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Waverly’s muscles hurt in all the right places as she left Nicole in her bed and made her way to the bathroom. A smile she couldn’t contain was fixed on her lips as she peed to avoid any future medical problems in what Wynonna always called “the playground area”. Waverly moved to the sink, washing her hands, and picked up the toothpaste and her toothbrush.
Her hips swinging to the rhythm of an imaginary tune, Waverly squeezed a small blob on the toothbrush and stared at herself in the mirror. She felt happy. A little weird too, but mostly happy. Maybe the weirdness came with the territory? Having sex with a woman for the first time. Having sex with Nicole for the first time. With someone attentive and who didn’t rush and who took their time.
Hmmm , she sighed, more in her head than physically, god her body felt good. Thirsty, but good.
Waverly looked at the toothpaste still untouched on her toothbrush and murmured to the empty bathroom, “water first.”
Waverly walked down the stairs, toothbrush in hands and a skip in her step that wasn’t going away any time soon, and found Wynonna in the kitchen, chipped cup between her hands and a pensive pout on her lips.
“So…” Wynonna said, her eyes still on her cup.
“So?”
“Nicole’s staying the night?”
“Yes,” Waverly answered, forehead scrunching up in confusion. “At least I hope so. Do you- do you not want her to?”
“No, no. It’s just, you guys have been at it all day long. Which is-”
“No, we haven’t.” They had.
Wynonna stared unamusedly at her.
“I mean, we have been in my room for a while, but lots of it is just, you know, kissing,” Waverly said, feeling her cheeks redden.
“Oh, I bet it is,” her sister replied in a tone that could make a passage of the Bible sound dirty.
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t even know what you mean. We were just, you know, kissing and touching.”
Wynonna faked a whole-body shiver. “Oh, I regret this conversation already.”
“Well, you started it,” Waverly said, finally heading to the sink to fill up a glass. The jar with the dead spider didn’t look quite right, and it was just… standing there, where they left their dishes. It brought a sick feeling to Waverly’s stomach, so she ignored it, focusing again on her sister.
“But it was good?” Wynonna sounded tentative. “Jesus, that’s not what I mean. I mean, was she good to you? She didn’t rush you or pressure you or hurt you, did she?”
“No,” Waverly turned around, resting her lower back against the counter and taking a sip. “Of course not. She is good, great, really. And it was too.” Waverly couldn’t suppress a smirk as she shared a little more than either of them was comfortable with.
“Ok, TMI.” Wynonna faked gagging, consistent in her disinclination towards such topics. “But seriously,” she patted the table, clearly asking for Waverly to join her, “you alright?”
Waverly acquiesced, taking the seat. “Yes, I am. She was… She was really sweet, Wy, really gentle. No rushing or pushing of any kind. I-” Waverly felt the urge to get some ice, her cheeks felt so hot- “I didn’t know I could connect with another person like this.”
Wynonna raised one eyebrow and opened her mouth to reply, but Waverly was faster.
“You know what I mean.”
And her sister’s eyes became gentler, as they only ever got for her. “Yea... I do.”
Waverly nodded and got up, almost dropping the blob of toothpaste from her toothbrush, long forgotten in her left hand. She chanced another look at the spider, it did seem like it had been moved, but something kept her from pointing that out to Wynonna. There was obviously no danger there -- after all, it was as dead as it could be.
“I should go brush my teeth and go to sleep.”
“Uh huh, sleep , you say,” Wynonna’s voice followed her up the stairs.
“Yes, Wynonna,” she said back, loud enough for Wynonna to hear her, “sleep I say.”
This was a good day, Waverly thought as she finished taking off her makeup and picked up her toothbrush, putting some toothpaste on it. It was Christmas, one of her favorite holidays, and Nicole was staying over and her mother was back. It was a damn great day, Waverly nodded at her own reflection. She was about to continue her nightly routine but thought better of it. She and Nicole had just had some strenuous physical activities, and water always tasted weird when drank after having her teeth brushed. Holding her toothbrush carefully with the bristles upward to keep the white and blue paste safe and sound on it, Waverly made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where her mother sat with an open bottle of wine and a dirty glass.
