The Smartest Girl in the Room (19 page)

"You’ll have to excuse her," Jessie said.
"Newbury Street is slumming for her. She’s more at home in Paris-
or Tel Aviv."

Emily held her breath and looked toward the
door. If this was going to be an anti-Semitic rant she’d have to
leave quickly. What a shame. She liked Jessie...

Miranda tilted her head. "You’re actually
going to meet my family someday and like them, so maybe you should
stop complaining about them."

Jessie sneered. "Well, maybe they can get
their asses over here so I can."

"There’s one of you and about a dozen of
them, so maybe it’s easier if you come over with me."

Jessie frowned. "Yeah, Aunt Lucy’s going to
let me go to Israel."

Miranda opened her hands. "You really think
she’d notice?"

"Okay," Emily said. "So... your family’s in
Israel? What are you doing here?"

Miranda narrowed her eyes at Jessie then
turned to Emily. "My father’s family. He was visiting the states
when he met my mother here."

"And... then he went back?"

Miranda smiled. "Yes, and then he couldn’t
come back. He was killed on duty before I was born."

"Oh my God, I’m so sorry. And your mom?"

Miranda pushed some hair away from her face.
"She died in a car accident when I was five."

"I’m so sorry," Emily repeated.

Miranda nodded quickly and smiled. "Thank
you, but it was a long time ago. And Alex was there to take care of
me."

"And Alex is your guardian?"

"That’s one word for it," Jessie hissed.

Richard came over before Miranda could say
anything. "I hope you two didn’t waste too much time bickering. I’m
afraid I’m going to have to ask Emily to leave."

Emily turned her head quickly. "Excuse
me?"

Richard sighed. "I’m sorry. It’s for your own
good."

Jessie leapt up. "Are you kidding me?"

"No. Michael just texted me. He’ll be here in
about fifteen minutes."

Miranda stood up as well. "You’re out of
here."

Emily stood up. "I thought he wasn’t allowed
here?"

Jessie shot an angry look at Richard. "So did
I."

Emily put her hands on her hips. "If this guy
is as bad as you say he is, I don’t want to leave you two alone
with him!"

Miranda blinked. "What did you say?"

"I’m not going to leave you two alone with
him if he’s that scary."

Miranda smiled but shook her head. "That’s
really sweet of you, but Richard’s right."

Emily put up her hands. "Fine, I’ll go, but
I’m not leaving you two here. There’s plenty of room at my place- I
mean, Drew’s place."

Miranda leaned forward. "Did you say Drew?"
She turned to Richard.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Yes, Drew. He’s
another loser Richard knows who couldn’t-"

"It’s a fascinating story, but we’re wasting
time." Richard nodded at Emily. "Please," then gestured toward the
coats.

"Is anyone coming with me?"

Miranda shook her head. "I have to stay."

"And I have to make sure these two finally
kick him out," Jessie said.

"Fine." Emily put on her coat. "Then I want
to see you tomorrow."

Jessie cocked her head toward Richard. "Are
you going to let me out tomorrow?"

Emily buttoned her coat. "He is or I’m not
leaving."

"Alright," Richard said as he put his hand on
her back and guided her to the door.

"Where?" Jessie shouted as Richard opened the
door.

"Tealuxe at eleven."

"Okay!"

"Bye!"

The door slammed. Emily shook her head. Maybe
she should walk on Dartmouth toward the river. Then she remembered.
"Alrighty then," she muttered as she set off toward Drew’s
place.

Jessie flopped into a chair at Tealuxe at
eleven-fifteen the next day. "I shouldn’t tell you this, but
Richard felt like an ass yesterday. He’s really sorry and is
offering to make you dinner any night this week to make up for
it."

"Yeah, nice try. I’m with Drew,
remember?"

"He is really sorry."

"Uh huh. What happened with Michael?"

Jessie sighed. "He was even more of an
asshole than usual this summer."

"To you, right?"

Their tea arrived, and Jessie stirred in her
milk and sugar without looking up. "Aren’t you Nancy Drew?"

