Well, it's my birthday... My 18th birthday. The birthday I was so excited for because it meant that I'd be able to do what I wanted and see Nicole without having to ask permission.
It was the birthday I was supposed to spend with her, but here I am, curled up in my bed... crying because I broke up with her.
Ever since it happened, I always felt like I was doing the right thing; like I'd done it to protect myself... But today, I just felt like I'd made a huge mistake. Not even just huge, fucking monumental.
I made a monumental mistake.
No. No, you did the right thing, Waverly.
Why didn't it feel right, then?
"Knock, knock! Wake up, birthday girl!" Gus called through my bedroom door. "We've got a surprise for you!"
I groaned. "I don't want it, Aunt Gus!" I couldn't handle birthday presents, let alone surprise ones.
I thought they were gonna take the hint and leave, but suddenly, my bedroom door swung open.
"You don't want your goddamn surprise?!" Wynonna shouted, causing me to jump and look up.
She was really there! Smiling with her arms wide open, waiting for me to get up and hug her, which I did as soon as it registered that she was actually here.
"Wynonna!" I cried as I practically jumped up and ran over to her. I hugged her and almost immediately jumped back at the feeling of her... what was that? "YOU'RE PREGNANT?!"
"Yeah, you're gonna be an aunt. Surprise!" Wynonna chuckled, smiling widely, but it looked like an awkward, nervous smile.
I squealed, jumping up and down in excitement. "Oh my god! This is amazing! I'm so happy for you!" I'm gonna be an aunt!
We hugged again, longer this time, my abdomen pressed against her baby bump. I swear, I felt the baby kick against me a couple of times and I almost started crying.
"Okay, but we really do have an actual surprise for you. You gotta come downstairs, baby girl." Wynonna pulled away and took my hand, pulling me towards the stairs.
Wynonna tried to make me close my eyes at one point, but we eventually decided that would be too dangerous on the stairs. I didn't need to close my eyes to be surprised, though. When we got downstairs, everyone I knew (well, everyone I cared about) shouted "SURPRISE!"
I couldn't believe it. Not only was Wynonna back, but they'd organized a surprise party for me without me knowing! How did they set everything up without-
Oh, yeah. I've been spending a lot of time in my room.
I smiled widely and greeted everyone one by one, giving Chrissy, Sheriff Nedley, Robin, Steph, Jess, Mercedes, and everyone else a hug. I stopped on a very handsome man I'd never seen before.
He was quite tall and athletically built with dark skin, buzzed hair, and a short but obviously growing beard. He smiled at me and somehow I knew exactly who he was.
"You must be Xavier," I spoke, smiling at him. It had to be. No one else around here knew a good looking guy who was so obviously from a big city.
He chuckled, giving me a nod. "Wynonna was right; you are smart." He held a small box out to me and I looked at it. The wrapping paper gave away the fact that it was a gift. "Happy birthday, Waverly. It's nice to meet you."
I smiled up at him once again as I took the box from his hand. "Thank you. It's nice to meet you, too."
Wynonna walked over and Xavier put his arm around her. They shared a brief kiss before Wynonna wrapped her arm around his waist and smiled at me.
"It's so good to see you, Wave. I can't believe you're eighteen!" Wynonna nudged me gently, causing me to giggle.
"I know, right? I'm so excited! I missed you so much." I didn't expect to see her so soon. Whenever I asked her when she was gonna visit, she'd always say she didn't know. I guess she didn't wanna ruin the surprise.
Wynonna detached herself from Xavier and stepped closer to me, wrapping her arms around me and placing a kiss on my forehead. "I missed you, too." I hugged her tightly, resting my head on her shoulder and letting out a content sigh. "Hey, where's Nicole? I thought she'd be here."
I swallowed, tensing up at the mention of Nicole's name. I should've known she was gonna ask about her... I didn't have the heart to tell her right then and there that we'd broken up, so I decided to come up with a lie. But what lie would be believable?
