Work Text:
Hey Dorothea do you ever stop and think about me
When we were younger…
Inez sat at the window of her favorite Coffee Shop, Willow’s Brewery. The name was fitting not only because the shop was located in Willow, but also because the shop’s owner was named Willow. It was the day after an old friend’s birthday. Scratch that the old friend was more than just a friend but the people who knew that were limited. Dorothea was the old friend in question. Inez and she had been neighbors since they were two when Inez’s family moved from Seatle to Willow. They were best friends until everything changed for the better, and then. Well, things didn’t change for the worst per se, but they were far from ideal.
Ever since Freshman year of high school, Dorothea had wanted to be an actress. Her dreams had come true of course. Nothing could ever get between Dorothea and what she wanted to accomplish. It had been around eight years since Inez had seen her. She didn’t know why but all of a sudden the memories of Dorothea and the years they spent together came flooding back. She had never known a love so pure and beautiful as the one she had with Dorothea. How could it be that two people so bonded, so connected, so in love could be separated.
___
They knew each other inside and out, to a point where on their best days they could tell what the other was thinking. Then again, that might just be what happens when you fall in love with your best friend. When Inez had realized she loved Dorothea, it had been in a math class. Dorothea passed Inez a note that said, “I’m bored, wanna hang out under the bleacher later?”
It wasn’t so much the note that made Inez fall for Dorothea, but what the note could mean for them. It was how Dorothea passed the note to Inez that made her heart flutter. Of course, Inez kept her feelings hidden for longer than she should have. Still, it surprised her when Dorothea finally did kiss her under the bleachers after math class a couple of months after the note. From that day on, the two were almost inseparable. Betty was the first one to actually guess that the two were dating, and of course, she didn’t tell anybody. After all, it wasn’t her secret to tell.
___
Back at the coffee shop Inez sipped from her cup and smiled as the memory of their senior prom played in her mind.
__
Now, obviously, they planned to go together, and they even went so far as to buy dresses of complimenting hues, but Dorothea’s mom had other plans. She had decided that it would be best if Dorothea went with that handsome young football player Damion, and enter a picture of them at prom to a pageant.
Dorothea wouldn’t be caught dead going to prom with anyone other than her beloved Inez. But, she couldn’t exactly tell her mom about their relationship. So, like any other reasonable eighteen-year-old, she decided that she and Inez should just skip prom as a whole and spend the night under the stars in an abandoned cottage in the woods. Inez was unsure about this at first but she was convinced when Dorothea looked at her and said, “Please, love, it would so piss off my mom” with those eyes Inez couldn’t ever say no to.
___
Inez’s smile faded as she got up from her seat and started walking home. She remembered the end of the best relationship of her life. Yeah, she had dated here and then since Dorothea, but no one had ever stuck around or could understand her the way Dorothea had. Their relationship hadn’t ended badly. There was no fight or miscommunication that led to disaster. It was simply that the two had other things in mind. Dorothea wanted to move and pursue acting and Inez had just landed a job as a journalist for the town newspaper. Life had different things in store for the two, and they loved each other too much to have the other sacrifice their dreams for them. They never planned on not speaking again, but Inez supposed that was just what happened when two people grew farther apart.
Inez walked into her house. Actually, it wasn’t a house, but a cottage. The same cottage she and Dorothea would sneak up to. Right before their split, Inez had found out the cottage was for sale, she couldn’t help but buy it, maybe she and Dorothea could’ve lived there until they were old and gray. Of course, that was out of the question now.
She set down the mail she had received and saw Dorothea on the cover of a makeup magazine advertising the newest lipstick that would no doubt cost way more than she could afford. “ I’d buy anything from you,” Inez thought to herself.
She didn’t know what had come over her but seeing that picture of Dorothea sparked something in her. She had to try and contact Dorothea in some way. But how, an email, a phone call, a text, a dm, a letter didn’t feel right. Suddenly, she remembered a postcard Dorothea had sent her from Tupelo, where she planned to live from now on. It was a long shot, but Inez found the postcard and copied its address onto another postcard that she had lying around. To be honest, she had no idea how that postcard even got there in the first place.
She sat in her favorite chair and wrote,
“ Happy Late Birthday, Love.
I know it’s been far too long but if you’re ever tired of being known for who you know, you know, you’ll always know me. It’s never too late for you to come back by my side if that is even still a possibility. I don’t think I could ever not love you.
Yours,
Inez”
It wasn’t much but at least it was something, with one final look at the spiraling cursive of her handwriting, Inez walked to the post office and sent the letter to one real thing she’s ever known.