Chapter Text
Why was everything suddenly in slow motion? Nicole sat and watched as the doctor's mouth seemed to move slower and slower. The noise fading around her as the room started to lose its color. After countless visits, tests, waiting, thinking, questioning…she wasn’t just given a diagnosis. She was given a timeline. Is this how things were going to be now? Just strictly thinking about a timeline knowing that there was an end? Nicole didn’t want to think about what was inevitable. Despite the fact that it is, for everybody.
What was she going to tell her friends? What about Waverly? Six months. Six months to hear her laugh, see her smile, feel her embrace, listen to her go on and on about facts that would absolutely blow your mind. Nicole looked around the room at the doctor, the two nurses, her mom and dad and smiled. She had to smile because there was not enough time to dwell on sadness. All she wanted to focus on and think about was the future and what it held for her.
“Honey, are you ok?” Nicole’s mom asked.
“I will be, mom. I will be.” Nicole squeezed her moms hand and stood up in front of the examination table. “Hey, I’ll meet you at home, ok? I have to go see Waverly.”
Nicole’s parents both nodded in understanding. Her mom had a teary eyed smile. “Of course, honey. Go ahead. We’ll see you at home.”
Home. Nicole thought of home. A place that she had filled with so many amazing memories and she couldn’t bear to think about the fact that there wouldn’t be more to create. Maybe she should make a bucket list, she thought. Make a bucket list of even the small things. Like trying sushi for the first time, or going on a ferris wheel, maybe seeing a museum. Six months is only so long, right? It’ll seem like forever but it will also seem to pass by in a minute.
As Nicole exited the hospital she sat in her car, staring ahead. Looking out the window of her car, she noticed how sunny it was outside. So beautiful. Yet she felt this looming darkness in the clouds. Dark clouds with loud thunder and a little bit of lightning because lightning was frightening and despite wanting to admit it, she was frightened. Nicole started the car, making a drive she can recall making often. Waverly never knew why Nicole randomly started missing school. Why some weeks she would miss almost every day of the week. Why would she suddenly get a little sick and then turn up and everything would be ok. Nicole would put up a facade for Waverly. She didn’t want Waverly to pity her.
Nicole wanted Waverly to know her as the same strong Nicole. The Nicole that could tell the funniest jokes, find the weirdest documentaries, had a fascination with sharks and also with music. The same Nicole who told her she wanted to go shark diving or would poke her in the ear. That’s the Nicole that she wanted Waverly to remember. Not the Nicole that had a countdown hanging above her head with no control over it. She sat in silence during the entirety of the drive. She didn’t want music. Just the sounds of the road as she hummed a favorite tune of hers, tapping along on the steering wheel. It was moments like these she was going to miss. Driving alone, humming to nobody but herself even though it felt like she was humming loud enough for the world to hear it.
Pulling up to her favorite spot in the world, Nicole stepped out of the car and stared at the homestead. This time, she took a long stare at it. Taking in every bit of chipped paint, cracked piece of wood, the smell that could be described as an earthy and outdoor scent. Earthy like the way it smells outside right after it rains. Fresh, green, light. She shut her eyes and let the wind dance across her face as if she was feeling it for the first time, or the last. It took only one small visit for her entire outlook on life to change. To focus so heavily on the little joys in life like enjoying the view outside and feeling alive. Even though Nicole knew that she might never feel alive again.
Stepping up to the homestead door she knocked her favorite pattern which would let Waverly instantly know it was her. The door swung open and a beaming face stared back at her.
“Do you know how many times I’ve tried texting you in the past hour?!” Waverly grabbed Nicole’s hand and pulled her inside, shutting the door.
“I’m assuming about 500 because usually it’s 400 and you seem extra eager for my arrival.” Nicole joked.
“Ha ha you’re so funny. Come here.” Waverly hugged Nicole tightly. “I swear it’s like you disappear sometimes and I have to wonder where you are until you come back.”
Nicole hugged Waverly back and shut her eyes. Letting her hands roam Waverly’s clothed back. Squeezing the material in her hand and not wanting to let it go. To just stay here for a while and feel alive here. Because she always felt alive with Waverly Earp. A childhood best friend of hers who she was just convinced they would enjoy each other's company even when they were old and gray. Now, Nicole only hoped that she could be a memory to Waverly when Waverly was old and gray. Stories of their childhoods being told to her grandchildren. Maybe coddled in the living room staring at the fireplace having what was their favorite drink together, hot chocolate.
