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“You did WHAT?!?!” Waverly Earp did not think her voice could get so shrill and so loud. For once, Champ Hardy had actually pushed her beyond the limits of her capabilities. A truly impressive feat.
Too bad she was gonna have to kill him tonight.
“Shhhh, babe, come on.” Said dead man grimaced as he looked around at all the eyes in the restaurant that were now focusing on them. “Please don’t make this into a bigger deal than it is.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Waverly’s voice was now dripping with sarcasm and while the shrillness had gone down, her volume was still at max level. “Here I thought that getting a little loud was a totally reasonable reaction to finding out that your boyfriend’s been running around with every frickin’ floozy at the rodeo circuit, but thank God you’re here to correct me! Tell me, Champ, just how big of a deal should I be making about this?!”
“Listen, babe-” He tried.
“Don’t you dare call me that, Champ Hardy!” She growled, fingers tightening around the silverware in front of her as if she were contemplating stabbing him with it.
“Right, sorry, Waverly!” He hastened to correct himself, the few brain cells in his head not smothered by an overabundance of hair gel seeming to come alive in the interest of self-preservation. “I knew I needed to be honest with you, so I-”
“So you let me get all dolled up, drive me an hour and a half out of Purgatory to my favorite restaurant, and reserve us a seat in the middle of the damn place, all so that what?! So I wouldn’t make a scene in public?!” Waverly ranted, the shrillness quickly returning to her voice.
“I just thought that if I showed you how much I cared, then-” Champ’s excuses halted and he jumped as Waverly slammed her hand down on the table, drawing more eyes and murmurs from the peanut gallery.
“Then what?! I’d think ‘oh gee, what a grand gesture! Sure, he’s doing it because he’s confessing to dicking down half the damn rodeo circuit, but just look at the pretty fucking flowers he got me! I guess I’ll just let him being a cheating asshole slide because at least he made an effort tonight!’?!” Champ’s face looked like he’d swallowed a stink bug, which confirmed everything Waverly had guessed. “You…you… shit-eater !”
Waverly grabbed her glass of wine and threw it into Champ’s face before standing and storming towards the front entrance, forcing herself to ignore the people who now had their phones out to record the show.
“Ah! Ba-Waverly, come on!” Champ’s whiny voice followed behind her. “This suit was a rental!”
“Probably got it from the same cheap-ass place where you buy your cologne!” Waverly growled as she plowed through the door of the restaurant, slamming it into the poor soul on the other side. “Fudge! I’m sorry!”
“Oh, it’s alri-” Whatever the stranger was about to say, they were cut off by another face full of restaurant door as Champ followed Waverly outside.
“Baby, please!” He begged.
“Don’t you ‘baby, please’ me, you rodeo clown!” Waverly snarled.
“Owww…” The stranger lamented.
“I just wanted to come clean, ya know? For us!” Champ’s face was contorted in what he must have thought was a pleading expression but only served to make him look like he was smelling a particularly rancid fart. “You’re all big on that communication stuff, and I thought you’d be happy that I was, ya know, communicating!”
Waverly felt like her head was gonna explode from the sheer idiocy of this entire night.
“Champ Hardy.” She poked him in the chest, causing him to back up into the now-closed restaurant door. “Let me tell you what I’m happy about!”
“Um, I have a reservation…” The hapless stranger quietly murmured, though seemed to think better of voicing their concerns any louder considering the rampage the tiny brunette was currently on.
“I’m happy that after tonight, I won’t ever have to deal with your shit again!” Waverly said as she continued to poke Champ in the chest, taking a twisted pleasure in his pitiful little “ow”s. “After tonight, no more ‘dates’ where you just take me to Shorty’s and play pool with your buddies while I sit at the bar getting leered at by drunks! No more being told for three days that you’ll take out the trash, and then dealing with you pouting and whining when I finally do it because you were totally just about to take care of it! No more of you getting out of dinner with my family by pitching a hissy fit over something stupid thirty minutes before we have to leave and making me have to call them and say we’re not coming!”
“Wow, dick move…” Came the quiet commentary from the stranger.
“And do you wanna know what the best part is?! The part that I’m really excited to never have to deal with?!” Waverly shouted in his face. “I’m jazzed as hell to never have to waste another moment of my time lying to your face! That’s right, I lied! Four inches is below average!”
The silence that followed was deafening, only broken by the quiet “damn…” whispered by the nearby stranger.
“You…you know what, Waverly?” Champ’s voice was shaky and he looked near tears. “I don’t need this! I tried to be nice and come clean with you, but you don’t appreciate anything I try to do for you!”
