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✨The Long Walk (book/movie)
✨The Hunger Games (books/movies)
The Long Walk Fic Masterlist
The Hunger Games Fic Masterlist - Coming Soon
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Was reading through some scrapped scenes for The Walker House and I need to show this particular line bc I love it but I don't think I'll be able to reuse it for any future installments.
“Equally terrifying. Not sure I’m ready to meet the woman who raised a freak like that,” McVries joked, affection edging his voice. Stebbins was a freak, but he was the Walker Boys’ freak (maybe even moreso Garraty and McVries’ freak).
Rating: Explicit
Chapter Warnings: N/A
Pairings: Mary Alice Stebbins x Eloise Barkovitch (Mama Stebbins x Mama Barkovitch)
Word Count: 2003
Summary:
Mary Alice Stebbins and Eloise Barkovitch used to be friends.
That was years ago. Once they graduated high school, they parted ways, expecting to never see each other again.
Now Eloise is a single mom to a teen boy, and has just moved to Maine to get a fresh start. The last person she expects to run into is Mary Alice, who also has a teenage son. When Eloise offers Mary Alice a place to live for the time being, who is she to say no?
TLW Fic Masterlist
Chapter Masterlist - Coming Soon
Read on AO3
“Where d’you think you’ll go after high school?”
“Jail, probably.”
Mary Alice frowned at the girl on the ground. Eloise was on her hands and knees, looking at the bottom row of a library book case for the proper spot for a book. Technically, Mary Alice should’ve been the one looking, she was the librarian’s student assistant after all. But she was wearing a skirt today, and Eloise was a lot more spry than she was. The skirt thing alone made Eloise insist she’d look at the bottom shelves for Mary Alice. So despite the fact that Eloise was probably skipping her sixth period (Mary Alice never actually asked, she didn’t want Eloise to leave) and despite the fact that she wasn’t a library assistant, Mary Alice let her help.
“I mean, will you stay in Maine?” Mary Alice clarified.
“Oh, fuck no,” Eloise replied, finally slotting a book into a spot and sitting back on her haunches. She brushed her dishwater-blonde hair out of her face, “If I never see snow again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Where will you go, then?” Mary Alice asked, starting to push the library cart down the aisle. Eloise hopped to her feet to follow.
“Florida— That’s where I’m from. Where my mom lives, too. Second I’m eighteen, I’m ditchin’ dad and runnin’ straight to her,” Eloise declared. “What about you?”
“… I think I’ll go to Texas,” Mary Alice mused.
“Is that where you’re from?”
“Technically, I’m from Guam.”
“… What?”
“Daddy was based at a military station there when Mama was pregnant with me.”
“Where the fuck is Guam??”
Mary Alice paused, staring off into the distance the way she did whenever she was thinking hard on something. “… I don’t know, actually.”
“You’re tellin’ me if I gave you a map and asked you to point to where you were born, you wouldn’t be able to do it?”
“Would you be able to point out Guam on a map?”
“I’m not the one who was fuckin’ born there, Ma!” Eloise points out, using the nickname only she was allowed to use (“Mary Alice is a mouthful, I’m just gonna call you Ma for short.”)
Mary Alice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the smile that came over her face. “Anyways, I think I’ll go to Texas.”
“Think you’ll find some rich oil-tycoon to marry?” Eloise joked, grabbing one of the books from the cart and looking it over, wrinkling her nose slightly at it— Clearly not a title she liked.
“No, but maybe I’ll find someone nice to marry. Settle down, have a few kids,” Mary Alice mused. Eloise looked at her like she had two heads.
“A few??”
She nodded, “I wish I had siblings, I think I would’a been a lot less lonely if I had some. I don’t want my kids to be lonely like that.”
“… Hm. Makes sense when you put it like that,” Eloise stretched her arms over her head, “Personally, I’d be one-and-done, and that’s if I have any at all.”
Mary Alice held back a smile, “That’d be a disaster.”
“What, me having kids?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Eloise looked offended, before saying, “I said ‘if’ for a reason!”
“At least you’re self-aware.”
Eloise grinned, biting her lip so as not to laugh. The image made butterflies stir in Mary Alice’s stomach, but she pushed the feeling down. “You wanna be close to your mom?”
“Oh yeah. You know how lame my dad is.” Eloise looked down the aisle, her tone not inviting further questioning on the subject.
Mary Alice didn’t push the subject, pulling the cart to a stop to put away a few more books. Eloise leaned against the cart, careful not to accidentally push it. “Do you think we’ll stay friends after graduation?” Mary Alice asked.
“Huh?” Eloise looked at her like it caught her off-guard.
Mary Alice got to her tip-toes as she reached to put away another book. “Do you think we’ll still be friends?”
