Archive of Our Own

Book number two of the ‘Sky of a Million Stars’ trilogy has been out for less than six months and she’s spent the last month and a half on tour promoting it. It’s not the only book signing event that she’s attended, however, it was her first full tour. Twenty-four stops later and all she can think about is that she’s probably going to have to do this again in the future.

Writing the third book hasn’t come easy to her by any means thus far. With her publicist breathing down her neck, it sure doesn’t make it any easier. Writing used to be fun for Nicole. It was an outlet. Now it’s work. She still loves it though, even if it doesn’t always come so easily. 

Having Waverly helps. Nicole hired her as her handler for the tour. It was her way of keeping a small piece of home close by while she was gone. They’ve been friends since they were five. As far back as Nicole can remember, she’s always been one of her biggest support systems, besides her wife, but that hasn’t really been the same lately. 

They got married fairly young. There wasn’t much room to think about the fact that marriage is usually forever when they met in Vegas a few summers ago. She was pretty, she knew just what to say to sweep Nicole off her feet. Especially after Britney live, a big win on a slot machine and a bunch of cocktails later. 

She’s alone outside the hotel. It’s the first time all tour other than when she was sleeping in her hotel room that she hasn’t had someone with her. She was surprised that her publicist didn’t force her to have a “chaperone” while she got ready for the event. She was probably afraid to leave her alone with Waverly after everything that has happened. Hell, even she is a little nervous about being alone with her right now. They were hungry and Nicole wasn’t, so she convinced them she would survive for an hour while they went out for food. 

The driver exits the vehicle and makes his way around to the side door. Nicole thanks the man when he opens the door for her to climb in. She takes in one more deep breath of fresh air before ducking down to step inside. She notices there’s only one other person in the limousine with her. She gives her a slightly puzzled look. 

“Waves? Where’s Rosita?” she asks the brunette who’s greeting her with a smile. Her heart thumps so hard in her chest that it’s practically in her throat.

“She said she’ll meet us there,” Waverly says.

Nicole shrugs and takes a seat across from the woman who is sitting in the middle of one of the seats. The driver closes the door and makes his way back to the front. She glances behind her to see the privacy screen is closed, leaving her completely alone with the brunette in the back. 

She feels the vehicle jossle a bit as it starts to move, heading down the street to their destination. 

One last party that Nicole has to attend. 

One last show she has to put on. 

She takes a moment to look at the woman sitting in front of her. She’s dressed in a short, tightly fitted dress. It’s patterned, but not tacky. There’s lace, but it’s still simple. It’s beautiful. 

She’s beautiful.

Her eye’s travel down the brunette’s legs to the exposed skin that she can just barely make out in the darkness of the limo. The moon shines bright in the sky above them, but the tinted windows don’t allow it much access inside the vehicle. She can tell by the angle of the woman’s legs that she’s wearing a pair of heels, something that only happens on rare occasions. 

“You okay?” Waverly asks. Nicole takes her time bringing her eyes back up to her face. She gets caught up in her smile for a moment, then nods. 

“Perfect,” she says, offering a soft smile back to the brunette. 

As much as she’s ready to move on from the tour, there are things from her time traveling she doesn’t want to end. She hasn’t always been able to be alone with the brunette when she wanted throughout the tour, but every moment she has is engraved in her mind. 

The very first signing of the tour when Waverly held her hand behind the curtain as she peered out to see the size of the crowd for the first time in Seattle. 

The night on the balcony of the hotel outside of New Orleans.

The night they shared together earlier in the week. 

She feels the brunette’s fingers brush lightly against her left hand as she lifts it from Nicole’s side. She pulls it a little closer to her. Nicole doesn’t mind the contact. She watches as Waverly carefully studies her hand, she stares more specifically her ring finger. She slowly lifts her head, catching Waverly’s eyes on the way up.

“You took it off,” she says, softly running her thumb over where Nicole’s wedding band once was.

“I can’t keep doing it,” Nicole admits.

Waverly’s hazel eyes meet hers. She doesn’t speak. 

Six weeks earlier. 

“You sure you have everything?” a dark haired woman asks as she picks up one of Nicole’s bags off her floor and carries it out to the car in the driveway. 

“Rosita,” Nicole sighs. “This isn’t my first time traveling,” she reminds her. It is, however, the first major book tour she’s ever been on and although she’s nervous, apparently her publicist is even more nervous. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Rosita huffs. “I’m just trying to make sure we’re prepared for this, Nicole,” she says. 

“That’s why I’m bringing Waverly,” Nicole says with a grin. She glances over at the brunette woman who is reading over a list that is probably full of everything that they need and everything they already have. “She’s on top of it, right Waves?” she calls out to her. 

Waverly glances up from her list. “Huh?” she asks.

“Do we have everything we need?” Nicole asks. “Rosita is freaking out over here,” she teases, gesturing Rosita with her thumb.

Waverly laughs and nods.  “We’re on top of it,” Waverly reassures them, waving the list in the air.

“See?” Nicole asks, grinning back at her publicist.

Rosita shakes her head at the redhead. 

Part of the reason she hired Waverly to go on tour with her is because of her excellent organization skills. The other part is because Waverly is one of her best friends and she doesn’t trust many other people to do what she needs her to do. 

“Okay,” Rosita says. She’s trying to stay calm and focused. She’s clearly not entertained by the redhead’s sarcastic retorts. 

It’s not long before another car pulls into the driveway next to them. Nicole pauses for a moment. Despite the separation from her wife, they’ve still been residing in the same home. Most of the time, it’s not a big issue since they have vastly different schedules.

To be honest, Shae isn’t home much at all anymore. Nicole knows that between late nights at the hospital and finishing up her school, she’s busy, but she never really asks where else she might be. She’s not sure if she really wants to know.

Shae climbs out of the car, donning a pair of light blue scrubs and dark circles under her eyes indicating that it was probably a long night at the hospital. The redhead greets her with a soft smile. Even though they’re in the process of a divorce, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about the woman.

“Takin’ off?” Shae asks Nicole as she makes her way over to the three women who are standing together on the other side of the driveway.

Nicole nods and gestures to Shae, to walk with her away from where Waverly and Rosita are standing. 

“Hey, so Rosita doesn’t think I should mention the divorce yet,” she tells her when they’re far enough away for her to know they’re alone. “She thinks a major change in my personal life would take away from trying to shine a spotlight on my next book.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Shae asks.

She’s always been a caring person. They may not have always been great about communication, but they did care about each other in one way or another. 

Nicole shrugs. Shae places her hand on the redhead’s shoulder and offers her a small smile.

“I, uh, just wanted to keep you in the loop, you know?” Nicole informs her. 

Shae nods. “Thanks,” she says, dropping her hand back down to her own side. “Just don’t stop being true to yourself because of an image someone wants to uphold you for.”

Nicole pushes for a moment, looking into the soft, brown eyes of her soon to be ex wife. The words hit deep, but she tries not to show it. She blinks a few times, getting her thoughts together.

“When I get back, we can get the rest of this whole thing situated,” Nicole tells her. “Just gotta get through the next six weeks,” she says with a bit of a forced smile.

“You’ll have fun,” Shae says with a soft smile.

Nicole agrees. As nervous as she is to put herself out there for this book tour, she is excited to be able to travel with her best friend and promote something she poured her heart and soul into for so long.

“And you’ll have Waverly by your side,” Shae says, nudging her playfully, giving her a wink. 

Nicole isn’t sure what she means by that, but it does make her feel a lot better to know she’ll have her best friend with her. 

They don’t talk about much else before they rejoin the other two women on the other side of the driveway. They go over everything again, briefly, making sure they have everything they need again. It’s mostly for Rosita’s peace of mind. They say their goodbyes to Shae before climbing in the vehicle to head to the airport.

Nicole watches as Waverly takes a moment to give Shae a hug goodbye. Waverly and Shae have gotten pretty close over the last few years and she’s sure it will be weird for them not to spend time together much anymore either.

“Take care of her,” she hears Shae whisper to the brunette as they pull away from the hug.

