Saturday morning, Waverly awoke for game day again, knowing she wouldn't have to wait around all day to watch the team play. The Peg City Pirates were in town from Winnipeg for a noontime matinee game against the Blue Devils. She was hoping for a better ending to today's game, knowing how unruly the fans got after Tuesday night's heartbreaker. Leave it to Purgatorians to all but trash the place in their "sports yelling and down-falling", as Nicole had called it.
She couldn't help but feel for Nicole, seeing how the game ended last time. She knew Nicole blamed herself, she could see it all over her face from where she sat between the benches. That, and the redhead had showed up to the rink on Wednesday, looking less than fresh and rested, visibly deflated the whole day at work. She'd tried her best to cheer the girl up all day, but barely earned anything more than a small half-smile.
They arrived at the arena later than Waverly would have liked, groaning at the fact they were out of coffee at the homestead and didn't have time to stop for some. She looked through the office hopeful to find some to fill the staff coffee machine that was honestly probably older than she was, but found only Wynonna's mini fridge missing more than a few beers.
"Calm down babygirl," she heard her sister say from the other side of the room near the rental skates, "Robin's got donuts in Champ's mechanic room and we've got a coffee delivery com—oh, perfect it's here."
A knock on the ticket window came as Wynonna spoke, and Waverly turned around to see a just-woken-up-looking Nicole carrying two paper coffee cups. Waverly waved her around to enter through the office door.
Nicole handed Wynonna one of the cups, which the woman accepted greedily and took off to presumably grab a donut.
With a smile, Nicole extended the second cup to Waverly. Written on the outside of the cup was her own name in Nicole's handwriting next to an adorably drawn smiley face.
"Made with almond milk." Nicole's smile lit up her eyes as Waverly accepted the offering.
"Thank you." She grinned. "But, what about you?"
"I can't drink coffee on game days on account that it's dehydrating and banned by Sheriff Nedley." Nicole explained. "Wynonna texted me, asked me to bring some coffee, so I did."
She rolled her eyes. Of course Wynonna would.
"You know she's not your boss, you didn't have to do that for her."
"Who says I did it for her?" Nicole smirked, and Waverly hoped she was imagining the wink because it sent a shot through her chest and into her stomach. She knew Nicole could be smooth when she wanted to, but this one had caught her off guard so very early in the morning. "Anyway, she gets me on the ice before everyone else, so the least I can do is bring coffee. Really, I don't mind."
"Well, thank you then."
"I'm gonna actually get on the ice in a few minutes, what do ya say to joining me?"
"Oh, uh," she stammered for a moment, well aware that this was now the second time in very close succession that the other girl had left her just ever so slightly flustered. Realistically, any work she needed to get done pregame could be handled during warmups, but she was still able to find an excuse. "Yeah, I'd love to, but I don't wanna intrude on your pregame ritual though."
"Nonsense, I asked you."
Nicole's face was so sincere and inviting, and it really did seem like fun to go out on the ice, so she really didn't have any excuse not to join her, did she?
"Okay. I'll grab some skates and see you out there."
Normally, Waverly would prefer to have her own skates, but because of the game today, the public skate was cancelled, and so she left her skates back home. Finding a pair of rentals in her size, she grabbed them and laced them up before going into the rink area to wait for Nicole.
Said girl emerged from the locker room just as Waverly had entered, carrying two water bottles, and wearing her biggest smile. She seemed to be in better spirits than the other day, which Waverly herself was glad for. A sad Nicole was not something she really liked; she hated seeing her friends upset.
They joined each other on the ice, enjoying the first few strides and the sounds their blades on the surface.
"How has your morning been?" Nicole asked, "You know, besides the whole waking up at the butt crack of dawn and not having coffee deal?"
Waverly fought the intrusive urge to say, "Better now that I'm with you", but quickly pushed it aside, one: not knowing where the heck that came from, and two: more than a little uneasy at the butterflies that the sincerity in Nicole's voice had given her.
"Alright," she responded instead, "I'll be better after you guys kick some ass today."
"Maybe I'll just have to score you a goal for good measure." Nicole said with another fucking wink, which Waverly definitely knew was there this time.
"Someone's cocky." Waverly quipped, though she was sure Nicole could tell how flustered she was by the comment.
God, what was wrong with her? The comment didn't even mean anything, she was talking about scoring goals. Get a hold of yourself, Earp.
"Not cocky, just driven."
"Alright, I'll be expecting that goal then."
They skated for a few moments, using the activity as an opportunity to wake themselves up. Waverly found herself sneaking glances here and there at Nicole, looking away just as quickly and feeling heat in her cheeks. She wasn't really sure what had gotten into her recently, but ever since she had broken up with Champ, the redhead next to her kept popping up into her thoughts with increasing frequency.
