62. I'm At The Airport

Nicole’s eyes shot open as soon as she felt about eighteen pounds of orange fur ungracefully jump from the floor onto the bed and immediately begin walking up her abdomen.

“Calamity,” she wheezed when one of the cat’s paws pressed down on a sensitive area. She sat up and wrapped her hands around the cat’s middle before placing her on the floor. “Alright, alright. I’m coming to feed you. You win.”

With a soft meow, Calamity waddled out of the room and down the stairs. Nicole shook her head with a slight chuckle before standing up from the bed with a dramatic stretch and a yawn before making her way downstairs.

When she got back up to the room, she slid into bed underneath the covers and looked at Waverly with a soft smile. The brunette’s chest was slightly raising up and down due to her shallow breathing. Her entire body was relaxed as the subtle sounds of soft snoring escaped from her slightly opened mouth. Nicole thought back to the conversation they had the night before – before either of them had fallen asleep – about both of them enjoying being woken up by being touched. Waverly was strategically trying to hint that she wanted Nicole to wake her up like that this morning, but the redhead feigned ignorance and pretended like she had no idea what Waverly was getting at, even though she knew exactly what the brunette was asking for. But there had to be some sort of element of unexpectedness, right?

Nicole slowly moved closer to Waverly and gently placed her hand over the girl’s abdomen, checking her motionless face for any signs that she had woken up to the soft touch, but Waverly was still peacefully asleep. With her eyes glued to the brunette’s face in front of her, Nicole slowly moved her hand down until she felt soft curls. Still no signs of being awake. She dipped one finger between warm folds and she could’ve sworn that she saw Waverly’s face twitch, but the girl was still fast asleep, if her breathing was any indication.

As soon as Nicole began stroking up and down Waverly’s slit, the brunette took in a deep breath and her eyes slowly opened, meeting with soft brown ones as Nicole continued to move her fingers in just the right way.

“Good morning,” Nicole said in a sultry voice before gently flicking her finger across Waverly’s clit, earning herself a small gasp from the brunette, who was still in the process of waking up.

“What are you doing?” Waverly croaked with a small smile on her face.

Nicole instantly paused her ministrations. “I was waking you up. Is this okay?”

Waverly nodded. “Yes, definitely. Always okay. I love waking up to your fingers touching me. Please, don’t stop.” She leaned forward and gave Nicole a sleepy but reassuring kiss on the lips before rolling onto her back, and Nicole immediately continued her movements.

With her hands gripped around the pillow underneath her head, Waverly relaxed her body and focused on what Nicole was doing to her; gently circling her clit as she placed delicate kisses along her collarbone. It was nice, really nice, but she wanted something else. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. Nicole noticed this though. And she knew that whenever Waverly did that, it meant that she wanted to say something, but was unsure if it was okay to say it or not.

“What is it baby?” Nicole asked as she slowed her movements, but didn’t stop them completely.

“No, I just… Okay, I really like this, it feels really good. But can you…go down on me? I just really want to feel your tongue on me because that sounds really good right now. But it’s not because what you’re doing right now isn’t good, I promise.”

A breathy laugh escaped Nicole’s lips as she leaned her face closer to Waverly’s. “I would love to go down on you.” She smiled and leaned down for a quick kiss before pulling the covers back and crawling down Waverly’s body.

Waverly gulped in anticipation when she felt the coolness of Nicole’s fingers against her stretch marks that she’s had since she was a teenager, before hooking them around the waistband of her panties. Waverly lifted her hips and bent her knees up slightly to allow Nicole to pull the garment down her legs, before Waverly dropped her knees apart on the bed, completely exposing herself and opening up for Nicole.

Nicole licked her lips as she looked down at Waverly’s pink folds. They weren’t soaking wet yet, but she was determined to change that. She settled herself comfortably between perfect, tan legs – legs that she could look at all day long – and dropped her head down so that her face was as close as possible without actually touching the brunette. She inhaled through her nose and was immediately hit with the heady smell of just how much Waverly wanted her. She closed her eyes and focused on the aroma.

“Fuck Waves,” she shook her head and looked up at Waverly, who’s mouth was slightly open as she was panting. The brunette’s chest was heaving up and down as the oxygen quickly filled her lungs before hastily escaping in a repetitive pattern.

“Nicole, please,” Waverly whined. “I need you to touch me so badly. I’m so horny right now.”