“You ok?” Waverly asked, concerned. “This hug is extra tight. Not that I’m not enjoying it or you anything because I am. I mean not like—“
“Waverly?”
“Yeah?”
“Just stay here for a moment.”
“Yeah, of course.” Waverly replied softly. “You know, if you’re going through something, anything…I’m here for you and you can talk to me.”
Nicole smiled. “I know, Wave.”
Waverly squeezed Nicole a little tighter. “You know, sometimes I feel like if I don’t hug you tight enough that you’re just going to fall through my arms or disappear?” She chuckled softly. “It’s kinda sad.”
“No, I sorta get that.” Nicole broke their hug and looked at Waverly. Studying her concerned facial expression. The furrow in her brows and the curiosity lying deep in her hazel eyes. Nicole could feel it. Waverly knew that something was different. She always seemed to be able to sense when Nicole was feeling a certain type of way. When she was holding in excitement, tears, anger, nervousness, whatever the emotion was, Waverly would seem to pick up on it in an instant and this time seemed no different.
Waverly visibly swallowed and stared at Nicole. “Are you sure that everything is ok?”
Nicole looked down at her shoes and put her hands in her pockets. “Um.. yeah I think everything is gonna be fine.”
“Nicole, did you know that I can always tell when you’re lying to me?” Waverly giggled and shook her head. “You do a little bit of this...” Waverly stuck her hands in her pockets and shuffled her feet. “And this…” Waverly looked down at the floor. “It's like the little ant that isn’t visible to anybody suddenly catches your interest and it's like, huh…look at that ant down there.”
Nicole couldn’t help but laugh. Loudly. It’s like without even realizing she needed it that Waverly knew she needed a reason to smile today. A reason to laugh. A reason to feel happy and let the sun out to shine on the dark cloud looming over her. The longer that Nicole was in Waverly’s company the clouds that seemed so dull slowly faded as the sun began to shine. The thunder began to fade. The lightning disappeared in a flash.
“I’m that easy to read, huh?” Nicole tilted her head. “I’m not some cool mysterious girl anymore?”
“Oh no, you’re still a mystery. But not every part of you is unknown.”
“Mm.” Nicole nodded. “How was your day?”
“Nicole, it’s Saturday. I’m lonely every Saturday. Wynonna works all day and Gus is at work and I’m just here. But it’s ok because you’re here now.”
Who would comfort Waverly on her lonely Saturdays when Nicole wasn’t around? Who would sit in her company while she read her books and drank her tea? Who would read her jokes out of a silly book and smile when her laugh bounced off the walls of the room?
Waverly snapping her fingers in Nicole’s face broke her thoughts.
“Huh, what?” Nicole watched as Waverly studied her face. Her eyes squinted as if she was trying to read Nicole’s mind and grab onto her thoughts.
“You’re somewhere else.” Waverly said, sighing.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m sorry. Why don’t we find something to watch on Netflix, huh?”
“Ah you’re distracting me. This is the tactic you use when you’re avoiding talking about something.”
“Orrr when I want to show my best friend something epic on Netflix.”
“I’ll humor you.” Waverly said confidently. “What is it that you so badly want to show me on Netflix?”
“I uh…it’s a new one…what was it called? It's on the tip of my tongue. I just saw it, you know..”
“Mhm. What was it about?”
“Well, umm...” Nicole bit her lip. “You know...” She waved a hand around as if she was slowly swatting a fly. “A thing.”
“A thing?” Waverly giggled and shook her head. “At least ask for a little time to think of a lie next time. I promise you I’ll give you a few minutes to come up with something first.”
Nicole laughed. “Fair. But will you watch something with me? Please?”
Waverly’s eyes softened. “Are you sure that you’re ok?” she asked once again.
Nicole felt like at that moment that Waverly was looking straight through her. Seeing her completely transparent trying to search through her for whatever it was that seemed to be keeping her focus not entirely in the moment. Nicole shook her head. Barely visible as you had to be watching her like a hawk to notice the small movement.
