As Waverly walks to the door, Champ's already leaning against the balcony; his lips twisted with disdain.
"Who's the gal pal that drove you home?" She stops in her tracks shooting him a glare.
"That gal pal is Nicole and she knows how to be a decent human being unlike you." Champ rolls his eyes and pushes himself off the wall.
"Seriously Waves? Are we still fighting about this?"
"Yes! Yes we are still going to talk about this! Look. This isn't just about one presentation. You do this all the time! First you guilt me into going to your games when I have a midterm the following night, tell me to research your portion of a group project we had a month to work on the week before it's due, and you only text me when you want us to 'study' ".
"Well I'm sorry I have to guilt you into spending time with me instead of some old books and for giving you an active sex life." He says with a scowl, the sarcasm dripping into his voice.
Letting out a huff, Waverly crams the key into the lock shoving the front door open. "Just. Yeah. I can't deal with this right now. Just go, I need space."
Crossing his arms Champ stomps down the stairs in a huff slamming his truck door shut, tires screeching out of homestead. Shaking her head Waverly mutters to herself. Great. Just the perfect way to end a day.
Throwing herself onto her bed she allows herself to just lie there for a couple minutes before she had to start her calc homework.
Suddenly she feels her phone vibrate from her nightstand. Groaning she blindly fumbles for it before sitting straight up at seeing who the message was from.
Nicole: Heyyy just wanted to make sure you were doing alright :)
Her heart warms at the words as she smiles while carefully typing out her next words.
Waverly: Yeah, I'm okay I guess. It's just been a bit of a day
Nicole: You can say that again…
Waverly: Ughhh and I'm totally procrastinating on my resolution for Model UN rn...I'm kinda stuck on how to really solve a problem in a country that seems to be anti everything
Nicole: Would it help if you could pitch your speech to me?
Nicole: Not that you have to! I was thinking that it might be good to have a fresh mind
Waverly's eyes widen a bit, her fingers freezing over the keys. No one had been interested in her work before. Not Wynonna, Chrissy, and sure as hell not Champ.
Waverly: U sure…? It can be kinda boring...just a bunch of research and stuff
Nicole's response makes her heart quicken as the corners of her mouth press upwards suppressing a huge smile.
Nicole: You talkin' about humanity's struggles? Sounds like my jam. I'll be there in 10 ?
It was around 6:00 when Waverly saw the headlights of Nicole's car shut off through the curtains in the living room. Jumping up from the couch, she rushed to the door yanking it open leaving Nicole standing there mid-knock. A grin grows on the redhead's face beaming at Waverly's adorable eagerness.
"Hey you! Looks like you've got one hell of a speech to show me." She sets off with a wink causing the smaller girl to blush tugging at her hands behind her back.
"I-well. It's just that- it's not too often that someone wants to listen to me talk about school and stuff. Especially not worldly affairs and history." She gestures Nicole to come in before shutting the door behind them.
"Well look no more cuz I'm all yours for the night." Their eyes widen a bit before Nicole manages to stutter out. "You-you know...like in a non sexual kinda way…" This makes Waverly snort as she lets out a laugh finally seeing the taller one struggle to keep up her bravado. Little does she know that the sound makes the strings in Nicole's heart tug just a bit.
They make their way towards the couch as Nicole sets her things down on the coffee table in front of them. "I brought some of my own work too by the way. It's nothing much, just some stupid Trigonometry homework. God, I wish I didn't insist on taking an accelerated course." Pressing her palms into her forehead she groans before rubbing her face a few times regaining her composure. Waverly eyes the sheets held in her hand. Her brows crinkle as she observes the work on the sheet.
"Mind if I take a look at those?" She asks, pointing at the thick packet. Nicole hands it to her gratefully.
"Sure, have at it." As Waverly flips through the packet she bites her lip in concentration scanning the problems. Nicole watches her face intently awestruck at just how beautiful she looked when focusing. She swallows a breath before snapping her head back up when she sees Waverly handing the packet back to her.