With a quirked eyebrow, Nicole studied her girlfriend and noticed her slightly writhing in anticipation. A cocky smirk spread across Nicole’s face. “You want me to touch you baby?”

“Yes,” Waverly replied.

“You want me to run my tongue all over your pussy?”

Waverly quickly nodded as she stared at Nicole with wide eyes. “Yes. Yes, I want that very much.”

As soon as Waverly finished her sentence, Nicole ran a firm yet gentle tongue slowly up Waverly’s slit, and Waverly’s jaw dropped and her eyebrows furrowed as she watched attentively. When Nicole’s tongue ended with a swipe across Waverly’s bud, the brunette slightly jerked her hips and her breath hitched.

“Like that baby?” Nicole asked with her stupidly smug face, knowing full well that that was exactly what Waverly wanted.

“Yes! Yes, please keep doing that!”

“Are you sure baby?” Nicole ran her flat palms up and down strong, flexing thighs.

“Ni-cole,” Waverly whined, dragging out the second syllable.

“Yes?” The redhead answered with an amused smile on her face. Her hands were now running along the creases of where Waverly’s thighs met her center, touching close to where she needed her most, yet so far away.

“You know what I want!” Waverly replied with frustration and slight annoyance in her voice.

Nicole hummed as she looked up in thought. “Let’s say that I do.” She sat up and moved a little closer to Waverly’s face. “Why don’t you convince me to give it to you?” Her eyebrows bounced once, officially setting the challenge.

Without wasting any time, Waverly sat up and grabbed Nicole’s head, forcefully pulling her up and crashing their lips together. A small moan escaped the back of Nicole’s mouth and rang throughout Waverly’s at the unexpected move. She instantly wrapped her arms around Waverly and ran her hands all over the girl’s back, feeling every single muscle that was engaged. Their lips glided messily and Nicole quickly began to feel lightheaded by how rapid her breathing was.

Waverly pulled back and looked Nicole dead in the eyes, making sure that the redhead knew just how serious she was, before stating in a firm tone, “Fuck me. With your tongue on my clit. And your fingers inside me. Right now.”

Waverly might not have flinched, but Nicole sure did. The redhead felt a surge of arousal at how direct and bossy the brunette was being. It was so fucking sexy.

“Understood,” Nicole replied with a short nod. She crawled back down Waverly’s body and settled back down between her legs as Waverly relaxed back down onto the bed, biting the insides of her cheeks as she tried to hide her amused smile. Nicole hooked her arms underneath the brunette’s thighs and looked up to notice Waverly looking up at the ceiling. “Hey.”

Waverly looked down at Nicole.

“You have to watch me though.”

After releasing all of the air in her lungs, Waverly nodded.

With her eyes latched onto Waverly’s, Nicole dropped her head down and dipped her tongue down to Waverly’s center and began moving it in all the right ways along all the right places. She carefully inserted one finger, giving Waverly a moment to get used to it, before adding a second one. She slowly pumped her fingers while tracing patterns with her tongue over the sensitive bud, enjoying all of the little movements and reactions she received from Waverly in response.

“Yes” Waverly softly moaned, letting Nicole know that she was doing everything right. Her hips started to roll as she clenched the bedsheets. She had a difficult time keeping her eyes open, but managed to do so with all of the willpower that she had.

A few minutes went by, and Nicole’s slow, lazy strokes gradually increased to quick, determined ones. She studied Waverly’s face, using it as the key to find out exactly what the brunette wanted and how she wanted it. Nicole pumped her fingers while simultaneously tracing unexpected patterns on Waverly’s clit. Their eye contact was unbreakable. It was like there was some sort of force keeping them from being able to look away or even blink – not that either of them even wanted to. Everything else in the room just disappeared. It was just the two of them. Just Waverly, and her super sexy cop girlfriend who was currently eating her out while fucking her with her talented fingers.

It was at that thought that Waverly began to feel her orgasm approaching. Her breathing picked up pace and her facial muscles tightened as she gripped the sheets even tighter in her hands. She dropped her legs down on the bed as far as they would go while her back simultaneously arched off of the bed, until it all exploded in a dramatic release. The sounds of pleasure rang out throughout the bedroom, until the only sounds were from Waverly trying to catch her breath, and from Nicole humming in satisfaction while cleaning up the mess she had caused. Nicole crawled up beside Waverly and wrapped her arm around the brunette as she curled into Nicole’s side.

