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English
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Published:
2021-01-16
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3,623
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1/1
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3
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Do You Ever Stop And Think About Me?

Summary:

Mary, an old friend of Courtney's, comes to visit Blue Valley

Notes:

Um, hi I hope you enjoy this and have a great day!

Work Text:

“Are you off the plane yet? Like all the way off?” Courtney asked into her phone, “Yeah you could probably ask someone- Rick get ready to turn no I was just talking to my friend.” Her leg was bouncing and as she chewed lightly on her lip.

Courtney finally hung up and said to her friends in the car, “You guys coming with me to pick up Mary really means a lot.”

“Of course. You’re our friend. What’s important to you is- next turn Rick important to us. Plus I’m super excited to meet Mary! Aren’t you Yolanda?” Beth said. Yolanda turned her head and nodded with a small smile.

Rick turned into the parking garage causing Beth to make a small comment about his lack of using the turn signal. Courtney didn’t really care. She was too focused on seeing her friend.

Courtney practically jumped out of the car when they finally parked. “Aren’t you guys coming?” she asked.

“We’ll wait in the car.” Rick said.

Courtney gave Yolanda a look, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the airport. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked her friend once they were inside.

“Nothing. I’m happy for you!”

“Promise?”

“Promise” Yolanda responded, linking their pinkies.

The two girls walked to the gate arm in arm, until Court’s phone began to ring. “What gate are you waiting in? Okay. Yeah we’re on our way.” she hung up and said, “She should be right down there.”

They stood in comfortable silence at the gate until someone yelled, “Courtney!”

She spun around and immediately started running towards Mary. Yolanda recognized her from the pictures on Court’s walls. Childhood pictures taken by Barbara, pictures from various photo booths, Halloween and Christmas pictures and of course, silly snapchat selfies. Yolanda sometimes got sad looking at them. She wondered if she would ever be good enough for Courtney like Mary was. She just wanted Courtney to know that she would (literally) jump off a building for her.

Courtney and Mary had stopped hugging and were walking over to where Yolanda stood. “Hi! I’m Mary.” she said and gave Yolanda a tight side hug. “Coutney’s told me so much about you. I love your jeans.”

“Oh! Thanks.” Yolanda wasn’t expecting Mary to be so nice. She expected a cocky, California girl like Mike described.

“C’mon, Beth and Rick are waiting in the car. Oh Mary you’ll absolutely love Beth! She’s so sweet. Kinda reminded me of you at first.” Courtney said, taking Mary’s arm in hers.

“So Yolanda,” Mary started, “do you play any sports?”

“I box!”

“Yes! Court told me. State champion right?”

Yolanda smiled and nodded.

“How’s gymnastics going?” Courtney asked Mary.

“Great! The team really misses you. I missed you.” she responded.

“Well I probably missed you more.” Courtney said with a smile.

~
~
~
They got outside and Rick helped put Mary’s bag in the very small trunk of the car. “I’m Beth! It's so nice to meet you Mary!” Beth said.

“Nice to meet you too!” Mary replied.

“Oh, and that’s Rick.” Beth added, pointing at Rick who was still struggling to close the trunk. Mary waved at him and got in the car. The trunk was finally closed and Rick sat down.

“Okay.” he huffed. The car wasn’t starting. “Are you serious! I fixed this two days ago.” he swore and got out to open the top.

Beth turned to Mary and said, “Believe it or not, this happens pretty frequently.”

“Beth,” Rick cut her off, “can you please start the car?”

She awkwardly shifted into the drivers seat.while Courtney rolled her eyes. “Sorry about this. You probably want to get on the next plane out of here. I wouldn’t blame you.”

Mary giggled and replied, “Not a chance, this is actually the most interesting thing that’s happened to me for a while.”

Rick finally got his car started and they began the 2 hour drive back to Blue Valley. Mary had been talking to Courtney about some old friends from school, her new puppy and the new gymnastics uniforms they had gotten that year.

“I feel like I’ve missed out on like everyone’s lives.” Courtney said.

“Not really, you forgot to call me last week and I got worried you had forgotten about me.” Mary replied.

