The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (25 page)

Tara sobered up and whispered, “It’s okay.” Her eyes were shining.

I shook my head. “No. It’s not okay. You are an amazing friend and I was the worst
Equus africanus asinus
in the world. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I hope you believe me that I really am mortally sorry. I’ll never forgive myself. But I promise I’ve dumped Owen and I’m trying to fix myself, which I know still doesn’t make up for bailing on you the way I did, but I’m trying.”

Tara sniffled. “I’m sorry about the intervention thing. We didn’t want to hurt you, but we didn’t know what else to do. We were just worried about you. We love you, Libby.”

“I know. I get it now. The Coffee Man has sort of shown me how much I needed to hear it. I’m not mad at you guys. I’m glad you guys all care about me enough to be honest. Can we be friends again? Real friends?”

Tara smiled sadly. “I’ve always been your friend, Libby. And I forgive you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, and a piece of my heart mended back together. “I’m so sorry.”

Tara shook her head. “It’s forgotten.”

I laughed and took a sip of my water. “You’re too nice. I doubt the guys will be as easy to convince.”

Tara grinned. “You might be surprised. They feel terrible about ignoring you. Avery told us all about what you’re doing with your Owen Anonymous rehab. She says you’re killing it like a calculus test, too.”

My whole heart lightened. The Science Squad didn’t hate me. I’d still find a way to make it up to each of them individually, but I would definitely let them take me back as soon as possible. “I am sort of owning it,” I admitted, making Tara laugh.

Our food came then, and after taking my first bite, I looked up to see Tara watching me as if she had something she wanted to say but was too shy. “Spit it out, girlfriend.”

Tara flinched, but then surprised me with a wicked grin. “So, that guy Avery has you working with…is it driving you crazy spending so much time with him? I mean, he’s
so
hot.”

That was the last thing I’d ever expected her to say.
“What?”

She looked at me as if I were obtuse. “A skateboarder with tattoos? Mmm. That guy is the definition of sexy.”

I nearly spit out my food, I was so shocked. “Tara! Are you
kidding
me with this right now?” Not that I didn’t agree with her one hundred percent about the sexy factor of the Coffee Man, but this was
Tara.
Sweet, little, quiet, shy Tara. “I can’t believe it! You’re a closet bad girl!”

Tara blushed and shook her head. “Only in my fantasies.”

I was developing my own crush on my sponsor extraordinaire, and I didn’t exactly want to share him, but I did owe Tara a life-debt, so I swallowed my jealousy and said, “He’s a really awesome guy. I could introduce you, if you want me to.”

Tara’s eyes doubled in diameter, and her face drained of all color. Much to my relief, she shook her head and rejected the offer. “That’s okay. I appreciate his looks, but I think I’d be too scared to ever actually talk to him.”

Adam could be a jerk to me, but he’d be totally sweet to a girl like Tara. But if she didn’t want to go out with him, I wasn’t going to push the issue.

“Actually…” She blushed again.

When she didn’t continue, I said, “Actually, what?”

She chewed on her lip, then mumbled down at her plate, “I sort of like Levi.”

My first instinct was to snort. I loved Levi, I did, but it would take a special kind of girl to date the fantasy-obsessed LARP geek. Tara, though, she loved renaissance faires and historical fiction. That was almost like Middle-earth stuff. The idea of Tara and Levi as a couple had merit.

My phone was in my hand before I even realized what I had in mind.

“Libby? What are you doing?”

I flashed her a devious grin. “Sun Li asked Brandon to junior prom last week.”

“I know. But what’s that—”

“So if Brandon’s going to prom, that means Levi will go too, since they don’t do anything without each other. And I’d be willing to bet Levi still needs a date.”

Tara gasped. “You’re going to ask Levi to the prom?”

“For you, babe. If you want me to…?”

She gasped again, but she didn’t object and finally gave me a tiny, terrified nod. That was all the permission I needed. I dialed Levi’s number and smiled when I heard the video games get turned down before he said hello. “So you’ve finally called to grovel, have you?”

I wanted to say something snarky because his bitterness hurt, but he had every right to be angry, so I swallowed my pride. “I do owe you a groveling session, but I am calling for a different purpose this evening. Prom is coming up and—”

“Galadriel have mercy, she’s asking me to the prom.” His voice became slightly muffled as if he’d pulled the phone away from his mouth. “This is all your fault, Brandon. Tell Sun you can’t go. Libby will have me in a sequined tux with a rainbow tie and cummerbund combo.” He turned his attention back to me. “I’m not wearing that, Libby. No freaking way.”

I snickered. That sounded like an awesome idea. I’d totally do it if I intended to make him go with me. “No, you twit. You’re going to take
Tara
to the prom. Not me. And we saw this amazing pink dress a little while ago that would look dynamite on her, so you can go with traditional black for the tie and cummerbund, and light pink roses for the corsage.”

The phone was once again muffled on the other end of the line, and I heard a series of low murmurs as Levi and Brandon had some kind of grave discussion. While I waited for Levi to come back, I winked across the table at Tara, who was staring at me while gnawing nervously on her bottom lip. Levi returned, growling in an irritated voice. “This isn’t funny, Libby. Why are you telling me to take Tara to prom?”

“Because she
likes
you, you idiot. Only she’s too shy to say anything, and you’re too oblivious to notice. She really wants to go with you. Will you take her to prom?”

