The Smartest Girl in the Room (30 page)

I didn’t do anything.

When are you going to stop being mad at
me?

Emily always agreed. She even apologized for
being so harsh. But Mitch never said what she really wanted to
hear, and that was that she was the only one he was thinking of and
that there wasn’t anyone else. So she couldn’t say, "Fine, let’s
start over."

On Tuesday night Miranda gave her a ride
home. Zainab was there when they got in.

Emily put her bags down. "Yes?"

"I think we should have a dinner party on
Friday."

Emily blinked. "Just the three of us?"

"Well, don’t forget Richard," Miranda said
nervously.

"Oh, the four of us," Emily said drily.

Zainab looked at Miranda. "I was thinking
another person might make it more festive."

It had been so nice not talking about this
for the last three days. "I don’t want to."

"Well, it wouldn’t be fair to Richard if he
were the only guy here," Miranda pleaded.

"Then invite the solar car guys," Emily
snapped.

Zainab groaned. "But then all they’d do is
talk about their latest design, and I’m already an expert."

"Miranda, don’t you know anyone else?"

"I wouldn’t want to eat with them if I didn’t
have to."

Emily looked at them both. "Fine," she said
after a minute. "On one condition: everything is going to be
vegan."

Miranda clapped her hands. "Yes!"

"And you guys can handle the
invitations."

"I’ll take care of that," Miranda winked.

"And I’ll do the decorations." Zainab looked
around. "I’m going to have to ask Richard to bring some
chairs..."

Emily closed her eyes. She was going to see
this as an excuse to try out some new recipes, nothing more.

Mitch was home on Tuesday night. He was
sitting on his bed, looking at the entry in his phone for Emily’s
number. He wanted to call or text, but maybe it was time to take a
hint. He knew why she was so upset, but what else could he do?

He jumped when his door buzzed and he buzzed
back without asking who it was. He was at the door already when
there was a knock. He smiled as he opened it.

His face fell. "Miranda?"

"Why, yes, I’d love to come in."

"Yeah, good to see you too." He closed the
door as soon as she walked in.

"What’s your problem?"

"Okay, enough. How was your Friday
night?"

"Fabulous. Emily and I drooled over James
Bond, listened to someone named Thelonious Monk and ate a lot of
chips and ice cream."

"I didn’t do anything, okay? I ran into Kyra
and I just wanted her to go away. Emily walked in at the worst
possible time-"

Miranda held up her hand. "I get it. Zainab
gets it. I think on some level Emily gets it, but you’ve got to
understand where she’s coming from."

Mitch slumped against his wall. "Yeah, I get
it too, but I don’t know what to do about it."

"Have dinner with her on Friday."

"What? Is that her idea?"

"Hmm, not exactly. But Zainab and I convinced
her it was a good one."

"Uh huh. Sounds like she can’t wait to see
me."

"God, you are such a moron, you know that?
She’s madly in love with you but you broke her heart. Make an
effort if you feel the same way."

"You know I do, but..."

Miranda crossed her arms. "No, there is no
‘but’! Are you sure you’re the same guy I met last fall? And you’re
the same guy I saw in the student center, looking like someone had
punched him in the stomach? And the same guy who was so desperate
to see her a few weeks ago?"

"A lot has happened."

"No it hasn’t! I heard your story and hers,
and it sounds like a whole bunch of nothing. You took up with some
nymphomaniac, and she ended up with a loser. And now you’re both
free. Is anyone dead? Married? Has anything irrevocable happened?
Blah, blah, blah, she doesn’t trust me. Blah, blah, blah, I don’t
know what she wants. That’s stupid, and you know it. These are not
obstacles. These are inconveniences. These are things you have to
do a little bit of work to fix, but you can fix them. Unless you’re
going to be a lazy slob who likes the sound of his own whining
better than getting what he wants."

Mitch wasn't lazy. "Fine. But I’m bringing a
friend."

"Not Kyra, I take it?"

"Weren’t you my friend first?"

"What can I say? I’m a sucker for a girl
willing to get into a fight with a bully."

"Excuse me?"

"Just be there at seven o’clock on Friday,"
she said as she walked out.