Eloise plucked the book from Mary Alice’s hand and put it on the shelf for her. When Mary Alice looked at her, her brow was furrowed. “Sure, why not?”
“Florida’s far away. From both Maine and Texas.” Mary Alice pointed out.
“Phones exist, dummy,” Eloise retorted, leaning against the cart again. This time, she accidentally pushed it and nearly stumbled, quickly grabbing the cart to stop it and catch herself. Mary Alice slapped a hand over her mouth and Eloise bit her lip to stop themselves from dissolving into a fit of laughter. Eloise let out a shaky breath, before looking at Mary Alice, her green eyes boring into her. “What’re you getting at, Ma?”
Mary Alice was quiet for a long moment, before giving Eloise a sad smile. “I don’t think we’re going to be friends after high school, El.”
The smile faded from Eloise’s face. “… What, you’re not even going to try and keep contact? People have penpals and shit all the time!”
“El, quiet,” Mary Alice hissed.
Eloise continued, her voice a harsh whisper, “So what, we just graduate and never see each other again? That’s it? Gee, I see how much I fuckin’ meant to you—”
“We both wanna move far away, Eloise. Tell me you’d be friends with me if we weren’t in the same building five days a week?” Mary Alice prompted.
“You think I’m that much of a piece of shit? We’re only friends ‘cus of proximity?!”
“I never said you were a piece of shit—”
“Oh it was fuckin’ implied, Mary Alice!”
“I just— I just wanted to say we should enjoy the time we have left—”
“Go find someone else to enjoy the time with.” Eloise turned away, scowl on her face as she stormed away, leaving Mary Alice alone in the aisle.
Mary Alice stared after Eloise, even after the other girl was out of sight, stunned. All she had wanted was to get on the same page— To know that there was a definitive end to their high school friendship, instead of letting it peter off into nothing. Mary Alice had learned a long time ago that she was not good at keeping contact with people once she moved somewhere new— Which was often.
Knowing Eloise, she could cool off and come back in an hour or a month. Mary Alice desperately hoped it was the former this time. There were only two months of school left before graduation, and she very much wanted to cherish what little time she had left with her friend.
Mary Alice pushed the cart further down the aisle, trying to think of where she went wrong in the conversation, and hoping that Eloise would see some sense.
●
Call it pride or stubbornness, but Eloise was now sorely regretting whatever it was that kept her from talking to Mary Alice. Because a day quickly turned into a week, which turned into a month, and now they were at graduation. Eloise could count on one hand the amount of times she’d talked to Mary Alice in the last two months.
What’s more, but as soon as graduation was done, she hopping into a car and driving down to Florida.
Eloise dug her nails into the palm of her hand as she waited her turn to walk. She glanced back to the students who were still seated, looking around where the S last names must’ve been.
Mary Alice was sitting in one of the chairs, donning an emerald green graduation gown and cap, her sunny blonde hair in a braid over her shoulder, a few wavy strands escaping and framing her face. Eloise could already imagine her insisting to her mother to keep her hair fairly simple, not having the patience for it to be styled. Meanwhile, Eloise had slept in curlers to give her hair gorgeous Hollywood waves.
The person behind Eloise cleared their throat, and she realized the line ahead had moved. She turned back and quickly followed. Once she was caught up, she looked out to the bleachers, where everyone’s families were waiting. Her dad wasn’t going to be there— He claimed he had work, but Eloise knew he also wanted to make her feel bad for moving back home to her mom. No, she was looking for her mom.
She spotted the leopard-print dress first, which she couldn’t help but smile at. Debbie Barkovitch grinned and waved at her daughter from her spot in the bleachers, her nails and lipstick matching shades of firetruck red, her hair bleached strawberry blonde and permed to perfection. Eloise grinned more and gave a small wave. Already she couldn’t wait for this ceremony to be over, so she could hop into her mom’s packed-full car and kiss Maine goodbye.
But then she remembered Mary Alice, and something twisted in her stomach.
“Eloise Barkovitch,” The vice principal read into the mic. Eloise pulled a grin back on as she walked across the stage, taking her high school diploma and shaking the principal’s hand. As she walked off stage, she turned to where her mom was in the bleacher’s and triumphantly held up her diploma, grinning the whole way. Debbie Barkovitch was clapping her hands off and let out a proud yell.
She quickly made her way offstage and down to take her seat in the crowd again. Once she was situated, she turned her attention back to the line of students. Damn Ma’s height, she’d be a lot easier to spot if she wasn’t so short.
Eventually, she heard, “Mary Alice Stebbins,” from the stage, and her friend (were they still friends?) walked across the stage. Eloise clapped as loudly as she could, but resisted the urge to yell out.
