Andante con Brio

CLXIII

It was getting late, real late, as they sat around as a group again, and waited. The bantering and laughing had stopped a while ago, now there were just pale, worried faces all around. 
Eddy had played okay, he knew that, by some miracle. Basically as well as he could, right now. But was that enough? Like, even nearly? Or was the committee there, in some room behind a locked door, laughing at the first year student who wanted to play with the big boys? 
But if they were laughing at him surely they wouldn't have put him through to the second round? 
Brett's hand on his knee brought him back from his stew. 
"Hey, you good there?" he whispered, just for his ears, not the others'. 
He nodded and looked down at Brett's slender fingers, casually resting on his knee, like something a best friend would do to a best friend. 
"Yeah. Just... you know."
Brett grinned once. 
"Yeah. It won't be long now, I'm sure. I mean, what can they possibly be talking about for so long? The weather?"
"They're probably busy eating the Chinese take-out I saw being brought here earlier." Todd said with one of his lopsided grins. "I mean, they can't possibly have that much to say about my playing, that's for sure."
"I don't know, Todd. Maybe they're counting all the out of tune notes? Then they might be a while." Ian grunted, and Todd laughed and shoved him. 

And Eddy would have said something witty, but it was at that moment that two men from the committee walked in and stood on the stairs above the group. The oldest one of them, a guy with white hair and dark rimmed glasses, whose curved back told him he had played a lot of violin back in the days people played without shoulder rests, cleared his throat. 
"Everyone. Can I have your attention please? I have here a list of people who have made it through to the finals, which will be held next week."
It was like everyone around him held their breath at the same time. 
"Eighteen of you are carrying on. Now, be advised, this doesn't mean that the rest of you were no good. You have made it this far, which means we see promise in you. We, as the committee, urge you to carry on with your practise, and we hope to see you in another location again."

Eddy knew very well how nice the man's words were, and that they were coming from a good place, but all he could think was go, go. Tell us already!  And when he glanced at Brett and saw him staring up at the man, he guessed he was no different. 
"Okay, here goes. In no particular order. Jasmine Chen. Elly Heart. Todd Kozinsky."
Eddy's heart stopped as he looked over at Todd, who looked like he had just been hit with a bat. His eyes were wide and his mouth fell open. But before he could miss too many names he focused back on the head of the committee.
"Elise Vandermeer. Elijah Raft. Brett Yang."
Oh my God. Brett had done it! He was there! Happiness flooded him so hard that he had to stop himself from jumping up and down, doing a happy dance with his love, who was sitting there, his face still deadpan, like he hadn't just heard his name being called out. Eddy grinned, because he knew very well that inside of that deadpan face there was a whole bunch going on. And he was sure he would hear what, soon enough.
He wasn't sure how many names he missed, but in the end he remembered. Oh yeah. There was a minuscule chance his name was coming. 
Probably not, though. In fact, almost certainly not. And look, Brett was through, right? It was okay. It didn't matter, that he wasn't through. He'd be able to go to the final as a spectator, he'd be able to help Brett through it all. 
It was fine. 
He wasn't really listening anymore, but suddenly the man took a breath and said. 
"And lastly, Eddy Chen."