“It always amazes me how such loud sounds can come out of such a small body,” Nicole laughed.

“We Earps can get pretty loud,” Waverly replied with a small shrug.

“Oh, trust me. I know. Alice’s lung power is so strong that it’s almost concerning.”

Waverly rolled on top of Nicole and smiled down at her as she ran her hands up and down the redhead’s collarbone. “How about we don’t talk about Alice for a little bit, and instead talk about how I’m going to make you scream just as loudly as you just made me scream?”

Nicole narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head. “I doubt that’s even possible.” She gasped when Waverly dropped her hand down to Nicole’s crotch over her boyshorts and cupped her center, slightly squeezing and releasing in a repetitive pattern.

“Challenge accepted,” Waverly said in a sultry voice. A menacing smirk slowly spread across her face, and Nicole gulped at the thought of what was about to happen.

---

It was nearly four hours later when Waverly and Nicole finally emerged from the bedroom to eat some food. While they were sitting on the couch in their pajamas eating their food while watching the final season of The L Word, Nicole’s phone started ringing. She picked it up and immediately drew her eyebrows together in confusion.

“Who is it?” Waverly asked.

“It’s Sam.” Nicole pressed the green answer button. “Hello?”

“Hey Nicole! How are you?” An unusually chipper voice replied.

“Um, I’m doing well. How are you?”

“I’m good! Yeah, pretty good. Hey, quick question…what are you up to at the moment?”

“Just hanging out with Waverly on my day off.” She looked over at Waverly, who was looking back at her in question, and Nicole just shrugged and shook her head, signaling that she had no idea why Sam was asking that.

“Cool, cool. So uh, another question for you,” she chuckled nervously. “How soon is too soon to come and visit?”

“Well, I mean, I guess you can come at any time really.”

“Cool, cool, yeah… Just wondering, because I’m currently at the airport.”

Nicole’s eyes widened. “Wait, here?”

“Yeahhh, um, I know this is very last minute, but is it okay if I stay with you for a couple of weeks?”

Nicole shot up from the couch and immediately began to straighten things up around the living room as she continued to talk on the phone. “Yeah, uh, sure. Do you need a ride?”

At those words, Waverly’s eyes widened to match Nicole’s. If Nicole was asking Sam if she needed a ride, then that meant that she was currently in town. And Waverly hadn’t prepared to meet Nicole’s best friend from high school so soon.

“Well I was just going to take a cab, but if you wouldn’t mind picking me up, that would be amazing.”

“Yeah, no problem. Waverly and I are on our way.”

“Awesome. See you then!”

“Yeah, see you then.” Nicole hung up the phone and looked at it, stunned.

“What happened?” Waverly finally asked.

Nicole slowly looked up at Waverly and subtly shook her head. “I have no idea. She just randomly called me and asked if she could stay here for a couple of weeks. She’s at the airport right now.”

“Do you think something happened?”

“Something must have. She’s never been known to be this impulsive. And she would’ve at least called me beforehand to make sure it was okay to stay.”

“That’s so weird,” Waverly stated with a quirked eyebrow.

“Agreed.” Nicole slowly inhaled through her nose before letting all of the oxygen expel from her lungs. “Well, I guess we’ll find out when we pick her up.”

Nicole cleaned up the downstairs a little bit while Waverly went upstairs to change into her jeans and a hoodie. Just as they were about to head out the door, Nicole stopped.

“Wait, did you put up the—”

“Yep,” Waverly interrupted, knowing exactly what Nicole was about to ask, as if she were expecting it. “I put everything back in the nightstand.”

“Good.” Nicole replied with a short nod. “Wouldn’t want her to see that laying on the bed, because she’d definitely give me shit for it for a very long time.” She chuckled as she opened the door for Waverly to walk out first.

“Why? Would she not expect you to own a strap-on or something?” Waverly asked with a small, breathy laugh.

“Well, back in high school I was pretty much against anything resembling male genitalia and told her that I would never get one. So, it’s more like I’d be hearing a lot of ‘I told you so’ from her.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to tell her all about how much you love using our strap-on.” Waverly wiggled her eyebrows playfully as she buckled her seatbelt.

Nicole immediately turned to look at the brunette with narrowed eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Waverly shrugged, earning a groan from Nicole as she began to back the cruiser out of the driveway.

