15. Jonah

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

jonah

Emmett won’t tellme why he can’t date me, why he has to leave in the morning, or what I can do to change his mind, but in the meantime, I refuse to sleep so I can enjoy him while I can.

He’s so closed off. Not only with dating me but everything about him. He talks about himself, sure. He gives little pieces. His family, what it’s like being a twin. But that only came after I made a fool of myself and found out the hard way that there’s a duplicate of him out there.

He hasn’t volunteered anything too deep other than losing his parents, and when he talks, it’s almost as if he has to think of his words carefully.

He’s still holding himself back, which I thought now the twin thing has been exposed, that he’d have no reason to remain vague and closed off.

Apparently, I’m wrong.

So if it’s not the twin thing, what else is he keeping close to his chest?

Emmett shifts in my arms. For a moment, I worry he’s trying to pull away, but he doesn’t. He settles in closer, but the whole move reminds me that come morning, he really will be pulling away, so I try my best to clear my mind of all the thoughts, doubts, and assumptions surrounding Emmett and enjoy holding him.

Eventually, I fall asleep, but I’m woken up by my phone buzzing first thing in the morning.

Emmett is still curled into my side, his frizzy hair a mess, his lips parted while he snores softly.

I reach for my phone, trying not to wake him, but when I see an email alert from one of my students, I groan, and Emmett’s eyes open.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“What’s the time?” He yawns and stretches, and he’s so fucking cute.

“I almost want to lie and say it’s early so we can stay in bed, but I have to leave for class in an hour.”

He whines and throws his pillow over his head. “Wake me in forty-five, then.”

I lean over and kiss my way along his shoulder blade. “I was thinking I could make you breakfast before you leave.”

Emmett’s head appears again. “Food?”

“I take that as a yes?”

He shifts again, this time leaning up on his elbow as he brings his lips to mine. “Yes, please.”

“Coming right up.” I kiss him again and then stand right as my phone vibrates again. I hang my head. “I don’t want to look.”

“Who’s messaging you?”

“Students. The first one’s email subject line asked a question that is outlined in the syllabus.”

“You can’t expect all of your students to be able to read, can you?” He smiles.

“Honestly, I’m starting to question how some of them even got into college.”

His smile falls. “What does this one say?”

“You can look if you want. I haven’t had any caffeine to help me deal with excuses yet. It’s probably something ridiculous.”

He reaches for my phone and holds it up to my face to unlock it. While he entertains himself, I leave the room to the sound of him laughing.

“Do I want to know?” I call out while I take out eggs from the fridge.

“The subject line is the best. Hi, I’m dying today.”

Of course it says that. College kids are dramatic. “Tell them they can die today so long as they’re back in class tomorrow.”

“Oh, shit,” Emmett says and sounds genuinely worried.

I head back to my bedroom and lean against the doorjamb. “Don’t tell me they’re actually dying.”

“No. But, umm, another email came through. I thought it was another student, so I opened it, and … umm …” He bites his lip and then turns the phone toward me. “It’s from the dean, and it’s about the scene between you and my brother on campus on Friday. She wants to see you in her office after your morning classes.”

“Fuck,” I hiss.

“You can’t get in trouble though. I’m not really a student.”

“You technically don’t exist,” I point out.

“I can come out.”

I can’t help smiling. “Come out as … a human being?”

“As someone who’s real. I don’t have to rely on Ben for a place to stay anymore, and I’m sick of pretending to be him in front of others. You can’t lose your job because of an honest mistake.”

“Even if it was you with Harrison that day, I should’ve acted more professionally. Now everyone on campus thinks I slept with a student of mine.”

“Even if you had slept with a student, he wasn’t in your class when you did it, so it’s not like they can say he slept his way to a good grade.”

“No, but they could claim I used my position to be inappropriate. I looked your brother up and noticed he dropped the class, meaning he got an incomplete. What if they say I⁠—”

“But you didn’t. And Ben would tell the truth.”

“What is the truth? Why did he drop my class last semester? He was doing well, had one bad exam and then, what, decided it was too hard?”

Emmett licks his top lip and glances away. “That’s a personal Ben issue that I don’t feel I have the right to talk about without his permission.”

That makes me feel marginally better that it didn’t have to do with me, but … “It still looks bad.”

“I know. I promise we’ll stand behind you though. I’ll make Ben do it if I have to.”

“Why would you have to make him? It’s the right thing.”

He shakes his head. “No, I know that. I just … I—” He stands and starts throwing on his clothes. “I’ll make this right. I promise.”

I want to believe him, but there’s a small part of me that’s panicking over having the shortest career as a professor in the history of the school.