No Distance Can Break Us

Chapter 8

*a few months later*

It's been about 3 months since I last saw Ashton in person. We text and skype almost everyday though. I hope I get to see him soon.

-

It's less than a week from Christmas and my mom and I are doing some last minute wrapping. Once we finish that, we go to the kitchen for dinner. We all eat in silence. Once we finish, we all get ready to watch a family movie.

"Zoey, we have an early Christmas present to give you instead of watching the movie," my mom says. I start to get excited. My dad hands me an envelope.

"Here it is," he says. Then he takes a seat next to my mom on the couch opposite me.

I flipped over the envelope. I closed my eyes as I ran my finger across to open it. Once it was open, I stuck my hand inside with my eyes still closed. I pulled out two slips of paper before I opened my eyes. Once my eyes were open, I looked at the two plane tickets I was holding in my hands. Round trip flight to Australia!! I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I have no words.

"We know your going to miss Christmas with us, but we are okay with it. I'd do anything to see my little girl happy," my mom says.

"When does the flight leave?" I ask.

"Tomorrow."

I could see tears in my mom's eyes too. I ran over and hugged them.

"But one more thing," she says.

"What?" I ask.

"You can not tell Ashton. His mom and I have already worked this whole thing out. Your his Christmas present from them. She paid one half of the tickets while I paid the other."

"Tickets?"

"Janet's coming with you. It worked out perfectly because her boyfriend is in Australia too."

I jumped up and down with joy and ran into my room to pack.

-

The next morning, Janet came over to pick me up at my house. We figured out that we are staying in Australia until our next competition there the weekend after New Years. This whole trip is so exciting. I can't wait to see the look on Ashton's face when we get there!

We walk through security and wait to board our plane.

"Are you excited?" Janet asks me.

"I am beyond excited," I answer.

"Me too." We both laugh.

"I can't wait to see Ashton again. See his smile. Hear his laugh. Feel his warm hug. Feel his soft lips touching mine." I start to day dream.

"Earth to Zoey!" Janet says.

"Sorry." I say, laughing.

"You were really meant to be with him," she adds.

"Well you were meant to be with Andrew," I say.

"You and Ashton is different. You can definitely see that you two truly love each other so much."

"When is the plane going to get here!" I say. We both laugh.

"Be patient, my child," Janet says, making us laugh even more.

"You know, this is going to be the first Christmas I am going to be away from my parents," I tell her.

"Me too. But you can Skype call them on their Christmas day which will be our day after Christmas."

"This whole 'Australia is one day ahead' thing is really going to screw me up," I say.

"It will for me too," Janet laughs.

We talk and laugh until it is finally time to board our plane. We both fall asleep after the flight takes off.