Emily and Zainab were setting the table when
Richard arrived with the chairs. Zainab dragged Richard to her
room. "Better be ready by the time everyone else gets here!" Emily
called after them.

Emily was trying to go to her happy place.
Maybe Mitch would bail at the last minute.

She had just finished setting up the fruit
and crackers when the doorbell rang. She braced herself to see
Mitch, but instead saw a man about five foot ten with slightly
longish hair standing in her doorway, holding a bottle of wine.

"Hi there. You must be Emily."

"Uh- sorry?" she stammered. "I am. And you
are?"

"Martin. Martin Shepard." He gave Emily the
wine and shook her hand. "Is there anything I can help you with?
Ooh, something smells good."

Emily sniffed the air. "That would be the
mushrooms!" she said and hurried back into the kitchen. She took
them out just in time to avoid burning and placed them on a plate.
Martin reached to grab a still hot mushroom and gobbled it down.
"Wow, those are good."

"Thanks!"
Nothing like a culinary
compliment to break the ice,
she thought. "But who are
you?"

"Mitch’s friend. Really, he didn’t mention
that he invited me?"

"Yeah, no." Apparently Richard knew as he had
brought enough chairs over for six. "But since you like mushrooms,
please stay. And remind me to get the quiche out in a minute."

"Quiche? Yum! I haven’t had that since I got
to college."

"Yeah? So what year are you?"

"Junior, I think. Hard to keep track with all
of these blasted co-ops."

Emily smiled uncomfortably as he looked her
over. "I wouldn’t know. I managed to avoid those things."

"Smart girl."

She shrugged. "So how did you meet Mitch?
Classes? Co-ops?"

He grabbed another mushroom. "One class, then
the Ireland trip."

"The Ireland trip." Her happy place no longer
had any vacancies.

Doorbell. Emily put the mushrooms down and
ran to the door. There was Miranda and with her Mitch, holding a
bouquet of flowers. Why did he have to wear that nice, dark blue
shirt that made his eyes stand out even more?

Emily plastered a smile onto her face.
"Hello. I was just chatting with Martin."

"Oh, sorry sweetie. I thought I’d get here a
little earlier to introduce everyone," Miranda said, coming through
the doorway and giving Emily a kiss. "Hi, you must be Martin."

"And you must be Miranda."

"The one and only."

"I'll say," Emily said under her breath,
still trying not to look at Mitch.

"Where’s Zainab?" Miranda asked.

"Oh, she was doing her hair," Emily said as
if she'd just remembered something. "Why don’t you help her with
that?"

"These are for you," Mitch said at last,
handing her the vase filled with pink lilies and snapdragons.

"They’re beautiful." She heard Zainab scream,
and then Miranda. Now they were even. She waved at them over her
shoulder. "You can come out and say hi to everyone now!"

Mitch tried not to laugh. "Nice one," he said
softly.

"You know how petty I can be."

He took a deep breath. "Are you going to ask
me in?"

"Your friend is here, so that would probably
be the nice thing to do."

"Do you like him?"

"He seems nice. And he likes the mushrooms,
so I’ll let him stay."

Emily seated herself next to Martin, who sat
next to Miranda, who sat next to Mitch, who sat next to Zainab, who
sat next to Richard. She hadn’t meant to be right across from
Mitch. "So," she said, turning to Martin while she forked her
salad, "you’re a junior?"

She made an effort to make Martin feel
welcome. She was interested in his opinions on the mayoral race as
well as his views on public education in the city. She disagreed
with most of what he said- she was classically liberal, whereas he
might have been best described as libertarian- but she followed up
with a lot of questions. She could see Richard look at Zainab and
Mitch glare at Miranda.

Emily and Martin were just getting into Ray
Flynn’s appointment as Ambassador when she heard Richard talking
about
Star Trek: The Next Generation
.

Emily scoffed. "Don’t start that again.
Picard’s okay, but Sisko kicks his ass."

"Didn’t Picard kill Sisko’s wife or
something?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, but I don’t see how that makes him
superior. And he did it when he was borgified, or whatever. Sisko
never got borgified."

"But didn’t Sisko murder some ambassador to
get the Romulans into the war?" Richard asked. "Picard never
compromised his morals like that."