"I see what you're having trouble with. It looks like you guys just started the Law of Cosines right? Here," She points to the challenge problem at the bottom where Nicole left a bunch of half finished equations and messy lines scrawling out the wrong answers. "What they don't tell you is that this requires you to use the Law of Cosines first to solve for this side…" she pauses, scribbling down a few equations on the side. "And then use the Law of Sines to find the opposite angle." Plugging in the previous output from the last equation linking the two separate actions she circles her final answer leaving Nicole with the same awestruck expression on her face, reappearing once more. "This should leave you with a final answer of approximately 58.67 degrees. Now subtract that from 360 degrees and there you have the angle of the bearing!"
"Wow...thanks." She said with a clear loss for words that Waverly took as a sign of annoyance.
"Oh god, I nerded out on you didn't I? Ughhh I'm so sorry, I don't mean to be annoying I just- I just thought-'' Her blabbering was cut off by Nicole's gentle hands placed on the tops of her thighs. Looking up she melts seeing nothing but absolute wonder in her warm brown eyes.
"Waves? Are you kidding? That wasn't annoying, that was freakin' incredible! Seriously, did you get a tutor or something?" Waverly blushes at her comment having never been complimented on her intellect before.
"Well...I'm in Calculus right now so I did this about…maybe two-ish years ago?" She watches as Nicole's jaw drops to the ground.
"Holy crap! You're a prodigy! I mean seriously, if I thought being a year ahead was advanced, guess I haven't seen much considering that you're five!" She gives her a wide dimpled smile as before pulling her hands away. "How about this. Why don't you help me with Trig and I'll help you with your MUN resolution? We can kill two birds with one stone and plus, I'm in mock trial sooo maybe I can give a few pointers?" Waverly smiles making a mental note to herself. Mock trial huh? Sounds fitting for someone so passionate...She looks up at her fiddling with her fingers as she does so.
"I would love that."
By 9:00 they had put the finishing touches on her speech and worked through the final problems of the Trig packet. Laughter and brightness filling the once empty house. Nicole leans against the couch relaxing a bit as she enjoys the adorable giggles coming from the smaller girl beside her. "Man, it never really painted a picture in my mind of how bad it can be to be LGBT+ in other countries...I mean, I get dyke and fag thrown at me here and there but it's nothing like what the people of Guyana have to go through…" Her voice trails off deep in thought as she recalls a few incidents here and there. This causes Waverly to tilt her head a bit as she tries to approach her next words carefully.
"Oh! So you're saying you're…"
"Yeah, I'm gay." Nicole throws out nonchalantly. She turns her head back to her with all seriousness. "Does that...bother you?"
"No! No, of course not. Gosh, I write entire articles in the paper trying to increase diversity. Seriously, no judgement I swear." The redhead relaxes back into the couch with a lazy grin on her face staring up at the ceiling.
"Good, I'm glad." She closes as they sit in a comfortable silence. Without meaning to, Waverly finds her eyes observing Nicole's resting figure as they sit a safe three feet away from each other on the couch. She follows her strong jawline down to the dip of her neck before lingering on her exposed collarbone making her swallow hard. She blinks shaking her head trying to forget about the flitting feeling within herself. Shit, shit, shit. You just made a new friend who doesn't completely think you are a dork. Don't make it weird! Nicole turns her head to look at her for a second. "You good there?" Waverly's eyes open wide as she vigorously shakes her head.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just getting lost in my head again." She says with an apologetic look making the redhead smile gently as she reaches out to grab her hand and pulls her closer as they both lay there simply enjoying each other's company.
Suddenly, the door swings open startling Nicole making them both jump apart into a safe distance as a new figure stumbles in. Slamming the door shut Wynonna groans sinking to the floor.
"Fill a tub with tequila and put salt on the rim. I have had a day." She slurs a bit, dropping her head. Nicole looks at her with wide eyes, turning to Waverly for an explanation. Waverly glances at her quickly before making her way to the door to help her sister up.