“No, you’re not ok?” Waverly stepped closer and took her hands. “Talk to me.” She said softly. “Is it something at home?”
“You worry too much, Waverly Earp.” Nicole gripped Waverly’s hands before dropping them. “Come up to your room and watch something with me.”
“Fine but you’re gonna tell me eventually.” Waverly led Nicole up the stairs and into her room, flickering on the light.
Nicole looked around the room as if it was the first time she was seeing it. The baby blue colored walls, the small clippings of art history on the walls, a doodle in every corner of the wall that she and Waverly drew with colored pencils when they were 9. These are the small things she wanted to always remember. Things she wanted to keep in mind so when things got dark she could think of the simple times of sitting in her best friend's room and gossiping, watching movies, singing songs loudly until Gus yelled at them to quiet down because a movie was playing downstairs in the living room. Those small things.
Waverly patted the spot next to her. When did she get over there? Nicole crawled in the bed and took the remote out of Waverly’s hands scrolling through Netflix.
“So, what are we watching?” Waverly asked.
“Chasing Coral.”
“Again?” Waverly whined. “I swear we watch this every other time that you visit. I mean, I like it but come on, a girl can only hear so much about the vanishing of sea life!”
Nicole smiled at Waverly and held out the remote. “You wanna watch something else?”
Waverly sighed. “No.”
The two of them got under the bedsheets and Waverly hooked her arm in between Nicole’s and leaned her head on her shoulder. This felt like home to Nicole. Afternoons spent watching TV in a dark room with just her and Waverly. Even though most of the time she was more focused on Waverly’s grip on her arm than the movie, especially since she had seen it so many times at this point.
About an hour into the documentary, Nicole was staring at the TV, not invested in the movie at all. She had to tell Waverly eventually and she definitely didn’t want to wait six months to do so. She also didn’t want to ruin this moment that they had together. There were never enough movie Saturdays with Waverly Earp. One ruined would be too many but Nicole knew that putting it off would hurt the both of them. It was time to rip off the bandaid.
“I have cancer.” Nicole looked at Waverly who didn’t seem at all to react. She blinked at the tv and then turned her head to look at Nicole.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, I have cancer.” Nicole repeated.
Waverly shook her head. “I don’t— I don’t understand.”
“Waverly, I have cancer.” Nicole said in a voice so soft that it was barely a whisper.
“You don’t. You don’t —you can’t right? You don’t.” Waverly shook her head as tears formed in her eyes. “You’re lying—“
“I’m not, I swear to you.” Nicole felt tears sting her eyes as she stared at Waverly.
A tear fell down Waverly’s cheek as she shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t want to believe you. Tell me that you’re lying to me.” She said softly.
“Oh Waverly, I wish that I could.” Nicole’s voice broke as she held her face in her hands. “I wish that I could.” She whispered.
Waverly instantly wrapped her arms around Nicole. Once again, just like at the hospital, it felt like time was moving slower. It didn’t even feel real. Did she really tell Waverly? Did she really tell her? Her question was answered when she felt a wet cheek up against her forehead accompanied by sniffles.
It felt like years went by as they sat on the bed in each other's arms. Sniffs filling the room and tears falling from their faces. Eventually Waverly laid down and brought Nicole’s face down to her chest and just hugged her. Waverly was her rock and Nicole couldn’t let go. Her grip got tighter with every tear that fell from her face as she felt Waverly’s body softly shake from her sobbing.
Eventually the shaking came to a stop and a whisper filled the room.
“You can’t leave me, I won’t let you.”
Nicole sniffed as she looked up at Waverly. “I’m never going to leave you.”
“That’s what people who are sick say. You aren’t sick.”
Nicole shut her eyes and buried her face in Wavelry’s neck. Feeling her tear streaked skin, Nicole gripped Waverly even harder.
“You know…when they told me today. When the doctor told me, all I could think about was how much I was going to dread telling you. I was more nervous to tell you than I was to find out the results.”
“Why?” Waverly asked softly.
“Because I knew that telling you was going to be harder than having to tell myself.”
Waverly sniffed and gripped Nicole’s shoulders. “I don’t understand why it has to be you.”
“It’s been me for years, Wave. I've been known I….just couldn’t tell you.”
“How long have you known?”
“Since I was fourteen.”