“Always,” Waverly says with a smile. Nicole climbs in the backseat of the car, allowing Waverly to take the front. As they slowly back out of the driveway, she glances back up at her wife once more, waving goodbye at her before she fades from her sight. 

📖 

The first flight of the trip is only a couple of hours, but Nicole’s nerves make it feel much longer. She’s never been much for flying and she really appreciates Waverly trying to spend most of the flight keeping her distracted. 

“Want to play ‘I spy?’” Waverly whispers as she leans over toward Nicole’s ear. 

Nicole laughs and gives her a look. “Like when we were ten?” 

Nearly fifteen years ago, their family’s decided they were going to surprise the kids and go on a trip to Disney World. That’s when Nicole realized she wasn’t so keen on the whole flying thing. The flight was mostly spent with Waverly’s older sister, Wynonna, making fun of her for being a ‘baby,’ but Waverly was supportive, even then. 

“Hey,” Waverly says. “It helped, didn’t it?” She asks with a smile.

Nicole thinks back to the moment and nods. “Yeah, except we ran out of things to spy because when you’re short and in the middle seat, there’s not much you can see,” Nicole laughs. She glances over at Waverly, sitting in the middle seat again, trying to look in between the seats and laughs. 

“Okay, so some things haven’t changed,” Waverly laughs, looking back at Nicole. 

“How about we play writing on an airplane?” The sound of Rosita’s voice comes from the other side of Waverly.

Nicole groans and dramatically slams the back of her head against the seat behind her. She doesn’t turn to look at the woman, but she can feel her eyes on her. She desperately wants Waverly to move forward, blocking Rosita from her sight, but she doesn’t ask. 

She knows she should be writing. Rosita doesn’t exactly let her forget about it either. Honesty, she hasn’t looked at her computer in over a week. That might not seem like too much time, but with a deadline bearing down on her, it feels like it’s been years. 

She thought maybe the idea of promoting her newest book would give her some inspiration to write again, but so far she’s had no such luck. She knows she’s going to get questions asking about the next book, and she really wishes she had answers. 

Truthfully, the end of her marriage hasn’t really helped to get the inspiration train running either. She’s feeling better about the entire situation than she thought she would, but it has still kept her mind a little preoccupied. 

“What’s on your mind?” Waverly’s voice breaks her from her thoughts. It’s soft and low, almost like a whisper. 

Nicole turns her head to see the brunette looking back at her. She shakes her head.

“Nothing.” 

She knows Waverly is fully aware that she’s not telling her the truth, something the brunette has always been good at. The brunette gives her a look. 

“I’m fine, Waves,” Nicole assures her. “I’m just thinking.” 

Waverly pauses for a moment. She’s not usually one to ask the same question over and over, especially when Nicole is resistant to talking about it. However, she’s good at getting Nicole talking.

“Do you remember the first time you told me you wanted to be a writer?” Waverly asks.

Nicole turns her head towards the brunette. “Like when I came to you with a bunch of scattered pages of writing and told you I swear I could make a story out of it?” 

“That too,” Waverly says with a laugh. “But I mean when we were younger. You wrote an essay for class and you were so excited about it,” she continues. “You were never excited about school.”

Nicole gives her a slightly embarrassed look. She remembers her classmates making fun of her for actually caring so much about how perfect it was. “What about it?” She asks. 

“I remember how determined you were,” Waverly says. “You wrote so many stories after that and I remember being amazed by your creativity,” she says. 

“Oh man, I was hoping you forgot about some of those stories,” Nicole says with a laugh. 

“My point is,” Waverly continues. “When you were stuck on something, or frustrated, you never actually stopped writing,” she says. “You would just jot down other ideas that you could come back to. You always used to tell me, ‘as long as I write something, I feel like I’m going in the right direction.’ Remember that?” 

Nicole nods. 

She was right. 

She’s always right. 

Maybe she should try just writing. Writing anything is better than writing nothing, right? She smiles back at the brunette. 

“Thanks,” Nicole says. “This is why I brought you, because you’re the calm one,” she says with a laugh, receiving a glare from Rosita. 

“And I thought it was because you don’t trust anyone else to be your handler,” Waverly teases. 

“That too,” Nicole says with a laugh, pointing a finger toward the brunette. 

📖 

Nicole spends the majority of the rest of the plane ride staring at her unopened laptop. Waverly’s words of encouragement repeat in her head, but there’s something in her still stopping her from even opening the computer to start. 

It’s possibly the thought of taking the time to open the computer and not having any actual ideas to write about. Or it could be the thought of staring at a blank page, a clean slate, something Nicole fears more than she realizes. 

When the plane lands and they receive the go ahead to depart the aircraft, Rosita leads the way to baggage claim. It doesn’t take long for their luggage to appear on the conveyor belt. They collect their bags and make their way out of the airport to meet their car that is set to bring them to their hotel for the night. 

By the time they’ve reached the hotel, Nicole feels the exhaustion from traveling all day finally setting in and is grateful when Rosita and Waverly leave her alone in her room for the night. 

She lays down in the bed in her hotel room. It’s much more comfortable than her bed at home. It probably has something to do with the fact that she spends most nights sleeping on the couch, that is until Shae tells her to stop doing that so she doesn’t wake her up when she comes home in the middle of the night. Then she ends up sleeping in the guest room, where the bed is not nearly as comfortable. She’s not sure why she doesn’t just sleep in her room. Shae sleeps at the hospital more often than not anyway. 

She picks up her phone to check her messages. She has a few from her parents, telling her that they hope she has a good time on tour. Part of her is disappointed when she doesn’t have any messages from Shae. She’s not sure why she would expect it, but it’s the first big event she’s had since their marriage ended and part of her still wants to do this with her. 

She types out a text to her a few times before deleting every one. She finally decides to just send her a text letting her know they’ve landed and made it to the hotel. She feels like she at least owes her that, not wanting her to worry. She sends the text and locks her phone, setting it down on the nightstand next to her. 

She rolls over, eyes locking on her computer bag for a moment. The computer inside briefly taunts her and she turns over in the other direction so she no longer has to look at it. She pulls a pillow close to her chest, missing human contact.

There’s something about being alone in a new city that makes her wish she had someone to experience it with. Not that she is completely alone, she did have Rosita and Waverly with her, but she doesn’t really see either of them jumping in her bed to keep her company, at least not in the way she wants.

Her phone vibrates on the nightstand, causing her to reach out to grab it. She expects it to be a text from Shae, but instead it’s Waverly asking her if she needs anything before the brunette goes to bed. Nicole smiles at the notion. She's grateful to have Waverly on tour with her, easing her nerves a little. 

She tells her she’s all set and that she hopes she sleeps well before she sets her phone back down, attempting to get some sleep herself. 

📖 

The next morning comes and Nicole is excited to get started on her book tour. She doesn’t fully know exactly what to expect, but she trusts that her team has it under control. 

Waverly is at her door, bright and early, cheery as can be. She answers the door, letting the brunette into her room. 

“Sorry,” Nicole says as she makes her way back into the bathroom, finishing getting ready. “I feel like I’m running slow this morning,” she calls out. “But I’m excited to get the day started!”

“That’s fine,” Waverly assures her. “You know me, I’m always up early.” 

Nicole laughs from the bathroom. 

Waverly being early is an understatement. That woman is always prepared no matter what. She consistently has everything all planned out, much more than Nicole. She envies that about the brunette.

Nicole exits the bathroom after she’s done getting ready. She finally realizes Waverly brought her a coffee to the room. A thankful smile grows on her lips as she takes one of the warm cups of coffee into her hands. 

“You’re amazing,” Nicole sighs as she takes a sip of coffee, feeling the warm liquid flowing smoothly down her throat. 

“I know,” Waverly says with a shrug and a smile. Nicole laughs and shakes her head at her best friend. 

After a few minutes of Nicole making sure she’s fully ready for the first signing, the pair make their way out of the hotel room in search of Rosita. 