“I am so sorry-”

“It’s honestly not a big deal, Court. You’ve been busy. I get it, I have been too. So, is Pat still annoying the crap out of you?”

Rick raised his eyebrows and looked back from the driver's seat, Beth shifted uncomfortable and Yolanda looked at Courtney.

“Uh… we’ve bonded a bit since I left. There’s a lot I need to catch you up on.” Courtney said with an awkward smile.

“Oh wait, wasn’t there a really bad earthquake near you a few months ago?” Mary asked.

“Like I said, a lot to catch you up on.”

“That’s for sure.” Yolanda murmured. Courtney frowned at her.

The group continued to drive only this time, they were met with a more awkward silence. Eventually, Mary asked, “Are there any good places to eat around here? I’m pretty hungry after the flight.”

“Yeah, there’s a diner right inside the town.” Rick affirmed.

“Don’t worry there’s only like ten more minutes until we’re there.” Courtney commented.

~
~
~
Rick finally turned into the town. Since it was summertime, there were blue and white decorations and flags strewn across the streetlamps and between the buildings. When he parked, only Mary and Courtney got out.

“I think the trip to the airport was just a little too much for the Camaro. Gonna take her back to the pit stop.” Rick said.

“Homework!” Beth said.

“It’s the summertime.” Courtney pushed.

“Gotta prepare in advance.”

“Okay,” Courtney scoffed, “Yolanda?”

“My parents are probably freaking. Next time.”

Courtney stood and blinked at her friends. She was definitely a little hurt at their attitudes. They had been so supportive these past few weeks. What happened? Did she do something wrong? Whatever. They needed to sort out their own issues.

“Want me to come pick you guys up later?” Rick asked.

“No we’ll walk.” Courtney replied bitterly, slamming the car door shut.

Once the girls got inside the diner, sitting at the core fours usual spots, Mary said, “I don’t think your friends like me very much.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m sure they’re just stressed.”

“Did I do something to… offend them?”

“What? No! They’re just a shy group of people.” Courtney replied, barely believing her own words. Sure, Yolanda and Rick could be defensive, but they warmed up to Courtney in no time. Even Beth was acting strange, which was not normal at all.

“I just- I wanna make a good impression, you know?” Mary said.

Courtney nodded, fiddling with her hands. “I really am sorry I forgot to call you last week.”

“It’s fine.” Mary shook her head.

“I’m not replacing you I- I'm just busy.”

“Yeah, no I get it. You have these shiny new friends and we’re drifting. I kind of expected it to happen to be honest.” Mary said, sadly, “It hasn’t been the same at all. I missed you Courtney, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to be my friend.” She put an emphasis on that final comment.

Courtney felt like crying. She wasn’t trying to replace Mary. Not at all. But telling Mary about the superhero stuff put her at an even bigger risk. It was almost guaranteed that Cindy would figure out Mary’s bond to Courtney. They were like sisters. “I really, really wish I could tell you what’s been going on but I can’t.” Courtney said.

“Yeah, whatever, it’s fine.” Mary said, crossing her arms.

After a while, Courtney commented, “Do you wanna hear about Cameron?”

“Who is Cameron?!” Mary replied with a smirk.

So she told her, well everything except the part where his dad was a murderous psycho.

“You have GOT to introduce me to this ‘Cameron’.” Mary said with air quotes.

“Don’t you dare tease me!” Courtney said. This was the normalcy she was used to. She missed joking around with her best friend.

“Okay those milkshakes were fantastic. I have got to come to small town diners more often.” Mary said.

“Yeah because you absolutely love exploring huh?” Courtney commented sarcastically.

~
~
~
They walked back to the Whitmore-Dugan house, chatting about school, new and old friends and just life in general. When they got to the house, Mary commented, “Now this is definitely a step up from the apartment.”

“Just wait until you see the inside. My mom really put her heart and soul into decorating.”

“Wouldn’t doubt it.”

Courtney unlocked the door, letting her friend go in first. Max, Mike’s dog, started barking and ran up to the girls.