“And just what the frick do you think you’re doing for me, you sentient pile of hair gel?!” Waverly yelled back. “Tell me what favor you think you’re bestowing upon me by letting me get dressed up in my favorite dress, taking me to my favorite restaurant, and publicly telling me you’re a cheating asshat in the hopes that I won’t make a scene in front of a bunch of strangers! And all on my goddamn birthday on top of all that!”
Champ struggled to stop his face from conveying his shock, but he never had much of a poker face.
“Oh it’s…uh! I mean…” He stumbled, trying to recover.
Waverly’s vision went red.
“ Get the hell outta my sight before I let Wynonna drag you out to the salt fields, you useless pile of donkey sperm! ” She yelled as Champ ducked out from between her and the restaurant door and scrambled to his lifted truck. Not content with watching him run, Waverly took a shoe off and chucked it at his retreating back. “And your lifted truck is stupid and you’ve never been mudding a day in your worthless life!”
Champ yelped as her heel made contact with his ass. He got to his truck and frantically unlocked it and jumped in.
“I can’t wait to tell all your friends how I always had to change your oil and put chains on your tires and how I had to bail the hay for you when you worked for my uncle, you city boy poser !” Waverly hobbled after him as she awkwardly pulled her other shoe off and chucked it at the truck, where it bounced off the window.
The only response was Champ’s tires screeching as he floored it out of the restaurant parking lot.
“And you can’t shoot worth shit !” She screamed into the night before collapsing on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant and sitting there with her head on her knees, sobbing into the fabric of her dress.
Waverly wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but after some time she felt a chill in the air. She rubbed her arms to warm up a bit, but she hadn’t dressed expecting to be sitting in the cool September air tonight, so she couldn’t ward off the chill that was beginning to seep into her bones.
Even worse, she was suddenly remembering that she didn’t have a ride back.
“Frick!” Waverly hissed, pulling her phone from her bag and frantically texting Wynonna. “Frick, frick, frick !”
She stared at her phone, willing Wynonna to respond. She’d take a ribbing from her big sister when she learned that Waverly’d made a scene and threw her shoes at her ex’s truck, but it’d be worth it for a ride home in a warm car.
Of course, she’d have to sit outside for at least an hour and a half because there was no way she was gonna go back inside after-
“Hey.” A gentle voice cut off her train of thought and Waverly felt a warm jacket being placed on her shoulders. “Sorry, but you looked kinda chilly.”
Waverly looked up to see the stranger she’d run into on her way out of the restaurant.
No, not a stranger.
A woman.
A beautiful woman.
One in very nice navy blue suit pants and a white button up with the top button undone.
“Oh! Um, thank you.” Waverly felt the blush heat up her face as she pulled the suit jacket tighter around her. “I didn’t exactly dress for the weather.”
“Well, I’m gonna hazard a guess that you weren’t exactly planning to spend the night outside.” The woman shrugged as she ran her fingers through her short red hair before offering said hand. “I’m Nicole, by the way. Nicole Haught.”
“Damn right…” Waverly muttered.
“I’m sorry?”
“Erm, I uh, I said ‘downright’.” Waverly grimaced at her pitiful lack of improvisation. “It’s, uh, downright freezing out here. Thank you for the jacket.”
“No problem…um…” Nicole stood there with her hand still awkwardly out, prompting Waverly to jump and quickly reach out her own to shake.
“Oh! I’m-I’m Waverly.” She stammered with an embarrassed laugh. “Waverly Earp. Sorry, been a crazy night.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Nicole’s smile was reassuring and her grip gentle as she shook Waverly’s hand. “Sorry that happened, it didn’t exactly look like a dream date, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“No, I don’t mind.” Waverly sighed, releasing her grip on Nicole’s hand and dropping her face into her palms. “I can’t believe I made such an ass of myself.”
“Honestly, it seemed like he was the ass, from what I saw.” Nicole said. “It sounds like you were in a tough spot and reacted in a completely understandable way. I’m just sorry he put you in that position.”
“Well, that’s probably the only real apology I’m gonna get tonight, so thanks.” Waverly laughed a little as she raised her head out of her hands. Suddenly, she remembered something Nicole had said while she was yelling at Champ. “Oh, your reservation! I’m so sor-”
“Hey, no, don’t worry about that.” Nicole shrugged it off. “I was actually here a little early, so I’m not late yet.”
“Then you should go in.” Waverly insisted. “I’ll be fine, I’m just waiting on my sister to answer my texts so she can come get me.”
