Anticipating pleasure, Nikolai drank beer in a cozy eatery. He was not a drunkard, much less an alcoholic, but he loved beer. And today there was a reason - his wife, Marinka, and an excellent wife, who, despite almost ten years from the date of their wedding, Nikolai loved with all her heart, left with her beloved son for her mother, in Sosnovo. It was Friday, it was planned to have two days off completely free of family duties, and he prepared for them thoroughly - in a plastic bag that stood near his legs, there were five bottles of beer; Anticipating a great evening, Nikolai blissfully drank, eating amber liquid with salty crackers.

Having finished his beer, he went outside. The weather was purely Leningrad for this time of the year - minus two, there is no snow, and a piercing wind is blowing. Is on the street was a burden.

It was not far from the house to go, and he, hiding from the wind, was already at home in a hot apartment.

He jumped into his porch, called the elevator and got up, listening.

- From the sky, probably coming - he thought with impatience.

Finally, the elevator doors opened, Nikolai entered the cabin and pressed the button of his floor. At this time, the front door creaked and a neighbor entered. Where she lives, he did not know, just saw her a couple of times a week - inconspicuously dressed, wearing glasses, greeting a faint nod of her head and fiery red. Because of the color of her hair, he, in fact, remembered it. Having braked the door with the toe of the boot, he waited until she entered, although, frankly speaking, he did not like fellow travelers in the elevator.

- to you on what? - trying to hide displeasure, asked Nikolay.

- On the seventh - she replied.

Nikolai lived on the tenth.

And then there was a nuisance. Turning around, he was already reaching for the elevator panel to press the button on the floor, but the neighbor, entering the cabin, turned his back on him. And everything would be fine, but the moments of their rotation turned out to be opposite, and the packets they were holding in their hands met with a suspiciously loud, beating sound.

- Eo-op! - only Nikolay managed to say, at the time when beer was dripping from his bag. A large fragment broke through the cellophane, and the hole quickly crawled. He did not have time to pick up the bag and in a second he barely managed to jump to the edge of the cabin, trying to avoid splashing. Neighbor confusedly stared at the spreading puddle, then looked into her bag. Nikolai also squinted there glance. There, on its side lay a three-liter jar with pickles. She put her tin lid on his beer. Picking up the remnants of his pack, Nikolai looked there. Of his five bottles, only two are left.

- How am I this way! - Said the neighbor with chagrin.

- It's okay - said Nikolai - that's just a puddle. Yes, and it dries. A beer in the store a lot. “Though he was thinking completely about something else.”

Pressing the button of the seventh floor to smooth the nuisance of the moment, Nikolai asked her: - Do you like beer?

- Oh, no, that you! - she answered modestly, but, having understood that you should not pretend to be a blue stocking, she continued: - It is bitter, and then it’s uncomfortable to breathe on people. The smell is stronger than vodka.

- By the way, I have a bottle of vodka at home in the fridge - Nicholas remembered, and continued: - Well, do you drink vodka?

- Drink. - but then she realized herself: - In moderation, of course.

The elevator finished the movement, the doors opened and the neighbor went out and said: - I will return the beer to you.

- Yes, quit! - growled Nikolay and pressed the button of his floor. * * * Upon entering the apartment, Nikolay carried the rest of the package into the bath, took off his jacket and boots, swore softly and went to change clothes, turning on the TV automatically. There is a man, trying with all his might to look solid, carrying another nonsense. Nikolai put on sports pants and a T-shirt, sat down in a chair and stretched his legs.We had to go wash the surviving bottles, and prepare myself something to eat.

- It's good that at least I put the videotapes in the pockets of my jacket - thought Nikolay: - and then there would be nothing to see now.

Salad of the last cucumbers with tomatoes, flavored with sour cream, and scrambled eggs from three eggs - that’s what his imagination sufficed for. The washed and wiped bottles were placed in a room on the coffee table. There, Nikolai suffered a salad with scrambled eggs. Sticking a cassette into a video recorder, he opened the beer and took a few sips with pleasure. The screen was already thrashing with automatic weapons when suddenly the bell rang. Siping another beer, Nikolai went to the front door. Looking at the peephole, to his surprise, he saw the confused face of his red-haired neighbor there. Cursing her, he opened the door and said in surprise: - Come on in.

“I brought you this,” she said, handing over a bottle of vodka: “This is instead of beer.”

- Well, you give! - said Nikolay. Now it's his turn to be embarrassed. And not so much because of an unexpected gift, but rather because of the wonderful change that happened with his companion on the elevator.

The glasses disappeared, and brown eyes, almost black, looked at him. Together with the unusual color of her hair, it looked fantastic. Slightly snub-nosed, neat nose, swollen lips and a scattering of small freckles. A very short, tight-fitting body, a blue robe with short sleeves and a deep neckline on her chest, was very close to her figure;

- I gave you such a nuisance, but I don’t want to go for a beer in such weather.

- Well, then go into the room, we will drink vodka - suddenly Nikolai blurted out and he himself was surprised at his arrogance.

- What are you, uncomfortable.

- I am Russian on the passport, so I don’t have been accustomed to drinking one since childhood - Nikolay continued to surprise himself: - and besides me there is no one else. Come quickly into the room!

She, slightly wrinkled, uncertainly moved into the interior of the apartment. Behind the unexpected stranger looked just as attractive - neat, lean ass, slim, muscular legs.

- Sit on the chair, I'll be right there. And you put the bottle on the table.

Taking a bottle of beer from the table in the room, he carried them into the kitchen and put them in the fridge.

Having seized piles, Nikolay has returned. The neighbor sat in the chair, cross-legged, and looked around the room with interest.

- You have a good, cozy - she said: - only very light. Turn on the floor lamp and turn off the chandelier. Since childhood, I do not like bright light.

Putting a pile, he fulfilled her request and sat down on the sofa next to him. Her legs seemed to shine in the dim light and attracted the eyes of Nicholas. Spilling vodka, he said: - Let's drink for the return of debts, and at the same time and get to know each other. My name is Kolya.

Without any cheating, she replied: - And I have Light.

After drinking without any ordinary women's antics - supposedly, firmly, a lot, she put her pile, smiled and said: - I like scrambled eggs for vodka, especially with salad!

Nikolai watched her with interest. Sveta reached for the salad, and in the robe section he saw the chest grasped by the cups of a lace white bra. Catching his gaze, she smiled again, saying: - Pour some more, get involved in business, and eat more, or you eat me with your eyes.

Recognizing himself, Nicholas poured out vodka, and suggested: - Let's move on to “you,” otherwise we sit and drink together, and we will make everything out to each other.

- With pleasure - Svetlana raised her stack.

Snacking, Nikolai looked at Svetlana and was surprised at how graceful her movements were. Where did that inaccessibility, clumsiness, strict and at the same time absent ...