The Smartest Girl in the Room (22 page)

"Not everything has to be a fight."

"That’s okay," Drew said with a smile so fake
it hurt Emily to look. "Let’s hear what the high school set’s
answer to Dr. Phil has to say about the adults."

"Adults?" Jessie repeated. "You’re not an
adult. You’re a big overgrown bully. No wonder you liked Michael.
For real, I can’t figure out why anyone would date you."

"You little…" Before Drew could finish that
sentence, his phone rang. It was a personalized ring, one Emily
hadn’t heard before. Drew’s eyes widened when he heard it, and he
quickly walked into the kitchen to answer it.

Thirty seconds later, Drew burst through the
door. "Honey, I have to go right now. How long are you going to be
here?"

Emily looked at Richard and Jessie. "I, uh,
guess I can go now if you need me to."

"No!" Drew said quickly. "I’m sorry, I mean,
drink that coffee if you need to. Don’t rush home on my account,
okay?"

"Okay," Emily answered, now completely
confused.

"Okay," Drew kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry
to run off like this and, um," he looked in Jessie’s direction,
"sorry if everything got a little crazy there for a minute."

"Yeah, no problem," Jessie said in a
monotone.

"I’ve gotta go- work problem- sorry!"

Jessie looked at the both of them once the
door slammed shut. "Richard, you’re friends with this guy? And
Emily, you live with him?" Silence. "Can one of you explain what
his problem is?"

Richard shook his head. "Did he say
work?"

Jessie scoffed. "Did you believe him?"

"Well, it’s just-"

"Alright, guys, I know this is ridiculous,
okay?" Emily burst out. "I have no idea what that was about, and
Jess, I have no idea why he hates you so much."

"I can be hateful, but I think all I did this
afternoon was not act like he was God’s gift to the universe when
he started telling all of his stories."

"I think you embarrassed him," Richard said
gently. "Sometimes it doesn’t cost you anything to tell someone
what they want to hear."

"And you’re the expert at that, aren’t
you?"

"Don’t fight, guys," Emily said wearily.
"He’s not worth it."

Jessie sat down. "Does that mean you’re going
to come to your senses and dump the fool?"

"It means I’m going to talk to him. I was
going to talk to him tomorrow, and then I was going to talk to him
tonight. Now I’ll talk to him as soon as I see him."

It took about an hour, but Emily finally
relaxed. Richard and Jessie treated her to more stories of their
misspent childhoods, most of which made her laugh. At twelve there
was still no word from Drew. Emily called, but all her calls went
unanswered. At one, she was ready to call it a night. Richard
offered to drive her. Jessie immediately ran up the stairs,
mumbling how tired she was. Richard shook his head. "Subtle, isn’t
she?"

They were halfway home when Emily asked
Richard something that had been bothering her. "Did you ever meet
Sophie?"

"Sophie Gorman? Yes. I actually met Drew
through her."

That was different. "I thought you met Drew
through the Solar Car Team?"

"Actually, it’s the other way around. I’m the
one that brought him there. He was interested for a little while,
but then he dropped off."

"For co-op, you mean? I thought he was going
back when classes started again."

Richard was silent for a minute. "Once again,
Emily, you’ve caught me at a sleep-deprived disadvantage. My memory
fails if I stay up past my bedtime for too long."

"I’ll be sure to get you some gingko bilboa
the next time I see it."

Richard insisted on walking her to her
building. The lights were out. "You have no idea where he is?"
Richard asked as they climbed up the dark stairs.

"Not a clue. He’s never done this before. I
hope..." She didn’t want to finish the sentence.

"What?"

"I hope it isn’t his ex-roommates. They
didn’t sound like the nicest people."

"What did they do?"

"Didn’t Drew tell you?" Emily lowered her
voice. "He helped get them busted for dealing last quarter? That’s
why he had to move to this off-campus apartment from the
university."

Emily couldn’t see Richard’s face well
through the dark. "Is that what happened?"

"I think that’s what he said."

Emily opened the door and turned on the
light. She stopped.

"What’s wrong?"

