Closing the Distance ~ l.h. + a.i.

- Introduction -

Closing the Distance
Introduction

"Last boarding call for flight 8675 to Sydney, Australia."

I turn to my mom with sad eyes as she lets a tear fall from her own, "I'll miss you so much, mom."

She takes my hands in her own and places a kiss on my cheek before slowly backing away. I take this as my cue to leave.

Slinging my backpack full of snacks and pass-time activities on my shoulders, I spin on my heels and join the line of people waiting to board the plane.

I've never left home before, especially not alone. Sleepovers never used to be fun for me until about a year ago when I was forced to stay at my grandma's house with my older brother while my parents went on a business trip. Since then I've considered myself an expert at sleeping over grandma's. It's almost like the same thing now, except it's not grandma's house - it's Australia, and I'm not going with my brother, Jack - I'm going alone, and it's not just for the weekend - the duration is unknown.

I'm interrupted from my own thoughts by the sound of my mom behind me.

"You can do this, Noelle. Text me when you land."

She's gripping her tissue with red eyes, barely keeping herself together. She knows I'm scared. I used to joke that her sixth sense is to read people's minds and know what they're feeling. If I'm correct with this theory and she can read my mind, then she can hear the crazy thoughts about airplanes flooding my mind.

Airplanes have always been a fear of mine, but not because I'm afraid of heights. Anything can go wrong tens of thousands of feet up in the air causing us to spiral down to earth in a large crash. I'm afraid of the 'what ifs'.

I simply nod in response to my mom and fix my gaze upon the flight attendant who is eagerly waiting for me to hand her my ticket with a forced, toothy grin.

She scans my ticket and sends me on my way through the jet bridge to board the plane.

The anxious thoughts in my head start to jumble together as I walk.

Who am I sitting next to? Will I have the window seat? I hate the window seat. Hopefully it's a girl just like me and I'll make a friend. Hopefully...

With a sigh, I take my first step onto the plane and head straight to row K, seat 3.

The plane is very wide with 3 rows of seating; 3 seat rows near both window sides and then in the middle is a column of 5 seats per row. The isle through the right side of the plane is very narrow, causing me to bump slightly from side to side as I walk. Almost the whole plane is full which causes my anxiety to act up.

What if someone accidentally took my seat? That would mean I'd have to talk to someone and that goes against my plan of sleeping and listening to music the whole ride.

I shake the jitters off with a deep breath and continue to dart my eyes around the plane.

As I near the center of the long plane, I look up to check the row letter to my left.

Row K, seats 1-5, middle rows.

I stop in my tracks and take in the sight before me. Sitting in each of the two outer most seats, leaving one empty seat in between each pair, are boys. More specifically, teenage boys.

I internally grown at the thought of how much testosterone and stupidity is surrounding me at the current moment.

"Um...can I help you?"

My eyes shoot down to find the source of the deep voice laced with an Australian accent. A dirty blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes looks back up at me expectantly. His matte, black lip ring flips back and forth between his teeth.

"I-uh...um, that-" I stutter before I stop myself. After taking a deep breath, I try again. "Is that seat 3?"

I point awkwardly towards the empty seat in the middle of the three other giggling guys, lost in their own world.

The blue-eyed boy smiles wide, revealing his perfect teeth. "Yes it is. I take it that's your seat?"

I nod, maybe a little too quickly.

The boy turns to his right where a boy with black skinny jeans, a faded navy shirt with the words "JOIN US" on the front and a mop of wavy, brown hair sits giggling like an idiot. "Mate, stand up. She needs to get in."

I meet a pair of hazel green eyes with my own, giving off a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, of course." He smiles brightly up at me.

Muttering a quick 'thanks', I slip my backpack off my shoulders and awkwardly shuffle slightly in front of the two boys with my back towards them. I carefully lower myself into the blue, cushioned airplane seat and kick my backpack under the seat in front of me before taking my phone out of my back pocket.

After a few minutes of scrolling through Instagram, I begin to notice both sets of boys whispering across my head to each other and motioning wildly out of the corner of my eye.

I slowly lift my head and look from side to side with a confused expression.

I'm greeted with sheepish grins from all four boys, even the two on my right. The one sitting directly next to me has a ripped muscle tee on, showing off a few tattoos scattered down his left arm. His hair is mostly dark with a few highlighted streaks in the front. On the other side of him is a pale, bleach-blonde boy with an oversized white t-shirt paired with the same black skinny jeans as the previous guys.

I look back to my right at the tattooed boy. He gives me a wink, "Hello there, I'm Calum."

His voice is deep and raspy laced with the same accent as the first two boys.

"Calum, stop it's not going to work on her. Go back to looking at funny cat videos with Michael."

My head snaps to the boy with the green eyes and clean cut dimples directly to my left.

"Sorry about him, he can't help himself around pretty girls," he giggles. "I'm Ashton and that mop of bleached hair next to Calum is Michael."

Michael waves shyly with a small smile.

"And I'm Luke."

The unforgotten blue eyes meet mine yet again. Something in me deems his voice familiar, but I quickly brush the thought off.

"Well, I guess if we're doing introductions now, it's my turn. I'm Noelle."

Calum hums next to me, "Mmm, I am loving that name..." His eyes scan me up and down, the smirk in his voice is hard to miss.

The rest of the boys, including myself, roll our eyes.

This is going to be a long flight.

~~~~~~~~~~

Whaddup, my dudes!

Linds and I are writing this story together so get ready because we're taking you for a ride.

We will try to keep uploads consistent each week but no promises because life gets busy as you probably know.

This is just the introduction so first chapter will go up by this time next weekend hopefully.

ALSO CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT 5SOS's TWO NEW SONGS:

Want You Back

Valentine

Leave your opinions to each because I'm curious but I think both are a TOtaL BoP.

See ya later!

- Noelle xx