Romeo and Juliet
After having driven home, as Nicole was sat watching TV, it suddenly dawned on her – she never asked Waverly for her phone number. Or her address… So stupid, you’re supposed to go on a date with this gorgeous girl and you don’t even know where. Great job, officer… Luckily Waverly did tell her where she worked, so she could always just go down to Shorty’s and see if she was there. But not wanting to come off too strong or seeming desperate, she decided it was best to leave it for tomorrow.
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The next morning as Waverly was cleaning up at Shorty’s and readying the bar for another night, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, realising she never gave Nicole her address. Shoot. Now how is she going to be able to show up for our date? Ugh I’m so stu-
“Now that’s a face of deep concentration right there!” Nicole said as she walked in, interrupting Waverly mid-thought.
As Waverly turned around to face her, she had to take a moment to remember to breathe as she saw Nicole in her uniform for the first time. Damn, I got it bad and I don’t even know this girl.
After not-so-discreetly having taken a moment to fully compose herself again, she flashed a smile and spoke up, “good morning officer, what can I do you for?”
Giving off that signature smile of hers, Nicole answered “a good morning indeed”, as she took a seat at one of the bar stools. “Also, you can sell me a cup of coffee…?”
“Sure,” Waverly smiled, “that I can do.”
After a moment of comfortable silence, Nicole admiring Waverly from a distance, Waverly spoke up again as she finished Nicole’s cappuccino, “first day today, huh?”
Looking down at her outfit, Nicole laughed and said, “yeah, how’d you guess?”
“Oh, you know, it had nothing at all to do with the uniform, no I’m just a psychic – shhh!” Waverly said, bringing forth a laugh from Nicole, a sound Waverly was sure she could definitely get used to being around.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” was said with a wink.
“Well,” Waverly said changing the subject, “that’s one cappuccino ready to go.” As Nicole started searching her pockets for a couple of bucks, Waverly jumped in before she got a chance to actually hand it over, “oh, no no, don’t worry. This one’s on me.”
“Why thank you, I owe you one.”
“You can get the next one. And really it’s my pleasure, my way of saying good luck with your first day and all.”
“Speaking of next times, I realise I am an idiot, but I never asked you for your phone number yesterday, did I?”
Feeling super relieved that she didn’t have to admit her own mistake in this, and of course deciding to take this opportunity to pretend she had it all under control, she simply smiled and answered, “huh, so it seems! There is also the matter of my address, that might come in handy for Friday if you’re actually gonna have any chance of finding my house…”
Nicole digged in her pocket for a moment before fishing her phone out and handing it over to Waverly, “do you mind…?”
Reaching for Nicole’s phone and taking it, their hands touched for only a second, but it was enough to send jolts of electricity running through the both of them. A little bit taken aback by this feeling, and feeling the redness reach her cheeks, Nicole quickly picked up the cup of coffee to take a sip.
Barely registering that Nicole had picked the cup up, ready to take a sip, she barely managed to get out a, “no, wait! That’s actually probably really h-“
“Ouch, Christ!” was heard as a harsh whisper coming from Nicole, and Waverly felt bad already that she had forgotten to mention that the drink was probably way too hot to drink yet.
“Hot… I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to tell you, it’s just this stupid machine I’ve been having some trouble with lately, I forgot to mention it would be superhot… I’m s-“
“Hey, don’t you dare apologise to me again.”
“Sorry..” Waverly said before quickly realising she just did it again as she saw Nicole’s face make out a smirk, “I just did it again, didn’t I?”
“Afraid so…”
“I really don’t mean to, it’s just a reflex… And I really am sorry I forgot to warn you about the coffee.”
“Don’t even worry about it, I should’ve known and I could’ve asked.” Was answered with a smile.
Handing Nicole’s phone back, Waverly said “here, my number and my address. I expect you to text me now, you know.”
“I’ll do you one better, I’ll call you.”
Waverly could only smile. Nicole was so bold and brave compared to the guys she’d previously dated. And while it was frightening, it was also very exhilarating to not have to go through the classic cat-mouse thing all couples usually do. It was nice to know she was admired. The comments and replies from Nicole, though at times very direct, were a much welcomed change from the passive laid back attitude most previous guys had given her. Not able to think of something to say, she never did get to say anything before Nicole spoke up again, “hey, I’m sorry, but I have to go… I don’t want to be late on my first day, don’t think the Chief would be too happy with that! Thanks again, for the coffee. I will probably need it… And I’ll call you later!”
