Sea Glass (WAYHAUGHT)

Small World

Soft creamy light bathed the bedroom. Waverly could feel Nicole's warm breath on her shoulder, along with the reassuring weight of an arm draped over her hip. Had she not come to her senses on the beach, she would not be here, in bed with her boss.

Yesterday had been a defining moment, the decision to tell Chrissy her long-hidden secret one she wouldn't regret. At least not yet. Everyone around her appeared to be taking it well. Better than imagined, and fretted over, her only regret that of not having come out sooner. Water under the bridge, as Chrissy would say.

A warmth washed over her remembering Chrissy's two hugs. If Chrissy had cried for weeks, she had cried for months at the loss of their friendship. She would watch her with others, wishing they were back in Chrissy's bedroom, listening to Britney, sucking ice pops in the summer, or warming their hands on mugs of hot cocoa in winter. Chrissy loved food, her parents' fridge filled with treats, a drawer reserved for chocolate. A whole drawer, such luxury, Chrissy letting her select one bar whenever she was there. Her house didn't have a special chocolate drawer, or a fridge filled with treats. Before Nicole's ice cream adventure, Chrissy's fridge was the closest she'd come to food fun.

If a doctor asked, she would always say her poor eating habits stemmed from anxiety. That wasn't a lie. She would listen to their assessment, and their list of likely causes. The desire to be perfect, having low self-esteem, the social pressure to be thin, a coping mechanism to stress, a reaction to bullying, perhaps challenges in relationships with friends. All of those contributed, all were out of her control, or so she believed. The only thing she could control was what she put in her mouth.

Nicole stirred. "What time is it?" she said, in a sexy sleepy voice.

"Nine-ish. Wyn's opening the pub today."

She giggled as Nicole turned, lower lip jutting out, a soppy loved-up look on her face. "I was hoping to go for a picnic."

"We could picnic in the Tavern." She brushed Nicole's ruffled hair behind her ear to reveal a beautiful mocha eye. "You're so pretty. And your eyes..."

"What about them?"

"I hadn't appreciated how they change colour."

"Like traffic lights."

Waverly's girly giggle returned. "And, how quick you are with a comeback."

"It's my secret power," Nicole replied, winking one of those gorgeous eyes. "It's how I lure my victims to their death."

"Death by chocolate eyes," Waverly said, taking pride in her own clever response.

"Very good Earp. And now, I must kill you, softly, with these eyes of mine."

She could have stayed in bed forever.

At Nicole's insistence they ate in the kitchen, a delicious tofu scrambled egg, with thinly sliced red peppers, on two slices of toast, no butter, accompanied by a side salad of diced cherry tomatoes and cucumber. Waverly tucked in, relishing every mouthful, her stomach thankful for the feast.

"So good," she said, spearing the last piece of cucumber from the bowl. She waved it about on the tip of her fork. "This usually repeats on me," she informed.

"What does?"

"Cucumber, usually repeats on me."

"Sorry, say that again."

"I said, cucumber repeats on me." She spotted the grin on Nicole's face. "Ha ha. Very funny Haught."

"When did you go vegan?" Nicole enquired, grabbing a cloth to wipe a drip of egg from her own chin.