The Smartest Girl in the Room (8 page)

And then he remembered a promise that was
made. Tomorrow night he was supposed see Emily. Yeah, he’d be a big
jerk if he didn’t show up without saying something to Emily first.
Plans change, right? So he just had to come up with an excuse. He
couldn’t call now. He had to talk to her. So he’d have to do it
tomorrow.
Tomorrow
, he nodded to himself as he drove
off.

Emily had wanted to call Mitch since Saturday
as soon as she’d left Zainab. She wanted to call him to see if he
wanted to study with her on Sunday, but that was geeky and
desperate rolled into one. She had looked at her phone at times,
wondering if it would be okay if she sent him a text, but she
didn’t want to incur the text charges- unless he texted her
first.

She’d see him on Friday. That would be soon
enough.

She woke up on Friday expecting to be
excited, but instead she was filled with dread. She tried to cheer
herself up and smiled as she made breakfast and packed her lunch.
She made sure she wouldn’t lose control by leaving the house before
her mother and stepfather woke up. She reviewed the work she’d done
on the bus ride to school. Yes, it was perfect. So what?

As she walked into her first class, she
reminded herself that she hadn’t dated since high school. She’d
forgotten whatever she’d known when she was younger, and that had
been a paltry amount to begin with. And she couldn’t ask Zainab.
What could she possibly know if she thought Joe was worthy of her
attention? That’s it, she assured herself when the professor walked
in, everything would be okay.

Where am I meeting you tonight?
She
texted Zainab before her last class.

Why don’t you guys meet me at the café?
Zainab texted back.

I’ll see you there.

What’s wrong?

Why could Zainab see her so easily through
their phones?
Nothing, I’ll see you then
.

Are you going to tell Mitch where to
meet?

I will when he texts me.

I’ll text him, Zainab replied two minutes
later.

Don’t.

She met Zainab at the café at six. "Don’t
start," Emily said as she sat down.

"He didn’t text or call?"

"This is you starting."

Zainab squeezed Emily’s hand. "I’m sorry. I
didn’t think he was like that."

Emily squeezed her hand back. "It’s not your
fault, I’m just a moron. This is why you don’t stay up late and let
strange men feed you coffee and cannoli, because then you might
believe the lines they drop on you."

"And which ones did he use?"

"’No, you are a real person’. ‘Yes, you’re in
a class all by yourself’. And ‘it’s a date’. You know, the
classics."

"Bastard," Zainab spat. "Do you still want to
go to this party?"

"Hell, yes!" Emily was not going to let some
lying jerk deprive her of... the company of Drew and these people
she’d never met before that she might not have anything in common
with.

"Really?"

"I mean, you invited Joe already, so that
would just be awkward if he showed up and we weren’t there,
right?"

"I bet he’d understand-"

"Hmm. ‘Hey Joe, we’re not going tonight
because your jerky friend Mitch blew off Emily.’ No."

"I was going to try something like Emily
doesn’t feel well."

"But that would be a lie, Z, because I feel
just fine."

Zainab told Emily how much of a pompous ass
Mitch could be at SGC sometimes. Emily wanted to ask why she set
them up in the first place if that was the case, but she knew
Zainab was trying to make her feel better.

Half an hour later, Zainab got a text from
Joe. "Hmm."

"What?"

"Joe needs me to help him review a bill from
the Academic Affairs Committee."

"Now?"

Zainab shrugged. "If I don’t, he’s not going
to be able to make it."

"You know, that’s not-"

"It won’t be that long, I promise."

"You are going to make me go to this by
myself?!?"

"I will be there by nine, I promise."

Emily flopped back in her chair. "Oh my God,
Zainab. If you’re not I will hunt you down and lock you in your
apartment and then hunt Joe down and punch him in the face."

Zainab stood up and patted her shoulder.
"That won’t be necessary."

Emily sat in the café for another half hour
nursing her tea as long as she could. Finally, she texted Zainab
the address and a short threat then got up to leave.

