Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So, what're we watching this time?”

“There's a new musical that just dropped on Netflix-”

Janis groaned, “No more musicals, Damian. We've watched one at the last 5 sleepovers, and I'm still trying to get the Hamilton soundtrack out of my head.”

“I'm not seeing that as a problem.”

Janis threw a pillow at him. “I said no more!”

“Fine, but then we're not watching a horror, either. I'd like to be able to get my beauty sleep free of nightmares of clowns trying to kill me, thank you very much.”

Cady laughed as she watched her friends bicker. They did these movie night sleepovers almost every Friday of their senior year. Usually, some combination of Gretchen, Karen, or Regina would also come, but they'd all had other plans. Cady liked it when they could all get together at once, but when it was just her, Janis, and Damian, hanging out in Janis' garage, it felt special. Simple. Like they were back at the beginning of junior year before everything had gone to hell.

“Caddy, you in the mood for anything in particular? You hardly ever pick.”

“Hmm...well, there have been a few documentaries that I've been wanting to watch.”

Janis rolled her eyes. “Yeah, now I remember why you never pick. Okay, I'm just scrolling through streamers until we find something.”

The three of them looked for a full hour, but they could never unanimously agree on one thing. Usually, when this happened, Regina was there, and she'd just grab the remote and click on something. The first few times that happened, Janis had argued with her, but after a while, she'd learned to appreciate that Regina was unwilling to let the night stagnate. It didn't hurt that she tended to pick movies that Janis wanted to watch.

Not for the first time that night, Cady found herself wishing that Regina was with them.

“What about Harley Quinn?” Janis suggested. “Super funny. Super violent. Suuuuper gay.”

“I've seen it. And haven't you watched that show before, too?” Cady asked.

Damian rolled his eyes. “At least 3 times. The girl is obsessed.”

“First of all, I thought we banned the word 'obsessed' from my house a long time ago, and second of all...I've watched it 5 times. But who cares? I could watch it again.”

Cady shrugged. “I say if we can't find anything else to watch in the next five minutes, then we watch that, but I want to see if there's anything new, first.”

Janis nodded and kept searching. Cady went on her Instagram and started scrolling. She liked a picture that Regina posted from her family dinner. Regina had tried to skip out and come to movie night, but her father had insisted that she had to be there. Cady had offered to go with her, but Regina had said, “I'd literally never put you through that. I'm taking Shane.”

Cady sighed, looking at the picture and seeing Shane's arm around Regina's shoulder. She hated that Regina was still on-again-off-again with him. She deserved better.

“Wait...what the fuck?” Janis mumbled, which caught Cady's attention.

“What? What's wrong?”

Janis nodded towards the TV. Cady looked up, and saw a show called “The Sex Lives of College Girls” highlighted on the screen. She was confused why it had drawn Janis' interest until she focused on the girls in the show.

4 girls...one blonde that looked exactly like...

“Regina?” Cady said without even realizing she was talking. She rubbed her eyes to make sure that she wasn't seeing things, but when she focused back on the screen, she was still staring at a blonde that looked so much like Regina.

Damian clapped excitedly. “I don't care what this show is. We're watching it!”

Janis groaned. “I thought I was finally going to be Regina-free for a night. Are we sure we don't just want to watch-”

Damian cut her off. “Girl, you aren't at least a little curious about this Regina-clone?”

“One Regina is enough for me, thank you. Besides, I'm not really interested in watching a bunch of boring straight girls fawn over boys and have really gross sex. I already have enough of that with the plastics.”

“Don't be mean,” Cady said. “They aren't plastics, and Karen isn't straight.”

“She's still talked about sex with boys enough to last me 5 lifetimes.” Janis tried to keep scrolling, but Damian snatched the remote out of her hand. “Hey!”

“Janis, I am NOT missing this opportunity! How often do you see the doppelganger of one of your friends in a TV show?!”

