Vacations; they were supposed to be fun and relaxing in theory. And they usually were once we got wherever we were going, but dad never seemed to understand the idea of having fun along the way. It was all about getting where we were going on schedule and we could relax once we arrived.
This year was a bit different than any previous holiday with my family. Instead of being stuck in the backseat with my sister while the landscape rolled past for hours on end, we had taken two vehicles and Kylie and I got to drive ourselves. It was a small improvement at least and it never would have happened if not for dad's most recent purchase.
He hated us calling it his mid-life crisis, but I think that's only because it was closer to the truth than he liked. He didn't go for the stereotypical motorcycle, instead choosing a sports car he'd always wanted. It was absolutely out of the question that anyone but him would get to drive it of course, but it did provide an accidental benefit in only having two seats. It meant that with our parents traveling in it there was no choice but for Kylie and I to take another car. It still took a little persuasion, but not too much since he really wanted to spend time with his new toy and this was the perfect opportunity for him.
As far as I was concerned driving with Kylie was way better than with both her and our parents. Dad could get frustrated if we weren't making good enough time so it usually alternated between mom trying to get us to play road games and dad telling us to be quite so he could focus. My sister was much easier to deal with.
Unfortunately just because we were traveling separately didn't mean we didn't have to stick to the schedule. There were two hotels we needed to make it to at night over the two and a half days of driving, not leaving us much time to take detours or stop anywhere interesting. Mostly we were limited to gas stations and restaurants whenever we needed either gas or food respectively.
We were pretty much on track for time the first day when we actually had to make our first gas stop. We played a quick round of rock-paper-scissors for who had to pump the gas and I lost. Kylie wandered into the attached convenience store as I filled up the car and only reappeared after I'd finished up and was debating going in after her.
"Hey Jason, you finished up there yet?" she called as she returned to the car. I didn't bother to answer since it was pretty obvious that I was indeed ready. "They had slushies so I got you one too," she continued.
I looked up as she approached, having temporarily been distracted by an overly loud truck going by. My eighteen year old little sister was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts with sandals and carried a slushie in each hand, holding one out for me when she got near enough.
"Thanks," I said, accepting the drink.
I was dressed pretty similarly to Kylie, except with sneakers instead of sandals. We were getting into the hottest part of summer and there was no point wearing any more than necessary. It wasn't so bad in the car with the air conditioning on, but coming out of that into the heat made it feel worse than it was.
I took an experimental sip from the overly large straw as we climbed back into our seats and I started the engine. It was good, but I couldn't place the flavour immediately.
"What kind is this?" I asked, signaling my turn back onto the road and waiting for an opening in traffic.
"Red," Kylie said with a shrug.
I shot her a look before turning my attention back to what I was doing.
"Seriously, I don't know any more than that," she said. "I got us each different colours in case I didn't like mine." She grabbed my slushie and tried it, then handed it back. "Nah, mine's better anyway."
"Lucky you."
Eventually I got back on the highway and settled in for another long stretch of driving. We'd had music for the first little while, then Kylie's mp3 player died and we wouldn't be able to charge it until we got to the hotel that night. The radio stations we picked up were more or less a coin flip as to whether they'd be any good. Plus they were constantly shifting as we got in and out of range of different stations.
Kylie took control of the radio for a while, changing stations at a whim or because she didn't long the song that was playing. About the time she finished her slushie she gave up and just turned it off, reclining in her seat as she placed what remained of her drink in a cup holder.
"I'm bored," she announced.
She swung her feet up onto the dashboard, revealing that she'd also discarded her sandals at some point leaving her feet bare.
"Well what do you want me to do about it?" I asked. "We talked about anything interesting already, you should have brought something to amuse yourself."
"Come on, you know I can't read or anything 'cause I get carsick. Let's just, I dunno, pick a topic or something. We can't have covered everything already, we still have two more days to go."
"Fine, you start a conversation and I'll join in."
"That's not how it works smartass. If I could just start a conversation like that I'd already have done it. You don't give a shit about anything I want to talk about."
"Probably because I don't know most of the people you bring up. Just, like, pick something we're both interested in."
"So... Monty Python or sex then huh?"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure there's more than that."
"Maybe."
Kylie stared out her window for a while, not pressing me any further for entertainment, and I took the chance to make sure we were still going the right way. As far as I could tell we were, but it wouldn't have been the first time I'd missed a turn off because I was distracted if we weren't.
"You ever tried anal?" Kylie asked all of a sudden.
"What?" I said, figuring I must have misheard.
"Anal, have you tried it before? Like in the butt?"
"I know what it is, I just... you must really be desperate for something to talk about."
"Or maybe I'm genuinely curious."
"Why the fuck would you want to know that all of a sudden?"
"Okay, so I'm really bored. You gonna answer or what?"
"I will if you will," I said, upping the stakes a little. If she could get personal then so could I.
"Fine, you first," she said after only a brief hesitation.
I still wasn't totally comfortable with the question, but Kylie had accepted my challenge and I couldn't very well back down now. It wasn't that I minded talking about stuff like that with her, just that it didn't happen very often. It felt a bit weird.
"Okay, yes. I've tried it once," I finally admitted.
"Wow, really? What was it like?"
