𝔟𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢, wayhaught

chapter 24.

When she reaches the top of the stairs, Nicole heads for the back of the house. Sliding the door open, she steps out into the chill of the night. She internally kicks herself for not grabbing a jacket, but all she could think about was her lungs screaming for fresh air.

Just when she thought she was getting more comfortable with the idea of her past, present and hopefully future colliding with each other, one comment tips her over the edge. She takes a deep breath of fresh air, trying to calm herself down. There's something extremely peaceful about the night sky, full of stars as far as the eye can see. She knows she won't be alone for long, so she enjoys it while she can.

The sound of the sliding door comes from behind her after a few moments. She pauses as she hears the door being pushed closed behind whoever has just joined her outside. She turns to see Eliza giving her an apologetic look as she takes another step toward Nicole.

"You're not exactly who I expected to be out here first," Nicole admits as she turns back toward the direction she was previously looking, taking in another view of the stars.

"I heard there was a sweet view out here," Eliza says as she makes her way next to Nicole. Nicole briefly turns her head toward the blonde, shaking her head at her. "Don't be mad at her for inviting me," Eliza says. "I'm the one who doesn't know when to shut up."

"I'm not mad at her," Nicole says quickly. She turns to make eye contact again. "This is just..." she trails off. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Okay, Haught, don't do that," Eliza says.

"Do what?" Nicole huffs.

"That thing you do. Where you want to say something but you think you're going to be a burden to someone or hurt someone's feelings, so you just bury it for the sake of others. Give it to me. I deserve it," the blonde says.

Nicole pauses and thinks about what she's going to say. She doesn't want to admit that Eliza is right, that she does know her pretty well. But that part of her life is over, she's moved on.

"I get why you're here," Nicole begins. "I get why Waverly invited you here. But this, you, it's a lot right now."

She pauses again. Eliza doesn't speak. She turns toward Nicole, giving her her full attention, allowing her to continue speaking.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again, Eliza. Before that accidental run in in the city," she adds. "And that broke me. For a long time, I was in pieces because I thought my world was over. The one person I thought wasn't actually going to leave me, left. And I get it, trust me, I get it more than probably anyone else in the world. But it didn't make it hurt any less."

"I should have called, or written sooner," Eliza tells her.

"You know what's funny? You're sort of the reason I even ended up out here. If you were still around, I'd probably still be reckless, but in a much different way," Nicole says with a laugh.

"We were pretty reckless, weren't we?" Eliza Laughs.

"It feels like a lifetime ago." The redhead turns back toward the stars, letting out an audible sigh.

"Well, a lot has happened since I left," Eliza says as she gestures around her.

"It's a little weird, huh?" Nicole asks. She thinks about how she never, in a million years, thought she'd ever live in a house or a town like this.

"It's a lot weird," Eliza says with a laugh. "I'm not going to lie, when I first got the invite, I wasn't going to come. I didn't really want to see you with your gorgeous girlfriend in your new fancy life. I thought if I didn't see it, I could pretend to still live in the past. But that's something I've never done before."