Chapter Text
Freshman year wasn’t really what could be described as the ‘golden year’ for Nicole. She had been forced by her mom to move to a small town where she didn’t know anyone, was forced to make new friends, and was forced to join the varsity basketball team. In short, Nicole was forced to do a lot of things her Freshman year of high school. Including coming out when Stephanie Jones walked in on her making out with Shae Pressman against the wall in the locker room.
Nothing has really been her choice so far. She has a handful of friends, the few people she considers the good kind, and can barely stay on top of her classwork. To say she struggled her first year is an understatement.
But this year? This year's gonna be different. She’s going to stick with her few friends, Jeremy, Robin, and whoever they hang out with, and she’s actually going to finish her work on time. Or at least that’s the plan, the school year hasn’t even started yet. There’s still a lot that could go wrong.
“Jer, can you pass me that water bottle?”, Nicole asked from her spot on the porch railing. Jeremy Chetri, her first and best friend at Purgatory High, nodded, getting up to grab the bottle on the side table. He brought it over to her and hopped up on the railing next to her.
“So, how are you feeling about being a Sophomore? We’re no longer the bottom of the food chain!” Jeremy said excitedly.
“Yeah, well we’re not the top either,” Nicole chuckled. She appreciated the boy's optimism, it’s one of the things she loved about him. That and he was one of the few people she’s ever met that truly supported her in whatever she did and didn’t judge her for her decisions.
“I’m just saying, it’s almost like a fresh start in a way. Maybe this do over will be good for you.”
Nicole shook her head, but smiled at him nonetheless. “I already had my ‘do over’ Jer, and it obviously didn’t go too well.”
“That’s because you didn’t start the year with your best friend!” he smiled, wrapping an arm around her and shaking her shoulders, which was a little difficult considering her height on him even while sitting down.
“Jeremy, I met you like 2 months in, what are you talking about?” she laughed.
“Exactly! You didn’t start the year. Trust me, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeves for you.” he smirked.
Nicole shot him a side glance, immediately feeling concerned about the look on his face. “Oh no, no no no I am not going to be your test subject while you play matchmaker that is not happening.”
“Oh come onnn,” he whined, “you don’t even know what could happen! Just give it a shot you don’t even know who I think you would be good with!”
Nicole shot him another glare, “you said Shae and I wouldn’t work together, and look at what happened?” she countered.
“What, you mean the break up?” Jeremy challenged.
Nicole looked down at the ground, swinging her legs back and forth and tearing at the label of her water. He had a point, but she refused to admit that to him.
“Alright Chetri, I’ll play. Who ya got for me?”
Jeremy clapped his hands excitedly, swinging around to straddle the railing and face the redhead. In his excitement he almost fell over, causing Nicole to grab his arm and straighten him out.
“Thanks,” he smiled, “Now, I know someone who would be perfect for you”.
Nicole sat silently, waiting for the boy but also knowing he wanted to build suspense.
“Waverly Earp.”
Nicole froze, face falling and paling instantly. There’s no way. She didn’t just hear him right. He couldn’t possibly know, could he?
She’s had the biggest crush on Waverly Earp since she showed up in Purgatory. The girl was the town sweetheart. A happily single virgo with hair for days, head cheerleader, definitely in the lead for valedictorian of their class, and by far way out of her league. She could have anyone she wanted. Champ Hardy’s already all over her, as captain of the football team it’s a stereotypical match made in heaven. Not to mention the girl is for sure the straightest person she could have possibly chosen to like. Speaking of stereotypes.
She hasn’t had very many interactions with the brunette. They can probably call each other acquaintances, but friends might be a little much. She knew Jeremy was one of Waverly’s closest friends, but that was the closest tie to the girl she had. Besides a few classes they sat close to each other in, they never really said much more than a hi and a smile to one another.
Jeremy must have noticed her silence and blank expression, because he immediately perked up more than he already was, as if that were even possible.
“Oh my God, shut up,” he gaped. “You already have a thing for her?! See I told you I was good at this!!” He exclaimed, bringing his fists down in a celebratory motion.
“Ok, chill out cupid, she’s as straight as they come,” Nicole said, trying to tame his excitement.
“You don’t know that”.
Nicole scoffed, “please, aren’t you like her best friend? You should know”.
“Yeah, I am. Which means I would know. And I’m telling you that you never know," he emphasized, pointing a finger at her chest.