“Almost four years?” Waverly sniffed. “You’ve known for almost four years and you couldn’t tell me?”
“I just couldn’t bear to see the look on your face. How you would treat me. How—“
“You don’t get to keep this from me. You don’t get to keep this secret and not tell me. You know that I don’t pity you. I don’t. I never have.”
“I know, Wave.”
“You didn’t tell me.” Waverly said as her voice broke.
“I’m so sorry.” Nicole tightly shut her eyes as a tear fell down from her face. “But we’ve got—“
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“I don’t want to know how long.”
Nicole nodded. “Ok.”
Another hour passed by and none of them had moved. None of them had spoken. The only sound in the room was the air blowing on and off from the air conditioner.
“Nicole.”
“Yeah, Wave?”
“Can I tell you something?”
“Mhm.”
“You know…you’re my favorite person in the entire world.”
“You’re mine too, you know.” Waverly turned to face Nicole who had turned on her back staring up at the ceiling. She rubbed Nicole’s shoulder and sighed.
“No, I mean it. Nicole… I like you.”
“You don’t have to—“
“Look at me…please.” Waverly pleaded.
Nicole turned her head to look at Waverly. She felt her heart breaking into a thousand pieces as she stared at Waverly’s tear stained face and red eyes.
“I like you. I mean, everything about you. I even like the things that I don’t like. I like that you think peanut butter and jelly is the greatest sandwich on the planet even though it’s extremely boring. I like how you learned to play guitar because when we were 12 and we had that dream of forming a band and touring the world. I like how you watched 2 hours of YouTube to learn how to build and start a campfire because I wanted to roast s’mores outside in the backyard and pretended we were camping in the woods. I love how you try to make me laugh when you know I’m upset because you think I’m brooding for too long. Or when you look at me like how you’re looking at me right now.”
“And how’s that?”
“Like I’m the only person in the entire world.”
Nicole smiled and looked down at Waverly’s hand, taking it into her own.
“When I say that I like you, I don’t mean that I like you just because. I don’t like you because you’re just funny or because you’re always around or because you’re always there for me.”
Nicole looked up at Waverly who smiled at her.
“I like you because when we spend time together and we talk, really talk… I don’t want to be with anybody else but you. Because…Because I um...”
Nicole locked their fingers together and smiled. “I like you too.”
“As?”
“Yes.” Nicole chuckled. “I like you. So, so much.”
Waverly chuckled with tears forming in her eyes.
“You really, really, like me?”
“I totally like you.” Nicole smiled and leaned over to kiss Waverly’s cheek. “So…let me take you out. Out on a picnic at our favorite spot and then after we eat and we bread all in our teeth from eating too many sandwiches. Then I can kiss you and you’re going to taste so much peanut butter.”
Waverly giggled and laid her head on Nicole’s shoulder.
“And then you’re going to smack me on the shoulder and tell me how much I taste like peanut butter but then you’re going to kiss me again and we’re going to kiss until we lose all of our breath…and then we’re gonna do it again.”
“That’s gonna be a lot of kissing.”
“Are you up for that? You might have to start practicing how to hold your breath. It’s pretty serious.”
“You’re such an idiot.” Waverly smiled and wrapped her arms around Nicole. “Can we stay here? Just like this for a while?”
“I’d stay here with you for the rest of my life.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Next Saturday came before Nicole even realized it. See? Time flies. She spent all week making sure that this picnic would be perfect. It was planned down to the second. What she would wear, how her hair would be styled, when she would pick up Waverly, how long the drive would be, how long it would take to eat and of course, the kiss. The peanut butter and jelly filled kiss.
Nicole grabbed her picnic basket and waved to her parents as she practically jumped in the car and sped off. It was ironic how she was rushing, hoping that each second would fly by until she came face to face with Waverly Earp. Until she could get lost in those beautiful hazel eyes again and never look away. It’s all she could think about all week long. Studying, Waverly Earp. At the hospital, Waverly Earp. In the bathroom, Waverly Earp. No matter what she did or where she was, all she could think about was Waverly Earp, those eyes, and that damn smile.
Nicole pulled up to the homestead and looked at herself in the rear view mirror. Fixing her hair and making herself look as good as she could look really. She waltzed right up to the door lifting her hand to give her infamous knock whichwas interrupted as the door swung open and Waverly jumped into her arms.
