The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (30 page)

Adam took a breath and leaned against the small table, folding his arms as he studied me. “And this is driving you crazy?” he asked in a calm voice. “Why?”

“Are you kidding? I never expected Owen to fight so hard for me. I never expected him to fight for me at all. But he is. His apology text from Grayson’s phone was so sweet. And he asked me if I would give him a second chance. He asked if I would go out with him to dinner and a movie with Avery and Grayson. He’s never asked me to do something with anyone else before. That’s
huge
.”

Adam was quiet for a minute, leaning like a statue against that table as he worked through everything I’d said. He took a breath. “How did you respond to his text?” he asked. “Did you go out with him? Are you going to?”

I laughed, but there was more bitterness in it than humor. “I freaked out on Avery. That’s how I learned he’s been asking her and Grayson to see me. I got pissed that she was keeping that information from me. We got in an argument over it.”

Adam’s face softened. He pulled out a chair from the table and sat. “Why would you get so angry after Owen hurt you so much? Owen isn’t worth a fight with your best friend.”

I gritted my teeth. “Not the Owen I dated all year, no. But an Owen willing to change? Willing to fight for me, and willing to admit we’re dating? Go out together with our friends? If he could get past his issues with my looks, and start acting like a real boyfriend, then he would be worth it.”

Adam scoffed. “That’s the problem right there. He shouldn’t have to get past his issues with your looks. If he were the right guy for you, he wouldn’t
have
any issues with your looks. He would love you for exactly who you are, and he would be
proud
of that. He doesn’t deserve you, Libby.”

Not wanting to get in a fight with Adam right now, I lay back on the couch and glared at the ceiling. I understood what he was saying. It was a romantic notion, but it sounded like a dream. Nobody was perfect. Nobody was going to love every single thing about the person they dated. That was an unrealistic expectation.

“But he deserves a chance, doesn’t he? If he’s really willing to change, then he deserves the chance to try.”

Adam shook his head once and scoffed again. “Guys like him never change.”

At that, adrenaline wooshed through me, filling me with rage. I sat up and gave Adam my version of Superman’s laser eyes. Maybe I couldn’t burn a hole in him, but he’d sure as heck know I was trying to. “You are such a hypocrite. Isn’t the twelve-step program all about changing yourself? Wasn’t the point of my intervention to make me see what I was doing wrong and then give me a chance to make up for my mistakes? If I deserve a chance to make things right with my friends, then why doesn’t Owen? I finally called him out on all his horse pucky. I finally gave him an ultimatum, the same way my friends gave me one. And now he’s trying to change. Judge him all you want, but you have to respect his efforts, or you are nothing but a sexy package full of feces. You can’t decide to help me and then judge him.”

Adam’s jaw clenched again, but this time it didn’t unclench. He stared back at me with as much heat in his eyes, and I had fire in mine. Shoving to his feet, he walked across the room to the small set of employee lockers. He looked like he was considering slamming his fist into them, but instead he whirled around and leaned against them. His hands sliced through his hair again.

“You’re missing the whole point of this, Libby! No one is trying to
change
you. We’re trying to help you get back to the person you are on the inside. The person you are in your heart. Addiction changes people. It makes them slaves to it and turns them into something they aren’t. If you take the addiction away, and the person can clear their mind, they can get back to themselves. Owen’s not the one with the addiction. Owen is who he is. In his heart, in his core, he is a selfish, shallow player. He might try to get things right with you, but he won’t ever completely change. They say a zebra can’t change his stripes for a reason. You can’t change the person you are inside. Not really.
You
are a person worth fighting for, worth trying to help, and worth giving second chances to.
He’s
not. He’ll just end up hurting you again.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not. I didn’t like to think that Owen was unsavable. He didn’t have everything completely together, but he wasn’t a totally bad guy. He wasn’t unredeemable. He just didn’t understand what was really important yet, that’s all. Owen was immature. Once he fell in love with someone, he’d see that there was more to it than looks and what his friends thought. No. Adam was wrong. People
can
change. Maybe it’s rare, but I believed it was possible.

Folding my arms to match Adam’s defiant position, I huffed. “I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “So what are you going to do, then? Are you going to take him back? Go out with him? Did you already? How did you respond to his text?”

I shot to my feet, pissed off now beyond rationality. “No!” I shouted. “I didn’t take him back. You want to know what I did when I got that text? I
deleted
it. I wanted nothing more than to answer him and go out with him, but I
didn’t.
Instead, I went and found someone to distract me. Someone I knew would help me remember why I was trying to keep away from Owen. Someone who was fun, and who liked me, and made me feel good about myself. Someone who made me stronger as a person. I asked him to help me skate, and I had an
amazing
day that ended with a mind-blowing kiss. And in the end, I didn’t regret ignoring Owen. By the end of the night, I didn’t even
miss
him.”

Adam’s eyes flashed with shock, and then, in an instant, all of the anger left him. His face softened into that emotionally overwhelmed look he gets sometimes.

I was still angry, but I managed to speak my next words calmly. “You asked for honesty, and I gave it. Don’t get all bent out of shape with me because the truth isn’t what you want to hear. Yeah, maybe I’m not completely over Owen. Maybe I feel hope when I see him working so hard to win me back. What girl wouldn’t? Maybe I want to believe he can change, because I cared about him. Pathetic as that is to you. Despite all his flaws, I truly cared about him. Maybe it’s stupid, but this is hard for me.
You’re
the one who warned me it would be. I’m not perfect, but I’m doing my best.”

Adam shut his eyes for a moment, and when they opened again he crossed the room to me in three short strides. His hands gently clasped my cheeks, and he stared down at me with a new kind of fire in his eyes. This wasn’t anger. This was passion.
“I’m sorry.”

