He Was Unexpected

Chapter Five

Wake Up, Catch Up:

Emma bursts through my bedroom door with her dangling Apple Watch. "Bitch, the time!"

"Shit." I fall out of bed, and run downstairs with her. I grab my laptop and flip it open in one swift motion. "Login, login. I'll tell her I'm here." Emma rushes me. 

I log in to the class and she just starts calling roll call. "Thank you for joining late as usual, Miss Ailee." Her irritating voice already starts. 

"And Emma! Miss Emma is here too!" Em yells for no reason next to my ear. 

"That explains it." The professor says under her breath, but we hear her loud and clear. I roll my eyes, and point to the coffee machine. Em heads over and starts setting it up over all the empty boxes that cover the floor from last night. I sit on the couch and place my laptop on the coffee table. At least mostly on the table, everything was incredibly sticky. I lay back with my fuzzy gray blanket and watch as she starts reviewing stuff from last class to get into the new stuff for today. Coffee gets set on the table and she cuddles up next to me. We mute ourselves, and she nudges me. 

"Hey, pay attention." I whisper yell. 

"As if you were!" She whisper yells back at me. Which she was very correct my head was not in the game here, but it needed to be. 

"Okay, ladies, I want an essay on what you believe the main message is in Jane Eyre. These papers will be due by the end of the week and they better be convincing. Have a wonderful day." The computer makes a bloop noise, and the class signs off. My heart drops to my stomach. 

"What? Haven't you started reading it already?" Em asks.

"No, I've been so distracted." She looks at me dumbfounded, and I close my laptop. 

Foot steps come down the stairs, and Em shoves me before she gets up from the couch. His eyes go straight to mine, and he looks at his watch. "Uh, I have to get going." I nod because my speech fails me epically in this moment. He throws on his flannel jacket and then pauses for a moment. I stare at him and I want to say something, but I can't. "I will see you later?" I smile, and he heads out the door. 

"That could not have been more awkward! Did you guys? Girl!" Emma starts freaking, and sits next to me. "You had sex?"

"No we did not have sex. We didn't even kiss this time." 

I can see the confusion on her face, but I just shrug it off. "I gotta grab books, but I can come back and we can study together. I can help catch you up on the book and we can start our papers? Girls night in?" 

"Yes, please!" I smile super big and hug her before she gets up to leave. "Hey, Em?" I catch her before she goes. "I love you." 

"I love you too, Ailee." She smiles and then shuts the door behind her. I really don't know what I would do if I didn't have her. I don't know how I survived thinking that Ian was the only person I could ever talk to. I wonder what would have happened had I talked to her sooner. Maybe I would've left before things got worse. Maybe she would've convinced me to leave when I couldn't even see what he was doing in the first place. I snap myself out of my thoughts before I get too far in and decide to go take a shower. 

Heading up the stairs my phone dings, and I run back down to grab it. "Ethan," I sigh and open the message. 

I still have your clothes you know. 

My face turns bright red after I read that. I totally forgot that I even left them there. I think for a second before I answer him back. 

And I have yours. Wanna trade?