Alice's Vacation

I felt like a some famous film star as I walked into the Arrivals area at LA airport, all these people lined up to meet their family and friends from the various long haul flights. I didn't even attempt to pick out who I was there to see, I fumbled for my sunglasses as I made my way into the bright late afternoon sunshine.

"Alice, Alice" I heard my name being called excitedly, but I couldn't tell from where, I just kept walking to get away from the mass of people.

"Hey Alice," I recognised the happy, smiling face of Danni straight away as she stood before me. She looked kind of nervous, like maybe I wasn't Alice.

"Danni" I said calmly and gave my friend a hug She instantly lost one nervous look and gained another. Sure we'd been internet-pals for sometime but apart from 2 phone calls, this was the first time we'd talked. Two taller figures appeared behind Danni, blocking the sunlight from my eyes. Danni introduced me to her parents.

"You've had a long day then Alice, what time did you leave home this morning?" stated Danni's mum as we made our way to the car park.

"Yea, a long , but great day, thanks Mrs. Sullivan, I think I left home about 7 this morning to get to the airport, the flight left just after 10." As I thought about it, I realised it was midnight back in the UK, thank goodness I was able to sleep on the flight.

"Please, call me Linda" Danni's mum said patting a hand on my shoulder, "And the nasty man is called Matt" she said laughing at her husband.

"Mom" protested Danni, as all us teenagers do when our parents act stupid, "So what was the flight like" Danni asked turning back to me. The rest of the walk to car I regaled tales of what trans-Atlantic flying was like for 19 year old girl on her own. The truth was I enjoyed it , and was too excited to be visiting the USA for the first time to care what the flight was really like.

We reached the car and headed east. out of LA. I kept looking out in hope of seeing someone famous, or the Hollywood sign, or some famous stores.

"Linda will take you round LA some day I'm sure, won't you honey?" said Matt who'd obviously seen me looking through the mirror.

"If that is what Alice wants, that is what we'll do" said Linda turning to me and Danni in the back. I said I'd like that very much.

Matt said the journey home would take about 1 hour 30 minutes at this time of day once we hit the freeway. I wasn't sure where the freeway started, I thought we were already on it, so I just settled back, and Danni and I talked and talked and talked. Although we lived so far apart, we had the same interests, liked the same bands, both loved horses, and we'd met through the internet. Danni had written a article on the UK, she was fascinated by London. Living on the outskirts of London, and interested in photography, I'd taken pictures relating to Danni's article and sent them to her through the net. That was 2 years ago, I've started a college course in photography, and Danni, still at school, works on a local paper as she wants to get into journalism.

The freeway was eaten up in the hour and a half suggested. Linda assured me we were almost there was we took a serious of turns through a small city and approached a modern housing complex. Something individual about all the houses, but somehow they were all the same. I was impressed with where the Sullivan family lived.

"Paul's home" Matt said as we drove into the driveway, the other's chuckled and Danni explained her kid brother was terrible for leaving all the lights on, so they always knew if he was home. I took one of my bags, Matt said he'd bring the rest in and Danni introduced me to her brother Paul and one of his friends, they said "Hi" but didn't stop playing their computer game.

Matt and Paul took Paul's friend home leaving us girls to relax and show me around the house. I was so impressed. 4 bedrooms, a study, very open plan dining room, kitchen and living room, but best features were the balcony from Linda and Matt's room, the small outdoor pool, the Jacuzzi by the pool and the view. No-one lived behind them, it was just scrub land, and a view over the town about a mile away. The whole thing was so California, not over the top, just the American Dream for a well off family. Even at that point I certainly knew then that this was going to be a great vacation.

"And now the bad news" Linda stated and looked at Danni.

"You know I said I would get the two weeks off class when you were here" Danni began., "Well I can't get off now." Danni explained how she'd failed two tests and her tutors had said if she took time off she couldn't work on the school newspaper and yearbook teams and still get all the grades she needed. I was really disappointed, but I had to tell her it was cool, she had a dream , she wanted to be a journalist, I couldn't let her see that I thought that I should be more important for two weeks.

"Hey, just being in this house is going to be a great vacation" I said making light of the situation, Danni smiled and hugged me to say thanks for being understanding. Linda said there was no need to spend much time in the house, she had day trips planned for me already.