“How far out does she live?” Nicole asked.
“Um…about an hour and a half.” Waverly admitted after a short pause.
“Okay, nope!” Nicole’s face took on a look of determination. “Not happening! Sorry, Waverly, but I can’t let you sit out here for an hour and a half waiting on a ride.”
“Well, I’m not exactly comfortable guiding a total stranger to my house.” Waverly couldn’t help but giggle. “I mean, I’m sure you’re nice, but…” She trailed off with a shrug.
“Oh, no! No, that’s not what I meant, sorry.” Nicole quickly corrected. “I totally get it, complete stranger plus a lot of emotional vulnerability after what that jerk did tonight? Yeah, definitely a recipe for anxiety, I get you. I meant, since you’re here anyway, and I have a reservation, why not come in with me and see if you can salvage the evening?”
Well. She was bold, Waverly had to give her that.
“Are you so hung up for a date that you’ll rebound a chick who just dumped her cheating boyfriend on her birthday?” Waverly’s laugh took any sting out of the question.
“More like I’m here anyway, there’s a beautiful woman in front of me who clearly could use a nice memory to wash this bad one away, and it’s her birthday. I’d be a bigger jerk than your ex if I didn’t at least try to help out, at this point.” Nicole shrugged with a roguish grin that made Waverly’s face heat up in response.
“I mean…I yelled my lungs out and threw my wine in his face. I kinda made an ass of myself in there.” Waverly said, her face pulling into a grimace at the still-fresh memory.
“If anyone was an ass, it was him.” Nicole said firmly. “It’s your birthday, this is your favorite restaurant, and you don’t deserve to have either of those things tainted by a boy-man.”
“A boy-man?” Waverly laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely gonna share that one with Wynonna.”
“I assume that’s your sister?” Nicole asked.
“You assume correctly.” Waverly nodded, before she paused to think for a moment. “...You know what? You’re right. Screw that boy-man trying to ruin my favorite restaurant and my birthday. There’s a beautiful woman offering to be my knight in shining armor, why not take her up on it?”
Nicole’s eyes widened and an adorable little blush pinkened her cheeks, even as the smile on her face grew bigger. “Wow, beautiful huh?”
“Has no one ever called you beautiful?” Waverly teased. “I have a hard time believing you’ve made it this long in life without hearing it at least once.”
“Oh, I’ve heard it before, just not within minutes of meeting someone, and definitely not from a little spitfire who’s having a bad day.”
“Well, I was having a bad day, but I’m starting to think it might be turning around.” Waverly smiled.
Nicole grinned in response and offered her arm. “Well, let’s keep the momentum going. Shall we?”
Waverly hooked her arm around Nicole’s and allowed herself to be escorted back into the restaurant. Admittedly, there were a few stares, but Waverly was determined to not let them bother her. She’d probably never see any of these people again after tonight, anyway, so let them stare.
“Hi, reservation for Haught, please.” Nicole’s voice pulled Waverly from her thoughts as she watched the hostess grab a couple of menus and scan the table chart. The hostess glanced up to speak, but paused when she saw Waverly.
“Decided to upgrade, I see?” The hostess asked with a knowing smirk.
“Can you blame me? This is clearly a better model than what I came in with.” Waverly quipped back as she squeezed Nicole’s arm.
“Can’t argue with you there.” The hostess laughed. “Right this way, ladies.”
As either a favor from the hostess or the universe, the table they were led to was tucked into a corner of the restaurant, cozy and away from too many prying eyes.
“So, Waverly,” Nicole said as she opened her menu. “Since this is your favorite restaurant, anything you’d recommend?”
“Oh, uh, I’m a vegan.” Waverly admitted with a mild blush.
“That’s cool, I’m a Capricorn.” Nicole replied breezily as she continued to peruse the menu.
Waverly paused.
“I…uh…” She stopped when she saw Nicole peek over the top of her menu, her eyes crinkled in a teasing grin. She laughed and reached over to smack Nicole’s arm. “You jerk!”
“Please don’t throw your wine at me, I was gonna get us the top-shelf stuff tonight and that would be a serious waste.” Nicole laughed.
“Don’t worry, I would never mistreat a good red.” Waverly purred as she cast her eye up and down a now flustered Nicole.
“A…wine, you mean? A good red wine?” Nicole asked.
“Mmm, that too…” Waverly hummed as she turned her gaze back to her menu, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as Nicole sat like a car whose engine refused to turn over. After a few blinks, Nicole seemed to come back to herself.