Nicole laughed and wrapped her arms around Waverly. “Someone beat me to the punch, eh?”
Waverly arms wrapped tightly around her neck. “Gosh, I missed you.”
Waverly had told Nicole she’s missed her many times before but this felt different. She didn’t just miss Nicole as Nicole, her best friend. She missed Nicole as someone she…like, liked. This was different and Nicole wanted to make her feel special.
“I missed you too.” Nicole placed Waverly back down on her feet. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you even when we were sitting right next to each other.”
“Chrissy said that you kept making googly eyes at me yesterday” Waverly teased.
“Oh, did she now? You’re just getting our friends to spill all the beans, eh?” Nicole tickled Waverly who tried to squirm out of her grip.
“Stop it, stop it, ok, ok.” Waverly laughed.
Nicole smiled and grabbed her hand. “You ready for the best date of your life?”
“Blow me away.” Waverly grinned.
Nicole sang for Waverly as songs blasted over the radio while they drove. Waverly had Nicole’s free hand in her lap and played with her fingers while singing along. Nicole tried her best to soak this moment in. She was doing a lot of that lately. Letting herself be in the moment. Allowing herself to just feel and be present. This was definitely one of those moments where she would be clicking rewind and hoping to go back and be right where she was.
“I spy…something…beautiful.” Waverly stated, interrupting her thoughts.
Waverly always initiated eye spy when she started getting bored on drives and wanted to fill the quiet. Nicole could enjoy the silence with some background music for a drive. Waverly however, definitely could not.
“The sky?” Nicole asked.
“Nope.”
“The sun?”
“Nuh uh.”
“Did you look at yourself in the side mirror?”
“Nope!”
“Huh…” Nicole smiled as she stared ahead. “Can I get a hint?”
“Well…this beautiful thing has…some red…irresistible brown eyes...and is right next to me.”
“The seat that I’m sitting in?”
“Or she could be the seat.” Waverly teased.
“Waverly Earp that is naughty.”
Waverly shook her head. “I spy you, dork. My beautiful, beautiful dork.” Waverly leaned over the console and kissed Nicole’s cheek. “You are so beautiful.”
Nicole smiled and leaned her cheek closer to Waverly as she pressed more kisses on it. “Keep that up and I’ll have to pull over and kiss your cheek a hundred times.”
“Just the cheek?” Waverly asked, kissing her cheek again before looking out the window.
“Waverly Earp what has gotten into you?”
Waverly giggled. “Nothing…yet.”
“You are—where is the innocent Waverly Earp and what did you do with her?”
“She admitted she has a crush on her best friend and now that crush is all that consumes her mind.”
“All that consumes her mind, huh?”
“I'd say so.”
Nicole shook her head as they pulled into the park. She got out of the car and put on a backpack and handed Waverly a picnic basket as she grabbed her free hand.
“Shall we?”
“Absolutely.” Waverly squeezed her hand.
They walked hand in hand along a grass path for about twenty minutes before approaching a waterfall. Nicole focused on the sounds. The sounds of water just crashing and flowing. The feeling of the water flicking light splashes of water towards them, the closer they got to the waterfall.
Waverly laid out a blanket in a grassy area surrounded by rocks. She placed down two pillows and sat down patting the spot next to her.
Nicole sat next to Waverly and unpacked the picnic basket laying the contents out in front of them. “Ok, I have PB&J, sushi, goji berries, butter cakes, pickled eggs, bug juice, fried butter—.”
Waverly laughed and shook her head. “You’ve been putting off wanting to try lots of weird stuff.”
“Hey, I’ve put off all of this random, out of this world, bat shit crazy food and the only person I want to share it all with is you.”
“How romantic.” Waverly grabbed a piece of sushi. “What kind did you get?”
“Spicy tuna.”
“You suck.” Waverly hated tuna. But she held up her piece and looked at Nicole. “C’mon, toast with me.”
Nicole smiled and picked up a piece of sushi, touching it tagainst Waverly’s. “Cheers.”
They both popped the sushi into their mouths and chewed. Nicole watched Waverly to see if she faltered or showed any sort of dislike and surprisingly there was none. Nicole on the other hand was holding in her gagging while Waverly laughed at her.
