The Smartest Girl in the Room (14 page)

"Is that what you do to everyone you have a
misunderstanding with?"

"No, just people I don’t like." She walked
away, and rolled her eyes as he came up next to her again.

"And then you storm off?"

"I try."

"That’s not very mature, is it?"

She stopped and crossed her arms. "Guy, in
less than twenty-four hours you have not only implied that I’m kind
of crazy, but now I’m immature. First of all, your technique is
way, way off. Second off all, since it’s not working, why don’t you
take a hint and leave, because you’re starting to be weird and
stalky, and that’s not a good look."

"Maybe I can work on my technique." He
laughed at himself, but now it seemed appropriate. "I’m sorry I
said anything about food of any sort. I was being a total jerk- I
was being a total asshole- and I don’t think that about you. I
swear I’ll never bring up food again." He looked at her but she
didn’t say anything. "And I’m sorry I insulted you or made you
think I thought you were crazy or a cliché because I don’t." Deep
breath. "I really like you, but I’m really lousy at these things,
and by ‘things’ I mean interpersonal relations of any kind. You
were not entirely wrong about the locker thing. I have no idea why
anyone as pretty or smart or cool as you would want to have
anything to do with me, and when you agreed to have dinner with me
last night I was like, ‘whoa, maybe she isn’t just being nice to
me,’ and I guess I freaked out a little bit and let my old charming
self come out. By the way, this would be a great time to tell me
that you weren’t just being nice, because otherwise I’m just being
a bigger idiot apologizing like this."

"Not yet. I don’t think you’re done."

He sighed. "I had a girlfriend up until last
year, as shocking as that may sound to you. It was serious, or sort
of. We pretty much lived together but I couldn’t stand her. I was
with her for about two years- pretty much from the moment I came
here- and I just felt myself... pulled in. I couldn’t say no
without being a jerk. And then finally I was a jerk, a complete,
total asshole, and I ended it, which was awful, because as I said,
we were pretty much living together. So I thought I’d keep my head
down low until I got out of here, but then I couldn’t keep my eyes
off of you. And when I was with you the first few times, I thought
maybe you were humoring me, just like I was humoring her, and I
didn’t know if I should be grateful or insulted, and then you
seemed like you weren’t. And I was thinking, ‘okay, great- maybe I
can get somewhere here,’ and then I was thinking, ‘wait, do I want
to get involved again?’ and that’s basically the conflicted fool
you met last night. And are you going to say something now?"

Emily was at a loss for words for a moment.
She finally looked him square in the eyes. "What was her name?"

"What?"

"What was her name? How do I know you’re not
just making this up?"

"Are you always this suspicious?"

"Not always, but I’ve come to regret
that."

"Sophie Gorman. And we lived right there." He
turned around and pointed to Mass. Ave. "173 Mass. Ave, apartment
two, right above the dance shop."

"Really?" She made a face. "I didn’t think
they had an apartment up there."

"Trust me, they do. Truly beautiful, huge and
costs a fortune. None of which I paid, by the way."

"Congratulations."

"Do you still doubt me? Go over there right
now and look at the buzzer for apartment two. Scout’s honor, it
says ‘S. Gorman.’"

"Fine."

The two silently crossed over to the
Reflecting Pool and then crossed to Mass. Ave. She was about to
take a right when he put a hand on her shoulder. "This is where we
part. I’m going to go sit in the bagel shop now. If you’re
satisfied with what you see, please join me. If you still think I’m
making this up, then just walk on by, and I promise not to follow
you or even call." Before Emily could say anything, Drew walked
toward the bagel shop.

Emily shook her head as if shaking off a
chill. She had half a mind to simply walk away and circle until she
needed to meet Zainab, but that wouldn’t be fair. She walked up the
block until she got to the Dance Store.

Lo and behold, S. Gorman lived in apartment
two. Okay, he wasn’t lying. But what did that prove?

Because Emily didn’t have a good reason not
to, she walked into the bagel shop, where Drew had a bagel and
cream cheese laid out for her. She realized she was starving. "S.
Gorman lives at 173 Mass. Ave.," she said before she bit into the
bagel.