Watching Nicole walk out of the bar, she could only stare after her, thinking to herself that woman will be the death of me.
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The week quickly made its way to Thursday, and when Waverly still hadn’t heard anything from Nicole she was starting to get worried. She’d spent the week silently hoping for Nicole to call her, and by Wednesday she would’ve even been grateful for a simple text. And as she didn’t have Nicole’s number because she’d been too awestruck to actually remember and ask for it, she had no way of contacting Nicole.
Luckily, Thursday night was the night. As the night was coming to an end and it was nearing 11:30pm, Waverly’s phone went off.
“Hello?”
“Waverly?”
“Nicole! Ehem, I mean, Nicole, hey, how are you?” Waverly was silently cursing herself for not being able to contain her excitement.
“Waverly, I am so sorry I’ve not called you earlier this week. I didn’t expect my first week to be easy but boy, I did not expect it to be this hard either… Not that that’s an excuse not to call you, I should have called you days ago, I am so sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay, I understand. I mean, I would’ve liked you to call me before now, but I’ll take it.”
The line went quiet for a while when neither of them spoke. It was Nicole who after a moment decided to break the silence by asking, “well, how are you? I’ve been dying to ask that for three days now…”
Suddenly smiling like an idiot, Waverly thought to herself before answering she’s not even here and she can make me look like this… “I’m good, better now that I’m talking to you though. That was really cliché, wasn’t it? God, I’m just an extra cheese pizza, aren’t I?”
Laughing, Nicole said, “yeah, yeah you definitely are right now. But it’s okay, it is definitely adorable and I like cheesy – heck my favourite movie used to be Romeo and Juliet… Yes, the Romeo and Juliet, the biggest tragedy of all time. And just like that I’ve embarrassed myself completely, haven’t I?”
“A little bit, yes…” Was said as the line was filled with laughter when they both fell into fits of giggles.
Once they’d managed to calm down, Waverly spoke up, “no, but seriously, my day just got a whole lot better thanks to you.” Thinking for a moment more, she decided to be bold like Nicole, “I’m really excited about tomorrow night…”
A little taken aback by the directness of this, Nicole could only answer, “yeah, me too.”
“Oh, you don’t have food allergies, do you?”
“Nope! No allergies. Can I bring anything?”
Taking a moment to think about this and consider the options, she finally said, “nope, just your own fine self is good!”
Nicole nodded to herself for a moment before realising Waverly couldn’t actually see that. She cursed herself and said “okay, let me know if there’s anything you think of between now and then.”
Flattered, Waverly answered “thank you, I will.”
“Now, I’m really sorry, but I feel like I could fall asleep any second, so I better hang up before I just fall flat on my face not even making it to my bed. I just wanted to hear your voice before tomorrow, but I can’t wait to see you.”
Looking at the time seeing it was past midnight, Waverly hurried to answer, “Oh, I didn’t realise it was so late, I’m sorry!”
Yawning, Nicole tiredly said “Waves, honestly. We talked about this… Besides, it’s me who should apologise for the lateness. And not calling sooner. Or texting…” Another yawn made its way through Nicole before she managed to let out a sleepy “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, I forgave you half an hour ago. Go to bed, I will see you tomorrow night.”
Flopping down on her bed with her phone to her ear, Nicole closed her eyes and said what sounded like a “goodnight Waverly Earp.”
To which Waverly replied “Goodnight Officer Haught,” before she hung up and went to bed herself.
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The night of their date was finally here, and Nicole was more nervous than ever before. Get it together, Haught, this is not the most stressful moment of your life, you’ve been through worse. Have I though? It’s only the most beautiful person I have ever met, not a big deal at all… Or major deal, HUGE deal actually. Oh my God…
Standing in the mirror she was looking at her chosen outfit. She’d texted Waverly earlier asking if she should dress casual or dressed up, and had gotten the reply to dress casually, so that’s exactly what she did. She was dressed in dark blue jeans with a red and white baseball shirt on, now trying to decide on her hair. Up? Or down…? Up, down, up, down? Up? No, down. I have my hair up all the time for work, so not that. Down, definitely down.