With Matt and Paul arriving back, I joined the family for their evening meal, and kept them amused with my pronunciations, my accent and my almost constant yawning. I was grateful to be able to retire to a clean, fresh, large double-bed, an early night by Pacific Coast Time standards, a very late night by the Alice Body-Clock Time standards.

I was wakened by Danni coming in with some fruit-juice and coffee, it was almost 8 in the morning. She was dressed ready for High School. Linda appeared behind her telling Danni she was going to be late, and shouting on Paul. Linda told me she had to go to the supermarket and would I like to go to. She would pick me up after dropping Danni and Paul at school.

Just driving around the city with Linda was great fun , she had a Jeep and it was warm enough to have the top down. I felt so cool, so special, so lucky to be on vacation here with this lovely family. There was no rush to get to the supermarket, first I had a tour of the city, seeing where Danni and Paul went to school, where Danni's horse was, the Bowling Alley, the cinema complex, just everything and anything for me to build up a picture of the city. We did the mall thing, I think Linda was enjoying herself, like having another daughter to do the mother and daughter shopping thing, without embarrassing the teenager daughter.

Eventually we got the supermarket shopping done and got home around mid-day. As Linda unpacked I was just staring out into the back yard.

"Want to try the pool. I'll put the heater on while you get changed?" asked Linda

"No, it's OK" I said not wanting to put Linda to any trouble.

"We don't often use it at this time of year but I'm sure this is like summer for you, did you bring a swim-suit, I can get you one of Danni's if you don't?"

"I have one, would you mind?" I really did want to go for a swim so Linda put the water heater on as I rushed upstairs to change.

A few minutes later I was outside, Linda was out by the pool checking the water by hand.

"It should be fine, let me know if it's not" she said as I eased down the steps. It was lovely, and as I swam out of the shade until the sun light I called back that it was perfect.

Linda left me to it, I swam slow lengths in the warm water, the sun was moving round, eating up more of the shade, giving me warmth on my wet back. I did the back stroke to get more sun on my face, making the most of this. Linda returned with some towels, a robe and my sunglasses.

"I may come out to join you" she said staring up at the blue sky. She did return, having put on some shorts and a tee-shirt, bringing with her some snacks and drinks for lunch.. A lazy afternoon was to be had. Linda got a sun lounger out from the garage for me to use when I came out of the pool, she did some gardening as I soaked up the sunshine between pool and poolside.

Having spent 2 hours in and out of the pool and sunbathed on the lounger for some time, Linda sat on a chair and we chatted about what I'd like to do in the coming days. Linda had plenty of ideas but didn't want to force me to do anything I didn't want to do. With it being Friday she said Danni would look after me all weekend - she asked if I'd ever been ten-pin bowling before - in fact I hadn't, there was no place near me back home.

"Come on, lets do it" Linda jumped to her feet, "let go bowling now, before school is out. You'll need practise, Danni wants to take you there tomorrow." Linda's enthusiasm rubbed off on me and like two excited schoolgirls we rushed inside to get changed in double quick time.

Linda paid for an hour, we played about 40 minutes until my arms ached. The bowling lanes were quiet so I got a lot of practise in without fearing what others were saying. Linda would be standing right behind me, holding my arm, positioning my legs, showing me how to release the ball, Linda celebrating her strikes with a bounce of her bum against mine. I never did get a strike. It was such good fun. We laughed about it over a cola afterwards and made our way home just before school got out.

Danni came home with a school friend, both Danni and her friend Ash were so excited to see me. Ash was Danni's best friend, her horse riding partner too. At first I was a bit lost with the girls chat, I kept thinking back to the day spent with Linda, getting to know her , rather than talking about a boy band, or the guys at school. But things got better and Danni wanted to know all that I'd done, I just said shopping and lazing around by the pool, she said she couldn't wait to show me more of the city. I didn't want to tell her that her mum had really shown me around quite a lot, I was Danni's friend, not her mum's friend after all. Ash, Danni and I got on great and we made plans to go out that evening.

