When Nicole closed her car door, she fastened her seatbelt, looked over at Waverly and said, "remember: click it or ticket." She smiled and winked and started the car. When she did, "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways came on through the speakers.
Obviously embarrassed, Nicole reached over to turn the stereo off, but Waverly stopped her, turning it up louder than before, "I frickin' love this song!" The ride to the restaurant wasn't filled with awkward tension, as Waverly had dreaded, but with smiles, laughter, and lots of bad singing.
When they finally reached their destination, Waverly was feeling much more comfortable. As they neared the front door to the restaurant, Waverly sped up and held it open for Nicole. They made their way past waiting patrons to the hostess. "We have a six thirty reservation: Haught for two," said Nicole.
The hostess looked at her paper, "yes, right this way, ladies," she said as she picked up two menus and led the pair through the maze of the restaurant.
As they walked, Waverly couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable, "umm I think we're a bit overdressed here, Nicole." she whispered.
Nicole just smiled, "that just means we're the best looking couple in this place." Waverly's heart fluttered at the thought of the two of them being "a couple."
Their waiter arrived shortly after they sat down, "can I get you anything to drink tonight?"
"Water. Just water. That's all for me, thanks." Waverly already felt light-headed and drunk from the emotions and nerves she was feeling; she didn't need anything else in her system that might cause her to embarrass herself further.
"Just water for me, too." Nicole said. The waiter nodded and walked away.
As Waverly tried to focus on the very extensive menu, she glanced up and saw Nicole staring at her, grinning. "What? What is it!?" Waverly couldn't believe she had already embarrassed herself, before they even began the awkward first date small talk.
"It's nothing, you're just cute when you're concentrating on reading." Nicole opened her menu and looked down. Waverly couldn't tell if the feeling in her stomach was from butterflies or hunger; she'd been so nervous all day that she forgot to eat lunch.
After a few minutes, Nicole broke the silence, "so, do you know what you're gonna get?"
Waverly went with her knee-jerk first date response: "oh, probably just a Caesar salad."
Nicole rolled her eyes and laughed, "Oh come on, Waverly! Look at all those delicious steak dinners! What about the roasted chicken breast? You can get whatever you want. Really." She tapped the top of Waverly's menu, encouraging her to continue reading.
With a shy grin, Waverly went back to reading, "well, the filet mignon with blue cheese crumble looks good."
"Oooh, good choice! Now, the real decision comes in what side you want to get."
Waverly hadn't even noticed the fine print at the top of the steak section that said "all steak dinners come with your option of a side: garlic mashed potatoes, homemade steak fries, soup, or salad."
As they saw their waiter approach, Nicole whispered, "remember, Wave, whatever you want."
"So, have you decided on what you'd like?" the waiter asked cheerfully.
Waverly was relieved that Nicole volunteered her order first. "Can I get the pork chop with roasted potatoes?"
"And for you, miss?"
Waverly took a big breath, "I'll have the filet mignon with bleu cheese crumble, cooked medium rare, with the side of steak fries." She looked over and saw Nicole smiling, closed her menu and handed it to the waiter; Nicole did the same. When the waiter had walked away, Waverly suddenly felt very vulnerable. Not wanting to give Nicole a chance to ask a question that Waverly couldn't answer, she blurted out, "so why are you here, anyway? I mean, why Purgatory? You're really smart, and you seem ambitious; so why would you choose to come to this little town?"
It was clear that Nicole had been expecting this question. "Well, I tried to be a big city cop, but, you know, law enforcement is such a male-dominated occupation, I couldn't really find a place there. So I decided to start looking in smaller towns; get some experience and build up my skills and resume before re-applying at metro. Turns out Purgatory was looking for a deputy, so I applied and got the job. Not really a glamorous or interesting story, I'm afraid," she sighed. "But what about you?" Waverly was sure Nicole was about to ask her why she's stayed in Purgatory her whole life; why she put up with Champ for so long. "You're probably one of the smartest people I have ever met; you have so much schooling under your belt; if you could do anything in the world, what would it be?"
Waverly sat there for a moment, stunned that anyone could be interested in anything about her other than her last name. "Well, I would love to travel, you know? I've learned so much about so many different places, I would love to actually go there and see and experience the things I have learned about!"
Their food came, and Waverly could barely hold back the sigh of satisfaction from tasting the most delicious steak she had ever had. By the time they had eaten their fill, Waverly no longer felt nervous; in fact, she had never felt more free to be herself. When the bill came, Nicole snatched it up faster than Waverly, "ok, but I am paying for the ice cream we are about to go get."
Nicole raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I'm fine with that. Shall we?" She rose and followed Waverly out of the restaurant. They walked a few blocks to Moo-Moo's Ice Cream Shop.
"I'll get a scoop of cookie dough on a sugar cone." said Waverly.
"I'll get a scoop of Rocky Road in a wafer cone." Nicole ordered next.
They sat on a bench outside the shop eating their ice cream and getting to know each other. Waverly took her last bite and got up to go back to the car.
"Hey, Waves, you've got a little something…" Nicole smiled and ran her thumb along the bottom of Waverly's lower lip to remove the remnants of vanilla ice cream.
"Thanks." said Waverly, a bit embarrassed, and they turned to go. As they made their way down the sidewalk, Waverly slowly slid her left hand into Nicole's right and intertwined their fingers. She smiled big; their hands felt like they belonged together. Waverly was no longer on constant watch for who might be seeing them together like this.
After another car karaoke session on the way back to the homestead, Nicole walked Waverly back to the front door. "Well, I guess this is goodnight, then." said Nicole. As she stepped forward for one last kiss, she placed her left hand on Waverly's waist.
That sharp pain ran up Waverly's right side; she gasped sharply and stepped back.
"Are you ok?!" Nicole also stepped back, with a concerned look on her face.
Waverly took a few moments to calm herself down. "Yeah, I just… I got shot yesterday." She was in too much shock to think of a more tactful way to tell Nicole.
"Are you serious, Waverly?!" Nicole was somehow yelling and whispering at the same time.
"I'm fine, really, Dolls says it was just a graze."
"Fucking Dolls, of course. I should have known he had something to do with it. I have never trusted him, Wave, you know that! He's sketchy as hell! How did this happen?!"
"Well, I don't really know that much, actually, but he said that someone was trying to assassinate him; he took a picture of himself off the bodies of one of the guys."
Nicole rubbed her forehead as she paced the front porch.
Waverly stopped her and place her hands on either side of Nicole's face, "hey, I'm fine, I'll heal."
She pulled Nicole in for a kiss. "And besides, now I'll have a badass scar." Waverly smiled and kissed Nicole once more.
Nicole took a deep breath and smiled, "yeah, chicks with scars are pretty sexy."
"Oh really?" Waverly's smiled widened as she wrapped her arms around Nicole's neck.
Nicole carefully placed her hands on Waverly's hips and pulled her in close for one last, long goodnight kiss.
After Waverly closed the door behind her, the light came on. Sitting on the couch was Wynonna. She rose and slowly walked toward Waverly, "so, you and Officer Haught, huh?"
Waverly was having a hard time deciphering Wynonna's reaction. "Listen, Wy… Ouch!" Wynonna had punched her in the left arm.
"Dude! Good for you!" Wynonna smiled and wrapped Waverly in a big hug. Waverly barely noticed the pain in her side this time; she just smiled, as tears of happiness started running down her cheeks.