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“Well as long as you guys figure it out. A kid needs both parents,” Casey said. He sat down at the breakfast bar and I quickly offered him something to snack on or drink. All he wanted was water. Josh leaned over the counter near the bar.
“When are you gonna tell Mom and Dad?” Casey asked.
“I have no idea,” I sighed. I leaned against the counter next to the fridge. “They aren’t exactly in a stable place right now and news like that…” I shook my head, imagining the catastrophe. “I don’t think it’ll be good right now.”
“Yeah, Jess and I were thinking the same thing. Maybe you should just wait to tell them and let the excuse be that you wanted to make sure everything was okay with the baby before telling people, or something,” Casey suggested.
“I told my sister already,” Josh chimed.
“How…what did she say?” I asked cautiously. I’d only seen his sister from afar once but I knew that he cared a lot about her from how often he mentioned her.
“She’s the one who knocked me out of shock mode,” he said. I hoped she would approve of me. From the way Jess treated any of Casey’s serious girlfriends at first, I knew the welcoming process was bumpy. Not to mention she’d tried to set Josh up twice already.
“Sorry to keep being so blunt, but how does this work? You getting your student pregnant?” Casey asked Josh.
“Casey,” I looked at him incredulously and he held his hands up as if innocent.
“It’s valid, don’t worry,” Josh said. “Naomi isn’t just a student. She’s my girlfriend and that’s all that the university has to know…we will have to report our relationship at this point, though,” Josh said.
“Yeah…about that?” I glanced at Josh. “How’s that going to work?”
“If Naomi risks getting kicked out, I don’t think you guys should chance it,” Casey said. I shook my head adamantly and he quirked his brow at me.
“We might have to. One of my friends, Jacob, has his suspicions. He thinks Josh likes me,” I said.
Josh sucked his teeth and for the first time, I saw real annoyance and disdain on his face. “That kid likes you is the problem,” he said.
I shrugged. “It’s just something to consider. I don’t think he’d do anything if he somehow got hard evidence that we’re seeing each other but I don’t know him too well,” I said.
“You wouldn’t be penalized if there is a penalty to go around. I’d be the one that gets fired if the ethics board thinks something of our relationship,” Josh said.
“And you wouldn’t be allowed to teach anywhere else?” Casey asked.
“I would but that will be on my record and weigh heavily when applying to work at other universities. It’d just make it damn impossible for me to find another good job like this one,” Josh said. He looked at my belly for a split second then met my eyes. “That can’t exactly happen now either,” he said, his voice softer.
“Do you have a copy of the ethics code? I can take a look for you, let you know what legal options you could take in case anything goes south,” Casey said.
I was completely stunned by Casey for a moment, I was so surprised. “Are you serious? You’d do that?” I asked, unable to keep the question in.
Casey rolled his eyes at me. “Of course, you’re my baby sister. I’ll always have your back,” he said. I tried to hide my smile but couldn’t. It was a nice feeling to realize I had the older brother I always wanted. All we had to do was get over our bullshit. Casey and Josh exchanged cards and Josh thanked him for the favor.
Casey stood up and put his hand on my back. “So uh, since you’ve got company and all, I guess I’ll beat feet out of here. You, Josh, me and Jess should get together and have dinner or something soon,” he said, then glanced at Josh, “Jess is ten times more curious about you than me.”
“I can’t wait to meet the whole family,” Josh said.
That made both Casey and I laugh. “Yeah, you can,” I said. Casey shook Josh’s hand and I walked my brother to the door, stepping out into the hall with him. “Thanks for offering to look over the ethics book,” I said. He waved his hand. “It’s like I said,” he said. Casey ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I’m ah…I’m here for you. You can call me anytime like you do Jess. If I’m gonna be an uncle, I’d like to be close to you and my future niece or nephew,” he said.
“Of course, Casey,” I said and hugged him, unsure of what else to say or do. I understood where he was coming from, though. I understood that he didn’t want that distance between us anymore.
“Cool…so I’ll plan dinner with Jess for like, Friday? When do you work?” he asked.
“I work Friday, how about Thursday?”
“Cool, that’ll work,” he said. Casey waved and I watched him walk down the hall until I couldn’t see him anymore. I stepped inside and closed the door quietly. Josh was still in the kitchen, tapping his fingers on the counter.
“That’s not exactly how I wanted you to meet my brother but he’s setting up dinner for Thursday, is that okay?” I asked.
“No, that could’ve been a lot worse. He could’ve punched me in the face or something,” Josh said, waving away my concern, “and Thursday is great…”