Once the ceremony drew to a close, and the hats were thrown and everyone was cheering and everyone were officially high school graduates, Eloise stood up and booked it to the bleachers.
Her Mom was already making her way down the field, and she was the first to throw her arms around Eloise. “I’m so proud of you, baby!” Eloise grinned and hugged back, before her Mom pulled away to look at her. “You got anyone you wanna say goodbye to before we go?”
Yes, Eloise thought, but she’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel too late to do so. Eloise didn’t have many friends, not many that weren’t extremely superficial at least. The only one who really felt like a friend to her was Mary Alice. Maybe that’s why Ma saying they wouldn’t be friend after high school hurt so much.
“You go say bye to your friends, I’ll go get the car started,” Her Mom lightly pinched her cheek, drawing out an annoyed noise from Eloise before she gave one more hug and started heading to the parking lot.
This was it. This was Eloise’s last chance to say goodbye.
She looked around the crowd of people, going on her toes to try and get a better view. She spotted Mary Alice’s father first— He was a tall, stern man, and hard to miss even in a crowd. Relief flooded her heart for a moment as she started to bee-line towards the group. But once she saw Mary Alice, she froze up.
It’d been two months. What if Mary Alice was already over her? She certainly hadn’t given her much reason to stick out for their friendship. What would she even say to her right now? I’m sorry I was an idiot, now it’s time for us to no longer be friends anyways? Was there any point to making up if it was just going to end anyways?
Mary Alice hadn’t noticed Eloise yet, her back to the girl as she talked to her parents.
Eloise swallowed hard, then turned and started heading to the parking lot. She tried to imagine what the road trip down the Florida was going to be like, ignoring the hollow pang in her heart as she left Mary Alice behind.
Rating: Explicit
Chapter Warnings: N/A
Pairings: Mary Alice Stebbins x Eloise Barkovitch (Mama Stebbins x Mama Barkovitch)
Word Count: 2003
Summary:
Mary Alice Stebbins and Eloise Barkovitch used to be friends.
That was years ago. Once they graduated high school, they parted ways, expecting to never see each other again.
Now Eloise is a single mom to a teen boy, and has just moved to Maine to get a fresh start. The last person she expects to run into is Mary Alice, who also has a teenage son. When Eloise offers Mary Alice a place to live for the time being, who is she to say no?
TLW Fic Masterlist
Chapter Masterlist - Coming Soon
Read on AO3
“Where d’you think you’ll go after high school?”
“Jail, probably.”
Mary Alice frowned at the girl on the ground. Eloise was on her hands and knees, looking at the bottom row of a library book case for the proper spot for a book. Technically, Mary Alice should’ve been the one looking, she was the librarian’s student assistant after all. But she was wearing a skirt today, and Eloise was a lot more spry than she was. The skirt thing alone made Eloise insist she’d look at the bottom shelves for Mary Alice. So despite the fact that Eloise was probably skipping her sixth period (Mary Alice never actually asked, she didn’t want Eloise to leave) and despite the fact that she wasn’t a library assistant, Mary Alice let her help.
“I mean, will you stay in Maine?” Mary Alice clarified.
“Oh, fuck no,” Eloise replied, finally slotting a book into a spot and sitting back on her haunches. She brushed her dishwater-blonde hair out of her face, “If I never see snow again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Where will you go, then?” Mary Alice asked, starting to push the library cart down the aisle. Eloise hopped to her feet to follow.
“Florida— That’s where I’m from. Where my mom lives, too. Second I’m eighteen, I’m ditchin’ dad and runnin’ straight to her,” Eloise declared. “What about you?”
“… I think I’ll go to Texas,” Mary Alice mused.
“Is that where you’re from?”
“Technically, I’m from Guam.”
“… What?”
“Daddy was based at a military station there when Mama was pregnant with me.”
“Where the fuck is Guam??”
Mary Alice paused, staring off into the distance the way she did whenever she was thinking hard on something. “… I don’t know, actually.”
“You’re tellin’ me if I gave you a map and asked you to point to where you were born, you wouldn’t be able to do it?”
“Would you be able to point out Guam on a map?”
“I’m not the one who was fuckin’ born there, Ma!” Eloise points out, using the nickname only she was allowed to use (“Mary Alice is a mouthful, I’m just gonna call you Ma for short.”)
Mary Alice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the smile that came over her face. “Anyways, I think I’ll go to Texas.”
“Think you’ll find some rich oil-tycoon to marry?” Eloise joked, grabbing one of the books from the cart and looking it over, wrinkling her nose slightly at it— Clearly not a title she liked.
“No, but maybe I’ll find someone nice to marry. Settle down, have a few kids,” Mary Alice mused. Eloise looked at her like she had two heads.