He packed so much power in those two words that they shattered my defenses and dug their way deep into my heart. He smoothed my hair back off my face in an action so tender I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand. My anger melted away.

“I’m an ass,” he said suddenly. I opened my eyes again, surprised. He met my gaze with a self-loathing smirk. “I’m a short-tempered, emotional ass. And I’m way too biased when it comes to you. There’s a reason I didn’t want to agree to this at first. I get too worried for people I care about, and I act before I think.”

I stood there, trapped in his apologetic gaze with my face clutched in his soft hands, and felt myself warming from the inside out. Our fight was forgotten.

“Yes, the truth wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I shouldn’t have yelled at you for it. Of course this is hard for you, and of course you aren’t going to be perfect at it. I
know
that. And I admire your courage and willingness to try. I admire your strength. You’re doing a
great
job. I’m sorry my personal feelings got in the way of my better judgment. I’ll try to do better next time.”

His thumb brushed my cheek, lingering just a second too long every time it neared the corner of my mouth. The feeling was completely Lucky Charms (magically delicious). Then his hands slid back into my hair, and he pulled me to his chest for a hug. I melted. Utterly and completely melted in his sweet embrace. If this was what an apology from Adam Koepp was like, then maybe I didn’t want him to do better next time. I might even have to start picking fights with him just so that we can make up more often.

“Am I forgiven?” he whispered.

I sighed a contented sigh and wrapped my arms around his waste, hugging him back. “You’re forgiven. And I’m sorry I yelled, too.”

We held each other a moment longer, and as much as I didn’t want to break the silence, I knew Adam needed to get back to work. “So, Coffee Man, if we’re done fighting, will you please open your present now?”

Letting go of Adam took all of my willpower, but I released him and reached for the gift bag I’d set on the table. When I placed it in his hands, he looked down at it as if it might bite him. “You’re supposed to open it,” I teased. A giggle escaped me. He was adorable sometimes.

He frowned at me, but not because he was unhappy. It was as if he simply couldn’t understand, or accept that this was for him. “Why did you get me a present?”

As cute as he was, the moment was sort of heartbreaking. Had no one ever given him a gift before? I’d always had the impression that Adam didn’t receive a lot of attention, but this seemed deeper somehow, and it made me doubly glad I’d done this. I tried to play it casual, since he looked so insecure at the moment. “Why not?” I shrugged. “We’re friends now, right? And, thanks to you, I talked my dad into handing over his credit card for a shopping spree. I saw this and thought of you.”

Gulping, he continued to stare at the gift. “Um…thanks.”

He pulled the tissue paper out of the bag with excruciating slowness, but eventually he grabbed the sweatshirt inside and unfolded it. “To replace the one you gave me,” I said softly. “When I saw it, it reminded me of your tattoo sleeves, which are inktaculuar, by the way.”

Adam glanced at his arms and then held up the sweatshirt. It was black with a wicked white and silver art decal covering the entire thing. It was also a couple sizes smaller than his old one. It would fit him better. I hoped he was okay with that.

I waited while he examined the gift, praying that he liked it. I really, really wanted him to like it. He looked up at me and mumbled, “This is awesome. Thank you.”

An unexpected wave of insecurity hit me. “I know it doesn’t mean the same to you as the other one, but—”

“Yes, it does.” He spoke with startling force, and I snapped my mouth shut. That was the only response I had time for before he grabbed my hand. “There are only two people in my life who have ever done something this nice for me. It means more to me than you know. And it’s perfect. Thank you, Libby.”

As if realizing he was being über intense again, Adam immediately checked himself. He let go of my hand and took a step back, letting out a long breath. “I really need to get back out there. He looked at the hoodie again before carefully hanging it up on the rack. “Thank you, Libby.”

I managed a small smile this time. “You’re welcome.”

After we walked back out into the shop and Adam dutifully took up his post at the register, I waited until there was no one in line and then came to join him. When Adam gave me a questioning look, I grinned at him. “Lucky you, you get to be graced with my magnanimous presence for a while longer yet, as Avery is, once again, my ride home and is not finished educating your sister.”

That earned me a crooked smile that made my heart do a backflip.

“So,” Adam said, “this Saturday’s your big dance, right? Did you ever find some poor shmuck to be your plaything?”

I sighed. “No. But I found a date for Tara. How unfair is that?”

Another crooked smile. Another flutter.

“Maybe not fair, but it was very nice of you. And unselfish.”

“I know. I’m completely sparkly like that.”

Adam’s slightly-amused grin turned into a full-fledged happy smile, taking a few years off his looks. “Unicorn sparkly. I remember.”

The boyish grin thing worked for him. It truly did. “Don’t mock the power of the unicorn, Adam. That is a serious offense.”

“I would never dream of doing such a thing, Libby. I’m sure unicorn magic is serious business.”

I wanted to keep a straight face—I swear I did. But I couldn’t. I have no idea how he accomplished it. “Okay, stop. Enough. My cheeks hurt. Were you serious about renting prom movies?”

He nodded, adorable grin still in place. “Unless I can talk you into a good suspense/thriller, or even a horror.”

I actually love horror, but I was not going to pass up the opportunity for an alterna-prom. “Not a chance. And I’m totally wearing my dress, so you’d better dress up nice, too. And you can’t smell like coffee.”

Adam burst out laughing so loud that several of his customers looked our way. Avery and Kate watched us like we were a couple of lions on the Nature Channel in a show about mating season. They looked fascinated, and Kate looked slightly horrified at the same time.

“For you,” Adam said, “I think I can manage a shower after work. But just so you know, I consider anything besides this uniform to be ‘dressing nice.’ I don’t own a suit or anything.”