Author's Note: Hey Earpers, this is my first time writing anything for WayHaught, but I've had this conversation between Nicole and Wynonna swimming around in my head for weeks, so I decided to bite the bullet, type it up, and post it. Happy reading!
Nicole was sitting at Shorty's, her hands on the bar top, her fingertips tapping lightly as the silence continued to stretch between her best friend and herself. She was internally berating herself. She watched Wynonna cautiously through her peripherals, her own shoulders tensing as she fought to stop herself from clenching her fists. I shouldn't have said anything. She thought to herself as she tried and failed to prepare herself for how this conversation was about to go.
Finally, Wynonna turned slowly in her seat, the bar stool squeaking slightly at the movement. She stared at Nicole, silently urging the redheaded woman to look at her and meet her gaze. She waited until Nicole turned to look at her, she couldn't help but notice the hesitance in her best friend's actions and she barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes, choosing to speak instead. "You're in love with my baby sister?" She stated more than asked, her eyebrows pulled together as she thought back to how Nicole had blurted out her confession. How had I not realized that Nicole had feelings for Waverly sooner?
"Yes?" Nicole answered hesitantly, wincing when she realized that it had sounded more like she was asking Wynonna a question instead of answering the one the brunette had asked.
"Are you sure about that, Haught?" Wynonna asked her in return. "Because I've got to be honest with you, you don't sound so sure about your feelings right now."
"Look, Wynonna, Waverly is so- I don't even know how to begin to explain how I feel whenever I look at her… whenever I think about her." Nicole said, turning her head away to glare at one of the signs that was hanging above the bar. "I can't even pinpoint the moment I started falling for her, but obviously, my heart never stood a chance when it came to her. She's perfect. I know that I don't exactly deserve someone as special-"
"Don't even think about trying to finish that sentence, Haught Stuff." Wynonna interrupted sternly. "You don't get to talk about yourself like that. I wouldn't let any of the dumb fucks in town get away with doing that and I sure as shit am not going to let you try."
Nicole took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and giving herself a few seconds to gather her thoughts. She didn't know what to make of Wynonna's reaction to her confession. She'd been expecting Wynonna to punch her in the face for admitting to having feelings for Waverly. She'd been readying herself to reign in the Earp's anger… knowing how difficult doing so would surely be, yet here they sat calmly at Shorty's talking as they always had. "I'm sorry."
"What the hell are you even apologizing for?" Wynonna asked.
Nicole's lips twitched upward into an involuntary smile as she heard the indignation in Wynonna's voice. "Honestly? I don't even know." She admitted warily. "I wasn't expecting this conversation to go quite as… smoothly as it's going." She explained, struggling to find the words to accurately articulate how confused she was by her best friend's reaction, or lack thereof.
"Well, that's fucking rude." Wynonna rebutted with a knowing grin on her lips. "Why has it taken you so long to admit that you've got feelings for Waverly, Nicole?"
"I- uh, I guess I didn't know how you were going to react and it made me hesitate." Nicole admitted somewhat reluctantly. "I mean, I've seen how you've reacted to others who've shown interest in your little sister in the past… so, I wasn't expecting you to react any differently when it came to me."
"Okay, I can't pretend that I don't understand that." Wynonna said with a nod of her head. "But here's the thing, Haught Shot. I'll admit that I'm struggling to keep myself from punching your lights out right now, but I can guaran-fucking-tee that it's not for the stupid reasons you've probably got cooking up under those flaming locks of yours." Wynonna said, unable to keep her serious demeanor in place as she let out a laugh at the absurdity in the situation. She took a deep breath and bumped Nicole's shoulder gently with her own, waiting until the redheaded woman met her gaze before she continued. "Nicole Haught, don't you fucking dare put yourself in the same category as someone as downright stupid as Champ Hardy. He was- no, wait- he is an idiot who never deserved Waverly's attention, you're nothing like that man-child."
Nicole couldn't help but smile at how quickly and how passionately Wynonna had jumped in to stop her from belittling herself like she always had when they were growing up. Hell, their sophomore year in high school, Wynonna had tackled Nicole to the ground, knocking the wind out of her and sitting precariously on her chest, repeatedly reassuring her and telling her that everything was going to be okay with the then sixteen-year-old girl had admitted to her best friend that she liked women exclusively.
"Are you thinking about that time that I kicked Stupid Carl in the nuts?" Wynonna asked, breaking the comfortable silence that they'd slipped into as they sat at the bar idly sipping on their beers. "Because I've got to be honest, that shit-eating grin you're sporting right now is kind of putting me on edge."
"No, no I wasn't." Nicole laughed out.
"What's on your mind, Haught?" Wynonna asked. While the brunette would've surely lost her patience had she been talking to anyone else, except her little sister, obviously, she knew that Nicole was still struggling. Not only with her feelings for Waverly, but whether she was going to be brave enough to do something about them or not. The brunette knew how unselfish her best friend was, more so when whatever she was going to do would have a direct impact on the Earp Sisters.
"I don't think that I'm going to talk to Waverly about any of this." Nicole said, the smile she'd had while thinking about her best friend's antics had quickly disappeared with every word she spoke. "I wouldn't want to make things awkward between us… any of us."
"Seriously?" Wynonna asked somewhat incredulously. "You're not going to know how she is feeling about you unless you take a chance and talk to her about yours, you know."
"Wy-"
"Look, Nicole, I'm not going to pretend to know what Waverly is thinking, or how she's feeling, when it comes to you." Wynonna blinked. "Honestly, I really don't think I want to know what she might be thinking where you're concerned… I don't want to think about my best friend and my little sister probably, possibly, maybe banging someday… ugh."
"Seriously, Wynonna?!" Nicole hissed, the blush on her cheeks darkening as she stared disbelievingly at the brunette. "Were you trying to make a point?" Wynonna took a long sip of her beer, shaking her head at herself before sheepishly turning to meet her gaze and nodding. Nicole rolled her eyes. "Then get to the point."
"You've got to get out of your head, Haught. Not only are you selling yourself short, which, seriously stop, but you're also assuming you know what it is that Waverly wants, who it is she wants." Wynonna told her with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm not trying to pressure you into doing anything you don't want to do, you know? But I know you and I know Waverly… take a chance."
Nicole stared at Wynonna in stunned silence, watching as the brunette pointedly ignored her blatant staring and took another long sip of her beer. "Wyn-"
"Waverly's not scheduled to come into Shorty's tonight, so she'll most likely be spending the night watching documentaries or something like that at the Homestead. Why don't you go keep her company? Talk?" Wynonna suggested.
Nicole sat in silence at Wynonna's side, the beer she'd been nursing now sitting completely forgotten in front of her as she silently weighed her options. She replayed the conversation she'd had with Wynonna in her mind and her thoughts immediately drifted to Waverly. She was itching to tell her how deeply her feelings for her truly ran, but she was still hesitating to do so.
"Nicole, go talk to Waverly." Wynonna said sternly, her words quickly pulling the redhead out of her thoughts. "But buy me a shot of whiskey before you leave."
Nicole's lips slowly lifted into a smile as she got off the bar stool, reached into her back pocket, and pulled out her wallet. "Make it a double." She said as she grabbed some bills out of her wallet, counted them out, and placed them on the bar top. "Thanks, Wynonna."
"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it." Wynonna said as she brought her beer back to her lips, she paused before the glass could touch her lips. "Good luck, Haught Shot."