Someone new
‘Purgatory. Population: 3021’, now if that doesn’t sound like a sad number what does? Nicole thinks to herself as she drives over the town limit. Lincoln, her cat in the seat next to her meows, and she reaches over to pet him while saying “I know baby, I know. We’re almost there.”
After having driven around 3 hours, Nicole finally reaches her destination - an old, but charming, apartment building. After a long line of in-between jobs consisting mostly of waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms, she finally got the job she’s always wanted, and she is now officially a police officer with the Purgatory Police Department.
As she parks and gets out of the car, she picks up a box and the keys to her new home and makes for the stairs. She reaches door number 6 and as she’s putting her keys in the door she feels more nervous than she thought she would. She turns the key and pushes the door open before walking in.
Looking around her new home, slowly and cautiously walking inside, she says “so this is it! What do you think, Lincoln?” He purrs and she hums in agreement “Yeah… It’s not the most fancy of places, but it’s all we can afford at the moment. Besides, it’s got potential, and potential we can work with.” With a secure smile now on her face, she walks back down to her car to bring in the rest of the boxes before heading off to find a coffee shop, I could kill for a cup of coffee right about now, I have not been this tired in what feels like years.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Waverly Earp is sitting on her bed with several books open around her, all about runes – the current dead language she’s trying hard to learn all there is to learn about. Previous dead languages include Latin, Sanskrit and ancient Greek. As she finishes writing something up, she stretches and realises she’s not had her morning coffee yet, and decides to pack up and bring her books to the local coffee shop.
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As Waverly enters the coffee shop, she is determined not to make a fool of herself for once with her clumsiness. An idea long gone before its even set in motions as her eyes falls on one certain redhead sitting silently in a corner booth alone with a book. She looks so peaceful… There is so much chaos going on around her but it’s like she’s not even phased by it, how?
Just in that moment, Nicole looks up from her book and her eyes meets Waverly’s. She’s sure the world around her is still in motion, but her own just came to a full stop at the sight of one Waverly Earp. She means to smile but in the middle of staring at this beautiful creature, she’s not entirely sure if that’s what she’s actually doing.
The sight of Nicole’s smile brings a light redness to Waverly’s cheeks, and she quickly looks down, proceeding to make her way to the counter. In doing so, her desperate tries to be anything but her old clumsy self are more or less non-existent as she managed to run into two people and a table by the time she reaches the counter. In that very moment she also manages to see that everyone is looking at her with the most worrisome looks, with the exception of the same redhead as before who’s just looking at her – still smiling.
As she picks up her coffee, Waverly makes a rash decision to take a seat next to the redhead, in hopes of maybe getting to talk to her, although based on her performance just now, her chances with this beautiful girl may just have disappeared. Stupid clumsy me, managing to mess everything up before its even begun! Typical… After placing her coffee down, she swings her bag of her shoulder in what was apparently a too fast motion as all of her books ended up on the floor faster than she could even try to stop it from happening.
“Oh my gosh, here, let me help you with those!”
Waverly freezes at the sound of Nicole’s voice, completely unprepared for any type of conversation happening between them before she had the chance to plan every detail and think of every possible scenario for it. Luckily, while her vocal chords might be on vacation at the moment, her nervous system is not. She bends down and starts picking up loose papers and notebooks and textbooks that are now lying all around her, cursing herself for not closing her bag properly – a thing that could’ve prevented all this from happening in the first place.
When they’ve picked up everything that ended on the floor, they both stand back up and Nicole sets the books on the table before extending an arm, “I’m Nicole. Nicole Haught.”
Waverly tries to speak up but ends having to clear her throat before her vocal chords finally gets with the program, “Waverly! Waverly Earp.” She takes Nicoles hand and shakes it, holding on to it for what would to anyone else be a little bit too long. “Oh, and thank you so much for the help with the books! I am such a klutz, I’m sorry, I don’t even know how I do it…”
Nicole lets out a small laugh, “don’t worry about it, I’m glad I could help! We all have those days, it happens to the best of us.”
“Yeah, there are just a few of us who have 'those days' every day…”
“I see… Well, as an officer of the law, I feel inclined to protect all citizens in need of assistance. So, Waverly Earp, would you like to join me?” Nicole gestured to the booth, feeling silly as she did so, knowing Waverly could see exactly where she was sitting a moment ago.
Waverly felt that blush creeping up on her again and quickly ducked her head down while smiling, “yes. I would love to.”
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“So,” Waverly started, “you’re a cop?”
