20. Emmett
“Emmett. Emmett, wake up.”
The first detail I notice when I open my eyes is Cassie isn’t in bed anymore, she’s standing next to me, repeating my name to wake me up. The second is the smell of coffee wafting into the bedroom from the somewhat opened door. The third is voices, a pair, echoing in from the living room.
I sit up immediately, knowing who would show up unannounced this early in the morning.
“Emmett,” Cassie repeats for the tenth time. “Your parents are here.” Her voice is barely a whisper, her head whipping from my face to the door and back.
“Why are they here? Why did you let them in?” I find a pair of shorts within arm’s distance and a shirt to match, throwing them on and grasping at Cassie’s waist. I pull her toward me, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
A sigh escapes her as she says, “I don’t know why they’re here. I came to wake you up as soon as I let them in, which I wasn’t going to do at first. But then I accidentally dropped my book, and your dad heard and demanded to be let in.”
“Ah, so you got his good mood today.” I try to joke.
“Very funny.” Cassie groans, pulling away from my embrace. “This isn’t how I pictured meeting your parents.”
I grab her hand, interlacing our fingers one by one.
“There’s no great way to meet my parents.” My lips turn up, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. This isn’t how I wanted her to meet them either. “What did they say to you?”
“Barely anything. It was awkward. Your dad asked if I was the girl from the article and when I said yes, he just hummed a response. I only recognized them from pictures online.”
“He’s such a dick. I’m sorry he said that to you.” To help calm her, I move my thumb up and down her finger.
“Thank you, but it’s okay. I just told them I’d come get you and here we are.”
I nod, thankful she wasn’t with them alone for long. “Let’s go see what they want, Sass.”
Cassie nods and follows me out the door.
When we reach the kitchen, my dad is standing with his arms crossed, nose to his phone. My mom sees me coming, a smile plastered on her face. I walk toward her and give her a hug, ignore my dad, then move to the island to stand next to Cassie.
“Hi, sweetie. We are sorry to drop in. Your dad thought to see if you wanted to go out for breakfast. And we met Casey here.” My mom smiles and looks at Cassie, then back at me.
“Cassie,” I correct.
“Yes, we were just talking to Cassie about how we didn’t know you were seeing anyone,” my dad chimes in, finally looking up from his phone to acknowledge our presence. What a dick.
”I am,” I say, keeping my tone neutral, careful not to reveal anything he could use against her. I pull Cassie toward me by wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Well, it must not be serious enough if you didn’t tell us, son,” my dad says. He looks over at my mom.
“Honey, let’s let them enjoy their morning.”
He looks back at me. “Keep me updated about your next contract, Emmett. You can”t be having—” His eyes linger on Cassie for a moment before refocusing on me. “Distractions.”
“Cassie isn’t a distraction,” I say, my tone laced with anger. Cassie’s hand tightens on my waist. “I’ll call you later, Mom. It’s nice to see you. We need to plan something soon.”
“Okay, sweetie. No worries. It was great to meet you, Cassie.”
Cassie smiles at my mom. My dad keeps looking from me to Cassie and back like he’s trying to figure us out.
On their way to the door, my dad stops by the end table next to the couch. He leans over to pick something up, turning back to me.
“What’s this? Are you daydreaming again, Emmett?” He scoffs, holding up a script I was working on.
“It’s nothing that concerns you,” I reply, trying to get him to ignore it.
“What do you mean it’s nothing?” Cassie asks, looking at me, begging me to stand up for myself.
I start to open my mouth to reply, but my dad interrupts me.
“You can’t seriously think you can become a writer, not without me backing you. Tell me, son, what are you doing next after this movie of yours is done filming?”
My eyes widen. This is not a conversation I want to be having right now. I’m not ready.
“I–I…” I stutter, not knowing how to respond. “I don’t have anything lined up.” My heart is racing a mile a minute.
“You don’t have anything? What about the contracts your agent sent?”
Of course my agent sent them to him as well, keeping my dad in the loop with all my decisions.
“I said no.”
“No? What do you mean you said no?” My dad starts pacing, still holding the script in his hand. His gaze is on the floor, but I can see his brows furrowed.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet.”
“And it’s all because of her.” My dad points to Cassie with his free hand and she shrinks, her body sliding down and back from mine.
“Mom?” I ask, pleading for her to say something.
For a moment, I think she might, but she looks at my dad first and when she turns back to me, I hardly recognize her. “Your father’s right, sweetie.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m my own person, okay? Has it ever occurred to you that I might not want to be like you?” My voice is elevated and I’m furious. There is a void at my side, letting me know Cassie has retracted her hand. I whip my head to look at her, but she won’t meet my gaze. I reach out to cup her cheek with my hand. When her eyes finally meet mine, my heart shatters into pieces. She bites her lip, blinking rapidly to keep the tears in her eyes before shaking her head out of my hand.
I watch as she walks out of the kitchen and back toward the bedroom.
“You need to leave,” I snarl at my parents, not giving a fuck what they say to me.
“We won’t approve this Emmett. She’s not worth it,” my dad says like I care about his opinion in the matter.
