Me & My Invisible Guy (31 page)

My dad just lost his job again, and I think we’re really going to lose our house this time.

I feel like everyone in this school hates me.

The guy I’ve been in love with for the past three years doesn’t even know I exist. Maybe that’s why I can’t let go.

I didn’t stop until I had been through the whole stack. Even then I wanted to start over. I had no words.

“I know. I felt that way, too. You could take a secret, rewrite it, and then respond to it in some way. Point them in the right direction. What do you think?”

In the same way that I knew interviews were not for me, I knew this
was
. This was my Step 12.

Life became a blur, and I was too busy even to care that I was still being propositioned in the hallway—usually by Greg and his friends—or getting scowls here and there. I accepted the title of the Virgin Cheerleader. I was going to have to live with it.

We spent hours putting up flyers and working out a thousand little details for the fund-raiser, so I didn’t have much time to feel sorry for myself. But I found myself a little sad during the homecoming parade and game, because everyone was talking about the dance.

Tess got asked to the dance several times. But in her solidarity with me, she opted not to go so she could come to Liam’s concert.

Tess picked me up even though Brian and Darby were going to the same place. Liam was playing at some big youth event. His whole church was going—maybe his mom, too.

I finally settled on my best pair of jeans, knee-high boots, and a belted sweater that was new. I had to go back inside to grab my camera bag because I had promised to record the event for Liam.

I was out of breath by the time I settled in the Jeep next to Tess.

“Got everything this time?”

“I think so.”

“It will be fine. Meeting the parents is never as bad as you imagine it.”

“Not sure that helps.”

“Well, imagine trying to introduce a guy to my mom. Hmmm, should I try when she’s drunk or hung over?”

“Liam’s already met my mom and dad, but it’s because he keeps coming over. Which is nice.”

“Yeah, you should keep him.”

I hoped so. I had no idea what a long-term relationship would look like. But it felt good to try.

We arrived an hour before Liam’s band was supposed to play. The place was already packed. It was at a church, but they had moved all the chairs so everyone was mingling in a wide-open space. The lights were down, and colored lights swirled around the room. It wasn’t homecoming, but it looked fun. Plus, I was here with my best friend, and my boyfriend was in the band. Not too shabby.

The low light wasn’t ideal for taking pictures, so I spent some time adjusting the settings on my camera.

Then I told Tess I was going to look for Liam.
My guy.
I liked the sound of that.

I headed for a door near the stage, but a tall, skinny boy with jet-black hair stopped me.

“Sorry. Band only.”

“I’m with the band,” I told him.

He looked me up and down, then shrugged and let me through. I followed the music and found them all in a
classroom warming up. Liam grinned and set down his guitar when he saw me. I said a quick hello to the other guys and got a kiss from Liam.

I took some pictures of them all together and got a few of Liam warming up. I loved how he looked when he was concentrating.

When a girl opened the door and yelled “Five minutes!” into the room, everyone started gathering their stuff and leaving. Liam got his guitar and put his arm around me as we walked from the room. In the hallway, we saw a woman with reddish hair and glasses. She looked nervous, but she smiled when she saw Liam. He grabbed her in a hug.

She seemed relieved by his reaction.

“Mom, this is Mallory.”

I held out my hand, but she hugged me instead. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Dad’s not here.” Liam said it more as a statement than a question. She shook her head and folded and refolded her gloves.

“He wanted to, but he couldn’t get away.”

Liam drew his lips in a tight line. “I really think it would help if he could see for himself… never mind. I have to get ready. I hope you enjoy it, Mom.” Liam waved and ran off, leaving me standing there with his mom.

“I guess we better go on in,” I said to her.

“Yes, I should find Brian. I believe he’s already here.”

It was only a minute or so before we reached the crowded room. I spotted Brian and Darby toward the back and pointed them out to Liam’s mom. She squeezed my arm and leaned in toward my ear to say thank-you.

It took me a lot longer to find Tess, and by the time I did, someone was onstage introducing the event.

Tess pulled me toward a far wall where it was a little easier to talk. “So?”

I shrugged. “I met his mom. It was quick, and she seemed… uncomfortable.”

“No Dad?”

“No, and Liam seemed upset.”

Tess pointed. The band had just come onstage. “He looks okay now.”

And she was right. Liam’s grin was back as he messed with his guitar and microphone. We listened as Ben introduced the band and explained the long story behind their name: The Yellow Turnips.

