I immediately noticed the new dangling earrings in Nastya's ears and said that they suited her very well, without lying. Nastya giggled and looked at me, beaming:
- Thank you. He gave them to me literally yesterday!
- Who? Your... daddy? - Now it was my turn to giggle.
- Well... Don't call him that! Borya is such a sweetheart, he always tries to please me!
- And you to him? - I smiled.
Nastya blushed.
- Alice, let's not be vulgar! We have deep feelings, I even think that he... is ready to propose! - here she switched to a whisper. We stopped near the school cafeteria, the bell had just rung, the crowd had not yet had time to gather.
- A proposal? Come on! He's over fifty, you're barely eighteen - a high school senior, how can that happen?
- Well... He hinted that he didn't want to pick me up after school, aaa... so that I would always be nearby.
- So maybe you should move in together for a start? Try it out, so to speak?
-- Move in together? How do you imagine that? And what am I going to tell my parents? Move in with some random guy, and their age at that?! They don't even know about him!
-- And like, marrying a random guy who's a hundred years old wouldn't bother them, right?
- This will be officially documented! - Nastya hissed. - They will see a document with a seal and understand that the intentions are serious, that I am not just... some kind of!
- Some kind of? A... Don't you think he's just ripping you off?
- You know, we've only been dating for a month, but... He says he's never met anyone like me!
- Pff... he talks! They all talk.
- Well... There is something... He... He really loves something... - here Nastya's cheeks blushed and she looked around. - In bed, - she said with just her lips.
- Wha-at?! - I almost dropped the bun I had just taken out of my bag.
- Well, to be more precise, we don't exactly do it in bed. Although it does happen in bed, but more... In other places.
I couldn't even imagine what they were doing there. At eighteen, I was completely inexperienced in sex, the most I'd ever done was hold hands with one guy and that was it! I hadn't even kissed. Moreover, I was sure that Nastya was the same, and then!.. What a statement!
- So he told me that other girls... Well, the ones he had before me... They... Were not ready to do it all the time, twenty-four to seven. And I... I even like it. More precisely, not even... I really like it. I'm ready... at least a hundred times a day. Even when he doesn't ask, I need it myself. Do you understand what I mean?
- Absolutely not! - I snapped, expecting with horror that Nastya would now begin to describe the details. She looked away and sighed heavily, already trying to tell me something that I would be afraid to remember later.
- Alice, some men... They want...
- Okay, not another word! How did you even get along with him? You were never like that!
- I wasn't... It happened by accident. In one cafe - I went in to get a burger, and he... He...
- What about him?
- He... He noticed an anime badge on my backpack... Well, that one, remember, I told you...
Yes, only a lazy person wouldn't notice that Nastya is an anime fan. Of course, I can sometimes watch Japanese cartoons, but I can hardly be called a fan.
-- And... he asked me about him. And then he spilled everything he knew about the heroine! Her seiyuu, the intricacies of cosplay costumes, the peculiarities of drawing different seasons! I... was simply amazed! Even among peers you rarely see such specialists, and here...
Yeah. I whistled. Or maybe it was fate? The stars aligned? I suddenly caught myself thinking that for the first time I was beginning to envy my friend - the earrings, shoes and other gifts didn't impress me, but the story of how she met her sugar daddy... Hmm. Is that even possible?
Nastya continued to chatter enthusiastically, and I grew sadder and sadder - I would never have anything like that. I don't go to cafes, I don't have any special hobbies - I'm an ordinary eighteen-year-old girl. And on top of that, I live with a single father. Of course, I love my dad, but I'm more than sure that he won't approve of any suitors, who, by the way, weren't looming on the horizon. Here I frowned even more - and lately, dad hasn't been himself - he smiles for no reason, constantly looks at his phone, disappears in the evenings, started jogging in the morning and even went to the gym... Since my mother left us five years ago, my father has immersed himself in work, founded a pretty good business, and I've never seen him like this as I have in the last month.