The bookstore is set up for the signing when they arrive. There’s a table with a dark blue table cloth set up on one end of the store. The top is covered wit a couple of stacks of Nicole’s books, some promotional bookmarks, and a few markers for signing. There are a few chairs at the table, one in the middle for Nicole to sit at. 

On the front of the table, there is a banner with Nicole’s name on it and an image of the cover of the book she’s promoting. The store is quiet at first, but the silence doesn’t last long when the store opens the doors for the crowd of people waiting to enter. 

Nicole is tucked behind a curtain that isn’t too far being the table set up for her signing. When the people settle into the space provided, Rosita and the owner of the bookstore make their way into the open space, standing near the signing table. 

She hears the bookstore owner begin to speak to the crowd, quickly silencing the people’s low chatter. Nicole is impressed with how quickly the room falls silent again. She moves her hand to her stomach when she feels the nerves begin to build again.

She takes a deep breath in through her nose, holding it for a moment. She lifts her hand to peel back the curtain, only slightly, to peek out at the crowd in the room. The noise of everyone talking before was enough to make her nervous, but seeing exactly how many people were really out there made it worse. 

Much, much worse. 

She doesn’t realize how long she’s been holding her breath, when she feels someone take her hand in their own. She looks to her side to see Waverly smiling back at her. She looks further down at their hands that are linked together. She feels the brunette squeeze her hand a little harder.

“You got this,” she says with another smile. 

Nicole lets out the breath, relaxing a bit more. She smiles back at her friend, telling her, “thank you.”

She closes the curtain and waits to get the final directions as she is introduced out into the signing. Waverly doesn’t let go over her hand until the very last second before she makes her way out toward the crowd. 

Everyone claps as she makes her way out from behind the curtain, finding her seat at the table. As she takes her seat, she calls out, “good morning, Seattle!” The crowd cheers again, causing a huge grin to appear on her face. She feels like a rockstar for a moment.

The next few hours fly by faster than she could ever imagine. She starts by introducing her book, giving an overview, reading a few excerpts from her book and answering questions. She signs several books, shakes several hands and talks to more people than she can even take note of. By the time the last person makes it to her table, her adrenaline is running high. She feels like she’s on top of the world. 

“You look like you’re on cloud nine,” Waverly says as she leans in towards the redhead.

Nicole smiles and turns toward her, so happy to have her by her side. “That was pretty awesome,” she says with a grin. 

She knows it’s just the first of many signings she’s about to have over the next several weeks, but she definitely feels a lot better and a lot less nervous. 

Nicole insists on a trip out to the bar that night and is surprised when Rosita doesn’t argue with her about it. She’s usually more uptight about Nicole's casual public appearances, but she definitely doesn’t plan on spending the entire tour couped up in hotel rooms. 

They settle on a small, local bar just outside of the city. It was a suggestion from the owner of the bookstore that Nicole convinced to join them as well. 

Nicole buys the first round of drinks for the group. As the bartender slides the drinks toward them, she gestures for them to wait before they take the first sip. 

“A toast,” she calls out, causing the group to become quiet. “To an incredible first day,” she continues. “I just want to thank my amazing publicist and my best friend,” she gestures to Rosita, then Waverly. “None if this would be possible without either of you.”

She takes a moment to scan the faces that are looking back at her. They’re all smiling, causing her to smile bigger than she was before. 

“Here’s to continuing to have a great tour and to all the adventures we’re about to have over the next several weeks.”

She raises the glass a little higher, clinking it against the nearest glass to her’s. The rest of the group clinks their glasses against each other’s and they all take a drink. 

The night continues on with a few more rounds of drinks. Nicole excuses herself to the bathroom and notices she has a missed call and a voicemail on her phone. She quickly dips outside before Rosita can stop her to listen to the voicemail. It’s from Shae, asking about how her first day went. She tells her that she’s going to be working late so she probably wouldn’t have any time to talk but she wanted her to know she was thinking about her. 

Nicole is hit with so many mixed emotions for a moment. She’s unsure if she’s suddenly missing her marriage with Shae, if she still feels something for the other woman, or maybe she’s just missing the idea of having someone by her side again. 

She rubs her face with her hand, suddenly craving another drink. She pushes her thoughts of possibly missing her marriage aside by thinking about all of the times Shae worked late when they were together. She thinks about how empty it felt at times when she wasn’t around. She thinks about how they talked less and less until they were basically just coexisting together in their home. 

She hears a familiar voice nearby and looks up to see Waverly on the phone on the side of the building. She makes brief eye contact with the brunette, receiving a soft smile and her index finger in the air, indicating that she’ll just be another moment. Nicole nods and decides to head back in the bar before Rosita sends the search dogs out for her. 

“Tell her I said hi and that I miss her,” Nicole hears Waverly say into the phone before she makes her way back into the bar. 

“Thought I was going to have to come looking for you,” Rosita with a smirk when Nicole returns to her side.

“I can handle going to the bathroom by myself, Rosie,” Nicole huffs. 

She appreciates how seriously Rosita takes her job, but sometimes she really acts like an overbearing mother, and Nicole just got to the point where her own mother stops acting like that. 

“Just want to keep you safe,” Rosita reminds her. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Nicole says.

She leans over the bar a little, gaining the bartender's attention. She’s young and really pretty, Nicole can’t help but notice.

“Hey, can I get two more of these?” She asks, giving the woman a quick wink just before she turns around. 

She sees her blush a little as she nods and begins to pour her drinks. The bartender slides the glasses toward the redhead. Nicole takes a five dollar bill from her pocket, sliding it toward the bartender. Their fingers brush as the woman takes it from her grasp. Nicole flashes a dimpled smile before turning her head to the left, receiving a warning look from Rosita. Nicole rolls her eyes at her publicist and turns to ignore her. 

Waverly returns to the bar a moment later and Nicole lets out an audible sigh like she’s now protected from being lectured by Rosita. 

“For you,” Nicole says, handing the brunette one of the drinks she just ordered. Waverly takes the drink, but gives her a weird look. 

“Nicole, you already bought a round of drinks, I am getting paid here, I can pay too,” Waverly reminds her.

“I know,” Nicole reassures her. “But it’s a thank you.” Waverly gives her a confused look. “For being there for me earlier,” Nicole continues. “For stopping me from having a breakdown before the signing. And for just being here in general,” she says with a smile. “I’m not sure I could do any of this without you.” 

Waverly smiles back at her. She lifts the glass in the air in front of her, slightly.

“To Nicole Haught,” she says. 

“I think you mean to Waverly Earp,” Nicole corrects her, lifting her own glass now in the air, just a little higher than Waverly’s. 

“To almost twenty years of friendship,” Waverly says with a smile. 

“Oh man,” Nicole says. “To being old!” She laughs, causing the brunette to laugh. 

“Nah,” Waverly shrugs. “It’s just the beginning,” she reminds her. 

“To the beginning,” Nicole says with a wink. “But really,” she says. “Cheers to you,” she says as she clinks her glass against Waverly’s.

Waverly smiles as she nods and brings the glass to her lips to take a sip. “Thank you,” she says to Nicole, causing the redhead to smile again. 

“So, how’s your sister?” Nicole asks as she places the glass down on the bar in front of her.

“How’d you know I was talking to my sister?” Waverly asks.

Nicole laughs to herself at the thought that Waverly doesn’t know how much she actually knows her. Nicole doesn’t answer, she just gives the brunette a look.

“She’s fine,” Waverly says with a laugh. “I miss Alice,” she admits. 

“Me too,” Nicole says, softly. 

She realizes she’s taking the brunette away from her sister for a month and a half. And while Waverly won’t admit it, Nicole knows it’s hard on her, especially with her three year old niece at home. Nicole has to admit, she has a soft spot for that little girl as well. 

“Wynonna says ‘hi,’ by the way,” Waverly tells her as she takes another sip of her drink. Nicole pauses for a moment, knowing there is probably more to that statement. “Well, actually, she says ‘sup, Haughty with a body,” she says with an eye roll. 

Nicole can’t help but laugh. While her friendship with Waverly has always been extremely close, she’s always had a bond with the brunette’s older sister as well. Their friendship is more of an ‘acquired taste,’ as she likes to call it, but it works for them. Waverly definitely doesn’t find them as funny as they do though. 

