- Oh, don't worry. Everything is fine. - Now his son worries me the least now.

But then I didn’t know that soon he was the only thing that would worry me.

We stop at a fancy restaurant. We are shown to the VIP table. Mom sits next to me, Nick is opposite her, but the seat opposite me is empty. We decide to wait a bit for Nicholas's son, but twenty minutes later, Nick places an order for everyone without waiting for his offspring.

We talk on neutral topics, he asks me about life in Russia, about my hobby and future profession, I am pleased to communicate with him, we immediately found a common language, and my mother cannot get enough of it. And so I tell another story from my childhood, how he rudely interrupts me , no, he didn’t say anything, didn’t even greet anyone, but boldly flopped into his seat and stared at me with his piercing, almost black eyes, looks without blinking and not paying no attention to anyone.

I'm not even surprised. expected. An impudent, selfish, big-hearted handsome man who thinks that the whole world lies at his feet. These should be avoided. That's exactly what I'll do.

Did Mom really think that he would become my big brother, with whom we would eat pizza and ice cream at the telly?

So, this is definitely not going to happen.

“Blake, I think I warned you,” his father hisses menacingly at him, “I told you how important it is for us and asked you not to be late!”

- Honey, everything is fine, you should not be nervous because of this, nothing terrible has happened. Mom is trying to calm him down. And all this time he keeps looking at me, and I try to understand what is reflected in his eyes. Interest, lust, anger? But why is he angry? Or maybe I made it all up amid stress, or I just got a salad stuck in my teeth or my lips are dirty. I run my tongue over my teeth, dabbing my mouth with a tissue. No. Nothing. Then what is he staring at!

This is a rude and ugly guy!

By the way, his name suits him perfectly. She shifted her gaze to Nick - this is how Blake would look at the same age, or even better.

Damn, beautiful bastard. The hair is styled as if it had just woken up, black, elongated at the crown, falling in oblique bangs to one side, dark brown eyes, long and fluffy eyelashes, thick black eyebrows, plump lips, ideal for a guy, the whole right arm is tattooed and more one can be seen on the neck, going under the clothes. Build and height like his father, tall, broad-shouldered, wiry, but muscular, it is clear that he is involved in some kind of sports, not at all drawn to an eighteen-year-old teenager. He was dressed in a tight black T-shirt, under which one could easily see six cubes, in black jeans that fit his inflated impressive buttocks and legs, and black powerful sneakers, on his left hand was a Swiss watch. As if the Devil himself decided to visit our monastery. All in black.

And anyway, who dresses like that in a restaurant?

And there is an answer - Blake Maxwell.

- Hello, little sister! - looks, letting lightning out of his eyes and grins, imposingly sitting on a chair.

And oh , he has that damn dimple in his cheek that drives all the girls crazy - I give a tooth.

And yes, it sounds promising.

Then he lazily looks at his mother. “Can I call you Mommy?”

- Blake! the father scolds his son. “Watch your tongue, son!” - and more calmly. - Meet my fiancee Ksenia Maksimovna and your future half-sister Vitalina.

- Oh, you can just Xenia. Mom chirped in embarrassment. She does not like being called by her patronymic, she immediately feels old.

And at that moment a waiter comes up, a young handsome guy, most likely a student who serves our table, takes an order from Blake, asks if we need anything else, I ask them to bring me a glass of water without gas, with the appearance of a brother, my mouth suddenly dried up, the guy writes down my wish in a notebook, smiles his delightful smile and winks at me and quickly looks at me and leaves.

I instinctively shift my gaze to my brother and mentally shudder at his gaze, which he awarded the waiter, and then me.

And how to understand it?

Really decided to really play the role of an older brother?

-Daughter, the young man seems to like you. - Mom says and smiles at me with her radiant smile, to which I smile in response. And again I feel that heavy look, but I don't let it show, I don't look at him.

- Well, it's not surprisingly cute, she's a beauty with us. - With reverent awe, Nick hugs his mother by the shoulders and smiles gently.

We have?

Half of the dinner is tense, my brother and I are silent, my mother says something incessantly, thanks to her for this, Nicholas tries to keep a conversation with her, well, I put in my two cents too, Blake all this time either burned a hole in me forehead, or typing something on his phone. Well, that's not how the evening was supposed to go.