The silver lining was that her night could
not possibly get worse.

~~~

It should have taken someone twenty minutes
to get to the address from the café. It should have taken a fast
walker like Emily fifteen. Instead she was there in thirty.

She looked at the buzzer and sagged. Without
Zainab to put on a show for, she was losing her nerve fast. Maybe
she’d need a code word and wouldn’t be able to get in?

No such luck. Someone buzzed her in without
asking who it was.
Fine
, she thought to herself. She’d stay
until Zainab came, smile a lot, then leave twenty minutes later,
proving her point to anyone who was looking. Oh right, no one was
looking. Good.

The door swung open after one knock. She
stood back. Not what she’d expected.

A tall young blonde girl with blue streaks
and grey eyes answered the door. "Hey!"

"Hey?" Emily looked at the number on the
door. "I think I must have the wrong address. Someone named Drew
invited me to something-"

The girl rolled her eyes. "No, this is it.
But Drew isn’t here yet."

"Oh, well!" Emily chirped. "I guess I
shouldn’t-"

"Don’t you dare leave me!" the girl
whispered, pulling Emily inside.

There were about twelve people there, all
men. Most of them were in the kitchen, congregating around a tall
man with dark hair, glasses and a very high forehead. "What’s your
name?" the girl said as she took Emily’s coat.

"Emily. You?"

"Jessie."

Someone took notice of the two of them and
beckoned them into the kitchen. Jessie shook her head. "Everyone,
this is Emily. Emily, that’s everyone."

"Jessie!" the tall man said testily.

"Fine. Emily, that bossy guy with the glasses
is Richard, who’s also my cousin. He’s standing next to Vijay, who
is standing next to Jordan, who’s standing next to Carlos. I have
no idea who the rest of them are so they can come out and introduce
themselves when they’re done talking about the latest in solar
blah, blah, blah." With that, she grabbed Emily’s hand and took her
into the small living room.

"I’m guessing you’re not into engineering?"
Emily asked.

"No, I’m here because my babysitter demanded
I come."

"Um, Richard?" Emily asked as Jessie grabbed
a handful of chips and nodded. "Aren’t you a little old to need a
babysitter?"

Jessie popped the chips into her mouth. "My
point exactly." She swallowed and grabbed a soda. "And why are you
here? You can’t possibly be dating Drew."

"Dating...? Uh no. He’s in one of my classes,
he invited me last week, and then I invited a friend, who invited
another friend."

Jessie turned to look back at the door. "And
where are these other friends?"

"Late."

"But so is Drew. It all evens out." She sat
up and brightened. "Actually, I’m here, so you’re in the
black."

Emily shook her head when Jessie offered her
a soda but grabbed some chips herself. "And what would have
happened if Richard hadn’t brought you here?"

Jessie shrugged. "Nothing I wouldn’t have
been able to fix by tomorrow morning."

"You’ve got a lot of practice with clean
up?"

"You have no idea." She turned to look at
Emily straight on. "You really don’t, do you? You seem pretty goody
two shoes."

Emily took another chip. "Everyone knows how
to make a mess."

"For real."

"And what mess would that be, Jessie?" Emily
looked up to see Richard walking over. Up close he looked even
taller because he was so thin. Emily tried not to stare at his hair
too much. Was it a high forehead or thinning hair? How old did you
have to be to have thinning hair?

"Which mess would you like me to start with?
Or should I say, whose?"

Richard set his jaw and turned red. "So, um,
how do you know Drew?" Emily asked quickly.

Richard blinked. "The Solar Car, among other
things. And you?"

"Comparative Literature, England and Spain,
sixteenth century." Emily opened her arms then sliced down with her
hands. "Where it’s at," she said in her best would-be gangster
slang.

Richard laughed and Emily smiled. Jessie
laughed after a moment. "I can see why you’d want to come here
then. You must not get out much."

"And you get out too much," Richard said
softly.

Emily smiled uncomfortably. "Speaking of out,
I should probably-"

"Way to go, Richard. You always make the
interesting people leave, and then look who you’re left with."

"This isn’t a good time-" Richard stopped and
looked at his vibrating phone, then picked it up. "Michael?"

"Michael!" Jessie exploded.

Richard stood up and walked away. "Who’s