Maybe she was tired too, but something was
wrong with the room. Everything was in its place, even the things
that were out of place when she and Drew had rushed out earlier in
the day. So Drew had come back to the apartment. But... there was
something by the brick near the fireplace that looked different,
and she didn’t know what. "Not sure, but since we don’t have too
much of value here, let’s assume that if someone wanted to rob us,
they’ve already come and gone."

"You assume that, I’ll go check." Richard
darted into the rooms, turning on all the lights, and found
nothing. "All clear."

"Thanks for that, and thanks for tonight.
Sorry everything took such a wild turn- twice."

Richard put his hand on her shoulder. "None
of it was your fault. And I’ll have you know Jessie and I will be
happy to eat your runny strawberry shortcake anytime you want to
make it for us."

Emily smiled and put her hand on Richard’s.
"You’re a good friend, and Jessie’s lucky to have you."

Richard smiled. For a moment, Emily thought
that he was going to kiss her. Instead he squeezed her hand and
walked to the door. "Off to bed now, and tell Drew to give me a
call."

Emily closed the door after him. This was one
of the most bizarre nights of her life.

When Emily woke up at seven the next morning,
Drew still hadn’t come home. How worried should she be?

She made herself some oatmeal and then
grabbed one of the outlines she was working on. Finally, time to
study, but now she was distracted. Still, she forced a good three
hours of work on the first draft before she decided to do some
yoga. She wanted to find her bliss.

An hour later she was more annoyed than she
had been before. Her inner voice was silent, almost as if it
refused to talk to her. She tried to relax, but every time she got
there her thoughts would drift back to Drew. Finally it did have
something to say. What are you doing? She sat up, mad at yoga, Drew
and herself. She was going to have the talk as soon as the son of a
bitch walked through the door.

Emily jumped up at four o’clock when the door
opened, ready to rip into Drew for last night, for the library, for
everything, but she stopped as soon as she saw his face. He
obviously hadn’t slept at all.

"What is going on?"

"Oh, Emily." Drew pulled her into a tight
hug. His odor was very strong, but after a moment Emily hugged him
back.

"I was worried about you. Richard was worried
about you- call him. What were you doing?"

"The whole system was ready to crash, it was
awful. The techs thought they had it under control, but then they
had to call the whole team in. I wasn’t the only one up all night.
Literally, we just got out about thirty minutes ago."

He was sitting down now. "That sucks. But you
could have called or sent me a text to let me know."

"I know, I’m sorry. I kept thinking I’d be
done soon. I thought I’d said where I was going to be last night
before I left, I’m sorry."

"Yeah, I guess you were a little distracted,"
she said after a moment. "Why don’t you get some sleep?"

"Will you come with me?" he pleaded.

"Sorry," she said firmly. "I really need to
work on these papers."

"Can you at least stay here and do it? I
promise, I’ll be sleeping." Emily nodded. She wasn’t worried. She
dug into her papers and started to feel, if only for a few hours,
like her old self again.

"So what happened?" Zainab said as soon as
she saw Emily on Monday.

"With dinner?"

"No. Did you talk to him? Did you leave him?
Have you regained your senses yet?"

"Uh, no, but I have a very good excuse. A few
of them, actually." Emily told Zainab all about dinner with Richard
and Jessie and Drew’s strange exit and subsequent return.

Zainab shook her head. "And what have we
learned?"

"That I should have talked to him on Thursday
like I promised?"

"You don’t think we’re past the talking
point?"

"I know he’s an ass, alright? I know he’s
been treating people badly, including me. And I feel like he’s
trying to dodge me now. I’m not going to let him. I’ll talk to him
tonight, I promise. And don’t you say another word, Z, unless you
are also ready to stop running after Joe like His Girl Friday."

"At least Joe is nice to my friends."

"Of course he is. He wants us to help him be
the next President."

"He’s also not crazy."

"He’s pimping himself out to be President of
the SGC. I question his judgment."

"Emily, talk to Drew tonight, or I’m talking
to him for you!"

