Play!

LXXIII

Oh, what a relief, a sight to behold, really, when Brett spotted Eddy’s dark mop of hair, the taller for once sitting at the first desk already, taking out his violin. Brett felt his shoulders relax instantly while a by now familiar warmth filled him up from head to toe, pushing any kind of darkness and fear to the back of his consciousness. 

“Hey”, he found himself breathing.
Eddy looked up, looking so god damn handsome in his dark red shirt and black pants Brett almost dropped his case. 
“Hey”, the demigod in front of Brett beamed, “Slept well?”
Brett sat down and opened his case. “Not really. Had this awful nightmare that I was about to play in front of everyone, including the jury, without my violin.”
Eddy flinched visibly, making Brett chuckle. “Damn! How cruel!”
“Right? And you didn’t even help me! Well, you couldn’t hear me.”
“I’d hand you my violin asap, trust me!”, Eddy declared in all seriousness and let a smile appear on Brett’s features. Only he could do that after such a night. Only Eddy and his genuine care. 

“Alright everyone, listen up!”
Mr. Thames tapped his baton against the conductor stand and the orchestra quieted down. Brett threw a careful glance at Katie. Her eyes were a bit smaller than usual and she was quite pale. Other than that, she seemed her attentive self though. 
“We have a full morning in front of us. Brett and Eddy will each play through the whole concerto, which means you as the orchestra will have two run-throughs before tonight. Use it well and be aware! There are subtle differences depending on the player. Just look at me and the concertmaster and you should be fine.”

Mr. Jones winked at Brett and Eddy from his seat in the first row. Brett huffed as Eddy broke in silent laughter shaking his whole body. 
“The orchestra will have a break in the afternoon, so give it you all now”, Mr. Thames continued, “Brett, Eddy, you’ll have some time to yourself to practice before the competition this evening.”
Both nodded with their lips pressed together, taking in deep breaths to not burst out in uncontrollable guffaws. Brett didn’t even know what it was that had tipped them off.
“Now, who wants to start?”
Brett raised his hand before Eddy had the chance to. He needed to get it out of his system, to replace the image of last night with one where he was actually holding his violin. Eddy turned to him, his nostrils still flaring, but with eyes that said “You got this!”

Eddy stood up, the orchestra tuned, Brett made sure for the thousandth time that he had his instrument and joined in the tuning. Then, he wiped his sweaty hands on his shorts and gave Mr. Thames a nod, who raised his baton and, like in Brett’s dream, they started playing. 

But this time, Brett produced a resonating, strong sound from the beginning, violin and bow very real in his hand and he let out a breath as he dived more and more into the music. 
This was it! His run-through before the real deal tonight! Brett tried to take mental notes of parts he wanted to even out during the afternoon and was beyond relieved when he didn’t fuck up the tricky passages as he’d feared. Once the initial panic and nervousness faded to an extent, he entered a zone he loved most, being totally lost in the performance. The orchestra carried him as he soared, reaching every corner of the concert hall. Sure, it was gonna be different once it was full of people, but Brett was more than happy with how the sound projected, his many practice hours clearly paying off. There were one or two notes out of tune and the fast bits could be rhythmically more even, nothing he couldn’t improve until tonight though. Even the cadenza was alright and he couldn’t hold back a small, proud smile, which lasted until the end of the first movement. 

“Alright! Alright!”, Mr. Thames exclaimed, a very delighted expression on his face while the orchestra applauded, “That was some solid playing Brett! Nicely done!”
“Thank you”, Brett said, his smile widening. 
“Now, what would you like us to adjust?”

Brett proceeded with pointing out various places where he wanted tempo or dynamic changes so they could be more together and bring out the melody in a more effective way. People were probably guessing by now which movement he was going to play with how detailed his feedback was, but Brett couldn't care less. It was dumb anyway that the orchestra still didn’t know.

The second movement went fine, however not as sweet as he’d wished and by the time they reached the third, Brett noticed his concentration and focus declining as his fingers slowly decided to take a dump on rhythm and intonation. The fast bits got more slurred and Brett had never needed a coffee this badly as when the last note finally rang through the hall. 

“Well played, mate!”, Eddy commented, glowing like the moon when Brett slumped down on his chair, so ready to put his violin away. 
“Not the third movement, but thanks”, he groaned and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s not the movement you’re gonna play, is it?”, Eddy sniggered and slapped Brett’s back sympathetically. 
“Nah! And I don’t even give a damn if you know or not.”
The snigger turned into a laugh. “Now I’m really worried about tonight!”
“Really?”
“Of course! That first movement? Bro, that was mind-blowing!”

Brett might have glowed even brighter than Eddy on their way to the cafeteria.

His good mood started to waver when it was Eddy’s turn to play. Brett couldn’t decide whether he should fret over himself for the competition or be amazed once again by Eddy Chen’s incredible skills on the violin. He swore Eddy’s first movement was faster than his and when they came to the second movement, there was such a sweetness in his tone it took all of Brett’s self-control and deadpan skills to not tear up, which would have been very inconvenient considering his role as concertmaster. How he improved from robotic playing to an all encapsulating, expressive style in the course of a week was beyond Brett. 

And then, the third movement! If Eddy wasn’t going for third, Brett would devour the sheet music of the entire concerto. Crisp, fast, exciting, long, carrying notes in-between, it was everything! Never had Brett put down his violin and started applauding for real faster than after Eddy’s run-through. 

Yeah, tonight was going to be really interesting!