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“Earth to Haught!” Wynonna growled, flinging a spoonful of mashed potatoes at the visibly distracted girl. Nicole is immediately thrown from her thoughts and shoots the Earp a scowl.
“I was listening,” she furrowed her eyebrows, thinking that it would help her case.
“Bullshit.”
It didn’t.
“Anyway,” Wynonna tossed her hair to the side, “are we still on for the arcade tonight? Doc and Dolls are down too.”
“Let me guess-I’m driving?”
“Well yeah,” Wynonna shrugs, “you’re the only one with a car dingus.”
Nicole lets out a sigh until it catches in her throat when Waverly walks up to the table.
“Please tell me you guys have something planned for tonight, Champ is trying to ask me out and I suck at lying,” she slides in next to Nicole-heat radiating off of her body that makes the redhead tense up--bracing herself to get burned.
“Just tell him to fuck off-I do it all the time and he listens,” Wynonna says before biting into a baby carrot.
“I tried that, he just keeps laughing and makes a crude comment about liking it rough,” Waverly crosses her arms, stifling a shudder running down her spine. Champ wasn’t the worst looking guy at Purgatory High. He’s the captain of the football team and has been Homecoming King for two years in a row--yet he hasn’t got much of a personality outside of that. Waverly has known him since the 3rd grade and he’s been trying to (relentlessly) shoot his shot ever since.
“Hey Waves,” before Waverly has any chance to make a run for it, she’s already feeling Champ’s arm wrapping around her waist--he reeks of the cologne that he practically swims in after weight room.
“Jesus Chump, you smell like a cheap gigolo,” Wynonna scrunches her nose up and throws one of her baby carrots at the football player--he shoos her off, not taking his eyes off of the younger Earp sister--Nicole is rolling her eyes so hard that they could have ended up in another galaxy at any given moment.
“So? Are we still hanging out tonight?” He winks.
“I never said yes,” Waverly scoots a bit away from Champs grasp--stopping when she feels Nicole behind her. The redhead notices the younger woman’s shoulders ease a little as soon as the contact is made--she bites her tongue to distract her body from letting a smile spread across her face in front of everyone.
“We could go to a movie, and not watch it,” Champs breath is burning the hollow of Waverly’s neck now, she shifts again--leaning more into Nicole--who has had enough.
“She said no Champ,” she snaps. Champ only backs off slightly and narrows his eyes at the redhead.
“No she didn’t,” he gets up from the table and Nicole does the same, standing in front of Waverly with her hands balled into fists.
“What do you care?” He looks down, smirking at the idea that he may have struck a nerve with the girl, “I get it now--too bad she’s interested in dudes not dykes, Haught,” he hisses--the entire table goes silent along with a few other students sitting at the tables nearby.
“Bro… that’s so… not cool…” Dolls warns--Champ only puffs his chest out more and stares down Nicole, eyes daring her to do something she might regret later.
Nicole’s jaw tightens and she loses control of her limbs and her thoughts. Rational thinking jumps out the window when she cocks her arm back.
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It takes a few seconds for Nicole to realize that Champ is still standing there with a shit eating grin plastered on his face because she is getting carried off by Dolls and Wynonna.
She is brought back to reality by the cool touch of the lockers against her back--her vision is nauseatingly blurry.
Then it starts to set in that she was outed by the most popular guy in school and all she could do in that moment was attempt to throw a punch.
Fuck.
“Hey Red,” Wynonna crouches in front of a hyper-ventilating Nicole. She plants a hand on one of the lockers next to Nicole’s head and the other hovers helplessly in front of her friend’s face.
“I’m okay--I’m okay,” the redhead is choking on her tears--she feels sorry for causing a scene at school. Everyone was going to find out about her now. Either from being present when Champ outed her or just asking about why Nicole Haught was being dragged away from the most popular guy at Purgatory High.
“Champ is such a dick, I can’t believe he did that to you, Haught.” Wynonna keeps an even tone despite the harsh words--trying to avoid upsetting her friend any more.
“It was bound to happen I guess,” Nicole wipes her eyes and takes Wynonna’s hand--knees buckling slightly when she’s on her feet. Her breathing evens out, it’s a start considering her face is still swollen and her vision was only now starting to clear up.
"Let's get you out of here," Wynonna puts an arm around her friend's shoulder and gently leads her to the door.
"You drive," the older Earp squeezes Nicole tighter, earning a playful swat from the redhead.
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Nicole leans against a KISS themed pinball machine--across from her, Doc is desperately trying to get Wynonna to stop hogging 'Crossy Road' so he could attempt to beat her high score. Dolls and Waverly are playing 'Buzzer Beater' until Dolls sinks his winning shot--devastating Waverly 30-8.
