Chapter Text
I
There was not a day that passed by without Waverly regretting the recent events. At first, she thought she would be okay with it. She thought it wouldn’t really matter for her, it wouldn’t actually impact her way of life. But then… Life didn’t go on, like it was supposed to. “The show must go on”, my ass, she thought bitterly every day. Her show did not get to go on… Well, not in the way it used to, anyways.
It was starting to really get on her nerves. The constant attention, the resignation in Wynonna’s eyes… She hadn’t feel at ease in months, but she still hoped that time would make it better.
So, when her dad announced to her that he assigned a bodyguard to her, she didn’t take it too well. She knew throwing a fit wouldn’t change anything, but she couldn’t help it. She was a grown, self-aware, independent woman; she could take care of herself! She didn’t need any type of babysitter. Her father insisted, of course.
“I had to go through a lot of trouble to get that bodyguard. So, you’ll get a bodyguard, young lady, and you don’t have a say in it.”
She protested as much as she could, her father wouldn’t budge. She knew that, somehow, she was leading a risky life now. But the thing was, she actually didn’t mind the danger… She minded the protectiveness of all of them though. A lot. She wanted nothing more than freedom. Wynonna had had it, her. She had travelled for some years when she was younger, and she would barely even keep them posted on her whereabouts. Somehow, Waverly always kind of imagined this was what life would be for her at some point. But now… Now, it was different. Now, she was trapped, ironically trapped by the love of her relatives. She kicked an innocent shoe out of her way, annoyed that she couldn’t find it in herself to hate them for it.
She knew it all came from a place of love, of course she knew that. But still, it was so damn annoying. And smothering. And patronizing. And… And in two days that bodyguard would arrive. But hell was going to freeze before she let him in her life!
It was only fair for her to get to piss off her father and Wynonna back. Poor bodyguard, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. She smirked. She was going to be such a brat about it.
“Good evening, miss Earp”, said a voice, snapping the young woman out of her train of thought.
“Oh, good evening, Doc. I didn’t see you there” she answered warily.
“I could tell. Is everything alright with you, miss Earp?”
She looked at her father’s handyman. He was gently smiling behind his impressive moustache. It was not really his fault. None of this was. But she still felt like he could’ve try and help her regain some freedom. She decided not to sass him anyhow, and went with a polite, if not a bit cold “Fine. Good evening, Doc” and started to go her way.
Before she could go very far, he offered to come with her wherever she was heading.
“Thank you, but I would very much like to be alone for a little bit longer. After all, I won’t have that option in a few days”.
“Ah, yeah, the bodyguard… You know that it’s only for your safety that…”
“And not to spy on me, you mean?” She interrupted him.
He didn’t look put out by the sarcasm.
“Miss Earp, you know that, under the circumstances, it’s only…”
“Yeah, yeah, safety first. And all that… I know.” She sighed. She opened her eyes as wide as possible, curved her browns and put on her most endearing smile: “Would you just, Doc, let me have that evening all to myself? I promise I’ll be careful. I won’t do anything you wouldn’t”.
It was his turn to sigh. “Well, I suppose…”
“Thanks!” She shouted without letting him finish his thought. She took the opportunity and practically ran outside, not even bothering to stop to greet the doorman. She usually tried to be polite to the boy, but tonight she had no patience. And she wanted to be far away when Doc would change his mind. And farther even when her father would realize she was not within the walls of the Earp Hostel.
The darn Earp Hostel, she thought. She turned just to eye it from the corner of her eye. It was an impressive building, in an ancient architectural style that made it quite easy on the eye. She used to really like it. She always had a thing for beautiful, vintage-looking buildings. That made her even madder at her father. He ruined it for her. He bought it, renamed it, and made it a place full of memories – bitter, sweet or bittersweet.
She kept going, not really bothering to look at the people around her. Those in her way had to step away, she was too angry to concede even an inch of the sidewalk to anyone. She was petty like that sometimes. She knew she shouldn’t, but that helped her, just a little bit.
