In the two long weeks after Waverly and Nicole's special reunion, everything started falling into place. It happened slowly, but it definitely happened. Nicole recognizes it's a lot of progress the two of them made, even when it's not noticeable at first glance. But if you compare it to what their relationship was like just a couple of months ago, they made a complete 180 degree turn. Nearly every day Waverly texted or phoned Nicole to check up on her and ask her about her day, and on a few special occasions she had even come over to watch a movie with her and Calamity Jane. The first time she visited Nicole's house again was when she had to pick up her jacket which she had - very purposely - left laying in Nicole's car that one night, as a backup plan to see the other girl again if her other tactics failed on her. Since she didn't really need the backup plan after all, it had still worked nicely as a good excuse to come over without sounding too needy.
Neither one has mentioned a thing about the kiss they had shared in Waverly's apartment, but one evening Nicole did mention that she'd prefer if they would take it slow, and so Waverly obviously respected her needs and hadn't asked about their status yet. The question was burning in her mind every time she spoke to her, though, and secretly Nicole felt the same way. Neither Waverly nor Nicole had terribly busy lives at the moment, so that left more than enough time for both of them to invest in building a strong friendship with each other and getting a fresh new start. Waverly was free for another two weeks until she had to leave for the European tour, till then she was often found in the local dance studio, teaching younger kids, now it being a hobby because of the amount of time on her hands and the fact that she's a full time back up dancer and performer, but it used to be her everyday job. In Waverly's tough youth, she always turned to dancing as her escape, and the studio was almost like her second home. Because of this (and maybe because she was the best kid there), the owners of the dance studio, which Waverly calls her unofficial parents, built a strong relationship with her. They supported her through everything and while she grew up into the confident woman she is now, they helped her create that confidence. They helped her find an apartment and offered her a job when she left home at sixteen. One day, after much, much talking, they convinced Waverly to audition for one of Lady Gaga's dancers. They drove her to it themselves, all three of them being totally oblivious to the fact that this was going to change Waverly's life forever.
When she isn't teaching these days, she's at her apartment, digging through old boxes of photographs and other documents of her childhood. Ever since she returned to Purgatory she'd been feeling really nostalgic. It might have to do something with the death of Willa. A day after Waverly and her team finished the last show in the US a couple of weeks ago, she had gotten the message about Willa's funeral. She had wondered and thought about whether she should show up for hours and hours. Her whole life her family rejected her, humiliated her, psychologically abused her. She never belonged to her older two sisters, and they always laughed at her for being different than the rest of them. Her entire life she was told she was less than everyone. Waverly was always convinced that she had been adopted because of the big difference between her and her family, but according to her mom, she 'unfortunately remembers giving birth to Waverly' and so, she really was an Earp. On paper, then. In reality she would do anything to not be associated with that name ever. But, Waverly didn't want to disrespect her dead sister like that and not show up to her damn funeral, maybe if she just showed up for her. It's not that she was incredibly sad about it, but Willa was still her sister. And the fact that she could have a chance to see Nicole again (which was a big factor) made Waverly take the final decision of taking a flight back to Purgatory.
Now she sits here, alone in her apartment, staring at the few childhood photos she has of herself. She misses Nicole. Today had been uneventful and Waverly was bored of just sitting around and not really doing anything. She had considered dropping by Nicole's to surprise her, but Waverly wasn't sure if that would've been appropriate. She wants so badly to take it to the next step with Nicole, but Waverly is scared she might be crossing boundaries. When they texted, Waverly sometimes made a flirty comment and she was given a good response by Nicole instead of her yelling at her or whatever, so that gave Waverly confidence to maybe ask her out. She had been trying to do that, but for some reason she was just so nervous she couldn't. But somehow, perhaps because of the boredom or because of the way she misses Nicole more than on normal days, Waverly jumps up from the floor and leaves the pictures to grab her phone and dials Nicole's number. She bites her lip in anticipation and with every 'beep' she hears, her stomach turns more. Finally, she hears the other girl picking up on the other side.
"Hey, you", Nicole gleefully answers her phone.
"Hi! Nicole!" It's hard for Waverly to hide her nerves and she hopes Nicole doesn't notice her nervous tone.
"Are you okay? Why did you call me?" Nicole sounds a little worried but she's trying to hide it too.
