The Eyes Have It

Chapter 3: Wednesday

When I got back to the hotel last night my parents were a little surprised to see me "I was just about to call you" mum said, her phone in her hand "why aren't you at Rebecca's?" That's a good question, why aren't I at Rebecca's?

"I just wanted to come back here, but we might go out again on Thursday" it dawned on me that I didn't need to come up with an elaborate excuse, Rebecca had worked so far, I didn't see why she wouldn't again. After that I just went to bed, the days were going by so quickly and I realised that we only have another week here before we have to go home, which means my days with Ahkmenrah are numbered.

We've just finished shopping now and are making our way to the museum for sunset, it never occurred to me that my robot crush would be meeting my parents tonight, if I can be sure of one thing, it's that they'll completely embarrass me. When we walk in the first person I see is Larry, and my heart instantly sinks, he has no idea that I lied to them about yesterday.

He comes over with a larger than life smile, as he always does, and I notice that a boy is walking beside him, does Larry have a son? "Hey El, nice to see you again, yesterday was..." I start making hand gestures behind my parents, waving frantically to tell him to shut up, mouthing that they don't know about yesterday as best I can "...I mean Monday, sorry, all the days kinda... blur together, here..." he laughs awkwardly and so do my parents.

I step in front of them and start to introduce everybody "Larry this is mum and dad. Mum, dad, this is Larry, he's the night guard here, and this is..." a tiny person I haven't seen before.

"This is Nicky, my son" my parents' faces relax once they're assured that Larry isn't some kind of weirdo stalker. Nicky gives us all a wave and says hi, before his attention moves towards one of the exhibits, it looks like Dexter, he runs off toward the monkey and lets him climb up onto his shoulder "right well, you guys have a good time, I recommend the miniatures exhibit, and of course the Ahkmenrah exhibit" when my parents aren't looking he gives me a wink which makes me blush and smile.

"Thank you" my dad says as we walk away towards the hall of miniatures, before Larry is out of sight I mouth 'thank you' to him for covering for me "he was... " dad starts.

"Weird" mum finishes "he was weird"

I roll my eyes and skip ahead of them, walking backwards as I talk to them "he wasn't... weird, he's just an awkward person, I think. Wouldn't you be if you spent all night talking to machines?" So I'll probably go mad too if I keep coming here then... eh, I'm willing to risk it.

My mum just shakes her head and keeps walking towards the exhibit, when we get there we see a cowboy and a Roman playing a game of cards, only the cards are bigger than them "I win!" The Roman cries as he throws his cards down onto the top of the bench where they're sitting.

"No way! You cheated!" The cowboy shouts in his little Texan accent.

"I resent that accusation sir! As you can see, I won" he gestures towards his cards, presenting them like evidence.

The cowboy looks annoyed as he looks up at the three of us "hey, yeah you, look at these cards and tell me he ain't cheat'n"

I look at both parents and then shrug, might as well play along, I grab the Romans cards and then the cowboys, I hate taking sides but I can already tell that one of them cheated "well for starters you both have a queen of hearts, and... the cards are marked" I give them back to them and watch as the tiny cowboy gets hysterical, telling the Roman that he's as dumb as a... something I've never heard of, and wouldn't know how to win in the first place.

Before it gets too heated my mum grabs me and drags me away, we walk around the large museum until we arrive at Sacagawea's exhibit, my mum instantly likes her and talks to her for about 10 minutes before my dad tries to join in and pronounces her name wrong about 7 different ways, I can see my mum visibly dying inside. While they're talking to her my attention is stolen by a man in gold, walking a group of kids around the museum. His eyes meet mine from across the room and I can't help but blush when he waves at me.