Waverly quickly falls into the rhythm of college. She spends the next week systematically getting lost in every part of campus, forming a tentative bond with her roommate that mainly consists of pleasantries exchanged in the doorway as Waverly heads off to class and the roommate stumbles in after a night at the nearest frat, and glancing up every time she sees the red hair pass by. She makes a few friends (or really acquaintances at this point) and thankfully, doesn't experience the same humiliating brain death that she did that time as she's come to refer to it. She's no closer to working out what the hell came over her, but she tries her absolute best not to dwell on it. And thankfully hasn't had to face the girl, what was even her name?
See, clearly she's over it, she hasn't thought about it even once. (She knows the girl's name, somehow hasn't been able to peel it off her mind.) In the end, she settles for deciding that she thought the girl was nice and could use a nice friend here. That's all, that has to be all.
The Tuesday of her second week, she's sitting in an introductory class waiting for the professor to arrive and start ranting about culture or something. There's no one in the seat beside her, which honestly she doesn't mind. She's been drowning in small talk and she's actually looking forward to not having to talk about where she's from and what she's thinking of majoring in and all those inane questions she's answered (and asked) a hundred times this past week. The professor finally walks in and in the surprise of pulling herself out of her daydream, she doesn't realize the chair she's been hoping would stay empty is filled.
"Hey, Waverly right? You been staying upright?"
She starts slightly and glances to her right. Nicole. She feels her lungs expand slightly as she sucks in an excited breath. And immediately tells herself to cool it. She didn't realize (or didn't admit) that she's been waiting to run into the girl. And oh god, has she just been staring this whole time? 'Quick, Waverly, please say words now,' she thinks.
"Oh - um hi, yeah it's Waverly. I've uh been doing my best," she throws out, genuinely pleased with herself for the effort.
"Thank god, I've been concerned this whole week," Nicole jokes, with a smile that makes the room five degrees warmer.
At this completely inopportune moment, the professor sorts his shit out and starts to deliver his class. Waverly has to actively stop herself from standing up and asking him to stop interrupting her conversation. Instead she stays seated, ignores the professor, and focuses entirely on the fact that Nicole might have been thinking about her this week. And on the fact that her entire right side seems to have suddenly become carbonated.
An elbow hits her ribs lightly and she sees Nicole point her pen to the corner of her book. Waverly peers over and sees a note scribbled there.
This guy doesn't seem to notice he died overnight. His ghost has come to class? Only explanation for this deathly boring lecture.
Waverly smiles, noting that the girl's handwriting is terrible. Really, she should be a cop or something with that scrawl. She leans across and writes below it in her neat script.
He really did pull a Binn.
She hears Nicole laugh beside her, earning them a glare from the professor who Waverly will now always call Binn. She's pleased with herself though, having made Nicole laugh, and a bad look from Binn seems a minuscule price to pay.
She realizes that Nicole has written a response and leans over to read it.
XXXX, clumsy and understands Harry Potter references, be still my beating heart.
Waverly smiles. She notices the first word of her note has been heavily crossed out, and wonders briefly about what made Nicole change her mind. She figures the red head was joking, with the whole beating heart thing. She can't help but notice though, that under the frantic crossing outs, is the word cute, just visible under the ink. The Earp girl ignores the way her own heart beats a touch faster at the realization.
Excuse me, I'm only 'clumsy' when I'm being mown down in the hallway
She writes back, smiling slightly at the way they're filling Nicole's page with notes, and at the way her neat print contrasts with Nicole's scratchy letters.
Let me buy you a coffee, to make up for it?
Waverly grins at the girls scrawled invitation and replies,
Sure! My blood pressure disagrees but there's no such thing as too much coffee. And I could use a friend around campus.
Waverly misses it, but Nicole's shoulders shrink slightly on reading the words. The red head writes out a speedy 'We'll talk after class,' and returns to note taking. She misses it, because she's caught up in the joy of feeling like she's found a friend in the mess of people.
The class drags on, Waverly bored and paying more attention to the movements of the girl beside her than the professor's words, Nicole seemingly intently focused on her notes. When she hears the professor finally dismiss them with a list of reading to be completed by the next class, she grabs her books and smiles over at her new friend.
'Hey! So coffee? I mean, obviously you don't have to pay, I'm fine no injuries but I actually would like to hang out. If you're free, that is,' the brunette eagerly bursts out, gripping her books to her chest.
Nicole's eyes softens at the enthusiasm, and she nods.
They make plans to meet the next day, at a cafe Nicole knows with good scones and better hot chocolate.
