At sixteen years old, Robert had changed a considerable amount since I’d first met him. I’m pretty sure that, back when we were nine, we were roughly the same height. Not any more. During the summer the year before he’d shot up and become over six feet tall – the difference was astounding. The only trouble was that his body had put so much effort into growing upwards that it had forgotten to grow a little bit outwards too. He was incredibly lanky and clumsy with these long limbs that he’d miraculously accumulated overnight, but there was clearly something endearing about him as females swooned in his presence.
‘You excited?’ Mum asked Robert.
‘Yeah! Can’t wait. Have you got your camera?’ he asked me.
‘Of course!’
‘I’ve only let her take three disposable ones,’ Mum informed him. ‘That way she won’t have to worry if she loses them. You know what she’s like … careless.’
‘Thanks for clarifying that, Mum,’ I grumbled.
‘Have you forgotten what you did with your dad’s binoculars when you went to Dorset?’
I rolled my eyes. Here we go again, I thought to myself. She’d revel in any excuse to bring up how useless I was.
‘Yes, you brought them back covered in cow pat, and then you didn’t even bother to wash them – you just placed them back in the cupboard, where they waited for me and your dad to find them a month later. The smell, Robbie, was atrocious.’
Robert grinned at me as he shook his head.
Other people might have worried about their parents speaking to them, and treating them, like a child in public, but Robert and Ben had seen my mum talk to me in that way countless times, in fact she’d even spoken to them in that tone on numerous occasions (like the time we’d played tag in the garden and ruined some of her newly bloomed flowers – big mistake), so they found it amusing rather than embarrassing. A good thing when my mum was around.
‘So you’ve only let her have three cameras?’ Robert asked my mum with a smirk.
‘Is it a bit much?’ she frowned. ‘You know she likes to take an account of every little detail.’
‘You’re telling me. I’m surprised her face hasn’t morphed into a camera after covering her face with one for so long.’
‘Oh, Robbie,’ my mum giggled in response.
After badgering my parents endlessly, I’d been given a top-of-the-range camera for Christmas the previous year. They probably thought I’d get bored of it and discard it like every other present I’d begged for in the past, but instead I took it everywhere I went. It was irritating that I wasn’t allowed to take it to Paris with me, the disposable cameras would be crap in comparison, but I also didn’t want anything to happen to my most prized possession, so I didn’t put up too much of a fight when they insisted I left it behind. Not that I’d have let them know that – such is the prerogative of a teenage daughter. I thought I was meant to argue against every boundary they set.
‘I was just wondering how on earth she’ll be able to annoy us when those three films have run out,’ continued Robert with a playful shrug.
‘Oi,’ I shrieked, acting insulted.
‘Come on,’ Robert laughed, grabbing for my suitcase. ‘I’ll take it round.’
‘You’re such a gent,’ Mum beamed.
‘I try,’ Rob smiled back before gesturing to the other side of the bus. ‘My mum’s over there talking to Ben and June.’
‘Oh, I didn’t realize your mums were coming too,’ said Mum, clearly happy not to be the only one that’d shown up.
‘What? When there’s a chance to embarrass us? Of course they’re here.’
‘You cheeky little monkey,’ Mum laughed. ‘I’ll tell your mum you said that.’
‘What have you got in this?’ Robert asked me as he tried to do the macho lift with my suitcase, rather than drag it along on its wheels like a girl.
‘Stuff,’ I shrugged. I’d definitely over-packed. I hadn’t had a clue what to take with me so had ended up bunging in loads of extra clothes that morning, even though I knew I wouldn’t end up wearing half of it.
‘We’re only going for a week …’
‘Yeah, yeah … it has wheels, you know. Just use them if your muscles haven’t fully developed yet,’ I teased.
With this he lifted the whole suitcase up onto his shoulder and walked off to put it on the bus.
‘Show off!’ I called after him.
He turned and gave me a wink. I knew the hearts of other girls would have melted at the gesture, but I grimaced back to make him think mine hadn’t. Although, as soon as his back was turned, I couldn’t help a small smile forming on my lips – the nervous excitement bubbling away once again, no matter how much I tried to squash it.