Dreaming In Stereo

Part 24 ~ All Night

(I recommend listening to In Stereo's EP She's Rock n Roll while reading (specifically Messed up Weekend and Good Times) or you could go on Youtube and listen to their song 'All Night'.)

Ethan's POV

She took my hand and we left the ice cream shop behind.

And then we ran into the gathering darkness, her palm pressed against mine.

My voice sang the songs that became the background music. And we ran, like one, under a dark tarp of blackness and scattered stars. We tore through the worlds, like piling crayon colours until the paper, heavy with the weight of a thousand colours, ripped.

We arrived at the crisp grass hills of a golf course, and soon we were lying next to each other, staring at the moonlit world.

And we played a game of Remember, spilling out our past in no particular order.

"Remember when you stood on the street with Chris and sang to random people?" Max asked.

"Remember when we pissed off our kindergarten teacher during finger painting?"

"Or during arts and crafts."

"When we wore matching beanies to school," I said.

"Or when you first skype called me from Geelong?" Max asked.

"Or busking in Sydney," I suggested.

"And when we all went to the ice cream place afterwards," Max added.

"I remember," I said. "And I remember you said... You said when a group of people are laughing, we all automatically look at the person we feel closest to."

There was a long silence.

"Do you wanna just... Be honest? With each other?" Max asked. "Roughly, just five minutes of just... Just being honest. About everything."

"Honest," I repeated. "I see incredible song potential. Okay, you go first."

"Honestly, I'm so glad I met you. You at five, and Jakob at school and Chris at the skatepark. You know, when Chris and I were standing at the line today at the ice cream shop... We were talking, and I realised--I've only known you guys for several months," Max said. "But it feels like ages."

"I know, right?" I asked. "I'm probably closer with you than I am with my friends back in Geelong."

"Do you miss Geelong much?" 

"Yeah, sort of. But I prefer Sydney," I replied. "But... I don't know. I feel like kind of a dick. I mean, Geelong was my home for thirteen years. But I don't really miss it. I never think about it. I just sort of... Forgot about it."

"Okay," Max said. "I've got a serious question. Are we only friends because we knew each other when we were five?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know anything right now. But I know I'm glad as hell five-year old me decided to give five-year old you a beanie."

"Yeah, I'm glad we knew each other when we were five."

"Yeah," I said, and sat up. "I love nights like these. Everything's so dark. Stay up late enough, even the city falls asleep."

"Remember when we went on that camping trip?" Max asked. "We snuck out of the tent after everyone had fallen asleep and we went into the woods."

"We fell asleep somewhere and eventually my mom found us," I grinned. "And we got into so much trouble." 

"Max?" I suddenly asked. "Remember that time when we were walking back from band practise?"

"Yeah?"

Max's POV

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I love you," At the exact same time, our lips spoke the same three words. The same beautiful three words. 

Ethan leant in, his messy brown hair brushing against mine, and I could feel his lips press against mine, like one big, beautiful dream. 

THE END

We're nearing the ending, people. In fact, for some of you it's already here. I had this idea for the ending of the book, but just a couple days ago when I was writing the previous chapter, I decided not to put in that ending. I actually write loads of sad endings, but for my first In Stereo fanfic I'm going to end it on a happy note. And if you like the ending, that's great. But for those who aren't satisfied with this ending and they want different endings, I'll also be writing multiple alternate endings for this story (will be in the next-next part).