The Smartest Girl in the Room (6 page)

"Yes!" Mitch snapped his fingers. "Caffe
Aventura in the North End. They’re open until, I dunno, three in
the morning."

"Is the T even running this late?"

He looked at his watch. "Yeah, but we’ve got
to hurry." He grabbed her hand and off they ran until they got to
the ICA stop on the Green Line.

"Wow!" she shouted over the noise of the
train once it started moving. "I don’t think I’ve ever had a whole
car all to myself!"

"I once saw a clown on the T late at
night."

He must be tired
, she thought. "Um,
when I was three I beat up a clown. That's what he got for being
scary."

"This one probably wouldn’t have scared you.
He wasn’t wearing makeup or a costume."

"Then how did you know he was a clown?"

"The flips and somersaults gave it away. That
and the balloons."

"It’s always the balloons. Otherwise they’d
be able to blend in."

"Are you still afraid of clowns?"

"No. I actually think some of them are pretty
sexy."

"Excuse me?"

"Not the ones that look like Bozo, but the
ones in the well-fitted black and white costumes. Harlequins?
Pierrots?"

"And... I think we’ve found another
vice."

When they got to the café, she put her hand
on his arm. "I just realized something. If you get me anymore
caffeine I might throw up."

"Will you throw up if I drink some, or
eat?"

"No..."

"Then let’s go." He led her in the door. It
was surprisingly busy, but they were able to find a free table.
"Ooh, look at that!" Emily said as they passed the dessert counter.
"I might be able to find room for a cannoli."

"Can you manage that with an espresso?"

"What did I just say?"

"You could nurse it..."

"Is there some reason you want to keep me
jacked up tonight?"

He leaned forward and put his face in his
hands. "I like talking to you, and I want to do it as much as I
can."

She held his eyes for a moment. "Alright, but
you can’t expect anything I say in another hour to make any
sense."

An hour and a half into their conversation,
she indeed lost her train of thought and stared at him. He made a
goofy face and she laughed. "You caught me."

"What were you thinking?"

"That I didn't enjoy myself this much the
last time I stayed out this late."

"The last time? How late did you stay
up?"

"At least until two."

"Then we're staying until three, for
sure."

"Only if you get me another cannoli."

"Consider it done." He took a deep breath.
"And who were you with?"

"Another girl." She paused. "Another
heterosexual girl."

"Hmm. And how old were you?"

"Fifteen."

"Really?"

"What?"

"I can’t picture you up past your bedtime at
that age."

"At that age, I could have done anything I
wanted to as long as I didn’t get picked up by the police."

"Ah, you were one of those lucky kids with
permissive parents."

"Just one. My parents were divorced by then,
and the psychotically strict one left me with the pathologically
lax one."

"Sounds like a good deal."

"I thought so too, for the most part. Of
course, I did question it when there wasn't any food in the
house."

Mitch laughed, but Emily's expression didn't
change. "I'm sorry," he said, sitting up. "Food was always readily
available in my house."

"Well, I never starved."

"That must have been rough."

Emily shrugged. "Even when there was food, I
tried to avoid being around my Mom that year. That was when she
married my stepfather, and it didn't matter if I was there or not.
I was a non-person."

"No, you weren't." He took her hand. "And
you're not now."

She squeezed back, and he held on tighter. "I
wish I could trust you, but you're sort of exhausted and tired and
who knows what you're going to say?"

"Then you're going to have to let me say
these things when I'm awake."

"Yeah? Sorry, but I'm not going to believe
you about anything until you get me that second cannoli."

"Waiter!"

They talked until the café closed at three.
The charm of an early fall evening was over. It was just cold now.
Emily leaned against a building next to the restaurant, rubbing her
hands together. "Okay, buddy. It’s three o’clock, there are no
trains for a few hours and we’re out in the cold. What do you have
in mind now?"

Mitch leaned over her and put his hands on
her shoulders, then gently rested his chin on her forehead. She put
her hands on his chest, just to keep warm, of course. "Better?" he
asked.