“Mike get your dog!” Courtney yelled upstairs.

“Aww he’s sweet.” Mary said, “Does he have a name?”

“Max.” Mike commented, walking down the stairs. “Hello Mary, didn’t really miss you that much.”

“Gee thanks Mike. You’ve been my every waking thought.” she snarkily retorted.

“Is that Mary?!” Barbara said from, what Mary guessed, was the kitchen.

“Hi Mrs. Whitmore!”

“Please honey it’s just Barb. Mike, help your sister take Mary’s bags upstairs please? We’ve missed you so much!”

“Have not.” Mike commented.

Barb rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. We really have missed you. Courtney especially. The move was hard on her.”

“Why don’t you tell her every detail of my life mom?” Courtney yelled from upstairs.

“So how do you like Blue Valley so far?” Barb asked.

“It’s a cute little town. I’m surprised Court didn’t like it at first. Lot’s of thrift stores.”

“I should probably head over to the pit stop.” Courtney said, finally downstairs.

“Take Mary with you.” Barb said, giving Courtney a look.

“Oh, you really don’t have to Court-” Mary started.

“No! It’s fine. Are you ready.”

“Sure.”

Once they started waking down the picket-fence dotted road, Mary said, “Do you not find it weird that everyone says ‘Hi!’ when you walk by them on the street?”

“You’ll get used to it.” Courtney said.

“Will Pat be at the pit stop?” Mary asked, popping the p.

“Probably. He has nowhere else to be. Well, he might be at the gym.”

“Pat works out now?!”

Courtney chucked. “Apparently. Trust me, you’re not the only one shocked.”

She knocked on the door to the pit stop.

“It says it’s open.” Mary commented, pointing at the sign.

Courtney hummed and nodded at Beth who opened the door. She flashed Mary a small smile barely meeting her eyes.

“After you m’lady.” Courtney joked, bowing.

“This is the pit stop?” Mary asked. She was a little disappointed. Okay she was a lot disappointed. “It’s smaller than I thought.”

“Oh, come this way.” Courtney said.

Mary followed her friend into the double doors that led to the garage. If she was holding anything, it would have fallen out of her hands and her mouth dropped open.

“Wh-what is that?” she asked, astonished at the 25 ft robot in front of her.

“Oh,” Pat chucked, coming out from behind the robot, “I’m glad you asked Mary, see that, is a prototype robot I’ve been building in my free time.”

“Does it move?”

“Nope.”

“Well that’s lame.” Mary said, shrugging her jacket off.

“How’s California?” he chuckled.

“It’s okay. We all wished you guys stayed.” she replied, squeezing Courtney’s hand. “Why would you build a robot that doesn’t move?”

“Yeah Pat, why would you do that?” Rick tested from the sofa, causing Beth to smile.

“Well, there’s a lot of kids in the town and they find it very cool.”

Mary hummed and nodded, continuing to walk around. It smelled of gasoline and metal. Almost as if they weren’t actually just building a robot. But she wouldn’t say anything about that. Mary noticed that Courtney was off to the side, talking to Pat and Rick in a hushed voice. Beth was on another chair, some distance from the other three. Might as well make a new friend Mary thought.

“Hey, Beth right?”

“Oh, hi! Yeah, Beth Chapel.” she said, closing her book.

“I don’t want to be like that person, but do you wanna hang out? If you’re busy it’s totally not a big deal.”

“I’d love to hangout! Here, I’ve been working on this side project for school. Do you want to see it?”

Mary raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to say something before Courtney interrupted saying, “Mary! My mom called. She wanted to see if we could pick up a few things from the store before dinner.”

“Yeah, sure! Tomorrow.” she said, pointing at Beth. Beth gave her a double thumbs up before walking over to Rick who was shaking his head. “Beth’s nice.” Mary said to Courtney when she walked over.

“Yeah, she’s the glue that holds us together.”
~
~
~
“Does Blue Valley have a movie theater? Or like an arcade? Maybe a bowling alley?” Mary asked. She was rather unimpressed with the small town so far.

“All in one actually.” Courtney replied, “We can check it out tomorrow if you want.”

