The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (31 page)

Okay, I know he yelled at me before for the dirty talk, but I couldn’t resist. “Your birthday suit would be totally acceptable.” I dragged my eyes slowly up and down his frame. “More than acceptable.”

No lecture on self-respect this time. Oh no. I got the opposite. Silence. He stared me down with a clenched jaw and dilated pupils. His body leaned forward—probably of its own volition—and he cocked his head to the side, cracking his neck. “Don’t tempt me, Libby. I have less control than you think I do.”

Those were definitely the wrong words to say to me. “Sounds promising.”

I needed to get out of there right that second, or I was likely to hop the counter and jump him. I gave him a parting wink and called to Avery as I headed for the door. “I’ll wait for you outside. It’s getting a little too hot in here.”

Adam

I knew I was in trouble
when Libby came into the shop with Avery and Grayson. I’d never seen anyone look better. I’d expected her to wear some short supertight shiny hooker dress, but she’d gone the elegant route. Her shoulders were bare with her hair twisted up, exposing her neck and a whole lot of her smooth, creamy skin. The sight of it made my mouth dry.

The top half of her dress was black and hugged her frame, covering her tastefully, yet still low enough to make it hard to look away from her. Then the bottom of the dress fanned out at the waist with this pale pink puffy gown that fell to the floor. The middle where the two colors collided was covered in sparkly jewels that matched her shoes. She also had some of those sparkly things woven into her hair. She was gorgeous.

Josiah slid up beside me, chuckling. “Go say hello.”

After I came out from behind the counter to greet her, Libby grinned at my reaction and took a spin. “Hot, right?”

I shook my head. “
Hot
is not the right word. Not even close. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Stunning.” Nothing seemed like enough.

Libby’s smile grew. “Smooth, Coffee Man.”

“It’s true.” I forced my eyes away from her to smile at Avery. Avery was wearing purple and looked as cute as ever. “You look beautiful, too,” I told her as she lightly hugged me. “You’re a lucky guy, Grayson.”

Grayson’s face brightened and he pulled Avery back to his side. I’d never seen a guy look more proud. “The luckiest.”

They looked so good together all dressed up. And Libby looked so amazing. It was the first time in my life I wished I had a fancy suit to put on and cash to burn on dinner and dance tickets. Libby deserved a real prom night. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Are you sure you don’t want to go with them tonight? I don’t want you to miss your prom.”

She glanced wistfully out the door at the limo waiting to take Grayson and Avery to the prom, but smiled as she shook her head. “Going stag just wouldn’t be the same, but it’s all right. I got to get all dressed up, my parents took a bazillion pictures, Avery and Grayson gave me a ride here in their limo, and I have a very sexy date for the evening. It may not be the actual prom, but it is definitely the next best thing. Especially since we aren’t going to miss out on anything promish.” Her smile turned devious and she handed me a DVD case. It had a bunch of high school kids on it and one word typed in big, obnoxious letters: PROM.

“A Disney movie?” I flipped the case over to read the summary. It was one sentence long: A group of teenagers get ready for their high school prom. “Huh. That’s…”
Horrifying.

“We may not get to go to the dance,” Libby said, “but we will still experience the awesomeness that is prom.”

It took a lot of effort to keep bile from rising up my throat, but I had no problem cringing. “Are you serious about this?”

Libby and Avery both laughed while Grayson offered up a sympathetic grimace. “Good luck.”

“Oh, we’re watching it, Coffee Man. And if you don’t have to work too early in the morning, we can do a double feature. I have a second movie all picked out.”

My heart skipped a beat in panic. Was she serious? She couldn’t possibly be serious. “I have the day off tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter.” I held up the DVD. “I’m not going to survive this masterpiece of trash. There’s no way I could make it through two of them.”

“Even if the second one is this?”

She held up
Carrie
, and I laughed. “That is much better. Why don’t we just watch that one?”

I tried to take the second movie from her, but she snatched it out of my reach. “No way. This one, my friend, is your reward for suffering through the first one with me.”

I sighed, but inside I was happy that she’d considered my chick-flick tolerance to some degree. Still, I could think of a much better reward for watching her stupid prom movie—especially with her looking the way she did. I’d told myself we couldn’t go there, but I was starting to forget why I thought that. “Okay, well I’m off in about twenty minutes. If you don’t mind hanging out, we can—”

“Oh,
hell
no,” Grayson interrupted. His eyes were focused on the group of kids coming through the door. “No, no, no, no, no! Brandon! What the hell is that?”

The group that had just come in was the rest of Libby’s science team. I’d hardly recognized them all dressed up in their formal wear. Grayson was gesturing to Brandon’s tux. I swear on my life the thing was powder blue and flooded at the ankles. Brandon tugged at the lapels of the monstrosity and pulled his shoulders back. Standing tall and proud, he smiled at Grayson and said, “This is cool. It’s vintage.”

I laughed. The guy definitely had some balls if he was really going to show up at a social function with all of his classmates in that thing. Grayson didn’t find it as amusing. Slapping a hand over his face, he groaned. “No. It’s dorky. Extremely dorky. You’re my boy and all, B-Man, but I only have a certain level of geek tolerance. I’m not sure, even graduated, that I can be seen at school with you when you look like that.”

Grayson was dead serious, but somehow the criticism wasn’t hurtful. Everyone, including Brandon, cracked up. Brandon patted Grayson’s shoulder. “News flash, Grayson. You’re a science major. You’re one of us geeks, and everyone knows it.”

