Chapter Text
“Wave, you okay?” Her sister’s voice shakes Waverly out of her state of fatigue. Between early shifts at Shorty’s, long days in the law library, and nights out with Wynonna or Doc, the bags under her eyes had intensified in the past six months.
“Yeah, yeah, fine.” She brushes off Wynonna, before returning to the cash register, thinking maybe, a little human interaction with cranky people who haven’t had their morning coffee yet, will keep her head out of the clouds.
Gus appears from the staff room and shoots Waverly a look. It’s the same look Waverly’s gotten since she was young. It’s the look Gus shot her whenever she was working herself too hard. It’s the look Gus shot her when she insisted she skip the seventh grade in order to get ahead. It’s the look Gus shot her when she pleaded with the older woman to let her take classes over the summer. It’s the look Gus has dubbed ‘the Waverly look’. “I’m taking tomorrow off I promise.” Waverly smiles. Her mother-figure doesn’t seem to believe her, but gives Waverly a small, approving smile nonetheless.
Once the businessmen crowd had passed, the mom crowd appears. You’d think the businessmen would be crankier; after all it’s earlier and they have important meetings to get to. You’d be wrong. With a smile, a toss of her hair and a little bit of flirting, Waverly could neutralize the businessmen. During her undergrad years she had worked as a bartender and oftentimes those skills helped her with cranky men.
Moms though; moms are a tough crowd. Waverly would smile her heart out and make faces at the babies and ask the toddlers questions, but the moms always get mad. She’s tried just serving them, doing the bare minimum, yet still they get angry. They have some playgroup they just have to get to, or they don’t want to run into another mom because little Jenny doesn’t like little Harry.
For what it’s worth, Waverly really likes the mom crowd, or rather, the kids that come with the mom crowd. She loves seeing the babies faces light up when she smiles or makes a funny face. She loves seeing the toddler’s beam when she asks them if they’ll be paying, or if they’d like a glass of water of their very own. If she’s lucky a mom will even say please and thank you and be civil towards Waverly.
Today is not a lucky day. After six different mothers remarking on how the smell of the Windex was going to make their poor baby sick and two different mothers insisting they got the wrong coffee, even though Waverly is certain they got the exact thing they ordered, Waverly slumps over on the counter next to the cash register, rubbing her eyes. “Can I get a cappuccino to go?”
Waverly shoots up at the new voice, not because being caught resting on the job would ruin her reputation, but because this voice is younger. In front of the cash register is a redhead, probably two or three years older than Waverly with the best dimples. Waverly’s no stranger to dimples; in fact she grew up thinking they weren’t desirable because her annoying older sister had them (or at least that’s what she told people because she’d be damned if ten-year-old academic Waverly actually loved her sixteen-year-old troubled sister). Waverly couldn’t deny this woman’s dimples though.
“Uh, yeah, I uh, that’ll be 3.75.” Waverly barely manages to babble out. She’ll admit it; she’s flustered. The woman just seems to look through her, like she knows exactly what Waverly’s thinking. In Waverly’s defense, the young people generally don’t show up for another three hours, so she’s currently in ‘annoying mom’ mode not ‘hot person’ mode.
The redhead slips a five out of her pocket and to Waverly. “I”m Nicole, Nicole Haught. I’ve been meaning to come by here.” The woman, Nicole, drawls, outstretching her hand, her brown eyes still not leaving Waverly’s. At this point, Waverly’s pretty sure her brain isn’t functioning at full capacity, but she does manage to shake Nicole’s hand. “Who knows, if the coffee’s any good maybe I’ll write a piece on this place.” She seems to be content with confused look on Waverly’s face and it’s a good thing Doc is paying attention because he bops around the back, making the drink. Clumsily, Waverly makes change and hands it back to the woman who continues on.“I’m a journalist.” Nicole explains as Doc pushes the cup towards the newcomer, who in turn smiles and leaves her card on the counter.
Nicole is barely out of the café before Waverly is turning the card over in her hands. “Haught, of course.” She sighs, turning toward Doc, who just has a bright and knowing smile on his face. Waverly was definitely new to her sexuality, and Doc was the only one who knew about it. Doc and Waverly had met in college, despite the fact that, at the time, he had been sleeping with Waverly’s older sister, Wynonna. They had become fast friends and stayed that even after Wynonna had bailed. Before Doc could say anything, Waverly starts to exhale words. “Okay but did you see her dimples? And her smile? Oh god her smile! Doc I know I’m new to this, but are all girls this cute?” Waverly knows she isn’t really thinking about the words she spews, but in the moment she doesn’t really care.
Doc just chuckles. “I did see both her dimples and her smile, but darlin’ she’s got nothing on your sister,” he winks, making Waverly roll her eyes and groan. Despite the fact that Doc has moved on from Wynonna, he loves to torture Waverly with loaded remarks about Waverly’s sister. “But yes, the vast majority of girls are quite attractive.” Waverly sighs, a smile on her face.
“Why did I ever think I was straight?” Doc’s probably not the best person for the rhetorical question, but she’s not out to anyone else and her online community of women who love women just don’t provide the immediate response she’s looking for.
“Well I do believe that you can ask your dear sister that, as she still believes you are.” Waverly rolls her eyes, considering giving Doc a playful whack, but Wynonna appears, and the conversation ends.
Waverly isn’t an exceptional singer, but she like to play around with her guitar and chords, and she writes some lyrics. Mostly, she just likes to learn songs on her guitar and show off at parties. Since Wynonna is taking her 4:30 shift at Shorty’s they get a night in. Waverly insists that they order pizza, watch a movie, then make sundaes, just like they did before Daddy died. Wynonna insists that she facetimes with Xavier while they wait for the pizza, so they compromise with that.