All we did in the evening was drive around, meet up with some of Danni & Ash's friends at one mall, just in the car park - chat to them, and drive on to meet others. I was quite flattered by the attention the young American guys were giving me, they seemed impressed to meet a young English girl. Danni and Ash were obviously enjoying the added attention this brought to them too. Soon they'd made enough dates to keep their parents worrying for weeks to come. And soon we'd made arrangements to meet others at the bowling alley on Saturday night.

For Saturday we had nothing planned, saying good-bye to Ash it was just a case of "We'll call you if we aren't doing anything else." Danni said we'd probably just go to the stables on Saturday morning, she had no set plans. We got into the house just after 11 o'clock. I was quite surprised to see that even Paul was still up. Linda asked if we had plans for Saturday, we explained we didn't.

"OK, we're going Quad-biking" announced Linda. "I arranged it all this afternoon. A friend of the Jackson's has 4 bikes and said we could take them to the track they use if we wanted."

Paul and Danni were so excited, I smiled too, more for the fact that I really appreciated Linda's get up and go, she would do this on the spur of the moment, because she wanted to. Paul asked if he could bring a friend, Matt assured Linda they'd be able to hire another 'bike at the track so that would be OK.

It was an early start for a Saturday, by 8.30 Matt, Danni and I were at the dirt track. Paul and Linda would follow later, after picking up a friend of Paul's. It was just like scrub land with a small building, a garage for the 'bikes that could be hired and an office. We weren't able to hire an extra bike at that time, but for now we were OK. Danni and Matt kitted me out with a helmet and pads and showed me what to do. Gingerly I headed around the beginners course with Matt in close pursuit. This just wasn't my thing, but a appreciated the thought.

Matt and Danni left me to it, I got a bit more comfortable, following their tracks from some distance behind before finally reaching the starting point again. I saw the Jeep arrive as I reached the end of the course. I was glad of the excuse to had over the machine to Paul. He and his friend soon headed off around the track.

"You girls want to borrow Quad" shouted across a guy from the office. Linda and I went across and Linda asked if we could hire two quad-bike, but the guys said he didn't want to hire them out as they were all booked, but we could borrow one until a few more people turned up. We took him up on his offer and he gave us two helmets.

"What you waiting for honey?" Linda smiled as she started it up and sat forward "Get behind me and hold on tight." I got on and out my arms right around her waist as she showed me and braced myself.

We shot off, we both laughed, Linda called out "yee-haaa!" as we got going, it felt so fast but probably wasn't, every bump and hollow jolted my body.

"Tight honey, I said hold on tight, you're really going to have to squeeze me tight to keep on" Linda shouted instructions at me, I grabbed her really tight, she shouted "That's better" and increased the speed again. Then a huge bump in the road caught me by surprise, I knocked my chin on Linda's shoulder and lost my grip, I felt myself falling off in slow motion, there was nothing I could do.

I hit the ground, landing on my bum, then my back, then my head. I was OK, just dazed. I lay there for a couple of seconds. Next thing, Linda came back on the quad, jumped off almost before it had stopped. She was panicking.

"Alice, Alice, are you OK, I'm sorry" she knelt beside me in fear. I had my eyes shut, I lay still, Linda shook me and I cracked a smile. We both burst out laughing.

"My bum hurts" I said rolling onto my side and rubbing it.

"Where does it hurt honey, show mommy" she said with a faked look of concern, before reaching her hand out to my bum and stroking it through my jeans. "Does it hurt just there?" she asked then moved her hand a little lower, a little nearer the middle and rubbed me "Or does it hurt just here?" I was frozen stiff, was she playing, was she coming on to me, what?

"It hurts everywhere" I said in a resigned tone and made to stand up. Linda jumped up to her feet and pulled me up. "Shall I drive this time?" I laughed. But Linda drove us back to the office building., and we handed the quad-bike and helmets back. We waited for Matt and Danni to come back to the start-finish area and told what had happened, that I was OK, but a little shaken - I said it was my fault to take the heat off Linda that Matt was obviously wanting to give her.

We had a great day there, we had a picnic with us, we did time trials, I got a little better after a bit more encouragement, Danni was a great teacher for that, and we finally left the dirt-track, tired, dusty and bruised in the early afternoon.

