Dreaming In Stereo

Part 15 ~ Moving to Sydney

"Shut up, Tahlia," Ethan snapped at his little sister, who'd snatched his phone and was waving it around in the air replaying a video clip of Ethan laughing at Delta calling him handsome.

"TAHLIA! SHUT UP!" Ethan yelled.

"ETHAN!" His mum screamed from her bedroom. "Keep your voice down!"

Ethan sighed, and rolled his eyes as Tahlia burst into laughter. A few seconds later, his mum came walking down the stairs. A couple moments later, their dad followed in a rumpled tee shirt, unkempt hair and underwear.

"Dad!" Ethan complained. "Maybe a pair of trousers?"

His dad looked down, as if just realising he was wearing underwear, and laughed. "Oh. Do you mind? No? Okay, thanks."

Ethan and Tahlia rolled their eyes simultaneously. 

"Ethan, Tahlia, we have some news for you," Their mum said. "Your father and I have been discussing. Geelong is great."

"It is, and we've lived here our whole lives. But it's very small. And I think it'd be better to live in Sydney. There're more opportunities there, for everything, Ethan's music, studies. And... your father is being transferred to Sydney."

"So we're moving to Sydney?" Tahlia asked.

"Well... yes."

"When?" Ethan asked. "Why? Is it just for a couple of years? Are we ever gonna move back to Geelong?"

"In several weeks. Because Sydney is a much larger city. It's better for a career in music. And no... not in the forseeable future, will we move back to Geelong. We'll definitely come and visit though."

"So that's it," Ethan said. "We're just leaving Geelong in several weeks. It's already decided."

"I thought you'd be pleased, Ethan. All your band friends and Max are living in Sydney right now," His mum said. 

Max... Right, Max was living in Sydney! Suddenly, the prospect of moving to Sydney seemed a whole lot better. 

There was no better feeling, though Max to herself, than running. Having your long locks of hair, all knotted up in the breeze, soaring behind you like wings, and the pounding of your arms slicing, moving forward, the balls of your feet bouncing lightly against the ground before kicking back up again. 

She remembered a certain incident fondly, glancing back as if it were happening just behind her. Two barefoot toddlers, one all blond hair and tan skin, the other giggling and brown-eyed, sprinting their way through grass. Tumbling over one another. Laughing, getting back up. Their game of tag evolving into a simple game of Run.

"Ethan," She said aloud. That was his name. Ethan. 

Max slowed to a jog and rounded the corner. Now she was almost at her house, which lay just a couple meters ahead, through a low gate and a small path. She dragged her notebook-laden backpack and swung it over her shoulder, then crossed through the path, jutted her keys into the keyhole and entered her house. It was messy and half-finished, some cardboard boxes stacked neatly in great big piles of flat cardboard, the others still half-full. 

She navigated her way across the living room, up the stairs and into her new bedroom. There, Max sat down on the bed. Being the procrastinator she was, Max dumped her backpack onto the floor. There would be plenty of time to do all that homework later.

Instead, Max opened her laptop. She went onto Youtube and started to watch a new video from her favourite youtuber, Ryan Higa. Some of his jokes were only mildly amusing in the immature sense, but the overall videos were deep like onions, with layers and layers of puns and hidden jokes and a brilliantly hilarious twist at the very end. And she also found his Japanese features good-looking. 

But not as good as Ethan's, Max thought to herself. Oh god, why am I thinking so much about Ethan today?

The two of them were barely in touch. Really, they were more like acquaintances than anything else. But Max couldn't stop thinking of his meltingly handsome brown eyes and his messy, beanie-clad brown hair and that deliciously strong Australian accent... And a world where they were alone on a beach with the papaya sun melting into tufts of dark water, with their footprints splashing across tanned sand and their silhouettes small against the massive beach...

Oh god, what was going on with her? 

Max shook herself off. 

"I said I wouldn't want to date anyone who lived outside of Sydney," Max said aloud. "And Ethan lives in Geelong."

Max started binge watching some old videos, and was midway through her twentieth time in her life watching Agents of Secret Stuff when a Skype notification popped up. Ethan Karpathy requesting a video call. Max sighed, pausing the video on a scene of Ryan and Arden re-enacting the notebook, kissing in the rain (well, it was supposed to be rain but she knew from the BTS it was really just a hose). 

Max logged onto Skype and then accepted the video call request.

"Hey Ethan," Max grinned. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just finished school," Ethan replied. "I should be doing homework, but... it's way too boring for me."

"Yeah, same," Max said. "I'm watching Youtube videos while my Math homework waits in my bag."

Ethan laughed. "Oh my lord... yes! I cannot stand math, it is honestly the worst subject ever invented."

"Hey Ethan," Max joked. "Wanna hear a horror story?"

"Sure!"

"Algebra."

Ethan shivered. "It's short but chilling to the bone."

"Haha!" Max laughed. "Anyway, so... what's up?"

"Oh. Well. My parents talked to me and Tahlia this morning about something," He said. "It's actually kind of big news. I-I have something to tell you. Something pretty awesome."

I'm finally on Christmas break, which means I'm gonna publish two chapters today! One about Ethan moving to Sydney (a.k.a. this one) , and the other is going to be a Baekob one because it's his birthday today! 21st December, 2015! Let's celebrate this monumental day, the day a beautiful young singer was born, with a whole chapter dedicated to Jakob Leo Delgado. Anyway, happy birthday Jakob. Hope you enjoyed the chapter :) Pls vote or comment if you enjoyed 

(sorry for all the Nigahiga references)