---

When they pulled up to the airport pick-up area, Waverly instantly began to scan her eyes around for who she thought might be Sam. She had never seen any pictures of the woman, so it’s not like she knew what to look for, but the anticipation was killing her. This would be the first time she’d be meeting someone in Nicole’s life from before she came to Purgatory – well, second time if you count Kathy, but she wasn’t counting Kathy. She became more and more nervous by the second.

“Oh, there she is.” Nicole nodded as she looked out Waverly’s window. She rolled it down with the control panel on the driver’s side door and leaned over Waverly. “Sam!”

Waverly looked around for someone to respond when she noticed a woman with a couple of bags walking towards the car. The woman had shoulder-length dark brown hair, somewhere around Wynonna’s shade, but it looked dyed. She looked a little bit taller than Waverly, yet shorter than Nicole, and a little bit bigger than average size around the middle. She was wearing a black and white horizontal striped top tucked into her dark blue skinny jeans, and a dark brown faux leather jacket. Waverly noticed Nicole walk past her door to hug her friend – she didn’t even notice her get out of the car – and immediately got out to walk towards them.

“Hey! Long time no see!” Nicole said excitedly as she gave her friend a hug.

“I know! It’s been, what, like three years?”

“Yeah, crazy that it’s been that long,” Nicole chuckled.

“Damn, a police escort and everything, huh?” She smirked as she nodded over towards the cruiser.

Nicole shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well I’m sure riding in the back of a police car isn’t new for you.”

Sam gasped in faux offense. “Ouch, Haught. That one hurt.”

As Nicole laughed and shook her head, she noticed Waverly walking up to them out of the corner of her eye. “Sam, this is Waverly, my girlfriend.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Waverly grinned as she held her hand out for Sam to shake.

Sam looked up and down Waverly with a huge smile on her face, obviously getting a good look at her. “It’s really nice to meet you, Waverly.” As she shook Waverly’s hand, she looked over at Nicole and gave her a huge nod of approval and a wink. Nicole turned beet red, and Waverly just laughed.

“Here, let me take your bags for you.” Nicole offered as Sam appreciatively handed over her luggage.

As Nicole walked around to the back of the cruiser to put the bags in the trunk, Sam wrapped her arm around Waverly’s shoulders and walked her towards the car. “So, Waverly, please tell me that you’re going to share every single bit of dirt that you have on Nikki.”

Waverly laughed as she eagerly nodded. “Oh, I have plenty of stories to tell you.”

“Excellent.” The taller brunette replied with an evil grin.

The entire car ride was spent with Waverly and Sam in the backseat sharing stories of Nicole, while Nicole chauffeured them back to her house. With every other sentence, Nicole tried to interject to defend herself, but was quickly shushed by one of the two, leaving her to purse her lips and shake her head with an eye roll. But deep down, she was genuinely ecstatic that Waverly and Sam were getting along. Not that she ever thought that they wouldn’t, but it was nice seeing it happen in reality instead of just in her head.

When they got to the house, the first thing Sam noticed was Calamity Jane. She gasped through her open-mouthed smile as she crouched down to greet the feline with a gentle pet behind the ears. “You have a cat!”

“Oh, yeah, I got her a little while after you and Danny moved. I guess I forgot to tell you.” Nicole shrugged.

“Of course you’d get a ginger cat,” Sam chuckled before standing back up.

“Damn right I did!” Nicole winked as she picked up the cat. “She’s my ginger partner in crime. Isn’t that right, Calamity?”

The orange tabby gave a quiet meow in response as she eyed the floor, obviously trying to figure out how to get back to it as she wiggled her stumpy legs around. Nicole rolled her eyes and put the struggling cat down. “Fine. You’re getting heavy anyways.” She shook her head and sighed as Calamity waddled off into the living room.

“Her name is Calamity?” Sam asked as she stifled her laughter.

Nicole nodded. “Calamity Jane, actually. We just call her Calamity for short.”

Sam laughed as she nodded, as if she should’ve known. “Of course you would name your ginger cat after an American frontierswoman. That is just so you!”

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Nicole shrugged as she picked Sam’s luggage back up and situated everything in her arms. “Come on, I’ll show you to the guest room.”

“Is it far away enough from your room where I can’t hear any moaning?”

