almost is never enough

part i: chapter i

Australia

2012

"We will be landing in Sydney in approximately 2 minutes. Please keep your seat belts buckled, and don't get up until the plane has fully landed. Thank you for flying American Airlines." A deep, manly voice says from above, and wakes me up.

The first thing I can think of is God? Why are you on an airplane?

Then, I clear my head, and realize I'm still half-asleep, on a plane, with our pilot talking to us. Sitting up, I see my brother to the left of me and my dad to the right. Anthony was playing Angry Birds on his phone and his headphones were in, so I doubt he heard the announcement. Dad, on the other hand, was wide awake and still clicking away on his computer.

It was because of him we had to move to Australia. When he said he was taking the position in Sydney, I wanted to scream at him. I did, in fact. I remember that day vividly.

I had just got back from another awful date and my head hurt from how annoying my "boyfriend" was. I was going to watch TV in the living room, but I saw my dad sitting in my usual chair, in deep thought.

"Dad?" I ask, "Are you okay?" He glanced up at me, and then back down at the floor. He sighs and get up, offering me the chair. I sit, worried. Something's up, I know it.

"Charlie," he starts. He sounded a lot tired then he usually does. "You know I've had the amazing opportunity to travel all over the United States with my job, and bring you guys with me." I nodded, not seeing where he was going with this. "Well, at one point, they offered me a job in New York-"

I interrupt him. "Which you declined for some reason. It would be amazing to live somewhere so big, so loud."

He smiled a little. "I'm happy to hear that. So you wouldn't be angry if I told you we were moving to a bigger city next month?" I shook my head, excitement bubbling through my body.

"So you would be even more excited if I told you it was in Australia!"

Everything paused for a second. Australia? Why would we vacation there?

Then everything clicked together. Australia. Job. Moving. Gone.

"WHAT?" I say after everything made sense. He nodded slightly, his smile looking more grim than happy.

"I know you have all sorts of friends here, but think of all the opportunities you'll have to make new friends!" he says enthusiastically. I'm shaking from anger.

"NO! DAD! YOU CAN'T JUST SPRING SOMETHING LIKE THIS ON ME A FEW WEEKS BEFORE WE'RE MOVING!"

He looks apologetic, and moves to hug me. "No! No, you stay away from me. You haven't been the same since Mom died." He flinched at the mention of Mom's name. It still hurt me to say it, too, but I wasn't going to let him know that. It would only add fuel to the fire.

He turns away from me and walks up the stairs. At the top o the stairs, he looks back at me. "Neither have you."

I shook the memory out of my head and stretched, shaking the sleep out of me. I accidentally hit Anthony, and his hand went across the screen. He took his headphones out and glared at me.

"What the crap, Charlie!" I internally giggled at how cute he was. He had just turned 8, and for his birthday, Dad and I pooled our money and got him an iPod touch. He literally loved the thing. I think he sleeps with it.

I ruffle his hair. "It's time to leave soon, and you better pick all of your stuff up before then, or Dad's gonna have a heart attack."

Dad looked up from his own screen and playfully glared at me. "I'm not that old." Anthony snorted and I held in a laugh.

I forgave Dad a few days after I blew up at him. He was just doing what he needed to for his job, and I understood that. I'm still pissed we didn't go somewhere like, you know, in the United States, but whatever. You get what you get, I guess.

After a while, we finally landed and everyone tried to get up all at once, which ultimately let to the crowding of the aisle. I was already a bit claustrophobic, and this really didn't help. I tried I switch seats with Dad, but the flight attendant said I couldn't move, which didn't make any sense to me. We payed for the tickets, right?

I had literally shrunk down in my seat, and we waited until nearly everyone had left to get out of our seats. I stepped out, my carry-on in my hand and Anthony behind me. It felt so damn good to stretch my legs, it wasn't even funny. When I finally got out of the airplane, it was a relief. But then I remembered I in a new continent, and I tensed up again. Australia, here I come.

xoxox

After many long, long lines, we finally got all our luggage and were free to leave. But somehow along the way, Anthony and Dad got separated from me.

I was pushed around, much to my displeasure, and at one point my bags nearly toppled over. I heard screaming, and immediately thought that somebody had gotten shot or something. I tried to look over all the tall people, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see anything.

I tried to get to the source of the screaming, which was close to the door. I figured if I couldn't help, I could walk through the doors and get someone who could. Or maybe find Dad and Anthony as get out of there.

I pushed and pulled and weaved my way through the masses of people until I got to the front doors.

Dad and Anthony were there, looking for me. Anthony spotted me and waved me over, also pulling at Dad's shirt to show him he saw me. I was practically a few yards away from them, when suddenly a large, muscly, curly-haired man ran into me.

I immediately toppled to the ground, him on top of me.

"Oof," I managed to get out. My vision was blocked my three other guys standing over me, with annoyed and worried expressions on their face.

A guy with black hair and tan skin, a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a guy with piercing green eyes and a hoodie on were all standing over me. Blue Eyes and Hoodie looked worried, and Black Hair looked a little annoyed.

"Oi, Ashton, get off the girl," Black Hair said, his voice tinged with another emotion besides the already evident annoyance.

This "Ashton" pushed himself off me. But before I could take his outstretched hand to pick me up, another hand pulled me up and dragged me closer to them.

I whipped around to find my dad with Anthony still behind him, worry written all over his face. "Where were you?"

I tried to make words appear, but none came out.

"Uhm, I was looking for you, but then this guy ran into me, and then-" I was cut off by Dad dragging me out the door of the airport.

After he and Anthony calmed down a bit, they started small talk and a bit of conversation. I tried to pay attention, but all I could think about was how I couldn't get those burning hazel eyes out of my head.

A/N: Hey guys!

Um, sorry this was short, but I'll try and update a longer chapter sometime this week. Love you guys (if you even read this) and remember to go look at shadesofcool's profile! She's pretty great.

LOVE YOU!

-Mads xoxox