I lifted my head from Wynonna's shoulder. "She's been busy with school. She, um, she called me this morning to say happy birthday." Good. That was good. "She felt bad that she couldn't be here," I added. For good measure.
"Oh," Wynonna frowned. "Well, that sucks."
I sighed, nodding a bit, swallowing hard as I held back tears. "Yeah... Yeah, it does." It sucked even more than Wynonna thought... because it wasn't true. I know that I shouldn't have lied to her, but I couldn't tell her right now.
The rest of the party was pretty fun, lots of food and talking. It was good to see everyone, especially Wynonna, but it still hurt that the one person I really missed wasn't there. Did I miss Wynonna? Absolutely. But nothing felt complete without Nicole.
When everything was over, Wynonna and I sat down on the couch and cuddled, her arms around me as I traced little circles over her belly. Wynonna started running her fingers through my hair and I let out a content sigh. This felt like a different type of comfort than when I cuddled with Nicole; a different type of security.
"I didn't know you were coming back," I muttered, my cheek resting against Wynonna's shoulder.
"Well, yeah, that's the whole point of a surprise, dork," Wynonna chuckled.
I giggled, laying my hand flat on her stomach. "I know, I know. I just... I guess what I meant is that I didn't think you were coming back so soon. Or at all, really."
"I was originally planning on coming back for Thanksgiving, but then I got impatient and decided to come back for your birthday."
Wynonna let out a sigh, her arms tightening around me. I closed my eyes, my hand still flat on her belly, feeling the occasional, gentle kicks of the baby that was inside of it. It was insane... I'd never felt a pregnant woman's belly before, but here I was... Feeling Wynonna's.
We sat in silence for a bit while Xavier sat outside on the front porch with Gus and Curtis. He wanted to give us some time alone, and though I'm not completely sure why, I was grateful for it.
"Gus told me about you and Nicole," Wynonna muttered.
My eyes opened and I sighed heavily. "She did?" Of course she did.
Wynonna lifted her head and looked at me. "Why didn't you?" She sounded sad, like she felt bad.
I looked at her, tears welling up in my eyes. "Because it still hurts..."
"Oh, baby girl."
She kissed my cheek and hugged me, holding me as my tears started to fall.
"I didn't think it would hurt this much," I sobbed, burying my face in Wynonna's shoulder. I don't know why, but something about crying against Wynonna's shoulder felt different than crying against Gus'.
Wynonna shook her head. "Well, why did you do it, dummy?"
I looked up at her and scoffed as she wiped my tears away. "Yeah. I called you dummy," she confirmed, her expression and tone firm.
"She left me at a college party to get drunk, and when I found her again, she was grinding all up on some girl!" I exclaimed, more angry than sad now that the reason was being brought up again. Really, I didn't have a reason to be hurt. Nicole was the one who messed up!
Wynonna furrowed her eyebrows. "Grinding? Oh, barf." I made a face at her and she nodded. "Okay, okay. I get it now. But you're still dumb! So she made one drunken mistake, it's not like she hooked up with the bitch."
I rolled my eyes. Wynonna was defending Nicole? "I thought after telling you that you would've been all where's the baseball bat?" It really wasn't like Wynonna to defend a potential cheater. "You're right, she didn't hook up with her. But she could've."
Wynonna shook her head, looking very confident in what she was about to say. "Nope. Not Tater Haught. She's way too head over heels for you. Not in a million years would future Nedley cheat on an angel like you." We were silent for a second as I thought about what Wynonna was saying. I definitely did not consider myself an angel in any capacity. If I were one, I would be a lot better than I am now. "And if she did, then I'd be all where's the baseball bat," Wynonna added, kissing my forehead.
I chuckled at that, but I didn't agree with Wynonna. I know I made a mistake but I didn't deserve Nicole right now. She was right; Nicole would never do that to me. God, I was so stupid.
"Tater Haught?" I giggled, deciding to change the subject rather than tell Wynonna what I was thinking.
Wynonna laughed. "Yeah. Like tater tot, but Nicole. Cute, huh?" She gave me a squeeze.
