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Nicole tapped her fingers nervously against her steering wheel as she drove down the long and winding driveway. Her morning had started like any other, coffee at Jeremy’s café and respectful admiration from afar of the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. When she had woken up first thing, she’d have never guessed that by nightfall she would be on the way to said woman’s house. Of course, every day she tried to convince herself to go and ask her out, but Waverly Earp was rarely alone at her table, forever being approached by other customers who apparently knew her well. Nicole was unfortunately not one of those people. That was, until, she had been about to leave the café bathroom, when she had been flung backwards by the door unexpectedly opening towards her.
“Oh God! Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”
Nicole had practically frozen at the sound of Waverly’s voice. She’d stumbled over her response, sure it was utterly incoherent, before essentially running away back to her table.
She could feel herself blushing just at the memory of it. Sure she’d blown it, she had returned to her table to hang her head in shame. But by some miracle, Waverly had returned for round two.
“It’s Nicole, right?”
“Waverly! Yeah, that’s me, Nicole with a ‘C’!” She’d cringed as the stupid saying her dad had invented as a joke came out of her mouth. And then, in a frantic attempt to mask the fact she’d known Waverly’s name without introduction, she asked “What are you doing tonight?”
What had then ensued was what Nicole could only describe as gay panic. Waverly’s eyes had lit up with pure excitement as she explained that she was watching the meteor shower, and Nicole, hypnotised by their proximity, had immediately declared that she also had planned to watch the meteor shower, despite the fact she wasn’t even sure what a meteor shower was.
Waverly had then excitedly invited her over to watch it at her house, which was why she was now driving down a wild country lane at 10pm with a brand-new telescope on her backseat. She’d spent the afternoon desperately traipsing from store to store to find one, all because she’d confidently said yes when Waverly had asked if she had one. When the staff at Nedley’s camping store had dragged one from the dark depths of their storeroom, she’d given them each a hug.
She focused on the present as she came to the end of Waverly‘s drive. She didn’t think this was a date, so technically she had nothing to be anxious about, but just the prospect of being with Waverly one-on-one was causing her stomach to somersault like an Olympic gymnast.
As her headlights illuminated a small wooden cabin, she wondered why Waverly lived here, away from everything and everyone when she seemed like such a people person. She parked next to a big red Jeep and grabbed her thick coat and telescope bag from the backseat, before adventuring out towards the porch.
She knocked on the front door and waited, taking in the sounds of the wilderness.
She tried to ignore her quickening heartbeat pulsing in her throat. Waverly was just a person. She could speak to people, right? She feared this morning’s events proved otherwise.
“Hey! You found it!” Waverly smiled. Nicole expected to be let in, but instead Waverly came out towards her, shutting the door without locking it. She looked like she was wearing five jumpers, yet her hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, underneath a white knitted beanie.
“I’ve never been out this way before,” Nicole said, as she followed Waverly back down the steps and across the yard.
“That’s understandable,” Waverley replied as she clicked on a flash light. “There's not much out here apart from me.” As if to highlight her point, the night seemed to absorb all the light coming from the flashlight, so that it really might as well have not been on. She hoped Waverly knew where she was going.
“How long have you lived out here” Nicole asked, trying to stick closely behind so as to not get lost in the void.
“All my life.” So that explained how Waverly was apparently unphased by the lack of light. “How about you? You can’t have been living here that long, I’d have remembered going to school with you.”
Nicole’s ears pricked, was that flirting or just a fact?
“I’ve only been here a couple of months,” Nicole explained, “moved here to coach high school sports.”
“Oh… Wow!” Waverly giggled.
“What?” Nicole retorted, narrowing her eyes, sure she knew what was coming. Waverly turned, holding the flashlight up under her chin to illuminate her face.
“Purgatory high schoolers are shockingly bad at sports, believe me, there’s nothing harder than cheerleading for a team that always loses.”
Nicole had to quickly push aside the numerous images of Waverly in a cheer outfit that came flashing into her brain.