She eventually swallowed the sushi and gulped down water from a bottle.
“I’m guessing you found a new favorite snack?” Waverly asked as she stifled her laughter.
“Oh yeah, totally. That’s the new movie night snack right there.”
“Ok, let’s not take it that far. What do you wanna eat next?”
They took turns picking what to try as they sampled all of the food, good and bad for the next hour. Eating, chatting, laughing and enjoying the view.
Nicole stood up and looked at Waverly. “You wanna know what’s on my bucket list?” She asked, lifting her shirt over her head and dropping it on the ground.
Waverly tilted her head. “There’s no way.” She asked looking around to see if they had unexpected company.
“You watch for unwanted visitors.” Nicole stripped down bare naked and covered herself with a towel.
Waverly giggled and looked at her. “You cannot be serious.
“You wanna bet? Turn around!”
“Ok! Ok!” Waverly turned around and took a small peek which Nicole made to note as she walked towards the water.
She dropped the towel and took a quick dip in the water before climbing out and wrapping herself with the towel.
“Waves, Waves.” Nicole gasped as she gripped the towel tightly.
“What? What is it?” Waverly looked at her.
“C—c—cold.” Nicole laughed as she shivered.
Waverly stood up and wrapped her arms around Nicole and rubbed her back. “Gosh you’re getting a lot off your bucket list in one day.”
“S-still h-h-have a fe-few things to do today.” After warming up for a bit, Waverly turned around and allowed Nicole to get dressed and they stood next to each other. Nicole was about to speak up until Waverly sighed and shrugged.
“Well, I guess it’s my turn.”
Nicole’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”
Waverly lifted her shirt over her head and placed it on the ground. “You got another towel?”
Nicole stared at her and nodded. “Uh huh. It's uhh...” She patted her hand around trying to search for it. She grabbed the towel and held it out to Waverly. “Here.”
Waverly smiled and took the towel and placed it in front of her.
Nicole shut her eyes. No peeking. No peeking. No peeking.
“Not even a peek? You’re a saint.” Waverly laughed.
Nicole smiled. “It’s taking a lot of willpower, trust me.”
Waverly finished undressing and wrapped herself in a towel. “Watch for unwanted visitors.”
“Got it, you—you got it.” Nicole turned around, keeping watch to make sure that nobody was approaching them.
Waverly stepped towards the edge and jumped into the water screaming as she came up.
“Waves are you ok?!” Nicole called out.
“I’m going to need a hug instantly when I'm out!” She squealed as she got out of the water and wrapped the towel around herself running straight into Nicole whose arms instantly wrapped around her. Nicole chuckled and rubbed Waverly’s back.
“So was it totally worth the experience?”
“For you? Always. Always.” Waverly shivered and embraced Nicole until she was warmed up and Nicole turned around as she got dressed, not even caring that her clothes were now wet. They sat back down on the towels and Nicole reached into a bigger bag behind her and pulled out a guitar.
“Are you going to play me something?” Waverly asked with a smile on her face.
“I am. Do you have any requests?” Nicole was tuning the guitar as she watched Waverly think about what song she wanted her to play.
“Hmm...” Waverly rubbed her chin.
“What are you thinking?” Nicole smiled as she was mindlessly strumming the guitar.
“I want you to surprise me.”
Nicole nodded. She strummed the guitar and looked down at her hands. “I’ve got a secret to tell you... Cause I know that you haven't heard.” She looked at Waverly as she continued singing.
“But what if I told you just how much I need you..I’ve got some news to tell you.. Do you need me too?” She winked.
“You got me staring like a fool, yeah. I know you want me too when you look back at me. Ah girl, I know you get me”
Waverly blushed and shook her head.
“My eyes and your eyes, the sunlight, it's alright, yeah. How could I look right past ya? You got me staring at ya.”
Nicole played for hours, stopping for breaks to rest her arms and her hands as she and Waverly sat out on that blanket. Picking at the food every couple of songs and singing duets together. The sun was now going down and Nicole put her guitar down as she finished her sandwich. She scooted next to Waverly and placed a hand behind her.
“Well, I would try and surprise you with a grand gesture but I think I told you what was going to happen today, yeah?”