“Heyy, can’t sleep?” Waverly asked, cheerful but in a hushed tone.
“It’s more that I won’t sleep,” Michelle answered. “This is the first Christmas I get to spend with my daughters -- well, two of them -- in many, many years. I’m soaking this feeling up.”
“It was good, right?” Waverly asked, she could hear her own excitement in her voice.
“I’d say it was great.”
Waverly mirrored her mother’s smile and took a seat in front of her.
“I like this feeling too.”
“Oh I know, I can see it written all over your face.”
“It’s nice having you and Wynonna home, and Nicole and the boys, of course.”
“Of course,” Michelle nodded. “This girl of yours, Nicole. You really like her, huh?” She asked, her eyes glowing and studying Waverly closely.
“I do. She’s… she’s special.”
“And were there other girls? Before Nicole?”
“No. I think I knew, though. It just…” Waverly took a breath, she never thought she’d be having this conversation with her mother, or any conversation, for that matter, but, specifically, she never thought she would have the chance to show her this part of herself. “It was just never as obvious to me as it became once she walked into Shorty’s,” Waverly completed, her mind running to the woman she left in her bed a few minutes ago.
Her mother chuckled, “that’s all there was to it? She walked into Shorty’s and you were done for?”
Waverly lowered her eyes, feeling a little flustered. “Well, no…” She cleared her throat. “Kind of, yes. I was dating a boy back then, and I don’t think I saw it that way, but I was already pretty much done for.”
“And how about her? That cop better be head over heels for my daughter.”
Waverly chuckled and focused on her fingers, peeling away the old wood of the dinner table.
“Yea... To be honest, I don’t think I ever questioned how she felt about me.” Waverly recognized how soft her voice sounded. “She’s been crystal clear from the start.”
Michelle sat back, seeming to have reached a conclusion.
“This is it, then? She’s the one.”
And Waverly hadn’t thought on these terms before, but there was no doubt or fear when the realization came.
“Yes, she’s the one.”
“Well, for what is worth,” Michelle sighed, “she seems like a strong woman, dependable.”
Waverly felt her chest expand in warmth and joy, from thinking about Nicole, from sharing her with her mother. “She is. She’s my rock.”
Michelle took a while longer studying Waverly, but finally said: “So that’s that, then.”
“Yes, that’s that,” Waverly repeated, understanding the curt words for the blessing they were.
“And I bet it doesn’t hurt that she’s easy on the eyes,” Michelle completed, lightening the mood.
“I know! She’s beautiful,” Waverly said with a proud lilt. “Speaking of,” she got up and took a glass from the cabinet, “the said beautiful woman is waiting for me upstairs.”
“Go, go. And take the whole jar of water with you, I think you’ll both need it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Waverly said, but took the jar, holding it against her chest with her elbow so her right hand could hold the glass. Her left one still holding her toothbrush. “Goodnight, mom.”
Thirst sated and teeth brushed, Waverly walked back into her room to the sight of Nicole in light pajamas in her bed. She placed the jar and the glass on her bedside table and sat down by Nicole, her left arm holding part of her weight on the other side of her girlfriend’s body as she looked down, tracing Nicole’s brow and nose and lips with her eyes.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
Nicole smiled, her dimples making Waverly’s heart stop for a second, as they often did.
“Hey yourself.” Nicole giggled, “you have some toothpaste on your chin.” Reaching up, Nicole scratched the short nail of her right thumb over the little white stain. “There,” she said, already moving her upper body upward, closer to Waverly. Waverly felt Nicole’s kiss on the spot she had just scratched clean, felt Nicole’s lips travel closer to her own, but kept the kiss from happening, bringing her own right thumb between their lips.
Waverly took a little distance from her girlfriend. “Nicole...”
“Yes?”
“Give me a kiss?” Waverly asked.
Nicole moved in again, no fingers impeding her this time. It was kept short, though, as laughter bubbled in Nicole’s chest.
“Did you just stop me from kissing you to ask me for a kiss?”
“Yes,” Waverly said, smiling too.
“You’re cute.”
Waverly sighed. “Give me one more.”