“Well, that’s why they hired me,” Nicole winked, puffing her chest with sarcastic pride for the Red Devils.
Waverly laughed before continuing onwards.
After a few moments, two deck chairs with fleece blankets draped over them seemed to materialise out of the night. One of the blankets had tiny guinea pigs on it, the other love hearts. Adorable.
Waverly sat and began to unpack her telescope. Nicole followed suit, snatching a dangling label she’d missed earlier and stuffing it into her jacket pocket.
“What do you do for work?” Nicole asked as she tried to work out how the hell to get the legs of her telescope to extend.
“I work at the bar in town, Shorty’s saloon. I’m surprised you’ve never come by.”
“I’ve been sober for a couple of years,” Nicole explained.
“Oh,” Waverly said, looking up from her telescope, “Sorry I didn’t mean to…”
“No, no!” Nicole said reassuringly, not wanting to make a big fuss of it. “Nothing happened, I just don’t like the way it makes me feel, so I stay away.”
“Wow, that’s impressive,” Waverly nodded, her eyebrows raised as if she was genuinely impressed.
“Is it?” Nicole asked, scrunching her nose in doubt, people usually just complained that she just hated fun.
“Yeah, you’re recognising that something has a negative impact on you, and then you’ve actually got the self control and motivation to not engage with it. You’ll get nothing but respect from me for that.”
Nicole felt a warmth spread through her belly, her anxieties about the evening melting away bit by bit. She found a latch on the tripod and opened it, relieved that the legs finally became longer and she could prop it upright.
“Thanks,” Nicole smiled, aware of the beginnings of a blush creeping up her neck. She tried to subtly watch Waverly as she set up her own equipment, unsure what parts she was meant to twist next. She removed the covers from either end of her telescope, satisfied that she’d done at least that right.
“Do you do this often?” Nicole asked, peering through the big lens of her telescope, trying to angle it upwards. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. Why couldn’t she see anything?
“Pretty much whenever there’s a clear sky,” Waverly replied, causing Nicole to look over. That was surprisingly frequent. She hadn’t realised she was in the presence of such an avid star-gazer. “How about you?”
“Uhh,” Nicole chuckled, returning her attention to her telescope, determined to work this out for herself before Waverly cottoned on. “I’m pretty new to it.” There! Was that something? She squinted at a dot in the lens, but it turned out to be nothing more than one dust.
“You don’t say,” Waverly said, with a hint of humour. Nicole looked at her, surprised at her tone.
“Hmm?” Nicole replied, trying to play things cool. There was no way Waverly knew that this was her first time, right?
Waverly tried to hide her giggles, but failed. Miserably. She pointed at Nicole’s telescope, “You’re looking through the wrong end.”
Nicole closed her eyes, feeling truly mortified. She sat back in her chair and put her hands over her face. “Wowww, that’s embarrassing. I can never show my face here again.” Honestly, did her stupidity know no bounds? She blamed it on Waverly, if she wasn’t so beautiful, Nicole would be finding it a lot easier not to act like a complete and utter simpleton.
“Nooo Nicole! It’s cute! You bought a telescope just for the occasion,” Waverly laughed openly, and Nicole groaned, sure that a blush red enough to match her hair was now spreading all over her face. The fact she knew she’d bought it that day?! God the ground should just swallow her up right now, put her out of her misery.
“Oh god! Was it that obvious??”
Waverly drew up her blanket over her mouth to try and hide her cheek-splitting grin, but Nicole had already seen it in all its glory. “I’ve never seen someone less confident in setting up a telescope.”
Nicole groaned again, “Ugh god I’m such an idiot, I’m sorry. Do you want me to go?” Nicole sat up and looked around for her bag so that she could make a quick getaway. She’d leave the telescope, it would just remind her of how she blew her shot with her dream woman.
“No no, Nicole, sit down! I think it’s sweet.” Nicole studied Waverly’s face, sure she was being sarcastic, but there was only a genuine looking smile to be found. “Plus now I get to experience you seeing a meteor shower for the first time, so it’ll be doubly magic.” There was an excited glint in Waverly’s eye that sent a spark over Nicole’s skin.