Nicole shook her head, she refused to let herself have hope. There was no way she would be that lucky. “Whatever, look, I already told you what my plan is for relationships from now on.”
Jeremy shook his head in return, “No no no, Nicole! Come on! That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard, and Robin once told me he would lick a potato if I didn’t go to homecoming with him.”
Nicole laughed at the memory, “yeah, I remember that. And hey, honestly it’s just easier this way. Less chance of me getting hurt again, and then I know it’s right.”
“Nicole,” Jeremy sighed, “you can’t rely on someone listening to some random song that no one’s ever heard of, and then magically happening to listen to it in front of you and, oh, what do you know, you just know they’re ‘the one’. This isn’t a movie, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Take it as a sign from God or the universe then or whatever. Whoever I hear listening to it must be it for me,” Nicole said.
“And if it’s a guy?” Jeremy challenged.
“Welp, then looks like I’ll be alone forever,” Nicole shrugged, hopping off the porch railing and crushing the plastic water bottle in her hands. She walked up the steps and paused at the door, looking back over her shoulder. “You coming Jer?”
Jeremy sighed again. Looks like he was going to have to take matters into his own hands. This should be fun. “Yeah, coming,” he said, swinging his leg over the other side of the railing and landing on the porch, following Nicole into the house.
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The final bell sounded, signaling the end of the first school day of their Sophomore year. So far so good. If Nicole could continue to keep her head down this year, maybe she could get through without anymore incidents. The last thing she needed was the word dyke spray painted on her locker again by the football team.
“Hey Nicole! Wait up!” she heard behind her. She slowed her steps to allow Jeremy to catch up with her easier. “Jesus, why do you have to have such long legs”.
Nicole laughed, “I don’t know Jeremy, why do you have to have such short ones?”
“Heh, Touché,” Jeremy chuckled. “So how was your first day of-”
“Jeremy watch out!” Nicole exclaimed, grabbing Jeremy by the handle of his backpack and yanking him back in the crowded parking lot, effectively moving him out of the way of the blue pick up truck reversing from a spot.
“Shit, thanks,” he sighed relieved.
Nicole just stood blankly, unable to move as the truck pulled out. But not for the reason they probably thought.
“Fuck, sorry Haught! Didn’t see nerdy there,” Wynonna apologized, leaning across the passenger seat to yell out of the window.
“Wynonna,” Waverly chastised. “Jeremy has a name”.
“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Wynonna said, throwing the truck in drive. “Later losers,” she said, shooting up a peace sign in Nicole and Jeremy’s direction. Waverly smiled at the two, waving back to Jeremy and blushing when she made direct eye contact with a wide eyed Nicole.
The Earp sisters pulled out of the parking lot and into the street, leaving Nicole speechless.
“That was close,” Jeremy exhaled. After being met with silence, he looked over at an awe-struck Nicole. “Nicole? What’s wrong?”
“That was it,” she breathed out.
“Umm that was what?” he questioned.
“That was the song, Jeremy. Like the song.” Nicole said with conviction.
Jeremy’s eyes widened, the severity of what his friend had just said becoming clearer. “Wait, are you sure?”
Nicole whipped around to look at him head on, a bright smile on her face. “Jer, I would know it anywhere. That was ‘Midnight Passion’. Hell, it was even the Alternate Universe version. That’s the best one!” she beamed.
“Shit… no way…” Jeremy mumbled.
“Wait...Wynonna…?” Nicole whispered at the same time.
Jeremy snapped his head up. “No, no, not a chance,” he sputtered quickly.
Nicole met his gaze, confusion overcoming her features. “What? How do you know?”
“That is sooo not the music she would listen to. She was probably two seconds away from stabbing the radio,” he laughed. “No offense,” he added.
“But… she was driving?” the redhead questioned.
“Waverly takes over the radio a lot,” the boy explained, “and that kind of music is right up her alley honestly. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it was her playlist”.
Nicole really really didn’t want to get her hopes up. She has been trying desperately not to think about what Jeremy had told her on the porch, but this… this was a development she couldn’t ignore.
As silly as it sounded, music was Nicole’s life. She knew how it would sound to anyone if she had told them her plan. Telling Jeremy had originally started as a joke, but then she figured she would just go through with it. Her favorite song, ‘Midnight Passion’ by Eleven Point Two. So obscure the chances of anyone casually listening to it were slim. She had never really met anyone that had her taste in music. No one ever knew the songs she was listening to in her head phones, and she was never interested in the top pop songs all the girls her age seemed to be into. All the hit party songs or country hits one would tend to hear in Purgatory weren’t really her speed. She still knew the songs of course, and would sometimes even listen to them, but they were never her go to.
