Page 9 of A Taste of Bliss

“We didn’t find you anyone, though.” Dericia drunkenly pouts.

“It’s okay,” I say, just as a second later Amelia says, “No, it’s not.”

She turns to me, towering almost a full foot over me. “Bliss, your bond activation ceremony is tomorrow. You need to power up.”

“I’ll be fine,Mom.”

“Okay, fine, let’s go home and get some sleep,” Amelia says, throwing her arms around me and Reese.

“I still can’t believe humans aren’t allowed to attend the activation ceremony,” Dericia complains as we start the walk home.

“Don’t worry, I’ll record the whole thing for you,” Amelia says.

“You’ll do no such thing,” I shoot back, giving my sister the most threatening look I can muster.

“Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it?”

“Don’t push me, Amelia, unless you wanna be bald again.”

Amelia lets out a shriek and pulls me under her arm, rubbing her hand over the top of my hair, stupendously messing it up.

“Why would you remind her of that?” Dericia snorts. “She didn’t talk to you for months after the Great Fae Nair Shampoo Tragedy of sophomore year.”

I grin, even though Amelia is still pushing my head down and can’t see me.

“Karma’s a real bitch,” I tease.

Amelia releases me and I stand up, smoothing my hair back in place and allowing Dericia to retie my pink ribbon, which floated to the ground in our tussle.

“How many times do I have to tell you that Todd Andrews kissedme? Not the other way around.”

“Because you were throwing your succubus charm around all day every day at school as soon as you got your period for the first time.”

“I didn’t know how to turn it off!” Amelia shouts at me, now pretending she’s going to push me out into oncoming traffic.

I laugh, remembering how awkward going through puberty was for us. Fae children tend to mature later, usually in our teens. Thankfully, Reese had already gotten her period, so she was able to help us through that part of things.

My best friend laughs. “You two always find a way to make me so glad I don’t have sisters.”

Amelia and I stop our bickering and look at her. “Um, excuse me?” Amelia says with a laugh. She points her finger at Dericia and moves it in a circle, motioning to all of us. “We, the three of us, are sisters. You are included in this, whether you like it or not.”

Dericia looks like she’s about to start tearing up out of joy, but then she huffs out a laugh. “Just as long as Bliss stays away from my hair,” she teases.

“Oh, I would never mess with your hair,” I say with feigned incredulousness. “You’d look super weird bald,” I add with a grin and a shrug.

“You take that back!” Dericia says, running towards me. I yelp and scramble backwards, laughing my ass off. “I’d look fucking amazing bald! I totally have the bone structure to pull it off!” She runs after me, swinging her clutch at me, trying to swat my ass with it. All three of us end up laughing so hard we run out of breath and end up falling to the sidewalk in heaps, trying to gulp down air.

“Fuck, don’t make me run like that, ever,” I manage to get out, throwing my arms around Dericia.

“We are never going to get home at this rate,” Amelia sighs, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

“Let’s call Tay Tay,” Dericia shouts excitedly. She fishes around in her purse for her phone.

Amelia eyes me, suddenly looking sober. “Is that okay, Bliss?”

“Yeah, Taser’s cool,” I say.

“I just figured it might be weird between you two since he started dating Stacey.”