“You know what? She’s worth everything. And fuck, I don’t want to act anymore. Okay? I’m a writer, Dad. A fucking writer. And if you can’t accept that, then I think we are done here.”
My mom’s jaw goes slack and her eyes widen with shock.
“You’re going to regret this,” are the only words my dad says before he leaves the apartment.
After hearing the door click, I turn around to find Cassie standing in the hallway.
“Is he going to say something?” she asks.
“Knowing him, I don’t doubt it.”
“Emmett, I can’t lose my job.”
I make my way to Cassie, tugging on her shoulders to embrace her. “I won’t let that happen.”
“I think I should go.” Cassie starts to pull away, leaving a void again.
“I don’t want you to go. I want to work through this, together. Please.”
Cassie remains silent, her gaze to the floor. She’s thinking too hard, and I’m starting to worry she’s actually going to leave.
“You’re too important to lose, Sass. I don’t want to live in a world where I don’t get to see your smile everyday. Please. Stay.” I’m five seconds away from kneeling, begging her to keep giving this a chance. Keep giving us a chance.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
An eye roll makes its appearance. “Okay,” she replies, and I’m wondering if she remembers the first time I asked her to hang out, our conversation ending just like this one.
“So, what now?” Cassie asks.
“Breakfast?” I grin and watch as her lips form a smile before nodding in agreement.
“Pancakes sound really good right now.” Cassie turns to walk to the kitchen. She stands on her tiptoes to reach the flour from a cabinet, then proceeds to gather the rest of the ingredients.
For the next half hour, we alternate making pancakes while talking about our plans for the week. I keep catching myself watching, staring, not being able to take my gaze away from Cassie. She carries herself with so much grace that I find myself being struck by her sassy demeanor that’s hidden from most people. What I love most about her, though, is how determined and motivated she is to achieve her dream. Nothing can stop her. I won’t let anything stop her, not even my parents.
“So, have you heard from Annie recently?” I say, flipping a pancake, hearing the sizzle of the butter.
“Oh, yes. She still hasn’t told our mom about her moving here.” Cassie struts to the other side of the island, plopping on a stool.
“When do you think she’ll tell her?” I turn to rest my backside on the counter.
“Soon, hopefully.”
She opens her mouth to say more, but my phone buzzes, radiating on the island. Cassie leans to the left, reaching out to slide my phone closer to her.
“Someone named Logan is calling you.” The buzzing ends as I walk over to the island, spatula in hand. “Actually, he’s called you a few times.”
I reach out my hand toward Cassie for my phone. “That’s my agent.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, Cassie’s eyes widen and her jaw slacks. My phone starts vibrating again. We both know what this call is about without answering it.
“Are you going to answer it?” Cassie mumbles, fidgeting in her seat.
“Should I?” I ask.
Cassie winces. “Yes, but I’m scared.” Her lower lip disappears as her gaze trails from my eyes to the island.
“Hey, look at me.” I walk to Cassie, twisting her seat until she faces me. I wrap my arms around her shoulder and nestle her closer to me. “I won’t let anything happen.”
Her gaze flickers from me to the floor as she mumbles, “I know.”
“I promise.”
Cassie’s eyes find mine, her lips curl inward, and she nods.
“We are in this together, Sass. You and me,” I remind her.
“Together,” Cassie agrees.
“Okay.” I give her shoulders a squeeze before removing my hand and stepping back. I reach for my phone on the other side of the island just as Logan is calling again and click the accept button.
“Logan, what’s up?”
“Emmett. Finally. Sorry to call on the weekend, but we have a situation,” Logan says.
“Does this situation have anything to do with my dad?” I ask, rolling my eyes in Cassie’s direction.
“He tipped the media that you were done acting because of a girl, he didn’t name names. And, the only way I know this is because he called me to tell me that he’s doing this for your benefit,” Logan explains.
“Of course he is. How bad is the press? What are our options?”
“Well, I can try and keep some of the outlets quiet. Mostly anything that would be printed tomorrow or next week. But anything that’s online is going to be difficult.”
“Okay. Well, is there anything we can do?”
“We can put out a quote letting them know that it’s false information.”
“Any other options?” I ask, knowing I’m not ready to tell everyone the truth.
“Um, we can let it ride and hope people forget about it next week? It’s purely speculation, since they can’t name your dad as the source. That’d look bad on him if they did.”
I look over at Cassie, trying to gauge what she wants me to do. Neither option is great, but Logan’s right. People will likely forget about it without there being a solid source. But my dad did mention Cassie, which we will need to figure out. There are a few people who would piece together who the girl the articles refer to is.
Cassie mouths, “Let it go” and shrugs, also unsure if it’s the right decision.
“Let’s let it ride, Logan. Just keep me updated if anyone spins the speculation negatively, then maybe we can decide something else.” My chest still feels tight with dread.
“Okay, alright, that sounds like a plan. I’ll keep you updated,” Logan responds.
The line goes silent, but my mind is on full blast. My dad would mention Cassie. He knows I don’t care about the world knowing about my career being over, it’s something that would be surprising for a moment but then forgotten. But he had to mention something that would get under my skin, something to make me hurt.
Cassie and I can solve this together. I won’t be the reason she loses her job.