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It all started on a Friday night.
Wynonna had forgotten to tell Waverly that she was in fact working and did not have the night off as she had previously said.
So Waverly ended up alone in her sister’s apartment, frustrated, sad and still craving the distraction from her breakup that Wynonna had promised.
And that is what Nicole walked into the night of what shall henceforth be known as The Beginning.
Had she planned on starting a friends with benefits but basically almost dating situationship with her best friend's younger sister that she’d had a crush on for the better part of two years? No.
Was she mad about it? Also, no.
The only issue? Waverly had asked her to keep it all a secret from Wynonna.
So here she was, on another Friday, months into this whole situation. Hooking up with Waverly (like a lot). Lying to her best friend (also a lot). And trying to keep a lid on the whole thing.
______________________________________________
Everyone was over at Nicole and Wynonna’s for monthly game night. How long games were actually played all depended on the amount of alcohol imbibed.
Currently, Nicole had Waverly sitting on top of the sink countertop, with the girl's hands in her hair and lips against her own.
“Okay, Waves. Waverly, we gotta stop, we've both been gone a little too long,” Nicole said, pulling back, a tad breathless.
“Nic, it’s fine. They’re all too invested in the booze and food to really pay attention anyway,” Waverly responds, eyes blurred in a way that lets Nicole know Waverly is firmly in the booze-invested category as well.
Stepping back and hanging her head, Nicole continues,
“Waverly, look, I love what we’re doing. I do. But I hate lying to Wynonna and I hate keeping you a secret and I especially don’t like having to do both at the same time while your sister is down the hall. Plus, we’ve been drinking and I just...I just can’t do this,” She gestures between the two of them, “tonight, okay? We can spend tomorrow together if you want.”
Waverly’s face falls and immediately she jumps off the counter, wiping at her lips. Throwing a quiet and dejected “okay” over her shoulder as the door creaks open and then shuts.
Nicole’s eyes squeeze shut and she leans her head back against the bathroom wall
Fuck.
She makes her way back to the living room where her friends haven’t ceased their rowdiness.
“You took a while. Go grab your Haught ass another drink and then get over here we’re about to play ‘Buzzed’,” Wynonna shouts her way.
Taking a glance at Waverly, who is sitting next to Dolls discussing something in the quiet way they do, Nicole sighs and responds,
“K, be back in a sec.”
When Nicole reclaims her seat on the couch, new beer in hand, the game begins.
She takes a drink every now and then when the card applies to her, laughs with everyone else when a series of cards seem to target Wynonna, and boos when Jeremy is caught on his phone, and then cheers when he has to finish his drink for it.
Cards are pulled, drinks are drunk and soon enough even Nicole’s feeling it.
Doc knocks back a swig of his whiskey before pulling the next card.
“Alright now, it says whichever players have an outie must drink.”
After a beat, Wynonna says, “I actually don’t think anyone here has an outie.”
And then Waverly’s need to win clashes with her adorable drunkenness as she blurts out,
“Nicole does.”
Nicole whips her head up to look at Waverly so fast she nearly gives herself the spins.
Waverly is beet red and wide-eyed. Officially giving them zero chance of playing anything off.
“Ha, how would you know what Nicole’s belly button looks like?” Wynonna chuckles, oblivious to the looks on the faces of everyone else.
The silence that follows is what draws Wynonna's attention off the cards to their friends sitting around the room and what alerts Nicole to the fact that her and Waverly’s little secret has only been a secret to Wynonna.
Dolls is staring intently at the ceiling. Doc is fiddling with his watch and Jeremy looks as if he simultaneously wants to run away
and melt into the floor.
“I’m sorry,” Wynonna says, firmer, lower, staring unblinkingly at Nicole and sounding not at all sorry, “Waverly, why do you know that Haught has an outie?”
Nicole is not religious but in this moment she is praying to any and all gods that Waverly can recover and come up with something convincing enough to keep her sister from murdering Nicole right there in their shared living room.
But Waverly only sits there slack-jawed and rosy-cheeked. Nicole saves her,
“Wynonna, this is not at all how I wanted you to find out, but we’ve been….seeing each other.”
“Seeing each other?”
“Yes.”
“Shirtless?”
“Sometimes.”
“With my baby sister?”
Nicole winces.
“....yes.”
Nicole can see the fire behind Wynonna’s eyes, can track the tension in her jaw, and wonders sadly if this is the moment where she loses the first true friend she’s ever had.
Wynonna tears her gaze from Nicole.
“Waverly,” She says, void of the underlying tenderness that is always there when Wynonna speaks to Waverly, “Can I speak to you? Alone. Outside.”
It was not a request.
Waverly stands, sheepishly looking at Nicole as she follows an eerily calm Wynonna out to the balcony.
Nicole pinches the bridge of her nose before asking,
“Okay. How long have you all known?”
Doc clears his throat.
“Uh, about a week….or three. Saw you and Miss Waverly...fraternizing in the library.”
Dolls goes next, shrugging.
“I came over to fix Wynonna’s closet door two weeks ago. Your walls are very thin.”
Nicole rolls her head to the back of the couch,
“Jeremy?”
Jeremy fidgets nervously
“Hey! I’ve only known for like an hour! But only just before the whole...ya know...incident. I saw you and Waverly go into the bathroom...sorry.”
The squeak of the sliding glass door announces the re-entrance of the Earp sisters.
Wynonna won’t meet Nicole’s eyes but Waverly comes to join her on the couch.
“Are you okay?”
Waverly shoots her a small smile and nods.
Nicole looks at Wynonna again. This time her best friend is watching as Waverly moves to the floor between Nicole’s legs and wraps an arm around one of her legs. Wynonna sends her a sly smile, bringing two fingers up to her eyes before pointing them towards Nicole. Nicole breathes for the first time since this whole ordeal began and returns Wynonna’s smile with a nod of understanding.
Wynonna claps her hands together.
“Okay now that that is out of the way…who’s up for a few rounds of ‘What Do You Meme’?
Conversation begins again. Nicole feels a light squeeze on her calf bringing her to look down at the girl by her feet.
Waverly’s smile always pulls at her heart, but this one feels like more.
Nicole smiles back and then bends down to press a kiss to the crown of Waverly’s head.
Yeah, they’re okay.