“Wow.”
“Yeah. Well, whatever. They've been quiet ever since, haven't they?”
“I guess they have.”
“Well, BeeBee, I'm exhausted. Time for bed. I'll see you in the morning.”
“Okay, good night.”
“Night.”
Leslie walked out leaving me shocked, confused, and curious. I wondered if all of that had happened before or after Emerson got back from visiting his dad. Not that I’d have known, considering he’d been ignoring me since he left on Monday morning. What if Emerson and Chris had been arrested? Maybe that had been why he hadn't called me or had any contact.
That didn’t add up, though, when I thought about the times I'd called and messaged Emerson on Monday. That had been a full night and day before Leslie called the cops on them, and he hadn't replied to anything.
My phone buzzed just as I was considering sending Emerson another text about chemistry class and the lab we needed to make up. It wasn’t Emerson texting me, though. It was Garrett. I'd given him my number in chemistry class the day before after he asked if it would be possible to get my help with some of the concepts he was having a hard time grasping. So, I expected questions about chemistry class. What I got, instead, were photos. I opened them, and my eyes widened with surprise.
The message above the pics read: Your buddy Emerson happens to be pretty close to the dean of our faculty! Saw 'em outside the supermarket.
The photos were of Emerson hugging the Dean and getting into her car. One picture was clear and sharp. I had to admit, the woman looked familiar, but I hadn’t really dealt with anyone in the faculty who wasn’t one of my professors. I immediately opened a browser window on my laptop and went to the school’s website. A few clicks later, I was reading all about the woman in the photos. I enlarged her staff photo and studied her. That’s when it hit me. The Dean of Faculty was Emerson’s mother!
She had to be. Emerson had her eyes and a number of other similar facial features. I was a little blown away. We talked about his parents a few times before and, while he told me a lot about his father, he had been pretty vague about his mother, even when I asked straight up questions about her. I knew from our conversations that she and his dad divorced when he was ten years old, that she still lived nearby, and that he saw her fairly
often.
Why the hell hadn't he told me that she was the freaking Dean of our college?!
That was a pretty big deal. Seriously. I couldn’t wrap my mind around why he would deliberately lie to me about it. Whatever his reason, all this did was add more fuel to the fire that had been blazing for four days—a fire that was burning anything I thought we might have to the ground.
I wasn’t up for discussing anything about Emerson with anyone, so I put an end to it before it started by sending a rather benign message to Garrett telling him the dean was Emerson’s mother, and then I turned my phone off. I skulked off to my room, crawled into bed, and curled up under the blankets. Somehow, through the swirling emotions, sleep managed to find me quickly.
***
Emerson didn't show up for chemistry class—again. We were supposed to do a practical together. After class, I spoke to the professor about it and she said she'd try to get in touch with him. She suggested that, in the meantime, I could partner with Garrett since he'd joined the class late and was acting as third wheel to another pair of lab partners.
Maybe Emerson's “dedication” to chemistry class had all been part of his charade, too. Just another elaborate ruse he set up for the sole purpose of getting me into bed. It seemed that since his mission had been accomplished, he didn't care anymore.
“Well done, Emerson. You succeeded there. I hope you're proud of yourself,” I muttered to myself as I left the lecture hall and shot Garrett a text telling him what the professor suggested and giving him a time to meet at the lab.
***
Garrett showed up to the lab early, looking a little more chipper than usual.
“Well, hey there, gorgeous,” he said playfully.
“Come off it, Garrett. We're here to work,” I said, although I couldn't deny there was a subtle smile on my lips. He had a way of making me chuckle. It didn’t hurt that he was pretty good looking, too.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, isn't that what they say?” he responded.
“They do, but there's a time for work and a time for play, and now's not the time for play.”
“Alright, alright,” he conceded.
We got the experiment set up. Garrett worked quickly and efficiently and with great focus. I was impressed. We finished in record time and cleaned everything up just as efficiently.
As I was packing the last of the equipment away, he sidled up to me. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, go ahead.”