There were a lot of people going around. It was that time of day in Purgatory. The city, which used to be quite the folksy little town (or so she was told), had gone through an impressive urban development during the last century. In the space of two decades it had tripled its inhabitant’s number. Nowadays, it was a big, busy city, with a few skyscrapers and hundreds of hipster coffee shops. It was a bit hectic at that time of day, and Waverly usually loved it. She loved that feeling of being in the middle of all that life, that agitated crowd; she loved looking at the various faces, and try to imagine where those people came from, how they got that scar, what they dreamed of at night…
But not today. Today, she was pissed off at the whole wide world. At anyone that would cross her path. Precisely because she soon wouldn’t be able to just be herself in the middle of the dusk crowd whenever she’d wish. Her whole life would be submitted to the will of a random guy in a suit, and that enraged her.
She finally reached her destination, typed the code, pushed the building’s door and climbed up the stairs. Jeremy didn’t seem really surprised to see her when he opened his door after a few sharp series of knocking at his door. He hugged her as a greeting and waved her in the general direction of her couch while heading to the kitchen. His flat was tiny and cosy. Waverly loved it there. She kind of always felt free with her best friend.
“So, what’s up honey? You kinda look like someone stole your Hermione pop figurine.” Said Jeremy from the kitchen. She could hear him go around, preparing, like usual, his famous green tea for the both of them to sip on while they would catch each other up on the recent events.
“It’s way worse than that actually,” she answered mournfully.
Jeremy popped his head through the kitchen doorframe and sent her a surprised looked.
“What, did you finally meet the love of your life and they were already married?”
“I wish! Nah, you won’t believe it, this is so annoying…”
Jeremy came into the living room, with a fuming mug in each hand. He gave her one and sat next to her on the couch.
“Well, spill! What the heck happened?”
“Daddy dearest hired a fucking bodyguard to babysit me.”
“Ooooh, big mistake, King Earp!” He exclaimed.
“This is so annoying, J! I’m gonna have that penguin on my footstep all the freaking time!”
“Okay, calm down sweetie. First of all, leave the penguins out of this, they are lovable and haven’t done nothin’ wrong. Then, you need to get your mind off of all of that….” He gestured vaguely “…Earp drama. So, we gonna get that ass dressed up and go party all night!”
Waverly smiled. He always had that soothing effect on her. As long as she had him, she was gonna be ok.
“Agreed. But first, we need to come up with the perfect plan to get that douche to quit his future job before it even really starts.”
“Okay, I like the way you think. But wait, “douche”, you’ve met him already? Where is he then? Is he hot?”
She almost chocked on her tea. “I don’t care if he’s hot, I’ll hate him anyways. And no, he’s starting on Monday.”
“Huh. Well, if he’s hot, maybe I can try and get him on the sack and then you can get your dad to fire him for like breach of contract for not being by your side or something…”
“That’s an idea, maybe. Provided he’s interested…which he obviously will be,” she quickly added looking at his raised brow. “But we cannot rely on that. We should find other ways to make sure he’s out of my life ASAP”.
“Okay, what do we know about him?” Jeremy asked with shining eyes. He always liked a challenge.
“Huh… Not much, actually.”
Jeremy raised a brow at her.
“Well… He’s… a bodyguard.”
“And?”
“And… That’s all I know. I was so pissed I didn’t even ask his name.”
“So we can't even social media-stalk him?”
She shook her head with a guilty little smile. He sighed.
“Oh, bae, what are we gonna do with you…” He took her in his arms and rocked her slowly. She leaned in his embrace. How close they’d gotten was probably the only good thing to come out of that whole ordeal. They were already BBFs before, but the recent events got them tight as hell, and she was immensely grateful for it.
Her phone started buzzing and she took it out while letting out an annoyed groan. Her heart lighted a bit when she saw Wynonna’s face on the screen – and not her father’s.
“Dude, where are you, the old man is loosing it!”
“I’m with J.” She said with a sigh. “Hiiiii Wynnie!” Jeremy yelled.
“Tell him not to call me like that if he wants to keeps his male attributes. But fine, I’ll cover for you. Just for tonight though.”
“Thanks Wy. I need it.”
She thought her sister would hang up then, but she added: “You know it’s for things like that that I’m kinda glad dad got you a guard dog.” She then proceeded to cut off the communication before Waverly could answer.
It stung. Wynonna was always on her side. Except this time… Damn, it stung.