A Slice of Life

You Know What You're Getting Into

Hi! Before you start reading I'd really like to ask you to support my co-author JuneDSilver's version of this book. 

The plan had been so simple. Reserve a table for two at the Pizza Palace, bring his sister as moral support (and because she'd insisted on meeting Sam), have a nice meal... and honestly, just see Sam again at the first possible opportunity the next day.

Now, how on earth did a simple plan like that escalate in the entire family barging into the Pizza Palace with a lot of noise and swagger, pretty much taking over the entire place?

Aleksei literally facepalmed when Stepan decided the table wasn't large enough and promptly shifted another two-person table against theirs with a loud scraping. He left his hand resting on his forehead in embarrassment as he saw the waitress who let them in look on in horror.

Please, Sam, for the love of God, pretend you don't know me.

To Sam, it had been a quiet evening at work. Not too many customers, mostly couples who weren't too loud or high-demanding, or older people. So, when he heard a group of loud people enter the restaurant while he was in the kitchen, he was curious to see what kind of group was disturbing the peace.

At first he saw no familiar faces, and he noticed his coworker Renee was feeling awkward because one of them had moved tables around. But taking a second look, he found Aleksei in the midst of it all, looking as if he wanted to disappear.

Sam jumped into action—knowing Renee would probably serve them if he wasn't quick enough—and hurried towards the table. He gestured towards his coworker that he would take their orders, thinking she might actually be glad he would be serving them.

"Good evening," he greeted them with a smile, thinking this had to be Aleksei's family. "Hi Aleksei." He added happily.

Sam's presence was met with a chorus of cheerful and grumbled "Hey's," and "Hi's!" from the table. Aleksei muttered 'hey' too, slumping a little in his chair as if that would make him invisible. Sam hadn't listened to his silent pleas.

Damn it, what if his family scared him off? He wouldn't blame Sam - they were quite something. If Aleksei had a say in it, his date wouldn't get to meet his family until they had been married for at least two years.

Sam tried not to look at Aleksei too much. He didn't want it to be obvious that there was something between them.

"Welcome to Pizza Palace. My name is Sam and I'll be your waiter for the evening." Sam kept smiling, while repeating the words he had been using all night already. "Can I get you all some drinks while you take a look at the menu?"

"Beer."

"Same for me!"

"Can I have a white wine?"

"I'll take the gin tonic."

Aleksei inwardly groaned. Great, they were all taking alcoholic drinks. That was going to help a lot with the noise.

"Just a glass of water," Aleksei quietly added.

Mark gave him a loser-cough, and Aleksei rolled his eyes.

"Hey, you know each other, though?" Mom suddenly asked, just when Aleksei thought Sam mentioning his name had gone unnoticed. "Where do you guys know each other from? School?"

"Uh, no... not— not school?" Aleksei brought out, looking at Sam for help since his brain refused to make up an excuse on the spot.

Sam cleared his throat, shrugged a shoulder and kept his smile on. "We met in the park the other day. You know... Pokemon Go." Sam lied, since something about Aleksei made him think Aleksei didn't want his parents to know too much about them.