The Smartest Girl in the Room (34 page)

"And get him charged with what? Being a
moron? What are you going to do, bring videos of his speeches as
evidence?"

"No, with rape. Before he left- after you
punched him- he told me what he did, including the drugs."

"What?"

"I brought the police over the next day, but
he was gone. If he comes back, there’s already a warrant out for
his arrest."

Emily felt like she was breathing for the
first time in months. "Oh my God."

"And correct me if I’m wrong, but he didn’t
deny it when you talked to him, did he?"

She shook her head. "No," she whispered.
"He... was practically bragging about it."

"Then that’s a confession too."

"You mean-"

"I mean you and Richard can stop stashing
stolen narcotics now."

Her mind was racing. "Is Richard going to get
in trouble?"

"I don’t know, but do you think Drew is going
to press charges for theft since it sort of sounds like he stole
them himself?"

"Oh my God." She started feeling a stone come
off her chest... but wait. "I thought about going to the police.
That was the first thing. But she didn’t want to."

"That is normal."

"She didn’t want to leave," Emily said as if
she were making her own confession.

"I know."

"And I couldn’t let Joe... be there, where
she might see him-"

"It’s not your fault," he said gently.

"I should have known what Drew was doing- I
shouldn’t have let Zainab blow me off every time I said something
about Joe-"

"It’s not your fault none of us took him
seriously."

"I should have been able to stop him."

"There’s nothing you could have done."

"Don’t say that. There’s always
something."

"You’re right. Joe could have suddenly
developed a conscience."

"No, if I had just... said something...
proven it, I could have stopped it."

"Emily." He reached for her. She didn’t stop
him. He stroked her hair. "You did everything you could have and
more than most people would have. It’s not your fault. Why are you
blaming yourself?"

She moved her head away. "If I were half as
smart as I let people think I am, I’d have known what was going on.
What good are all of those tests I aced if I failed the one time I
really needed to pass?" She refused to cry. "She’s the only person
who really loved me. Maybe other people loved me, a little bit, but
I was never good enough. I could have been a better daughter, a
better student. I could have been… more. I could have been whiter.
I could have been more Korean. I could have been prettier. I could
have been less of a nerd. But I was never going to be better, and I
was never going to be enough. So I hid out where I wouldn’t have to
be. But then I came out, and Zainab found me. And she loved me just
as I was. Has anyone ever loved you like that?"

"I don’t know. There was this one girl. I
told her what a drunken idiot I was in my frat, and she told me I
was brave, courageous and dedicated. And I remember those words
really well, because she was very hard to impress." He smiled. "I
guess I should have recognized my real rival all along, huh?"

"Zainab doesn’t have a rival. She’s the only
person I’d do anything for."

"Right," he said slowly. "So you get into
fights with sociopaths for all of your casual acquaintances?"

"That guy hurt my friend."

"Your real friends don’t want you to get hurt
for them."

"Oh, well, it’s a good thing I had you to
protect me- with spinach dip."

"I have my uses."

She pointed into his chest. "No you don’t.
Thank you, you can go to the police- if Zainab is okay with it- but
you aren’t allowed to shove anyone’s face in food again. Certainly
not the kind of people who have big money behind them."

"Let me get this straight: you’re okay to
beat up two rapists and commit some minor felonies- but avoid the
police at almost all costs- but I can’t serve veggie dip to someone
who hurt the person I care about? Did I mention I’m about six feet
tall?"

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
And I’m pretty wily."

"Yeah? And I think you don’t realize how
upset everyone would be if anything happened to you."

Emily thought of what Zainab had said to her.
"Maybe I do," she said softly.

"Good. Then promise you’re going to stop
being a vigilante from now on."

"Fine- on one condition: you stay away from
Michael Abbot."

"Oh, Hell no! I am going to kick that guy’s
ass the next time I see him, and I don’t care how many
well-connected people watch me do it."

"Alright, well, if you won’t negotiate..."
Emily shrugged.

