Chapter Text
The first time Waverly sees her, it’s fleeting. She’s one of a hundred faces that Waverly sees during the day, and she lingers behind her friend, staring dow at her phone. Waverly wraps the gift (a cap gun set) while she hums to the Christmas song that’s playing over the mall’s speakers. She exchanges pleasantries with the guy who’s getting the gift wrapped, learning its a gag gift for a friend. It’s an easy wrap, a rectangular box, and Waverly has it done in under two minutes with a smile and a “happy holidays!” as the guy takes it from her gratefully.
His friend looks up and offers Waverly a smile, dimples and big brown eyes. Then she’s gone, fading into the crowd of holiday shoppers. The next customer in line has to wave their hand in front of Waverly’s face to get her attention.
It’s only three days later when Waverly sees her again. She walks up to the gift wrapping stand with a confident swagger in her hips, and Waverly has to dig her nails into her palm to remind herself that staring is impolite.
“Hey,” the girl says, her dimpled smile framed by vibrant copper hair, cut just below her chin.
“Hi,” Waverly says, “do you, um, need something wrapped?”
“Something wrapped,” the girl repeats, her eyebrows pulling together briefly before realization dawns on her face. “Oh! Because this is a gift-wrapping booth. Right.” She laughs awkwardly and Waverly thinks she’s kind of adorable.
“Yeah, we wrap things,” Waverly says with a little shrug and a smile.
“Because this is a gift-wrapping booth,” the girls says, rubbing the back of her neck, “so I should probably have brought something to wrap.” She blushes a pretty shade of pink and Waverly hides an amused smile behind her hand. The girl sighs and rakes her hair back. “Will you still be here in ten minutes?”
Waverly points at the sign above her head. “Open nine to five, all day, every day during the holiday season.”
“Of course, there’s a sign,” the girls sighs. “Well, I’m going to go get a gift, then. To wrap. Because I think the lady behind me is going to kill me if I stand in the way of her getting that tea set wrapped any longer.” The girl turns away and heads off into the mall, throwing Waverly another smile over her shoulder as she retreats.
She takes a steadying breath and smiles at the next customer. “Hi, how can I help you?”
The woman slams down the tea set and frowns until Waverly starts wrapping.
“I want the red paper,” the woman says.
Waverly looks down at the patterned striped paper she’s just cut to fit the tea set. “Sure, no problem!” She puts on her cheeriest smile and pulls out the roll of red wrapping paper.
“Not that one, the other red one,” the woman says. Waverly nods again, her smile stuck in place. She grabs the roll of red wrapping paper with little snowmen on it.
“This one?” Waverly asks.
The woman looks it up and down, eventually sighing. “That’ll have to do, I suppose.”
“Great,” Waverly says. She clears the station and gets to work, creasing corners and folding edges.
“And the green ribbon,” the woman says as Waverly puts the last piece of tape on.
Having learned her lesson, Waverly digs up all four rolls of green ribbon that they have. “Which green ribbon would you like, ma’am?”
The woman looks at all of them for what feels like hours. “Maybe green isn’t the right colour,” the woman says, and Waverly’s jaw ticks. “Do you have anything with glitter?”
“Glitter,” Waverly repeats.
“Yes, glitter, are you deaf?” The woman snaps.
Waverly swallows and shakes her head. “No, ma’am, not deaf, just want to make sure I got it right,” she says.
“It has just been one thing after another,” the woman sighs, “honestly, the service here has been disastrous. I’ll be writing to the mall about this.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Waverly looks up from where she’s searching in the box of ribbon. It’s the red-haired girl, her face set sternly and a plastic bag dangling from her crossed arms.
“Excuse me? Who the hell are you?” The rude woman says, affronted.
Waverly watches as the red hair girl pulls out a police badge from her back pocket. “Officer Nicole Haught, ma’am. I repeat, is there a problem here?”
The woman blanches and shakes her head. “No, officer, no problem. Just complimenting this girl on a job well done.” She slaps down a twenty and grabs her gift, walking away quickly.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Waverly says, putting a hand on her hip.
Nicole Haught shrugs and offers her an easy smile. “It’s no problem. People can be real assholes during the holiday season, and you don’t deserve to have it taken out on you.”
“Do you do this a lot?” Waverly asks, cocking her eyebrow.
“Do what?” Nicole asks with a small laugh.
“Sweep in like some knight on a white horse with your fancy police badge and rescue girls from rude customers,” Waverly says.
