The Smartest Girl in the Room (9 page)

"He’s a jerk," Jessie said.

"So is there anyone you do like?" Zainab
asked.

Jessie stared at Zainab then Emily. "I like
you two," she said after a moment. "Lousy taste in guys, but
otherwise you seem okay." She put her arms around both of their
necks. "But I will like you both a lot better if we can get out of
here."

Emily sighed. "And that sounds like a plan.
Don’t start!" she said as Zainab started to open her mouth. "He’s
not going to miss you."

Zainab looked toward the kitchen. "I think
you’re right. Alright ladies, where to?"

"I sort of like that Princess Café-thingy on
Newbury Street."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Aw, man." She’d been
able to forget Mitch up until now.

"You don’t like it?

"No, it’s just that I... um, I’ve been there
before."

"Oh, Em!" Zainab said after a second. "Then
let’s go somewhere else."

Jessie sneered. "What? You went there with
some guy and now you can’t go there again? Screw that. We’re
going!"

Emily stood up straighter. "Yeah, we’re
going." She wasn’t going to let some jerk ruin the same night
twice.

Jessie punched Emily on the shoulder. "That’s
what I’m talking about!" She grabbed the coats and threw Emily
hers. "It’s been real!" she shouted to the men in the kitchen.

Drew looked like he was starting to say
something, but Jessie shooed them out the door before Emily could
stop.

Jessie giggled once they were in the cold
night air. "Would you believe that’s actually better than a lot of
Richard’s other parties?"

They arrived at the café a minute later.
There were more people than there were last Friday, but not so many
people that they couldn’t find a seat.

"What are you guys having?" Jessie asked when
they got to the counter.

"Just some coffee and a croissant," Zainab
answered.

"I’ll just get some chamomile tea," Emily
said.

"What? Guys, this is dinner, and I’m
buying."

"Who said anything about you buying?"

Jessie frowned and turned to the girl behind
the counter. "Ignore anything these two say. We’ll have three
pieces of the ham and cheese quiche-"

"I’m a vegetarian!" Emily piped up. "Don’t
ignore that."

"Fine, two pieces of the ham and cheese, one
pieces of the spinach and cheese. We’ll also have three slices of
the chocolate cake, two lattes and a pot of tea."

The girl smiled as she rang the order in. "Is
that everything?"

"For now." Jessie pulled out what looked to
Emily like a black American Express card. She hadn’t realized those
were even made. She was more impressed that the total came to just
under thirty dollars after tax. She’d never dreamed of spending
that much in a café in two weeks, let alone one sitting.

"Who are you?" Emily blurted out as soon as
they sat down with their food.

"Jessie Bartolome," she said as she took a
bite of her quiche.

"Bartolome? As in the Bartolome library?"

"Well, not me, but one of my
great-grandfathers or something like that."

Emily tapped the air with her finger. "So is
Richard a Bartolome?"

"No, the lucky bastard. His dad was a
Hendrickson."

"I think I’ve seen that name on some
reports," Zainab said before she sipped her latte.

"I think I’ve seen that name on a couple of
buildings downtown."

"Don’t be impressed, ladies. With the
exception of Richard, every single one of them sucked, and the
Bartolomes are worse." She winked. "Present company excluded, of
course."

"Of course," Emily said, raising her cup of
tea as she did so.

While Emily had been at the café, Mitch had
been having sex with Kyra across town.

She had asked him to come to her apartment at
six-thirty that night. She lived in a swanky building on
Marlborough Street. They talked a little bit about where they might
go in Ireland, and then she poured him some Italian Barolo, which
she declared to be the best she had ever tasted. After his first
glass, she laughed that his face was turning bright red. He looked
in the mirror and laughed as well. Mid-laughter, she kissed him. He
kissed her back.

It was nine-thirty before she came up for
air. "That’s going to make Ireland interesting."

"Yeah, I’ll say," he said, looking up at the
ceiling. "Definitely something else to look forward to."

She rolled over and started nibbling on his
ear. "And what else were you excited about?"

"Hardly in the same ballpark, but I was
looking forward to some of the Irish History, Ancient and Twentieth
Century, and of course the Poli Sci classes and, um," he laughed.
"I can’t remember anything else now."