"Well, now you've met my sister. This is the infamous Wynonna Earp. Sorry she seems to be a little…" She takes a whiff of her shirt before scrunching her nose at the stench. "Drunk." she finishes as she drags her sister to the couch with Nicole helping her hoist her legs up. Wynonna's eyes open just long enough to see Nicole's face quickly turning into a groan.
"Ughhh what the hell? Waves, explain to me why this do-gooder is standing in our house right now?" Waverly's eyebrows raise just slightly.
"You two know each other?" They both scoff at the same time.
"Unfortunately." Retorts Wynonna causing the redhead to roll her eyes.
"Please. As if it was my fault that I caught you fucking Dolls under the bleachers...in the middle of my practice by the way!"
"Hey! No one asked you to tattle on me to Coach Nedley!"
"Well I'm sorry if I don't want to hear obscenities pour out of your mouth while I'm in wrestling practice pinning down giant hundred seventy pound dudes!"
"GUYS!" Waverly snaps at both of them causing them to shut up. She pinches the bridge of her nose letting out a long sigh. "Okay, I'm sure you have many wonderful opinions about each other but for now can I please ask why the hell you just got home now?" Wynonna gives a small shrug before yawning.
"Well if you want all the details I can tell you that I was finishing a few body shots here and there...plus round three with the last guy…" she smirked seeing the clear discomfort on Nicole's face as she lazily propped herself up on her elbows shooting a cocky grin at the redhead. "Now would you like to tell me about your guy's banging while I was away?" Nicole's face flushes before Waverly lunges to smack her arm.
"Wynonna! You can't just say things like that!" She tries to place a stern look of anger but even then her own cheeks were a little pink themselves. Wynonna raises a brow noticing it.
"So is that a no…?" Waverly rolls her eyes.
"God no. We were studying. And no, not the Champ kind so you can quit it. Just some Model UN and Trig." Wynonna's nose crinkles at the mention of school.
"Ew okay fine. Also speaking of your boy toy, tell him to stop being such an ass hat will ya? He spent the whole party complaining about how horny he was since you bailed on him today." This causes Waverly to quickly dart her eyes to Nicole who was shifting the weight on her feet uncomfortably.
"Okaaay that's enough out of you today Wynonna. Let's get you upstairs." Nicole quickly rushes to grab the other side of her as they both slowly but surely get her to her room.
After placing her on her bed, Waverly sighs plopping back down onto the couch, the taller one following suit.
"Your parents are okay with her coming home like this?" She raises a brow but quickly drops to concern noting the nervous fidget the younger one does with her fingers when planning out her words.
"Uhh well, not really. I mean, my dad died when I was young while drunk driving and my mom...well she left shortly after. I have an older sister Willa but after she turned eighteen she couldn't wait to leave this town behind. So my Uncle Curtis and Aunt Gus take care of us but they're out on vacation right now and won't be home for the next two weeks." She looks down hating having to explain her life's story to anyone around her. They always gave her that look of pity that made her feel like she was some victim child. Nicole just reached for her hand, gaze focused to the ceiling as she stared up at the wall.
"You must really be the strongest person I've ever met." Waverly turns her head to look at her in shock. Nicole brings her eyes back down to her grinning causing that same flitting feeling to come back making her avert her gaze to the floor. The redhead then makes a move to stand up as she brushes off her pants, throwing her arms up for a stretch. "Well, I better get going. My grandparents would kill me if I missed curfew...again." She said with a wink causing the brunette to raise her brows a bit. "I've lost a couple people in my life too. They're pretty much the family I've got left. Or at least, the ones that still wanna see me." She shrugs before gathering her things together making her way to the door with Waverly close behind her.
"Thanks for tonight by the way. I never would've finished this without your help." The smaller one smiles gently daring to grasp her fingers just for a moment.
"No, thank you. It's nice...to finally have someone I can talk to like this." Nicole beams, finally pulling her hands away to open the door and shutting it, but the tingling sensation on her fingertips never faded.