The rest of the night goes by quickly. They have a couple more drinks before they call it quits and head back to the hotel. By the time she lays down in bed, she feels the room start to spin. She blames it on finally coming down from the high she’s been feeling most of the day, but she knows in reality it’s because of the alcohol. 

She scrolls through her phone a little bit. She remembers that Shae left her a voicemail and listens to it again. She feels bad for not calling her back, but she knows the other woman made it clear that she probably doesn’t have time to talk. 

She settles on sending her a text. It’s short and sweet, telling her that her day was amazing. She wishes Shae well, something she’s always done, regardless of what they’re going through. They may not be a they forever, but she would never want anything bad to happen to Shae either. 

After hitting send, she doesn’t wait for a possible reply. She’s admittedly too tired and a little too drunk to have much of a conversation anyway. She locks her phone screen and sets it down on the nightstand next to her before rolling over in the bed. 

She pulls the extra pillow close to her body, suddenly missing the warm embrace of another body sleeping next to her. It takes her a few minutes to get comfortable in the bed that night, but when she does, she falls right to sleep. 

📖 

As the week continues, Nicole is still excited about the tour with every stop they make. They travel to a few small towns in between each big city, which she likes. She says it’s nice to get a feel of different places across the country, not just the major cities. 

While they’re in the smaller towns, she usually likes to hit up some local places to eat, find coffee, or sometimes have a drink to celebrate another successful signing. She’s surprised when she sees the turnout at some of the signings at the smaller bookstores feel just as big as the larger ones. 

📖 

The next major stop on the tour is Portland, Oregon. Nicole can tell that Waverly is excited about this stop the most. She doesn’t stop talking about the culture, the scenery or the visits she wants to take to the art galleries when they have free time. Nicole groans internally at the thought, but she knows, in reality, she will be tagging along with her anyway. 

They have a free day when they arrive in the city and Waverly takes full advantage of being a tourist as soon as she can. Nicole is in her hotel room, setting her computer bag on the desk in the corner as if she’s actually going to sit down to write. 

She was hoping the tour would inspire something, anything, but so far she hasn’t found that. She loves seeing people get excited about the book series thus far and the questions have begun to role in about the third book. 

The questions aren’t so much about when it’s going to be done, after all, they don’t know that she hasn’t written yet. They ask questions about the relationships between the characters of the books. They question the direction the story might go in. Nicole diverts most questions with wanting to keep some mystery in the story. Little to do they know, it’s a mystery to her as well. 

There’s a knock at her door that she appreciates more than the person on the other side realizes. Even if it’s Rosita, she’ll take any distraction she can right now. She opens the door to see a bubbly Waverly on the other side. 

“You’re like a breath of fresh air,” she says. 

Waverly gives her a puzzled look. Nicole holds the door open further, gesturing for the brunette to come in. 

“Still no luck on the writing?” Waverly asks, eyes locked on the unopened laptop case.

Nicole grunts and plops down onto the bed, shaking her head at her friend. Waverly gives her a sympathetic look and sits down next to her, placing her hand on the redhead’s thigh. 

“I know just what you need.” 

Nicole looks back at her, confused. “What’s that?” 

“I found this really cool art gallery just down the road,” the brunette says as she pulls a trifold brochure that she clearly found in the tourist section of the hotel lobby out of her back pocket.

Nicole can’t help but laugh. Waverly is never one to manipulate a situation to get what she wants, but when she’s passionate about something, she really sets her mind to it. 

“That’s going to help me write?” Nicole challenges. 

“You never know where you’ll find inspiration!” 

Waverly nudges her in the ribs with her elbow. Nicole lets out an audible sigh. She knows she’s not going to win this battle. The way she thinks of it, she has two options. She can sit alone in her hotel room, pretending like she’s about to write her next best selling novel, or she can follow Waverly around to art galleries all day. 

“Let’s go,” Nicole says, trying to sound as enthusiastic as she possibly can. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate art, but standing quietly staring at something hanging on a wall isn’t exactly the best way for her to escape her thoughts. 

Waverly squeals and jumps up from her spot on the bed. Nicole can’t help but laugh as she exudes excitement about their day ahead. 

It’s not long before she’s being dragged out of the hotel room and into the streets of Portland. Nicole does admit that the city is beautiful. She takes in the sights around her, completely enthralled in the atmosphere. It's the best part of being able to travel for the tour. 

The art galleries aren’t as bad as Nicole told herself they were going to be. She actually found herself gawking at some of the art as well, hoping that maybe it would bring some sort of inspiration to her to write. 

By the second gallery, she begins to realize that Waverly doesn’t really have a plan to call it quits for the day or even to eat for that matter. She feels a slight growl in her stomach, realizing the lukewarm cup of coffee she had from the hotel lobby is no longer cutting it. 

She notices Waverly must have turned another corner in the building, leaving her behind with the art that they were just looking at together. She goes on a search for the brunette. It doesn’t last long, ending with finding the other woman gazing thoughtfully at a small statue displayed on a pedestal in the middle of the mostly empty room. 

She stops for a moment to take in the sight, not necessarily of the statue, but of the petite, brunette woman, currently in awe of something so small, so simple, yet so complicated at the same time. She’s in her own world, Nicole isn’t sure if she even notices when she enters the room. 

Nicole doesn’t speak at first. She allows Waverly time, making her way around the piece of art, carefully studying every visible inch. The smile Nicole gives her goes unnoticed, but she doesn’t mind. She’s always in awe of how patient and appreciative Waverly is of the things she cares about, herself included.

When the brunette finally looks up, she is donning a smile from ear to ear. 

“What did you find?” Nicole asks as she makes her way over to the brunette.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” 

Nicole finally looks down at the statue that Waverly is looking at. It’s small, and not very detailed. She never really understood abstract art. She blames it on being a writer and being more about describing details to paint a vivid picture. This is more up for interpretation and she’s afraid to make an assumption of what it is in fear that she is way off.

“It’s… neat.” 

“Neat? Geez, Nicole, you could at least pretend,” Waverly huffs. 

Nicole laughs. “When have you ever known me to ever be into this kind of thing?” 

“You have a point.” 

“Take me the way I am, Waves, or don’t take me at all.” 

“Okay, don’t be dramatic,” Waverly laughs, rolling her eyes at the redhead. “Are you ready for the next stop?” 

“Does it involve food?” Nicole asks, holding her growling stomach with her hand. 

“It could,” Waverly tells her. 

Nicole doesn’t stick around to allow the brunette to have any other idea than finding something to eat. She quickly leads Waverly outside, but finds herself following the brunette as they make their way down the street. 

As they continue on their way, Nicole looks down to check her phone. She has a few text messages from her family and one from Shae. She doesn’t respond yet. She reads the messages and tucks the phone back into her pocket. 

The rumble in her stomach becomes louder and she covers it briefly with her hand. She looks up to see that they haven’t made their way to a restaurant, but yet another art gallery. She gives Waverly a look, only to receive a pouty lip in return.

“Man, I wish you wanted to go to a sports game or something, at least they have food there!” Nicole whines. Waverly practically has her by the arm as she drags her into the third gallery of the day. “I’m starving and we’ve already seen two other galleries today, how different can this one be?” 

Waverly stops in her tracks, eyes widening at her best friend. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” she huffs. “Listen, you promised me we get to do some of the things I want to do while we’re gone and you know how excited I was about Portland!” Nicole dramatically groans again, throwing her head back. “It won’t be long, it’s small. We can get food right after, I promise.” 

“Good thing Portland is early in the list then, we can get it over with,” she mumbles under her breath.

Waverly turns to her, giving her a warning look. “What was that?” she asks. “You want me to find art galleries in every stop?” 

Nicole quickly shakes her head. 

“That is for sure not what I said,” she assures her.

Waverly laughs and leads the way into what Nicole hopes to be the last gallery of the day. 