"Oh, much." She tilted her head up to look at
his smooth neck then hugged him. "But I don’t think anyone is going
to let us stay here all night."

"Are you always like this?"

"Talkative? Yes, it keeps me amused."

"You seem like you’re worried someone’s going
to send you to the principal’s office."

"And I suppose that’s served me well, because
even during my darkest hours that never happened."

"Hmm. And I'm sure that made you a lot of
friends."

"Some friends aren't worth having."

"So were you friend-free or just
friend-less?"

"Friend-less."

"Mmm hmm," he started playing with her hair.
"And were all of them girls?"

"Once I grew out of my gnome-state, I did
manage to acquire a few friends of the Y-chromosome
persuasion."

"Just a few?"

"And most of them were just friends."

"How many weren't?"

She looked up and he backed away. "Why do you
ask?"

"Typical insecure guy stuff. I like to know
who I'm being measured against."

"I think you're projecting. How am I doing in
comparison to everyone else?"

"You are in a class all by yourself." He
cleared his throat. "What about me?"

She took his hand. "Suffice to say, my taste
in high school was so bad that, for the most part, Joe Welles would
have been a better boyfriend."

"The most part," he repeated. "So who's my
competition?"

She looked down for a moment. "He sort of
doesn't count. Really, he was just a friend, and in some ways he
wasn't even that."

"Oh, that's so much worse."

She shook her head. "It's not."

"Then why does he even get considered?"

"Because he was there for this one moment
when everything seemed like it was as it should be and I wasn't
alone." She smiled at the memory. "The starry night."

"There were a lot of stars?"

She giggled. "No, but I saw them anyway."

He came closer. "So how am I stacking up so
far?"

"I haven't questioned my place in the world
once tonight."

"So I'm the male version of Zainab. I guess
that's a start."

"Zainab's great," she whispered, "but she
doesn't make me see stars."

He moved in closer still. "Em-"

She put her fingers over his lips then smiled
impishly. "No. This is sort of perfect right now."

"Anyone ever tell you you're a tease?"

"Anyone ever tell you you're impatient?"

He put his hands around her hips. "So how
long do I have to wait?"

She suddenly remembered Drew. "Someone from
my favorite class is having a party on Friday. Or he knows someone
having a party-"

"Oh, it’s a he. Your favorite person from
your favorite class?"

Emily started giggling. "No, I don’t think
so. He’s kind of a dork."

"I write some legislation with Joe and
suddenly you think I’m all about dorks?"

"Ah, but if you come to the party, you’ll
also get to be with me. And, sorry, I cannot promise the same if
you choose Joe."

"Then I would love to come to your friend’s
party next Friday."

"It’s a date then."

"It’s another date."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"We should go."

"Don't you like it here?"

"I don't think I've been this happy for a
long time, but I'm getting cold."

"I could be an excellent source of heat."

"You know what else warms you up?"

"What?"

"Laughter!" She stuffed her hands under his
armpits and tickled him. He shouted in surprise, then she ran down
the street, laughing.

"I am going to kick your butt all over Boston
when I catch you!" he shouted.

She turned around. "If you catch me!" She
waited for a moment for him to get closer, then turned and ran
faster. She heard him cursing to himself. She ran until she got to
the walkway at Christopher Columbus Park, making sure she didn’t
outpace him so much that he couldn’t see her. She sat on a bench,
crossed her legs and folded her hands over her knees.

He panted and dropped next to her. "Thank you
for joining me!" she said.

"Did I mention my knees?"

Was that something about walking or running
again? She bit her lip. "You could have told me to stop," she said
sheepishly.

"I would rather be crippled than admit
weakness."

"Is that the exhaustion or the caffeine
talking?"

"Just my male pride."

"Even better. Are you at least warm now?"

"Oh, I’m warm."

"Good. But unfortunately, I don’t think we
can stay on this bench."

"Why, who’s going to get us now?"

