"Is he coming?"
"Yeah, he says five minutes."
By now Eddy was getting nervous. Jeez, was he really going to make a video, and set it online for the world to see?
Not that anyone would watch it, probably. I mean, who would want to watch two geeky classical music guys mucking about? He unpacked his violin again and tuned it carefully. If he was going to make an arse of himself he could at least do it in tune, no?
Todd burst through the door with Ian and some blond girl he vaguely knew on his heel.
"So, where's the fire?"
Brett grinned once and Todd would never be able to tell from that, but Eddy knew straight away that he was nervous too. Eddy looked his love over surreptitiously as he explained their plan in short words and gave Todd his phone to record on. Oh, he looked so, so handsome in his pale beige shirt, the one he had seen him put on this morning. It fit him just right, and he found himself wishing for the millionth time he wasn't so gawky himself. Why hadn't he put on a button down shirt too? One that flattered him maybe, instead of this silly dark blue t-shirt with a picture on it that had seemed funny in the shop? He smoothed his hair back when no one was watching him and hoped he could measure up at least a little.
Brett had put his violin down and was putting the sheet music to the cadenza on a stand, even if Eddy knew full well that he knew the thing by heart. See? Brett was nervous too. Somehow that made him feel a little bit less like a complete dork.
"Okay, shall we start?"
The girl he didn't know stood close to the door behind them, and giggled. To be honest, he didn't really want her there, but what was he going to do? Ask her to get out of the shot? No way. So he just nodded at Brett, checked that Todd was recording and raised his bow.
Okay, so it wasn't easy, playing one note, waiting for Brett to play his and play the next one again, while trying to keep the melody going, but he was having such a laugh. And they were managing okay, weren't they? Eddy grinned freely as something went wrong and kept going.
He grinned again as the blonde girl by the door said it sounded awesome.
Yeah, it really didn't, but who cared?
The door to the hallway was open, so anyone walking past could see them, but right now he seriously couldn't give a fuck. There was something about this, this goofing about on camera that felt so natural, so right. He felt light, lighter than he had done in ages.
"We should do it in three!" he said when they came to the fast semiquaver bit, as the girl behind them finally left the room.
"Right! Cut!" Todd called with a giant grin as they reached the end. "Guys, that was hilarious. Are you actually posting this?"
"Maybe." Brett said in his deadpan way. "If we don't look too dorky."
"Erm. Yeah. Sure, guys. Nothing dorky at all about playing a violin cadenza with two people."
Brett punched Todd in the shoulder and took the phone back, turning to Eddy so they could watch what they had recorded.
He couldn't help his stupid smile. Todd was right, the video was hilarious. He didn't even mind so much that he was looking like a complete wanker. He was mostly looking at Brett anyway. They were definitely posting this! He would just have to sit down tonight and learn how to edit it a little.
Then he happened to glance to the side, and saw that Todd was hanging back a bit, looking at the phone in Brett's hands as if he could see from there. Wait, was there really any way he could? He looked closer, making sure Todd wouldn't see him looking, but he clearly wasn't paying them or the phone any attention. Todd was looking past the phone, into the hallway, and his face looked pained, somehow, tortured. Eddy's heart started pounding. He turned around to see what Todd was looking at, but there was nothing there. The hallway was empty, deserted, apart from the girl that had come in earlier, who was now talking to Ian.
Ian.
His eyes shot back to Todd, who was still there, staring.
And suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks.
He knew it couldn't be the girl he was tortured about.
Was it Ian? Was he tortured about Ian?
Oh fuck.