Getaway

Chapter 5

Kyle was chattering on about some YouTube channel he was obsessed with as we sat eating dessert. The food was the same as it had been the past few nights, tasty, and - like the past few nights -  I had the rice dish. (It was paella in my head but not according to the label).

I stirred my ice cream round my bowl, I had maybe helped myself to a scoop too many and the caramel sauce wasn’t the best decision I had ever made. But the ice cream itself was nice. I didn’t like coffee on its own but this ice cream – which I had mistaken for toffee – was like heaven in a bowl. My dad had taken to calling it the golden nectar. I had taken to rolling my eyes at him.

Anyway, Kyle was nattering on, I was attempting to finish my bowl of ice cream and Dad was trying to look interested. It was a weird combination but the sound of conversation was strangely welcome after the almost silence of the past few meals.

“Have you watched him Nell?” Kyle asked me, nearly sending his ice cream flying everywhere as he gestured manically using his spoon.

“Who?” I had given up on trying to follow the conversation about ten minutes ago.

“PewDiePie.”

The name sounded familiar and – because Kyle and Dad were making an effort and I felt like I should too – I tried to answer Kyle’s question.

“Is he the one who swears a lot?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said sheepishly and I realised that I had probably ruined Kyle’s fun by mentioning that fact in front of Dad.

Luckily for Kyle Dad seemed to be off in his own little world at that moment and didn’t hear our brief conversation. That didn’t stop Kyle from shooting me an angry look and refusing to talk to me for the rest of dinner. Of course that totally didn’t attract Dad’s attention, eventually Kyle seemed to realise this and – as we walked out of the restaurant – conversation returned to normal.

“What do you guys fancy doing?” Dad asked as if there was anything to do.

I hated to say it but, apart from the hotel, there was literally nothing on this island except for a couple of small towns. That meant that our options for evening entertainment were pretty limited.

“I don’t know; any ideas?” I replied deciding to humour him.

“How about the show?”

“I suppose I could rearrange my schedule to do that,” I said.

Kyle looked at the two of us in confusion; we were still trying to explain the idea of joking about things like this to him. It wasn’t going great. The kid was a whizz when it came to things like maths and science, understanding humour – not so much.

The three of us wandered up the stairs (I was finally getting used to the physical exertion) and past the shops. Dad and I trying to window shop while simultaneously attempting to keep up with Kyle who was bounding ahead of us, eager to sit down and start playing cards. Dad and he had played every night so far and it didn’t look like Kyle was going to be willing to stop anytime soon.