Janis fought to get the remote back, but Damian was keeping it just out of her reach. Janis finally sat back.

“Fine!” She looked at Cady in the way she only did when she wanted something. “I think it's only fair that Caddy gets the tie breaker. So...what do you think? Lame show we know nothing about, or Harley Quinn?”

Damian fluttered his eyelashes and smiled at Cady, “You said you wanted to watch something you hadn't seen before.”

This was the first time that they'd ever tried to use their charms on Cady for opposite causes. She hated it.

“Stop it!” she yelled, and they both froze. “I'm making this decision on my own, and no amount of the two of you kissing up to me is going to convince me one way or the other.”

Cady felt happy that she'd been able to be firm with the two of them. It's something that she'd been working on since junior year. While they'd both stopped manipulating her for nefarious purposes, they still tended to try to push her around when it came to inconsequential stuff like this. It drove Regina crazy, and she usually defended Cady when they got too carried away, but she was always proud of herself when she could do it on her own.

She thought Regina would be proud of her, too, if she were here.

Thoughts of Regina made her decision easier.

Cady took a deep breath. “I'm going with Damian on this one.”

Janis mumbled a swear under her breath, while Damian excitedly clicked play on the first episode.

The first few seconds of the show were a couple viciously making out. The second the guy said, “You make me so hard,” Janis grabbed the remote and stopped the show.

“No. Nope. Can't do this. Sorry.”

“Janis, it's been five seconds!” Damian said, grabbing the remote back. “Give it a chance!”

“I gave it a chance, and a dude is already talking about his dick. No more.”

Cady laughed. “Janis, I'm sure it won't be like that the whole show. They just needed to set the tone early.”

“It's not a tone that I'd like set, thank you.”

“Come on! Look, we can give it one episode, then we'll switch to something else, okay? Whatever you want.” Cady locked eyes with Damian. “Sound fair?”

Damian nodded. “Very.”

Janis thought about it, then said. “I'll agree if you promise to side with me next time.”

Cady nodded. “Deal.”

Janis smiled and pressed play.

The first few minutes were just introducing the characters: Kimberly, Whitney, Bela, and the Regina-clone.

Leighton Murray.

“God, she really does look like Regina,” Janis said. “It's uncanny.”

Cady agreed...although she did think Regina was a bit prettier.

The three of them had a fun time throughout the episode pointing out the similarities and differences between Leighton and Regina.

“Rich bitch? Yes. Queen bee? No,” Damian commented after Leighton's friends ditched her. “If Gretchen and Karen even thought about doing that to Regina, she'd push an A/C on them herself.”

“I don't know,” Cady chimed in. “They cut her off last year, and-”

“-she spread around the Burn Book and tried to ruin their lives and yours.”

“...okay, you may have a point.”

They were almost at the end of the first episode when Janis spoke up, “Okay, admittedly this has been more fun than I thought it was going to be.” Then, she said much quieter, “And I like Leighton.”

“Sorry, I didn't quite catch that.” Damian held his hand to his ear.

Janis gritted her teeth. “I'm not repeating myself.”

Cady giggled. “Just admit that you like Regina.”

“It's not like she's actually Regina! For one, she's not the spawn of Satan-”

“Janis-” Cady started, but she got distracted by the show. Leighton was sitting at a bar looking at her phone. “Wait, I missed something. What app is that?”

They all watched as Leighton scrolled through several profiles of some kind. She started messaging a girl, and Cady almost asked to rewind the episode, but she couldn't speak once the scene cut to Leighton and a random redhead making out like their lives depended on it. Cady was vaguely aware of Janis talking next to her, but she had no idea what she was saying. All of her focus was on the TV.

On Leighton taking the woman's top off. On her whispering “No talking. Get on the bed.” On her stripping her own dress off while crawling into the bed with the other woman.

She closed her eyes as the credits rolled, and her brain immediately replaced Leighton with Regina, and the redhead with...

Herself.

Her eyes snapped open. Where had that come from?