Nicole laughs and shakes her head. “Only the really pretty ones.” She winks at Waverly and then lifts up the plastic bag. “Could I get something wrapped?"
“Sure,” Waverly says, eyeing Nicole cautiously. “What colour paper? Apparently that really makes or breaks a gift.”
“Which one is your favourite?” Nicole asks.
“What?”
“Your favourite paper,” Nicole says, “which one is it?”
Waverly blinks dumbly. “Um, I guess the one with the reindeer,” she says, holding up the roll.
“The one with the reindeer it is,” Nicole says. “Hey, which gift do you think says ‘I think you’re really cute and I’d like to take you on a date sometime’?” She digs through the bag and holds up a purple toque with a pompom on it in one hand, and a soft-looking scarf in the other.
Waverly feels a little ball of disappointment lodge itself in her throat. “I think the scarf,” she says, “not everyone wears hats. But I think most people like scarves.”
“Scarf it is,” Nicole says with a smile. Waverly nods and takes the scarf, folding it neatly and putting it in a box. It’s routine and easy from there, folding corners and straightening edges.
“Would you like a ribbon as well?” Waverly asks.
“Do you think a ribbon would help my chances?” Nicole asks, leaning forward on the edge of the booth’s counter.
“I, uh, I don’t think it’ll hurt them,” Waverly says with a forced casual chuckle. “White would look best I think.”
“Whatever you say,” Nicole says.
“Oh, god, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d want my opinion,” Waverly moans, shaking her head. “You should choose, it’s your gift after all.”
Nicole puts her hand over Waverly’s and smiles, everything about her gentle and soft. “Hey,” she says, “white sounds great. I’m pretty useless with this stuff, so all the help I can get is totally appreciated.”
“Right,” Waverly breathes, and then they’re both pulling their hands back. Waverly quickly attaches the ribbon, tying a neat bow on top.
“Do you have cards or anything for sale here, by chance?” Nicole asks.
“Yes, I do,” Waverly says, pulling out a box of Christmas cards.
Nicole pulls a crumpled twenty out of her pocket, followed by a ten. “Is this enough?”
“What?” Waverly asks, dragging her eyes up from where they’d locked onto Nicole’s pretty bowed lips.
“For the wrapping and the card,” Nicole reminds her.
“Oh, yes, that’s more than enough,” Waverly says, “let me grab you change.”
Nicole waves her off. “Keep it. You’ve really helped me out, uh,” she trails off and Waverly’s eyebrows shoot up when she realizes Nicole is waiting for her name.
“Waverly,” she fills in.
“You’ve really helped me out, Waverly,” Nicole says. “Is it okay if I just fill this out right now?”
There aren’t anymore customers in line, so Waverly nods. It’s nearing five o’clock anyways, so she starts cleaning up. Wrapping paper rolls get stored away, the ribbon is reorganized and tucked back into its box. She bends down to grab the keys to lock up the cupboard, and when she stands back up, Nicole is gone.
“Fudge nuggets,” Waverly mumbles, and she sees the gift she just wrapped sitting pretty on the counter. She cranes her neck to see if she can see Nicole in the vicinity, but there’s no sign of her bright hair or tall frame. “I guess I’ll just lock this up tonight and hope she comes back for it,” Waverly says to herself, grabbing the gift. She’s about to try and squeeze it into the cupboard when the name on the card catches her eye.
Mostly because it’s her own name.
“What the what,” Waverly mutters. She reads her own name until it stops even looking like a word and turns into a series of uninformed lines on an off-white envelope. She picks up said envelope and flips it over.
Don’t open this until Christmas Day. Santa will know if you don’t listen, and I’ve heard he’s a bit of a hard-ass when it comes to those rules.
Waverly smiles, biting her bottom lip. “Nicole Haught,” she says with a sigh. “Of course.”
***
Christmas Day comes with an expected amount of chaos. Wynonna whirled into town the night before, all leather and whiskey with a moustachioed cowboy in tow. Gus had acted all grumpy about adding two more mouths to feed at Christmas dinner, but Waverly could tell she was just glad to know Wynonna hadn’t gotten herself killed yet. They had sat around the wood stove and listened to Wynonna and John Henry tell them about their adventures: riding with the Banditos, a west coast bounty hunt, and a surprisingly competitive game of laser tag. Waverly listened, totally enraptured with every word that came out of Wynonna’s mouth.