“You said something about a sandwich but I can’t really remember the rest. What was it? You might have to remind me.” Waverly smiled as she looked at Nicole. “Something about peanut butter.”
Nicole smirked. “Well I told you I was going to finish my sandwich and then I was going to kiss you.”
“Looks like you’ve got the first part done.”
Nicole nodded. “Looks like it.” She scooted a bit closer and lifted her other hand to Waverly’s cheek.
Waverly looked down at Nicole’s lips before meeting her eyes. “I smell peanut butter.” Waverly whispered.
Nicole chuckled softly as she leaned in and slid her hand to the back of Waverly’s neck.
“So close that you can taste it?”
“I'd like to actually.” Waverly’s breath danced across her lips as she shut her eyes. She brushed her clips across Waverly’s before closing the gap between them and finally kissed her.
Finally.
There were very few things that really made sense in Nicole’s life right now. But if there was one thing that finally made sense, it was this very moment. She had been crushing on Waverly for months now and although the reason for her push to finally do something about it didn’t exactly come the way she would’ve liked, it didn’t change the fact that this was one of the greatest days of her life.
She was kissing Waverly Earp. Her lips were so soft. Waverly’s breath hitched as Nicole deepened the kiss, Nicole pulling her closer.
So this is why all the teens rave about kissing? Talk about it like they actually can’t live without it? Nicole was becoming convinced as to why all of the kids in her school acted like finally getting that one kiss was the best thing to happen to them in high school. Now, Nicole wouldn’t go that far but kissing Waverly definitely in her top 3 favorite life moments.
Waverly broke the kiss, her breath against Nicole’s lips. Waverly’s eyes were still shut and Nicole rubbed her thumb against Waverly’s cheek. Waverly slowly opened her eyes and smiled as soon as she met Nicole’s gaze.
“Wow.” Waverly whispered.
Nicole nodded. “Wow is….wow is..yeah.” She chuckled.
Waverly grinned and leaned closer until their lips barely touched. “I think I remember you saying something about again and again.”
Nicole nodded and shut her eyes as Waverly’s lips met hers again. She wrapped her arms around Waverly’s waist and as the sun set, she got to kiss Waverly Earp and Nicole enjoyed every single second of it.
And just like she said, they kissed again, and again, and again.
As they were driving back Waverly was pressing kisses on Nicole’s hand and she was holding it ever so tightly.
“You wanna know something?” Waverly asked.
“Hm?”
“Hm.” Waverly mocked and giggled. “It feels like we’ve been doing this forever and just haven’t realized it.”
“Doing what?”
“Dating.”
Nicole smiled. “Are we dating?”
“You think that I’m going to let you kiss me like that and just go back to acting like friends?”
Nicole chuckled. “No, I guess not.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“You just asked me one but feel free to ask another.”
Waverly slapped Nicole’s arm and kissed her hand. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
Nicole faltered for a moment and wanted to look away from the road but if she did she would have to pull over and driving would be the last thing on her mind.
“You want to be my girlfriend?”
“More than anything.”
Nicole stared at the road ahead, getting lost in her thoughts.
But why? Why did Waverly want to get into a relationship with her knowing that there was only so much time? They would never have a one year anniversary or an engagement or a wedding. So what was even the point?
“To love you.”
“Huh?”
“You asked what the point was.”
“Wait... I did?”
“You were thinking out loud again. But to answer your question. The point is…to love you.”
Nicole put the emergency lights on and pulled over on the highway. She had to pause for a minute. Did she just hear Waverly Earp say what she thinks she said?
Nicole turned to look at Waverly.
“To love me?”
“Yeah. And for you to love me too. I saw it in your eyes. In fact, I’ve seen it for months now and I just—I know. And you don’t have to say it we don’t have to say it right this second but—“
“I do love you.” Nicole nodded. “I do, actually.”
“I…yeah—I —you...” Waverly stuttered.
“Love me too.”
Waverly nodded and smiled. “Yes, I love you too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Waverly leaned over and kissed Nicole. “I love you.” She whispered against Nicole’s lips.
“I love you too.”
Nicole knew that she would cherish every single second, minute, and month with Waverly Earp because she loved her. She loved her more than anything in the world and she wanted Waverly to feel that through every kiss, every touch, and every sigh. It was all for her.