Far from Here - An UP fanfiction

Chapter 1 - Home is Wherever I Am With You

As I close the door to my apartment, I find myself struggling to find the right key to my door.

There are way too many keys on my lanyard...

My thoughts are disrupted by a soft voice behind me, "Here, I got it."

I find myself smiling, as I recognized the voice of my best friend, Carl.

"Thank you, my superhero."

"Always to the rescue, my dear," he says and he instantly gets the right key. He doesn't even live with me and yet he knows more about my belongings than I do.

"Here, let me grab some of your luggage. The taxi is already downstairs waiting."

"Don't worry, I got it. Besides, they're kind of heavy," I say, staring at my two black luggage, my carry-on and my hand bag.

Carl must've read my mind, because he walks in front of me, and grabs the suitcases without saying a word, "Keep your strength for when we'll really need it. For now, let me do it."

Phew. Yet another save from Carl, in one day. I'm glad, because I really didn't want to carry those bags, but it feels like I would put a burden on his shoulders if I asked him to get it for me.

I am already at the elevator, at the other end of the hallway, with my carry-on and handbag, and I hear him yell from the other side, "Ellie, did you pack your whole apartment? This is bloody heavy. We're only gone for three months..." He says, as his breathing increases as he gets closer.

"You said it yourself, three months; that's a long time. How much did you bring? Besides, remember a girl needs what she needs, you know and you're a guy, we're pretty different. You should know that by now," I say without realizing how much talking I've done already for the little time that he's been around.

"Enough rambling, let's get moving. The taxi driver is waiting for us downstairs."

******

Once we go through check-in, Carl and I move some things from my luggage to his, as I've got some excess baggage. His suitcases on the other hand are quite empty.

Then, we are given our boarding passes, and I almost screech out of excitement.

"I can't believe this! We're finally going to Australia!" I say with a huge smile on my face.

He smiles and simply nods, but doesn't say anything.

We've been saving for this for as long as I can remember, and now we'll be gone for three months, exploring the whereabouts of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon and Christmas Islands and Indonesia. This is the best thing I could ask for, especially because I get to travel with my best friend.

Carl has been my best childhood best friend, and we eventually parted ways for a few years, but met again afterwards. That's when I knew it was meant to be; we will be friends for a lifetime, I had told myself, after things had gotten better, and five years later, here we were, inseparable once more, as we were when we were kids.

"Stop daydreaming you, we've got a plane to catch. Unless you want to stay right here and I can just go without you..." He says followed by a small laugh.

"Hey!" I shout out and give him a friendly punch.

"You know I wouldn't leave you behind. Besides, traveling alone can be boring sometimes."

"As if you would know. I'm the one who would know that more than anyone else here." I add and he laughs, "Of course."

We start walking to look for our gate, but I find that the walk is quite long. I don't complain though, because I know that in the next three months, I am going to be walking more than this, so I better get used to it. Whenever I travel alone, I always take the buggy that transports you in the airport so it's always much faster to get to my gate. I haven't realized how long the walk was, until today.

Once we get to our gate, I make one last phone call before boarding, and Carl does the same. I call my mom, as I promised her that I would call before we leave. As soon as the phone starts ringing, it's as if she answered instantly, "Oh honey, I thought you would never call! I've been waiting and waiting..."

Mom, I'm sorry, I've been busy with my mishaps... I wanted to say, but then I realized she would freak out more, "Don't worry mom, I'm fine and I haven't forgotten about you."

"Have a safe trip alright, and call from time to time to let me know how you're doing."

"I will, I promise."

"Alright, love you."

"Love you too, mom. Tell dad I say hello."

Just then, Carl is motioning and signaling me to show me that his mom wants to talk to me. So, I tell my mom if she wants to say anything else, and then coincidently, she asks to speak to Carl.

I thought it was pretty funny, as the hostess just watched at how we switched phones and started talking once more, saying "Hi...Yes...Okay...Don't worry..." and the funniest thing of all, is that we were both saying the same words, despite it being two separate conversations.

We must've talked on the phone for a while, because eventually I hear some announcements asking passengers to board if they haven't yet and the hostess is constantly looking at us, making weird faces, as if inadvertently asking "Hey, are you planning on boarding or what?"

So we hang up, at the same time, and we switch phones again after turning it off and we walk in.

We're seated in the middle of the plane, near the windows, and we don't argue as to who gets to sit on the inside to see the nice views, since we had already planned it in advance that we'd switch spots from time to time. Besides, we had a long flight coming up, approximately 30 hours long, with two stopovers – one in Chicago, and one in Los Angeles.

This is it. Here it goes. Goodbye Canada, I'll miss you, my second home.

I haven't realized that I was speaking out my thoughts, until Carl turns around and asked, "What's your first home then?"

"Home is wherever I am with you." I say, although a little bit embarrassed and shy.

He smiles, and kisses me on my cheek, "You read my mind."