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her friend, who obviously hadn’t changed one bit since high school. “Hopefully it’s far enough to where I can’t hear your fucked up snoring. Seriously, to this day it’s still the worst noise I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Waverly chuckled as she watched the two interact with each other. Even though Sam unexpectedly being here gave Waverly a little bit of anxiety, she was happy that Nicole had a friend here of her own. She felt a little guilty that Nicole didn’t really have that like she did with Chrissy. Sure, she had Dolls, but sometimes Nicole needed a female friend, which Waverly knew. And seeing them interact really showcased the special bond they had that Nicole didn’t have with anyone else.

As the reunited friends were walking back into the living room together, Waverly got a text from Wynonna.

“Hey, so I wanted to show Sam around and stuff. Want to come with us?” Nicole smiled as she looked at Waverly.

“Actually, Wynonna’s asking if I can go with her and Alice to get some baby supplies. Gus had to go into Shorty’s since Wynonna is taking some time off from the place, and last time Jeremy was left alone he was threatened by a gang of bikers to pass out free booze.” Waverly frowned. “But you two go ahead.”

“You sure?” Nicole asked.

Waverly smiled as she stepped closer towards Nicole. “Definitely. You two should spend some time catching up with each other.” She placed a soft kiss on Nicole’s lips before pulling away. “It was nice to meet you, Sam.” She waved.

“Yeah, you too, Waverly.” Sam smiled back. “We’ll hang out soon, yeah?”

“For sure.” She nodded before walking out the door.

As soon as they were alone, Sam whistled and gave a few slow claps.

“What?” Nicole asked in confusion.

“Um, that girl,” Sam pointed towards the door with raised eyebrows, “Is a solid ten out of ten. I mean, she is absolutely gorgeous. And charming, and funny, and obviously smart. I mean, she’s…” the brunette nodded as she gave Nicole a knowing look. “She’s a good one.”

Nicole blushed as she looked down at the floor and nodded her head while trying her best to bite back her smile. She looked up at her best friend and shook her head as she sighed. “I really love her, Sam. Like, really love her.”

“I know, it’s so obvious. And it’s obvious that she loves you too. You’re lucky that you found each other, because what you two have is so rare.”

Nicole nodded in agreement. “So, does that mean that you approve of me wanting to marry her?”

“Oh, I definitely do,” Sam laughed. “Which is what she’ll be saying at the altar soon enough.” The dark brunette winked.

“Yeah, soon we’ll have the perfect marriage like you and Danny.” Nicole nudged Sam in the arm.

“Ha, yeah,” she replied with a small smile. “Hey, uh, have you eaten yet?”

“Oh yeah, all morning long actually.” Nicole grinned.

Sam’s eyes widened as a huge smile formed on her face. “Nicole! Oh my god! I can’t believe you just said that!”

Nicole shrugged. “Yeah, well. We’re adults now. Sex isn’t that big of a deal anymore.”

“Seems like Waverly’s turned you into a bit of an animal, huh?” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

With a small laugh, Nicole replied, “I mean, it’s not like I didn’t like sex before. I guess I was just shyer with talking about it.”

“Yeah, I remember. You’d get so red just talking about your crushes,” Sam chuckled. “Which was always so funny because you’re so tall and always towering over everyone, and you’re confident in everything else, but girls just always turned you into this small pile of mush.”

“Hey, Waverly still does that sometimes.” Nicole chuckled. “But yeah, I’m more open about it I guess.”

“Well, that’s good. That means I get to hear all about you and Waverly.” An amused grin spread across Sam’s face.

Nicole narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Why does that give me a bad feeling?”

“Beats me,” Sam shrugged. “So, did you finally give into the ways of the strap-on?”

“And now I know why I had a bad feeling about this.” Nicole pursed her lips and nodded.

“Hey, you have to tell me! We’re catching up, remember? I need to know everything.”

“Or, we can talk about you and Danny, since we just spent the last hour talking about me.” She paused for a moment before mumbling, “Or, at least you and Waverly did…”

Sam slightly shook her head. “You know what, how about we just go out for some lunch. I’m starving.”

Nicole could tell that Sam’s demeanor had suddenly changed to something less light-hearted and a little more solemn, but she couldn’t figure out why. “Yeah, sounds good. There’s a bar called Shorty’s that Waverly’s family owns. They’ve got some decent food there.”

