Break the Distance

Chapter 46

Friday 30th of September, 2016

Oceania

Noah Williams

I'm waiting the next morning at the airport. I have to say that I feel like I'm missing something without phone, but basically I am. I decided to go to the airport on my own so now I'm waiting for the others.

I have no idea how I'm going to fix a phone, but I have to soon. Not that I regret leaving the phone in Wellington, now I know for sure that Richelle and I won't lose contact. I can't lose contact with her, not right now.

"Hi Noah," I hear West’s voice suddenly and I turn my head around. "Hello," I say. To be honest I'm nervous and not just a little bit. The plan is to not tell them that I was in Wellington, but I don't know how long I can stick to that plan since people have pictures of me being in Wellington. "How are you doing?" West asks. "Good," I say. "Why didn't you let something know?" Giselle asks. "I lost my phone," I lie. It's the best lie I could come up with. Hopefully they'll buy it. "That's too bad," Riley says, "when?" "Yesterday morning," I say.

"Where?" Michelle asks. "Guys seriously," I say, "why all those questions? I just had a nice day with myself yesterday, nothing less, nothing more." "Sure?" James asks. "You know what," I say, "let's go through security, our plane goes soon and it's too early for this many questions."

Luckily they shut up and after security we can get on the plane really quickly. It's a 3 hour flight. A 3 hour flight sitting between Eldon and Giselle. Nice. This is going to be nice.

Using the technic I used yesterday to ignore all the questions from the little girl, also works to ignore all the questions from Eldon and Giselle. They really think I fell asleep and don't bother me the whole flight. Nice.

You know, maybe they were asleep, but I honestly don't know because I never looked. That wouldn't be a surprise actually since it's still so early.

It's still 6 AM when we get off the plane in Sydney. Thanks to the 2 hour time difference... Those days are going to be amazing. 4 whole days of exploring Sydney. The weather here is so much better than the weather right now in Canada, so I'm definitely going to enjoy the sun.

I really hope Richelle will call me soon to let know that she's alright. Who knows, maybe we can fix a meeting somewhere those 4 days. After those 4 days I won't be able to meet her any time soon, so I really hope we can figure it out.

We go to the apartment we rent for the next 4 days and dump all of our stuff. I don't care what we're going to do today, but I'm going to find a phone. Giselle comes with the idea to go out for breakfast since it's still so early and everyone agrees.

We find a nice restaurant in the middle of Sydney where we have breakfast. And where the questions begin again.

"So," Michelle starts, "I was scrolling through i********: and found some interesting stuff." She let everyone see a picture of her phone. You can see on her face that she's kind of proud that she found it, which is kind of funny. It's the picture of me and Katie's little sister, Lizzy was her name I think. 'That was weird,' she captioned it. I laugh at the caption.

"Who's that?" James asks, "is that Richelle?" "What?" I say clearly, "no this is just a fan." "So Richelle isn't just a fan?" Michelle asks. I sigh and roll my eyes. "Where was this?" Riley asks. "In Auckland," I say, but I feel that I'm getting red. This lie isn't lasting long...

"No I don't think so," West says, "I think this is in Wellington." "How is that even possible?" Eldon says, "you were just away for a day!" "I've planning skills," I say and laugh slightly. They're not buying the lie, so I can probably better tell them something.

"So you were in Wellington!" Michelle says slamming with her fist on the table. "You liar," James jokes. "So who's this?" Riley asks. "Lizzy," I say, "Katie's little sister." "And who the hell is Katie?" James asks, "dude this is so confusing." "Katie is someone I met in Wellington," I say. I'm not going to tell them that she's Richelle’s best friend. I think I've to avoid talking about Richelle.

"Noah you're one big mystery," Giselle concludes and shakes her head slightly. "I'll take that as a compliment.