Nicole spends most of the time following Waverly around and trying to figure out what half of the paintings are. It’s not that she doesn’t appreciate art, it’s definitely not something she could ever do, but she doesn't find much thrill out of spend’s her days starting at it. 

“Now look at this one,” Waverly says, gesturing toward one of the paintings on the wall. “What do you see? How does it make you feel?” she asks. 

Nicole squints her eyes a little as she stares at the painting. She sees an array of colors, splattered around on the canvas. There doesn’t appear to be any clear shapes or patterns. It doesn’t even seem like any of the marks were deliberate, which she’s sure they actually were. The colors are bright, but dark at the same time. It appears to have several layers, causing her eyes to move quickly from on spot to another, never actually landing on one specific area. 

After a moment of trying to analyze the painting in front of her she turns to see Waverly watching her as she stares at the painting. She wonders what the brunette is thinking. She’s sure it’s something along the lines of thinking it’s funny to see the wheels turning in Nicole’s head so hard that there’s probably steam coming out of her ears. Waverly reaches out and touches her forearm as if she’s giving her permission to stop trying to figure it out. 

“It just looks like chaos,” Nicole says with a shrug. Waverly laughs. “I just don’t get the whole abstract thing, like shouldn’t it be images of actual objects?” she asks. “It would just make so much more sense!” 

Waverly laughs and shakes her head at the redhead as she starts to move on to another painting. “That’s the point of abstract,” she explains. “It makes it up for interpretation.”

“But doesn’t the artist have something in mind when they’re painting it?” Nicole asks, following behind the brunette. “Or is it just random?”

“It’s not random,” Waverly explains. “But each viewer usually sees something different than the next,” she says. 

Nicole nods. She gets it, but still doesn’t at the same time. As they pass the painting she was just studying, she glances at the small plaque on the wall with the title and artist’s name on it. The title simple reads, ‘Chaos,’ and Nicole chuckles to herself before moving on to the next painting with her friend. 

📖 

As the stops continue, Nicole is more and more surprised about the turnout at each bookstore. Waverly often asks her why she’s so surprised that people would read her book. It’s not even the fact that they want to read her book, lots of people read books, but it’s more of the fact that they want to come meet her. She’s not a celebrity, she’s just...Nicole. 

She continues to enjoy the time sightseeing in between each signing. Waverly still tries to get her to become more “cultured” as she puts it, but Nicole feels that she’s plenty cultured. 

“Yeah, you’re so cultured,” Waverly says, sarcastically.

“How much more cultured can you get than being a small town girl who writes fictional stories about things I’ve never done?” Nicole retorsts, smirking at her best friend. 

Waverly rolls her eyes at the redhead, shaking her head. “This is the most you’ve traveled in your entire life, don’t you want to take advantage of it?”

“I’m taking full advantage of it!” Nicole argues. “I could be sitting in my hotel room, writing,” she teases, giving Rosita a look to see her reaction. 

“If only you cared about your career,” Rosita says.

Nicole's eyes widen at the comment, but she can’t help but laugh off Rosita’s seriousness.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who needs to be cultured,” Nicole teases, giving Waverly a quick wink.

The brunette stifles her laugh, pursing her lips to avoid letting it show that she’s entertained by Nicole’s jokes.

📖 

Just over a week into the tour, they land in San Francisco, a city Nicole is excited to explore. She spends most of the trip there discussing sightseeing that she wants to do. She’s happy to hear Waverly is on the same page with her at this stop. Even Rosita looks forward to joining them, but reminds her that the main reason they’re there is for the book signing. Nicole tells her that she knows, and continues making plans until they reach their destination. 

The day is busy, but Nicole feels relaxed as they take on the sights at their own pace. No one is in a rush or seems to have a specific agenda. It might possibly be one of her favorite days of the tour thus far. 

After their day of sightseeing, they go back to their hotel rooms to get ready for dinner that night. They had plans to go on a dinner boat in the bay, to do a little schmoozing with some of the major book companies in the area. As much fun as she’s having sightseeing and touring cities with her best friend, she’s grateful for Rosita’s business mind, keeping her best interest at heart at all times. 

When they reach the bay, her eyes lock on a large yacht docked on the edge of the water. Nicole has never considered herself to be the type to do anything very fancy, but she doesn’t mind the idea of dressing up and playing the part for the night. She playfully raises her eyebrows at her friend, who’s also gawking at the dinner venue. 

“Ready to dine in style?” Nicole asks.

She holds out her elbow for Waverly to link her arm through it. Waverly nods and they follow Rosita down toward the boat. 

“This view is gorgeous,” Waverly tells her as they get closer to the water. 

Nicole looks around her, taking in more of the sights. The blue water of the ocean goes on as far as the eye can see and the Golden Gate bridge is visible in the distance through the thin layer of fog. 

As they make their way onto the boat, they’re greeted by a hostess to show them to their reserved table. A few people in their party have already arrived. Nicole says ‘hello’ before excusing herself to the deck of the boat to get a better view of the sun as it begins to set on the horizon. Waverly follows behind her. She doesn’t mind, but part of her feels like Rosita sent her to make sure she’s on her “best behavior.”

“Coming to babysit?” Nicole teases.

She turns back to see the brunette a few steps behind her. 

“Am I not allowed to see the sunset with my best friend?” Waverly challenges. 

“I’m only joking,” she assures her. “Rosie just likes to keep me on a tight chain and hates when I’m out of her sight.”

Waverly nods. She, of all people, understands and she sees it first hand every day since they’ve been working together.

“Well how about we disobey mom for a minute while I run to the bathroom?” Waverly gives her a wink and she can’t help but laugh.

“Meet me on deck? Don’t miss the sunset though, I hear it’s to die for.”

“Deal.”

Nicole smiles and turns to make her way up to the deck of the boat. She finds herself a spot that’s not crowded with people, leaning her elbows gently on top of the handrail. The view is incredible.

As the ship starts to sail, they are slowly surrounded by nothing but ocean. As the land becomes further away she sucks in a deep breath of fresh air, closing her eyes for a moment, before letting it out slowly.

When she opens her eyes, she pulls out her phone, snapping a few photos to capture the views. She wants something to look back on when this is all over and she has to go back to reality. 

“First time on a dinner cruise?” a voice comes from her side.

She looks away from her phone, toward the voice to see a tall, slender woman with blonde hair and bright, green eyes staring back at her. She’s dressed in a black sundress, with bright flowers on it that lands just above her knees. Nicole definitely notices the parts of her long, sun kissed legs that aren’t covered by the material of her dress. 

“Is it obvious?” she laughs, nervously, tucking her phone back into the pocket of her fitted, black slacks. 

“Nah, you just don’t seem like you come here often.” She gestures toward her phone.

Nicole figures she must have “tourist” tattooed on her forehead due to her cell phone photography of the ocean.

“I don’t,” she laughs. “First time in San Francisco, actually.”

“Ah, really?!” The woman seems surprised. 

“Guilty,” Nicole laughs. She finds herself turning toward the woman, leaning her hip into the railing of the boat now. “What about you?”

“My parents have a house out here, I like to get out whenever I can.” 

“I can’t say I blame you, it’s beautiful here.” She gestures to the world around them. 

“It sure is,” the woman responds, not taking her eyes off of Nicole.

Nicole swallows hard, realizing they’re most likely not talking about the same things here. Even being seperated from Shae, she’s still not used to flirting with other girls anymore. She’s done her fair share prior to her marriage, but she finds herself a little rusty in that category these days.

Unsure of what to say, she flashes her a dimpled smile; her go to. 

“So what kind of work do you do?” The woman asks.

Nicole has never been one to brag, so she fears telling this person what she does will come off that way. She just wants to enjoy her time away from “Author Nicole Haught” when she can and just be Nicole Haught. 

She realizes the woman is still staring at her, waiting for an answer. 

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly, blush warming her cheeks. She receives a soft smile in return. “I’m a writer,” she finally tells her. 

She notices the woman light up like she’s impressed by her answer. 

“There you are,” Rosita’s voice unapologetically breaks into the moment.

Nicole turns her head away from the pretty blonde toward her publicist. “Hey, Rosie,” she says, jaw clenched. 