"Not really. I don’t get it. I don’t get why
Richard takes care of Michael, or you."

"I don’t get it either." Jessie drank her
tea. "Richard should have said no to both jobs a long time ago, but
he’s too decent." She looked up and her eyes were red.

"I don’t understand."

Jessie looked down again. "My parents died
when I was little. I don’t remember my father at all, and my mother
only a little bit." Emily could see her smile for a moment. "The
only adult around was Lucy. The only problem is that she has no
interest in children. So Richard was in charge."

Emily shook her head. "But he’s not that much
older than you."

"I know," Jessie said softly. "But what can I
say? He’d already been taking care of Michael for a few years."

"I thought you said this Alex person was
Michael’s guardian?"

Jessie scowled. "Alex makes Lucy look good.
Miranda doesn’t need a lot of caretaking, but Michael did." She
shook her head. "But Richard... he’s only a few years older. There
was only so much he could do. Miranda does what she can, but again,
there’s only so much." Jessie looked her age now. "Richard almost
killed him last summer, but Miranda was the one who took me away.
She’s the one who saved me. She stands up to Michael and Lucy and
even Alex, but she won’t leave. Speaking of people who should say
no."

"Maybe she doesn’t want to leave you," Emily
said softly.

Jessie looked away again. "Then she’s an
idiot."

"Or a good friend."

By the next week, Mitch and Kyra’s classes
began in earnest. Mitch was jazzed by his Poli Sci professor, a
former candidate for President. After that first class, Mitch had
nodded to himself. This was why it had been so important to get to
Ireland.

Kyra was considerably less impressed with the
Literature professor. She found her hard to understand, but Mitch
wasn’t sure if she was referring to the instructor’s accent or the
actual lesson. If it was the latter, Mitch was sure Kyra could
remedy that by paying more attention in class or occasionally
participating. Mitch didn’t share that thought with Kyra, because
he knew that she felt intimidated by a lot of the other students
and he didn’t want to make it worse.

Of course, most times he wasn’t sure if he
would make something worse or better. There were a lot of things he
didn’t understand about her. Her temper ran hot and cold, whether
they were in bed, in class, or studying. An off-hand comment might
irritate her enough that she’d find another seat in class and
ignore him for the entire afternoon. Or she wouldn’t seek out his
help with something until he was almost done with his homework.
Many times, he was tempted to let her copy his work, but he was
afraid someone might actually read it and be able to figure it
out.

But then there would be other times when she
would insist on holding his hand or more explicit displays of
affection, and that often came about when he was talking to Martin.
It got to the point where Martin would groan when he saw her coming
and quickly retreat. This didn’t do anything to endear him to Kyra,
who stopped just short of demanding that Mitch not speak to him
anymore, a request that would have been hard to manage since the
two were roommates.

There was some bickering as well, and it was
only because Mitch wanted to avoid a full-blown fight with her that
they didn’t have them. She would playfully or not so playfully
criticize some of his little quirks or things he’d said in class.
He would ignore most of her comments, no matter how much they might
sting, because he knew how much it would upset her if he responded
in kind. Being ignored only made Kyra more critical or whinier, and
if ignored for too long, she’d huff off. Mitch would usually wait
to see if she was going to cool down on her own or if he’d need to
cajole her with a small gift or an apology. It was usually easier
to say that he was a jerk, it was all his fault, and that he’d try
to stop being that way. And they’d usually make up quickly, and for
a day or so Mitch would welcome her affection.

But one time, Kyra got him. They were in her
room and she was crying. "What do you want from me?" she asked.
"What do I have to do to get you to stop treating me this way?"

"What way?" he asked in frustration.

"The way you ignore and treat me like I’m not
there, except when we’re in bed, and sometimes even then. What do I
have to do to be a real person to you?"

Mitch turned red as if he’d been caught. As
much as he’d tried not to- for his own sake, for Kyra’s sake- Emily
was always in his thoughts, somewhere. Sometimes she was sitting
next to Kyra, no matter what she was doing. Worst of all was when
she was sitting next to him when he was alone. "Was it everything
you thought it would be?"