“A few??”
She nodded, “I wish I had siblings, I think I would’a been a lot less lonely if I had some. I don’t want my kids to be lonely like that.”
“… Hm. Makes sense when you put it like that,” Eloise stretched her arms over her head, “Personally, I’d be one-and-done, and that’s if I have any at all.”
Mary Alice held back a smile, “That’d be a disaster.”
“What, me having kids?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Eloise looked offended, before saying, “I said ‘if’ for a reason!”
“At least you’re self-aware.”
Eloise grinned, biting her lip so as not to laugh. The image made butterflies stir in Mary Alice’s stomach, but she pushed the feeling down. “You wanna be close to your mom?”
“Oh yeah. You know how lame my dad is.” Eloise looked down the aisle, her tone not inviting further questioning on the subject.
Mary Alice didn’t push the subject, pulling the cart to a stop to put away a few more books. Eloise leaned against the cart, careful not to accidentally push it. “Do you think we’ll stay friends after graduation?” Mary Alice asked.
“Huh?” Eloise looked at her like it caught her off-guard.
Mary Alice got to her tip-toes as she reached to put away another book. “Do you think we’ll still be friends?”
Eloise plucked the book from Mary Alice’s hand and put it on the shelf for her. When Mary Alice looked at her, her brow was furrowed. “Sure, why not?”
“Florida’s far away. From both Maine and Texas.” Mary Alice pointed out.
“Phones exist, dummy,” Eloise retorted, leaning against the cart again. This time, she accidentally pushed it and nearly stumbled, quickly grabbing the cart to stop it and catch herself. Mary Alice slapped a hand over her mouth and Eloise bit her lip to stop themselves from dissolving into a fit of laughter. Eloise let out a shaky breath, before looking at Mary Alice, her green eyes boring into her. “What’re you getting at, Ma?”
Mary Alice was quiet for a long moment, before giving Eloise a sad smile. “I don’t think we’re going to be friends after high school, El.”
The smile faded from Eloise’s face. “… What, you’re not even going to try and keep contact? People have penpals and shit all the time!”
“El, quiet,” Mary Alice hissed.
Eloise continued, her voice a harsh whisper, “So what, we just graduate and never see each other again? That’s it? Gee, I see how much I fuckin’ meant to you—”
“We both wanna move far away, Eloise. Tell me you’d be friends with me if we weren’t in the same building five days a week?” Mary Alice prompted.
“You think I’m that much of a piece of shit? We’re only friends ‘cus of proximity?!”
“I never said you were a piece of shit—”
“Oh it was fuckin’ implied, Mary Alice!”
“I just— I just wanted to say we should enjoy the time we have left—”
“Go find someone else to enjoy the time with.” Eloise turned away, scowl on her face as she stormed away, leaving Mary Alice alone in the aisle.
Mary Alice stared after Eloise, even after the other girl was out of sight, stunned. All she had wanted was to get on the same page— To know that there was a definitive end to their high school friendship, instead of letting it peter off into nothing. Mary Alice had learned a long time ago that she was not good at keeping contact with people once she moved somewhere new— Which was often.
Knowing Eloise, she could cool off and come back in an hour or a month. Mary Alice desperately hoped it was the former this time. There were only two months of school left before graduation, and she very much wanted to cherish what little time she had left with her friend.
Mary Alice pushed the cart further down the aisle, trying to think of where she went wrong in the conversation, and hoping that Eloise would see some sense.
●
Call it pride or stubbornness, but Eloise was now sorely regretting whatever it was that kept her from talking to Mary Alice. Because a day quickly turned into a week, which turned into a month, and now they were at graduation. Eloise could count on one hand the amount of times she’d talked to Mary Alice in the last two months.
What’s more, but as soon as graduation was done, she hopping into a car and driving down to Florida.
Eloise dug her nails into the palm of her hand as she waited her turn to walk. She glanced back to the students who were still seated, looking around where the S last names must’ve been.
Mary Alice was sitting in one of the chairs, donning an emerald green graduation gown and cap, her sunny blonde hair in a braid over her shoulder, a few wavy strands escaping and framing her face. Eloise could already imagine her insisting to her mother to keep her hair fairly simple, not having the patience for it to be styled. Meanwhile, Eloise had slept in curlers to give her hair gorgeous Hollywood waves.
The person behind Eloise cleared their throat, and she realized the line ahead had moved. She turned back and quickly followed. Once she was caught up, she looked out to the bleachers, where everyone’s families were waiting. Her dad wasn’t going to be there— He claimed he had work, but Eloise knew he also wanted to make her feel bad for moving back home to her mom. No, she was looking for her mom.