 “I thought you were up here to check out the views of San Francisco at sunset, not the women of San Francisco at sunset.”

She pulls on Nicole’s arm a bit. The redhead cringes, she can’t help like she’s being scolded by a parent at this moment. 

“Chill, Rosie,” Nicole huffs. “We were just talking.”

“Yeah, I was just about to give her some suggestions of the go-to’s around the area,” the woman chimes in.

“That’s very nice of you, but we have a schedule to stick to. And she’s married,” Rosita tells her, taking Nicole’s hand and waving it in the air, wedding band on display.  

“Oh, I, uh,” the woman stutters. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Not your fault,” Rosita says, glaring back at Nicole. “Where is Waverly?” she huffs. 

“Alright, Rosita, relax,” Nicole says. “Waverly went to find a bathroom. I’ll text her. Let’s just go back to the table, she continues. “My apologies for my friend,” she says to the woman. “It was nice chatting with you while it lasted.”

“Likewise,” the woman flashes her a smile.

Nicole can’t tell if it’s genuine or if she’s scared to say anything else with Rosita becoming unhinged about the situation. 

She spins on her heels, wanting to be anywhere but there in this moment. She avoids having to speak to Rosita at all costs, walking in front of her the entire way back. She looks around, hoping to catch Waverly on their way back down to their table. 

When she has no such luck, she pulls her phone out and sends her a quick text that says ‘Went back to the table with mom…’

Shortly after, she receives a response saying ‘yikes,’ that makes her laugh to herself. 

At least Waverly gets it. 

When the brunette returns to the table, she takes a seat next to Nicole and places a hand on her shoulder, silently making sure she’s okay. Nicole makes brief eye contact with her, giving her a smile that she knows she’ll read as intended; fake. 

“You okay?” Waverly whispers as she leans in closer to Nicole’s ear. The redhead nods to her friend. “Ice cream in my room tonight?”

Nicole cracks a more genuine smile. As far back as she can remember, Waverly has lived by the idea that ice cream fixes everything. As they grew up, they realized that might not be true, but it’s still worth a try. 

The rest of dinner is a blur. Nicole drinks as much as she can before she can no longer hold a conversation with the others. She doesn’t make much eye contact with Rosita, afraid she’s just going to get another lecture. It’s not that she doesn’t get it, but she still wants to be able to breathe from time to time. 

When they make it back to the hotel, but not before stopping for ice cream, Rosita says ‘goodnight’ and tells the other two that she will see them in the morning for the book signing. 

Nicole is a little annoyed by the fact that Rosita is acting like she didn’t act like a complete ass in front of that woman earlier, but doesn’t waste her breath on the fight that might occur. She tells Waverly she’s going to change into sweatpants before she joins her in her hotel room. 

As she slips into her room, she feels like the alcohol is catching up to her and rushing to her head. The room around her seems to spin and her face feels warm. She takes in a deep breath, wondering if she could just sleep it off, but she doesn’t want to blow off her best friend. 

She digs through her bag, finding a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt to throw on. Once dressed, she slides her room key into her pocket before leaving the room, heading to Waverly’s. 

When she reaches the brunette’s door, she notices that she left it propped open. She knocks twice before pushing the door open slowly, calling out to her friend. “Hey, Waves, I’m here!” 

“Thank god,” Waverly says. Nicole laughs as she makes her way fully into the room to see the brunette, still in her dress from earlier, struggling with the zipper on the back. “Can you help me with this zipper?”

“Yeah, sure.” She makes her way over to the brunette who stands with her back to her. She’s reaching for the zipper but comes just shy of locating it. “How did you even get it up in the first place?” Nicole asks.

“Magic,” Waverly laughs. 

Nicole laughs. “I’m glad I made the decision to stop wearing dresses when I was ten,” she teases.

She stands behind her friend and takes the material of the dress in between her fingers as a brace before grabbing the zipper. 

“Your mom really loved that one.” 

“I never really gave her the choice,” Nicole laughs. 

She breathes in, the smell of Waverly’s perfume engulfs her senses. Her eyes temporarily lock on the soft skin of her back. Her fingertips lightly brush against her soft skin, causing tiny goosebumps to form. She’s mesmerized for a moment. 

“You okay back there?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she says quickly.

She pulls down gently on the zipper, exposing more of Waverly’s back. One of the tiny straps of the dress slides down Waverly’s shoulder. Instinctually, she wants to fix it for her, but she uses her hands to rub her face instead. Her cheeks are still warm and she blames any thoughts she’s having on the alcohol coursing through her. 

“Thanks,” Waverly says, turning in her direction. She’s holding her dress up in the front so it doesn’t fall completely off. 

Nicole flashes the brunette a dimpled grin. “Of course.” 

“Is everything alright? You’re being weird.” Waverly gives her a look as she makes her way past the redhead, toward her suitcase. 

“What?” Nicole asks. “Uh, yeah, everything’s great.”

She gives her an awkward thumbs up that she’s glad she doesn’t see before she drops her hand back down to her side. She’s not sure why she’s acting like this, but she tries everything in her power to make it stop. 

“Okay…?” Waverly looks back up at her with a confused look on her face. Nicole smiles at her and she shakes her head, gesturing over her shoulder toward the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.” 

Nicole nods and slaps herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand when she’s finally alone in the space. In all of the years she’s been friends with Waverly, she’s never once acting this dumb around her, and she’s done some pretty dumb things. 

She’s not sure if she should blame it more on the alcohol that she consumed tonight or the fact that she’s lonely and misses romantic company. That’s the only real explanation for her feeling attraction toward her best friend, right?

She takes a seat on the bed, leaning her back up against the headboard behind her, crossing her legs in front of her. She reaches for the television remote and taps the power button, flipping through channels to find something to watch. 

The sound of the bathroom door opening doesn’t deter her focus on the tv. She sees Waverly out of the corner of her eye, making her way toward the bed. 

“Well, someone’s comfortable,” the brunette teases. “You didn’t even get the ice cream ready?” She laughs as she grabs the bag off of the table in the corner. 

“Oh shit, sorry,” the redhead apologizes as she quickly starts to stand from the bed. 

“No, no, sit.” She gestures with her hand toward Nicole. I got it.” She grabs the bag and drops it on the bed next to Nicole. 

Nicole grabs it and pulls the cartons of ice cream from inside. “You don’t have to do everything, you know.”

“Who’s gonna take care of you if I don’t?” 

Nicole narrows her eyes toward Waverly’s grinning face. She shakes her head as the brunette bounces onto the bed next to her, handing her a spoon. 

“I’m not sure what I’d do without you,” Nicole admits.

She opens one of the small cartons of ice cream, digging in right away. The cold ice cream hits her lips, a nice contrast from the burning alcohol she consumed earlier in the night. 

Waverly leans her head on the redhead’s shoulder. “Me neither,” she laughs, dogging into her own ice cream. “So tell me, what did “mom” do now?” She asks, using finger quotes with her free hand around the word “mom.” 

Nicole gives Waverly a rundown of what happened when she was in the bathroom on the boat. She explains how Rosita treated her like a child, reprimanding her in front of the woman and how she’s been acting like it hasn't happened since they got back to the hotel. 

“I know she just has my best interest at heart, but sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe around her.” 

She takes another bite of ice cream, squinting her eyes tightly in response to the brain freeze that quickly follows. 

“Have you talked to her about it?” Waverly asks.

“There’s no use,” Nicole sighs “She’s on this whole ‘keep the image kick’ like I’m not allowed to be human. I’ve dealt with the emotions of the end of my marriage, and honestly, I’m ready to move on.” 

She pauses for a moment. She thinks about how that’s probably the first time she’s spoken those words out loud, not even to Waverly. She’s felt this way for a while, but it was always an unspoken truth, until now. 

“But she thinks that I should keep pretending it’s great so it shows stability. She says people look up to me being an openly gay writer and she doesn’t want that image tainted by anything. Apparently marrying young and not having it really work out the way you thought it was is a big no-no.”

