Almost There

Title: Almost There
Author: --ethereal/Tammy
Pairing: JongSica
Rating/Genre: PG-13, Drama
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot.
Author’s Note: Listen while reading: Almost 
Do note that even though some of these events here are real, they are not written in chronological order; and some of them will be changed to fit the oneshot. This is for my twinnie, ll0ve_x3 because she’s celebrating her first anniversary as of 06/12/11 on AFF. Love you twinnie! ♥

I miss the times that we never had, what happened to us, we were almost there. Whoever said it’s impossible to miss what you never had, never almost had… you.

Her smile fades as she listens to the song, holding the lyrics in her hands.

“Excuse me for a moment, manager oppa?” She asks, gripping the paper a little too tightly in her hands.

He nods, dismissing her with a wave of his hand, discussing things with the other members. She thanks him softly, before pushing open the door and running out of the practice room into the hallway.

She walks slowly, the song replaying in her head over and over. She only looks up when she hears tinkling laughter. The people that meet her eyes are Jonghyun and Sekyung, the newest couple in the music industry.

“Jessica-ssi, hi!” Sekyung waves and bows in Jessica’s direction.

The latter is too busy looking at Sekyung’s boyfriend. She holds Jonghyun’s gaze for a few moments (in his eyes, there seems to be some sort of apologetic expression) before bowing slightly and walking down the hall again. Sekyung is confused at Jessica’s coldness, but Jonghyun links arms with her and shakes his head.

How could you, she thinks, how could you do this to me, Jonghyun?

She walks some more; biting her lower lip so hard she can almost feel blood from it, until the reaches end of the hallway, leading to in an empty white room. This is the demolished practice room that no one uses anymore. No one is inside, and she goes in, sitting on the floor of the room.

Her gaze falls to the sheet of paper she holds in her hand. It’s the lyrics she had been given to sing for the Japanese tour, which will be in a few weeks. She knows that she cannot change the song that has been given to her—she will just have to live with it.

But the song reminds her too much of a certain someone… Kim Jonghyun.

The second where she saw him and Sekyung laughing just now replays in her head, just like the song. It’s as if the song wants to tell her that it’s time to end it with Jonghyun, and that all they shared were just… almost-moments. They weren’t real… but they come flooding back in her mind.

She begins to recall every special moment she’s had with him since…

“Hey Jess, I dare you to go dump water on Minho’s head. That frog deserves it for messing up just now.” He whispers into her ear.

She giggles. “But Jjong… that would be mean!”

He rolls his eyes, nudging her side. “You’re the Ice Princess for a reason. Now come on, do it!”

She looks over uncertainly at Minho, who is talking to Changmin. “I’m not doing it!” She folds her arms, shaking her head.

“You’re such a wimp, Jessie.” He flings his towel into the crowd, causing the fans to scream and walks away.

“Oh no you didn’t!” She takes her empty bottle of water, calling Jonghyun.
Just as he turns around, she throws the water bottle at him.

“Oh ho, you just called war, missy!” He grins, and opens his own water bottle, pouring it on her. She runs, and he runs too, chasing her and eventually emptying his water bottle on her before running off to catch a yellow floating balloon.

She laughs, wiping her own face as she decides not to chase after him, because that would be childish. Instead, she watches him from afar as he interacts with the fans. Even though she’s all wet, she can’t help but smile.

“Yah, Jjong!” She calls, hitting him with the pink heart. “Take a picture of me, not the fans!”

“Jealous, Jessie?” He replies, grinning, but holding up the camera anyway. “Say cheese!”

He takes two pictures, as she moves along with the crowd, posing with the pink heart. “That was nice!” He says, keeping the picture in his pocket, but she’s already gone, running off while smiling to the fans. “I swear, oppa, you’re unnie’s favourite photographer.” Krystal remarks from the side.

“You two girls are the same, always wanting attention.” He replies.

