first in the end, and after just a second he turned to him with such a huge smile that Eddy could have jumped for joy, just by seeing him. Oh! Brett was through! Clearly! 
But then Brett pointed to the paper in front of them, and Eddy followed his finger automatically. The list of people who went on to the next round was pretty short. His eyes shot down it a speed, and despite himself he started shivering again. 
Look, he knew, right? But before he could finish the thought, there it was. 
Eddy Chen. 
Wait, what? 
His mouth fell open and he turned to Brett, who had grabbed his shirt and was pulling him sideways, out of the crowd. 
"I'm through?" he asked as soon as his heart started again, and Brett nodded with the biggest grin on his face. 
"Yep. We both are."
He flinched as Todd hammered his fist down on his shoulder. 
"Good on ya, mate!"
"Whoa. Thanks, Todd! You're through too, right?"
Todd nodded. 
"We all are."

It was very weird, seeing the majority of their fellow students, and a whole bunch of strangers, leaving the building with heavy faces. It was even weirder to stay behind, in a much smaller group of elated people. 
"Are we going outside for a bit?"
"Yeah." Brett said. "We should go and eat something somewhere. We've got a couple of hours before we need to be back here."
"I know my way around here a little bit." Ian piped up.
"Lead the way!"

They walked to a little chinese take away, and it was strange how normal this all felt. Like they hadn't just done something scary, like they weren't about to do something else scary. It was like they were in the eye of the storm right now, where only calmness and happiness existed. He sat down on a faded red chair in the corner by the window and looked out at the street with happy eyes. 
"Hotpot?" Brett asked dryly behind him. 
Eddy grinned.
"Is there another choice?"
Look, even Todd and Ian had taken to loving hotpot, and they were as European as it was possible to get. Brett sat down next to him and before he knew it Brett's hand was on his thigh under the table. 
"Can I say something silly?" he asked, softly enough so the others wouldn't hear them. 
"Sure, why?"
Brett shrugged and seemed to hesitate for a second. 
"I don't want to come across weird. But... I want to tell you that I'm really proud of you, Eddy. Especially after last night, and you worrying. You did real well."
It was so sweet that Eddy had to bite down on his tongue to stop from tearing up. Then he grabbed the hand on his thigh with his own and rubbed it gently. 
"I have no idea why you'd think that could ever be weird." he said, even softer. "Thanks, Bretty. And... likewise. I wish I could kiss you now."
Brett's face lit up. 
"You can, later."
"I'll hold you to that."