She leans her head back onto the headboard behind her, staring out in front of her. She feels the brunette place her hand gently on her shoulder, trying to gain her attention. 

“Nicole.” She speaks sternly.

It’s something Nicole is used to, something she does whenever Nicole gets down on herself. Waverly has a way of making her feel better even when she doesn’t want to. 

She lets out an audible sigh before reluctantly turning toward her friend.

“You know I’m not going to sit here and think that there’s anything wrong with you and your path in life, right?”

Nicole nods silently. 

“Rosita’s tough, but she cares about you too,” Waverly says.

Nicole thinks about how it’s hard to imagine at times, but she knows it’s true. 

“But there is nothing wrong with you,” she continues. “You are a brilliant writer and an extremely kind human being. So you got married and it didn’t work out. I can’t fully understand how that feels to you, but as your friend, as someone who loves you for everything you are-”

“Man, Earp, you’re really trying to inflate my ego here, aren’t you?” Nicole teases. She nudges her shoulder into the brunette’s, giving her a dimpled grin.

“I just want you to be happy,” Waverly says, giving her a small shove back.

“Look, I have this pint of ice cream-” She holds the ice cream out in front of her. “We’re in this beautiful city-” She gestures out toward the window, lights from the city glowing for miles. “And I have my best friend in the entire world.” 

She lifts her arm into the air, wrapping it around Waverly’s shoulder, pulling her in close. Waverly laughs and leans in closer, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. 

“What could make me happier?” She asks.

Waverly laughs again, nodding in agreement and leans her head on the headboard behind them. They spend the next couple of hours sitting together and talking. They talk more about how Nicole has been feeling, her thoughts on writing her third book and the pressure she’s been feeling, and other things as they come to mind. 

Nicole feels like this is finally the first time on tour that she feels completely comfortable just being herself. She doesn’t feel the need to perform or act like she’s someone else. When she’s with Waverly, nothing else seems to matter. 

📖 

They round off the first part of the tour with a stop in Vegas, a place that evokes a bunch of mixed feelings for Nicole. While she enjoys it and usually has a good time there, it still reminds her of Shae. It’s where they met and got married and even if it didn’t work out, she’ll always have a soft spot for the time they spent there. 

After their plane lands, they make their way into the airport and down toward baggage claim. Nicole is quiet, mostly keeping to herself. She has her computer bag hung over her shoulder, holding it close to her body. She feels Waverly looking at her every once in a while as if she’s checking in on her without words. 

She reaches her free hand into her pocket, feeling the hard surface of her cell phone. Her first instinct is to text Shae and check in with her. She feels like she suddenly misses her more than she has since she left for the tour. She resists the urge, leaving her phone where it is. She continues to run her fingers over the smooth surface, people watching as they watch through the airport as a way to distract herself from doing something she will regret.

Truth is, she hasn’t spoken to Shae in over a week. She’s proud of herself for not falling back to her old ways. This is the first time she’s traveled like this since the separation and she’s slowly teaching herself that she has no obligation to let her know what she’s doing every day. Hell, she has no idea what Shae is doing and that doesn’t seem to bother her much. 

They make it to the hotel just after dark and Nicole mentions the possibility of going out that night. Waverly isn’t against it, but Nicole can tell she’s definitely not into the idea of Vegas as much as other people are. She thinks she needs it more as a distraction than sitting in her hotel room, in the city where she married her wife, staring at a closed laptop and internally screaming at herself for not writing. 

When they enter the hotel, Rosita makes her way up to the front desk to check them in while Nicole and Waverly hang back a little. Nicole takes a seat in one of the chairs in the lobby as Waverly sits on the arm of the chair next to her. They chat idly for a moment before Nicole sees someone walking toward them out of the corner of her eye. She tries not to notice or pay much attention to it. She assumes it’s someone who might recognize her, knowing her work, which happens from time to time. 

Waverly is clearly on a different page and turns her head toward the person who continues walking toward them. “Wynonna?!” She calls out, causing Nicole to finally look in the direction of the person. 

Waverly leaps from her seat and makes her way over to her sister. It feels like she is shocked to see her, more shocked than Nicole is. Not that she really expected her to show up, but it’s Wynonna, and they’re in Las Vegas. If she was going to hunt them down anywhere on this tour, it would be here. 

A huge grin grows on the older Earp’s face as she puts her hands out in front of her. Waverly quickly wraps her arms around her sister, pulling her into a tight hug. Nicole smiles at the sight. She knows that, even if she won’t admit it, Waverly has been missing her family since they’ve been gone.  

“Where’s Alice?” Waverly asks as she loosens the hug, as if she expects the three year old to come running out as well. 

“Hitting the slots,” Wynonna says with a shrug as she pulls away from her sister and turns to Nicole for a hug. 

Nicole is now standing from her seat and reaches out to wrap her arms around the brunette. In mid hug, she feels Wynonna’s hand travel down her back, giving her ass a quick squeeze.

Nicole quickly pulls back, pushing the older Earp further away. “What the hell,” she says with a laugh.

“Missed you, Haught stuff,” Wynonna says, winking back at her. “Oh, and I’m kidding about Alice,” she scoffs. “She has a father, god, you think I’d bring my kid to Vegas when I can be hanging out with my sister and my lesbian lover?”

“Your what-?” Nicole asks, receiving no response from other Earp.

She and Wynonna have always had a good relationship, but Wynonna usually crosses every boundary there is in the process. 

“You left her with Doc?” Waverly asks, still concerned about her niece. 

“No, she’s with Gus,” she laughs. “But come on, you guys aren’t excited to see me?! Why are you the only Earp that gets to have fun? I’m still a little offended you didn’t ask me to come with you, Haught.” Wynonna shoves her elbow into Nicole’s ribs, causing her to cringe a little. 

“Come on, Wynonna, you really wanted to follow me around for six weeks, helping with my tour?” She challenges. 

“I’d follow you around the country,” Wynonna responds, looking her up and down.  

“Well, Alice would probably miss you.” 

“Not as much as I miss you,” she responds, throwing her arm around Nicole’s shoulder, pulling her close again. Nicole can’t help but laugh. 

“Okay, you two are gross. I’m going to go see if Rosita is ready with the room keys,” Waverly says, gesturing over her shoulder toward the front desk.

She turns on her heels and makes her way in that direction, leaving Nicole alone with her sister. Nicole stares in her direction, hoping she would come back soon.

“So am I bunking with you tonight, or what?” Wynonna asks, releasing her grasp around Nicole’s shoulders.

“Why does it not surprise me that you came all this way and didn’t even plan on getting a room?” Nicole asks with a laugh.  

“Who needs a room when I can share yours?” Wynonna scoffs. “Hope there's only one bed.” She winks at Nicole, who shakes her head at her. 

From the corner of her eye, Nicole sees Rosita and Waverly make their way back over to where she is waiting for them. Waverly waves the room keys in the air, handing one over to Nicole. After gathering their belongings, they make their way toward the elevator on the other side of the lobby. 

“Your sister thinks she’s shacking up with me tonight,” Nicole whispers to Waverly as they hang back a little more while Rosita and Wynonna chat idly with one another. 

“She can stay with me,” Waverly assures her. “So you can write,” she adds with a wink, nudging her elbow into the red head’s ribs. 

Nicole lets out an audible groan, causing the brunette to laugh. She knows Waverly is partially kidding, but she knows that if she doesn’t write something soon, she’s going to start coming down on her too.

After getting settled in their hotel rooms, the four women find a nearby restaurant to get dinner at. Nicole orders a couple of drinks with dinner to ease her mind of the memories that continue to taunt her of the last time she was in Vegas. 

Dinner conversation is light, but she feels a little distracted at times. She’s enjoying the fact that Wynonna is there now, keeping Rosita busy with conversation, rather than having her nag her about whether or not she’s written yet. She’s had a few ideas, jotted them down even, but they’re usually deleted as quickly as they’re written. Nothing seems to flow like it used to when she wrote the other two books. 

