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Nicole couldn't help it. The new barista was just so pretty. So what if she woke up extra early to buy coffee before school to see her?
And sure, she knew that most people wouldn't want to date someone who was still in high school, but she was a senior, she was 18, and she graduated in 3 weeks.
Besides, she knew that the barista was only a year older because it was her birthday last week, and her co-workers had brought her those gold-colored balloons that were shaped into a 1 and a 9.
So, even though she'd always been the type of person who only drank coffee on the rare basis that she was craving it, it didn't matter that she was now drinking it every morning just to see the barista, right?
Anyway, she was slowly getting to know her better. Waverly had moved to Purgatory a month ago, and Nicole had met her 2 weeks ago when she went into the coffee shop for her rare craving of coffee. And okay, maybe she didn't know her better—just her name, age, and a few other random things.
God, she had to suck it up and talk to the barista more.
Nicole took a deep breath, breathing in the 6:30 cool morning air before she had to drive to school which began at 7:00.
She lined up in the short queue, taking in the faces of the adults who were looking forward to getting caffeine in their system before heading to the jobs they all hated.
Finally, it was her turn, and she saw the woman who was her first thought in the morning and her last before she succumbed to sleep.
"Hey, Nicole," said Waverly, her smile growing wider at the sight of the redhead. Nicole didn't notice because she hadn't even looked at Waverly yet. Instead her eyes were roaming at the floor.
"Hi," Nicole said shyly, finally looking up and taking in Waverly’s crescent moon eyes.
"What would you like today?" Waverly asked.
"I'll t-take a caramel m-macchiato.”
"Anything else?" Waverly asked as she trailed her eyes down Nicole's body while she looked at the menu.
"No, that's it. Thanks,” Nicole said with a small smile.
Waverly nodded her head and told her the price (which Nicole always gave with exact change). Waverly thought it was cute.
After paying, Nicole stayed there for a few seconds, and when Waverly noticed, she gave her a confused look and asked if there was something wrong.
This is your chance, Nicky. Ask her out. Don't be a little bitch.
"No, s-sorry," Nicole said, looking down again, this time with her face flushed. She walked away to a table to wait for her drink. As she sat, she rolled her eyes at herself and thought about how stupid she probably looked.
"Nicole!" she heard after a few minutes. She got up and got her coffee from Waverly.
"See you tomorrow?" Waverly asked hopefully after handing Nicole her coffee.
Waverly knew nothing but the redhead's name, but she couldn't help but feel intrigued. She could tell that Nicole had a crush on her, and she would ask her out herself, but she had a feeling that Nicole wanted to do it. So, she waited.
Nicole's heart skipped a beat at Waverly’s gorgeous smile. "See you tomorrow," she said like she'd been doing everyday for the past week when Waverly finally came to the conclusion that she came in every morning.
Walking out the door, she ignored the small twinge of disappointment she felt for herself.
❧
Nicole strolled into the coffee shop the next morning, this time positive that she would walk out with plans for the next night with a certain brunette.
When she walked in, she noticed that Waverly‘s eyes were narrowed, and her bottom lip was slightly putted out.
"Morning, Waverly," she started hesitantly when she got to her. "Are you okay?"
"Hmm? What?" Waverly replied as she looked up. "Oh, hey Nicole." Nicole noticed that she physically relaxed at the sight of her. "Yeah, I'm okay, it's just that some people can be real douches when they don't have their morning coffee and a customer pissed me off a couple minutes ago."
"Want me to kick his ass for you?" Nicole asked. She was only slightly serious, but that was enough for her.
"With those muscles, I'm sure you could," Waverly said as she moved her eyes to Nicole's arms.
Nicole’s eyes widened, and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. She cleared her throat, "I guess, y-yeah," she said.
Waverly noticed Nicole’s awkwardness and changed the topic. "I'm sure I gave him a scare with my infamous glare."
"Infamous glare, ha? That does sound pretty scary,” Nicole said with raised eyebrows.
"Oh, yeah. I've heard from my victims that it's something no one wants to encounter,” she said in a menacing tone.
"Well then I'll make sure never to make you angry," Nicole laughed along with Waverly before ordering her coffee. She knew that today wasn’t the day she was going to be asking her out. "Fuckin' A," she whispered to herself.
"What’d you say?" Waverly asked as she looked up at her curiously.
"N-nothing, just . . . talking to myself," she trailed off as Waverly handed her her coffee.
Waverly laughed to herself—mainly at the stutter Nicole developed when she was nervous. “See you tomorrow?"
Nicole smiled a smile that made the dimples in her cheeks concave more than usual. "See you tomorrow."
❧
"Hi, Nicole!" Waverly said to Nicole when she walked in 2 days later.
"Are you okay? You look a little—"
"Like shit?" Nicole raised her eyebrow.
Waverly shook her head. “That’s impossible.”
Nicole's face turned a deep red, and she looked down like she always did when Waverly made her blush. She cleared her throat and looked up again, “T-thank you. And y-yes. I'm okay. It’s just that I have my finals this week, and I was up all night studying. I only got in a couple hours of sleep."
“Yeah, the last few weeks of high school can be cruel."
"You're tellin' me," Nicole said before ordering her drink.
This time, when she gets up from her usual table after Waverly called her name. Waverly said something that surprised her. “You know, if you want, you can stop by after school, and I can help you study?"
Nicole couldn’t hide her shock. "Really?"
