The Smartest Girl in the Room

by Deborah Nam-Krane

  "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 e
ven 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.

  CHAPTER 4

  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.

  ~~~

  When she opened them, there was a steaming mug of tea in front of her and Mitch was sipping his coffee.

  She sat up and blinked. "How long have I been sleeping?"

  "Five minutes."

  "Ugh." She sipped her tea. He’d put just a little milk and sugar in. She smiled. She really liked him.

  "What’s your plan with Zainab?"

  "I don’t know." She looked up to see him smiling at her. She wished they could stay there all day. "Care to make a wager as to what time she got back last night?"

  Mitch looked at his watch. "I’m going with three-thirty only because everything is closed by then."

  "What about the frat party?"

  "Hmm. That could have gone a little longer. Maybe we should call her."

  After about eight rings, Zainab picked up. "Hello?" Mitch said after waiting thirty seconds in silence.

  "Mitch?" a voice finally managed.

  "Zainab, is everything alright?"

  "Everything’s alright."

  "Where did you guys end up last night?"

  "Last night? Where did we end up?"

  "Did you go to the club?"

  "The club."

  "Did you go anywhere else?"

  "Anywhere."

  Mitch looked at Emily, then back at the phone. "Where are you now?"

  "Now."

  "Zainab, what are you doing right now?"

  "Talking to you."

  "Right, but where?"

  There was silence for a moment. "Um, on the wall."

  "Why are you on the wall?"

  "Because it’s flat and I can sit."

  "Why don’t you go to bed?"

  "It’s too far away."

  "Okay, Zainab, you go back to sleep, okay?"

  "But I am sleeping."

  He hung up. "I think she made it to the frat party. I’m not sure how she made it home."

  "What was that about a wall?"

  "I think she fell asleep on the wall."

  Emily stood up. "Let’s go."

  Twenty-five minutes later, they pulled up in front of Zainab’s apartment. Mitch looked at Emily for minute. She bit her lip and kept her gaze on his mouth. "So," he said at last. "Friday night. The dork from your favorite class."

  "You are going to be so unthreatened, you’ll be disappointed."

  "Just so you know, I think the word you’re looking for is ‘relieved’."

  She smiled and shook her head. "Why don’t you help me with these bags?"

  She buzzed Zainab’s apartment. No answer. She buzzed again, growling in frustration. She buzzed one more time, and finally Zainab answered. "Hello?"

  "Hello, study buddy!" The door buzzed after a second, and Emily pushed it open. Mitch pushed in her bags.

  "Do you want me to help you upstairs with those?"

  "I don’t think Zainab’s awake enough to process that."

  He looked down at his feet. "So I’ll see you on Friday?"

  "Yeah," she nodded quickly. "Next weekend- I mean, part of next weekend-"

  "Next weekend sounds good." He looked up.

  A thousand things she wanted to say. She settled on: "Yeah, sounds good," then lightly tapped his shoulder as she turned to walk in. "Thanks for dinner, sort of, and the ride."

  "Next time will be even better," he said as he walked away.

  Emily couldn’t wait.

  CHAPTER 5

  Friday was a good day, because on Thursday he had to attend an organizing meeting for his trip to Ireland. It was the first time all of the participants were scheduled to meet, and afterwards they were going to dinner. He had been looking forward to this before, but now he wished he could get out of it. Or maybe bring Emily with him. But that would be weird, especially since he hadn’t said anything about Ireland yet.

  The more he thought about it as he drove back, the more he thought that three months wasn’t a big deal, and that Ireland wasn’t so far away. He could call, she could call, they could Skype. It could be done. And maybe it was better that way, because they could take it slowly. And then when he came back... he smiled.

  His mother looked at him with a mixture of relief and exasperation when he finally walked in the door at eleven. "Jesus, Mitch! Where have you been?"

  "I’m fine. I might need to be hospitalized if you offered me some coffee, but otherwise I’m fine."

  "Okay," she said slowly, glancing at him sideways. "Do you want something to eat?"

  He touched his stomach and turned away in disgust. "Right now, all I want to do is sleep until tomorrow." He climbed the stairs to his room then fell onto his bed face down.

  ~~~

  Mitch woke up at six-thirty that night. He changed his clothes then came down to dinner.

  "Everything all set?" his father asked as Mitch munched some bread.

  "Still all set," he mumbled between bites.

  His father cast his eyes down as he smiled, and Mitch smiled a little to himself as well. His trip was as important to his father as it was to him. "So, dad, any places I need to go while I’m there?"

  "I don’t know. Your grandmother told me the same stories so many times that I got used to tuning out the details," he laughed. "Just make sure you get to County Cork, and tell them you’re from the Rowley’s line. You should be just fine."

  "Good enough," Mitch said as he resumed working on his bread.

  CHAPTER 6

  Emily had let Zainab sleep for three m
ore hours before they studied. She could have used the sleep too, but instead she showered, changed and straightened Zainab’s apartment. When Zainab woke up, Emily had lunch ready. "Why do I let you leave again?" Zainab asked as she started to eat.

  "So you can sleep on the wall?"

  "What?"

  "Your phone call with Mitch?"

  "What call with Mitch?"

  "Very funny."

  "No, you’re the joker here. What are you talking about?"

  Emily laughed but stopped when she saw the serious look on Zainab’s face. "Do you really not remember talking to Mitch on the phone and telling him you were sleeping on the wall?" Zainab looked stunned. "What time did you- oh screw that. How did you get home?" Emily asked.

  Zainab opened her mouth as if she were going to say something then closed it. She sat back. "I don’t know," she said after a moment.

  "Okay, Ms. Pharmacy Major, is that what you call a blackout?"

  "Stop."

  "I’m not going to stop. You’re scaring me and I don’t want you to do it again."

  "Good, I’m not going to."

  "Good, because if you do, I’m going to follow you around and be your designated Jiminy Cricket."

  "And that’s different from the usual how?"

  "It’s different because if I always did that we’d be studying now."

  They were heads down in their books for the next five hours. Emily quizzed Zainab on her toxicology notes before they broke for dinner. Through her own exhaustion, Emily could tell that Zainab, once she got going, was really into chemical interactions and the effects on the body. The theory of it at least.

  "So you haven’t told me about what happened last night," Zainab said as she ate the pasta and broccoli Emily made for dinner.

  "We talked, we ate bread and cheese, we talked, we got mochas, we talked, we got cannoli and espressos, we talked, we fell asleep on a bench. You know- your typical Friday night out."

  "That sounds kind of romantic."

  "Everything but the caffeine."

  "And...?"

  "And nothing. That’s it. Then we stumbled back to the Pru and found out you were sleeping on your wall."

  "Anyway! Now what?"

  Emily looked down at the table. "How would you like to go to Drew’s party with us next Friday?"