Tethered (Book Two of The Invisible String Series)

Thanksgiving: Part One

The car door opens, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I smile as I watch the teenager toss her duffle bag across the seats before following after it. "'Sup, losers?"

"Hi, Liv! Hope you don't mind that I brought Scarlett with me instead of Lizzie."

Olivia instantly freezes, confirming my suspicions that she hadn't realized Scar was present just yet, before slowly turning to look over at my best friend. "Holy..."

Scar, in obvious Scarlett Johanson fashion, just smirks. "Hi, Olivia. It's nice to meet you."

The teen turns her attention back towards me, still looking a little shocked. "You could have warned me!"

Chuckling, I motion for her to buckle up before I turn back around in my own seat. "There wasn't time. Are you going to do that all day? Because there are a lot of famous people at my house and they're going to think you're broken if you're just standing there staring at them the whole time."

There's a groan from the backseat that only causes me to smile more. It's become my new favorite pastime to watch the usually smooth teenager practically stumble over herself around all the famous people I introduce her to. "Just bury me in your backyard then, after I die from embarrassment."

"Okay. Lizzie will probably just use you for fertilizer for her garden."

The teenager laughs, and from the corner of my eye I notice the smile Scarlett is wearing as she stays silent and listens in to us. The rest of the car ride is spent with Liv asking Scar a thousand and one questions, all of which my best friend answers. I only butt in when we arrive back at the house, and I notice that there are a few more cars in our driveway than there were when we left. Which just means that the last few people we were waiting for have no doubt arrived.

Opening my car door, I step out and stretch, wincing a little when the healing scars on my side pull. "Liv, you can annoy Scarlett with more questions later."

The teenager practically presses herself up against the window, eyes wide as Scarlett goes inside ahead of us. "Wow. This is a nice house."

I open the back door where she is, laughing when the teenager has to catch herself on the door frame to keep herself from falling onto the asphalt. "My bad. Are you ready to go in?"

The teen hesitates, both of her hands tightly gripping onto the strap of her bag, looking suddenly unsure of herself and so much younger than sixteen. "What if...what if they don't like me?"

With a sad smile because her words have broken my heart into a thousand pieces, I pull the teenager into me, wrapping my arms tightly around her. "They're all going to love you. And if for some reason they don't, I'll have Lizzie kick their asses."

That earns me a light laugh out of the younger girl as she hugs me back, head tucked into my chest. "Lizzie wouldn't hurt a fly."

Pulling away, I make sure to keep one arm wrapped around her shoulders as I lead the both of us up the driveway and into the house. "You haven't seen her pissed off yet. She can be really scary."

Just as I thought, the house is fuller than when I left it, and I automatically pull the teenager off in the direction of the living room after we leave her bag by the bottom of the stairs. We spend a good few minutes in there, letting Olivia introduce herself to everyone before we're stumbling into the kitchen. The only people we were waiting for were the twins, and I break off from the teenager to greet them when they met us in the doorway.

MK is the first to reach me, wrapping her arms around me in a bone crushing hug that lasts a total of two seconds before she's pulling away and glaring at me. "What the hell were you thinking?!"