“Well what are we waiting for? All I’ve eaten is a bag of complimentary peanuts.” She quickly rushed towards the door.

Nicole looked at her best friend with suspicion. It was obvious that something was wrong with her, but she brushed it off. She figured that Sam would talk to her about whatever it was that was bothering her eventually.

---

Nicole and Sam walked through the large, brown doors of Shorty’s. It was that time between the lunch crowd and the get-drunk-after-work crowd, so the place was pretty quiet. Nicole looked at the counter and immediately spotted Jeremy arranging and rearranging some bottles, as if he was doing it more to keep busy than for organization purposes.

“Hey Jeremy,” Nicole waved as she approached the bar with Sam directly beside her.

Jeremy looked up excitedly with a big grin on his face. “Nicole! I’m so happy to see you.” He looked around before leaning in closer and continuing in a much softer voice. “These people are so boring.”

Nicole chuckled. “So, not a lot of action, huh?”

“No. Not at all,” Jeremy sighed as he shook his head in disappointment. “I mean, I was hoping to see at least one bar fight, or maybe a squabble. But everyone’s just being... quiet. Can you believe that?”

“Man, you’ve got it rough,” Nicole said sarcastically as she patted him on the shoulder.

“I know,” Jeremy replied. Nicole’s sarcasm was completely lost on him, and she tried her best not to laugh. “Anyways, who’s your friend?”

“Hi, I’m Sam.” She reached out to grab his hand.

“I’m Jeremy,” he smiled as he shook her hand.

“Sam is my friend from back home. But she moved to the United States with her husband a few years ago.”

“Oh, married life, eh?”

Sam chuckled. “Yep. Married life.”

“I’m not really sure if I ever want to get married.”

“Not even to Robin?” Nicole playfully drew out his name with a smirk.

“Nah. I mean, he’s great and all, and I love him, but I like what we have now. I don’t want to get married and then feel trapped in our relationship, you know? We don’t need a piece of paper to be committed.” He turned to Sam before adding, “I mean, no offense.”

Sam held her hands up. “No, none taken. You’re not completely wrong.”

He awkwardly nodded for a moment, quickly picking up on the negative energy behind the words before deciding to quickly change the subject. “So, you knew Nicole back in high school, right?”

“Yep. Since grade 6, actually.”

“Oh nice! You two must have been planning this reunion for a while then.”

“Actually, she just showed up unexpectedly.” Nicole looked over at Sam with narrowed eyes, and the brunette just shrugged.

“Huh. That’s two people in two weeks unexpectedly showing up from your past! Isn’t that crazy?” He said excitedly as he looked at Nicole. “I mean, the odds of that happening are just so low that’s it’s statistically impressive. I would say that maybe now I should be expecting some friends from my past to show up, but we had to bury Ralph when I was fifteen.” He nodded sadly as he looked down at the counter. When he looked back up, he noticed a couple of confused looks. “Ralph was my turtle.”

Sam shook her head and furrowed her brow as she turned towards Nicole. “Wait, who’s the other person?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you on the phone the other day?”

“Uh, no? I would remember that. Is it someone I know?”

Nicole looked between Sam and Jeremy, who was already starting to occupy himself with some other meaningless task. “Um, well…kind of? You know of her, but you don’t know her all that well.”

Sam slowly nodded as she waited for the redhead to reveal who this mystery person was. She lowered her head a bit and raised her eyebrows as she looked at Nicole expectantly. “Well, are you going to tell me who it is or not?”

Nicole let out a short breath and looked around the bar. “Here, let’s get a table first.” She carefully grabbed Sam’s arm and pulled her over towards the nearest empty table.Nicole looked around the room, making sure nobody was listening – not that it really mattered – before leaning in about an inch closer to Sam. “So, my work partner started dating someone recently. This girl he met in the city, and he really likes her. Said she was cool, down to earth, and bisexual.” She paused for a moment and looked at Sam.

“Uh huh?” Sam looked at her in confusion, unsure of where exactly this was going. It couldn’t have been any of the people from their friend group, because she knew that none of them lived around here. And they were all either in long-term relationships or married. And there was definitely no one who identified as bisexual.

“Well, I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I never thought that it would be someone I knew. I know it’s a joke that all queer people know each other, so I just shrugged it off when he hinted that I might know her. But then we finally met her…”

Sam impatiently nodded and waved her hands around in the air, waiting for the reveal. “Well, who was it?!”

