The Smartest Girl in the Room (21 page)

Once grudgingly convinced of her need to
study, he wanted to know why she couldn’t study in their apartment.
She’d be distracted by him, obviously. When he promised up and down
that he’d behave, she still didn’t believe him. Not wanting to get
into a fight, she told him that she had to meet Zainab to study.
That was her golden ticket. However, for most of that week he
insisted on coming with her. Which was fine, but at ten he’d start
whining about how he needed to wake up early for work the next
morning. Emily would invite him to return home, but he said it was
too dark for her to walk home by herself. Zainab, not sure what to
do, would mention that she needed to take the train home as well,
so she should probably get going. Emily would frown. She knew
Zainab would get her caffeine fix first. Emily wouldn’t have as
much done as she hoped, but she didn’t want to get into a fight at
the library. So they’d all head off, and by the time she got home
Drew was affectionate and they’d be up well past when he said he
needed to turn in. Fine, there was the weekend.

Or not. Drew was insistent that the two of
them should spend the weekend together, as a couple. She could
usually get him to agree to give her about three hours of study
time, but since he threw such a fit if she wanted to leave for the
library, she would stay there. Mostly, he was well-behaved, but
sometimes he would be so nudgy that she’d give in and just resolve
to be that much more organized during the week, when he was at
work.

She did enjoy walking through Boston’s cold,
wintry streets or visiting museums and window shopping together.
More than once, when Drew saw her eyeing something in a shop
window, he’d insist on buying it for her. Emily would turn him
down. It was one thing to stay in his apartment; it was another for
him to buy her clothes. But Drew would not let up, and he wasn’t
above making loud and disparaging remarks about her thrift shop
fare. With a little heat left over from the study battles, she’d
tell him that if he didn’t like the way she looked he didn’t have
to be around her. She’d walk away and he’d come running and
apologize. Emily would forgive him, because in her mind the apology
covered more than the clothes. That fight happened more than once a
day on the weekends and by round three Emily would reluctantly
allow him to buy something for her. She put her foot down once when
he told her that she should throw out her old clothing and told him
that if he touched anything of hers she would rifle through the
apartment until she found and disposed of everything of value that
belonged to him. To which he said… nothing, and in fact changed the
subject. Emily didn’t understand, but she made note of it.

It was fortunate that Zainab was keeping
herself so busy with SGC on the weekends, because Drew was not in
the mood to share Emily’s company after having ceded so many hours
to Zainab during the week. However, he jumped at every opportunity
to see Richard. Emily chafed at the unfairness, but she liked
Richard too. Also, in addition to being a good friend, Richard had
used some of his contacts to help Drew land his co-op. However,
Drew pleaded with Emily not to talk shop with Richard while they
were out because, Drew said, Richard’s work was really stressful
and once he got on a tear about it, it was hard to pull him off.
Emily wondered at that. Richard had certainly come off as
dedicated, but not obsessive and stressed, at least not about his
work.

Despite the tension Jessie tried to generate
between Emily and Richard, Emily had fun with him when they all
went out. One night, the three found themselves in the same café in
the North End that Emily had gone to with Mitch. She smiled, but
said nothing.

"So," she said to Richard after they’d put in
their order for drinks and desserts. "How is that cousin of
yours?"

"I’m guessing you mean Jessie," Richard said
as he tried to suppress a yawn.

"I try to forget you have any others."

Drew looked confused. "Do you mean Michael?
What do you have against him?"

Emily hadn’t told Drew about Jessie and
Michael. At first, it seemed like a violation of Jessie’s privacy.
Then it was too embarrassing for Richard. She looked at Richard and
shrugged. "I don’t know. Richard, what would I have against
Michael?"

"I believe," Richard said after a moment,
"Emily is referring to some of Michael’s unfortunate bullying of
Jessie when they were younger. But he was pretty much an only
child, you have to remember, and orphaned at that. No one ever
taught him restraint." Emily heard Richard’s silent plea to leave
it.

Drew scoffed. "That’s what kids in a family
are going to do. It’s just good fun."