It terrified her to no end.
They stopped at the bench where Nicole took one of the water bottles for a drink, offering the other to Waverly.
"I know you have coffee, but I didn't wanna come out here with water for myself and leave you out."
The summersaults her stomach was doing at the simple gesture of simply thinking of her, well let's just say it had been a while since Champ had cared about whether or not Waverly was left out or didn't reciprocate something.
"Hey Waves?" Nicole asked after their impromptu water break/pregame hydration session. Waverly nodded and hummed her response. "Wanna play a game?"
"Wh-huh?"
Before she could even formulate a response, Nicole had pushed a hand onto her shoulder and yelled a "Tag! You're it!" before sprinting across the rink.
"Ohh, you're on Haught!" She yelled, taking off in the competitive spirit of the game. Realistically, playing tag on skates with a professional hockey player was probably not the best idea, but Waverly loved a challenge and hated losing. (Not that there really was a winner or loser in tag, was there?)
She chased after the redhead, who was skating backwards and taunting Waverly like they were on the playground in kindergarten. She narrowed her eyes and sprinted harder.
They played a few rounds, chasing each other without a care in the world—besides the competitive fire between the two of them. Neither of them wanted to be it longer than they needed to. On one turn, Nicole had tagged her and did a cocky little spin move after, yelling "Catch me if you can" before zooming away. Unwilling to let her be that fucking smug, Waverly took off as fast as her rental skates would carry her.
And in that lied the problem: the rental skates. The unfamiliar blades failed her just as she had gotten close enough to tag Nicole, who had turned her back on Waverly to sprint away. She felt it happen; she toepicked and started to topple forward. Nicole had just enough time to turn around to catch Waverly, but was knocked off balance and Waverly felt the both of them falling to the ice.
This is gonna hurt, she thought. But it didn't.
She landed on something soft, which she knew was Nicole. She was about to apologize when she heard Nicole burst out into a fit of giggles that Waverly couldn't stop herself from joining in. Instead of getting up, they sat there in their laughter, and Waverly couldn't remember the last time something so simple and stupid as a game of tag made her so effortlessly happy.
"Hey!" There was the yell of a male voice from the Zamboni door. Waverly might've worried it had been Champ, except she knew the boy would never be here this early. "What the hell is going on here?"
The two stopped laughing to stand up, seeing the stuffy-looking man in a suit standing on the edge of the ice, looking tensely between the pair and his phone. She looked at Nicole as they skated toward the man, the redhead looking like she had just been called to the principal's office, a little (totally not adorable) worry wrinkle forming between her brows. The reason for this, of course, was that the man about to reprimand them was none other than General Manager and Director of Operations, Xavier Dolls. He was Nicole's boss' boss, making him doubly in charge of her.
"I can't have you out here injuring my players." Dolls had said pointedly to Waverly, who was taken aback by his straightforwardness. "And you," he said to Nicole, "can't be getting hurt at all, but especially not outside of the game, screwing around doing…what exactly are you doing?"
"We were, uh, playing tag, sir." Nicole said, looking down, biting the inside of her cheek in an attempt to stifle her laughter, a strange mix of guilt with a twinge of amusement on her face at the words.
"Jesus, okay," Dolls pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed tiredly, like this was so not a part of his job. "Well stop that. I'd appreciate that you live up to the professional part of your job title."
Nicole nodded. "Sorry, sir. Just wanted to get a skate in before the game later."
"Right." He said, a bit suspiciously, eying the pair. "Haught, right?"
"Mhm."
"Don't let me catch you doing anything that could endanger the success of this team, or, well let's just say you won't like the consequences."
And like that, he was gone.
"Did he just threaten to trade you for playing tag?" She couldn't help but laugh at just how ridiculous that sounded.
Nicole burst into giggles with her.
"Yeah, I think so."
Waverly took her place in between the benches as the fans started to trickle in. Champ was finishing up an initial sweep of the ice for the teams to come and warm up, and Robin had reluctantly turned off the Colin Stetson song he was playing, switching it to the warmup tape the Devils provided. She flicked through the stat sheets and roster cards she'd be in charge of for the game.
The Pirates spilled out of the locker room and onto the ice for warmups and Waverly couldn't help but notice just how massive every single one of them appeared to be. Quite literally sizing up today's competition, she looked at the names on the Pirates' sheet. The heights of the opposing girls went on with little variation: 5'10", 6'1", 6'1", 6'2", 5'11", 6'4…Waverly noted that the smallest girl on their team was taller than the majority of the Devils. She knew that in the physicality department, they were at a disadvantage, but hoped that Nedley had put them on a speed gameplan. Size would only get you so far, and speed killed.