At the last minute, as they're about to go their separate ways, Nicole grabs the brunette's hand. Waverly's breathing stops, and Nicole fishes a pen from her pocket. She pulls the cap off with her teeth and writes her number on the girls hand, punctuating it with a '- N.'
"In case you get lost," she explains, and leaves Waverly to find her breath again.
Waverly finds herself almost skipping throughout the day, a bounce in her step as she imagines sitting down the next day with hot chocolate and Nicole. She knows she's too excited, but it's her first friend of college. As strange as it may be, she's been thinking about the friends she'd make in college her whole life. Purgatory was a little place and the friend pickings were slim. She can't wait to have a group of people she knows want to hang out with her, not just because there's no one else, but because there's no one else better. Somehow though, Nicole seems better than any friendship daydream she's ever had.
She catches herself trying to think of reasons to text Nicole as the hours crawl by. She tries to throw herself into studying, determined not to fall behind at the very beginning of class, but every hour or so finds herself staring at her phone, at the number on her hand, trying to work out how to make contact without feeling creepy. She can't tear her mind away from red hair and brown eyes and terrible handwriting. She never works out what to send and goes to bed with phone numbers and messages ticking over in her brain.
As she lays in bed staring at the ceiling, she tries to work out why Nicole has gotten under her skin already. They've spoken twice. No, she wouldn't call the first time speaking really. They've interacted one and a half times. And already Waverly is acting like they're meant to be friends, like they're somehow more than two people who've spent approximately ten minutes making small talk. She's completely certain that Nicole hasn't given her a second thought, except to wonder why this girl she's hardly met keeps acting like an idiot in front of her. Nothing comes to her. There's no reason for her to feel like this. She groans and turns over, determined to act normal and put this behind her. (She doesn't succeed.)
The girls meet the next day, and Nicole wears a loose forest green sweater over a denim button down shirt and Waverly thinks it might be the number one best sweater-shirt combo she's ever seen. Honestly she's going to need to get Nicole to come shopping with her. Waverly arrives early, because she was in the area, definitely not because she left her room an hour and a half before she needed to. She loiters nearby for an hour before giving in. Seeing Nicole through the front glass window, sitting there staring at the door chewing her lip, Waverly feels that rush in her chest again. She writes it off as nerves and pushes the heavy door open.
The two women talk for three hours and 35 minutes, powering through three hot chocolates each. As they reach the end of the first hour, Waverly feels her knee press against Nicole's. The feeling of warmth that flows through her is so full and comforting that she doesn't move her leg, as she might if it were, really, anyone else. Somehow Nicole makes her feel so much like herself, like there's no reason to be anyone but wholly her. (She purposely doesn't put any weight on the fact that Nicole doesn't move her knee either. Probably thinks it's the table leg. She's also fiddling with the salt shaker when Nicole shoots her a questioning look across the table.)
"Okay Wave," the nickname makes Waverly fairly certain she won't be able to stop grinning for a week. "We might need to wrap this up. I have class in fifteen minutes and I would definitely skip it, except that the prof strongly hinted that there would be a quiz this week. Maybe we could study together later or something."
Nicole shrugs as she speaks, and Waverly is genuinely jealous for a second that she seems so nonchalant about being friends. If only Waverly could muster that kind of control, she might not make such an idiot of herself on such a regular basis.
"Okay! I'll message you. Because I've decided we're actual friends now, so I'll see you later."
The red headed woman lets out a laugh, "Okay Waverly. Whatever you say. Swing me a text when you're free." Waverly nods, and steps in to wrap Nicole in a hug. Friends hug. She's cementing their friendship in hugs. She feels Nicole stiffen but then tentatively put her arms around Waverly's back. Waverly hangs on for what she thinks is probably a bit too long, but she decides she doesn't care. She sends Nicole off with luck, and walks off smiling.
Twenty minutes later, she's still playing their conversation over in her head so she pulls her phone out.
WE: hey, this is my number by the way
She lays her phone beside her and turns back to her books. No need to sit around and wait, she knows Nicole's in a test.
N: i think this professor told us there'd be a quiz so we'd show up to what is the worlds most pointless class. three people are asleep.
Waverly laughs at the screen and taps out a reply,
WE: oh god. can you make a break for it?
N: she's blocking the door. also I'm pretty sure my ex is in the front row. is this what hell looks like
WE: yes. about your ex, bad breakup? or can you recruit him into your escape team? also I'm realizing i don't know your last name.
N: oh right, it's haught. pronounced like hot bc i'm so spicy & colorful.
NH: & nope, awkward break up. plus I don't know if she has any skills that would be useful in an escape
Waverly reads the message twice. And the word 'she' six times. Nicole likes girls?
WE: good call. a poor recruit will just hold the team back.
Nicole likes girls?