Michael?" Emily asked.

"Richard’s piece of garbage cousin."

"I thought you were his cousin?"

"Other side of the family. Thank God," she
muttered.

Richard hung up and walked back over. "Okay,
Jess, I’ve got to take you home."

Jessie folded her arms. "Why?"

"Because I have to go out."

"What did he do this time?" Jessie
snarled.

"It doesn’t matter, but I have to get him,"
Richard replied.

"Screw you! You can’t drag me around all
night because you keep changing your mind about who’s more
important."

Richard waited for a moment before he said
anything. "Jessie, I can’t take you with me."

"Then leave me alone! And you want to go get
him so he can come back to our house?"

"Jessie! I’m going to take him back to his
house."

"That’ll take you what? Three hours? And what
am I supposed to do at home? Watch TV?"

"Will you please stop arguing? I have to
go."

"Go, but I’m not going home."

Emily twirled her hand. "I’m going to be here
for a little while, if you want to hang out with me." She looked at
Richard. "If that’s okay?"

Jessie threw her arm around Emily’s
shoulders. "See? Emily will babysit. And I have a feeling she’s
even more square than you are."

Richard looked at his watch. "Jessie, I mean
it. No smoking, no drinking."

Jessie let go of Emily. "Blah, blah, blah. Do
you have to go somewhere or not?"

"Fine." He turned to Emily. "Thank you."

"You’re... welcome?" Emily said as he ran
out. She turned to Jessie. "What was that about?"

"That was about Richard being a jerk who
thinks getting caught drinking is worse than being a rapist."

"What?!?"

"Forget it," Jessie said as she waved her
hand. "Okay, where are we going? I need to get out of here."

"We’re not going anywhere until Zainab shows
up."

"Is she more fun than you are?"

Emily smirked. "Watch it, dude. Richard
probably is more fun than I am."

"I doubt that," Jessie muttered as she
reached for the chips.

The doorbell rang. Someone- Carlos?- left the
kitchen to buzz the door, then retreated back.

Emily opened the door to see Zainab’s smiling
face thirty seconds later. "Sorry we’re late!" she said as she
hugged Emily.

"My fault," Joe said as he walked in. "I kept
answering my phone when I should have been listening." He waved to
everyone in the kitchen and went in to greet everyone. "Hi, I’m
Joe! Thanks for inviting me."

Emily cocked her head to the side as she
watched Joe work the crowd. She couldn’t hear what they were saying
too well, but within one minute he seemed to be getting everyone’s
name, what they were studying and, she was pretty sure, some
details about the solar car. Within two minutes everyone seemed to
be engaged in a lively conversation with him.

What was it about him? Emily wondered. There
was nothing wrong with him, but there was nothing spectacular. He
was well-groomed but nothing special, average height, average hair
color, average skill. But these guys thought he was the best thing
since the invention of the cell phone.

Jessie snorted. Emily turned around. "It’s
really easy," she said gesturing toward Joe. "All you have to do is
act like you care about what they’re saying."

"Most of the time, he does," Zainab said.

Emily frowned. "Zainab, Jessie. Jessie,
Zainab."

Zainab shook Jessie’s hand. "Nice to meet
you."

"You’re not with that guy, are you?"

"No," Emily answered for her quickly. Zainab
raised her eyebrows at her, but she shrugged.

"Good!" Jessie said a little too loudly. "You
can do much better."

The doorbell rang again. This time Zainab
answered it.

"Oh, hey Zainab!" Drew said as he walked in
thirty seconds later.

"And so can you," Jessie said to Emily.

"Um, thanks?" She turned to Drew. "Hi."

He seemed to brighten. "I’m glad you made it.
Sorry I’m late. What did I miss?"

Jessie shrugged. "Drunks and rapists, but we
made Richard leave, so now everybody’s safe."

Zainab and Drew laughed while Emily looked at
Jessie. When she looked back, she saw Drew looking in the direction
of the kitchen. He seemed to go blank. Emily followed his gaze and
saw that he had settled on Joe. "Do you know Joe?"

"Obviously," Jessie smirked.

Drew looked back at Emily. "Uh, no. Sorry-
that’s why I was staring. I haven’t seen him before."

"Zainab can introduce you," Jessie said.
Zainab scowled and Emily tried not to laugh.

"What? No, that’s okay. I’ll just go say hi
myself." Emily watched him walk into the kitchen then shrugged.