"Yeah, if you want, I mean. You don't have to, or if you want to study with your friends instead, and not some total stranger, it was just a—"
"Waverly, as adorable as I find your rambling, I have to get to class. I'll see you after?"
Waverly blushed for the first time since Nicole met her and Nicole’s smile grew at how cute she looked.
"Yeah, okay." Waverly said.
❧
"How'd your tests go?" Waverly asked immediately as Nicole walked in the next afternoon. She may or may not have been glancing over at the door ever since the clock hit 2:00, when Nicole was out. That was 20 minutes ago.
"Really good, thanks to you. I definitely passed them all. Well, I'm not sure about calculus . . ."
"Ehh, fuck calculus. Who needs math?"
Nicole laughed, then it grew a louder when she heard the manager yell to Waverly to "watch her fucking language."
"What can I get you today?" Waverly asked in sweet tone.
"Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” Nicole said, her heart beating hard in her chest and ears.
Waverly looked up at her with wide, hopeful eyes, believing that Nicole was finally going to ask her out. "Yeah?" She responded, a bit shyly.
"Um," Nicole froze. "I j-just wanted to a-ask you if you wanted to, uh—" She stopped herself midway. God, I'm so embarrassing,' she thought.
"Y-you know what, n-never mind," she said as she glanced down at her watch. "I just realized I'm going to be late.”
"You don't want a drink?" Waverly asked, confused by everything that was going on.
"N-no, thanks,” Nicole said, shaking her head and turning to leave.
"See you tomorrow?" Waverly asked with hesitance in her voice as if afraid of what Nicole will say.
"See you tomorrow," Nicole answered with a tight lipped smile.
❧
A week after attempting to ask Waverly out, Nicole walked into the coffee shop. She’d tried to go back the next day, but she had been too embarrassed. She couldn't believe she had rushed out of there after stuttering so much, but she couldn't avoid Waverly forever. And frankly, she didn’t want to.
She walked into the place she'd become so familiar with now and walked straight to the counter as no one else was in line. When Waverly saw a shadow on the counter, she looked up and was shocked to see Nicole.
"Nicole!" Waverly said with worry in her eyes. She moved over the counter and gave Nicole an awkward hug. Nicole returned it back without hesitance.
"Hey," Nicole said as she scratched the back of her neck when Waverly pulled back.
"Hey? That's all you have to say? Where the hell were you? I was worried!" Waverly said with narrowed eyes.
"You were?" Nicole asked, her mouth slightly agape.
"Well, yeah . . . we're friends, aren't we?" Waverly asked, her arms crossed in front of her.
Nicole's eyes suddenly lit up, but couldn’t help but feel her heart plummet just a bit at the idea of only being friends. "Yeah, we are," Nicole said.
"Friends," Waverly nodded. "So, can you tell me where you were?"
Nicole didn't want to tell Waverly the truth and tell her that she was embarrassed after their last encounter, so she explained that she'd been too lazy to get up early. That her last few days of high school were bringing out more of her “senioritis.”
Waverly laughed in understanding. "Well, can I get you anything today?"
"Something that I'll regret eating afterwards."
Waverly smirked and got her a cannoli. "See you tomorrow?" Waverly asked.
This time with a genuine smile and bright eyes Nicole said, "See you tomorrow."
❧
Her graduation day had gone and went, and the morning after, she went for a run. She ran for about an hour or so when she stopped by the place where the woman that was becoming one of her favorite people in the world worked. She’d spent the run over listening to The Eye of the Tiger on repeat, hoping to get her confidence up. She was tired of being afraid.
"Hi, Waves," Nicole said as she walked up to the cashier, slightly panting.
Waverly looked up and her breath got caught in her throat when she saw Nicole's collarbones glistening with sweat.
"Waverly, you alright?" Nicole asked with worried eyes, noticing that the other girl was getting flushed.
Waverly cleared her throat and shook her head to get rid of the thoughts that were running through her mind. "Yeah," she finally said. "Wait, it's 7:30. Shouldn't you be in class?"
"Oh no, I graduated yesterday."
"Oh, that's right! Congratulations!” Waverly said. “What do you want? It's on me. Graduation gift."
Nicole laughed sweetly, "I think I have a better idea of what I want." I swear to God, Nicky. You better ask her out.
"What's that?" Waverly asked.
Nicole stared at her for a minute, suddenly at a loss for words. She sighed and said never mind. Waverly smiled at her softly—if Nicole would’ve looked more closely she would’ve seen that it was a sad one. Instead, Nicole went and ordered her coffee, and waited for her name to be called.
Then, it was. And Nicole turned around after getting her coffee, but she had a thought.
If not today, then when?
Taking a deep breath and with shaking hands, Nicole turned back around to face Waverly, "Waverly?”
“What’s up? Did I get your order wrong?” Waverly asked with scrunched eyebrows.
Nicole ignored her and got close. “Would you like to go on a d-date with me?" She thought her heart was going to explode from the nerves she felt, but there wasn’t any time because as soon as the words left her mouth, Waverly’s lips rose like the sun and melted her heart.
"I thought you'd never ask,” Waverly said.
“What? Really?” Nicole asked, wondering if Waverly had had a crush on her the whole time.
“Yes, really,” Waverly said with a warm smile.
Nicole just smiled back at her before discussing the when’s and where’s and what time’s.
"Alright then, see you tomorrow?" Waverly asked, not wanting to break their little thing.
"See you tomorrow," Nicole said, but this time, instead of turning around and walking out of the coffee shop like she always did, she bent down and left a kiss on Waverly’s cheek.