"Negotiate, huh?" Mitch raised one eyebrow.
"We might be able to work something out. I will agree to your terms
if you..." - he cleared his throat- "give me one more chance."

She noticed he was still wearing the band.
She looked up at him as bravely as she could. "What does this
chance look like?"

"What are your plans for Saturday?"

"I was thinking of sleeping in late, maybe
catching a movie- "

"You’re not going to walk?"

"And sit in the heat while someone lectures
me and then wait two hours for my name to be called? Thanks, but
I’ll just pick up my diploma tomorrow."

"You can do that?"

She winked. "Professor Hazlett pulled a few
strings for me."

"Hmm. No one did for me, and even if they
had, my parents have been looking forward to this for the past five
years, and I really don’t want to piss them off right now."

"Have fun."

"You could still have dinner with me- and my
parents," he added quickly. "That’s something else they’ve been
looking forward to."

"Dinner with you? I bet that’s never happened
before."

"Dinner at some stupid expensive restaurant.
They wanted to throw me a graduation party, but I nixed that.
Dinner, with a friend, was our compromise."

"So who were you going to ask if you hadn’t
caught me?"

"That was never an option."

Her cheeks tingled. "What if I say no?"

He moved in closer. "Then my parents are
going to be very disappointed."

She looked up at him. All she could see were
green eyes. "And you’ll beat Michael up- don’t forget."

He put his hands on her hips. "And I’ll beat
up Michael, I’ll go to jail and then my parents will be really
upset."

Emily put her hands on his chest. "I guess
Mr. and Mrs. Graham haven’t done anything to deserve that."

"You know, they really haven’t," he whispered
before he bent down to kiss her.

She’d thought about kissing him more times
than she’d wanted to admit. She forgot all of that just then. The
real thing was much better than she’d imagined.

He pulled away and put his forehead on hers.
"Did you just say yes?"

She kissed him again. "I… just said yes."

He kissed her back. "Then I’m going to leave
now before I can screw this up again."

She smiled. "I think that’s for the
best."

"But you should kiss me one more time before
I leave, just in case you change your mind and I never get to do
this again."

"A little faith," she whispered before she
pulled him into another kiss.

Emily woke up at nine on Saturday morning. By
ten Emily was out of the apartment. She walked to the upscale
little diner on Beacon Street to meet her mother for brunch.

Her mother was waiting. "Hi Mom," Emily said
as she sat down. She showed her mother her diploma.

Her mother read the cursive of the diploma.
"Summa Cum Laude," she said out loud. "Very good. I wouldn’t have
expected anything else." She paused. "I know how hard you
worked."

They ordered and talked. Her mother had
looked at other jobs, but nothing had come up yet. There were a few
contacts she was working on, but they might take a while.

