The Boy Next Door ~ Ethan Karpathy

Chapter 4 ☯ Where are you?

45 Minutes later, we were out the door and with Ethan. 

We don't live far from Bondi so we walked. Me and Ethan got our pennies and rode ahead.

"So are you going to join the soccer team?" I said breaking the silence. 

"What? Oh the soccer team, i'm not that good but yeah, I will try." He replied sounding startled. 

"When are tryouts?" 

"Next week on Tuesday afternoon"

He then nodded his head in thought.

Not long after, we reached the skatepark and waited for my mum to get there. 

When she arrived, we headed into the park and saw a big lot of people walking around.

After searching the crowd, my eyes landed on a familiar face. 

She was waving to me, it was Claudia! "Hey Clauds!" I shouted as she ran to me, 

"Oh my God you are kidding me, is that him!?" She said loud enough for only me to hear. 

I started laughing uncontrollably because of how hot she thought he was.

"Hey, my names Ethan," He said to Claudia extending a hand, 

"I'm Claudia", she said with a smile, gladly accepting it, 

but I knew underneath all that calm and coolness of Claudia, was a screaming fangirl already thinking of fandom names with him in it.

Caithan I thought. 

Hm, it has a nice ring to it... 

"Caitlin, you coming?" Asked Ethan, 

I broke out of my train of thought and replied, "Yeah, sorry!" laughing it off. 

I still felt the redness in my face as I put my skateboard on the floor and started to push myself towards where Claudia and Ethan were going.

We were currently riding towards the bowl so that we could watch the pros do tricks. 

We went towards the front of the bowl and my mum went to sit with Claudia's mum so we could sit by ourselves.

I sat down and Ethan came and sat next to me, leaving Claudia on the other side of me. 

We watched the skating and voted who our favourite was. 

We settled on one skater with a flouro yellow and pink helmet and green board shorts.

After a while of talking and laughing, it was time for Claudia to go, "See you guys!!" 

She shouted as she ran to catch up with her mum, giving Ethan one last glance.

Ethan and Claudia got really close today and it gives me a burning feeling in my stomach when I think about them two together. 

I don't know what it is but I don't like it.

"Its beach time!" Ethan said as he jumped in the air. 

It was already about 6pm and we had had a big day walking around, shopping, watching the skating, and doing a little bit of skating ourselves.

"Mum, can we run down to the beach?" I said hopping around with energy, 

"Hmm, okay but be careful of all the rocks down there!" She said as she motioned us to go. 

"Race?" I said almost a whisper, 

"You're on!" He shouted and zoomed off. 

"Hey, wait up!"

|||

"Oh my gosh, I'm so tired." I breathed as we flopped onto the sand at the tide. 

The place was practically deserted, the only people that were at the beach were a couple walking towards the tide far away.

He got up and started walking across the sand, scanning the ground for something, 

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing" He said as he picked something up quickly sliding it into his pocket. 

I sat up with confusion but shook it off as I stood up.

"Do you want to go for a swim?" he said, 

"Last one into the waters a rotten egg!" I shouted taking off my shoes. 

He quickly took his shoes and shirt off. I threw my dress on the sand fixing my bikini and started running behind him.

I started to slow down when I realised I had never seen him without a shirt before... SPLASH. 

We hit the water and he dived under. I just stood there like an idiot not knowing what to do. 

I then dipped my face under and came above the water to see Ethan splashing water in my direction.

"You're not going to get away with that!" I laughed pushing a massive amount of water into his direction. 

It hit him and he fell back.

But then all of a sudden he disappeared. He went underwater and never came up. 

Oh my God, 

OH MY GOD WHERE IS HE! 

"Ethan? Ethan!" I shouted trembling with fear. 

I started to move through the water trying to feel if he was there.

I had never felt like this before, I was starting to breathe quicker than normal. 

I was about to shout for mum to come when I felt two hands grab my shoulders. 

"AHHHHHH" I screamed and turned around quickly, it was Ethan!

Without thinking, I pulled him towards me and hugged him like I hadn't seen him in years. 

"Oh my God, you scared me! I didn't know where you were!" I said, voice trembling. 

"It's okay! I'm here now." He lowered his voice and pulled me closer, which I didn't think was possible since I wasn't able to breathe.

I pulled away after a while and we just stood there, waist-deep into the ocean. 

"I'm really sorry for scaring you like that, I was just playing a prank." 

He rubbed his neck and looked down. 

"It's okay" I reassured him grabbing his arm off his neck and holding his hand.

He smiled. 

And I smiled. 

And then I got butterflies. 

I'm pretty sure he got them too since his face went a crimson red after I held his hand. 

I think I like Ethan Karpathy

... 

a lot.