Chapter Text
“Let me do the talking.” Mae said demurely.
“Talking? With who?” Elle asked cautiously.
Elle and Mae stood at the doorstep of a quaint-looking suburban home. Stressed and nervous, Elle jittered in place as Mae seemed to be steeling herself for whatever lay beyond the front door to her house. It didn’t inspire much confidence.
“My parents.” Mae groaned.
“Wait, what?! You didn’t tell me about them!” Elle shouted in a panic. “Oh god, how the hell is this gonna work out?!”
“Probably pretty badly.” Mae laughed.
The stress that Elle had been feeling quadrupled in a split second, and it felt like she could go into cardiac arrest at any moment. She had no clue how to handle the kind of situation that she was about to be thrown into, having a homeless stranger arrive in your home to use your shower would put any sane person off. All Elle could hope for was that Mae’s parents were as comedically blasé as Mae herself.
Before Elle could back out, Mae twisted the doorknob to her home and opened the door. Motioning for Elle to follow, she walked into the foyer as confidently as she could while carrying the bag of Elle’s new clothes. Elle stayed a distance back while following, just in case.
“I’m home, mom!” Mae shouted.
“Hiya, sweetie! Come see me in the kitchen!” Mae’s mother shouted back.
“Oh, uh, okay!” Mae yelled.
Elle hid and peeked out from behind the stairs as Mae walked over to the kitchen, setting the bag of clothes on the table and jumping up on the countertop. Her mother was sitting on a chair, reading a book.
“What’s in the bag?” Mae’s mother questioned.
“It’s clothes.” Mae said awkwardly.
“You went clothes shopping?” Mae’s mother asked incredulously. “What’s the special occasion?”
“Ah, well…” Mae started. “Uh, you can come out of hiding, you know!”
Put on the spot, Elle inched out from her hiding spot and into the kitchen. The blank stare of Mae’s mother caused her to shrink backwards, but she managed a few words despite herself.
“Um… hey, what’s… poppin’?” Elle choked out.
They weren’t particularly good words, but it was the effort that counted.
Mae’s mother looked over Elle’s filthy clothes, and while Elle couldn’t help but cringe imagining what she was thinking, her face didn’t betray any kind of strong emotion.
“Mae, who is this.” she deadpanned.
“This is Elle! She’s a homeless person who I’m helping.” Mae said with what seemed like confidence.
After an uncomfortable silence, Mae’s mother turned to her daughter.
“I wasn’t aware I invited her over.” she replied flatly.
“Mom!” Mae yelled irritably.
“I’m kidding, dear, relax.” Mae’s mother laughed. “I had hoped you’d find someone special soon, I just hoped it would be someone with better personal hygiene.”
“Mom! First off, rude, second, we’re not-” Mae started, before being cut off.
“Again, I’m kidding.” Mae’s mother said, giggling to herself.
“Very funny.” Mae huffed, crossing her arms.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Elle.” Mae’s mother said, turning to Elle and smiling.
“I-it’s nice to meet you too, Mrs…?” Elle replied.
“Borowski.” Mae’s mother clarified. “But you can just call me Candy if you’d like.”
“Yay, we’re all friends, aaaanyways. Can Elle use our shower? That’s why I got her these clothes, she’s not exactly… clean right now.” Mae said.
“First off, rude.” Candy imitated, causing Mae to roll her eyes. “Second, sure, why not.”
“Wait, really?” Mae coughed. “Thanks, mom!”
It really did appear that Mae’s parents were just as blasé as their child.
‘Like mother like daughter.’ Elle thought to herself.
“No problem dear. While Elle cleans up, I’d like to have a talk with you, alright?” Candy asked, causing Mae to sigh slightly.
“Alright mom.” she mumbled. “The bathroom is up the stairs and to the left, Elle.”
“T-thanks.” Elle stuttered, grabbing the bag of clothes off of the table and stumbling up the stairs.
On the second floor and out of earshot, Elle let out a long sigh.
“I really need to learn how to… exist better.” she said to herself. “I probably seemed like the biggest pussy in the world.”
Pushing open the bathroom door, the interior seemed quite neat and tidy. Elle couldn’t decide if it was expected or unexpected. She took the new clothes out of the bag and set them on the counter, then got to taking off her old clothes.
As much as she didn’t want to impose, she really wanted to keep her Steel Fella shirt and hoped that Candy would be willing to clean it for her. Or pay for her to use a laundromat, if Possum Springs even had such a thing. The shirt meant a lot to her, even if it was far too small for her to be wearing these days.