Nicole let out a deep breath before answering, “Kathy Yarrow.”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “No. No freaking way.”

“Yes freaking way! It was her!”

“Oh my god! Does Waverly know?!”

“She was with me when we met her!”

“Well what did she say?!” Sam was practically vibrating with excitement. The woman always loved gossip, especially juicy gossip like this.

“I mean, she was a little bit territorial at first, but eventually she realized that Kathy wasn’t a threat. But still, it was crazy.”

Sam shook her head with a look of amusement on her face. “Oh man, this is like something from a TV show. I wish I had come here sooner just so that I could see the look on everyone’s faces.”

“Oh, and Dolls, my partner, was a little weird about it at first. I don’t think he expected to imagine her with me when he found out that she played both sides of the field. So yeah, it was a memorable moment for everyone for sure.”

“I’ll bet it was. But Waverly’s all good with it now? I mean, I can’t imagine how it was for her meeting the woman who practically showed you how gay we all knew you were.”

Nicole rolled her eyes at that last comment. “Okay, yes. I was very gay, even back then. But yeah, she’s okay with it now. She actually kind of likes Kathy.”

“Waverly seems to be the kind of person who gets along pretty easily with everyone. She’s very likeable.”

Nicole chuckled as she nodded. “Funny story, she was actually voted the nicest person in Purgatory a few years ago. She even got a sash.”

“Of course she did,” Sam shook her head as she laughed.

“But enough about us. I want to hear more about you. How’s Danny? How’s work? How’s everything?” Nicole asked with an enthusiastic grin.

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about my boring life.” Sam chuckled nervously as she looked down at the table and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Are you kidding? Of course I do! But let me go order us some food first. Do you want to look over the menu or did you still want a burger?”

“A burger is perfect.”

“Alright, I’ll go let Jeremy know.” She knocked on the table twice before getting up and heading towards the counter.

The further away Nicole got, the smaller Sam’s smile became, until she felt like the redhead was far away enough that she could drop it completely and stop pretending like everything was perfectly fine. Everything was a shitshow. And she wanted to tell Nicole, but not yet. The redhead had this seemingly perfect life, and the last thing Sam wanted to do was bring her down with her problems. She didn’t want to lie to her best friend, but she was enjoying the pleasant conversations they were having. She didn’t want to delve into her shitstorm of a life just yet.

“Alright, so tell me everything,” Nicole said as she sat back down at the table. She leaned back in her seat and got comfortable, readying herself to listen to the intriguing update of how the life of her best friend was going.

“Actually, I’d love to hear more about you and Waverly, if that’s okay?”

Nicole sat up in her chair. Sam’s voice was small and less energetic than before. She could definitely tell that something was wrong, but she didn’t want to push. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you want.” She shrugged nonchalantly, knowing that Sam would appreciate her not making a big deal about it. But she knew that something was wrong. She could always tell when it came to Sam, just like Sam could always tell when it came to her. But she knew that the woman would open up to her before the end of the night. She couldn’t hold stuff like that in for very long. It was only a matter of time before Nicole would be given the full story, and she already knew what they would need in preparation for it; pizza and wine.

---

Later that evening, Nicole and Sam found themselves sitting on the living room floor of Nicole’s house with their backs against the couch, laughing at some memories from their past that they were reminiscing on. More than half of the pizza was gone, along with almost the entire bottle of wine they’d picked up from the liquor store. When the laughter started to die down and Sam got quiet as she stared off in thought, that’s when Nicole knew she was about to tell her whatever it was that had been bothering her. That’s how it always happened. She’d get really quiet and distant, and then spill.

“So, are you ready to tell me yet? Or should I get another bottle of wine?” Nicole asked with a small smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I know something’s wrong. And we’ve been ignoring it all day, which is fine, but I’m starting to worry about you.”

“Oh, is that why you poured me all of this wine? To get me to spill my secrets?” Sam asked as she playfully quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m being serious, Sam. I’m really worried about you. And you just showed up here without any warning, which means that something’s obviously wrong. And not a small something, a big something. So what is it?”

Sam sighed as she sat her wine glass down on the coffee table in front of them and leaned back against the couch. “I haven’t been fully honest with you.” She looked over at Nicole, who was just patiently waiting for her to continue. “Danny moved out about a month ago.”