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On the other side of town, Waverly was facing a slightly different problem. She’d decided on an outfit hours ago, after raiding through her closet a couple of times (or seven) – a pair of jeans and a simple blouse. No, this problem was much bigger, she could not for the life of her, decide on what she wanted to cook for Nicole. She decided a couple of dishes, and even considered ordering in a couple of times, but in the end she always came back to wanting to impress Nicole with the few things she knew how to do – cooking being one of those few things.
After looking for the perfect first date dish, she ended on one of the old family recipes, something she was sure couldn’t go wrong. Or so she hoped…
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Time went by way too quickly for Waverly after she started working on dinner, and when she heard three perfectly timed knocks on her door, she was sure it wasn’t seven yet, but looking at the clock – sure enough it was 6:58pm.
As she walked towards the door she could feel her nerves growing by the minute, become more and more overwhelming. Her emotional range at that very moment was all over the place - feeling anything from fear to joy to excitement to worry. She did not want to mess this up, not so soon.
Little did she know, on the other side of the door she was about to open, was a very nervous slightly clammy Nicole. She’d not been able to get this exact moment and every possible scenario of this entire night out of her head the entire day. She’d not been able to focus on any work while down at the precinct, with nothing but Waverly occupying her mind. Now that she was actually here, outside her door, Nicole couldn’t help the ever growing butterflies in her stomach, completely taking over every other emotion she might be feeling.
Opening the door, Waverly’s jaw dropped at the sight of Nicole out of her uniform with her hair down. Yes, she’d seen her before without her incredibly sexy cop uniform on, but not like this. Last time at the café she was more uptight, the Nicole standing in front of her now seemed entirely different and so comfortable – nervous, of course, but still comfortable and confident, and Waverly thought she looks amazing.
A nervous smile playing on her lips and a hint of redness coloring her cheeks as she stood patiently waiting for Waverly to meet her eyes again, Nicole herself couldn’t help but do a double take herself of the girl standing in front of her. Waverly was looking at gorgeous as ever, wearing simple and comfortable, yet elegant clothes, she looked stunning to Nicole.
“Wow. I mean, you look so… Wow.” Waverly was mentally slapping herself, telling herself to snap out of it and behave like a normal person for two seconds. Get it together, this is not the time to make a fool of yourself.
“Thanks… I think. You look beautiful as always,” Nicole said, “oh and I hope you don’t mind, but I did take the liberty of bringing a couple movies to choose from? I’m a bit of a film fanatic…”
“No, not at all, that’s perfect, movies are great. Please, come on in! I’m just finishing up dinner now.”
Walking inside, the room smelled of mixed spices and herbs, a very pleasant smell for a hungry officer. “Oh my God it smells so good in here, I am starving.”
“Good, I’m glad! Hopefully it will taste just about as good as it smells if I didn’t mess anything up.”
“I’m sure if tastes even half as good as it smells it will be absolutely amazing. This is great, Waverly.”
Placing a few DVD’s on the coffee table, Nicole proceeded to follow Waverly into the kitchen, where a delicious-looking pot roast was just being taken out of the oven by Waverly, “that looks amazing. Remind me not to cook for you…”
Laughing, Waverly replied “oh I’m sure it’s not that bad! But thank you. Now let’s eat!”
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They were in the middle of watching Romeo and Juliet, that after surprisingly little convincing, Waverly had agreed to watch after seeing Nicole’s puppy dog face, when Nicole realised she’d stopped watching the movie. About halfway through, Nicole stopped watching the movie and instead focused on Waverly, actually Waverly was all she could think about for the second half of the movie. And as much as that scared her, it was also a good feeling – Waverly was good.
They’d also ended up sitting what could to some be considered a little too close for comfort as they watched the movie, but neither of them felt the need to move, speak up or do anything else. They were simply comfortable with each other, in silence, watching a beautiful tragedy.
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When the night came to an end and Nicole was headed home, as she stood in the doorway Waverly said “I had a really good time tonight. I was hoping maybe we could do this again..?”
Smiling, Nicole kissed her cheek and said “definitely. ‘Til then, Waves!”
And just as Nicole was walking over to her car, Waverly was smiling to herself and shaking her head lightly before yelling after her, “you better call me tomorrow!”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Nicole said as she flashed Waverly one last smile and got into her car heading home.
Not able to stop the smile creeping up on her face as she drove away, Nicole thought to herself, she is going to be the death of me.