"Uh, I was just- I was wondering if you were free later? Like could we maybe, I don't know, hang out, you and me?", Waverly spits out and silently gasps for air after. Okay, that didn't go exactly like planned. "If you don't want to that's alri-", before she can continue apologizing for something that doesn't need an apology, Nicole cuts her off.
"I am indeed free today and would love to hang out, Waverly. Movie again at my place?"
"Actually, I wanted to do something for you for a change. Is that okay with you?"
"A date?"
"If you want to?"
"I would love to. I'm already looking forward to it, Waves." It's the first time she used Waverly's nickname since she'd drunkly slipped it out, which meant a lot.
-
"Why are you smiling so much, honey? Someone special you wanna tell me about, huh?", my mom brings out in her raspy voice and laughs at her own remark. It's followed by a great coughing fit. I guess she read my face because I just got off the phone with Waverly and she asked me out on a date. Finally. No matter how much I try to stop it, my huge grin is impossible to wipe off my face. I'm not even mad at mom's statement and I just laugh it off. I still can't stop smiling and I don't want to either.
"Nic, tell me about the book you talked about before you took the call", my mom interrupts my thoughts about the date. I completely forgot I was talking about the book Waverly gave me right after I spent the night at her apartment.
"Well, it's called 'First Aid For Negative Thoughts' and it's filled with a bunch of quotes from wise persons, like monks and all that." Because I didn't have the money for professional therapy at the moment, Waverly gave me the book, not to cure my depression, but to help me cope with it, which the book definitely did.
"Mind readin' me some, sweets? You know I could use a little positivity. Really wouldn't hurt, ya know?" I grab the book from my bag and after quickly stroking the smoothness of the cover (it has a big cross made out of bandaids on it), I open the book on a random page. It has a quote from a guy named Nana Mouskouri: "I do believe that if you haven't learnt about sadness, you cannot appreciate happiness". I tell it to my mom and she breathes deeply. She seems to be touched by the quote and even though it doesn't do much to myself, I'm still choked up. Not because of Nana but because of my mom's reaction. She tells me: "You know, angel, that Nani man is right. I treasure you a lot, not because my life is shit most of the time, but because I love you."
"Love you too. Maybe they should put you in the book, that was very deep."
"Watch out, you."
My phone buzzes and when I pick it up I see that Waverly texted me.
Waverly: you like pizza? 🍕😛
Nicole: You bet your ass I do.
Waverly: good.
-
I quickly unpack the filled shopping bag and lay out all the ingredients I bought. I rarely cook but I figured it would be romantic if Nicole and I prepared a meal together. To keep it on my level of course, we're making pizza. I glance at my kitchen clock and see that Nicole'll be here in twenty minutes. Before checking if the kitchen looks alright, I move over to the living room and make sure all the mess that was here before, gets either kicked under the couch or stuffed into a closet. Let's pray to god she won't open them, not if she doesn't want to die from an avalanche of crap that I am too lazy to properly clean and repeatedly shoved into the way too small closets. After I'm done with that I rush off into my bathroom and do all the necessary things so I look presentable. Luckily I picked out my outfit earlier today, otherwise I would've ripped my hair out. Right after I put on the black dress and look into the mirror to make sure I look alright (and fixing my hair one last time - I liked that other hairstyle better, anyway), I hear the doorbell ring. I run to my living room, let Nicole into the building and wait for her to get to my door. When I hear her knock on it a few moments later, suddenly my nerves reach a high that they've never been at. As soon as I open the door I'm greeted by Nicole's warm smile. I unashamedly and honestly unawarely check her out and the result of that is definitely not disappointing. She's wearing tight jeans and a loose flannel. In her hand she holds a bouquet of red roses and probably because she followed my eyes to her hand, she hands me the, in cellophane wrapped, flowers. A note is attached to it and I open the little card to read what it says.
"Dear Waverly,
As soon as I laid eyes on you, I was struck. For that reason, the roses. Roses can be used to express feelings and each different number and color can change the meaning. I'm not gonna tell you why I gave you six red roses, but I'll be waiting for you when you find the answer.
Love,
Nicole"
I look at her and she nervously smiles at me, I can see she is hoping that I liked her gift and of course I did, so I thank her and ask her to come in. When I lay my hand on the small of her back when she steps into the room, all my bad feelings and nerves drain away as my body makes contact with hers for the first time in two weeks. I take her coat and put it on a hanger for her, and when I turn around and am met with the beauty that is Nicole, I know this is going to be a good evening.