“What makes you think I want attention? I’m just saying. Plus, you like her don’t you?” Krystal points out, smirking a little. “Psh. In your dreams Krystal… that will never happen even in a billion years.” Jonghyun walks ahead of her, while Krystal just shakes her head.

“You so obviously like her.” Krystal says to herself, chuckling softly.

Sooyoung holds the cake up, grinning as she pushes it onto Jessica’s face. The girl stumbles backwards, and the SHINee members move out of the way, except for Jonghyun, who carefully supports her from behind, making sure she doesn’t fall.

“Careful there, Sica, don’t want to fall now do you?” Jonghyun smiles.

“Thanks, Jjong.” She flashes him a grin, and attempts to walk back as she wipes the cake off her face. They all gather to thank the audience for coming, and for being such a great one to their concert. “Kamsahamnida!” They yell in unison, waving to the fans.

Jessica turns around, bending forward slightly as she tries to get frosting out of her eyes. Onew chuckles as he watches her, and so do the other SHINee members. Jonghyun, being the special one again, laughs harder as he uses his white towel to wipe her face, trying to help but making it worse.

“Ugh, Jonghyun! You’re not helping!” She complains and throws the towel back around his head. He just shakes his head, pulling the towel off his neck and holding it in his hand. “At least I tried, not like the other douches here.” He glances at s, who laugh some more.

“You people don’t respect the fact that I’m your noona!” She sticks her tongue out and turns around, looking at the fans again, smiling as they cheer the idols on.

“You’re so extra, Jonghyun.” Onew grins. “Aish… you all. Don’t appreciate my help and gang up on me instead, eh?”

“This is so awkward!” Taemin whines, when the five SHINee members and five SNSD members gather for the practice, and they get to the part where the guys have to put their heads in between the girls’ legs.

“Yeah well, you just made it more awkward, dumbo.” Minho slaps Taemin’s back, shaking his head.

“Why don’t we just start already? I mean, it’s better to do this now than have a problem on stage later, right?” Yoona says.

“Yeah, let’s just do this.” Jessica agrees. “We don't have all day, guys.”

“Start from the top then!” Onew snaps his fingers and instructs the group. “Since the choreographer isn’t here today, we’ll have to practice on our own.”

Everyone nods; even Taemin, and they begin the routine again. Jessica, even though she wanted to do it quickly in the first place, feels a little strange when Jonghyun runs his hands up her left leg, but keeps a straight face throughout the whole routine. Jonghyun on the other hand, is extremely serious and follows the choreography strictly and does what his told without protest.

“There, we did it!” Hyoyeon grins. “I think we’ve practiced enough for a while. Let’s take a break.”

Everyone nods again. Jonghyun walks to the other side of the room and takes two bottles of water, handing one to Jessica. “You okay? You look tired, Jessie.”

Jessica shakes her head, smiling. “Thanks for the water, and no, I’m not tired. By the way, you don’t really need to… you know… put your hand on… my leg.”

“Why, Sica, embarrassed?” He smirks and makes his way to Minho, leaving her gaping.

“She makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up…”

“Just one touch…”

“Oh… yeah.”

The song ends, and she giggles immediately, looking at Jonghyun. His English accent makes her laugh, but they’ve practiced it so much, she’s used to it. Jonghyun grins too.

“Great job, Jessie. You did well.” Jonghyun whispers, careful not to let the microphone pick up their voices.

“You did well too. Your English is getting better.” Jessica smiles, heading back to her seat. He smiles too, sitting beside her again.

Later, when they’re given a short break as music plays, Jessica writes on a sheet of paper, ‘this is boring. How are you still so… alive?’ Jonghyun reads it from his peripheral vision and grins, writing on his own paper, ‘I’m awesome like that. Be patient, Sica. I think it’s ending soon.’

‘Fine.’ She writes, kicking him from under the table. ‘Don’t be violent!’ He quickly scribbles, wincing.

Satisfied, she keeps the paper and laughs silently.

“Jonghyun… What happened to us? We were… almost there… until she came along.” She whispers softly, as tears escape her eyes. “Until she came along…”