Ethan

The sun was beating down an eighty degree day in Darien, Georgia. Ethan Kelly, who had been raised in the chilly wet Pacific Northwest, was in heaven.

He parked on a dock for his lunch hour and looked out at the bay, smiling, wishing his friends could see it. Anna would be reading at the bank, feet in, with a mile wide smile at every bird she saw. Cole would be snapping away with his camera, angling to get the right shot of how the high grass danced.

Ethan signed as he picked at his sandwich. He hadn't seen them since late January. A long spell for them. Must have been starting to ware if all he could see in the places he went was them.

Then again they missed each other like a limb, no matter where they were.

They got together enough though. More than most friendships at this stage of life. Sometimes when Ethan was on location and knew it was a place Cole and his camera needed to be, he'd send him a ticket. His work in stunts had afforded them a few travel perks. And when his feet stopped itching he only had to drop in on Anna Jane to feel he'd been home. It had worked for the six years they'd all been off to their own ramblings.

For Ethan those ramblings had been expected. His father John had toured with his rock band all Ethan's life, and before having him Cecelia was a rover herself. And while through childhood he had felt rooted as his mother was in Forks, around eighteen his feet started to itch for travel. He started by trekking to Port Angeles to work as a busboy in a club every chance he got. By the time Anna and Cole were in college he switched to tending the bar and occasional bouncing wherever they were.

Ethan was twenty three when he'd had enough of the bar scene and hitched it to LA to try his hand at something new. At that point Anna and Cole had started their own paths out East and unlike them Ethan never quite knew what he wanted to be doing. Some days he still didn't know. Only that he wanted to see.

And he had. He'd seen the canyons of Arizona and the winters of Vermont. He and Cole had ridden horses in Montana and jet skis in Florida. He'd spoken French in Quebec, though not with the same skill Anna had when she taught him. And if he got injured on a stunt he only had to think of how one day the job would afford him and his friends the twenty year friendship trip they dreamed of. And that was less than two years away.

Shaking his head at that, Ethan looked over at the cranes that were strutting across the river. The days shoot was an easy one. Just a few jumps from boat to boat, one into the water that night, and he'd be wrapped. There was a few days in between jobs he was considering using to see his mother. Depending on where his dad was touring maybe he could convince him to come with.

While his parents lived separately more often than not, it seemed to satisfy their own needs for independence while being married. Throughout Ethan's upbringing he went from stage to stage of how he felt about the unique relationship and family dynamic. As an adult he often grinned when he thought of his foundation.

As he finished off the last of his sandwich his phone signaled on the ground next to him. Reading the call out his grin brightened as he answered in a twang.

"Well hey there baby, how'd you know I was missing you today?"

"Must have been I was missing you." Cole teased back. "How's the daredevil business? You do that boat jump yet?"

"Tonight. And then I don't have to be back in LA until Tuesday so I was thinking of detouring to Anna's after we wrap and then the weekend with mom when I have to head back west. You need anything done around there or picked up? I'm still hoping to be back on your side of the country for a longer stay by April."

"Actually that's why I called. If you have time coming do you think you could push back the visit with Cecelia and stay at Anna's until I can get there?"

"Yeah I can do that. You alright? Is Anna Jane?"

"Promise, just a talk for faces not phones and I can't get time away until Saturday. I was going to look into what adding the Carolinas to the trip would cost me but if the rich boy is free and traveling…."

"Keep it up, you're the one whose gonna be sleeping on that air mattress m'boy." He glanced at his watch. "Alright I got to get back. I'll get a flight to Anna's for tomorrow morning, talk smack about you, and then we'll see you Saturday. Send her flowers for the oncoming storm."

"What do you take me for? Ordered them an hour ago. Fall well, watch those hips."

"Love you too." Ethan said as he stood. When he hung up he scrolled over to his airline app and as he walked back over to set he bought a flight to Albany. Then purchased a train ticket from NYC for Cole, forwarding him the info. He'd get yelled at, but being the rich one had its perks.

He nodded at some of the crew and security as they came into view and fired off a text to Anna.

Coming in hot. Too hot. You'll still be at work. I'll use my key.

Fine. You better have dinner on the table when I get home.

Smiling at the quick answer, Ethan headed to the trailer set up for changing. At another chime he glanced at his phone.

Thanks for the ticket, dick. Await my revenge.

He pushed aside any worry he had that something was up. They'd figure out how to fix it if it were. For now it simply nice to know they wouldn't have to miss each other much longer.