“Yeah, we can invite Yolanda. I feel like I haven't gotten the chance to really know her ya know?”

Courtney hummed and said, “She’s just shy. Yolanda went through a lot last year.”

Mary nodded and they continued walking. The shops that surrounded them were all closed. If she could, Mary would spend a day going into each and every shop. California was very different, for example, people most certainly did not say hello every time you passed them on the street. Mary kind of liked it.

“After dinner I need to show you something. But you can’t tell anyone.” Courtney said, breaking Mary out of her thoughts.

“Is it Cameron? I hope it’s Cameron.”

Courtney blushed, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “It’s not Cameron.”

“Darn, I need to meet the boy that makes my best friend so blushy.”

“Maybe, and that’s not- we’re not together.”

Mary scoffed, “Why not?”

“It’s complicated. Very complicated.”

They walked a few more feet before Courtney continued, “Promise you won’t tell Pat?”

“What?”

“About what I will show you later.”

“Promise.” Mary replied, linking their pinkies together.

“Oh! And Yolanda’s coming over for dinner.”

Mary nodded.

When they arrived back at the house, Mike was sitting on the porch swing playing on his Nintendo Switch.

“What’s up Mike.” Mary said.

“The sky.” he responded. Mary ruffled his hair getting a nasty look in response.

“Court, Yolanda’s inside.” Mike said before she opened the door.

“Pat’s home? I thought he would be at the pit stop all night.” Courtney said.

“It's a family dinner and we have a ‘guest’ so I guess it’s important.” Mike said, glaring at Mary.

Courtney rolled her eyes and opened the door for Mary and Mike.

“Pat I need to talk to you.” she said as soon as she walked into the house.

Pat threw his hands up and followed his step daughter. Mary and Mike went to go help Barb set the dinner table.

“I think we should tell her.”

“Tell who?” Pat asked.

“Mary, about the JSA.!”

“Court we talked about this-”

“I’m not taking no for an answer Pat, you know I’ll just tell her anyways. She deserved to know, she already thinks I’m pushing her away.”

“Well are you?”

Courtney crossed her arms. It was a little true, as much as she didn’t want it to be. “I’m not trying to avoid her.”

“Look, if you want to reel her into this, that’s your choice. I still don’t think we should.”

Courtney chucked, “Just so that she can blow up on me like mom did?”

Pat shook his head, putting his hands on his hips, “This conversation is over.”

~
~
~
The Whitmore-Dugans, Yolanda, and Mary all sat at the dinner table in mostly silence except for the occasional clanking of forks and knives.

“Is it okay if Beth and Rick come over?” Courtney asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure,” Barb replied.

“Hey wait a second. Why does she get friends over every night?” Mike asked.

“Because she doesn’t try to set the house on fire, Mike.” Pat replied

Mike raised his eyebrows and said, “Are you- okay whatever.”

There was a short knock at the door and Courtney jumped up saying, “There they are.”

“That was fast.” Mary remarked.

“Everyone lives within walking distance of each other.” Yolanda leaned over and whispered to Mary.

“Stereotypical much?” Mary asked jokingly, making Yolanda giggle. Now that she saw it, Mary noticed Yolanda had a really pretty smile. She also noticed that Yolanda’s hair was down, and not in the braids like earlier.

“Hi guys, sorry for the intrusion. We hope you don’t mind.” Beth said as she walked into the kitchen setting something down on the counter.

“No it’s totally okay sweetie!” Barb said.

“Dinner beats spending the night with my uncle.” Rick muttered. Everyone chuckled awkwardly.

Once everyone settled in, the conversations became more lively and fun. Rick and Pat, talking about cars, Mike, Beth, and Barb talking about some tv show they watched together, and Yolanda, Mary, and Courtney, talking about high school drama.

“Cindy sounds like a total bitch.” Mary said after Yolanda finished telling her about the beginning of sophomore year.

“You have no idea.” Courtney said with a serious face.

Yolanda smiled and said, “Enough about me, how’s high school for you Mary?”

“I mean it’s okay. I’ve had to deal with my fair share of mean girls.”