At noon, Emily kissed her mother goodbye on
the street after she agreed to hold onto the diploma for safe
keeping. She promised to get it framed. Emily waved. It was good to
let some things go.

~~~

Miranda came over at three o’clock. "Okay,
what are you wearing tonight?" When Emily showed her the halter top
and skirt, Miranda shook her head in disgust. "Come on!"

Emily agreed to go to Miranda’s house once
she was assured that Alex wasn’t home. After an hour and a half,
they settled on a red and white wrap dress, bare legs and black
heels. Then Miranda insisted on putting up her hair and doing her
makeup. "Did you and Jessie play a lot of dress up when you were
little?"

"We played it last year!"

Miranda called a car for Emily to take her to
the restaurant on Newbury Street. She made a face when Emily told
her the address. "Whose idea was that?"

"You’re a snob."

"But you love me anyway."

Emily was right on time when she got to the
restaurant. The Grahams were already there.

Mitch came over. "Wow. You look gorgeous. And
the dress is nice too."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mitch’s
mother tap his father on the elbow. He nodded. "You must be Emily.
Mitch, aren’t you going to introduce us?"

After they ordered, Emily answered questions
about her parents, what she’d studied and what she was planning on
doing. They seemed particularly impressed that she had family in
Queens.

"And how old are you?"

"I’ll be twenty at the end of August."

"I’m sorry," Mrs. Graham said, "didn’t you
say you just graduated?" Emily gave the most abbreviated story she
could. "Well, you certainly seem to have your head on your
shoulders. I wish I’d been as ambitious and dedicated at twenty as
you are."

"Let’s see if our twenty-three year-old can
absorb some of this young lady’s smarts, and then he’ll get through
law school just fine."

Emily tilted her head. "I thought you were
twenty-two?"

"His birthday was only last month, so you’re
close."

She was genuinely surprised. "How come you
didn’t tell me?"

Mitch rolled his eyes. "It wasn’t
important."

"That’s because you’re all grown up. I’m a
big baby about my birthday."

"I guess I am, too," Mrs. Graham sniffed. "I
wanted to take Mitch out for his birthday, but he told me he had
some important plans with friends."

"Mom, it wasn’t a big deal."

Emily looked at him. "Mitch, when is your
birthday?"

"April twenty-fifth," his father piped
up.

On April twenty-fifth, she’d broken her date
with him after she saw him trying to get rid of his ex-girlfriend
and then stayed up all night watching James Bond, listening to Monk
and eating chips. Her face burned.

She couldn’t say anything when they were in
the backseat of his parent’s car. Mitch took her hand and squeezed
it, as if to say everything was okay. She squeezed back, as if to
say thank you.

Mitch walked her to her front door. He still
held her hand. "I can come back in less than an hour."

She shook her head. "No. Go to sleep, you’ve
had a big day. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Isn’t Zainab in Shangri-La with
Richard?"

"Yes, but there is something I have to do
before I see you."

"Do you promise you’ll come over?"

"I promise. Now get back to the car before
your parents get mad."

She went upstairs and sat in the dark for a
long time, taking comfort in the dim street lights and smiling at
the sounds of traffic.

It was good to let some things go.

Emily groaned on Sunday morning when she
realized she didn’t have everything she needed. She went out to
Whole Foods and came back an hour later. By nine-thirty, she was
done. She packed up then walked over to Mitch’s apartment.

She jumped when he opened the door. He was
standing in his boxers and nothing else. He rubbed his eyes and
yawned. "Good morning."

"Did you forget that you asked me to come
over, or do you always answer the door in your boxers?"

He grinned and kissed her. "Really? You don’t
like what you see at all?"

She smiled. "I suppose I can live with it,"
she said as she walked in and he closed the door. "But the real
question is, do you like this?" She pulled a plastic container out
of the bag she was carrying, lifting the lid.

"Oh, wow!" Mitch said as he grabbed a lemon
cupcake and ate it in one bite. "Hmm, these are good." He reached
for another one. "Why did you bring cupcakes?"

"It’s a belated birthday present."

"What? You didn’t have to do that. You
already got me something." He gestured to the band lying on his
dresser.

"That wasn’t a birthday present."

He grabbed another cupcake. "You know, you’ve
missed a bunch of other birthdays too. And Chanukahs."

"I think you’ve eaten enough for at least
three so far."

Mitch was showered and dressed fifteen
minutes later. "So," he said, popping another cupcake in his mouth.
"What are we doing today?"

"Since we didn’t get to do anything on your
birthday, I guess you get to pick."

His face lit up. "I know exactly what I want
to do."

She blushed, but he grabbed her by the hand,
took another cupcake, and then headed out the door. "Where are we
going?"

"You’ll see."

They got off the train at Arlington station.
He led her across Boylston and Newbury. "Was there something you
wanted to buy?"

"Nope."

They crossed Commonwealth Ave, then Beacon,
then walked left until they got to Dartmouth. By now she knew where
they were going. They crossed over the footbridge and walked a
short way until they got to the spot. No one was sitting on their
bench.

"It looks the same," he said after they sat
down.