Dreaming In Stereo

Part 17 ~ Sydney

When Chris came back home from school, he did not expect to see his mum waiting for him in the kitchen with a small excited grin on her face.

Chris flung off his tie and dumped it on the sofa, then entered the kitchen.

"Mum?" He asked. "What's up?"

"I've got some good news for you," She said. 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Remember Ethan?" His mum asked.

"Mm-hm," Chris replied.

"Guess what?" His mum smiled. "He's moving to Sydney!"

The process of moving to a whole other state wasn't as smooth as Ethan and his family expected it to be. Everything had to be packed up in large cardboard boxes, either to be shipped or brought with them in the plane. Also, telling their friends about moving was hard.

"No way! Sydney?" Brock exclaimed. "Dude, that's sick. You have to send me pictures."

"Yeah, me too," Jack added. "I've been to Sydney several times for football. Seriously awesome."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward too," Ethan said. "Although I will miss Geelong. I mean, this place is pretty small and pretty unknown but it's home."

"That sounds like a corny line from a cheesy Romance movie," Jack commented. The three of them burst into laughter.

"Typical Jack," Ethan snorted, but he was grinning. "I'll try to Skype you guys when I get there, all right?"

"Sure," Brock said. 

Ethan glanced at his watch and realised that he didn't have much time to go. In several hours their plane would be taking off to Sydney. 

"Shoot, guys, I gotta go," Ethan said. "I'm gonna miss you."

Suddenly, he stepped forward and hugged Ethan. "Dude, I'm gonna miss your stupid baby-face around here in Geelong. Come and visit some time, okay?"

"Of course," Ethan replied, on the verge of tears. Jack joined in too. "We'll try and visit you and your family in Sydney. Of course if you get big in the music industry I can come and watch one of your concerts right?"

"Yeah, I'll make sure you get VIP tickets," Ethan joked. "And will you get me tickets when you become a professional football player?"

"'Course," Jack said.

"I really gotta go now," Ethan said. But he didn't want to. He slowly backed up.

"Bye Etho!" 

"I'm gonna miss you Karpathy!" 

"I'm gonna miss you guys too!" Ethan shouted. "See you at my concert!"

"See ya!" 

Ethan kept going and round the corner, until the faint shouts of 'See you Karpathy!' and 'Gonna miss you baby face!' and 'Bye Ethan!' turned into whispers, and then disappeared without a trace. He rounded another corner, tears streaming heavily down his face

The last time Ethan was on a plane to Sydney, it was months ago. Pre TVK. Pre Chris. Pre Half-Hearted Band. The last time he was on a plane to Sydney, it was for a short trip. Filming for a singing TV show. Now it was more real--permanent. Although this was definitely not the last time he would go to Geelong, it seemed like Ethan was leaving Geelong back permanently. But he wouldn't forget the memories there. 

To distract himself from his sad thoughts about Geelong, Ethan plugged in some earphones and listened to music. It was only months ago, but as Give Me Love, by Ed Sheeran, popped up, Ethan couldn't help but felt as if he were washed over with a wave of nostalgia.