She spotted the leopard-print dress first, which she couldn’t help but smile at. Debbie Barkovitch grinned and waved at her daughter from her spot in the bleachers, her nails and lipstick matching shades of firetruck red, her hair bleached strawberry blonde and permed to perfection. Eloise grinned more and gave a small wave. Already she couldn’t wait for this ceremony to be over, so she could hop into her mom’s packed-full car and kiss Maine goodbye.
But then she remembered Mary Alice, and something twisted in her stomach.
“Eloise Barkovitch,” The vice principal read into the mic. Eloise pulled a grin back on as she walked across the stage, taking her high school diploma and shaking the principal’s hand. As she walked off stage, she turned to where her mom was in the bleacher’s and triumphantly held up her diploma, grinning the whole way. Debbie Barkovitch was clapping her hands off and let out a proud yell.
She quickly made her way offstage and down to take her seat in the crowd again. Once she was situated, she turned her attention back to the line of students. Damn Ma’s height, she’d be a lot easier to spot if she wasn’t so short.
Eventually, she heard, “Mary Alice Stebbins,” from the stage, and her friend (were they still friends?) walked across the stage. Eloise clapped as loudly as she could, but resisted the urge to yell out.
Once the ceremony drew to a close, and the hats were thrown and everyone was cheering and everyone were officially high school graduates, Eloise stood up and booked it to the bleachers.
Her Mom was already making her way down the field, and she was the first to throw her arms around Eloise. “I’m so proud of you, baby!” Eloise grinned and hugged back, before her Mom pulled away to look at her. “You got anyone you wanna say goodbye to before we go?”
Yes, Eloise thought, but she’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel too late to do so. Eloise didn’t have many friends, not many that weren’t extremely superficial at least. The only one who really felt like a friend to her was Mary Alice. Maybe that’s why Ma saying they wouldn’t be friend after high school hurt so much.
“You go say bye to your friends, I’ll go get the car started,” Her Mom lightly pinched her cheek, drawing out an annoyed noise from Eloise before she gave one more hug and started heading to the parking lot.
This was it. This was Eloise’s last chance to say goodbye.
She looked around the crowd of people, going on her toes to try and get a better view. She spotted Mary Alice’s father first— He was a tall, stern man, and hard to miss even in a crowd. Relief flooded her heart for a moment as she started to bee-line towards the group. But once she saw Mary Alice, she froze up.
It’d been two months. What if Mary Alice was already over her? She certainly hadn’t given her much reason to stick out for their friendship. What would she even say to her right now? I’m sorry I was an idiot, now it’s time for us to no longer be friends anyways? Was there any point to making up if it was just going to end anyways?
Mary Alice hadn’t noticed Eloise yet, her back to the girl as she talked to her parents.
Eloise swallowed hard, then turned and started heading to the parking lot. She tried to imagine what the road trip down the Florida was going to be like, ignoring the hollow pang in her heart as she left Mary Alice behind.
Rating: Explicit
Chapter Warnings: N/A
Pairings: Mary Alice Stebbins x Eloise Barkovitch (Mama Stebbins x Mama Barkovitch)
Word Count: 2003
Summary:
Mary Alice Stebbins and Eloise Barkovitch used to be friends.
That was years ago. Once they graduated high school, they parted ways, expecting to never see each other again.
Now Eloise is a single mom to a teen boy, and has just moved to Maine to get a fresh start. The last person she expects to run into is Mary Alice, who also has a teenage son. When Eloise offers Mary Alice a place to live for the time being, who is she to say no?
TLW Fic Masterlist
Chapter Masterlist - Coming Soon
Read on AO3
“Where d’you think you’ll go after high school?”
“Jail, probably.”
Mary Alice frowned at the girl on the ground. Eloise was on her hands and knees, looking at the bottom row of a library book case for the proper spot for a book. Technically, Mary Alice should’ve been the one looking, she was the librarian’s student assistant after all. But she was wearing a skirt today, and Eloise was a lot more spry than she was. The skirt thing alone made Eloise insist she’d look at the bottom shelves for Mary Alice. So despite the fact that Eloise was probably skipping her sixth period (Mary Alice never actually asked, she didn’t want Eloise to leave) and despite the fact that she wasn’t a library assistant, Mary Alice let her help.
“I mean, will you stay in Maine?” Mary Alice clarified.
“Oh, fuck no,” Eloise replied, finally slotting a book into a spot and sitting back on her haunches. She brushed her dishwater-blonde hair out of her face, “If I never see snow again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Where will you go, then?” Mary Alice asked, starting to push the library cart down the aisle. Eloise hopped to her feet to follow.
“Florida— That’s where I’m from. Where my mom lives, too. Second I’m eighteen, I’m ditchin’ dad and runnin’ straight to her,” Eloise declared. “What about you?”