Morning comes the way it does every year. Waverly wakes up first, pulling on an old sweater with a snowman on the front, along with her warmest leggings and fuzziest socks. She gets downstairs before anyone else and starts on breakfast - a french toast bake that had been sitting over night. Gus comes down fifteen minutes later in her housecoat, making a pot of coffee.
“You’ll have to wake that lazy sister of yours,” Gus tells Waverly. “It’s been a few years since she’s had to think of anyone but herself.”
Waverly rolls her eyes at Gus’s grumpy attitude. “Can we hold off on the snarky comments on Christmas, please?” Gus snorts into her coffee, and Waverly whisks by her and back up the stairs to wake Wynonna. She lifts her fist to knock on the door, but it swings open before she can knock.
“Good mornin’, darlin’,” John Henry greets. “Wynonna will be right out.” He steps around Waverly, rolling a cigarette between his fingers. Waverly peeks into the room and how can anyone make this much of a mess in one night. Clothes are strewn everywhere, like someone stuck a bomb in Wynonna’s suitcase and it went off as soon as she got in.
“Wynonna, are you getting up?” Waverly asks the lump under the duvet. A hand pokes out and holds up a thumb. Waverly rolls her eyes. “If you’re up in five minutes, I’ll throw some bacon on the stove.”
Wynonna’s head pops up. “Is it maple smoked?”
“Probably, Gus always buys maple smoked,” Waverly says.
“I’m up,” Wynonna says with a loud groan. She starts to rise then drops back down to the bed. “I’m naked, actually.”
“Ew,” Waverly jokes, stepping out of the room and shutting the door.
Bacon is put on and Wynonna is downstairs in record time. The four of them eat, pleasant conversation floating through the air between mouthfuls. John Henry offers to do the dishes, and Waverly can almost see the ‘How much Gus respects me’ meter above his head fill up.
The routine has been the same since Wynonna and Waverly were kids. Stockings are opened first, and Waverly smiles when she realizes Gus must have gotten everything for Wynonna in advance. In fact, the size of the haul implies that Gus might have been building this pile for a few years.
Next, they establish an order to opening presents. It always used to be that the youngest started, because young Waverly was a very demanding little girl at times. Not that adult Waverly isn’t, but she likes to think she’s matured enough to handle waiting a few minutes to rip into her presents.
Gus goes first, a new pair of field boots from Waverly. Wynonna gets a pair of gloves from Gus. Waverly opens a package from Wynonna, shoddily wrapped in newspaper. It’s a book titled “Tales of the Old West”. Waverly thinks she might already have a copy, but Wynonna looks so nervous about it, and it’s actually something Waverly likes. Wynonna must have actually put thought into it, so Waverly reaches over and hugs her sister tightly, whispering a “thank you” into her ear.
They open gifts for a while, until it’s down to the last package.
A package Waverly had totally forgotten about over the course of the week and the excitement of Wynonna. She opens the card first, nerves being no excuse for forgetting her manners.
It’s the generic card she sells at the booth, a winter scene painted on the front. The inside says ‘Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël!’ in fancy printed script. There’s some messy handwriting too, and Waverly feels her heartbeat pick up as she reads it.
Merry Christmas, Waverly :) I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but I think you’re really cute and I’d like to take you out. On a date. If you’d like that. I wanted to ask you out the first time I saw you, actually, but you wrapped X’s gift so quickly that I didn’t have any time to think of something to say other than “beautiful” and “date me please”.
Waverly feels herself blushing furiously, and she clears her throat, wondering when it became so dry.
Anyways, I’m sorry you already know what the gift is, but it’s hard to buy presents for a girl you hardly know. But I want to get to know you, if you want to get to know me.
There’s a phone number scribble along the bottom of the card, under Nicole’s name and a messy ‘xox’.
Waverly’s heart is kicking her ribs, nerves or excitement making her grin like a bit of a fool.
“Who’s that from, baby girl?” Wynonna asks, and Waverly snaps the card shut quickly.
“Um, a friend from work,” Waverly says. She tucks the card back inside the envelope and starts ripping through her own wrapping job. She knows what’ll be inside, but it still makes her smile at the memory of Nicole leaning against her booth with a cheeky grin.
“That’s an awfully nice scarf,” John Henry says, and Wynonna nods her agreement.
“It’s perfect,” Waverly mumbles.
“I mean, it’s a scarf,” Wynonna says. Waverly kicks her playfully.