He rolled over and kissed her. He was ready
for another round. She seemed to like the idea, but then suddenly
popped up. "I’m sorry, I’ve got to get out of here." She started
gathering her clothes.

Mitch propped himself up on his elbows. "You
have to leave right now?"

"Yeah," she said, putting on her clothes. "An
out-of-town friend is coming in, and I signed on for pickup."

"I can give you a ride."

Kyra looked up. "That’s okay. The train
station is really close by."

"But it’s late-"

"Trust me, I’m a big girl." She finished
getting dressed then gave him a kiss. "But call me on Sunday. Let’s
do something then, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sounds great," he said a little
dazed.

Mitch got out of bed and took a shower,
dressed and left her apartment. He got into his car and drove away
smiling. He put in The Cure and sang to himself, then got home to
find his parents watching an old movie on TV. "Guys, you do know
there is something called a DVD player, right?"

His father looked at his watch. "And you do
know that there is something called a telephone, right? These days
you can even fit them into your pocket and take them with you, or
so I hear."

"Since when do you need me to call home?"

"It’s a parental prerogative," his mother
said. "Last week was a fluke, but twice in a row and we get
worried."

Mitch tightened his jaw. "Yeah, well, I think
I’m back a lot sooner this time." Without another word, he walked
up the stairs.

He was brushing his teeth, looking eye to eye
with himself in the mirror when suddenly he started gagging. He
couldn’t stop, and two minutes later he was vomiting. "Ugh!" he
rinsed his mouth out and went back to his room.

"Honey, are you alright?" his mother called
from downstairs.

"Yeah, I’m fine."

He shuddered a bit, then closed his door and
changed. He turned out the light and got under the covers.
Barolo must be too sophisticated for me.
He closed his eyes
for a moment then opened them again. The room was too quiet. He
shut his eyes tightly for a moment and tried to relax.
Whatever
, he thought, trying to sound casual to himself.

As he drifted off to sleep, he had two
parallel thoughts: Sunday and the call he never made.

Emily, Zainab and Jessie were still at the
café at ten-thirty when Jessie’s cell phone rang. "Oh, go screw,"
she muttered as soon as she heard the ringtone. She answered it and
repeated herself. "I’m with her now, and her friend Zainab. Well,
you didn’t say when." She curled her lip. "No, I’m not telling you
where we are. Because we’re nearby and we’ll be coming home soon
and you can just calm the Hell down." She sat up straight. "Yeah,
that does make me feel much better. I hope she’s not home now. Just
shut up. I’ll be home when I want." She hung up. "Richard says hi,"
she said flatly.

"Hi," Zainab said after a moment.

Emily could picture Richard’s face. "Uh huh.
That sounded like we need to get you home, and it also sounded like
Michael isn’t there."

Jessie scoffed. "There’s a special Do Not
Enter sign around my house that has Michael’s name on it. Aunt
Lucy’s pretty useless, but she was pretty serious about that."

Emily looked at Zainab, who nodded then
turned to Jessie. "You know, Emily’s sleeping over my house
tonight. Why don’t you join us? We can watch bad movies, eat some
popcorn, drink a few beers."

"You two can have the beers," Emily
mumbled.

Jessie smiled, and Emily realized how young
she was. "That’s really nice of you guys, but I think Richard’s
taking me back to school tomorrow and all of my stuff is at the
house. But let’s do it when I’m back for break."

"Back to school," Emily repeated. "And where
is that?"

"Connecticut."

"Boarding school?"

"Yeah."

"How old are you again?"

"Fifteen."

"Right. No beers for you then."

"Oh, Jesus." Jessie turned to Zainab. "Where
did you get her from?"

They left the café and walked along Newbury
Street. Jessie wanted to look in every window and make snide
comments about how ridiculous everything looked, but when they got
to Dartmouth Street she groaned. "Turn left."

They crossed Commonwealth and Emily smiled in
spite of everything. She loved the way the Commonwealth Avenue Mall
looked when lit up at night. They crossed Marlborough. Did Jessie
live in Cambridge and were they going to walk across the
Charles?