“… I think I’ll go to Texas,” Mary Alice mused.
“Is that where you’re from?”
“Technically, I’m from Guam.”
“… What?”
“Daddy was based at a military station there when Mama was pregnant with me.”
“Where the fuck is Guam??”
Mary Alice paused, staring off into the distance the way she did whenever she was thinking hard on something. “… I don’t know, actually.”
“You’re tellin’ me if I gave you a map and asked you to point to where you were born, you wouldn’t be able to do it?”
“Would you be able to point out Guam on a map?”
“I’m not the one who was fuckin’ born there, Ma!” Eloise points out, using the nickname only she was allowed to use (“Mary Alice is a mouthful, I’m just gonna call you Ma for short.”)
Mary Alice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the smile that came over her face. “Anyways, I think I’ll go to Texas.”
“Think you’ll find some rich oil-tycoon to marry?” Eloise joked, grabbing one of the books from the cart and looking it over, wrinkling her nose slightly at it— Clearly not a title she liked.
“No, but maybe I’ll find someone nice to marry. Settle down, have a few kids,” Mary Alice mused. Eloise looked at her like she had two heads.
“A few??”
She nodded, “I wish I had siblings, I think I would’a been a lot less lonely if I had some. I don’t want my kids to be lonely like that.”
“… Hm. Makes sense when you put it like that,” Eloise stretched her arms over her head, “Personally, I’d be one-and-done, and that’s if I have any at all.”
Mary Alice held back a smile, “That’d be a disaster.”
“What, me having kids?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Eloise looked offended, before saying, “I said ‘if’ for a reason!”
“At least you’re self-aware.”
Eloise grinned, biting her lip so as not to laugh. The image made butterflies stir in Mary Alice’s stomach, but she pushed the feeling down. “You wanna be close to your mom?”
“Oh yeah. You know how lame my dad is.” Eloise looked down the aisle, her tone not inviting further questioning on the subject.
Mary Alice didn’t push the subject, pulling the cart to a stop to put away a few more books. Eloise leaned against the cart, careful not to accidentally push it. “Do you think we’ll stay friends after graduation?” Mary Alice asked.
“Huh?” Eloise looked at her like it caught her off-guard.
Mary Alice got to her tip-toes as she reached to put away another book. “Do you think we’ll still be friends?”
Eloise plucked the book from Mary Alice’s hand and put it on the shelf for her. When Mary Alice looked at her, her brow was furrowed. “Sure, why not?”
“Florida’s far away. From both Maine and Texas.” Mary Alice pointed out.
“Phones exist, dummy,” Eloise retorted, leaning against the cart again. This time, she accidentally pushed it and nearly stumbled, quickly grabbing the cart to stop it and catch herself. Mary Alice slapped a hand over her mouth and Eloise bit her lip to stop themselves from dissolving into a fit of laughter. Eloise let out a shaky breath, before looking at Mary Alice, her green eyes boring into her. “What’re you getting at, Ma?”
Mary Alice was quiet for a long moment, before giving Eloise a sad smile. “I don’t think we’re going to be friends after high school, El.”
The smile faded from Eloise’s face. “… What, you’re not even going to try and keep contact? People have penpals and shit all the time!”
“El, quiet,” Mary Alice hissed.
Eloise continued, her voice a harsh whisper, “So what, we just graduate and never see each other again? That’s it? Gee, I see how much I fuckin’ meant to you—”
“We both wanna move far away, Eloise. Tell me you’d be friends with me if we weren’t in the same building five days a week?” Mary Alice prompted.
“You think I’m that much of a piece of shit? We’re only friends ‘cus of proximity?!”
“I never said you were a piece of shit—”
“Oh it was fuckin’ implied, Mary Alice!”
“I just— I just wanted to say we should enjoy the time we have left—”
“Go find someone else to enjoy the time with.” Eloise turned away, scowl on her face as she stormed away, leaving Mary Alice alone in the aisle.
Mary Alice stared after Eloise, even after the other girl was out of sight, stunned. All she had wanted was to get on the same page— To know that there was a definitive end to their high school friendship, instead of letting it peter off into nothing. Mary Alice had learned a long time ago that she was not good at keeping contact with people once she moved somewhere new— Which was often.
Knowing Eloise, she could cool off and come back in an hour or a month. Mary Alice desperately hoped it was the former this time. There were only two months of school left before graduation, and she very much wanted to cherish what little time she had left with her friend.
Mary Alice pushed the cart further down the aisle, trying to think of where she went wrong in the conversation, and hoping that Eloise would see some sense.
●
Call it pride or stubbornness, but Eloise was now sorely regretting whatever it was that kept her from talking to Mary Alice. Because a day quickly turned into a week, which turned into a month, and now they were at graduation. Eloise could count on one hand the amount of times she’d talked to Mary Alice in the last two months.