“Can’t believe that idiot cheated on a woman like you.” She muttered as she reached for her water and downed nearly half the glass to cool down.
Waverly laughed. “Well, small town. Limited dating options, you know? Still, I can’t believe I wasted so much time on him.” Her brow furrowed in frustration at herself.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with trying to make something work.” Nicole shrugged. “Sorry for assuming, but am I right that he started off really sweet and thoughtful, and by the time the cracks started showing, you didn’t want to throw the relationship away for what seemed like minor things at the time? You figured that it was just a few bumps in the road, but you could get through it and get back to that smooth sailing you’d had at the start?”
“Yes!” Waverly exclaimed, her eyes widening as Nicole seemed to read her like a book. “It was little things at the start, like forgetting to wash a plate or dropping his shirt on the floor instead of the hamper, and I thought it was just normal stuff that happens when couples get comfortable. And before I knew it, the ride was a lot more bumps than smooth road.”
Nicole smiled sympathetically. “Yeah, I’ve been there. But there’s nothing wrong with trying to fix something, especially when you have good memories attached to it. It’s really hard sometimes to know when to let go, especially because giving up feels like-”
“Feels like you failed.” Waverly breathed, all the tension leaving her body in an instant at the feeling of being understood. Of being seen. After a moment, she laughed and lowered her face into her hand shyly. “God, it’s like you’re seeing directly into my pitiful heart.”
“There’s nothing pitiful about you, Waverly Earp.” Nicole said, her face certain.
“I mean, you barely know me, maybe try getting to dessert before making that kinda call?” Waverly laughed.
“No need to wait. I knew it from the moment you smacked me in the face with a door.” Nicole replied with a cheeky grin, Waverly’s responding laugh banishing any further tension at the table.
“Ugh, enough about that boy-man!” Waverly waved her hand as if to banish the thought of Champ like an annoying bug. “He’s taken up enough of my birthday, and there’s someone at this table that I wanna put a lot more of my focus on. So, Nicole, tell me about yourself. You said you’d made a reservation here, and clearly it was just for one since you had room to pick up a stray, so what’s this dinner for?”
“It’s a celebration, actually.” Nicole admitted. “My bank loan was approved and I finally worked out a rental agreement, so the business I’m starting is finally about to get off the ground.”
“That’s amazing news, Nicole!” Waverly gushed. “What kind of business?”
“I’m actually opening up a gym in a small town around here.” Nicole waved her hand in the general direction of the town she was talking about. “Little place called Purgatory.”
“Wait, seriously?” Waverly laughed. “That’s where I live!”
“No way.” Nicole’s eyes shot up in surprise. “How about that? Well, at least I won’t have to worry about not having a friend.”
“Well, if you wine and dine everyone you meet in Purgatory, I suspect you’ll have plenty of friends in no time.” Waverly said as she sipped her wine.
“Maybe I only wanna wine and dine special friends?” Nicole teased, leaning her elbow onto the table and resting her chin in her palm.
“Is that what I am, Miss Haught?” Waverly asked. “A special friend?”
“Maybe a little more, if you wanna be…” Nicole murmured.
“Maybe I do…” Waverly smirked.
The rest of the dinner passed far too quickly for Waverly’s liking, but soon she heard the faint vibration of her phone in her purse, startling her from where she’d been so focused on Nicole’s story of a climbing injury she’d had in Nevada.
“Oh, balls, that’s probably Wynonna.” Waverly set her wine glass down and quickly fumbled in her purse for the phone. Once she’d grabbed it, she rapidly unlocked it and confirmed her suspicions. “I’m sorry Nicole, she’s here to pick me up and believe me, we do not want her coming in here to find me.”
“Well, I’m not exactly complaining.” Nicole shrugged easily. “After all, this just means we’ll have to meet up again so I can finish that story.”
“An opportunist to the end, I see.” Waverly grinned.
“Well, I am a business person.” Nicole replied with a cheeky smile of her own. “Since the check’s already paid, can I walk you out?”
“Oh, you’d better.” Waverly winked as she stood, happily taking the elbow Nicole offered and allowing herself to be led out of the restaurant.
“Well damn, Champ, either you went through some changes since I last saw your useless ass, or Babygirl finally figured she could do better!” A voice hollered from a blue and white pickup truck that idled in the parking lot.
“I take it that’s Wynonna?” Nicole asked with a friendly eye-roll at the woman behind the wheel.
“With that level of deductive reasoning, maybe you should have come to Purgatory to join the Sheriff’s Department.” Waverly teased with a gentle slap to Nicole’s stomach. They came to a stop by the passenger’s side door and Waverly turned to look at Nicole, reaching out to take both of her hands in her own. “I had a nice time tonight.”
