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Waverly looked across the couch longingly, cheek resting on her fist. While Nicole's concentration face was quite cute, the only noise was clicking keys and she was bored. "Nicole you said you'd only be 5 more minutes when I got here, that was at least a half hour ago..." She poked Nicole's ankle with her toe and ran her foot up Nicole's pant leg.
“Sorry, baby,” Nicole replied a little absently, “I’m just emailing the dealership so I can set up an appointment for a test drive.”
"Did you finally pick a model?" Waverly asked, only slightly irritated that her attempts at foot seduction had gone unnoticed.
“Mm-hm,” she nodded. “Then it was a matter of narrowing to the year. I don’t want anything older than a 2013.” She tapped on the touchpad and brought up a picture of the vehicle in question and tilted the screen so Waverly could see.
Waverly cocked her head to the side and considered it for several long moments. "That's...a vehicle."
“It’s a Subaru Forester,” Nicole explained, slightly deflated. Waverly could name or ID any number of classic cars like rattling off the alphabet, but her knowledge of newer makes was one of the few areas of expertise that was slightly lacking. “Do you like the color,” she asked as a follow-up.
"It's better than beige, I guess?" Waverly tried, about as much enthusiasm as she could muster, "You'd look hot in a mustang, you know."
“Not exactly practical for the terrain out here, baby,” answered Nicole. “I’m surprised you don’t like the color more. Thought you liked blue on me.” She waggled her eyebrows.
"You certainly like blue on you," Waverly retorted with a grin, "I like you in anything...or nothing."
Nicole snickered through her nose. “Seriously, though, baby,” she said, nudging the laptop in Waverly’s direction, “what do you think?”
Waverly took the laptop and slid it over her thighs. "What's the safety rating like?" She began typing to find out for herself.
“Subarus are excellent in that department,” said Nicole confidently. She’d done a decent amount of research in preparation for buying. Plus, she’d wanted a Forester for years - and not just because it was a ‘family’ (as in ‘we are family’) car.
"Okay, I'll give it that," Waverly agreed after reading over the rating report, "Have you checked driver reviews?"
Nicole’s face fell slightly, Waverly’s question made her feel a little caught out. “Um, no... well... yes. Just, not online ones. More... friends of friends.”
Waverly looked up, curious. "Do they all drive the same car?"
“Well, it is a popular make,” she shrugged nonchalantly.
"Are you part of some kind of Subaru fan club I don't know about?" Waverly asked, obliviously teasing.
Nicole regarded Waverly with an open expression of confusion that promptly dissolved into a grin as she was overtaken by laughter. “I’m...I’m sorry,” she gasped as she tried to calm herself, “I forget sometimes. This is new to you.”
Waverly looked at Nicole like she'd grown a second head, and then quickly wiped that thought from her mind lest she tempt demonic fate. "Buying cars is not new to me, Nicole," she replied, indignant, "I spent a lot of time tracking down my Jeep and I used to go to dealerships with Curtis."
“No, no,” Nicole attempted to clarify, “not the ‘buying cars’ part. The gay part.”
Waverly paused, hoping something about that sentence would start to make sense. "What are you talking about? What gay faux pas have I made now?"
“You haven’t, you haven’t,” she assured her, raising her hands in defense. “It’s just... you couldn’t have known.” Nicole regarded Waverly as seriously as she could manage, despite the smirk of amusement creeping up her face. “Baby, Subarus are a lesbian car.”
"You people have a designated car?" Waverly asked in disbelief.
“I believe you mean ‘us people’, and yes, sort of.”
Waverly raised an eyebrow "I'll be honest Nicole, I may have to rethink things if I have to drive a Subaru for the rest of my life..."
Nicole cackled. She literally cackled. And slapped her knee. And clutched her sides. “Seriously? That’s the deal-breaker?”
"Sorry, I'm a one SUV kinda gal," Waverly replied, shaking her head, "I'm on board with the flannel and you know I love Calamity Jane but this is a step too far. Do they take your card away if you don't get the right car? Will you be uninvited from brunch?!"
Nicole eyed her girlfriend cautiously, “You... you are joking, right?”
Waverly threw up both hands. "No! It's all so confusing! There's gay cars and energy drinks and style of sweater button and I never know whether I'm being unintentionally heterosexual because I feel like I did enough of that for a lifetime!"
Nicole stayed very still, suddenly caught in a hurricane she had not anticipated in the slightest. But it made sense. Nicole came from The Big City, she’d had years with her identity and discovering and understanding the culture that existed both because of and beyond her sexuality. Waverly liked knowing things and here she was in the deep end of a world she hadn’t even known existed. “You’re right,” she said after a long pause. “You’re right. It is confusing and it is excluding and I’m really, really, sorry that I laughed.”
Waverly took a moment to breathe and feel her cheeks warm as she reeled from the outburst. She tapped at the keys, hitting none but appearing like so. "You should get the car you like the most," she said finally, evenly and avoiding meeting Nicole's gaze from embarrassment.
Nicole gently took the laptop back and set it aside. "Wave," she said softly, "it's ok that you don't know this stuff. It's really not important."
"It feels important." Waverly paused, hands clasped together between her knees. "It feels like you have a whole community that I'm on the outside of when I should be the one who's...gayest...with you."
"You are definitely the 'gayest' with me, Waves," she smiled, taking her girlfriend's hands in her own and squeezing them. "But you're right, too. There is a community that we belong to. You're just a newer member, that's all. It's like joining the... I dunno," she grasped for a parallel, "the... the Elks Club and not knowing the secret handshake yet. You're still a member, regardless."
