The Holiday

3. Body odour

The Early morning sun shone so bright as we made our way down the steps of the plane. I can feel that tingly warmth in my stomach that I usually get at the start of a holiday. I don't know if half of that is the nervousness about meeting new people, but I'd rather call it excitement. For as long as I can remember when it comes to new people I tend to stay behind my parents, don't talk much and give the occasional shy smile-if they look at me, resulting in me looking like a pathetic 3 year old. After we collected our luggage, we joined a never ending cue into the car park to claim our car from the rental place. Tillie is whining about the lack of wifi at the airport, dad is practically still asleep, but managing to stay up straight and drag the suitcases slowly up the line, while my mum is distributing passports and water between us all.
Finally after a whole hour of waiting our name is called out, a sweaty man with a serious case of body odour hands my dad a set of keys to an Navy Vauxhall corsa, under the dark parking lot it looked half decent, but as my dad pulled out into the open, you could see the visible dints and how much it needs a paint job.
"They better not charge us for this, the buggers" my dad grunts his hair drenched in sweat from waiting in the poorly air conditioned rental park
" you see Marcus, I told you we shouldn't have gone with the cheaper package, they only rip you off, so you pay more in the end anyway" my mum scolds
"you can't talk to me like that woman"my dad fires back
" I've told you this before and I'll tell you this again" my mum warn
"if you call me woman again I will...I will give you a...a nipple twist"
"OMG. MUM. Your so retarded" Tillie grimaces, before returning to the screen of her phone.
"Yeah mum, too far" I agree, pulling my headphones over my ears in disgust,
My parents laugh and continue to bicker over who's fault it will be if we get charged for the car. Sometimes I wonder how my siblings and I came from such strange people and turned out normal, or as normal as normal can be, because what is normal anyway?
As we slowly drive through the streets of Seattle the mid-day traffic starts to hit us and soon we're blocked between cars upon cars upon cars, I look out the window to gather up my surroundings,
The city has this underrated beauty. Nobody really talks about Seattle back  in England it's always Los Angeles and New York that seem to gain the attention, but I'm really not sure why. Literally every street we turn onto there's a Starbucks as well as uncountable amounts of pretty, quaint little independent coffee shops. Bushy green trees line the sides of the roads, creating this fresh green appearance to the city.
"did you know that people call this place the Emerald City?" My mum asks to no particular person as she skim reads a leaflet named "Seattle for dummies"-she picked up at the airport, her eyebrows knitting together with interest.
"Only 5 minutes away now, guys" my dad states, the smile growing on his face. I know dad misses Jamie, it's hard to live with 3 females 24/7 and not want to pull your hair out. It's probably why he's half bald at 37.Jamie and my dad had this special bond, they'd spend hours on end playing football in the back garden when Jamie was young. It probably hurt dad much more then he let on, when Jamie moved to America. I could see it on his face again when Jamie first came out, it was like dad was afraid he was losing his son, like all those endless hours of fun were slightly blurred. I think he understands more now, but sometimes I see that look of panic on his face come back again, like he's in a day nightmare. The car takes a left onto a street full of beautiful houses. I instantly feel as though we don't belong, even the car we don't even own represents our family as a whole and it definitely doesn't fit in here.
" you have arrived at your destination" the polite, however slightly annoying woman for the sat-nav announces. In unison my parents let out a loud slightly nervous huff. Tillie and I are frozen in place, utter shock plastered to our faces; mouth agape and eyes wide
" it's fucking massive" Tillie states
"Language" my father snaps, but he's thinking it too because there's no words to describe the enormity of this thing.
"well the Kardashians have to think about  upsizing cause these guys are stealing their thunder" my mum yells like a giddy toddler on a sugar high. Half of me wants to go in and meet everyone, see Jamie and explore this monster of a house, but the other is screaming for me run away, tell my parents to turn around and take me home, but it's out of the question now. Home isn't an option.

Africa- toto