Nicole smiled, “yes, I actually just moved here! Today… I actually abandoned my apartment mid-unpacking to grab a cup of coffee. But what about you, what do you do? I see you’re studying some runes..?”
Waverly seems to light up at the mention of her textbooks, as she immediately starts rambling, “yes! Well not studying formally, it’s more of a hobby to me actually – and I know that that’s a little bit weird maybe but I actually really enjoy it! I like a lot of extinct languages, I’ve studied some of them and I can’t wait to study more of them! I don’t really know why I do it, I guess it’s because when I was little my dad would tell me stories and myths and I was always so fascinated by the stories and I later thought if I learned the languages and the stories behind them I would better understand those stories and find out if any of them were actually true – which I have to say not many of them are and it’s quite sad now that I think about it… But it could also be because I want to feel closer to my dad, he passed away when I was quite little, him and my oldest sister – Willa – and so I don’t know if I’m just learning all this stuff because I miss someone I never even really knew or what. I just find it really interesting… But actually I work at a bar, the one across the street – Shorty’s? I don’t know if you’ve seen it, I mean on your way here… Because this is your first day here, right.” Finally stopping to take a deep breath, she continued much slower and calmer, “I’m sorry. I was rambling wasn’t I? I just get really excited when someone wants to talk to me about languages. Not that you wanted that!” Sighing, she lastly added “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m like this…”
Nicole, whose smile hadn’t faltered even a little bit during Waverly’s rant, was in awe of this sweet little creature in front of her. She lightly shook her head and said, “no, that’s- no, I like it. The rambling I mean, it’s cute. Plus, I’m interested in you – in your life! In your work. I am interested in your work.” Having to let out a sigh herself, Nicole cautiously continues, “I’m sorry, it’s not every day I get to sit and talk with a beautiful girl. Looks like I’m doing a bit of rambling myself…” Suddenly not feeling like her normal calm and collected self, Nicole took a long sip of coffee, hoping Waverly would jump in and save her from further embarrassment.
“Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself, if you don’t mind me saying!”
Nicole’s eyes find Waverly’s again and she can’t help but grin as she says, “no, not at all. Thank you.”
After a moment of silence, Nicole speaks up again, “So you said you work at a bar…? I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch the name.”
“Oh, Shorty’s! It’s just across the street. I’m uh, I’m a barmaid there… Have been for the last 2 years now that I think of it. Not a very prestigious or good job, I know, but it pays the bills, allows me to keep up my language studies, and it’s comfortable,” Waverly added a shy smile at the end, hoping to convince Nicole she’s not a complete loser who never got past their temporary job.
“Oh, I know, I was a waiter for a good three years… I mean it’s not the same, but I think I know a little bit of what it’s like, and as long as you’re happy what’s the problem, right?”
Waverly smiled and sighed, “yeah… Exactly.”
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With them both being completely oblivious to the time, they were shocked when one of the baristas came over at the end of the day to inform then it was ten to six and they were about to close.
Waverly was quick to apologise once again, “I’m so sorry, I’ve kept you so late!”
Nicole was quick, however, to dismiss her apology, reaching across the table for her hands while saying, “no, you haven’t. I’ve been free to leave any time I wanted, I would just not want be anywhere but here with you right now.”
Waverly was looking at Nicole with the utmost admiration, she’d never met anyone so bold, and so forward before and she couldn’t help but feel so special because of it.
Nicole, seeing the way Waverly was seemingly studying her, laughed and spoke up, “what, is there something on my face?”
Waverly quickly recovered, shaking her head no, “no, I’ve just never met anyone like you.”
Questioningly Nicole answered, “all in a good way I hope?”
“God, yes! Yes, sorry, yes. The best way.” Was said with a smile.
“So,” Nicole started as they walked out of the coffee shop, “when will I be seeing you again?”
“How about Friday?”
“Friday,” Nicole repeated, “it’s a date.”
A moment went by before Nicole realised what she’d just said, and she tried to quickly change that, afraid to scare Waverly off. “I mean, not a date-date of course… Unless you want it to be? In which case I definitely want it to be. If not, it’s not that, it’s just friends having dinner! If that was even something you were thinking? I don’t-“
“Woah, Nicole! Slow down there,” Waverly chuckled, “we’ll have dinner, I’ll cook.”
Nicole just nodded, thinking she might do better with less talking right now, so Waverly jumped back in.
“Great! It’s a date.” She quickly kissed Nicole’s cheek before walking off, leaving a very flustered Nicole behind.