So Nicole made Jeremy a deal. Unless she found someone listening to that song, she was going to remain single. It would save her a repeat of what happened between her and Shae, and better yet, would save her from any heartbreak in general. She never thought it would actually happen. And for it to be Waverly Earp nonetheless. Now that was a fucking curveball if she had ever seen one.
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“I swear to God Wynonna, once I get my license this year I’m driving us,” Waverly said once they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
Wynonna scoffed, “sure babygirl, whatever you say. Have fun paying for a car too while you’re at it. I bet Shorty’s gives enough tips for that right?” she joked.
Waverly folded her arms and looked out the window. Wynonna always made fun of her for working at Shorty’s whenever she got the chance. So what if she was a waitress in a small town diner? She was 16, at least she had a job, unlike her 18 year old sister.
“Also, what is this shit, Wave? I’ve never heard this song in my life”.
Waverly looked down at her phone, checking the name of the song. “It’s called ‘Midnight Passion’, I’ve never heard it before but I kinda like it. A friend recommended it to me after school today,” she explained.
Wynonna shook her head smiling, “You listen to the most random shit babygirl I swear”.
“At least I’m not stuck with only old rock and basic country,” Waverly countered.
“Whatever, you know you like it too,” the older sister defended.
“I never said I didn’t, I just said I’m not stuck with it”.
“Yeah yeah, just listen to your alternative music and let mama drive”.
Waverly shook her head, smiling at her ridiculous older sister. She continued to listen to the song while staring at the window at the small town flying by. She could tell this was about to be one of her favorite songs and that it was going to mean something to her, she just couldn’t tell why quite yet.
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The next day at school Nicole was a nervous wreck. It took three and a half hours but Jeremy finally convinced her to try to talk to Waverly. She spent all day trying to figure out how she was going to approach her and what she was going to say. She felt like ‘hi’ wasn’t enough, but that anything more than that was too much.
She rounded the corner from her locker to her french class without paying much attention, too worried about what possibilities this class held for her. It was the class she shared with Waverly. Before she could open the door her body collided with another girls, sending all of their books scattering across the hall.
“Oh my God I am so so so sorry!” she heard the other girl profusely apologize.
“No you’re completely fine it’s my fault, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” Nicole amended. They both were crouched down picking up each other's books when Nicole finally looked up at the other girl, immediately recognizing her. “Shit”.
The brunette looked up as well, meeting her eyes with a smile as she continued to pick up their things. “Nicole, hey,” She said softly.
“Hey, Waverly,” she responded, voice shaking as she looked back down at the ground to make sure they got everything.
Waverly tried her best to sift through all the books in her arms without dropping any to check which were hers and which were the redheads, but it was difficult when she was still standing.
“Here, uh, it’s alright, I can try to find my books after class or something,” Nicole said, standing and trying to hurry up and get into the classroom before her gay panic worsened.
Waverly smiled back up at her, standing as well and following her into the room. “How about we just sit next to each other? Then we can just sort through them then?” she proposed.
If Nicole thought she was going through gay panic before, holy shit. All she could do was stand in the doorway and nod like an idiot. How did she originally have a plan to talk to her? How was she supposed to talk to this girl?
Nicole followed Waverly over to the back corner of the room, taking a seat next to her. She looked through the books she had and gave Waverly the ones that weren’t hers, while the brunette did the same.
“Hey so, uh, isn’t it funny that we kind of run in the same circle but we’ve never really talked much?” Waverly whispered to the redhead.
Nicole looked over at her, not expecting her to try to keep a conversation with her. It was a pleasant surprise, but also confused her. Why now of all times?
“Yeah I guess,” Nicole whispered back, “I guess I’ve never really thought about it that way. Maybe we should change that?” she flirted. Damn, when did she suddenly get confident?
Waverly blushed and looked down at her desk, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She opened her mouth to respond but before she could a voice from the front of the classroom spoke.
“Miss Haught, Miss Earp, is your discussion more important than what I’m teaching in my class?” Mrs. Lucado asked, pausing her lecture.