"You have totally missed the point!" Emily
said indignantly. "He compromised his morals for the greater good!
That was the best episode of
Deep Space Nine
. Ever. And
that’s why
Deep Space Nine
kicked ass, certainly
The Next
Gen’s
."

"But no one was really cute on
DS-Nine
," Zainab said, and Miranda giggled. "Wesley was
cute, and Riker was kind of hot."

"You don’t think Worf was totally hot?" Emily
asked indignantly.

"Yeah, but he was on Next Gen too," Zainab
answered calmly.

"But he wasn’t smoking until he was with
Dax."

"Yeah," Martin nodded. "And Dax was pretty
hot, too."

"I liked her when she was played by Terry
Farrell, but not that last one," Richard offered. Zainab elbowed
him in the ribs, then Richard laughed and tickled her.

Mitch had been watching in silence until now.
"Still an
Original Series
fan, myself. Kirk and the ship, a
love story unrivaled in the history of television."

Emily looked at him, trying not to remember
their first conversation. "No," she said finally. "Still a Spock
fan."

"Yeah," Miranda said dreamily. "Spock was so
dignified and reserved. Definitely made you wonder what he’d be
like in bed."

Everyone was silent until Martin burst out
laughing. "I think it’s time for dessert," Emily said through
giggles.

Miranda gasped when she saw the beautiful
cupcake in front of her. "Oh my God. Is this- ?"

"You’ll see." Everyone bit in, and between
sighs pronounced it the best cream-filled chocolate frosted cupcake
they had ever eaten. When everyone was done, Emily grinned. "And
that, my friends, was a completely vegan meal, cupcakes and
all."

"Oh wow. I’m going to become a vegetarian
now," Martin said admiringly. "But I can still drink, right?"

"Speaking of which," Zainab got up and
refilled everyone’s glasses. "Here’s to the chef."

"Emily!" Everyone drank, and Emily smiled,
trying not to look at Mitch.

"Thank you all for coming. And here’s to
Jessie," she said pointedly, and raised her glass. Mitch and Martin
shrugged, but drank anyway.

~~~

Richard had offered to take everyone to a
nearby piano bar, but Emily insisted that Zainab and Miranda stay
back to help her clean up, and they didn’t dare complain.

As soon as the waitress put down the drinks,
Mitch turned to Martin. "If you date her, I’ll kill you."

"I want to make sure I’m clear on this,"
Martin said after he took his first sip of Guinness. "That’s Emily?
The Emily? The Emily you dumped so you could shack up with Kyra?
You chose Kyra over someone who’s funny, smart and can really cook,
and not to mention totally gorgeous and likes politics and
Star
Trek
as much as you do?"

"Shut up."

"Aw, get over yourself! She isn’t interested
in me. First of all, you’re much better looking than I am. Second
of all, she couldn’t keep her eyes off you."

"She only looked at me a few times. I was
staring the whole time, I should know."

"And you’ve got to watch the staring thing,
my friend. I found out the hard way women don’t find that
attractive."

"She was checking you out," Richard said
wearily, finishing his drink. "What you saw was her trying not to
look at you. She likes you."

"She hates me."

Richard thought for a moment. Mitch could
tell Richard wasn't sure about him. That made them even. "Maybe a
little of that too."

"If she likes me so much, then why was she
practically sitting in his lap?" Mitch whined before he took a big
swig of his beer.

"Did you go to high school?" Martin said with
exasperation. "She wasn’t interested in me. She was interviewing me
for someone."

"Who? Zainab’s taken- "

"Yes, thank you," Richard said firmly.

"- maybe Miranda."

"No," Richard said, not looking at either of
them. "She’s off the market, trust me."

"Then who else?"

A look of horror came over Richard’s face.
"Ugh! Don’t worry, she’s too young!"

Martin patted Mitch on the shoulder. "That’s
too bad. But Mitch, just let me know if it doesn’t work out between
the two of you, because if not-"

"I repeat, I’ll kill you."

Over the weekend, Mitch thought it over
rationally. Richard and Martin were right. Emily wasn’t interested
in Martin. He wasn’t her type. She wanted him to go out with one of
her friends (maybe this Jessie she always talked about?) and if she
made Mitch jealous in the meantime, bonus, right?