My Summer Boy

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I had to admit I felt relief when looking at our accommodation. On the way to these block of chalets, we'd passed some practically falling down buildings and I'd mentally begged with all my willpower we weren't staying there. The chalet, on the other hand, was a cheesy version of the Swiss ones, but it looked clean enough and so I couldn't complain. Plus, if I was lucky, my window would be looking out onto the beach and that would be pretty cool.

A family was unloading their own stuff at the side of me. They were practically a mirror and I blinked, double checking I hadn't walked into some kind of parallel world. Two parents, a girl who looked about my age and a little girl that seemed Joey's age. Weird.

My parents began unpacking and I waited until last, grabbing my own smaller suitcase. "Hi," the older girl from the car beside me offered a polite smile. "I'm Rachel. Nice to meet you."

Well, I certainly wouldn't have ever been that forward, but I wasn't opposed to having someone other than my family to talk to whilst I was here. "Tone. How's it going?"

"Good! Glad to be on holiday again." At my grimace, her own smile faltered. "You'd rather not be?"

I shrugged. I wasn't aiming to insult the girl I'd only just met. "I'm just not sure it's going to be my kind of holiday. It's more for my little brother."

"Oh, that's what I thought when we first came, but you'd be surprised!" She wafted her arms, stretching and squinting as she pointed out various buildings. "There's a spa over there and it's really nice. The aquarium is pretty fun, no one is ever too old to look at fish I don't think. And the beach is really nice, even if it gets pretty busy sometimes."

I really tried to look enthusiastic. "I really hope you're right."

"I'm sure you'll have a better time than you were expecting," she assured me, reaching into the car for her own suitcase. "We'll have to see if we can do something together. I'll show you the good stuff. Are you here for two weeks?"

"Yeah," my mother shot me another glare at the fact I hadn't helped bring anything in yet. "I'd better go anyway. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, or something."

"Cool! See you around!"

Shaking her head, my mother was forced to chuckle. "You always have been good at making friends. She seems nice enough."

"Yeah, she said she'd show me around sometime. It looks like they have a little girl Joey's age, too."

"Excellent, but don't go ditching us all day long. We've brought a ton of board games!"

I was a sucker for board games, I always had been, but since Joey had been born we'd had to accommodate him and that meant ditching the pub quizzes for things like connect four. Those were significantly less enjoyable. "Cool."

***

I wasn't really sure what you were supposed to wear to entertainment at Butlins, but I figured it couldn't possibly be too dressed up. My skinny jeans and a crop top suited pretty much every occasion and I was a sucker for showing off my new belly button piercing. It had just healed enough to change.

"Ready guys? Let's go. It's just started and we want to get a good seat."

I trailed behind, happy to spend more time looking out at the sea. The days lasted forever in July, but the sun was beginning to slowly set and a burnt auburn spread across the sky. I wouldn't have minded sitting on a rock with my music and just watching the sea come in right now.

But, Joey wanted to see the entertainment and so that was the plan for the evening. This could be all right, anyway. It just depended on how childish it was – I was enjoyed live music a lot, but watching children's dance routines would send me to sleep.