Waverly’s face got instantly red, so Nicole immediately spoke up to save the girl from embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Lucado. We were just making sure we had all our books. It won’t happen again.”
“Yeah, you bet it won’t,” Mrs. Lucado replied before resuming her lecture.
Waverly glanced over at Nicole, giving her a grateful smile before looking down again and grabbing a pen and paper from her bag. Nicole exhaled from relief before looking ahead at the board, figuring their conversation was over far too quickly. She looked down at the corner of her desk when she felt something being slid over to her.
Nicole picked up the torn piece of paper and unfolded it. Reading the delicate scribbles on the paper, she held her breath and tried to process the words she saw. ‘Thanks for saving me, hero. But I agree, we definitely should change that. Shorty’s 7 o’clock?’
She looked over at the brunette, who was writing down the notes from the white board half-heartedly and glancing at her through her peripherals every few seconds. Nicole smiled at her, flipped over the piece of paper, and wrote out her reply.
When Mrs. Lucado turned her back to the class, she quickly positioned the card sized paper by Waverly’s arm. Waverly peered down at the note, grabbing it right before Lucado turned around again, and read it under her desk. Nicole watched her smile at the response she wrote, a simple ‘see you then :)’. She also watched as the girl nodded her head and stuffed the note in her back pocket.
The rest of the class was a blur, Nicole’s heart practically racing the whole 33 remaining minutes. She couldn’t believe it, she was actually hanging out with Waverly Earp. Jeremy was going to lose his mind. Once the bell rang everyone quickly stood up, wanting nothing more than to hurry out of the room and leave for the day.
Nicole ran out of the French room, but not before Waverly turned around and gave her a soft smile. God, she was in trouble with this girl and she knew it. She hurriedly ran down the hall and towards Jeremy’s locker. She made it there before he did, so she had to resort to leaning against it and very impatiently waiting for the boy to get there.
When she finally saw him approaching she allowed her composure to collapse and externally panic. Jeremy immediately quickened his pace and went straight for her.
“God you look like you’re having a heart attack what’s wrong? Did you talk to her?” he rushed out, concern lacing his voice.
Nicole moved out of the way of his locker, allowing him to open it and put his books away while she talked.
“Oh we did more than just talk Jer,” she retorted. He snapped his head up to look at her, confusion present in his features.
“Uhh what?”
Nicole threw her arms at her side, clearly growing impatient. “She asked me to hang out tonight. With her”. She revealed.
Jeremy’s face lit up and he smiled wide at the redhead. “Really?! That’s great Nicole!” he chortled, “Why do you sound like you want to run to a corner and rock back and forth in the fetal position like they do in mental institutions? Isn’t that, like, the whole point of having a crush on someone? Wanting to go on a date with them?”
Nicole’s eyes blew wide and her jaw dropped, “It’s not a date,” she quickly rectified, “no no, it’s just a friend thing. To get to know each other.” Her panic was just getting worse and worse the more she talked about this.
“Rightttt. Well regardless, what are you gonna wear?” he asked, trying to change the subject to something easier.
“I don’t know, one crisis at a time Jer”.
Jeremy rolled his eyes, closing his locker and walking out of the building with Nicole. “Look, Nicole, this gay panic shit? I get it, but you’ve gotta get yourself together. Come on dude! You’re smooth, charming, calm and collected Nicole Haught! Varsity basketball player and overly tall lesbian who could make any girl stutter. You have to get that Nicole back before tonight.” he encouraged.
Nicole just listened, trying to figure out what was going on with her. Usually she was that Nicole. Cocky, confident, could charm anyone in a 5 mile radius. But there was something about Waverly that made her knees weak and her heart stutter. It was thrilling but terrifying all at once.
She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and nodded her head at the boy. She could do this. She just had to find where she last left her charm, and then not lose it again. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve got this. I can do this.” she assured herself.
Jeremy just sat there, nodding his head and trying to reassure the girl. “You do. Now look, I have to go, Robin’s picking me up to have a movie night at his place. But Nicole, you’ve got this. The more confident you are, the more Waverly will probably internally freak out herself. Trust me, I know her better than anyone.”
“Better than me?” Nicole joked.
“Better than you,” he admitted. “I’ve known her since diapers. That builds a special kind of bond”.
Nicole laughed and shook her head at the boy. Maybe he was right. Maybe she could really do this… whatever it was. Not a date. A hangout. At a diner. On a Friday night. Just them. Not a date.