Page 33 of The ABCs of You & Me

“Ready?” He’s wearing different clothes too. Tight distressed black jeans, a white T-shirt, white Converse that match my blue ones and the same dark green bomber jacket he wore to the barbecue.

“Yep!” I say a little too enthusiastically, and I catch Chanel hiding her smile by turning to wash something else.

“You two have fun,” she calls after us.

“Was Chantel talking about me?”Chantel. I was close.

“She was listing all the ways you’re too good,” I reply, walking through the door Foster holds open for me.

“Oh yeah? Did she mention my work with blind elephant seals on the ice floes of the Arctic?”

“She had not gotten to that one yet.”

“Pity.” He sighs, shaking his head. “It’s some of my most selfless work.” He’s so serious-looking it takes way too long for me to realize that he’s fucking with me.

“I’ll be sure to mention it first whenever you come up. ‘Oh yes, Foster Walsh, you know he works with blind elephant seals in the Arctic, don’t you’?”

“Don’t forget all the work is done on ice floes, it’s very important.” He flashes me a crooked grin, and my brain short-circuits.

“Riiight.” I nod. “It definitely sounds more dangerous with that additional information.”

“In this climate, it actually is,” he ponders solemnly. “Wow, nothing like climate change talk to kill a joke, eh?”

“Climate change kills, it’s a well-known fact,” I say, straight-faced before tossing my bag into the back of my car. “Now, let’s forget about our demise by singing along with a blue-haired woman as she jumps around an arena.”

SEVENTEEN

FOSTER

I probably shouldn’t put too much thought into the fact that we’re wearing the same shoes. Converse high-tops aren’t exactly rare, especially at concerts. Yet, as Sophie drives us toward the city, I can’t help my eyes from journeying to her feet. I don’t even attempt to stop them from taking the scenic route on their way. She looks as stunning in the dark blue jeans and a simple light blue T-shirt as she did in the gown.

I pull my attention away from her outfit and stare out the windshield.

“Do you ever use cruise control?” I ask, noticing that the current driving conditions would have me turning it on in a heartbeat.

“Not if I want to arrive somewhere alive,” she says, and I’m not sure if she’s being serious. When she sees my expression her smirk fades, and she looks back at the road. “I used it once right after I’d gotten my license, and I ended up getting distracted. Let’s say it’s a good thing the cows weren’t in the south pasture because I renovated the fence with my mom’s car. In second year, I was diagnosed with ADHD and a lot of things started to make sense.”

I peek down at her feet and notice her left foot tapping to its own beat. I work with kids everyday with ADHD, but just because someone fidgets doesn’t mean they have it. I try and think back to when we were kids. I remember Sophie being very active and chatty, but nothing really stands out.

“You can close your eyes and sleep, you know. I won’t be offended.”

Fat chance.I change the subject. “So did you know that we have managed to go on three friend dates in alphabetical order?”

I watch her forehead scrunch. “What?”

“A, alumni. B, barbecue. C, concert.” I count on my fingers.

“Interesting,” she says, sparing a quick glance in my direction.

“I kind of want to see if we can get through the entire alphabet.” And when we finish the alphabet, we’ll start at the number one and go from there, and after we get bored of numbers, we can do nouns.

“We’ve also managed to switch off every other one. Are we accidentally really good at this?”

“Nothing accidental about it, sunshine. So, what do you say? Should we go for the D?”

“That sounds kind of dirty.” She laughs.

“It does, sorry. Let me rephrase: shall we attempt the letter D next? I dare you to do this with me.”

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