Nicole swallowed thickly. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask, but at the same time she wanted to let Sam continue to talk. She knew her friend would give her all the information that she wanted to share. So, she plastered on the most supportive facial expression she knew how to make as she waited in silence.

While still looking ahead and avoiding eye contact, Sam finally continued, “Turns out, he does want kids. He was just saying he didn’t because he thought that I would change my mind later down the road, but I haven’t. I just don’t want to be a mom. So, we’re just stuck here. He says he wants a family, and I say we’ve already got one. So we decided to take a break, and he moved out.” She looked over at Nicole, showing that she was ready for the redhead to say something.

“Sam, I don’t even know what to say. I’m so sorry. Have you two talked at all since he moved out?”

“Not really. Just about necessary things like bills and stuff we still have to pay together, but other than that, we haven’t really talked to each other.”

“What do you think is going to happen? I mean, that’s probably a stupid question, but do you have any ideas on how to fix it?”

The brunette shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, right now our options are either for him to give up wanting kids, or me to give into it, and I don’t see either of those things happening anytime soon. So we’re both just kind of at a loss right now.”

Nicole sighed. “I really wish I could give you the answers. I just want you two to be okay, because I know how much you love him.”

“I do. I really do,” She whined. “That’s what makes this so difficult. He’s my person, you know? I’ve never connected with anyone else like I do with him, and we’ve been together for so long. I can’t imagine my life without him.”

Nicole nodded. She really didn’t know what else to say. She wanted to give her best friend advice and say something that would make it better, but she didn’t know what that was. So instead, she just continued to nod in sympathy as she rubbed Sam’s back for support.

“Also, I kind of lost my job yesterday.”

Nicole paused her movements as her eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

“Yep. They were downsizing, and I got laid off.”

“What the hell! You loved that job! You worked so much overtime just to make sure the job always got done!”

“I know.” She sighed as she shook her head and leaned further back into the couch. “But I guess they chose who got to stay based on who had been working there the longest. And that definitely wasn’t me.” She grabbed her wine glass and chugged the last little bit she had left. “After they let me go, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t really talk to Danny, and all of our friends are also his friends so talking to them about any of this is kind of weird. And my parents are on Danny’s side and just try to convince me that I need to ‘come to my senses’ and have children with him and stop living like a selfish millennial.” She pursed her lips and shook her head at the thought of her parents giving her so much shit for knowing exactly what she wanted, even though it was different from what they wanted. “So yeah, my life is kind of falling apart right now. And I really just needed to get away from it for a bit. And I really needed to see my best friend.”

Nicole wrapped her arm around Sam and pulled her into her side. “You can stay here as long as you like. I’m sorry you’re going through a lot right now. I’m here for you in any way you need me.”

“Thank you.” Sam smiled before sitting back up and looking at the redhead. “I’m sorry I showed up so unexpectedly. I was just afraid that you would say that you were busy this week and I couldn’t come, so I just figured that if I bombarded you, then you couldn’t say no.” She gave an innocent, toothy smile.

“Why am I not surprised by any of that?” Nicole rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “But seriously, it’s okay. I’m actually really excited that you’re here.” She beamed at the thought of actually getting to hang out with her best friend for a while. It had been so long since they’d seen each other, and she didn’t realize how much she actually missed the brunette until now, hanging out with her in person. They’ve always just been able to naturally click and talk about anything and everything.

“So, when is Waverly coming back? Should we save her some pizza?”

“Actually, she texted earlier and said that she was staying with Wynonna and that we should spend some time together catching up. So it looks like we’ve got the house to ourselves tonight.”

“Oh my god, a sleepover?!” Sam asked excitedly.

“I mean, it’s not officially a Sam-Nicole sleepover without sleeping bags and marshmallows.”

Without wasting any time, Sam stood up from the floor and pointedly shouted, “To the store!”

Nicole quirked an eyebrow as she looked up at the giddy brunette. “For marshmallows? Or sleeping bags?”

“Yes.” Sam replied with a short nod before yanking Nicole off of the floor and practically pushing her out the front door.

Nicole pretended to be annoyed by all of her exaggerated groaning, but on the inside, she was just as excited as Sam. They hadn’t had a sleepover like this since senior year when Nicole moved out of her parents’ house and stayed with Sam’s family. She grinned as she started up the car and backed out of the driveway, smiling as the nostalgic feeling of being a teenager again washed over her.