“Alright, let’s get this mess cleaned up,” Gus says, “and we’re leaving at one to go help Shorty with dinner.”
After cleaning up and taking a shower, Waverly lies on her bed in her towel, staring at the new contact she’d just added into her phone.
“It’s just a text, Waverly,” she says to herself, “you’ve literally sent millions of texts in your life.”
Hi Nicole!
“Too peppy,” she says, erasing it.
Merry Christmas Nicole :)
“Okay, not too bad.”
Merry Christmas Nicole :) it’s Waverly. Thank you for the scarf.
“Ew.”
Merry Christmas Nicole :) I love the scarf.
Merry Christmas Nicole :) I really like the scarf. Please date me.
Merry Christmas Nicole :) I really like the scarf, how did you know I’d like it? ;)
Flirty, but not too flirty. Just dumb. Waverly groans and puts her phone down without hitting send.
“That doesn’t sound like a fun Christmas noise,” Wynonna tuts from the doorway. Waverly sits up and sticks her tongue out at her sister. Wynonna comes in and flops down beside her. “What’s got you all knotted up?”
Waverly worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “There’s this…girl,” she says, and Wynonna perks up.
“Did you bang?”
“What?!” Waverly ignores how a very quick image of Nicole on top of her pops into her head. Well, she tries to, but she knows her face has already flushed a deep red. “No! I-I’m trying to send her a text. She wrote a really cute Christmas card, and she was so smooth in person, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Is it the vagina thing?” Wynonna asks. “Because, listen, I’ve been there, and it’s wet. And very warm. Kind of like Florida, actually.” Wynonna shudders.
“It’s not the vagina thing, please stop talking,” Waverly says, clapping a hand over Wynonna’s mouth before she can keep talking. Something wet touches her palm and Waverly grimaces, pulling her hand back. “Aren’t we a little old to be licking each other’s hands?” She wipes her palm on her towel.
Wynona ignores her, grabbing her phone and rolling away before Waverly can grab it back. She types furiously, Waverly trying to keep her towel from falling down and trying to stop Wynonna before she can do irreparable damage.
Then she hears the sound of a message being sent off.
Wynonna cackles and tosses the phone back on Waverly’s bed. “Get dressed, loser, it’s almost one and Gus doesn’t seem to be in a fun mood. She tried to hit me with a yam.”
The door slams shut behind her and Waverly grabs her phone. “No, no, no, no, no,” she says to herself, unlocking it and opening the message Wynonna just sent to Nicole.
Waverly [12:34] Merry Christmas Nicole :) I’m a huge loser who can’t send a text because I want to sit on your face.
“I’m going to kill her,” Waverly growls.
Waverly [12:36] Omg, I am so sorry, my sister got a hold of my phone. Please just ignore her, I know I’m going to after I murder her for Christmas.
Satisfied but still fuming, Waverly gets dressed. A silver top and a snowflake printed skirt, sparkly tights and the snowman earrings Gus got her for Christmas last year.
She’s heading out to the truck when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. Her heart punches her chest and she almost drops the sack of potatoes she’s carrying. She dumps them in the back of the truck and quickly pulls out her phone, her hands shaking with nerves so badly that she almost drops it.
Nicole [12:57] haha will do :) try not to get caught, it’ll be a lot harder to take you out if you’re stuck in prison somewhere. merry xmas, btw :)
“Alright, don’t overthink it, Earp,” Waverly mumbles.
Waverly [12:58] Don’t worry, I’m very sneaky ;) so when are you going to take me out? I like to know what I’m doing at least two or three days in advance…
Nicole [12:58] so tomorrow would be too soon?
Waverly [12:59] I can make an exception, if i must.. ;P
Nicole [13:00] i’m honoured ;) how about i pick you up tomorrow around 2?
She wipes the falling snow off the screen of her phone.
Waverly [13:01] you don’t even know where I live!
Nicole [13:02] if you’re comfortable with it, text me your address. i’ve been told i’m pretty trustworthy, as far as law enforcement officers go. don’t worry about if you live far, i really don’t mind driving to get you :)
“Waverly, get off your phone and help your sister load the truck,” Gus says. Waverly looks up from her phone and pouts.
“Just one minute, Gus,” she pleads, “I’m almost done, I swear, just a minute.”
Gus rolls her eyes but walks away.
Waverly [13:04] Fine, but for the record I think you’re trying a little too hard here, officer :P
Nicole [13:05] you haven’t seen anything yet ;)
***