[21st December]
"Dylan?! What are you doing here??"
"I could ask the same to you, Johnny! I'm equally as confused?!" Dylan yelled as his grip on the door tightened.
"I'm here to do the carnival project with Ethel!" I stood at the doorway like a feeble deer, arms full of orange and yellow manila cards and a bag filled with colored pencils. I looked like a boy scout trying to sell cookies.
Had Ethel given me the wrong address?
"Ethel-oh," Dylan wordlessly stepped aside to let me in. Hesitantly, I walked in to find the house dim. It would've been pitch black had it not been for the sunrays peeking through the windows.
"So, why are you here again?" I asked him. He sighed, closing the door before guiding me up the stairs.
"I'm his cousin,"
"You're what?!" I hissed at him, afraid to raise my voice in the eerie house. Why was Dylan so mean to Ethel then? He turned to look at me over his shoulder with a brow raised.
"You knew that, you punk,"
"I did? Oh-"
"Are you sure you're not some kind of skinwalker imitating Johnny? You can't remember anything, true to your words!" I pouted with a grunt.
"Anyway, we live together. If you had remembered the secret, you'd know why," I furrowed my eyebrows and slowly took in the information.
"If only you'd tell me, I wouldn't be a damsel in distress here." I guess the secret wasn't too relevant to the mission so I shouldn't pay much attention to it.
"This is his room," Dylan muttered before lightly knocking on a raven black door. A few seconds later, I heard soft sounds of feet padding against the floor. The door opened to reveal a room that was lit with blue LED lights-but then it transitioned into a light shade of purple, surprising me. Ethel came into view, in a hoodie as always. The only difference was that the jacket was white, not like his usual grey or black ones. His bangs covered most of his eyes as he looked up and nodded at Dylan.
"Come on in," Ethel held the door open for me.
I watched from my peripheral view as Dylan glared at Ethel and raised his eyebrow, causing Ethel to shrink in his spot. "Have fun, I guess. I'm going over to Rikki's," Dylan muttered before walking down the stairs. When the house door slammed close, I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and waved at Ethel, who subtly flinched when I raised my hand. My brows furrowed at that but I shrugged it off.
"Hey,"
"Hi,"
Carefully stepping into his room, I was pleasantly surprised to find an electric guitar in a corner of his room. "You play the guitar?" I asked, turning to Ethel who was closing his room door.
"I kind of stopped playing a long time ago..." he muttered, standing beside me. It was awkwardly silent.
"Uh, I love your room," I really did.
"Thank you. Did you bring the cards...?" Ethel trailed off as he watched me basically toss the materials onto the floor nearby. I did a double-take when I noticed he was staring and fumbled to explain myself.
"They were heavy," I laughed nervously.
"It's okay," he waved me off and took a seat from where he stood, pulling out his laptop from behind him. Was it there the entire time?
"So, this was what I had researched,"
-
Four hours went by pretty smoothly and before we knew it, we were already done with the project, excluding the pictures. It was a little over two in the afternoon when we folded the decorated manila cards in preparation for the presentation on Tuesday. I was extremely relieved that Ethel had warmed up to me and was even able to crack up a joke or two.
"It's all done!" I cheered and did little dances as I kept my colored pencils.
"Oh, before I forget," Ethel hummed and peered at me.
"Rikki said he'd give me some pictures that we can use for our project!" I clapped my hands in excitement as I awaited Ethel's response. His eyes glowed at that.
"Pictures? That's remarkable," he smiled before standing up to place the manila card somewhere so the glue would dry without any disturbance. I took this time to wander around his room with my eyes.
From how Ethel portrayed himself in school, you would've expected him to have a boring room. But he was more than that; the LED light strips on his ceiling that were constantly changing colors, the little lamp at the corner of his desk that illuminated bright stars twenty cm radius around it, and the soft cotton clouds that decorated the entirety of his ceiling.
Plus, the alternative RnB playing softly from a record player in the background was so calming. The next song faded in and I immediately recognized it. "Oh!" I exclaimed, getting Ethel's attention.
