Waverly insists on taking Nicole on their first date. “Just cause you wear the pants more than I do, doesn’t mean you get to tell me where I’m goin’.”
Nicole just smiled, “Did I mention you’ve dated too many shitheads?” She got a light smack on the arm for that statement, but she stands by it, and she thinks Waverly knows she’s right. All things considered, Nicole is kinda glad she doesn’t have to find somewhere to go on their first date – wouldn’t know where to go. She can’t say she hadn’t been looking for a good place(she’s been fantasising about asking Waverly out for months after all), but she hasn’t heard about anything that wasn’t drinks at Shorty’s or a long drive into the city.
Turns out, Waverly’s got them covered.
“Wowee,” Nicole whistles long and low at the view of the salt lakes, the mountains out past the cracked white plane and the colour varied sky hanging above it all. They’re alone, sheltering under a rock overhang on a wind blasted hilltop.
“You like?” Waverly sounds almost shy.
It takes a moment for Nicole to tear her eyes away from the sky as it continues to change colours with the setting sun. Once she does, there’s little else she can do but stare at Waverly who is looking down at her own boots, hands firmly in her pockets. Nicole has to hold back the irritation of knowing that Waverly’s boyfriends have all definitely been shitheads, because Waverly is amazing and perfect and has clearly not been told that enough.
“I love it.” She keeps smiling until Waverly looks at her. “Everything’s perfect. Magical even.”
They huddle together watching the sunset and swapping a flask of whiskey tea between them until it’s too cold to feel their faces and they huddle together in Waverly’s beat up truck to watch the stars fill the sky.
“First kiss?” Waverly is three questions deep into twenty questions. She already knows about Nicole’s cat(Snuffles), and her favorite colour(blue). Nicole knows about Waverly’s first pet(Barry the snake) and her favorite colour(gold).
Nicole doesn’t have to think about her answer. “Mary-Ellen Pittman in second grade.”
“Naw, was she cute?”
“Cutest. Broke my little heart when she went walkin with Jason Einhold the very next day.”
“That bitch.”
“Nah, can’t hold it against her. What about you? Same question?”
Waverly grimaces making Nicole laugh. “Fourteen. Champ was keen on those old westerns where they just kind of smooshed their mouths together so the censors wouldn’t get all riled up.”
Nicole laughs. “Yeah, sounds familiar.” She grew up in a town not that different from Purgatory.
Waverly looks at her with the sweetest expression, leaning forward just a little. Nicole can see she wants to kiss her, but after that first wild afternoon, Waverly seems to have lost some of her nerve again. She remembers with heartbreaking clarity that she scares Waverly. Nicole can understand that. She understands how terrifying it can be figuring things out for the first time, but she won’t be shy with her affections either. If she’s honest, she’d have to admit she doesn’t know how to be shy about what she wants. She leans in and presses a gentle kiss to Waverly’s lips. It’s short, sweet and brings a blush to Waverly’s cheeks.
Waverly lets out a long gust of air that sends a thrill of pride down Nicole’s spine as she leans back, shaking her head and searching for another question. “Okay… Any siblings?”
Nicole nods, grimacing at the thought of her brothers. “Pete and Jessie. Both younger.
“You don’t get along?”
“They’re alright,” she says taking a longer draft of Waverly’s spiked tea. “It’s just they still don’t wanna admit that I’m…” She gestures between them to explain.
It takes a moment for Waverly to connect the dots, but when she does she sets her palm on Nicole’s knee. “A unicorn?” She says it so seriously that Nicole nods for a few seconds before registering what she said and laughing.
“Teasing me again?”
“Only a little. And last time doesn’t count.” Waverly is still close, smiling shyly as her hand moves warm and firm up to Nicole’s thigh.
In sixteen questions Nicole kisses Waverly twice more. The third kiss, Waverly starts then escalates, pulling Nicole bodily toward her and taking full advantage of the bench seat of her truck until they’re lying together just like that first time. The windows fog up quickly and they shuffle and squeeze around to strip off coats and scarves. Waverly’s hair is flat in some place and tangled in others from her lost beanie, and Nicole thinks she’s beautiful.
She tells her so and Waverly blushes with a delighted smile.
