Nicole had no idea who Fred White was or how he was connected to the town hall, but she found that she could listen to Waverly talk for hours on end about anything at all.
She could tell that for whatever reason, Waverly had a passion for history and got excited just by being able to share that knowledge with someone.

And despite not understand half of what she was explaining, Nicole found herself hanging on to every word.

"Sorry, I'm just rambling on and on like some kind of idiot." Waverly cut herself off mid-sentence about some kind of shootout that had happened in the town, her face flushing slightly as she glanced at Nicole.

"I think it's amazing actually that you memorized all of that! I mean, I can barely remember what I read in class today let alone remember details about a shootout hundreds of years ago!"

Nicole could see the surprise written across Waverly's face at that.

"Really? You think so?"

Nicole only nodded an answer, a hint of a smile playing on her face.

"Of course I do. Obviously, you are good at something you enjoy which is amazing by itself but I swear you have got to be a genius or something."

Nicole count help but snicker when she saw Waverly's blush deepen.

"Come on, you can finish giving me a tour and then we can get something to eat. You must be starved and tired after putting on a show like you did today."

Waverly wasn't sure what she was feeling as she sat across from the redhead in the local diner. It wasn't often that anyone besides Chrissy invited her anywhere, let alone let her completely geek out around them without making some comment about her turning off her brain or something.

But Nicole didn't seem annoyed at all. Amused maybe, bored? Probably but not annoyed. Not like most of the girls at school would have been.

"You know I can pay for this myself right?" she insisted, wanting to think of anything else besides the fact that she could have possibly ruined her friendship with the older girl before it had even begun.

"Waverly, relax. I've got this, besides I was the one who drug you around town when you probably just felt like curling up somewhere and hibernating for the rest of the evening. The least I can do is buy you food!" Nicole argued, snatching the bill that was placed on the table before Waverly could look at it.

"And if you feel that strongly about it, I'll let you buy me coffee or something sometime."

Waverly wanted to argue but she knew she was fighting a losing battle so she just crossed her arms over her chest and retorted

"Fine but I will pay you back!"

It took Nicole all of her willpower not to crack a smile at how ridiculous this argument was getting and the fact that Waverly was acting pretty much like an actual five-year-old wasn't helping.

"If I find money in my truck I'm just going to return it. Tell you what, next time we hang out we'll do whatever you want to do and I'll let you buy lunch, okay?"

Waverly didn't know which surprised her most: the fact that Nicole was so insistent on paying or the fact that she had just implied that she wouldn't mind hanging out with her again.

But could she mean it? Would she change her mind once she found out about the craziness that was the Earp family history? What if she grew bored of her like most of the other people who had 'befriended' her did?

She couldn't help but wonder as they left the restaurant.

"Hey, are you okay? You've been kind of out of it all day."

Nicole's voice cut through her thoughts, causing her to sigh.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She couldn't—wouldn't—tell her what really had kept her up all night. After all, Nicole probably had better things to do than listen to a fuck up's problems.

"Okay, if you're sure but if you ever need to talk, vent, whatever I'm here. I know we just met a couple of days ago or whatever but I meant what I said earlier about being your friend."