𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 ☁𝙛𝙚𝙯𝙘𝙤

chapter 18 (aka episode 8) PT 1

How important they were.

Even though her mother made her mad, Eleanor still idolized her, not that she would ever admit it. She was a lot stronger than she seemed, and Eleanor had always envied that. The secret strength.

When her and Ethan were eight, their mom had wanted another baby. It was at the point when her marriage was falling apart, and the only way Judy could think to fix it was with a child.

Something holding them together, always. Nevermind the fact that her twins hadn't made him want to stay anymore.

But Judy had her twins later in life, and by the time she had wanted a baby again, it was too late. Her doctor said it was unlikely, and even if she could possibly conceive, the chance that the baby would be healthy was low.

And so she gave up, and a year and a half later, her husband left her, never looking back. Never caring about the family he left behind. But he didn't just leave her.

He left them. Two nine year olds and Judy, who thought she might just be broken, until she met Steven. Who made her think that, just maybe, she was fixable.

The same exact way Fez made Eleanor feel, for the first time since Nate Jacobs had left her, bleeding on a motel room carpet.

✧✧✧

Eleanor was having a staredown with the box that was clutched in her hand, as she sat on the toilet, pink dress bunched around her waist.

The box was taunting her, almost, and it was like it was telling her how stupid she was to even be in that situation in the first place.

Her phone buzzed, momentarily distracting her from the situation at hand. And distracting her from finally taking the pregnancy test.

kangarue🙏
i cannot believe you're missing this
there was an entire fucking scene about nate
oh my god
he actually lost his shit
ellephant🐘
oh god what??
kangarue🙏
it was so badass holy shit
you have to come bro
ellephant🐘
ahh we're abt to leave

Eleanor cursed herself. The longer she sat in the bathroom, refusing to take it, the more of Lexi's play she missed.

She had promised she'd be there, and the last thing she wanted to do was blow off Lexi for the possibility of two pink lines.

And so she ever-so-slowly opened the cardboard, staring at its contents- a plastic cup, a sheet of instructions, and the devil itself; the white and blue test, glaring up at her with its evil, non-existent eyes.

She reached into the box, pulling out the instructions. "Okay, so," Eleanor muttered, unfolding the pamphlet. "Take out the test. Stick it in my pee. Then put it in more of my pee. Fantastic."

And so that was exactly what she did- peed in a cup, unwrapped the test, stuck it into the stream of urine, waited five seconds, and then placed the test into the cup of her pee, before re-capping it and laying it down on the countertop.

Now all she had to do was wait. And the best way to spend your time? Scrolling through social media, obviously. Eleanor was stalking her friends Instagram when the sound of a glass shattering made her look up.