"Okay, okay." Emily wasn’t going to pretend
to resist.

~~~

Emily got back to the apartment at five.
Tonight, she really did need to go to the library to get a few more
notes for the second draft of another paper she was working on.

She told Drew she needed to study by herself
and couldn’t afford any distractions.

"Mm hmm." He nodded. "How do I know that
you’re not going to meet someone if I’m not there?"

She let that sink in for a moment. "Excuse
me?"

"How do I know that you’re not going to meet
someone if I’m not there?"

"Jesus Christ! Is that why you’ve been coming
with me? You think I’m meeting someone behind your back?"

"Why else wouldn’t you want me to come with
you?" He was so calm.

"I will say this slowly for you. I. Have. To.
Study. I have a draft due tomorrow, and I need to get it done. I
don’t like working this close to a deadline, but your insistence on
following me everywhere hasn’t left me much of a choice. I am not
meeting anyone except the person who wrote the criticism I have to
read. Got it?"

"So why don’t you want me to come with
you?"

Emily hit the table with her open hand.
"Because I do not want to pass notes, hold hands, whisper or have
to tell you I missed you! I need to get this done, and I can’t do
that if I have to take care of you tonight!"

"I thought you were smart. Why can’t you get
your work done between classes, before I come home? Maybe you
should spend less time socializing and more time working."

"How dare you?" She was shouting now. "Did
you not notice that I am taking five classes, not four? I don’t
have as much free time during the day to study. And since you’re so
rude to my friends, if I want to see them when you’re not around,
that is just what I am going to do."

"Okay, then. So which of your friends are you
going to see if I don’t come?"

Emily snapped. "You crazy freak!" She grabbed
her backpack and went to the door. Drew stood up and blocked her
exit with one of his long arms.

"We’re not done with this conversation."

"If you don’t open this door right now, I am
going to scream for help. And then when you do finally let me go-
tonight, tomorrow, whenever- I am going to file a police report.
And you know what this is? I think it’s kidnapping. Unless you’re
not going to let me leave? Are you going to kill me, Drew? Are you
going to shove my body somewhere? Bad plan, because it may take her
a few days, but Zainab’s going to notice if I don’t check in. And
she knows where you live. As does Jessie. As does Richard." She
didn’t let his gaze go. "So are you going to let me go now, or do
you want to make this messy?"

His eyes were angry, but he stepped away.
Emily quickly flung the door open and flew down the stairs, then
sucked up every last bit of the cold air. She dialed Zainab as soon
as she could get her hands to stop shaking. "Pick up, pick up!" No
answer. Emily’s antipathy for Joe was starting to grow into
outright hatred. Should she call Jessie? What could Jessie do?
Should she call Richard? There were a bunch of things Richard could
do, but Emily didn’t want to drag him into this embarrassing,
dysfunctional weirdness.

"Emily!" Her feet felt heavy. Drew was
running after her. She could run, but her backpack was heavy and
Drew was taller. She couldn’t move anyway.

"What are you doing?" she said as Drew
reached her.

"I’m sorry."

"I don’t want to play anymore. And like I
said, I need to study." She turned and walked toward the library,
but he was right behind her.

"I promise I won’t say anything, you won’t
even know I’m there."

"You can’t even trust me to go study, much
less see my friends. That’s sick!"

"Do you know what it’s like for me every day
when I’m not with you?" His face softened into desperation. "Don’t
you think I know I’m out of your league? Who could blame you if you
picked up and left me someday?"

"If you can’t trust me, if you can’t let me
do the things I need to do, then this doesn’t work. I am not
evaluating my options. I’m just trying to get out of school. How do
you not get that?"

Drew’s eyes filled with tears. "Please let me
come with you. I promise I’ll behave."

Fighting with him when he was this pathetic
made her feel like an ogre. And people were looking at them.
"Fine," Emily whispered. So they walked to the library slowly,
while he held her to him. Once on the steps, he needed a few
minutes to collect himself, but finally, at six, they were able to
go in. The only seats they could find were near a big guy Emily
thought must have been a football player and a group of five girls
she guessed were freshmen.