Shae exited the tunnel (wearing a scowl on her face) shortly thereafter and Waverly subconsciously found herself waiting for Nicole to pop out onto the ice. When she finally did spot the redhead in the number fifteen sweater, she looked like she was going to throw up, pass out, or both. Waverly couldn't help but think about their interaction with Dolls earlier this morning, and hoped that there hadn't been any serious repercussions tied to something so trivial as playing a child's game.
Waverly really couldn't bring herself to feel bad about the interaction, knowing it was the most blissfully simple life had been in a while. She could hardly deny that the last few years had been hectic, and her world felt topsy-turvy ever since Curtis died, but there was something more to it that she couldn't quite place. Something that had flipped her on her head yet again right around the time she broke up with Champ.
She left the seat between the benches after the teams cleared off for Champ to more thoroughly clean the sheet for the game, going up to the office to grab something team-related to wear. She'd worn Nicole's hoodie last game because she hadn't had time to get her own, but now she had multiple t-shirts and jackets emblazoned with the team logo. She ducked into the ticket office to grab the navy-blue jacket, watching Wynonna check in a family wearing navy and gold Pirates jerseys, the kids waving little pennants and foam fingers.
"Yo," Wynonna greeted her once the window had been vacated. "Have you met Mr. Big City, Leather Loafers yet?"
She couldn't help but be amused by her sister's comment.
"You mean Dolls? Yeah, I have."
"I swear that guy has a bigger stick up his ass than Haught does," Wynonna rolled her eyes. "Douche."
While she did have to agree that Dolls was a bit uptight, she understood where it came from. Being put in charge of any team, but especially a team that just relocated and had a history of being unsuccessful, she imagined that stressfuldidn't even begin to cover it. And working for crotchety old Bunny Loblaw would put pretty much anyone in a sour mood.
"Cut him some slack, he's got an important, high-pressure job. And he works for Bunny the Bully."
"An important job?" Wynonna scoffed. "What's he do? Answer phone calls and scowl all day? Even I could do that. It's not brain surgery Waves."
"I think it might be a little more than that."
"Whatever." Wynonna dismissed as she turned to the screen on her desk to see Champ finishing up his job on the ice. "You'd better get going, game's gonna be starting soon."
With her jacket in hand, she bid Wynonna a see you later, and trotted back toward her post.
The teams were returning back to the ice and she saw Champ and Robin rolling out the carpet for Chrissy to sing the anthem for the game.
"And now the starting lineups for YOUR PURRRRRGATORY BLUUUUUE DEVILSSSS!" She heard Perry introduce as the benches started to fill. "Starting on defense, number forty-four, Charlotte Hansen," there was a pause for cheering as the graphic of the defenseman showed on the big screen in the arena. "And number fifty-five, Rylee Adams!" A similar pause followed. "At left wing, number seventy-two, Shannon Finning!...at center, number 15, Nicole Haught!" Waverly clapped and cheered especially loudly for her friend, searching for her among the faces on the Devils bench. She still looked pale in the face as she had in warmups, but appeared slightly more composed. It made sense now—Nicole had been nervous to be making her first professional start, though she couldn't help but think that the redhead would kill it regardless. The only thing Waverly couldn't quite figure out was why Shae appeared so upset in warmups, though she had a suspicion that it was linked to Nicole's line starting over hers. "At right wing, number eleven, Victoria Powers!...And in goal for your Blue Devils, number thirty, Lauren Miller!"
Perry called for the crowd to stand for the anthem and Chrissy sang to an unsurprisingly packed arena. There wasn't really much to do around Purgatory, and if there was an opportunity to gather and get rowdy, Purgatorians flocked to it like a moth to a flame. (There were a surprising amount of Winnipeg fans in attendance, Waverly noted, but then again they were one of the league's most popular teams and Pirates fans always traveled in packs).
The starting lineups skated onto the ice, ready for puck drop, and Waverly couldn't help but chuckle as Nicole settled into her spot at the faceoff dot. For how much she usually towered over people, the entirety of the opposing team made her look average height at best.
As the referee prepared to drop the puck, Waverly switched her brain to a heightened focus, knowing she'd have to record all the shots, faceoffs, hits, blocked shots, penalties and any scoring that would occur over the course of the game. So, when Nicole lost the faceoff, she marked down a win in the faceoff column for Lewis, Taylor and a loss in Nicole's.
The Pirates used the early advantage to attack the Devils, building pressure in the offensive zone. Waverly marked down four shots on goal for the Pirates before Miller covered the puck and a new set of players spilled over the boards.