Grayson groaned again. “At least take the jacket off.”

I wasn’t sure why such an amused smile crossed Brandon’s face, until he took off his jacket. I blinked several times just to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was. Brandon’s white dress shirt was ruffled. RUFFLED.

Grayson’s jaw dropped all the way to the ground.
“Are you shitting me with this, Brandon?”

“What? This was my grandpa’s tux. It’s classic.”

“It’s
hideous!
” Grayson said. “Dude. I change my mind. Put the jacket back on.
Please.
”

I don’t know what was more entertaining—Brandon’s suit or Grayson’s horror. We all burst into ridiculous laughter and didn’t stop until someone came through the door and said, “Sounds like the party’s already started.”

Damn it all to hell! What was Owen doing here? The guy was a douche, a total prick. He didn’t care about Libby. So why was he standing there dressed like he was headed to the prom with everyone else? Was he really here to take Libby to the dance? Why was he fighting so hard for a girl he was embarrassed to be seen with? Didn’t he realize this would count as a public appearance together? As her date? Like, as a couple?

My thoughts were screaming at me so loudly that I didn’t notice how silent the room had fallen. Everyone was staring at Owen, just as shocked as I was. Libby looked like she might actually faint.

Owen scanned the group of kids with a bit of a cringe, but then his eyes landed on Libby and stuck there. The appreciation in his eyes surprised me. I guess I’d always known he was attracted to her on some level because he had no problem taking her to bed, but it was different
seeing
that attraction. Libby noticed it too, and her eyes grew even wider.

Owen’s gaze flicked to me and narrowed for a brief second, before he took Libby’s hand. “Can we talk?” he muttered.

Libby bobbed her head up and down and followed Owen to a corner of the room. Most of the group stared at them, but both Avery and Grayson looked my direction. I couldn’t meet their gazes. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew I was about to get ditched.

Unable to handle Avery’s and Grayson’s pity, I grabbed the coffee pot and made the rounds, offering warm-ups to the few customers in the shop making use of the free wi-fi. Libby was waiting for me at the counter when I returned. “Would you hate me?” she asked.

Owen was standing with Grayson now, but his eyes were burning holes into me. As if he had any right to be jealous? Asshole. I know I’ve said that before, but some things are worth repeating.

Libby didn’t look torn with indecision; she looked apologetic. She’d already made her decision. Didn’t take her long. Unable to trust myself not to say something stupid, I shrugged.

I guess it was my turn to be dragged to the corner for a private conversation. As soon as we were out of earshot from everyone, Libby looked at me with desperate eyes. “Adam, I’m sorry. I don’t want to cancel, but it’s
prom
. I’ve dreamed of this my whole life, and for the last year, I’ve pictured Owen being my date. He’s willing to go. He doesn’t want to, but he’s doing it for me because he knows it means a lot to me. He’s got tickets, and dinner reservations, and he even rented us our own limo.”

And a nice hotel room, no doubt.

“He went all out,” she continued, her voice pleading for understanding. “He did it for
me
.”

I ground my teeth together and bit back a number of snarky replies. I’d promised I’d do better to keep my personal feelings out of this. “I understand that it’s your prom,” I said, once I could speak calmly. “I know how much you want to go, and I’d love to see you go and enjoy yourself.” Relief and a look of pure joy washed over her…until I added, “With your
friends
.”

I ignored the pout she gave me. No way was I going to let her off the hook easily with this one. I tried to keep my voice indifferent. “Canceling on me aside, it’s not a good idea. Every addict is faced with temptation eventually. You’ve got to learn to say no.”

“But he made an effort.”

I sighed. “He made an effort because you cut off the sex. You wounded his pride, rejected him. Twenty bucks says he shelled out the cash for a nice hotel room tonight and will ask you to leave with him less than half an hour after you get to the dance.”

Libby’s face fell, as if I’d crushed all her hopes. Then it flushed red with rage. “I know you think he’s a waste of space, and you think that people can’t change, but I don’t believe that. He showed up. He’s willing to go to the dance as my date. This is beyond huge for him. I like you, Adam, I really do, but I like him, too. You know I do. That’s what this whole thing has been about. I don’t want to cancel on you, but the effort he’s making tonight deserves respect. He deserves a chance to prove he’s changed. And it’s my prom. If it weren’t prom, I’d tell him no.”

My hands fisted at my sides and I clenched my so tightly my head started to ache. I took several deep breaths. I couldn’t speak. Nothing good would come out of my mouth right now.

Libby’s expression softened. “Please try to understand. Think about it from my point of view. You said you’d try to keep your personal feelings out of it.”

I tried not to react. I swear on all things holy I tried to keep quiet. I tried. And I failed. “I
can’t
keep my personal feelings out of it,” I snapped. “This
sucks
, Libby! You’re not just ditching me; you’re ditching me for an asshole who is going to
hurt
you.”

Libby returned my anger. Or maybe it was just frustration. “You don’t
know
that! You’re jealous, and it’s keeping you from looking at this rationally.”

I knew she was upset and feeling defensive. I could even understand what this looked like in her eyes. It was the fairy-tale ending where her dream man changed for her. Chicks live for that kind of shit. But
shit
is exactly what it was. Guys don’t do that in real life. Especially not guys like Owen. She was going to get burned.