“Here, let me,” Waverly said, shedding her guinea pig blanket onto her chair and making her way over to where Nicole was sat. She watched Waverly closely as she adjusted Nicole’s telescope, rolling her eyes as Waverly made a particular show of turning it a full 180 degrees. She leaned over to peer through it, and Nicole’s heart quickened just at the proximity. She studied Waverly’s fingers as they turned a dial, trying to focus on the task at hand but utterly failing. Waverly pulled away, seemingly satisfied.
“There you go, you should be able to see something now,” Waverly grinned, “but something tells me you might need a lesson.” She walked over to her chair and dragged it over so the arm rest was touching Nicole’s.
“So what you want to do, is look through this bit here,” she pointed to the small hole that was now very obviously the eye piece.
“Okay,” Nicole smiled, before leaning forwards to put her eye against the rubber. She could see various lights, some brighter than others, but everything seemed to have a haziness to it.
“Is it in focus?” Waverly asked, “everyone’s eyes are different, so you might need to adjust it.”
“How do I do that?” Without moving away from the eye piece, she moved her hand clumsily over the top of the telescope, trying to feel for the dial she’d seen Waverly use earlier. Suddenly, there was another set of cold fingers, settled on her hand. She froze, the touch unexpected. She allowed Waverly to guide her hand gently to the dial, wanting more than anything to stop looking through the telescope and instead into Waverly’s eyes. But she didn’t dare ruin the moment.
“Twist this, and it should come into focus,” Waverly said softly. Nicole could’ve sworn she could feel her breath on her cheek, that she’d be close enough to kiss if she only turned her head. She blinked hard, desperate to concentrate on the matter at hand. She turned the dial, and as if by magic, everything became crystal clear.
“Better?” Waverly asked, sitting back in her chair and looking up at the sky for herself. Nicole was astounded. Had this been above her her whole life? She pulled away from the eye piece, her excitement taking hold.
“Waverly, the colours! I always thought the sky was black. But no! It’s purple! And grey! And the deepest blue I’ve ever seen!” She looked back into the telescope, hungry to discover more, “And somehow the lights, they’re not white, but pink and green and yellow!”
Waverly was looking at her in a way that Nicole couldn’t quite decipher. Had she said something wrong?
“Sorry,” She chuckled, “I’m showing my ignorance.”
“You are absolutely not ignorant Nicole, you’re excited. It’s very cute.” They stared at each other for a moment, Nicole trying very hard not to be completely taken over by the fact Waverly had just called her cute. She cleared her throat, suddenly feeling slightly suffocated by the thickening air.
“I can go if you’d rather enjoy the meteor shower without someone who’s acting like they’ve never seen the sky before.” The last thing she wanted to do was leave, but she’d understand if Waverly wanted some peace and quiet.
Waverly raised an eyebrow and looked around them, gesturing into the darkness. “Do you see anyone else coming out here in the middle of the night to hang out with me? I’m glad for some company.” Nicole didn’t see how that would be true, Waverly always had a constant stream of people chatting to her when Nicole was around.
“But you’re always with people at the café?”
“Correction, people always come up to me. I think they feel bad for me. None of them ever stay though, or come and spend some real time. I think they’re scared this place is cursed or something.”
Nicole tilted her head in confusion, Waverly’s words not making any sense. Was there something she was missing? “Why would they…?”
Waverly looked up at the sky, deep in thought. Nicole didn’t want to pry, so she just watched and waited, in case Waverly wanted to expand on any of her slightly worrying statements.
“Look there! Did you see that?” Waverly shouted suddenly, pointing up at the sky. Nicole jumped in her seat, scared by the sudden declaration. She gripped her chest, trying to remember how to breathe. Waverly’s grin was quickly replaced with wide eyes and she reached over to touch Nicole’s forearm.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you!”
“You’ve got to warn a girl before you shout in the middle of the night!”