"So you believe me about that?"

"I believe you about that." She sat back in
her chair. She was starving and drained. She would have believed
him about anything.

"Okay," Drew said softly. "Now it’s my turn.
Were you just being nice, or do I have a chance with you?"

She smiled, suddenly very tired. Her last
final had taken the last bit of her adrenaline. She wasn’t upset
enough with Drew for it to come back. "The bagel was a nice
touch."

"You didn’t answer my question."

"I don’t know... you seem to genuinely like
me, you continued to like me after you went out with me and I was
mean to you..." she leaned her head back. "Tell me again why you
would want a chance with me?"

She closed her eyes for a second. "Emily?"
She opened them again.

"What’s wrong?"

"You were almost sleeping... and your phone
is ringing."

Emily blinked and realized that her phone was
indeed ringing. Zainab. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little sleepy. What’s up?"

"Can I meet you a little bit later than
three? Say, four-thirty? Joe needs a little help with a bill
they’re trying to rush through this week."

"Bill? Joe?" Emily shook her head, and
realized she was cold.

She heard Zainab sigh. "It’s kind of a long
story. Can you do four-thirty? They don’t urgently need me,
but..."

Emily looked at her watch. Jesus, how did it
get to be one? "Yeah, yeah, four-thirty is fine. It’ll give me a
chance to wake up. See you then." She hung up and looked at Drew.
"So I guess I’m free for a little bit more. Did you want to say
something else?"

Drew looked at her as if she were speaking an
alien language. "It can wait. Where do you have to be at
four-thirty?"

"The Kingdom of Coffee... I mean... you know
what I mean."

Drew nodded and smiled. "Yes, yes I do. What
are you going to do until then?"

"I think I’m going to the math lounge, if no
one else is sleeping on the couch."

"When was the last time you had a good
night’s sleep?"

"September?"

"Come on." Before she could say anything,
Drew put on his coat, gathered their bags and garbage, and pulled
her up. He put her coat on her, buttoned her up, and led her out
the door.

She groaned as she walked. Maybe it hadn’t
been September, but probably mid-October or whenever it was that
she’d started worrying about this week. "Where are we going?"

"I bet my couch is much less crowded than the
one at the math lounge."

"Aren’t we taking things for granted?"

"I promise, I will be a perfect gentleman.
I’d have to be, because necrophilia is not my thing."

Carrying both of their bags and holding her
up by the waist, Drew lead Emily down Westland Avenue and then onto
Hemenway. Less than a block later, he opened his front door and
walked her up a flight of stairs.

Drew unlocked a door, and Emily sighed as she
saw the nice, big, empty couch. "Were you joking about sleep?" she
said as she slumped onto it.

Drew put down the bags and went through
another doorway as the front door closed. Emily slid onto one of
the pillows and had just closed her eyes- or so she thought- when
she felt something drop on her. Through half-opened eyes, she saw
and felt a sheet and blanket. "Oh, that’s nice," she murmured, then
pulled the pile to her chest.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty." Drew pulled her
shoes off, then unfolded the blanket and laid it on top of her.

"Why does everyone call me that?"

"I’m not the first guy you’ve fallen asleep
on?"

"No," she murmured. "But this is much
earlier... I’ll tell you some other time... after you tell me...
about the apartment..."

"Sounds like a plan." A few moments later she
heard the heavy front door close as she drifted off to sleep.

Everything was going to be okay.

Mitch took his last final at two. He did the
best work of his academic career. He knew he aced it. He only
wished that somehow his effort on that final could make up for the
one he screwed up earlier in the week. He had calculated that he
had now gone from an A- in that class to a B. Fine. Or it wasn’t
fine, but it would do.

At three-thirty he handed in his blue book
and left the building. He looked back with some longing as he
passed all of the other buildings he wasn’t going to see for three
months. He walked to his car, or so he told himself, but he
realized a few minutes later he was walking in the opposite
direction. He was walking toward the café. He couldn’t help
himself. That was his excuse these days.