Waverly had been correct in her assumption that the Pirates would have a physical advantage due to their sheer size. For the first ten minutes, the Devils were being worn down by the Pirates' body checking. She'd had to mark down goals for Palmer, Becky and Holt, Alicia as well as the Pirates players with assists on those goals, before Nedley called a timeout, visibly unhappy with his team's performance. (Being scored on twice in the first ten minutes wasn't a start anyone wanted or expected).
And then, almost like a switch had been flipped, momentum switched hands.
Nicole's line came out first thing after the timeout, and not only did they win the faceoff, they used the speed advantage they held and ran the Pirates around their zone and put on a display. Nicole set up Adams at the blue line who faked a slapshot and passed it diagonally across to Finning around the hashmarks. The winger put a shot on goal straight into the netminder's pads, leaving a big rebound that landed right onto the stick of one Nicole Haught who netted the puck on her own shot.
The horn blared and the arena blew up in cheers and celebration as the Devils on the ice mobbed the redhead who'd just scored her first professional goal. Waverly beamed with her own pride, so she couldn't even begin to imagine how happy Nicole was in that moment. She gladly made a mark in the assist column next to Adams, Rylee and Finning, Shannon one in the goal column for Haught, Nicole.
As she looked up from the action, she saw them approaching the bench for post-goal fist bumps, and saw Nicole point directly at her, as if to say That one's for you. Waverly felt a blush creep into her cheeks and a flutter in her stomach at the genuine smile Nicole wore as she dedicated the goal to her.
Once the game started up again, it was all Devils for the rest of it. As far as stat-keeping went, she was a little burnt out, marking down an inordinate number of hits (mainly on behalf of the Pirates) and shots (mainly on behalf of the Devils). She tallied two more goals and two assists for Nicole, a goal for Powers, Finning, Greene and Wilson, as well as a goal and an assist for Shae Pressman.
The game ended at 8-2 and the chaos in the arena was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the energy following Tuesday night's game. The fans were celebrating in the stands, waving towels and singing along to the songs played over the speakers long after the teams vacated the ice.
She had to make copies of the stat sheets in the office and deliver one to each of the teams and one to league official, and so she pushed her way through the slowly-thinning crowd to make her way to the office. As she did so, she passed the media section and saw not only Jeremy and the local media speaking to Nicole, but also the reporter from TSN and the bigger national sports outlets who had more than likely been in town to follow the nationally popular Pirates.
The joy on the redhead's face was a stark contrast to the dejection it held following the previous game, even if she did look slightly uncomfortable with all the (well-deserved) attention she was receiving.
Fulfilling her responsibilities, Waverly delivered the stats to their designated recipients and decided it best to help Wynonna do the same. She would have anyway, but was doubly motivated by the fact that Wynonna was her ride home and she was more than eager to go home after a long day.
They were walking out of the visitor's locker room and back toward the home one, finally finished with their rink duties, when they bumped into the game's number one star, who had been the last one out after being tied up by the various interviewers.
"Well hello there, Hat Trick Haught." Wynonna called while starting a slow clap for her performance. Nicole took a bow with a proud smile.
"Hello have a game why don't you." Waverly congratulated. "Seriously you were on fire out there. What got into you?"
"I told you I'd score one for you."
"Well who were the other two for then?"
Nicole looked over at Wynonna expectantly who grumbled as she pulled out her wallet and produced fifty dollars in cash and handed it over.
"This one," Nicole nodded at Wynonna, "bet me I couldn't score three in today's game, and well I can't lose a bet now can I?"
Waverly rolled her eyes, knowing her sister would always find some type of way to get involved.
"No, I guess you can't. Any plans after the big win?"
"Nah, not really. A lot of the girls are going out with their families, but I'm just honestly so exhausted I was gonna just go back to my apartment and relax." Nicole said, though Waverly sensed a bit of sadness she had in mentioning family. Waverly knew that Nicole was in town living on her own, but was a bit curious that Nicole's parents hadn't even been in attendance for her league debut. And they had missed her star performance today.
"Well, do you wanna come hang with us maybe?" Waverly offered, gesturing between herself and Wynonna. "We were gonna just watch TV and order takeout. You could join us if you'd like. After a game like that you shouldn't have to go home alone to your apartment."
Nicole looked for a second like she might politely refuse, not wanting to intrude, but her face quickly brightened at the offer.
"Uh yeah, I'd love to actually, thanks."
"Fine," Wynonna interjected. "But you're buying dinner Haught stuff."
"Technically, it's your money Wynonna," Nicole said with a smirk growing on her face, waving around the fifty she had just won from the woman. "So, I think that you're buying."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Wynonna rolled her eyes as they headed for the exit.