Page 42 of Late Bloomer
Pepper’s voice calls over the noise, “Uh, Opal? I think—”
The door bursts open, likely from the force of the screech following it. “Opal!” my sisters scream in unison.
Their excitement is short-lived, their faces falling from massive grins to looks of alarm as they register my hair and my tears and my towel and my patheticness.
Ophelia’s shriek cuts through the silence.
“Jesus, are you sure you’re okay?” Pepper says. I hear the squeak of one of the bottom stairs as she mounts them.
“Leave me alone, Pepper!” Squaring my bare shoulders with nonexistent dignity, I march toward my sisters, grabbing each by the wrist and jerking them inside, slamming the door behind them. “And, uh, happy birthday,” I add with a yell. I can feel Pepper’s annoyance from here.
“What the hell happened?” Olivia asks, grabbing me by the cheeks and tilting my head from left to right.
“Hair like that only results from extreme emotional crisis,” Ophelia whispers, looking at Olivia. “It’s giving Albert Einstein.”
I rip out from her grip and collapse against the wall, letting out a small whimper as I slide down to the floor. “Yeah, well, clearly I’m a genius.”
All Olivia can manage is a soft “Oh, Opal.”
“Please go away thank you,” I say, flapping my hand as I bury my face in my knees.
“Oh, Opal,” Olivia repeats, coming to wrap me in a big hug.
“Fifty bucks says it’s girl problems,” Ophelia says, plunking herself down on the edge of my bed.
“Shut up, Ophelia,” Olivia and I say in unison.
Ophelia flicks us off lazily before collapsing against my pillows and scrolling on her phone.
Olivia continues to hold me, rubbing up and down my arms. After a moment, she clears her throat. “But, uh, is it?”
Ophelia’s laugh grates against my groan of outrage.
“Yes,” I say, untangling from her and scooching to my closet, searching for anything to put over this monstrosity on top of my head. “And the girls areyou two. So, kindly, fuck off.”
I dig around for a few minutes, panic starting to spike as I can’t find a hat. “Or help me figure out how to hide this situation,” I say, pointing at my hair.
My sisters—wonderful, awful humans that they are—laugh at my misery but help in my search, asking me a billion questions in the process.
Chapter 15OPAL
Despite summer being in full swing and the humidity at purgatory levels, I have a beanie shoved low around my ears as I hover awkwardly on the outskirts of the party. It doesn’t really do me any favors that the hat hasSLUTwith aShrek“S” embroidered on it, but at this point I’m picking and choosing my battles.
My sisters finally dragged me out of my room, swearing on their lives that the bits of my hair sticking out from the hat didn’t lookthat horrificin low light. The second we stepped off the stairs, Alfie materialized at our side, introducing himself, wrapping each of my sisters in a giant hug, announcing that the tall gorgeous man next to him was his new boyfriend, Evens, then swooping my sisters into the thick of the group crammed into the living room.
“How did you and Alfie meet?” I ask Evens, who’s stayed with me, watching with a soft smile as Alfie makes everyone laugh across the room.
His grin grows, his dark skin crinkling at his eyes and the bridge of his nose as he looks at me. “I’m a modern dancer,” he says, eyes flicking back to Alfie for a beat like he can’t quite keep his gaze off him. “Alfie was at one of my shows, and afterward, he snuck in through the back of the theater and into the dressing rooms. He walked right up to me, stuck out his hand, and said: ‘Hello, I’m Alfie. And you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I think we should know each other.’”
My marshmallow heart melts into a gooey mess at the obvious adoration in Evens’s voice. “He kept it subtle, huh?”
Evens chuckles, deep and rumbly. “He’s the epitome of subtle, can’t you tell?”
With perfect timing, Alfie’s voice travels through the room, followed by another wave of laughter.
“What did you say back?”
He looks at Alfie again, catching his eye. With a smile that’s equal parts impish and innocent, Alfie makes his way toward us.
