Page 43 of The ABCs of You & Me

“Oh, that’s right, Cass mentioned that, and that you went to a concert together. Oddyouhadn’t.” Mrs. Hore’s tone is inquisitive, like she thinks there is more to it than Sophie forgetting. “You’re an EA, right?” she asks.

“I am.”

“I never would have guessed that’s where you’d end up.” She laughs.

“Me either,” I agree. My parents certainly wish it wasn’t where I’d ended up.

“He’s really good at it,” Sophie says softly, glancing quickly over at me. “His students adore him.”

It’s out before I can stop it. “Thanks, sunshine.”

Mrs. Hore’s expression softens. “Oh, I’d forgotten you called her sunshine. Karl was so mad that he had never thought of it.” She looks up at her daughter approvingly. “She is sunshine, isn’t she?”

Sophie is totally red now, avoiding looking at either of us as we appraise her.

“She is,” I agree. I have no idea what my face looks like, but in my head I’m wearing a dreamy expression that screamsyou are the best part of every one of my days.

Sophie shakes her head and skirts around her mom, heading out the door. “Okay, well, now that we have established that I am a ball of fire, can we help you with anything?”

“So, have you two been spending a lot of time together?” Mrs. Hore asks, setting a massive slab of lasagna on my plate.

“I mean, not a lot of time, but catching up,” Sophie tells her.

“You went to the Nyx Avalon concert together.” A statement, not a question.

“Well, Cass couldn’t go, and so she asked Foster, who graciously put his taste in music aside to attend the show with me.”

Mrs. Hore glances over at me as she hands Sophie back her plate, which has a slab equal to mine. “What kind of music do you enjoy?”

“Oh, classic rock, mostly.”

She sighs. “I remember when that was just called rock. One day Nyx Avalon is going to be classic pop, and you’ll understand,” she says to Sophie.

“One day, but not today.” She smirks back.

Once Mrs. Hore has food on her own plate, I dive in. When the flavor hits my tongue, I’m fifteen again, sitting in my parents’ dining room with Cass and Sophie eating lasagna Mrs. Hore had sent as a thank-you for something I can’t recall. They were talking about Matt, some guy in their riding lesson that Sophie had a crush on. Two weeks before I wouldn’t have cared, but now I was suddenly interested in what it was Sophie liked about him. Apparently he was tall and cute and a bit of a rebel. Sophie liked that he bucked the rules and was totally fearless.

I was tall and had been told I was kind of cute, but I liked rules. I was always home by curfew, cleaned my room, did my homework and the dishes, and I had a healthy fear of things that could kill me. But if that was the kind of guy Sophie was into, then I could probably break a rule here or there and, I don’t know, try something a bit more daring at the skatepark. A few weeks later I was grounded and had pins in my arm after I lost control of my friend’s dirt bike.

The whole ordeal did spark something in me, though. I suddenly found it thrilling to not do exactly what my parents wanted, something I’d watched Cass do since we were kids. But as the eldest, I always toed the line—until I jumped right over it.

“This is incredible,” I moan once I’ve swallowed the first bite. “I can’t believe I went so long without this stuff.”

“Foster is a great cook,” Sophie tells her mom.

“Oh? What do you cook?” she asks me.

“Pretty much anything.” I shrug. “I like to make Korean food because it’s hard to find around here, and I bake when I need to clear my head.”

“His thank-you cookies are pretty good,” Sophie says, glancing at me.

Mrs. Hore looks from me to Sophie and back again. “Thank-you cookies?”

“Chocolate chip cookies that I made as a thank-you.”

“Definitely better than a card,” Mrs. Hore agrees. “Certainly tastier. How was that event for the alumni you went to?”

“It was fine,” Sophie says as I blurt out, “She looked amazing.”

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