“I wish I could’ve gotten her a present that year.” Elle mumbled. “I wish I could have done something.”
Choosing to suppress the oncoming wave of memories and regrets, Elle put her dirty clothes in the bag now that it wasn’t in use and stepped into the shower. The ice-cold water immediately put her mind at-
“AAAACK, COLD!” Elle screamed, immediately turning off the water and stepping out of the shower.
Dripping wet on the tile of the bathroom floor and shivering cold, Elle turned on the shower while outside of it and waited for it to get hot. Once it was of acceptable temperature, she stepped in again. The warmth of the water seeped into her, and her stress melted away… to an extent.
Taking the time to reflect, Elle thought about her current situation. While she was glad that Mae had helped her out, she didn’t know how to feel about her as a person. Part of her felt like Mae was putting up with her and no more, or was simply helping for some selfish reason. Her more logical side told her that Mae was simply just a good person, but that nagging feeling of doubt still lingered.
“Stop being so doubtful, you ungrateful cunt.” Elle scolded herself quietly. “You should be glad anyone is bothering with you.”
With a huff, Elle tried to distract herself by thinking about better times from the past, and it mostly worked. The rest of her shower went well, and eventually she had sufficiently cleaned and dried herself off.
Unfortunately for her, the water that she had dripped onto the floor hadn’t dried. Stepping out of the shower, Elle slipped on the wet floor and landed right on the shower divider with her back.
“AUGHHHH, FUCKFUCKFUUUUUCK!” she howled after the impact, thoroughly convinced in the moment she had just broken her back.
It took a few minutes for Elle to stop groaning in pain, and while it was thoroughly uncomfortable, she managed to get herself off of the floor. Hobbling over to the counter, she looked over herself in the mirror.
“I think God hates me. At least I’m clean now?” Elle sighed.
Elle stepped back down the stairs wearing her new clothes and walked over to the kitchen. Both Mae and Candy were discussing something quietly, but as she walked in they both stopped talking and looked at her awkwardly.
“Ah, hey Elle, sounds like y- woah.” Mae said, eyes widening and glancing over Elle head to toe.
“U-uh, what?” Elle asked, a touch uncomfortable with how Mae was staring at her.
“You look… awesome. Those clothes are amazing on you!” Mae cheered, and Elle found herself a blushing mess.
“Ah, er, t-thanks…” she said, barely audible.
“Sweetie, don’t make Elle too flustered.” Candy chuckled.
“What? I can’t compliment my friends?” Mae asked, crossing her arms.
“You just met her today and you’re already friends?” Candy asked in response.
Mae didn’t have a response. Not because she chose not to say anything, but because she didn’t know what to say.
“Well, thank you so much Mrs. Borowski. I am in debt to you for this, honestly.” Elle said as seriously as she could, still a touch flustered.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Anything to help a member of the community. Let me know if there’s anything else we can do to help, I’m sure I can get Pastor Kate to help you out.” Candy said, smiling warmly.
“T-thank you.” Elle replied, smiling in return.
“WELL!” Mae shouted, catching her mother and Elle off-guard. “I’m gonna show Elle around the town a bit!”
“Oh, okay dear. Stay safe, and remember what I told you.” Candy said, giving a serious glance to her daughter.
“Yes mom, I know…” Mae mumbled, glancing down at the floor. “Anyways, bye mom!”
Mae was quick to drag Elle out of the house, and down the Borowski’s front yard.
“So, enjoyed that shower, huh?” Mae asked in a strange tone.
“Uh… yeah?” Elle muttered.
“I’m not judging, or anything! It’s just kinda weird to… y’know.” Mae said, looking behind her shoulder at Elle.
“...what?” Elle questioned.
“You were making a lot of noise.”
“Oh, uh-”
“I’m not like, a prude, but at least keep it down a bit?” Mae cut off awkwardly.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about? I just-” Elle started, confused.
“You were masturbating, right?”
“WHAT? NO!”
“You don’t have to like, lie, I get it’s embarrassing-” Mae attempted to reason.
“I just fell! I slipped and fell in the shower!” Elle whispered. “It wasn’t… I wouldn’t do that in someone’s shower!”
“It really sounded like… orgasm-y.” Mae said.
“Well, i-it wasn’t… that!” Elle huffed.
“Alllllrighty then!” Mae proclaimed, really not sounding convinced at all.
Elle still wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her, but regardless she followed along as Mae began leading her down the sidewalk.