Having dropped the quad-bikes off, we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around the pool, though no-one ventured in. Paul and his friend had gone off somewhere else. Linda announced she was going for a shower, then 5 minutes later called Matt into the house.

"Oh God, here we go" said Danni and asked me to come to the bottom of the garden. She explained "That tone of voice always means she want's something big style, she'll give herself over to dad completely, if you were up by the pool you'd hear her howling away in pleasure for the next half of an hour." I asked how she knew so much about their sex life. "I don't, not really, I couldn't tell you every time they do it, I just know when she wants something, she makes it obvious she wants to please 'her man', and she seems to do that alright. Next thing you know Dad has a smile on his face for weeks and Mom gets whatever she wants."

"And what is it she typically wants" I pushed it.

"I dunno," Danni said openly "I'm never sure, I never see anything new around the place, she doesn't need to ask for anything, Dad loves her so much she gets whatever she needs" Danni changed the subject and we wandered out into the scrub land behind the house "I'll take you to my rock" she said pointing to a group of rocks on the side of a small mound. As we strolled across the dust and dirt we talked about my parents and her parents, did we think they were happy, laughed about what their sex lives were like. We reached the rock and sat looking back at Danni's home, basking in the late afternoon sun. We could see her parents room, curtains closed.

"You ever imagine your mom or dad having an affair?" Danni asked me, it wasn't really a personal question somehow, I guess we were both too open with each other.

"My dad maybe, my mum no" I said and explained a little.

"Other way around for me. Dad loves his family too much, he has worked so hard for us I don't think he'd do anything to ruin what he has. Sometimes I think Mom resents dad, getting married. You know she was a model before I came along." I expressed surprise, but qualified it by saying I could tell she must have had some thing about her when she was younger. "She was no great star, just catalogue and some magazine stuff, nothing famous, but then at 24 she got pregnant with me and all that stopped. I think dad wanted her to stop work, she loved him, so she did"

For while we sat there, hugging our knees to our chests, talking about everything and anything, I was really warming to Danni, she was funny, intelligent and was much more mature than she first seemed. She clued me up about the guys and girls that would be at the bowling tonight. After our chat I was really looking forward to the evening, and after an hour or so we headed back across the scrub land to the house.

I slept late into Sunday morning. Danni and I had returned late from our night at the bowling alley, and after an full and energetic day before I certainly needed the rest. Danni had slept late also, coming in to wake me just after she had woken up. I sat up in bed, she sat crossed legged on the bed and we laughed together as we recalled the evening before. "Isn't X so cute?," "I really liked Y," "Z is such a jerk" , we went through all the guys, just laughing and joking, nothing nasty.

"Hey!" called out Danni, "there is a TV show about England coming on, I read about that last week. Do you mind if we watch?." Obviously I didn't, so Danni hurried me back into her room and she switch on the television and dived under the covers on her bed. "Come on, don't get cold out there, jump in here" throwing back the covers to invite me in. I was a bit old for sharing beds with me friends, but it was good fun.

Danni was in awe of the sights of England on the TV show, and I added to her excitement by tell her of the places I'd visited, or how near to where I lived some of these sights were. As we shrieked in happy laughter Matt came in to say good morning and see what all the fuss was about, he said he wished he had a camera to catch the two happy faces peaking out from the bed.

Although Matt was only saying that I turned to Danni and said I'd be back in a few seconds. I rushed back to my room and got out my camera and rushed back to Danni.

"Smile!" I said not giving Danni the chance to react before taking her picture. I then got a few more "composed" shots before settling down to watch the show to the end. As we lay in bed talking, thinking about getting up for the day I told Danni that when she didn't have her hair done and make up on she looked a lot like her mum.

"I've hardly got the model looks have I!" she stated. I told her it was amazing what a camera could do, reassuring her that I wasn't saying she was ugly without the camera - she wasn't, but she had too much of her dad's look in her to be the model her mum was.

"Will you take a few shots of me?" she asked. Having tidied the bed, brushed her hair, Danni posed naturally for the camera. She was very natural, I took about 6 or 7 shots of her and we laughed that the guys from the bowling alley would love to see these ones. I said I'd take just one more shot for now and Danni held her pose as I set the camera.