“I’m sorry, I just saw a meteor and got excited.” Nicole looked at Waverly’s innocent face and then glanced up at the sky, wondering whether she should be expecting more or if that was it.
“Have I missed it?”
“Oh, no no that’s just the beginning,” Waverly said reassuringly, settling back into her chair and looking through her telescope. Nicole felt relieved that their evening wouldn’t be over just yet. Nicole followed suit, and peered through her own, turning it slightly so she could observe a new section. After a few moments, Waverly spoke.
“Do you know what a meteor shower is?”
Nicole thought for a moment, “Nice lights in the sky?” She guessed, cringing at how ridiculous she sounded. “I’m sorry, don’t hate me,” She apologised, hoping Waverly wouldn’t be put off by her lack of knowledge. “Ask me a sports question and I’m there!” She joked.
Waverly laughed, before turning her chair so that it was facing Nicole. Nicole’s breath hitched, eager to hear Waverly talk about something she was evidently passionate about.
“So there are comets, which are moving through space, and when bits of these break off and enter the earth’s atmosphere, they get extremely hot and essentially burn up into nothing. But them burning up is what creates the streaking lights in our sky.”
Nicole scrunched her nose, she hadn’t quite realised the logistics. “Oh, that’s a lot more violent than I thought.”
“I find it comforting,” Waverly sighed, sitting back in her chair and looking up at the night. “Here, death mostly just brings grief and sadness and loneliness.” Her voice was low and soft, almost too quiet for Nicole to hear. She felt an ache in her chest, seeing Waverly talk about her pain. She wanted to hold her, to tell her she’d be there for her if she wanted her to, but instead she sat, watching and waiting for her to continue.
“For a long time I was totally consumed by those feelings, and I didn’t know how to exist with them. I didn’t know how anything good could ever happen again. But then one night, I came out to this spot with every intention of sleeping out here so I could just feel something. And I looked up at this,” she gestured to the sky, “and I was hypnotised. I felt like a tiny ant looking up at this humungous world that my microscopic mind could never comprehend. I looked at the stars and the patterns and I was just breathless. Take this meteor shower for example, ‘death’ leads to something new and something beautiful, something that people pin their wishes on and share first kisses under. A piece of rock is burnt into thin air and it creates something that people stay out all night to see. It’s helped me to put things into perspective, to start to try and drag myself out of the hole I was in and live my life again. I come out here, and it gives me hope that maybe the people I’ve lost have gone on to be something beautiful somewhere.”
The silence was deafening as Nicole processed what Waverly had just said. The heaviness washed over her, and yet there was a sense of peace that accompanied it. She had no clue what had happened to Waverly, but it sounded like it had been traumatic, and that tonight was suddenly about a lot more than just seeing some meteors. She couldn’t even begin to understand how Waverly felt, how alone she must truly feel to turn to the night sky for comfort. But she felt glad that it had been able to help her to process things, when she’d felt like there was nowhere else to go.
Waverly suddenly blinked, realising that Nicole was still there, sat facing her. She seemed embarrassed, “Maybe. I don’t know, sorry, that must sound really stupid to you.” She stood from her chair and looked back towards her house, perhaps planning to make a quick escape. Embarrassed was the last thing that Nicole wanted her to feel.
“Waverly, god no please don’t apologise.” She stood too, and before she could register what she was doing she reached for one of Waverly’s hands and held it tight in both of her own. Waverly had been vulnerable with her, and she needed her to know it was okay. “I didn’t realise… thank you for inviting me into such a personal space.”
“I’m sorr-” Waverly began again, but Nicole cut her off.
“Don’t! I mean it!”
“You didn’t come here to have my trauma dumped on you,” Waverly sighed apologetically.
“Well I thought we were just having a conversation,” Nicole shrugged casually in an attempt to reassure Waverly that it was okay.
“Well,” Waverly smiled, her hand still tight in Nicole’s. “Thank you.”
“I haven’t done anything!” Nicole frowned, finally letting go.
