Page 105 of Late Bloomer
Pepper steps in front of me now. “No, this is actually massively creepy and fits rather closely to the definition of stalking.”
Laney’s jaw drops. “Oh myGod, get over yourself. We’re notstalkingher. I’m her best friend,” Laney says, squaring off to Pepper.
“We have a thing,” Miles adds dully, giving me a lazy smile.
“Hada thing,” I whisper with an appalled shudder.
“Tracking down someone’s location and forcing them to see you is pretty much the literal definition of stalking,” Pepper says, standing to her full height, looking down on both of them. “So I suggest you get the fuck off my property and away from my girlfriend before I act within my rights to remove you myself.”
All the air is sucked from the earth, and I stare at Pepper with my mouth hanging open, heart pounding so hard against my chest I’m worried it’s going to rip out of there and launch itself at her.
Pepper, at her core, is one of the biggest softies I’ve ever met. She’s the poster child for still waters running deep, nothing but warmth and bubblegum-pink love under that beautiful, but intimidating, exterior. But, as she towers over everyone, hermouth a strict line, jaw set and fists clenched at her sides, she might just be the scariest person on the planet.
I love her so much for it.
“Opal, are you going to let her talk to me like that?” Laney takes a step toward us. “I’m about to—”
It’s my turn to move in front of Pepper. I come to Laney’s shoulder, but it doesn’t matter; no one is going to charge at my girl.
“You listen to me and you listen good, because I’m only going to say it once. If you even breathe in Pepper’s general direction again, I will not rest until I have personally and profoundly ruined your life. You’ve spent the entirety of our friendship walking all over me, and that ends here and now because I’ll be damned if you use that foul mouth to threaten her. Now, you better do as you’re told and get lost before things get ugly. Understood?”
Laney gapes, blinking at me for a solid thirty seconds.
“Am I understood?” I echo, jabbing my finger against her chest.
She nods, features fixed in a frown as she takes a step back. I follow her until her back is pressed against her van door. I keep my eyes glued to hers as she fumbles with the handle, then squeezes herself inside the driver’s seat.
“Same goes for you, Miles,” I say, rolling my eyes as he slow-blinks at the scene. He nods and gets in the van.
“You’ve turned into a real fucking bitch, Opal,” Laney says through the protection of the van window.
“Takes one to know one,” I spit back. Not my sickest burn by any means, but I have so much adrenaline pumping through me I’m about to pass out if this doesn’t wrap up soon. “And lose my number,” I add.
Laney flips me off as she peels down the gravel driveway, and I shoot the gesture right back. I giggle as I glance over my shoulder and see Pepper doing the same.
Real classy broads, the pair of us.
Stillness slowly settles back over the farm, and my knees almost buckle as the events of the morning rush into me like a tidal wave.
But Pepper’s there, hand on my lower back, pulling me toward her. Hugging me close.
And I hug her right back because it’s Pepper and she’s perfect and I want to stay here forever.
But I’m not sure I can. Should. I’m taking up space I don’t have a right to.
“You okay?” Pepper asks, releasing me and stepping away. I sway toward her, but resist the urge to reach out.
I want to tell her I’m fine. That I’m sorry for one more mess dumped on her doorstep. That if she’ll just make this easy, just let me go, I’ll stop causing trouble for her. But instead, I say, “You called me your girlfriend.”
Pepper lets out a deep, long sigh, digging the heels of her hands against her eyes before dropping them and fixing me with an open stare. “Well… duh, Opal.”
“W-why?”
Pepper’s laugh is fractured and rough, a small shake to her head as she bites her lip. “Because Iloveyou.”
My mind is wiped clear like a landslide, until shock floods in. “You… what?”
“I love you,” she repeats, voice hoarse, hands shaking. “I love you in the most basic and complicated and overwhelming and simple and inevitable way possible. I would think that’s been obvious for some time now.”