"Of course," Emily said after a moment. "But
how is Jessie?"

"I think you’d know better than I would.
Every time I call her she’ll tell me that she’s online with you and
she’ll have to call me back. You may be the only person she won’t
multi-task with." Surprisingly, Drew didn't complain about her
little online chats with Jessie, but only because, Emily was sure,
she was Richard's cousin.

"I have noticed that she’s increasingly
coherent, but I’m still not always sure she’s telling me the truth.
Everything at school okay?"

"I think she’s keeping the partying to, well,
less than what it was last term, but we’ll see when grades come
out. And she mentioned this one guy-"

"Two, but only of them is serious."

"Hmm, good to know. I think she’s okay, and
when she comes up, you can see for yourself."

"Huh?"

"Next weekend. I thought she told you..."
Richard stopped and rubbed his eyes. "No, she didn’t tell you,
because she was going to surprise you. I might have remembered that
a couple of hours ago."

"Oooh!" Emily squealed with delight. "What
are we going to do with her?"

"I’m going to need either coffee or sleep,
but I’m pretty sure the plan was to have the two of you over for
dinner."

Emily sat back for a moment, thinking it
over. "I can’t let her surprise me. She has to be the one I
surprise, okay? So you two are going to... I don’t know, pretend
you’re getting ingredients or something, and stay out for a while,
and then when you come back I’ll have dinner ready, okay?"

"Do I want to get in the middle of this
one-upmanship between the two of you?"

Emily pointed a tired finger. "You already
did when you agreed to help her surprise me."

"She is my cousin, but you do live closer, so
we’re going to give you the home city advantage."

Emily giggled and hugged Richard impulsively.
She could feel Drew’s eyes on her, but she was too tired to
care.

Emily spent the next week coming up with,
emailing and then changing shopping lists. She also came up with
several plans for how she was going to get in the house while the
other three were out. Richard ended up dropping a key off with her
at the student center on Thursday. "Cook whatever you want. I think
I’ve bought every ingredient they sell at this point. Just don’t
plan anymore, okay?"

He left just before Zainab arrived. "My
goodness, Em! Is that you, out of class and out of the library, and
unshackled, no less?"

"You are not funny, especially since you
aren’t coming with me on Saturday night," she whined. "We finally
have an opportunity to get together with Jessie and you have to do
some commando work for General Welles. How is that going, by the
way?"

"If Joe doesn’t win this election, he is
still going to be the most popular guy on campus. I don’t think
anyone in the school’s history has made as many appearances and
speeches as he has. But enough about me. Are you nuts?"

There it was. "I know what you’re going to
say."

"Good. Now what are you going to say?"

Emily slumped like a rag doll. "I don’t know
why Drew’s like this."

"Who cares? He is, and I don’t think I’ve
ever heard of anyone changing that. What are you going to do?"

Emily was too tired to think of something
witty or sarcastic. "What do you think I should do?"

"I think you should pack up and come and stay
with me."

Emily hugged Zainab. "You are the best friend
ever."

"So does that mean that I should clear off my
couch?"

"I love you for making the offer, but I don’t
think it’s that bad yet. I think I can fix it. I don’t want
anything to be weird anymore. But I can’t do this if he’s going to
be crazy and possessive."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I’m going to tell him to stop following me
to the library."

"And what will you say when he asks why?"

"That he’s keeping me from studying."