“You ARE the mean girl Mary.” Courtney added.

“I am not. Shut up!” she replied, playfully smacking her friend.

The small chatter within the group continued before Courtney said, “Mary there’s something important I- we need to tell you.”

Mary looked around at the group. They were all looking at her. “What do you mean?”

Courtney looked at her friends for help. None of them said anything.

“For christ sake, they’re superheroes.” Mike finally said.

“W-what?” Mary said, a small smile appearing on her face. “What, like Batman? That’s an urban legend.”

“We’re not kidding.” Rick said.

“I- do you have like, costumes?”

“Yeah.” Beth said, looking at her feet.

At this point, Mary was on the verge of laughter. There was no way Courtney was a superhero.

“Pat was the sidekick to Starman.” Courtney finally said.

“Star Man?”

“He was a member of the Justice Society of America, with Rick’s dad.”

“What is that like, the Dead Poets Society?”

“No Mary, that’s a movie.” Courtney replied.

“They are all dead,” Beth said, “so she wasn’t really wrong there.”

“Can I see your costumes?” Mary asked.

“Courtney looked at her friends and nodded, “Sure,”

While the four of them were supposedly changing into their costumes, Mary awkwardly sat at the dinner table trying to suppress her laughter. When the group all came together that's when Mary lost it.

“What’s this? The theater club?” Mary said in between laughs. Yolanda had a small smile on her face while Courtney and Rick looked offended. Beth just looked happy to be there.

“It’s not a joke Mary.” Courtney said.

“I’m sorry it’s just, where did you get the fabric that cape? Hobby Lobby?” she said pointing at Rick.

“And is that just a recycled crop top from Hollister?” Mary asked Courtney.

“You guys look pretty good.” she said to Beth and Yolanda.

“Thank you!” Beth replied.

Courtney rolled her eyes and went back down the basement stairs. She came up a minute later holding what looked like a giant glow stick. Only it was gold, not neon green.

Mary immediately stopped giggling and asked, “What is that?”

“This,” Courtney said, gesturing the object toward her friend, “is the cosmic staff. Proof that this isn’t a joke.”

Mary scooted a few inches away from where Stargirl was standing. “So do you guys like, fight villains?”

“Yep.” Courtney said, twirling the cosmic staff around.

“What’s your names?” Mary asked.

“Stargirl.” Courtney said matter of factly.

“Hourman.”

“Dr. Midnite.”

“Wildcat.”

Mary nodded. “Got it.”

“Remember how I was telling you about Cindy earlier?” Yolanda asked.

“Yeah.”

“She’s one of the villains we fight.”

“Shiv almost killed Courtney once.” Beth added.

“Shiv? Courtney?”

“Everything's okay now! I promise.” Courtney said, reassuring her friend.

“So I take it this,” Mary gestured at the JSA, “is why you didn’t call me last week.”

Courtney shrugged with a forced smile.

~
~
~
After everything had settled down, costumes were taken off, staff was put away, and Beth, Rick, and Yolanda all went home, Mary sat on the windowsill in Courtney’s room.

Courtney walked in, hair still damp from her shower. Mary didn’t bother to turn around and instead kept looking out the window. “Hey.” Courtney said, sitting down next to Mary.

“Hi.”

“Are you mad at me?”

Mary avoided the question and instead asked, “Do you ever think about me?”

“All the time.”

Mary looked at Courtney, tears forming in her eyes, “Everyone just moved on, like you were never there, and it hurt because you’re the only real friend I’ve ever had. Now you’re gone.”

“Hey,” Courtney said, wiping Mary’s tears, “I’m right here and no one could ever replace you.”

Mary nodded, “You can come back anytime, I’ll wait for you.”

“Maybe when it all calms down. I would love to.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds, looking at the stars.

“Do you remember when we skipped freshman homecoming? Our moms were so mad.” Mary said.

“And instead we went and saw a movie. Yeah I remember, it was one of the best nights of my life.”

“I missed you.” Mary said.

Courtney hugged Mary, and Mary hugged her back. And they just stayed like that for a while.