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"Thought what? That I was big city?" Then he looked up at her and soiven her away "Oh," he said "You thought I was a jock on scholarship" His tone was still light, but a little guarded now His version of a just kidding

"Sorry," she said And she was More than that A bit devastated Souy had so all night crashed into a brick wall

"Nothing doing," Russell said, his expression saying otherwise "Leuess Basketball"

Sophie had lost the thread of conversation "What?" she asked "Oh, right, I guess"

Russellup at hier or derision but it orse than that He was like a Christhts Sophie had joined the ranks of dumb commenters She had let hiht that, and how she really hadn’t, and to tell hi up in Brooklyn and all her big-city (urban) bona fides But she didn’t Because somehow, he had let her down, too

Just as the evening spectacularly stalled, Lorraine arrived with all the food stacked up her arrave; la mode Hash broith applesauce Only instead of sour creaht

The food just sat there, cooling on the table between them Sophie was desolate, miserable, and terribly homesick all of a sudden This had to be the worst What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? e but Sophie felt herself growing dumber by the minute Case in point, what had just happened It wasn’t as if she was unaccusto around rich people, all kinds of rich people Though her neighborhood had been gritty and cheap when her mother leased their rent-stabilized apartentrified When Sophie was ten, a fautted it before e named Ava, who quickly became one of Sophie’s close friends Over the years, Ava always offered to pay for Sophie, for her estures--BFF subsidies, Ava called the sweet and had only made Sophie hyperaware of what she lacked She started declining the subsidies Ava carried on offering Sophie started resenting her for it Sopho out "I’m not a Neediest Cases," Sophie had screamed The offers stopped And the friendship died soon after Sophie felt bad about it, but was never sure how to repair things

She wasn’t sure how to repair things now, either, but as the food sat there untouched, a glaring reproach, she knew she had to Russell had already rescued the first half of the evening Not just byher away fro her soain She hadn’t realized how s and people she missed lately, it was odd to find herself at the top of the list

She took a deep breath and out of the silence said: "What I was going to say before was that I thought you were like , but it was clear froet what she meant

So Sophie told hih she kneas nothing to be asha to be proud of

"I’ht--hoped--that if you were too, it ht be like me"

The silence between them stretched Sophie wasn’t sure her adhted so in her But then Russell said, "Who says I’m not?"

He slid the cheesy pie across the table toward her She was unsure if this was a challenge or an olive branch Either way, she picked up her fork, and though the pie looked profoundly unappetizing--the cheese had bubbled into a blister--she took a s of the cheddar brought out the hint of savory in the crust, and contrasted with the sweetness of the apples And then there was the collage of consistencies: gooey, crumbly, juicy, all of it warm