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Finals week at the local university was never less than hectic. The college town was filled with anxious students frantically trying to cram a semester’s worth of material in just a few days. Waverly Earp was no exception as she locked herself away into one of the study rooms in the library on campus. She had been there for at least five hours and she didn’t expect to at least take a break after another two more. The exhaustion and feelings of despair slowly crept up on her until she finally laid her head on the desk in defeat. She had little control over her body as it wracked with sobs. Waverly had always been a good student and held one of the highest GPAs in the entire university. That’s why when she realized that she was probably going to get a C in her statistics class for the semester, it felt like her whole world was about to come crashing down.
Waverly tried to fight back the tears that pushed their way out and down her cheeks, she felt hopeless. Her dreams of getting into her top pick for graduate school were going down in flames right before her. Waverly was so distraught about her future that she jumped at the sound of someone knocking on study room door.
Quickly, Waverly wiped her tears and face before turning to find a tall redhead standing on the other side of the door. She flashed the woman a puzzled looked before finally opening the door.
“Hi, I’m Nicole,” the redhead gingerly waved at the brunette who was desperately trying to hide the fact that she had been crying.
“I’m Waverly,” she replied while looking down at the floor.
“I uh, I think I might have the wrong room actually…I was supposed to go to a study group with my teammates,” Nicole’s phone buzzed and she read a text from one of her teammates.
“Shit, I missed them by like a day,” Nicole laughed.
“It’s the thought that counts I guess.”
“Yeah, tell that to my impending failing grade in history….hey…I think we have Feminist theory together?”
“Oh? Yeah we do,” Waverly finally looked up at Nicole and noticed her cute dimples, causing her to bite her lip and dart her eyes away from the redhead yet again.
“I really liked your report on Adrienne Rich…who knew everyone was a little gay huh?”
“Yeah, that was a pretty easy assignment for me actually…” Waverly cleared her throat and stole a glance from Nicole who was looking down, fidgeting slightly.
“Hey…do you think I could study with you? I’ll totally keep quiet, I just…work better when I’m not alone.”
“Sure, I’m just stressing over stats anyway…ignore my periodic groans of frustration.”
“Stats? With Professor Nedley?”
“That would be the one,” Waverly quickly realized that she was making finger guns at a complete stranger.
“I aced that class like nobody’s business…I could help you if you want?”
“That would be amazing,” Waverly sighed. In her mind she was ever more stressed over the fact that she was going to have to find a way to focus on actually learning instead of swooning over the gorgeous redhead willing to help her.
“Great, I’ll grab a chair!” Nicole set her bag down and pulled up a chair right next to Waverly’s set up. The brunette froze when their arms brushed lightly together. It was going to be a struggle to actually pay any attention to her insanely attractive tutor. Waverly was so lost in her thoughts about the redhead that she didn’t even notice that Nicole had been staring at her for a good thirty seconds.
“Shit, sorry…did you say something?”
“No…” Nicole shifted nervously in her seat. “I just…can I hug you? You look like you could use a hug and I didn’t want to ask right when you opened the door because it looked like you had been crying and–”
“Nicole?”
“Y-yeah?”
“I would love a hug,” Waverly waited until the redhead had stretched her arms out wide to catch the brunette in the warmest hug. Waverly closed her eyes for a moment and took in the calming scent of vanilla radiating off of Nicole’s body. Time had seemed to stop for those few seconds as the two embraced. Waverly was the one to pull away first, much to her dismay…she just didn’t want to make things so awkward so quickly.
Studying had been a breeze with Nicole helping her out. By the time dinner rolled around, Waverly was feeling a hundred times better about her upcoming stats exam.
“You totally saved my life Nicole…what’s your last name?”
“Haught, and I’m really glad I could help…you know if you need a refresher before your exam…I could definitely make that happen.”
“Haught…of course,” Waverly gasped slightly when she realized that she had said that out loud, “uh I mean–of course, I’d like that…want to join me for dinner? I’m heading over to Dolls’ Diner on the corner.”
Nicole smirked at the brunette’s slip up, “I love that place, I’m in,” she threw her bag over her shoulder and made her way over to the door, Waverly couldn’t help but smile at the redhead that was her saving grace as a wave of relief washed over her. Finals week was officially the least of her problems…now all she had to do was figure out how to get Nicole’s number by the end of the night.