It Starts with Us: A Novel (2) (It Ends with Us)

I have no idea if twelve is too young to take an Uber, but I didn’t want to leave Josh at my place alone after school again, so I had one drop him off here at the restaurant. We discussed earlier this week that he should probably help out up here to pay off the damages he accrued.

I’ve been watching the Uber on a map, so I meet him out front. When he gets out of the car, he looks like a completely different kid from the one I met several days ago. He’s wearing clothes that fit him, I took him for a haircut yesterday, and he’s carrying a backpack full of books rather than cans of spray paint.

I doubt Sutton would even recognize him if she saw him.

“How was school?” Today was his second day at the new school. Yesterday he said it was okay but didn’t expand.

“It was okay.”

I guess that’s as much as I’ll get from a twelve-year-old. I open the door to my restaurant, and Josh pauses before walking in. He looks up at the building and assesses it. “Funny how I slept here for two weeks but this is the first time ever I’m walking through the entrance.”

I laugh and follow him into the restaurant. I’m excited for him to meet Theo, even though I haven’t had a chance to tell Theo about Josh yet. Theo arrived a few minutes ago and came through the back right as I was heading toward the front to fetch Josh.

Theo hasn’t been to the restaurant since last week, and I haven’t brought Josh around because I had to take some time off in order to attempt to get his life straightened out. When we walk through the double doors that lead to the busy kitchen, Josh pauses in wonder. He stares wide-eyed at the commotion. I’m sure the place is a lot different during the day than it was when he’d sleep here at night.

The door to my office is open, which means Theo must be in there doing his homework. I lead Josh in that direction, and he follows me as we make our way into the office. Theo is seated at my desk, reading. He looks up at me, then looks at Josh. He leans back in the desk chair and pulls in his chin. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Josh asks Theo.

They’re asking each other this like they know each other. I didn’t think they would since the schools here are so big, and there are so many. I wasn’t even sure which school Theo attended. “Do you two know each other?”

Theo says to me, “Yeah, he’s a new kid at my school.” Then to Josh, he says, “But how do you know Atlas?”

Josh drops his backpack and nudges his head toward me as he plops onto the sofa. “He’s my brother.”

Theo looks at me and then at Josh. Then at me. “Why didn’t I know you had a brother?”

“Long story,” I say.

“Don’t you think that’s something your therapist should know about?”

“You haven’t been here all week,” I say.

“I had math practice after school every day,” he says.

“Math practice? How does one practice math?”

Josh pipes in. “Wait. Theo is your therapist?”

Theo answers him with, “Yeah, but he doesn’t pay me. Hey, did you get Trent for math?”

“No, I got Sully,” Josh says.

“Bummer.” Theo looks over at me, and then back at Josh. Then back at me. “How have you never mentioned you have a brother?” Theo can’t seem to get past that fact, but I don’t have time to explain it to him right now. The kitchen is running behind.

“Josh can tell you. I have a kitchen to run.” I leave them in the office and head back to help out with all the chits we’re behind on.

I like that they know each other, but I like it even more that Theo seemed comfortable around him. I know Theo much better than I know my little brother, and I feel like Theo would have had some sort of reaction if he was displeased to see Josh.

About an hour later, the kitchen is fully staffed, and I have a few minutes to break free. When I walk into the office, Josh and Theo are having what looks like an intense discussion about a manga Theo is holding. “Sorry to interrupt.” I motion for Josh to follow me. “You finish your homework?”

“Sure,” he says.

“ ‘Sure’?” I don’t know him well enough to know what kind of answer sure is. “Is that a yes? A no? A mostly?”

“Yes.” He sighs, following me out of the kitchen. “Mostly. I’ll finish it tonight; my brain hurts.”

I introduce him to a few people in the kitchen, finishing with Brad. “Josh, this is Brad. He’s Theo’s father.” I gesture toward Josh. “This is Josh, my little brother.” Brad wrinkles his forehead in confusion but says nothing. “Josh has a debt to pay off. You have any work for him?”

“I have debt?” Josh asks, befuddled.

“Crouton debt.”

“Oh. That.”

Brad immediately puts two and two together. He nods slowly, and then says to Josh, “You ever washed dishes?”

Josh rolls his eyes and follows Brad to the sink.

I feel bad making him work, but I’d feel even worse if there weren’t any consequences to the thousands of dollars he cost me. I’ll let him do dishes for an hour and then we’ll call it even.

I mostly just wanted him out of my office so I could talk to Theo about him. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him without Josh in the room.

Theo is at my desk, stuffing papers into his backpack. I sit on the couch, prepared to ask him about Josh, but Theo speaks first. “You kiss Lily yet?”

Always about me, never about him.

“Not yet.”

“What the heck, Atlas? I swear, you are so lame sometimes.”

“How well do you know Josh?” I ask, changing the subject.

“He’s only been in school for two days, so not super well. We have a couple of classes together.”

“How’s he doing in that school?”

“No clue. I’m not his teacher.”

“I don’t mean his grades. I mean his interactions. Is he making friends? Is he nice?”

Theo tilts his head. “You’re asking me if your brother is nice? Shouldn’t you know?”

“I just met him.”

“Yeah, me too,” Theo says. “And you’re asking me a loaded question. Kids are mean sometimes. You know that.”

“Are you saying Josh is mean?”

“There are different kinds of mean. Josh is the better kind of mean.”

I’m not following at all. Theo can see that, so he expands. “He’s like a bully to the bullies, if that makes sense.”

This conversation is making me uncomfortable. “So Josh is… king of the bullies? That sounds bad.”

Theo rolls his eyes. “It’s hard to explain. But I’m sure it’s not surprising that I’m not the most popular kid in that school. I’m on the math team, and I’m…” He shrugs off the last word. “But I don’t have to worry about kids like Josh. When you ask me if he’s nice, I don’t know how to answer that, because he isn’t nice. But he isn’t mean, either. Or at least he isn’t mean to the nice people.”

I don’t speak up immediately because I’m trying to absorb all this information. I might be more confused than I was before this conversation. But it does make me feel good to know that Theo isn’t scared of Josh.

“Anyway,” Theo says, zipping his backpack. “You and Lily. Did it fizzle out already?”

“No, we’re just busy. I’m going to a wedding with her tomorrow, though.”

“You finally gonna kiss her?”

“If she wants me to.”

Theo nods. “She probably will as long as you refrain from saying anything cheesy, like, Look at the ships, let’s lock lips!”

I grab one of the couch pillows and throw it at him. “I’m getting a new therapist who doesn’t bully me.”