Our Contract of Distrust

-- 30 --

When the knock resounds on Friday I'm filled with both curiosity and dread. 

I open the front door and a blond guy smiles and holds a hand out for me to shake. "I'm Connie. Nice to meet you."

I nod back. "Nadia. You too."

He seems... chirpy. 

He traipses through to the kitchen as if he owns the place, and it clicks then that he probably visited before Feodor and I married.

Connie and I take seats opposite each other while Feodor goes to make tea.

When our eyes connect, Connie interlocks his fingers and leans onto the table. "Just so you know, if you hurt him, I'll kill you."

Suddenly, Feodor whacks him over the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"What are you saying? You want to freak her out?" Feodor says.

"Don't you know that's what best friends are meant to say in these situations?"

"What happened to 'Common decency. Always'?"

"Weren't you supposed to be making tea?"

Feodor holds a hand out palm up to him.

Connie arches a brow. "What?"

"If you're going to treat me like a waiter then you should pay me."

Connie springs from his seat. "I'll do it myself since you're so useless."

Feodor hovers beside Connie as he flicks boil on the kettle.

"Have you even made tea before?" Feodor says. It's weird seeing him be sarcastic.

"Excuse me, peasant, who do you think I am?"

They stare pointedly at each other for a moment.

A sudden smile breaks across Connie's face. "It has been a while though."

A slight smile forms on Feodor's lips also. "Right, because you should have put more water in it first."

"Ah, is that what that strange dying noise was? And here I thought it was just you hissing at me."

They're finally about to pour the boiling water when Connie turns to Feodor and asks, "Do you have any snacks to go with it?"

"Hnn I don't think we have any biscuits or anything at the moment."

"Oh shucks, I should have dropped by a bakery on my way." His face alights like a lightbulb, "Unless you have anything handy."

"10 minutes max."

"Then you must be volunteering as assistant."

"Alright fine."

Connie waltzes over to the pantry, "Let's see here... oh! Fee, get out 3 mugs, milk, butter and a couple of eggs."

Connie plonks down some ingredients and fetches a couple of large bowls I didn't even realise we had.

He sifts this and that, and whisks this and that together, without measuring a thing.

"Divide this between the cups, would you? You still have those beaters I gave you right?"

"Course. Bottom left cupboard."

"Oh thank goodness. Do you know how long it takes to whip cream without them?"

"You've had to before?"

"Don't get me started. It was a nightmare. Everything just had to be perfect. It just had to be ready on time. No matter that there was a blimmin' power outage!"