What’s more, but as soon as graduation was done, she hopping into a car and driving down to Florida.
Eloise dug her nails into the palm of her hand as she waited her turn to walk. She glanced back to the students who were still seated, looking around where the S last names must’ve been.
Mary Alice was sitting in one of the chairs, donning an emerald green graduation gown and cap, her sunny blonde hair in a braid over her shoulder, a few wavy strands escaping and framing her face. Eloise could already imagine her insisting to her mother to keep her hair fairly simple, not having the patience for it to be styled. Meanwhile, Eloise had slept in curlers to give her hair gorgeous Hollywood waves.
The person behind Eloise cleared their throat, and she realized the line ahead had moved. She turned back and quickly followed. Once she was caught up, she looked out to the bleachers, where everyone’s families were waiting. Her dad wasn’t going to be there— He claimed he had work, but Eloise knew he also wanted to make her feel bad for moving back home to her mom. No, she was looking for her mom.
She spotted the leopard-print dress first, which she couldn’t help but smile at. Debbie Barkovitch grinned and waved at her daughter from her spot in the bleachers, her nails and lipstick matching shades of firetruck red, her hair bleached strawberry blonde and permed to perfection. Eloise grinned more and gave a small wave. Already she couldn’t wait for this ceremony to be over, so she could hop into her mom’s packed-full car and kiss Maine goodbye.
But then she remembered Mary Alice, and something twisted in her stomach.
“Eloise Barkovitch,” The vice principal read into the mic. Eloise pulled a grin back on as she walked across the stage, taking her high school diploma and shaking the principal’s hand. As she walked off stage, she turned to where her mom was in the bleacher’s and triumphantly held up her diploma, grinning the whole way. Debbie Barkovitch was clapping her hands off and let out a proud yell.
She quickly made her way offstage and down to take her seat in the crowd again. Once she was situated, she turned her attention back to the line of students. Damn Ma’s height, she’d be a lot easier to spot if she wasn’t so short.
Eventually, she heard, “Mary Alice Stebbins,” from the stage, and her friend (were they still friends?) walked across the stage. Eloise clapped as loudly as she could, but resisted the urge to yell out.
Once the ceremony drew to a close, and the hats were thrown and everyone was cheering and everyone were officially high school graduates, Eloise stood up and booked it to the bleachers.
Her Mom was already making her way down the field, and she was the first to throw her arms around Eloise. “I’m so proud of you, baby!” Eloise grinned and hugged back, before her Mom pulled away to look at her. “You got anyone you wanna say goodbye to before we go?”
Yes, Eloise thought, but she’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel too late to do so. Eloise didn’t have many friends, not many that weren’t extremely superficial at least. The only one who really felt like a friend to her was Mary Alice. Maybe that’s why Ma saying they wouldn’t be friend after high school hurt so much.
“You go say bye to your friends, I’ll go get the car started,” Her Mom lightly pinched her cheek, drawing out an annoyed noise from Eloise before she gave one more hug and started heading to the parking lot.
This was it. This was Eloise’s last chance to say goodbye.
She looked around the crowd of people, going on her toes to try and get a better view. She spotted Mary Alice’s father first— He was a tall, stern man, and hard to miss even in a crowd. Relief flooded her heart for a moment as she started to bee-line towards the group. But once she saw Mary Alice, she froze up.
It’d been two months. What if Mary Alice was already over her? She certainly hadn’t given her much reason to stick out for their friendship. What would she even say to her right now? I’m sorry I was an idiot, now it’s time for us to no longer be friends anyways? Was there any point to making up if it was just going to end anyways?
Mary Alice hadn’t noticed Eloise yet, her back to the girl as she talked to her parents.
Eloise swallowed hard, then turned and started heading to the parking lot. She tried to imagine what the road trip down the Florida was going to be like, ignoring the hollow pang in her heart as she left Mary Alice behind.
sorry for all the asks about mom yuri but could we have some meemaw head canons?
i can’t wait for the fic !
Never apologize anon, I love answering questions about my fics!
Meemaw's name is Debbie Barkovitch!
Meemaw and Eloise's Dad divorced when Eloise was a teenager, and the relationship between Meemaw and Eloise was strained at the time so Eloise chose to live with her dad (that's what brought her to Maine the first time). However, this made Eloise miss Meemaw way more than she expected, so when she graduated high school she moved back in with Meemaw and has been stuck to her side ever since
She has an affinity for leopard-print patterns
She works as a hairdresser!