“He’ll be all right. Look at how things turned out for Darby.”

“True.”

With a loud opening, they began to play a song that I wasn’t familiar with. It was really catchy. The crowd loved it, and I felt this swell of… pride, I guess. That was Liam up there. My boyfriend.

Liam’s dad was missing out. But maybe he’d realize that eventually.

The band played several sets of music, and in between they had different speakers. I snapped tons of pictures, more of Liam than of anyone else; but I got some good ones of the whole band as they played and sang. I got some great crowd shots by climbing onto a stack of chairs. I was already thinking about the cool posters I could make them for their next concert.

Ben was one of the speakers. He talked about the band’s spiritual roots and even mentioned abstinence. It felt nice to be someplace where I didn’t feel so odd and out of place.

I looked over to where Brian was standing with Darby, his arm around her shoulder, and refocused the camera to snag the shot. I looked at it on the camera and stared.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say my big sis was falling in love.

CHAPTER 25

After the concert it was one long push to the day of the fundraiser.

Darby, Dad, and I got up crazy early so that we could load the SUV with all the camera equipment and get to the warehouse in time to set up everything.

We were still loading the backdrops when Mom came down all dressed. She poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Why are you up so early, honey?” Dad asked.

She took a sip and shrugged with one shoulder. “I figured we had to leave early.” She picked an apple from the basket on the counter and took a bite. “You do need help, don’t you?”

“The more the merrier,” I said.

My mom was definitely still struggling with all the changes in our family, but I knew it was only because she was scared. Scared of losing Darby, me—all of us.

I could understand that. The pictures in my head from that day were still crystal-clear, but I believed Darby had changed. It wasn’t just that she had a new guy or that good things were happening. It’s that Darby was different, deep in her soul.

When we arrived at the warehouse, we immediately set to work setting up the photo station. Both Liam and Brian
came over to say hello, but Tess shuttled them to the stacks of tables so they could start setting up.

It took us a while, but once Dad made it to the point where he was just checking his lighting, I went to find Tess. She was pacing in a corner chewing on her fingernail and staring at a clipboard.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know! I feel like I’m forgetting something major.”

I looked around at all the volunteers. Liam and Brian were setting up rows of tables for the donations to be checked in and sorted. Ben and the other guys from the band were setting up the music equipment. Santa was chatting with my dad. There was plenty of space for everything.

“I don’t think it’s possible that we forgot anything. Everything will be perfect,” I said.

Katie came running over to Tess. “Some people are at the door who are headed out of town, so they want to drop off their donations early. What should I tell them?”

Tess went from frazzled and worried to calm and collected in less than a second. “Tell them to bring them in. We have a station already set up here, so if you don’t mind going through the stuff,…” Tess walked off with Katie.

I went back over to my dad. I turned on the computers and pulled up my files. I was so glad to have a computer job. Tess had agreed that the elf costume would be wasted on me if all I was going to do was sit there and work with photos. I had designed three different frames for the Santa pictures. After my dad took the digital shot, I could position the picture in the frame and print it out. It would cost us less than two dollars for an 8 by 10, but we were charging ten
dollars. That allowed us to have a profit to buy the uniforms but was still cheap enough to make them affordable.

Mom pulled up a chair next to me. “Did you make those?” she asked.

“Mm-hmm. They choose the design from these printed samples.”

“You’re so much like your dad,” she said.

“Thanks.”

“Mallory. This last year, well, I feel like I was so worried about Darby that I forgot to watch out for you.”

“I’m okay.”

“I know, but I want you to know that I’m here, and that I’m going to try harder.”

“You know, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen the way it did. But…”

“But things turned out pretty well,” she finished. “I guess… change is hard for me, and we had a system. Even though the system wasn’t working—for any of us.” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. “I’m so proud of you—you know that, don’t you?”

“I do now.”

“Excuse me? We’ve got people lining up here, ladies,” Darby scolded us playfully.

Mom smiled at me the way she used to, and I felt all cozy inside. She stood up. “I guess we better get busy then.”

And we did. Darby and Mom handled the order forms and the money while Dad and I handled the pictures and printing. We worked as a team, and every once in a while I’d look around at Mom or Darby or my dad and allow myself a moment of amazement that we had come so far.

Liam and the guys made everything Christmasy with the
music, and they got a bunch of kids to dance to “Jungle Bell Rock.” I tried to watch and make sure Tess was okay, but she was in her in-charge mode, and even I wasn’t going to mess with that.