Kyra wasn’t stupid. Of course she’d know
someone was there, even if she couldn’t see her. It was all his
fault.

"I’m sorry," he whispered, then kissed her
tenderly. He closed his eyes as he willed Emily away. "I’m going to
be better, I promise."

Kyra smiled and Mitch clung to her. This was
how he was going to stop hating himself, by being better for her.
Because that was the only way, right?

Jessie had demanded Emily's presence for the
duration of the break. They spent their time together cooking
(mostly Emily), eating (mostly Jessie) and talking about Jessie’s
semi-complicated love life. They waded through a few more details
of the Hendrickson/Bartolome family trees, plus the attached Abbot
branch (Michael was an Abbot), Jessie’s other friends and the
mysterious Aunt Lucy. "You get the prize for Most Messed Up Family.
Damn, I thought I had a lock on that!" Emily said.

Jessie matter-of-factly shook her head. "You
don’t have enough mass. The more people, the more possibilities for
deviance."

Jessie found a way to include Richard more
than a few times. Emily sensed that Richard did not approach his
complicated family history with nearly as much levity as Jessie
did, so Emily never asked him any questions about it. He was,
though, quite willing to talk about the solar car, and while
Jessie's eyes glazed over, Emily was happy to listen for hours at a
time.

When it was just the two of them, Jessie
talked much more than Emily did. Which was fine, because Jessie got
funnier and lighter the more she got off her chest. But on the day
before Jessie had to leave, she decided it was Emily’s turn to
talk.

"So what are you going to do when I’m
gone?"

"Study?"

Jessie threw a cushion at her. "You’ve been
studying since before Christmas! What would you have done if I
hadn’t been here?"

"Studied more."

"Richard likes to study too, and you should
have seen the way his eyes popped out of his head when I told him
how well you cooked."

"Jessie, stop."

"What? Okay, fine, you don't want to date
him. You could just go to the house after he drops me off and blow
off a little steam with him. And then Drew will come back and
you'll realize Richard's much better-"

"Would you shut up please?"

Jessie leaned forward gleefully. "Remember
when we went out to dinner and you were telling that boring story
about the fur march on Newbury Street and the girl who threw paint
on herself? He was totally eating it up."

"Yeah, Grasshopper, let me explain one of the
facts of life to you: sometimes you try to make your friends feel
at ease when they’ve got the spotlight on them. It’s called being
polite, and a lot of times it makes it easier for people to talk
and share. And that wasn't a bad story."

"Yeah it was. And I’ve watched Richard work
that polite thing all his life, but this was different. You could
have been talking to him about a vegan liberation unit or the life
cycle of a dust mite, and he would have been hooked. He likes
you."

"You are awful!" Emily stormed into the
kitchen to make some tea. She thought she’d seen Richard looking at
her in a certain way; she definitely saw him looking away from her
quickly more than once. She liked being around him, but only as
long as she pretended not to notice. Why did Jessie think it was
fun to stab at that?

Jessie sauntered into the kitchen and leaned
against the counter. "What? He's sort of experienced."

Emily turned red. "Is there a reason you're
trying to pimp your cousin out?"

"Yeah. I want him to be happy, and I think
you’d make him happy."

"As a friend," Emily said firmly, pouring tea
for the two of them.

"I think you both deserve more than
that."

"I’m with someone else."

"Things change. Que sera, sera."

"What is the matter with people? That’s not
how I left things with Drew."

"Come on, you know Richard’s starting to grow
on you."

"Look, I like him more than I did the day I
met him. I think he’s sweet and smart. But that doesn’t mean I want
to rip off his clothes. And oh yeah, wouldn’t a relationship be
difficult if I have to leave every time Michael shows up?"

"Are you kidding? Miranda almost passed out
when you refused to leave. You’re the only one that never ran away
from him. I think Richard’s impressed, too."

"As nice as it is to be impressive, no."

Jessie shook her head. "Richard is the nicest
guy either of us has ever met, and you know it. I thought you were
the smart one. You know, interested in people for ‘better’ reasons
or whatever."