My Ex Ex (except gay)

Chapter 1: She'll Grow Out of It...Right?

6 Years Ago

It's finals week at Purgatory University. Students are running in and out of nearby coffee shops to fuel up for their late night study sessions; textbooks litter the tables and floors of dorm rooms and libraries as everyone crams for their impending exams.

Everyone except for one drunk Nicole Haught, that is.

Nicole uncaps her third beer of the hour and takes a long swig from the bottle, smiling as she feels the alcohol rush through her system. Nicole's girlfriend, Waverly Earp, is seated behind her, leaning back against the wall and reading from a textbook. Loud, heavy metal-like music plays from a speaker on Nicole's desk and she starts to sing along, air drumming to the beat.

"Haught, can you please turn that music down?!" Wynonna, Nicole's roommate, and Waverly's sister, yells from the other room of their dorm. "Some of us are trying to study!"

"Oh, come off it, Wynonna!" Nicole replies, taking another long sip from her beer. "You need to loosen up. Come have a beer, you won't regret it."

"Yeah, but that's not going to happen today because finals. How is it you don't have to study?"

"I major in music. They're like practical exams," Nicole gestures with her hands as if to prove a point that Wynonna can't see. "I'll probably have to play part of an old song or some shit. It's not like I'm studying criminal judiciaries."

Wynonna rolls her eyes and corrects Nicole, "Criminal justice."

"Right sorry," Nicole takes a sip of her beer and her words begin to slur more than before. "Since when do you study anyway? I thought that was against your toughness code or whatever the shit is that you came up with."

"Yeah well this semester determines my future," Wynonna shakes her head. "I don't think I can spend another year in this godforsaken hellhole they call a university. Everybody here sucks. Except for you baby girl," Wynonna quickly added which elicited a small smile from the girl's sister. The room became quiet again, the only sounds coming from the speaker and the tapping of Nicole's feet on the concrete floors.

"Hey, Nicole?" Waverly looks up from her book and at Nicole, breaking the silence. "What am I taking?"

"Is this a trick question?" Nicole asks stealing a glance behind her at her girlfriend.

"No," Waverly sets her textbook down and leans forward, inching her way towards the redhead. "Nicole, what am I taking?"

"Um..." Nicole trails off, taking yet another sip of her beer.

"Seriously, Nic, what am I taking?" Waverly smiles and takes the bottle from her tipsy girlfriend's hands, setting it aside. "Tell me," she begins to poke Nicole and tickle her, not stopping until she gets an answer. "I'll stop if you tell me," she adds when Nicole begins to squirm in her grasp.

"Tell you what? Tell you what!" Nicole laughs.

"What am I taking?" Waverly keeps poking her.

"I don't know," Nicole says between breaths of laughter and manages to get out of Waverly's grasp. "I don't know!" Waverly laughs and stops, wrapping her arms around Nicole from behind.

"How can you not know what your girlfriend is studying in college?" Wynonna says from the other room. Waverly tilts her head to the side, looking at Nicole.

"I'm in a very mellow place," Nicole says, her words slurring. When Wynonna doesn't answer, Nicole adds, "I think we all need to just chill the hell out." Wynonna rolls her eyes and gets up from her desk, walking to Nicole's room, stopping at the open door.