Waverly accepted the comforting touch from Nicole. She slowly met Nicole's gaze and offered a hint of a self-deprecating smile. "I think I've gotten pretty good at the 'secret handshake'."
"You give the best 'handshake' I've ever had," Nicole replied as seriously as she could manage without smirking too much.
Waverly blushed again, but the smile blossomed on her face, though she looked downwards to hide it. "So are there gay earphones? Because mine broke yesterday..."
"I think most headphones prefer to think of themselves as non-binary," retorted Nicole.
Waverly smiled towards Nicole. She leaned over and kissed Nicole's cheek. "You'll look really hot in the Subaru."
"I don't have to get it," said Nicole, "I mean, I do at least want an SUV, but it doesn't have to be a Subaru, baby, honest."
"Nicole, it's your car and you should get the one you like," Waverly replied, grinning wryly, "And maybe if I sit in it long enough I'll absorb some gay knowledge."
Seeing an opening Nicole commented, "Did I mention the model I'm looking at has heated seats?"
"Okay, now the 'lesbian car' thing is starting to make sense."
Nicole laughed, unable to stop herself, but at least more confident that Waverly was in on the joke this time.
Waverly laughed too and skid her hand past Nicole's knee, squeezing briefly. "At least I can still drink you under the table."
"Absolutely," Nicole nodded vehemently, eyes wide, "no contest." She captured Waverly's hand in her own, tangling their fingers together and tugging slightly, encouraging her small girlfriend to crawl into her lap, knees on either side of her hips. Once Waverly was settled, Nicole rested her hands on the small of her back. "What do you really think of the car? I'm serious, I want to know. It's an investment and it's going to be around for a long time. I don't want to get something that you're going to quietly dislike."
"Well you put up with my Wynonna," Waverly joked.
Nicole ran her hands up and down Waverly's back. Not to incite anything, merely as an act of comfort. "Wave, I love Wynonna," she said, "She’s one of my best friends."
"I know," Waverly replied softly.
"So it's not a compromise," she added. "I'm not putting up with her."
"I was joking, baby," Waverly clarified.
Nicole gazed up at her coyly threw her eyelashes. "So, if I end up getting the Blue Forester will you help me break it in?" She slid her hands down to rest on Waverly's hips.
Waverly grinned. "Is there a special ritual to make it part of the tribe?"
"Nope, just to make it ours," she waggled her eyebrows.
Waverly winked. "Well I can think of lots of ways to achieve that."
"Yeah," asked Nicole, slipping her hands to Waverly's forearms and pulling her forward even as she tilted up her own chin in invitation.
Waverly leaned down and brushed her lips against Nicole's, softly pulling the lower lip between hers. She released it again with a tiny nip that she was sure Nicole would just feel.
Nicole pursed her lips together in a thin line, savoring the sensation. "So, would you come with me for a test drive?"
"Of course. I have to make sure the backseat is comfortable."
"That is a must," she agreed, kissing along the underside of her jaw. "Hey," she said, leaning back a little. "Anytime I'm making a reference or anything that you don't know yet, you can ask me. You know that, right?"
Waverly looked down at Nicole seriously. "I do have one question."
"Ask me anything."
"Did you ever get a toaster oven or do we need to send in a complaint?"
Nicole cracked up again, hugging Waverly to her. "Where do you think I got the one in the kitchen from," she teased.
Waverly pressed her lips to Nicole's again, purposefully lingering. "I would hate to think you turned me for nothing."
Nicole opened her mouth, allowing Waverly to deepen the kiss. She squeezed the curve of Waverly's hips suggestively.
Waverly broke the kiss to take in a breath. "Hey Nicole?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for never...pushing me into anything. Before we ever...or now, with this stuff. You'll have to give me time, as you can see I'm still on my 90's gay media...but I've never failed a research project yet. And I like...I like this community, our community. It's...it feels like family."
"I would never push you to be something you're not," Nicole reaffirmed, "and there's plenty of gay culture I don't know either. Like, the sweater button thing? I have to confess... totally lost."
Waverly frowned. "There's like a gay side or something. Or is that the earring?"
"I think the earring is a guy thing," said Nicole, her voice lilting up slightly at the end. "I think?" She shook her head free of the thought. "Looks like we both have some research to do."
"Hey, it can't all be fun and gay-mes," Waverly joked.
"Certainly not," Nicole replied with mock sincerity. "But just so you know, all the references, the terms, the inside jokes... it's all just set dressing. What matters is this," she squeezed Waverly's hips again. "Us."
Waverly slowly smiled. "You are a beautiful woman."
"And you, my love, are gorgeous," Nicole answered back, sealing the statement with a kiss.
Waverly dipped her head and kissed over Nicole's heart. She started to kiss further down the V of Nicole's shirt when she heard the email notification from Nicole's laptop and phone at the same time. "Is that the dealership?"
Nicole glanced at the laptop screen. "Yeah," she confirmed, then turned her attention back to Waverly. "It can wait." She tipped Waverly's chin back up and kissed her again.
"You are a corrupting influence, Officer Haught," Waverly murmured between kisses.
Nicole hummed against Waverly's mouth. "Come on, baby," she sighed, "I'm thinking of something else we should take for spin." She slid her hands under Waverly's bottom and tensed her abs, hoisting herself up off of the couch with her girlfriend still in her arms. When the evening had begun, she had no inkling of where it would lead. But, while she still had some lingering guilt over laughing at Waverly's earlier ignorance, she was so glad they'd been able to talk it out. And it took no stretch for Nicole to be thrilled with the ultimate outcome. She carried Waverly to the stairs, anticipation brewing in her chest.
She resolved to write Subaru a thank you note.
Waverly would send them banana muffins.