Lucent

chapter 16: promise

✿ ✿ ✿

Mayne's glacial blue eyes bore into my own as he stares at me from the across the table in the fancy restaurant Zeke had taken us to. Him and I were the first ones to arrive, followed a couple of minutes later by a beaming Kipp and a grumbling Mayne.

     This place is nothing of the sort like the McDonalds we ate at a few weeks ago, it's more elegant and certainly fancier. The place is bathed in bright lights hanging from the ceiling, which has some artistic paintings. Our table is located right next to the aquarium containing some lobsters and crabs ready to be cooked, I guess.

     Looking back at Mayne, he opens his mouth but is suddenly interrupted by a waitress who's handing us the restaurant's menu. As soon as I open it, I'm left dumbfounded because it's not in English but assumingly in Spanish.

     I put it aside, turn to Zeke and whisper the words, "The menu's in Spanish."

     He confirms it by checking his. "You're right, love." He quickly calls the waitress back and asks for an English menu, which he hands to me afterwards. While the three of them finally decide what they desire to eat today, I have trouble understanding the type of dishes, because the vocabulary used to explain them in English sounds strange to me.

     Zeke shifts his eyes to me. "Anything catch your eye?"

     Just as I'm about to shake my head wordlessly, I recall Voski's stupid rule about verbal answers. "Not yet..." I pause. "Do you have any recommendations?"

     He smiles, then takes my menu and places it on the table between the two of us and starts explaining the contents of each dish in detail, as some of the ingredients are unfamiliar. Finally, he leans over to point out a dish on the menu. "Well, I'm ordering rice with partridge; it's my favourite. There's also sea ​​bass with baked potatoes, or any type of fish really. Pork if you like it... There's loads of options."

     After meticulous consideration I opt for the first dish he suggested. "I'll have the rice with partridge, please."

     Zeke takes the menu from my hands, winks and hands it over to the waitress. "Great choice."

     Soon enough, the four of us are left all alone. Mayne the takes this opportunity to ask whatever he intended to before being promptly cut off by the restaurant worker. "How did it go?"

     I immediately tense in my seat and keep my head down, not knowing how to escape from this. It will be blatantly obvious that it did not go that well if I lie to his face, cause for some reason my brothers seem to be really good liar spotters. Fortunately, Zeke is quick with his reply. "It went good." There's a hint of (idiomatic expression) in the tone used and even though my eyes are looking down I notice from the corner of my vision how he widens his eyes to my third eldest. A deafening silence then engulfs all four of us. Me fidgeting nervously with my hangnails and the other probably having a silent conversation.