With almost an hour of free time, Waverly decides she’ll learn a new song on her guitar. She putzes around Ultimate Guitar Tabs and YouTube for far too long. Each time she settles on a song, all she can think about it Nicole Haught and her stupid smile and her stupid dimples and her stupid face and her stupid voice and man Waverly’s screwed. She’s really hopping that the the coffee’s good enough for the redhead to return and that the redhead isn’t straight.
She finds “Girls Like Girls”, but it’s just too overt for Waverly. She digs it, but she’s not quite ready to belt out ‘girl like girls like boys do’ in her room, where Wynonna can hear her. From there she finds “Cliff’s Edge”, but it’s still not the right fit. When she finally clicks on the video for “She Keeps Me Warm”, it clicks. In a way she feels like she’s invading Nicole’s privacy because for all she knows, Nicole doesn’t even like women. In a different way, she’s shameless. She can see herself and Nicole in the same position as the two in the video and it makes her smile.
“Wave! Pizza!” Wynonna’s voice comes from down the stairs, so Waverly puts her guitar down and meanders down to her sister. “What’s up? You look like you’re thinking.” Wynonna asks, shoving a piece of pizza down her throat without a plate, napkin or silverware.
Waverly scofs, handing her older sister a napkin at the very least. Reluctantly, Wynonna takes it, the inquisitive look still in her eye. “I’m uh, I’m thinking of putting a video of me singing on YouTube.” Truthfully, she hadn’t been thinking about it until the words escape her mouth. The look in Wynonna’s eyes and the smile on her face tells Waverly that it was going to happen, despite any doubts she may have.
Nicole first sees the video when it’s got 150 views. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s breathtaking. Waverly (Nicole assumes this is name based on the girl’s YouTube account, and Nicole thinks it just fits) sits in the grass, wearing what Nicole can only presume is a turquoise bathing suit; her guitar perched on her lap. Her smile is what really gets Nicole, but her voice is nothing to sneeze at.
The song choice brings the barista’s sexuality into question and Nicole would be lying if she said it didn’t make her heart beat a little faster. The only gayer song has to be “Girls Like Girls”, but “She Keeps Me Warm” is pretty freaking gay.
The next time Nicole sees the video, it has over 400,00 views, thousands of likes, and hundred of comments. The comments range from fangirling, to asking about Waverly's sexuality, to trashing the brunette’s voice to sweet girls tagging their girlfriends. Nicole finds herself getting angry at the hate and frustrated with the intrusion of Waverly’s privacy.
She doesn’t really have a leg to stand on in protecting Waverly, but for some reason, it’s just something her mind wants. Well, Nicole knows the reason, but that’s besides the point. She wants to go back to the coffee shop and ask out the shorter girl, but she’s not sure if it’s creepy now. She does have a sneaking suspicion her crush won’t dissipate, but she can hope.
Nicole’s editor makes the choice for her: the ball’s started rolling on the piece on Shorty’s.
“Waverly, Waverly, Waverly!” Waverly is in the middle of a nice dream when Wynonna’s shouts wake her from her slumber. She should have known having two days off at Shorty’s in one week would mean Wynonna waking her up at one point or another. Sighing, Waverly peeled off her covers, but before she’s even out of bed, the older Earp is jumping on top of her. “Waves, when did you last check your YouTube video or email?” Wynonna presses, searching for Waverly’s phone on her bedside table.
“I don’t know,” Waverly grumbles groggily. “YouTube: I haven’t checked since I posted it. I checked my school email last night, but haven’t checked my personal email in a few days. Why do you care Wynonna?” Waverly tries not to be grumpy, but like many of Shorty’s patrons, she’s got horns before her morning caffeine.
“You’ve gone viral!” Wynonna cheers, pulling up the cover on Waverly’s phone. Waverly has to rub her eyes because there’s no way 428,448 views is the right amount. “Yeah, rub your eyes baby sis, but it’s real.” Waverly is in disbelief. Before she posted the video she had sung in front of people maybe twice before. She much preferred to keep in in her bedroom.
“No.” Is all she says, before her disbelief transforms into fear. Her singing the second gayest song is on the internet. Wynonna has got to suspect. People she doesn’t know have got to suspect.
“Oh yeah baby girl!” Wynonna laughs, then squeals, “Oh my god Waves, I’m checking your email,” Waverly makes a face, but Wynonna continues, “A record company wants to meet with you!”
Waverly slows her breathing and okay, she can admit it, her fear has turned into panic. She’s not ready for all this change. She’s just figuring out the whole bisexual thing, she’s not ready to leave school and Shorty’s and everything she knows and everything that’s safe for some singing career that may turn to shit the moment her secrets out. She’s not a musician. She’s a bartender; she’s a law student; she’s a barista, but she’s not a musician. She hasn’t even shown Doc what she’s written, let alone the world. “I’m emailing the executives back and saying you’ll meet them!” Wynonna says matter-of-factly.
“I can’t; I have school and work.” The excuse is weak and Waverly knows it, but she doesn’t care, she’s terrified. Wynonna’s gaze softens and she wiggles herself until she’s next to Waverly and pulls the younger girl into a hug.
“I know it’s scary baby girl.” Wynonna whispers, planting a soft kiss on Waverly’s temple. “But, this could be good for you. Shorty’s isn’t going anywhere and you can always go back to school.” Wynonna pauses, letting Waverly rest her head against her older sister’s shoulder. “There’s no guarantee it’ll turn into anything and even if it does, I’ll take on more shifts at Shorty’s. What do you think?” When Wynonna looks at her with those eyes, a smile crosses her face.
“Okay...”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”