Waverly appeared to disagree. “You listened.”
Nicole let that sit in the air for a second.
“That’s only small,” she shook her head, refusing to take any kind of credit for something so simple.
“Not to me.” Much to Nicole’s surprise, Waverly surged forward and wrapped her arms around Nicole’s waist, pulling her into a hug. “Not to me.”
Nicole was overwhelmed with panic at the sudden intimacy, but managed to coordinate herself enough to bring her own arms around Waverly’s shoulders. They stayed like that for a moment, it was evident that Waverly needed it, and she was more than happy to provide the service.
To her dismay, Waverly was the first to pull away, and Nicole could see that she was blushing.
“Sorry, was that okay? I can’t remember the last time I had a hug. Felt like I needed it.”
“Of course,” Nicole smiled, “Anytime you need a hug, you call me, okay?”
Waverly looked at her, a smile tugging at her lips.
“I’m glad you’re here Nicole.” Nicole’s heart fluttered uncontrollably. There was definitely an energy between them. Did Waverly feel it too? She hoped so.
“I’m glad I’m here too,” she admitted in return. How could she not be? Waverly’s eyes flickered to the sky and Nicole could’ve sworn she saw little lights reflected in them.
“Looks like the show is starting,” Waverly said, snapping Nicole from her trance. She grabbed both the blankets and lay them onto the grass. She lay down on one, and patted the space next to her, inviting Nicole to join her. Nicole almost ran, not needing to be asked twice. She lay down, allowing her eyes to focus on the night sky.
There! And there! Bright streaks of light dotted all over the sky, traveling so fast that if she blinked she’d miss it. It started with a few, and then more, and more, until they were so frequent she didn’t even know where to look. She didn’t know if she was breathing. She didn’t care! She had this overwhelming feeling that was rising in her chest that made her feel like crying. She blinked, slightly taken aback by the emotions that were coming up. She looked over to Waverly, to see if she was seeing what she was seeing, but was surprised to see that Waverly wasn’t looking at the sky, but at her. She had a look in her eye that Nicole couldn’t quite decipher.
“Waves, you’re missing the-” She was cut off by Waverly’s lips, crushing into her own. Before Nicole could even register what was happening, they were gone again. Waverly looked just as shocked as she felt.
“I’m so sorry – I should have asked I just-”
It was Nicole’s turn to interrupt, moving forward to recapture Waverly’s lips. She wasn’t sure if this was real, or if she’d entered some kind of dream state, but either way she didn’t care. The streaking lights in the sky were like fireworks that remained even when her eyes were closed, and she grasped Waverly’s cheek as if she’d float off into space if she didn’t hold on.
She pulled away and saw that Waverly still had her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open, as if she were suspended in the moment. Her eyelids fluttered open, searching Nicole’s as a smile crept up onto her face.
“What did I say about meteor showers and first kisses?” Waverly whispered, and Nicole’s heart felt like it was soaring through the air. She felt like tonight had been a rollercoaster of emotions, but she didn’t want to get off just yet.
“I didn’t think you knew I existed before today?” Nicole said, her face still close to Waverley’s on the blanket.
“I see you in the cafe everyday Nicole. I’d always hoped you’d come over and introduce yourself,” she admitted, smiling shyly. Nicole couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Really?” All those times she’d convinced herself Waverly would shoot her down, she’d actually been willing her to shoot her shot.
“Really. When you said you were also planning to watch the meteor shower tonight, I was so excited to finally have an excuse to get to hang out with you.”
Nicole grinned, her heart beating fast with excitement.
“So what astronomical event has to happen for me to get kiss number two?” She said, letting the flirting flow free at last.
Waverly’s eyes twinkled, “Ooo tomorrow night the moon is passing just north of the red giant star Antares in Scorpio!”
“What does that mean?” Nicole asked. She’d have to study up on all the terminology so that Waverly didn’t feel like she was conversing with a child.
“It means,” Waverly said softly, “you’ve got yourself a date.”