The bell rang and we trudged to class. After sitting through a boring lesson, we went down the stairs to the porch, where Nastya turned around and waved to me - her sugar daddy was already there - a black Mercedes, just like my father's, slowed down near the school gates. The skinny, but curvy in the right places silhouette of my girlfriend immediately slid to the car door, opened it and I clearly heard the sound of a kiss. And then another, like a zipper squealing. And then incomprehensible sobbing and mooing. What are they doing there? I was about to take a step towards the car, but the door immediately slammed shut and my girlfriend and her grown-up boyfriend sped off into the distance. I never saw him again during all this time, and Nastya did not show me any photos. It is understandable - what is there to look at at fifty - bald spots and a belly? Smiling at my thoughts, I headed to the public transport stop - it would take me a long time to get home, two buses.
There was no one at home - I took off my uncomfortable school uniform, took a shower and, steamed up, in just a short dressing gown, began to watch my favorite TV series. I had no desire to do my homework... But in the middle of the episode my father called.
- Alice, I have... well, news. The whole last month I... Well, daughter, I think I've found a person who will fit perfectly into our family.
- What? - I caught my breath. - You mean that... I'll get a stepmother?
Father laughed.
- Uh, yeah. We decided to skip the ceremony and just get married officially today. I'll stop by her parents', explain everything, and we'll be home with our things around eight.
I looked at the time - I had two more hours. Reluctantly pausing the series, I wandered into my room - I need to tidy up for... my new mother? I wonder what her name is? Mom? Aunt... What was her name? I don't think my father said. I mentally imagined a strict, business-like woman - a pencil skirt, a strict blouse, and a commanding look. For some reason, it seemed to me that my father's chosen one should be exactly like that.
Having made the bed and put the soft toys in their places, I looked at the closet and the scattered clothes. Oh, it would take an hour to sort through. But there was nothing to do and I was tidying up the outfits until my dad and the bride arrived. And then the doorbell rang. I jumped up as if I had been stung and ran to open it. Dad was the first to come in, and standing behind him was... I couldn't believe my eyes.
- Uh... Nastya? - I exclaimed. - So dad decided... to marry your mom? And where?..
My friend stood there, speechless. Her eyes widened and she looked from me to dad and back to me again.
I saw Nastya's mother every time I came to visit Nastya (it so happened that almost always it was I who visited her, and not she who visited me - our house is very far from the school, you can only get there with transfers) - you can't say that she fit the ideal of a businesswoman that I had drawn for myself. And she and her husband seemed to be happily married, Nastya never said that her mother was going to leave the family. But... how else to explain the fact that her father brought Nastya here? It can't be that... I drove away the chilling thoughts in horror.
- Wow, you know each other? - Father smiled. He hugged Nastya and looked at me.
So, Nastya's sugar daddy drives a Mercedes and his name is Borya. My father is also Boris. At the same age. In the last month he looks completely happy and it is the month that Nastya meets her... No! Nooo! This can't be! Coincidence, definitely a coincidence!
- Dad, is this a joke? A prank, right? A prank! - I laughed hysterically. - But it's not even April. How did you two... collude, huh? Whose idea was it? Well? - I was talking nonsense, realizing that there simply couldn't be any other explanation.
My best friend Nastya, the anime girl with pigtails and blue eyes, Nastya, whom I know inside out, Nastya, who has never had experience with guys, just like me. Well, Nastya! Nastya is now... Now she's mine...
Father shook his head:
- No, Alice, this is not a prank. Of course, it was awkward...
"Mom..." I whispered silently.
Dad put a chair under me in time, I fell onto it and tried to come to my senses.
- Alisa, daughter, don't worry. Nastya's parents know, they gave the go-ahead, even if not right away... - the father winced, as if from a toothache.
- So now... Now you... My mother?
- Well... you can call me Aunt Nastya! - giggled her friend.
- Mm-hmm... That's how it turns out....
- Well, somehow it works out!