He walked in, forcing himself to appear
casual. He saw a couple of people he knew and sat to talk to them
for a few minutes, but he kept looking at the door. He looked at
his watch. It was four. Finally, he went to the counter and ordered
some coffee to go because there weren’t any seats. He went to the
condiments counter and spent a long time putting in his sugar,
which he almost never used, and milk. At four-fifteen he had to
admit that whatever he had been waiting for wasn’t walking in today
and it was time to go.

He sat in his car for a minute, letting the
engine warm up. Then he punched his glove compartment so hard his
knuckles bled. Cursing, he found a napkin to bandage them, and then
drove off.

Emily saw Mitch as he was the night they
stayed out. First he was standing on the edge of the Reflecting
Pool, pretending to fall in, and then she pushed him in and walked
away. Then they were sitting on the bench near the tiny pond by the
Charles where they had fallen asleep. She kissed him this time. She
wondered why it wasn’t cold now. "I don’t want to wake up," she
said as Mitch kissed her forehead. "You have to, sweetheart. But
I’ll be back." Then she realized her phone was ringing, and she
jumped up.

It was dark. She scrambled for her phone,
finally finding it in the pocket of her coat. "Hello?"

"Um, hi?" Zainab laughed. "Did I wake you
up?"

"Wake me up? Yeah... oh no! What time is
it?"

"I’ve got... five-thirty."

"Ugh! Have you been waiting for me this whole
time?"

"Yeah, but the celebratory
almost-end-of-finals crowd rolled in half an hour ago, so I’ve been
staying busy. Where are you?"

"That is an excellent question."

"What?"

"I think I’m on Hemenway Street."

"You think?"

"I’m at Drew’s place. I got sleepy at the
Bagel Shop, so he put me to sleep on his couch."

"I bet!"

"Trust me, nothing happened."

"What were you doing at the Bagel Shop?"

"I believe we have discussed my love for
bagels and cream cheese before. Remember, the great Garlic versus
Onion debate?"

"Very funny. What were you doing with Drew? I
thought you threw red paint on him or something."

"He saved me from window shopping with a
surprisingly impressive apology and a little bit about his last
girlfriend."

"Drew had a girlfriend?"

"Zainab!" Emily laughed, even though that had
been her reaction as well. "You said you thought he was cute."

"Yeah, but you agreed that he was... is
awkward a good word?"

"True. But I don’t know what I think about
anything because the next thing I know weeks of sleeplessness,
anxiety and possibly malnutrition caught up with me, I was snoring,
you needed to blow me off for Joe-"

"That is so unfair!"

"-And then I was half-carried here. Now here
I am, sitting in the dark, talking to you." She sighed. "So tonight
sounds like a bust. Are you going to be around tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but you know I’ll be happy to spot you
for some coffee if you come on over. That is, if you can figure out
where you are."

Emily shuddered. "No, not coffee... but maybe
I could use some water... I’m sorry, I’m going to try and wake up,
but tomorrow I should be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. What are you
looking at tomorrow?"

"I think I’m free until four. Want to call me
tomorrow?"

"Perfect. Talk to you then." Emily hung up
and collapsed back on the couch. She was sitting in the dark.
Usually she was spooked in dark, unfamiliar places, but there was
enough light coming in from the street to keep her from
panicking.

She finally got up and got herself some
water. Mmm, just what the doctor ordered. She took a few deep
breaths and began to feel a little bit more alert.

Did he say he lived by himself? Because this
apartment seemed large as college apartments went. The living room
had high ceilings and seemed spacious despite the chair, couch,
television, table and rug. Emily compared it to Zainab’s living
room, which was easily half the size of this one. Drew’s kitchen
also had deep ceilings, but wasn’t as big as the living room.
However, it had a large refrigerator and stove. From the smell of
things it even seemed as if Drew cooked there.

She had started to make her way to the couch
when the door latch unlocked. She jumped then sighed with relief
when Drew came through. He laughed. "Who were you expecting?"

"You never know, especially in strange
apartments."

"I see you figured out where the kitchen was
though."