The line was so quiet for a moment I thought I might have put poor Levi into cardiac arrest. Then he muttered something in Elvish and cleared his throat. “You’re not messing with me?”

I sighed. “I swear. I know I’ve been a jerk, but I’d never joke about this kind of thing with you. And just because I’m an idiot when it comes to my own relationships doesn’t mean that I can’t see how good you and Tara would be for each other.”

His answering voice was quiet and insecure. “Are you sure? She really likes me? Because, Libby, I have an epic crush on her. Ask Brandon. I’ve been talking about her to him all year. You’d be my hero if you really got her to go to prom with me.”

I was on a roll with the emotions today. Levi hadn’t been straight with me like this for so long. He used to come to me for advice and have heartfelt conversations with me all the time. But it’d been probably close to a year that he’d been nothing but superficial and sarcastic and even spiteful with me. I always wondered what his deal was. I’d never considered that
I
might be the problem.

“Sounds like I need to invest in a cape, then, because I am completely serious. She’s sitting right here with me. Will you ask her to the prom?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I will.” There was another short pause, and then he added a quiet “Thanks, Libby.”

I felt grateful and guilty all at the same time. “Don’t thank me. This is the kind of thing friends are supposed to do for each other. If I hadn’t been so self-absorbed, I’d have noticed it a lot sooner.” I swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry I’ve been a terrible friend, Levi. I’ll do better from now on. I promise.”

He sighed, but I heard a smile in his reply. “It’s good to have you back, Libby.”

I smiled. “It’s good to be back. I’m handing you to Tara now. Rock her world hard, my friend.”

I nearly had to hold the phone to Tara’s ear myself because she was so scared to take the call, but by the time she hung up, she was glowing with happiness. “So?” I asked.

Her eyes glossed over and she let out this half laugh, half sob. “We’re going to the prom.”

She jumped out of her seat and tackled me with a grateful hug. We laughed together and she sniffled a little, which choked me up a lot. This making amends thing wasn’t as bad as Adam made it sound. Yeah, I felt bad about what I’d done, and admitting I was a jerk isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, but seeing Tara so happy and hearing the relief and gratitude in Levi’s voice—having my friends back? It was humble pie served with the sweetest ice cream topped with hot fudge and sprinkles.

Adam

I couldn’t get Libby out
of my head. First, spending Saturday at the snowboarding competition, and then Sunday afternoon with her at her house only made me realize that every instinct I ever had about her was right. Libby was amazing. I’d always crushed on the girl, but I hadn’t really known her before now. It only took me those two days together last weekend to fall and fall
hard
for the crazy freeboarding cat-shirt-wearing Elvis Presley-loving beauty.

She hadn’t come into the shop all week, and I was worried that she was avoiding me. I can be a little too intense—Kate loves to bust me on it. Things had been pretty severe when I left Libby’s house last weekend. She’d asked me to skate with her, and as much as I’d wanted to, I left because I could tell that I’d overwhelmed her too much. She doesn’t like to be vulnerable, and she’d needed a break from me after I’d cracked open her defenses.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone an entire week without seeing Libby at work. I couldn’t help worrying I’d crossed a line with her. I’d been too intense. I’d gotten too close. And I couldn’t help feeling like I’d somehow blown my chances with her. I was such an idiot. Why couldn’t I ever just hold myself back? I needed some serious peace of mind, so after my shift ended Saturday afternoon, I went to the one place that had always been my escape, my sanctuary.

Utah was finally starting to warm up; the skate park was packed since it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I think it was the first real “shorts” weather we’d had this year, not that I ever wore shorts. When skateboarding, eating concrete was inevitable, and it always hurt a lot less when you had a good pair of jeans between your skin and the cement. But, the warmer weather had brought out a real crowd.

I scanned the skaters as I entered the park. Kate was there with her friends. My friends were tearing it up like always, and Joey Stinson and his crew were there. They had their video cameras with them today, which meant they’d brought more friends than normal, because they planned on showing off.

I didn’t mind the crowd. I was the best skater that used our park, and had a certain amount of respect here. I never got much respect anywhere else. It was also easy for me to ignore people. There was something about being on a board that made me lose myself and forget everything else. If I could do it all the time, I totally would. Like every other skateboarder in the world, I had dreams of going pro. But that was just a wild fantasy, and I was content with simply getting to dive into the bowl after a long day of work.

My friend Dex flung himself down next to me when I took a seat on a bench. “What’s up, man?”

I shrugged. “You got a screwdriver? One of my wheels came a little loose on the way over.”

Dex shook his head and yelled across the park to our other friends. “Rafe! You got a screwdriver? Adam’s got a loose wheel.”

“Nah, dude. Sorry.”

I sighed. I really needed to skate today.

“I’ve got one in my bag,” Joey Stinson hollered. “Jenna! Babe! Would you get Adam the pocketknife out of my bag?”

Dex and Rafe both snorted as I shouted my thanks. Our friend CJ joined us, shaking his head with disgust. “Man, that guy is such a kiss-ass.”

“You like how he’s put together his own little film crew now?” Dex added. “As if the videos they’re making are going to get the attention of the pros or something.”

I laughed. “How’s that any different from
our
YouTube channel?”

Rafe snorted. “Easy. We’ve got you, meaning
real
talent.”