After the bill is settled at the table, there’s talk about their plans for the rest of the night. Rosita chooses to retire to the hotel for the night, which comes as no surprise to Nicole. She tries to convince Waverly to come out, at least for a little while. She’s partially afraid to go out with just Wynonna, but also would like to spend time with Waverly as well. There’s something about her that eases her emotions when she needs it most. 

She doesn’t push her too much when she tells her she’s not really feeling it. After a small lecture from Rosita about reputation, she says goodnight to her and Waverly at the restaurant and makes her way down the strip, into the nightlife of Vegas with Wynonna by her side. 

The night goes a little different than she expected it to go with the idea of Waverly by her side instead of Wynonna. Her original plan was to get drunk enough not to think about her ex wife, which would probably backfire regardless, but it was a good thought. 

Instead, the night starts with strippers and ends in a casino where she watches Wynonna blow more money than she wins. She has a few drinks, but feels more responsible for getting Wynonna back to the hotel safely than she originally intended. 

When she finally convinces Wynonna to head hack to the hotel for the night, it’s more like very early in the morning. She pulls out her phone and calls for an Uber, dragging the brunette outside to wait for its arrival. 

The car pulls up, a white, Chevrolet Tahoe, and Nicole leans in to open the door, gesturing for Wynonna to climb in first. The woman obliges, but it’s more of a stumble than a climb. Nicole can’t help but laugh as she climbs in after her, closing the door next to her. The Uber driver greets them politely and they do the same in return. 

The drive is fairly quiet, at one point, Nicole feels that Wynonna might have fallen asleep. But then she hears her speak. 

“So Haught, be real with me,” Wynonna begins.

Nicole gives her a look, her face is lit up by the lights of the city. She’s unsure of what she’s about to say or ask of her. Honestly, she's a little nervous. 

“What’s up?” She asks. 

“How’s my sister been?” The brunette asks. 

Nicole pauses for a moment, taken in the question and the serious tone of voice that Wynonna has. 

“What do you mean?”

“Between us?” Wynonna asks. She’s now leaning in closer, the smell of whiskey burns inside Nicole's nostrils. 

“Of course.”

“She seems a little homesick,” the older Earp informs her. “She checks in a lot and I know my sister. She’s not worried, she just wants to be filled in on what she’s missing at home.”

Guilt quickly falls over her, like a punch straight to her gut. She knows Waverly misses her family, but she didn’t really realize how much she does. She immediately starts to question whether or not she should have made Waverly come along with her for this long. Maybe she was just being selfish, wanting her best friend by her side, not thinking about what she was taking her away from.

“Don’t do that, Haught,” Wynonna says, breaking her from her thoughts. 

“Do what?”

“I know you’re Waverly’s best friend, but I’ve known you just as long as she has,” she tells her. “You’re beating yourself up inside because you feel guilty for taking her away from home for a couple of months.”

Nicole stares blankly back at her, not wanting to admit that she’s right. 

“I just wanted to make sure she’s okay, you know?” Wynonna asks. 

Nicole nods. She has always envied the relationship between Waverly and Wynonna in a way. She knows that Wynonna can be a bit much at times, but they have always been there, looking out for one another. She feels like when she was younger she used to pretend she was part of their family. As an only child, she only longed to have a sibling to look out for.

“I’ll take care of her,” Nicole assures her. 

Wynonna smiles and nods back at her. Before they can say much else, the Uber is coming to a stop in front of the hotel.

“Thank you so much,” Nicole says to the driver as she opens the door next to her. She reaches her hand out, helping Wynonna safely make her way out of the vehicle without tripping over the edge of the curb.

Nicole shuts the door of the vehicle and leads the brunette into the lobby of the hotel. She feels the need to continuously look over at her, making sure she’s staying with her. She doesn’t want to lose her somewhere in a crowd of late night gamblers and party goers. 

They safely make it to the elevator and Nicole presses 12 on the keypad, leading them up to their floor.

“Looks like you’re bunking with me afterall,” she says with a laugh.

She doesn’t want Wynonna to wake up Waverly if she’s already asleep. She also feels a little responsible for the state the older Earp is currently in. 

Once they’re in the hotel room, it doesn’t take long for Wynonna to crash onto the bed and fall asleep. Nicole rolls her eyes at the woman and leans over to at least remove her shoes so she’s not wearing them on the bed, tossing them across the room. She tries to lift the blanket to cover her as best she can, but it’s barely enough to cover half of her. She figures if she’s cold, she will figure it out. 

Nicole grabs some clothes to change into and makes her way into the bathroom. She splashes some water on her face, rinsing away some of the places they had been that night. She notices dark circles under her eyes. They scream at her to try to get some sleep. She makes her way back out into the room, laying down on the other side of the bed, pulling the blankets over her the best that she can. 

As she lays in the dark room, thoughts of the conversation she had with Wynonna fill her mind. She starts to worry that Waverly is only going along with all of this because it’s something that she wanted her to do. She tries to think of all of the times that she checked in to see how Waverly was doing, but can only remember the times that Waverly was taking care of her. 

Was she really that shitty of a friend?

The sound of Wynonna’s snoring fills her ears and she tries to roll over, placing an extra pillow over her head to drown out the sound, hoping it will drown out her thoughts as well. She closes her eyes, trying to sleep the night off, but the snoring sounds like it’s just getting louder. 

After tossing and turning for some time, she finally stands from the bed. She looks back at Wynonna, placing the trash can on the floor next to her and a bottle of water on the nightstand. She grabs her room key and cell phone and shoves them in the pocket of her sweatpants before heading for the door. She makes her way down the hall, two doors down and knocks gently on the door, hoping for an answer.

After a few short moments, the door cracks open and a very tired looking Waverly opens. 

“I’m so sorry for waking you,” she says. “Can I sleep here tonight? Your sister is snoring so loudly and she’s going to keep me up all night.”

Waverly’s eyes are barely open. She looks behind her at the clock to check the time and lets out a big yawn. “Nicole, it’s already the middle of the night, you’ve basically been up all night.”

“Yeah but at least here I know I’ll at least get some sleep,” she says, giving her a bit of a pouty lip to try to convince her. 

“You don’t think I snore?” Waverly teases. 

“Nothing can be worse than Wynonna right now,” Nicole assures her. “She’s drunk.”

Waverly gives her a knowing look. Drunk Wynonna is nothing new to either of these women.  

“Fine,” she says as she opens the door wider, gesturing for the redhead to enter. Waverly climbs back into bed, sliding to one side to leave room as Nicole shuts the door behind her. 

“Thanks, Waves,” Nicole says as she places her phone and room key on the nightstand and climbs into the other side of the bed and pulls the blanket up over her shoulder, resting her head on the pillow. 

“Mmhmm,” Waverly yawns. She sounds like she’s already falling back to sleep. 

Nicole smiles into the darkness at her friend. 

“Hey, Waves?”

“Hm?” 

“You’re cool with being here right?” Nicole asks, guilt still consuming her. “Like on this trip with me. Traveling around and being away from home for so long?”

“Mmhmm,” Waverly replies softly, soft snoring immediately following. 

Nicole sighs, a little frustrated that she can’t talk to her about how she’s feeling at this moment, but also a little jealous at how easily Waverly can fall asleep. 

“Night, Waves,” she whispers softly into the darkness, receiving no response in return. 

She rolls over, facing the opposite direction of her friend. Grabbing her phone from the nightstand she unlocks the screen. She did a fairly good job not looking at it much during the night, but there’s something about the quiet that makes her feel lonely. 

She opens her texts, clicking on Shae’s name. She types out a few words at a time, deleting it each time before settling on something to say. Reluctantly, she hits send before she can take it back. 

Nicole hears the brunette shift in the bed next to her and quickly locks her phone, not wanting to wake her with the light of her phone. She glances behind her, noticing Waverly is still fast asleep, her body now closer to her own, the gap between them barely there. 

A mixture of comfort and exhaustion falls over her. She turns her body, facing Waverly’s sleeping form, pulling a spare pillow close to her body between them. She closes her eyes and while listening to the sound of Waverly’s steady breathing, finally succumbing to sleep.