"The cold, you big, crippled jerk."

"Okay, we can go somewhere else, but that has
to be our last stop until we get to the car. And preferably it will
be something near the car."

"The car at the Pru?"

"Is there another car I don’t know
about?"

"You’re so cute when you’re testy and
injured." A thought came to her, and she smiled gleefully. "I’ve
got the perfect spot."

"How much walking is involved?"

"Less than we’ll need to get to your
car."

"Lead the way."

At the corner of Atlantic and Kneeland, he
asked, "So, where exactly are we going?"

"My special place."

"Are there dolls and tea sets there?"

"Love tea, hate dolls." She grabbed his hand.
"You’ll see."

They walked down Kneeland Street until it
turned into Stuart, and then into Boylston. "Are we going to the
library?" They turned onto Arlington and walked toward Commonwealth
Ave. "We’re going to the River?"

"Basically." They got onto the footbridge
that wound over Storrow Drive. At the end of the bridge they walked
about twenty feet and stopped at the first bench. "Ta da!"

It was a little reservoir of water bounded by
two benches and shielded by a weeping willow. To the left was a
small footbridge that led to the rest of the river park. Emily sat
down on the bench and patted the seat next to her. "You have to sit
to appreciate it."

Mitch sat, and once he looked up from that
vantage point, he smiled.

"Your special place. And how long has this
been special to you?"

"Just a couple of years now. I stumbled onto
it during the last year of high school. I used to come here to
think." She yawned and stretched out her arms. "Sorry. I guess I
needed more caffeine to stay awake all night."

"You want to take a nap?"

"I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I’m not
sure this place is special enough to protect us from the people who
go bump in the night."

He looked at his watch. "It’s not even
nighttime anymore. It’s four-thirty. I could set my watch to wake
us up."

"Hmm... maybe that’s not a bad idea," she
said, letting her eyes close.

He set the alarm on his watch and turned to
her. She was fighting sleep, and losing. "Why don’t you put your
head on my shoulder?"

"You know," she said sleepily, "I used to
love that song."

"What song?"

"Ask your parents," she murmured, then let
her head drop onto his chest.

Mitch opened his eyes a few hours later.
Emily was sleeping on his chest and he was holding her. She looked
so peaceful.

He turned off the alarm on his watch. It was
seven-thirty. They’d been asleep for three hours. Best night of his
life, lousiest sleep of his life. Fair trade off.

"Okay, Sleeping Beauty. Time to wake up."

"Wake up?" she murmured sleepily.

"Yeah. You’re sleeping."

"Then how come we’re talking?"

"Because you’re waking up."

"Then I’m not sleeping."

"Oh, brother." He stroked her face and ran
his fingers through her hair. She started to shake her head, then
squirmed. "No, stop," she said. "It tickles."

"Sorry, but didn’t you say you had places to
go, people to see, things to do?"

"Like what?"

"Like Zainab?"

Her eyes popped open. She sat up straight and
looked around. "I’m on a bench," she said. "I’m outside, on a
bench." She turned to look at him. "Outside, on a bench, with you."
She blinked. "And we were up all night. And then I hurt your knee
and we walked all the way here from the North End." She sat back
and turned her head to the street. "I need to change. I need to go
to Zainab’s. Um..." she licked her lips. "Where are my bags?"

"In my car."

"I should get them, right?"

"Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll go get the
car."

"I think it’s better if I keep moving. I’m
cold."

They walked silently, unable to form words.
Then Emily suddenly laughed.

"What’s so funny?" Mitch said hoarsely.

"Zainab went out drinking, and I got coffee
and pastries. Guess which one of us is going to be more awake?"

They were on Fairfield Street. "Yeah, but I
bet you had more fun."

Emily didn’t say anything, but smiled and
took his hand as they crossed Boylston. They made their way into
the Prudential and then to the Food Court. "Why don’t you sit for a
minute and I’ll get you some tea." Emily nodded and sat down,
closing her eyes.