"Is that BTS' 134340?" I grinned at him as he squealed in surprise and nodded.
"I love that song!" I got up to take a look at the record player.
"Did they sell vinyl records?" I tilted my head in confusion when I lifted the vinyl cover that had their album cover on it.
"I made it," Ethel said from behind me.
"For real??" my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Ethel shyly chuckled.
"That's so sick," I turned back to the record player before catching sight of a pair of
black high heels.
"High heels-?" they were swiftly snatched when I bent down to look at them closer.
"Uh-" Ethel hugged the pair of heels tightly to his chest as if he was trying to hide it. His eyes averted around his room as he worked to think of a reason.
"It's fashionable! I find myself getting fascinated too! I've always wondered how my mum managed to walk in them," I burst out laughing as Ethel followed suit, a tad bit relieved for not having to explain himself.
He didn't need to, anyway.
Since our project was partially done, Ethel and I talked about music while we waited for the glue to harden so I could take it home. I realized how passionate Ethel was about music. He was even planning to pursue it in the future. While I listened to him talk, I noticed how he took sad glances at the guitar behind him but I decided to not question it, it might be personal.
I was absolutely delighted ever since Ethel told me he was a big fan of Dhruv as well. We gushed over his music and talked about how his portrayal of love in his lyrics was so unprecedented. Ethel said his favorite song was Moonlight and I let out a sound I didn't even know I could make. That song brought me into space every time I listened to it.
I had heard it on the radio once when Ethan was sending us home and had memorized some of the lyrics so I could search for it later on. I had asked him about the song that currently played and learned that Ethel was a huge admirer of BTS and told me he could spend hours and hours on days just talking about the band's lyricism and wordplay. I made a mental note to search up more songs from them when I get home so I could talk to him about it. Might as well make use of my time and get to know more things before I leave Earth and start anew.
Start anew.
Thinking about it made my smile falter. I had grown so attached to the group that leaving was a tad bit difficult now. Not to mention, I even managed to have Ethel open up to me more. That was a huge accomplishment. He actually grew comfortable to me a lot quicker than I had thought. I haven't even apologized-
"Are you okay?" Ethel suddenly asked, having noticed my glum expression.
"Is my talking getting tiresome?"
"What?! Hell no! Sorry, I just got carried away with a few things," I sheepishly rubbed my nape in embarrassment. Ethel chuckled with a nod.
"So do you like any other artists, Johnny?" he asked me, leaving his seat on his bed to change the vinyl record upon sensing that the current song was coming to an end. From my observation, Ethel was a passionate collector of vintage items; his shelf and wall cabinets were filled with little trinkets and merchandise from the '80s. It gave a really comforting feeling.
"Uh..." I struggled to answer his question; I've only been on Earth for four days but I couldn't tell him that! The only time I've actually stopped to listen and appreciate music was when I was in Ethan's car. To be honest, his rides home was like a unique space where nothing else mattered and I could sit back and relax and not think about the mission.
"Not really," I sighed in fake disappointment.
"I've not really listened to any music nowadays," Ethel hummed understandingly.
"Well, since our taste in music is somewhat similar, might I interest you in some songs from...'Ethel's playlist'?" I burst out laughing as Ethel bent down and held his hand out as if he was holding a tray as a waiter would. He too started laughing at his joke before rushing to take a seat beside me to show off his countless number of playlists from his little hand device.
"I like all genres, but RnB is my favorite," I nodded and watched as he scrolled through his playlists. Ethel even had playlists based on movies he had watched. How impressive is that! I should start doing it too.
All of a sudden, my phone started buzzing.
"Sorry," I excused myself and ran towards my bag. Grabbing the device, I raised my brow in confusion when I noticed that Nick was calling me. I glanced at the time; we don't meet for another two hours.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" he sounded like he was in a rush.
"I'm doing the project with Ethel right now. What's wrong?" I shifted my feet as I waited for his response.
"Are you almost done?" he asked, some shuffling noises in the background.
"Yeah, sort of," I glanced at Ethel to see him still absorbed in his music.
"Get to my house right now,
It's urgent,"