"Okay, try that. But you’d better do it, or
you’re going to hear from me, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Okay."

~~~

Emily resolved to wait until Sunday to have
that conversation with Drew. If it didn’t go well, she didn’t want
weirdness hanging over their heads during dinner with Jessie and
Richard. But she was almost excited to lay down the law.

Emily went to Richard’s house on Saturday
afternoon, as planned. She was grateful that Richard had bought
everything she had asked for without question. Food since her move
into Drew’s place had consisted mostly of oatmeal, beans, rice and
the occasional pot of noodles Drew would cook up. She thought it
was sweet when he cooked for her, but he did it so badly that she
cringed when he volunteered.

Food was another source of tension for the
two of them since Drew didn’t "get" vegetarianism and kept
badgering her to eat meat. However, although the beans and rice
were starting to wear her down with boredom, she couldn’t argue
with the miniscule amount of money she was spending on food (even
with the occasional piece of fruit). Considering how much money she
didn’t have, there was no turning back. So she continued to argue
with Drew about it, because this was going to be the one area where
he wasn’t going to win. Tonight, she thought, would be a respite
from boredom and general conflict. Tomorrow would be "the talk,"
and as she chopped away she resolved that if she didn’t get what
she wanted she was going to take Zainab up on her offer.

Emily had just started setting the table when
she heard the key in the door. She threw down the silverware and
then opened the door. "Surprise!" she laughed when she saw Jessie’s
face.

"You jerk!" Jessie said, throwing her arms
around Emily. "I was supposed to surprise you!"

"Yeah, but this way Richard doesn’t have to
cook."

Richard sniffed the air. "Ooh, something
smells good. What did you make?"

"Couscous with chickpeas, raisins and
almonds, spinach and garlic and strawberry shortcake."

Jessie ran into the kitchen, leading Richard
by the hand. Emily was about to follow when Drew pulled her by the
waist. "Don’t I get a kiss hello, my little domestic goddess?"

Emily kissed him. This was when he was sweet,
not clingy. "Isn’t she great?" she said.

"Who?"

"The girl you came through the door
with?"

"Oh, right." Drew straightened up. "She’s
okay."

"Just okay?"

"Oh Em, tell me you didn’t use red wine in
this!" Jessie called from the kitchen. "Are you going to turn into
an alcoholic now?"

"We’ll talk about it later," Drew said
seriously. Emily raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t wait.

~~~

Drew spoke very little to Jessie during the
dinner. Emily wondered if they’d talked at all while they were out.
Richard, thankfully, was one of the best hosts Emily had ever met,
and he pulled everyone into the conversation. Jessie did her best
as well, but by the time they were ready for dessert, it was clear
that Drew disliked her.

"Oh God, this is so good!" Jessie exclaimed
as she shoveled forkful after forkful of strawberry shortcake into
her mouth. "Is there more?"

"Better question," Richard said, waving his
fork. "Is there a recipe?"

"Richard!" Jessie gasped. "Is there a special
someone you want to make this for?"

Richard looked up at the ceiling and shook
his head. "Jessie, Jessie, Jessie."

Emily was just about to thank Jessie when
Drew said, "I think these would be great if the biscuits weren’t so
dry."

Jessie stopped chewing. "I don’t think
they’re dry at all," Richard finally said. "If they were any
moister, the juices would make them disintegrate."

Drew shrugged. "Well, I guess I’m used to a
little less juice in my strawberry shortcake. How come it’s so
juicy?"

"Because," Emily answered slowly, "I had to
use frozen berries, seeing as how it’s February."

"They still sell fresh berries in February.
Didn’t you see any at the supermarket?"

"Actually," Richard smiled, "I’m the one who
bought the berries. Emily just said strawberries, and I assumed
frozen. Bachelor dilettante cook, what do you expect?"

"Yeah, I guess. But next time you shouldn’t
make something like this in the winter."

"Em, you idiot. Didn’t you know that?"
Everyone looked at Jessie. "What?" she said while she was chewing.
"This is obviously really gross. Richard and I don’t like it at
all, so why don’t we keep piling it on until Em feels like the
idiot we all know she is?"

Emily couldn’t decide between hugging and
throttling Jessie, so she just held her breath. Maybe she and Drew
would have that talk right now.

Drew put his fork down. "Do you have
something you want to say?"

"I think I just said it."

"That Emily’s an idiot?"

"Yeah, but maybe not for the same reason you
think she is."

"Okay guys." Richard stood up. "Why don’t we
clear off the table, I’ll make some coffee and then we can all calm
down?"

Jessie stood up too. "Some fights need to be
had."