She over looked the small town of Purgatory. The layout was as simple as it's structures, and most of it's inhabitants, but it was beautiful in its simplicity. The trees big and strong and vibrantly green. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the hem of her tank top, the trail leading up to the cliff had been a steeper run than she had assumed, and she decided to take a breather.
With a long pull from her water bottle she began to stretch. She went through her usual twist and turns, holding when needed, listened to the birds sing and the squirrels yell about the heat. She wholly agreed with them, it was far too hot out.
"Get any closer to the edge and Purgatory will be losing it's finest," a voice that made her knees weak startled her and she almost fell flat on her face. Waverly laughed, not mocking but amused and Nicole sent a thanks to the heavens for the sun so her blush could be taken as a different kind of heat. She quickly found her balance and turned to meet the woman she had been crushing on for months.
"Waverly, hey-hi." She gave her the most awkward half wave in all of humankind and immediately chastised herself for it. But she was rewarded with an adorable smirk in return and it suddenly didn't seem so bad.
"Hi," Waverly greeted and tucked her hands into her back pockets.
Nicole bit her lip as she willed herself to not follow the action, to keep eye contact or even look away, anything but think about exactly where Waverly's hands were. But of course her body betrayed her and she quickly glanced down and back up, with it her mind wondered. Wondered to a place it definitely shouldn't when she barely knew the woman, the very unavailable woman who had a boy-man.
Waverly raised a questioning brow, seemingly amused but the dazed look she was receiving.
"Hi," she said like an idiot.
Waverly let out another laugh, "you said that already."
"Yes," she nodded, "I did." She berated herself. She was being stupid again, and all because of a pretty girl, again. It was a never ending circle her heart would race, absolutely determined to kill all of her game, against her heads better, cooler, judgment. With a quick deep breath she changed the subject, "so what brings you all the way up here?"
"There's a solar eclipse in about ten minutes, up here is the best view." Waverly answered with a not so subtle appraisal of Nicole.
Her heart stuttered for a moment, all brain activity shut down. She didn't know whether or not to believe it, to date even entertain the idea that Waverly just checked her out while talking about great views, it certainly couldn't have been what she wanted it to be. She found herself nodding along and uncapping her water, her throat suddenly dry.
"Solar eclipse huh," she asked and took a mouthful of water. It didn't help though, Waverly just kept staring, and the staring only made it hard to not think about it.
Waverly licked her lips and pulled out what looked to be 3D glasses from her pocket. "An Annular solar eclipse to be exact."
"There's different kinds?"
Waverly nodded eagerly, adorably like an excited child. "There are three types of solar eclipses, three stages really. There's what's called a Total solar eclipse, it's when the moon completely blocks the Suns disk. There's a Partial which is pretty self explanatory. And then there's my favourite, the one that's gonna happen in like two minutes, Annular."
"Why is it your favourite," she questioned softly.
"I think it's the most beautiful. The moon doesn't fully cover the Suns disk like it does with a Total, so there's a ring around it which is where it got its name- annular comes from the Latin word annulus which means ring-, and it's also known as the ring of fire. I am really geeking out," Waverly blushed and looked down at her hands as they played with the glasses. "Sorry."
Nicole took a step forward and reached out to out a comforting hand on her arm. She'd really been enjoying the conversation. Particularly the part where Waverly's eyes lit up with glee and she gradually got more and more passionate with every word and lesson. She didn't think it was possible to fall even more for the history buff but she was proving herself wrong with every interaction she found herself in.
"What's with the 3D glasses," she asked with as much reassurance as she could muster.
"You can't look directly at a solar eclipse, the rays could blind you in seconds," she informed Nicole shyly, still not meeting her eyes. "And these aren't 3D glasses. They're made specifically for solar eclipses."
"So I couldn't watch with you?" She didn't care to hide the disappointment in her voice.
Waverly looked up and her breath caught for a beat. She'd known the Earp's eyes were stunning, she'd been lucky enough to see up close just the colour of them, but here in the sun was a completely different story. Here they were lighter, let out shades that she hadn't seen before. Waverly slowly smiled and pulled out a second pair of the glasses.