The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (24 page)

Forcing myself to hold eye contact, I nodded. “Steps six and seven.” I sucked in a breath through my nose. Despite all my efforts, I was feeling vulnerable again, and it was wreaking havoc on my emotions. My voice cracked when I whispered, “Thank you, Adam.”

He smiled another soft smile, but shook his head. “Don’t thank me yet. You still have a long way to go, and it’s not going to be easy. Making amends can be both difficult and discouraging.”

“I’m terrified,” I admitted. “But I’m ready. Because of you. So, thank you. Truly.”

“You’re welcome.” His smile quirked into a wicked grin. “Even though you really are a royal pain in the
gluteus maximus
. See you later, Libby.”

With a parting wink, he kicked off from the curb and went sailing down the street with the grace of a skateboarding god. I was in emotional turmoil on the inside, but I smiled as I watched him disappear. I finally knew who he was from the skate park.

Libby

I was still standing in the
driveway, staring after Adam’s retreating figure when my parents came home. Dad, character that he is, pulled into the driveway, nearly tapping me with the front end of his Escalade as he blasted the horn. It startled me so badly I fell backward and landed on my butt. For once, I was grateful for the extra padding. “Dad!” I screamed when he climbed out of the car and all but rolled on the ground with laughter. “You just gave me a freaking myocardial infarction!”

“Really, Sean. Don’t be so immature,” Mom scolded as she offered me a hand up. I took the offered help, but I rolled my eyes at her because she was laughing, too.

After brushing off my palms and my butt, I put my hands on my hips and gave my father a dirty look. “Just for that, I think you owe me two hundred bucks.”

Now Dad did fall to the grass with laughter. “That’s great! You’re so funny. I’m so glad my daughter is back,” he roared, clenching his gut as if it were going to burst. “I really missed your insane sense of humor, honey.”

I shot Mom a deadpan look, and she took pity on me. “I’m sorry, Libby. You’re father’s new line arrived this afternoon, and you know how he gets when he’s in a really good mood.”

I almost forgave him. Dad was starting his own line of boarding products, along with his new store. He’s been working with designers for almost a year getting everything ready. If all the prototypes came in today, it did make a lot of sense why he was being such a man-child.

It also meant that I needed to leave the house. Like, right that second. Because aside from reverting back to his sixteen-year-old self when he was really happy, he also tended to get excited in other disgusting, unspeakable ways, and he was not above making out with my mom and grabbing inappropriate parts of her in front of me if I didn’t make myself scarce quickly enough.

“Right,” I said to Mom, shuddering at the disgusting threat looming in front of me. “I do know how he gets. Don’t even
think
about it!” I snapped as he sneaked up behind my mom. He grabbed her from behind, pinching her sides until she squealed. “Dad, I swear, if you—”

He stuck his tongue in her mouth.

“Why?” I shouted to the heavens. “Why was I born to this lunatic? Seriously, Dad, I’m going to have permanent psychological damage if you don’t stop this instant, and I will totally be sending
you
the bill for any resulting therapy. Do you know how expensive a good therapist is?”

Dad chuckled, but he stopped making out with my mom before he moved to the groping stage, thank heavens. “Okay, okay, fine, you spoilsport. Now what’s this about needing cash?”

I tasted bile in my mouth, but all was not lost. Dad’s pockets were a lot looser when he was in a good mood. I decided to take advantage and gave him my best pout. “The Coffee Man says that part of my spiritual cleansing means I can’t wear my skank clothes anymore. Something about owning myself and only dressing for me, or whatever.”

Mom and Dad both blinked at me, then shared a look of surprise. A wide grin spread across Dad’s face. “You know, I really like that guy.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you do,” I muttered.

When they both started laughing, I screamed and yanked on my hair. “I’m being serious here, people. I know that’s a concept you’re both unfamiliar with, but would you please
try
to act like the adults you are for two seconds? I need your support with this. Adam told me I have to throw out any clothes I bought whilst trying to lure His Holy Hotness into my snare. But if I do that, I’ll have nothing left to wear. The only clothes I kept from my old wardrobe were a couple pairs of jeans and the cat shirt collection. I need new stuff, and buying a new look all at once takes some serious scratch.”

Mom and Dad stopped laughing. Mom was already sold—I could see it in her eyes—but Dad was squinting at me thoughtfully. I couldn’t tell how close he was to giving in, but he was at least considering it. I needed to push him over the edge. “I swear this isn’t a selfish-teenager-irresponsible-give-me-what-I-want thing. It’s for a good cause. Consider it like you’re donating to a charity. The Libby Garrett Reformation Foundation. In supporting this cause, you will be ensuring that I don’t have to go to college in the fall dressed as a hoochie mama, consequently spending my freshman year sleeping around with all the hot college guys.”

Okay, that last bit might have been just a scare tactic for my father. There was no way I’d be sleeping around with tons of hot college guys; I wasn’t that lucky. But dads are always biased, thinking their little girl is the prettiest girl ever and that every man is going to want them. My father is no exception to that rule. His eye twitched a couple times, and I knew I had him.

“Okay,” he said. He opened his wallet and handed me his debit card. My eyes bulged. I reached out, but hesitated to take the card. This had to be a joke. He
never
handed that bad boy over. There had to be a major catch. He physically put the card into my hand. “Get what you need. No limit.”