Billy gets attached to her fast (The boys fight for her attention lmao)
Meemaw used to be WILD in her youth (Eloise and Gary have to get it from somewhere- Tree apple worm if you will)
Meemaw fuckin HATES Gary's dad
Meemaw and Gary do a lotta cooking together. She taught both Eloise and Gary how to cook, but Eloise doesn't particularly enjoy cooking the way Meemaw and Gary do
Meemaw has suspicions that Eloise isn't straight, due to the fact that when she moved back in with her after high school she talked about this one friend of hers an awful lot like she had a crush on her (Mary Alice)
She jokes that if Eloise and Gary didn't live with her she would've become a crazy cat lady
any wips you’re excited about? hope you had a good break !
Thank you, I think it was a good break!
It's hard to say what WIPs Im excited for bc I'm honestly excited about all of them tbh, so I think I'm gonna use this as an excuse to ramble a bit about each of my WIPs (below the cut cus there's a lot)
TLW Star Trek AU - This is the newest one, and I'm so hyped for it I'm rewatching The Original Series and the AOS movies, as well as also starting Deep Space Nine! I only have a few plot lines thought up rn and am working on the intro fic to this.
Mom Yuri - I'm so excited to show people this particular version of Mama Stebbins and Mama Barkovitch, as well as how the step-sibling relationship between Gary and Billy grows! And of course Meemaw being the queen she is.
Mourning Chronicles - I'm really excited for chapter 3, which is the chapter that explores Collie's backstory! I'm like 2k words into it, but it's still got a ways to go, so I forsee a lot of the chapters for this fic to be very long ones (at least, long by my standards). But fun fact, one of my biggest inspirations for writing this AU was how Joshua Odjick said in an interview that he really wanted to play a vampire!
What Remains - I know I havent updated this one in ages, but I'm still working on it! I keep changing whose perspective should happen when and the exact order of events in this next chapter, so that's why it's taking so long. I have not abandoned my Alien Apocalypse AU though! (Spoiler: the chapter opens with Art returning to Earth)
Celebrities AU - I've got two fics being worked on for this series rn (well, three, but one is not going to come out for a looooong time). One is a fic on how Hank and Clementine met, and the other is about an episode of Keeping up with the Kingleys that takes place during a Vegas trip
The Walker House - STEBBINS IS GETTING PNEUMONIA ON GOD I PROMISE HE IS!!! The Pneumonia fic will probably be the second-to-last fic of Sophomore Year (NOT EVER, JUST OF THAT SCHOOL YEAR). Ironically, me almost getting pneumonia myself delayed this fic a lot
Thorns and Roses - The Quarter Quell is coming up and Im so excited for Reader to interact with all the other Victors and for Stebbins to pull some bullshit hehehehehe
Bring Down the King - I'm excited for Reader and Stebbins to meet each other in this next chapter! I know this one is also very slow-going, and to be honest part of that is bc Im considering scrapping it as a fic and just making it into an original series. Part of me is like, well with how much worldbuilding I've done I might as well, but also.... Stebbins. (Also I'm very reluctant to delete any of my posted works tbh. When I started posting fic again I told myself I'd never delete a fic, even if it was unfinished or if I left the fandom or what-not, but Im not certain. I'd also hate to disappoint anyone who wants to see how it continues, yknow?)
Hunger Games Fic 1 - My first HG fic (not counting Thorns and Roses) is about the first quarter quell! I've got like 6-8 main POV characters, and the POV is gonna switch between these characters so you're not certain which tribute will win! I've already made quite a few tragic characters for this, and it's all the more tragic that this is the quell where the tributes were voted in. Call me evil, but it's fun to come up with reasons why each tribute got voted in.
Hunger Games Fic 2 - This is an idea I've had for years, but it's an AU where instead of Katniss and Peeta going into the 74th games, it's Madge and Gale. I've been toying with the idea for like a year now and have finally decided to start writing it.
I think that covers pretty much all of them?? Thanks for letting me ramble!
Good god this line for a future Thorns and Roses chapter is cracking me up so much but I fear I may have to exclude it (scene may be too serious for it)
My hiatus is over, and I'm coming back with Chapter 25 of Thorns and Roses!
The good news is I do think going on hiatus has helped me, the bad news is my overall health is still in flux.
Because of this, while I am posting, updates are going to be slower than they were before. I am not abandoning any of my TLW fics/series, but I'm not going to be putting out as many updates as quickly as I was previously. I'm going to try not to pressure myself to get them out as quickly anymore, updates will simply come when they come.
On another note- Yes I am continuing my The Long Walk fics, but I'm also going to dip my toes into more fandoms- Namely The Hunger Games. I have two Hunger Games fics that I'm toying with rn, but I'll talk more about those when they're closer to being done!
Thank you guys for sticking around!! I appreciate it so much 💜