“I know the night didn’t exactly start how you’d planned,” Nicole said, “but hopefully it ended up a net positive overall?”
“Definitely a net positive.” Waverly confirmed. She allowed her eyes to drift to Nicole’s lips. Her plump, soft looking lips. Lips that seemed to call out to Waverly…inviting her to press her own against-
A loud horn startled Waverly out of her thirsty thoughts.
“Yo, Babygirl! If you’re gonna kiss the hot ginger, do it some time tonight!” Wynonna yelled. “I left Doc at half-mast to come get you, ya know!”
“Shut up, Wynonna!” Waverly growled while Nicole rapidly blinked her wide eyes, seemingly trying to banish the mental image Wynonna’s words had just painted. “Sorry, she’s kind of a-”
“She’s a big sister, I get it.” Nicole laughed. She nibbled her bottom lip, eyes drifting to the ground in thought, before they darted back up to Waverly’s with a determined fire in them. “So, can I have your number, or should I just hang around outside of restaurants for you to come storming out if I wanna see you again?”
“No need to go to that much trouble.” Waverly laughed as she held her hand out expectantly. “I haven’t exactly been playing hard to get tonight, why start now?”
“Lucky for me.” Nicole grinned as she fished her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Waverly to add her number into.
Once her number had been added, Waverly handed Nicole her phone back and they resumed their awkward staring from before, neither quite sure what to do now.
“I thought I told you to get to the kissing, Waves, damn!”
Well, clearly Wynonna had an opinion on what they should do.
Nicole breathed a soft laugh and the sight of this sweet woman, unphased by her sister’s behavior, flashing those cute dimples…
It happened before Waverly even fully recognized what she had done. One moment she was staring into those sparkling brown eyes, and the next moment she was on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against Nicole’s.
It felt like taking a breath for the first time.
And then Nicole kissed back, and suddenly it felt like she was the only source of oxygen on planet Earth. Waverly slipped a hand behind Nicole’s neck to keep them pressed together and for the first time she felt alive . In that moment, the only thing Waverly Earp wanted was to keep her lips pressed against Nicole’s for the rest of their lives.
The universe, and Wynonna, unfortunately had other plans.
“Babygirl, don’t give it all up on the first date!” She yelled. “Give her something to come back for!”
Waverly pulled away from the kiss with a growl of frustration. “You’re the one that told me to kiss her, Wynonna!”
“Yeah, ‘kiss’! Not ‘suck her face off like a tiny vegan vacuum’!”
“Oh my God , Wynonna!” Waverly huffed before looking at Nicole with an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright.” Nicole’s smile was sincere. “I should let you go. You’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”
“And a lot of explaining to do, considering I left the house with a very different person than the one I’m leaving the restaurant with.” Waverly admitted, opening the truck door.
“Oh, we are definitely having a chat about that.” Wynonna agreed.
Waverly sighed at the thought of the very awkward ride she was about to take, but the smile that had never left her face indicated that she didn’t really mind all that much.
“Text me when you get home, so I know you’re safe?” Waverly asked, already angling for an excuse to talk to Nicole again.
“You got it.” Nicole agreed, taking Waverly’s hand to help her into the truck before closing the door and leaning slightly into the open window. “Good night, Waverly.”
Before Waverly could respond, Nicole leaned in a bit further and kissed her cheek, leaving her silent and blushing at the gesture.
“Nice to meet you, Wynonna!” Nicole called as she backed away from the truck, her wide grin never leaving her face as she walked backwards towards her own car.
“Just remember that I have anger issues and a big-ass gun, Red!” Wynonna called back as she put the truck in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.
Nicole blinked a few times and then shrugged, the grin never wavering for a moment. “Duly noted, hope you have a permit for that big-ass gun!”
“Ugh, please tell me she’s not a narc.” Wynonna rolled her eyes as she turned the truck around and stopped at the edge of the parking lot to check for cars before pulling out.
“She’s not.” Waverly assured, watching in the rearview mirror as Nicole reached her car and leaned against it, the look of surprised joy on her face too adorable for words.
Nicole clearly hadn’t expected to be out on a first date tonight. To be fair, neither had Waverly. It certainly went against her “planner” personality to accept spontaneous dinners from complete strangers. But, maybe it was okay to not know what she was going to be doing three days in advance. Maybe surprises were okay, after all.
Especially when the surprise was a hot redhead.
Yeah.
That was an acceptable surprise.