Waverly Earp was working the Friday shift at Shorty's.
It was just about to be 4 PM when she started setting up the bar and preparing for the most exhausting night of the week.
People in Purgatory liked their Saturday night but fucking loved Fridays. Everyone came straight from work and the exhaustion of the past 5 days made people feel like they definitely deserved that 4th large Beer and the 3rd shot of tequila.
Waverly hated the way people in this town behaved when they were drunk. Everyone thought they have more of a right to feel angry or lonely than the person sitting next to them and it made for at least two or three fights every Friday and Saturday.
She knew how to deal with them though. Someone always trying to grab her ass or touch her thigh or make inappropriate comments towards her and that made it easier to throw them out and sending them down a flight of stairs to at least have them take a few bruises home.
Something was different though about this Friday. I was warmer than usual and spring was just around the corner.
—
The bar was buzzing at 9 pm and you could feel a shift in energy somehow. People seemed nicer and happier. The winter was terribly cold and Purgatory lost some beloved
old timers. Pop Pop Will who owned the first grocery store to sell Lucky Charms in the area was buried just last week. He was a legend for the kids around town. He somehow always had a piece of candy for every child that said 'Hello' to him.
Waverly was overcome with a bit of sadness when suddenly the whole bar went silent. All you could here were a few coughs, the music and Wynonna Earp completely wasted shouting a story at Dolls about she once broke someone's jaw driving past them on her motorcycle, a bottle of whiskey in her hand that she then smashed into the guy's face "who totally deserved it because he just did you know!".
Though even she noticed the awkward silence after a minute and she and Dolls turned their heads to see what the town was looking at.
In through the door had just stepped Nicole Haught, walking slowly suddenly, spooked by the attention placed on her. She collects herself for a moment and then walked with the "pride of the forefathers" that her dad would instil in her every morning before she went to school. Head high, but not arrogant, determined steps straight for the bar, straight for Waverly Earp.
A grey t-shirt with washed out 'NAVY' letters on them, some blue jeans and a pair of black sneakers was all it took to make Nicole look like the coolest girl in town.
She probably drives a really cool motorcycle, Waverly thought to herself.
Wait that doesn't even make sense just because she looks cool doesn't mean she drives a motorcycle seriously Waverly, get your shit together.
"Hello," Nicole says with a shy half-smile, still a bit uneasy with all eyes on her.
"Hey…,"
Waverly was so in awe of the tall redhead standing in front of her that she forgot herself for a minute but immediately snapped back into reality when she noticed the concerned look on the redhead's face.
"What can I get you tonight?". Waverly tilted her head to the side and gave the redhead a big smile.
Waverly was quirky and upbeat again, hoping it would help the bar get back to normal. She couldn't understand what the fuzz was about, unless it was about the beauty of the tall girl now sitting on a bar stool right across from Waverly. That she could understand.
"Can I have a really really big glas of your best bear and glas of your worst whiskey?" Nicole asked in a pretty serious tone now.
Waverly shot her a concerned look but served Nicole a beer and the cheapest of the three whiskeys the served. She made the glas a bit fuller, she sensed it was needed.
The redhead took a big sip of the whiskey and a small one of the beer to flush it down. It tasted horrible.
The bar slowly began to get back to normal, only a few people stared and maybe whispered. Waverly was still confused, Nicole was just tired.
Throughout the rest of the night a few people left, lots more came in to play pool or drink but almost all of them stared at Nicole,.
Something was up. Normally Waverly had a good hunch about these kinds of things and working at the bar kept her in the loop if she wanted to or not. But she had no idea what all of this was about. She kept on giving a Nicole a little reassuring smile whenever their eyes met. Maybe it would help.
—
Gus tapped Nicoles shoulder to signal they're closing.
"Oh I'm sorry," Nicole said jolting up in her seat.
She was lost in thought. She didn't drink much all night, which she planned on doing, especially today. Waverly quietly signalled to Gus that it's alright, to let the woman who was still a stranger to her, sit for a while longer. Gus shrugged her shoulders and continued to lead old drunks up the stairs and out the door. The younger ones she'd just kick if they weren't moving fast enough.
Another hour passed and at 3 AM Waverly was done breaking down the bar, cleaning up and putting their earnings in the safe above the bar.
"Hey listen, I really need to go home soon so I have to ask you to slowly prepare to go out into the cold," Waverly says with a smile that contained more pity than anything else.
Nicole got up, put 20 bucks on the bar and nodded a goodbye to Waverly. She was tired, exhausted and sad.
This isn't how she wanted her first night in the new town to be.
Waverly's eyes followed the redhead until she vanished into the dark.
She picked up the 20 Dollars and noticed writing along the edges.
It read: "Thank you for making this day a bit more bearable, Waverly Earp."