After breakfast everyone kind of goes their own way. "Where are you going?" Eldon asks me. "Oh don't know," I say, "I need something so I'll probably go to some stores." "Don't go back to Wellington without telling us please," he says and I laugh. "I'm not going back to Wellington," I say. "So what do you need?" Eldon asks. Wait, I already told them I lost my phone. I can just say that I'm going to buy a new phone without getting into trouble. "I'm going to search for a new phone," I say. "Oh nice," Eldon says, "can I come with you?" "Yea," I say, "of course."

Easier said than done... Well, it was just hard to find a*****e where they sell phones, the buying part wasn't too hard. Luckily Eldon has to go to the toilet after that which gives me time to put my old SIM into my new phone without him or anyone else seeing.

I literally bought the same phone, but that was just the easiest option. I sit down a bench and turn on my new phone. Literally the first thing I see is that I've a missed call. My heart skips a beat. I really hope it's Richelle. It has to be Richelle. Or at least, it has to be my phone. Who knows, maybe it's Katie who wanted to tell me that something is wrong with Richelle or so. OK don't go there Noah, I tell myself.

My hands start to shake when I call the number back.

"Hello?" I hear a voice through the phone. The voice is quiet and sounds like the person can barely speak. "Hi," I say, "it's Noah."

"Noah," the person on the other side says, "hi, it's Richelle." I sigh relieved. At least Katie found Richelle. "I'm so glad to hear you!" I say, "how are you?" "Pretty good seeing the circumstances," she says. She talks slowly and you can clearly hear that talking isn't easy, "I had a car accident yesterday morning." "Oh my gosh," I say shocked, "are you alright?" "Yea," she says, "just a concussion and some bruised ribs." "I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer in Wellington," I say. "Don't be sorry, you couldn't just stay longer," she says, "I'm sorry I didn't looked better before I crossed the street."

"We can't do anything about it now," I say, "it happened, and luckily you've just a concussion and some bruised ribs, it could've been worse." "Yea," she says, "how was your flight?" "Which of the 3?" I ask and laugh slightly. I hear her laugh too, she has a cute laugh. Can't believe this is the first time I ever hear her laugh. It gives me chills. "Don't make me laugh," she says then, "laughing hurt." "Sorry," I say, I can't help to think that her voice sounds better than when she picked up the phone.

"How were the 3 flights?" she asks. "Well the first one was pretty nerve wracking, the second one I was pretty worried and the third one was fine I guess," I say. "Why?" she asks. "I was pretty nervous about meeting you," I say, "oh and I was sitting beside a little girl who was stalking me with questions. The second one I was worried about where you were and I didn't sleep much last night. And the third one was just nice because I could listen music for 3 hours in silence."

I hear her cute laugh again. "You were nervous about meeting me?" she asks. "Yea," I say, "don't blame me." "That's cute," she says and I can't help but smile. "And it's sweet that you were worried about me," she continues. "It was literally like you disappeared!" I say defensive, "I'm glad you're alright." "And thank you so much for your phone," she says. "You're welcome," I say, "it was a no brainer."

"Oh the doctor is coming," she says suddenly. "Doctor?" I say a little confused. "Yea I'm lying in the hospital," she says. My eyes widen. "You could've mentioned that before!" I say worried, "you sure you're alright? I'm sure I can get a last minute ticket somewhere." " Noah relax," she says, "I'm fine, I promise. I can go home this afternoon." I sigh. I don't like this situation at all, I wish I stayed in Wellington.

"Okay," I say, "but promise me to tell me when you're not okay." "Of course," she says, "speak to you later." "Totally," I say, "bye."

I hang up and stare at my phone for a while. This was the first time ever that I heard her voice. Okay she could barely speak, but her voice still sounded beautiful.

"Who was that?" I hear suddenly and look up to see Eldon standing there. "How long have you been standing there?" I ask worried. "Long enough to hear that you want to catch a plane," Eldon says and crosses his arms, "what's up?" "I'm not going anywhere," I say, "I promise." "You better be telling the truth," he says, "who was it?" "Oh nobody," I say. "Didn't sound like nobody," he says. "I'm not going to tell," I say raising my eyebrows. "Then I'm going to tell the others," Eldon says. I sigh.

I'm trapped.