I choked on disbelief. Literally. I choked.

His lips curved up and his eyes twinkled. “But,” he said, “since I’m buying, I get dad veto rights for once. You have to show me everything you buy before you take the tags off, and you have to return anything I ask you to. Just in case your definition of non-skanky and mine don’t match.”

I could not believe this was happening. “Your terms are acceptable. You have a deal—as long as you don’t charge me interest, because it will probably take me all summer to pay you back—especially at the minimum wage you will be paying me to work in the shop. And seriously, Dad, I have to be able to save up
something
to go to college with.”

He grinned. “You don’t have to pay me back this time.”

I choked again. I think he was trying to kill me. Not that I was complaining this time, but did he have to delight so much in tormenting me?
“WHAT?”

Dad and Mom both laughed. “This is a charitable donation, like you said. You know I’m generous if the cause is right. What more worthy of a cause could there possibly be than supporting the Libby Garrett Reformation Foundation? But I do require a signed contract on your part about that not being a hoochie mama and sleeping around with college guys bit.”

No. He wasn’t joking. I was sure the dork would actually write up a contract along those lines and make me sign it, but at the moment I didn’t care. I threw myself at him and squeezed the life out of him, squealing with delight. Surprisingly, he hugged me back with force, and he wasn’t laughing. All hints of play vanished as he squeezed me in a tight hug. “I’m proud of you, Libby.”

My chest constricted. I’d felt so crappy since the night I realized I’d let my parents down. Knowing I’d regained some of my dad’s approval was an even better gift than the money he was giving me for new clothes. Adam had said I’d need a support system, and now I fully understood what he meant. “Thanks, Dad. I’m sorry I let you down.”

My dad gave me a wry smile. “You’ve never been half the troublemaker I was at your age.”

“That’s true,” Mom chimed in. “Ask your grandparents about the guy who came home at sixteen completely blazed, with a tattoo and a flunking report card, and announced he was dropping out of high school to become a professional ski bum.”

“
What?
I’ve heard a lot of stories, but I’ve never heard that one.”

Dad gave me a sheepish grin. “It wasn’t exactly the example we wanted to set for you. And besides, your mom straightened me out.”

I glanced at my mom. The woman was smiling adoringly at Dad. “I dumped him and told him I wouldn’t date him again until he quit doing drugs and got caught up in his schoolwork.”

Dad grinned. “I got my act together pretty quickly.”

Laughing, I shook my head and hugged them both again. “Thanks, you guys. I have the coolest parents in the world.”

“Yes, you do,” Dad agreed. “Now, get out of here, and don’t come back for at least an hour. I need some alone time with your mom, and the hot tub’s calling my name.”

“DAD! GROSS!”

I shrieked and snatched the keys out of his hand, and they both burst out laughing again. As if my father’s suggestion weren’t damaging enough, as I jumped in the car my mom slipped her arm around my dad’s waist and said, “Make that two hours.”

I threw up in my mouth a little and was still gagging five minutes later when I ended up in front of Tara’s house. She was more than shocked to see me when she answered her door. “Tara!” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh my heck, my parents are home making out in the hot tub right now, and I know you hate me and I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I really, really need you to come to the mall with me and keep me distracted right now because I think I’m going to be sick and I really, really,
really
need to apologize to you.”

Tara stared openmouthed at me as she thought back over everything I’d just blurted out. After processing my words, she frowned a little. “Did you
catch
them?”

I laughed. It was so Tara to skip the awkward and go straight to forgiving, loving friend. I wouldn’t let her get away with that—I
would
apologize properly—but I let it slide for now. “No. They kicked me out of the house and told me that’s what they were going to go do. They told me not to come back for two hours.”

She cringed. “That’s disgusting.”

“I know! Will you come shopping with me? I have my dad’s ATM card and no limit. I have to de-skankify my wardrobe, and you always dress so cute. I could really use your excellent fashion sense.” I paused a minute, and then more sincerely added, “And your company. I miss my friend.”

Tara’s eyes glossed over, and she smiled at me. “Let me get my purse.”

. . . . .

It was such a relief to hang out with Tara. It’d been so long since I just relaxed with another girl and didn’t have to worry about my looks, or what anyone thought about me, or if the person I was spending time with was embarrassed of me or not. I was able to just stroll the mall, being my old self rocking my cat shirt and laughing with my soft-spoken friend. It made me realize just how much I missed my old pre-Owen life.

When Tara suggested we hit the food court and get some dinner, I stopped her. “Are you kidding? I have my dad’s debit card. We’re going somewhere we have to sit down and order from a menu. He owes me for scarring me for life.”

Tara giggled and followed me to Red Robin without complaint. After we were seated and had ordered, I sighed. It was finally time to have the serious talk. “Tara…”

My voice trailed off. I’d been thinking about this all evening, and I still had no idea what to say. How could I ever truly make up for what I’d done to her? I’d been so mad last year when Aiden ditched science club and told Avery he wasn’t going to do a project with her for the science fair. I’d been ready to feed him to a swarm of Dermestes beetles, and that was three months
before
the science fair when they hadn’t even done any work yet. I couldn’t imagine how awful Tara felt being ditched and having to back out of the competition.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I know that’s not nearly enough, but I don’t know what else to say.”