"Very cute." I relaxed into her again and returned my head to her shoulder.
"Come on," Wynonna said, nudging me to get me to sit up. "Get up, kid. Let's go."
"Go where?" I asked curiously, sitting upright before standing up to help Wynonna off the couch.
"We're going for a ride. Quality sister time!" Wynonna grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the front door.
She opened it and we stepped out onto the porch, looking at Gus, Curtis, and Xavier. They all looked over at us, mugs in their hands. Curtis and Xavier looked confused, but Gus looked like she'd been expecting it...?
"Where are you going?" Xavier asked, reaching over to take Wynonna's free hand.
"Taking Waverly for a drive. We'll be back soon. Keys, please?" Wynonna smiled widely and Xavier stared at her for a bit before sighing and pulling the car keys out of his pocket. Wynonna took them immediately and kissed him. "Thank you!" She then proceeded to practically drag me to a huge black SUV.
We got into the car and I couldn't help but take note of the leather interior... It was so nice, and clean, too. Must be Xavier's SUV because Wynonna's truck was never this clean.
Wynonna started the engine and pulled out of the driveway pretty fast. I saw Xavier stand up and yell something at us, but I couldn't hear him through the window. He was probably yelling at Wynonna to be careful. She shouldn't be driving super crazy while she's pregnant!
"Where are we going, exactly?" I had a feeling she wouldn't tell me, or maybe she would lie and say that we're "just going for a drive". There's no way she'd be driving like this if we were just going for a drive.
"Oh, we're just going for a drive," Wynonna answered, keeping her eyes on the road. I knew she was going to say that. The look on her face and the tone of her voice were much too innocent. She had to be up to something.
I proven right when hours later, we were still in the car, and I could tell that we were heading towards the city. I'd driven enough times to know what everything looked like on the way there, and Wynonna was acting completely nonchalant the whole time!
"Wynonna, why are we going to the city? This isn't just a drive," I pressed for the millionth time. Okay, it wasn't really the millionth, but it felt like it! We'd been sitting in Xavier's SUV for hours and I hadn't even gotten an explanation yet.
"Yes, it is! You have to trust me, Waves. This is just a drive." Wynonna seemed extremely adamant that this was what she was saying it was, but I was not convinced.
Since when was four hours "just a drive"? I was right not to believe Wynonna because about an hour later, we pulled up to the university. That's right. Nicole's school.
"... Wynonna, what are we doing here?" I asked her, my heart pounding in my chest. This better not be what I think it is.
Wynonna shrugged. "Just visiting. Come on, baby girl. I'm gonna need your help getting out." She unlocked the doors and gestured for me to get out as she turned the engine off.
I sighed, opening my door and getting out of the car. I shut the door behind me and turned around to walk over to the driver's side. I stopped in my tracks when I heard the familiar sound of the car doors locking. I spun back around and immediately tried to pull the door open, looking up to see a huge grin on Wynonna's face.
I scoffed, pulling on the handle even though I knew it wouldn't open. "Wynonna! Open the door!" Is she really doing this?
Wynonna shook her head and pointed to her ear, mouthing the words "sorry, I can't hear you!" I grunted and gave up, letting the handle go as Wynonna started the engine again.
"Do not leave me here!" I shouted, grabbing the handle again and pulling harder. I let go as soon as the car started moving, taking a safe amount of steps back so that she didn't accidentally run over my foot. "IF YOU EXPECT ME TO GO TO NICOLE FOR HELP, YOU'RE GONNA BE DISAPPOINTED! WYNONNA!" I was pretty sure the whole campus could hear me yelling, but I didn't care. I was absolutely livid. I let out a loud groan as Wynonna continued to drive away, waving at me as she left.
What the fuck am I gonna do now?
A/N: I am so so so so sorry that this chapter took so long and equally as sorry that it's not super long, but here it is! I hope you all like it even though it's pretty chaotic and messy. I'll try my best to update a lot faster now!