They stopped at the corner of Beacon. "Yep,
this is me."

"Wow," Zainab whispered, looking at the large
house. "I didn’t think they had houses like this in Boston
anymore."

"You guys should come for the Christmas party
when I come back and I can show you what a piece of crap it is on
the inside."

Emily giggled. "I don’t see how we can
resist!"

Zainab hugged Jessie. "It was nice to meet
you."

"I bet you say that to everyone."

Emily hugged Jessie too. "Well, I don’t, but
it was. You sure you’re going to be okay?"

Jessie nodded. She seemed tired. "I’ll be
fine. But you can text me tomorrow just to make sure."

"You got it."

Jessie opened her door then waved to the both
of them. They stayed until she closed it, then Zainab turned to
walk back up Dartmouth.

"Zainab, wait," Emily said. "Can we walk up
Commonwealth to Kenmore? It’s kind of beautiful now."

"Sure."

They got onto Commonwealth and Emily smiled.
Between the lights and the arching trees, she felt like they were
walking on a magical path. But she didn’t want to get anywhere
right now.

"You think Jessie’s going to be okay?" Zainab
said after a moment.

"Yeah. That Michael guy sounds like a piece
of work, but Richard seems like a nice guy."

"I’m sorry about Mitch."

"Speaking of pieces of work?"

Zainab chuckled. "His bill is being voted on
soon. Do you want me to vote against it?"

"Zainab! Isn’t it sort of a good bill? And
won’t Joe be pissed at you?"

"Forget about Joe. I can vote anyway I
want."

"Don’t vote against it because of me. I’d
feel like a jerk. But it’s nice to know you love me more than you
love Joe."

"To Hell with Joe."

"To Hell with Mitch."

"To Hell with Drew?"

"Oh, God! Not even."

They took the train from Kenmore to Zainab’s
house. Emily made some popcorn and then they put on an episode of
an old show called
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Zainab fell
asleep on the couch before it was over. Emily sighed.

She was now alone without anyone to distract
her from her loneliness and disappointment. She wanted to cry, but
she wasn’t going to cry or even tear up. Someday this would be
nothing.

She looked at the dark-haired man on the
screen, trying to stop someone from passing secret documents to the
enemy.
That was something
, she thought. So was graduating.
So was Zainab. So was Jessie. Mitch was... no, she wasn’t even
going to think his name again.

"To Hell with him," she repeated to herself,
then focused on the television, determined to finish the
episode.

The next morning Mitch got in his car and
drove to the university. He got out and walked down St. Stephens
Street. He stopped in front of the unassuming white building which
no one would know was the Hillel of the university. He looked at
the calendar of events. There was a Shabbat service this morning,
but it wasn’t until ten-thirty. He felt his hands grow clammy and
his breath stop in his throat. Maybe he shouldn’t go in. But then
he remembered how fitfully he had slept.

He was about to walk up the stairs when he
heard a girl exclaim, "You have no shame, do you?"

Mitch turned around. On the street was a
pretty young woman with curly dark hair and pale skin. She was
facing a tall, broad shouldered man.

"What can I say? I'm not trying to impress
anyone."

She walked up closer to him and pointed her
finger at his chest. "I find you following me again and I will make
you as miserable as you've made me. You aren't even supposed to be
in Boston right now!"

"What are you going to do?" the man smiled,
bending down to bring his face closer to hers. "Tell on me?"

Mitch took a step off the stairs. "Is there a
problem?"

As he got closer, he could see that the man
was drunk. Not hung over, but drunk. The man smirked, turning to
Mitch. "Just a friendly disagreement."

"Except we're not friends," the woman spat.
She looked at Mitch. "I was just going inside. You too?" Before he
could say anything, she walked away.

Mitch didn't like bullies. "I think the lady
said you should leave."

The man scoffed and turned away. "And the
lady always gets what she wants."

Mitch made sure the other man was out of
sight before he followed the woman inside. "What was that?"

She took hung up her coat. "I'm sorry.
Actually, I’m Miranda, and I usually do a much better job of
keeping my life away from here."