‘I remember coming to the stag party…’
‘Yes?’
‘Well…’ Tom thought hard. ‘Well, that’s it.’
‘Oh dear. Wehavegot a lot of catching up to do.’ Will turned to Lorcan. ‘Better get started,’ he said.
They bent over him, took his arms and hauled him to his feet. In return, he threw up over their shoes.
* * *
‘Jesus, my head.’ Tom groaned, kneeling back in front of the loo. ‘My head feels weird.’
‘Hardly surprising,’ Will drawled.
‘No, I don’t mean that. I mean it feels sort of…cold.’
Lorcan and Will exchanged a meaningful glance, which Tom intercepted. What did it mean? He moved his hands gingerly over his scalp.
‘Jesus!’ he shrieked. ‘What’s happened to my hair? It’s gone!’
‘Try not to panic, Tom.’ Lorcan patted his shoulder.
Tom stood up, pushed Lorcan out of the way and lurched over to the bathroom mirror. ‘I’m bald,’ he whispered in disbelief. ‘I’m fucking bald.’ He turned to his two friends, who were looking very sheepish. ‘I’m fuckingbaldon my wedding day!’ he wailed, with mounting panic in his voice.
‘You’re notbald.’ Will came over to join him at the mirror. ‘You’ve got a good quarter-centimetre of hair there, and I’m told the military look is really big this season.’
‘Rachel will kill me! The military look isn’t the theme of our wedding.’
‘Look on the bright side.’ Lorcan grinned. ‘It’ll make you more aerodynamic.’
‘I’m getting married, not entering the fucking Olympics!’
‘You’re getting hysterical, Tom. Hang on.’ Lorcan raced out ofthe room and came back, moments later, clutching a paper bag. ‘Here, try this,’ he said, thrusting it at him.
Tom looked at him uncertainly but took the bag. He placed it on his head, pulled it down over his ears and surveyed himself in the mirror.
‘Well, I suppose it’s an improvement…’ he said, turning his head to look at it from different angles.
‘You’re not supposed to wear it, you twat!’ Lorcan snatched it off. ‘You’re supposed to breathe into it.’
‘What bloody good will that do?’
‘It might calm you down.’
‘I’d still be bald!’ Tom shrieked.
‘Well, I think it really suits you. And it feels gorgeous.’ Will rubbed the crown of Tom’s head. ‘Rachel will love it.’
Tom touched it again. It did feel lovely – so soft. Despite himself, a little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he saw Will and Lorcan brightening. ‘I’m still a dead man,’ he warned them. ‘How did it happen anyway?’
‘Phoenix did it.’
‘And youlethim?’
‘You asked him to, actually – begged him, in fact.’
‘But you must have known I was out of my head. You should have stopped him.’
