It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

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?”