The small brunette turns around and meets eyes with Nicole. She remembers how warm the redhead felt when she hugged her on the stoop of Uncle Curtis's porch a few hours before. Waverly loves that Nicole has always smelled like vanilla dipped donuts--it's become one of her favorite scents--it calms her and brings her a sense of safety.
That's why she was relieved when Nicole didn't give her space in the lunchroom earlier that day. Just knowing the tall redhead was behind her grounded Waverly. Nicole and Wynonna have always been protective over her--and today was no exception.
But she couldn't help but feel pangs of guilt after watching Champ out Nicole in front of half of the school.
The younger Earp walks over to the redhead, her steps slowing when she realizes she is probably standing too close for comfort.
"I'm sorry about Champ," she has to raise her voice, making sure her words don't get swallowed whole by the bustling of the arcade.
"Don't worry about it--I'd rather him bug me instead of you. I'm sorry he's such an entitled creep."
"It's not so bad--having you and Wynonna around helps me out a lot. Maybe you won't have to babysit me anymore when I finally figure out how to stand up for myself." Waverly drops her head but feels a hand lift her chin so she is staring into mocha brown eyes.
"Hey, you are strong, Waves. You don't have to yell at Champ to prove that. You don't have to prove anything to anyone."
Waverly feels her breath hitch, she just stands there trying to take in as much of Nicole as she can in the colorful but dimly lit arcade. Her hand betrays her and reaches for the redhead's--she's quickly rewarded with Nicole's hand fitting perfectly in her own.
"Can I tell you something?" She leans in, fearing that the past few moments have reduced her voice to a dull rasp.
"Anything," the taller girl squeezes her hand twice and Waverly starts to lead her inside the "House of The Dead 4-D" game. It's noticeably quiet inside the game pod. Waverly jerks her hand away from Nicole's out of embarrassment and the redhead leaves it there in case the smaller girl changes her mind.
"How did you know you were gay?" Waverly blurts out, wincing slightly from her outburst.
"Oh," Nicole feels her face aggressively blush and she thanks the lesbian gods above that everything around her is lit in a red tint.
"Well, I don't know really. I just noticed how pretty girls were--and then there was Shae…"
Waverly's face faltered a bit at the mention of the name. Shae took up a lot of Nicole's time when they dated freshman year of high school. She was scarce around and after school--usually bailing on plans because of some Shae-related reason. Needless to say, Waverly was pretty relieved when Nicole broke the news that they had broken up.
"I realized I could never feel the same way about a boy the way I feel about a girl. It feels right to me, and I haven't regretted it one bit. Even if that means sometimes getting shit from people like--" Nicole was cut off by Waverly's lips crashing into hers--drowning out the world around them. Even the screams coming from the horror game’s demo video was no match for Nicole's heart thumping in her throat and echoing in her ears.
She is kissing Waverly Earp.
Her hands find their way around the brunette's waist but only for a moment. Her fingers conducting a symphony of sensations while rhythmically traveling over the thin cotton covering Waverly's back. The smaller girl hums into her mouth--a good sign that she hasn't regretted the bold move.
Waverly marvels at the newly discovered fact that Nicole also tastes like vanilla dipped donuts for a brief moment. She pulls harder on the collar of Nicole's olive overshirt with one hand while the other reaches up and behind until her fingers are twirling auburn locks.
It seems as though they are suspended in time--until Wynonna and Doc fervently bang their fists on the shell of the game pod.
"Did the zombies get you or what!? Let's get some burgers!" Wynonna calls to them. They're already on either side of the pod, Waverly tries to still herself as the rush she feels courses through her body. Nicole is terrified but tries to play it off with a crooked smile. They exit the pod and find the rest of the group standing by the door.
"Shotgun!" Waverly declares as soon as she sees the car. Nicole ignores Wynonna's groans and cries of unfairness. She digs through her pocket for the keys and thumbs the surfboard-shaped key-chain Waverly had brought back from her cheerleading trip to Hawaii last year.
Nicole slides into the driver's seat and Waverly does the same into the passenger seat. The redhead looks over at the younger Earp and wonders if she will ever get used to the sight of her dream girl riding shotgun with her for the rest of high school...and maybe beyond?
"Let's go already! Waves, you're already proving to be a sucky co-pilot!"
"I don't have to prove squat to you to sit up front, 'Nonna--besides I've already won."
Nicole glances over at Waverly mid-laugh, feeling a warmth in her chest when the smaller girl meets her gaze and smiles. She finally starts the car and drives--swearing for a moment that she can see her future with Waverly written in the stars above the horizon.