Cady focused on taking deep, even breaths and tried to desperately push the thought of Regina kissing her...ordering her around...sleeping with her...out of her head. The more she tried, though, the more vivid the thoughts became. The more she heard Regina's voice in her ears. It wouldn't be much different than what she'd just seen.

Shut up...get on the bed…

“CADDY!”

Cady jumped at the sound of Janis' voice. “Yeah?”

“You've been staring off into space since the show ended. What's wrong?”

Cady gulped and prayed that her face wasn't as red as it felt. “N-nothing. I'm fine.”

Janis looked like she wanted to question her further, but Damian stepped in.

“Well, I, for one, loved that show. I hope college is at least half as fabulous as that was.”

“Yeah, inappropriate relationships, sexual discrimination, being poor. Seems like the life.”

“The parties, Janis! I'm talking about the parties! And Leighton is everything! Like a preppy, funny Regina George.”

Janis shook her head and laughed. “More of a Bela fan, myself, but like I said...she's alright. Seems she's pretty deep in the closet, though, so that sucks.” She turned to Cady. “What did you think? Everything you were hoping for?”

Cady was still stuck in her own existential crisis, in a room with her best friends, fantasizing about her former nemesis turned very good friend.

“Sure...sure yeah, it was great. I mean, not great great, but good. Fine. Decent.” Cady could feel herself starting to ramble, so she clenched her jaw shut.

“It's fine if you didn't like it,” Janis said, reaching for the remote. “We can watch something else if you-”

“NO!” All three of them winced at the volume of Cady's voice. “No, that's not-sorry, we should keep watching. It's a fun show. And I'd like to see what happens with Re-” Cady cut herself off. “Leighton! And all of them.”

They both looked at her like she'd grown a second head, until Damian shot her a smile.

“Oh, I see what's happening.” Cady panicked, until he spoke again. “One of these boys has you all hot-and-bothered.”

“Ugh, please no boy talk!”

“Be an ally, Janis!” She rolled her eyes, and he turned back to Cady. “Now, which one was it? I'd say Canaan-”

“Because you spent 10 minutes saying how 'fine' he was.”

Damian ignored Janis. “However, I think you're more of a Nico girl. Or maybe the soccer coach. Which one would you say is closer to the Aaron type?”

Cady's stomach dropped.

Right...Aaron...her boyfriend. The person she hadn't thought about all night, because she was too busy obsessing over Regina.

“Um...I guess Nico? The coach is kind of a creep.” Cady shuddered at the thought of sleeping with someone who was basically one of her teachers.

“I can't blame you. Not my usual type, but I definitely wouldn't turn him away.” Damian said as Janis gagged in the background. “So it's settled; we're binging this tonight. I wanna see exactly how red the Murray siblings can make the two of you.”

Janis cackled. “I said I like Leighton, not that I want to bang her. Rich blonde bitches are so not my thing.”

“Tell that to yourself in 6th grade.” Damian said with a laugh. Janis flipped him off. They started the show again.

They got through the entire first season that night. Cady only paid enough attention to know when to laugh or make a little comment here or there...unless Leighton was on screen. Then, the show had her full attention. It made her think of junior year, seeing Regina for the first time and feeling like the world was frozen around them. Regina had singled her out from across the room, and Cady felt herself drifting towards the girl almost against her will. She'd been entranced.

And when she'd met Aaron later that day, she'd been relieved that she thought he was cute. So what if Regina had made her feel dizzy with just a few words? Aaron was nice and good looking, and he'd made her feel like she finally understood love. She just chalked up her feelings for Regina as admiration, then later envy. Envy that she had Aaron. Envy that she ruled the school. Envy that she was so, so beautiful...and then, she'd figured it was just appreciation that Regina had found it in herself to forgive Cady for her multiple betrayals and for the bus.

She didn't think about it much past that.

Until now...watching this show that she really regretted choosing over Harley Quinn, because it was starting to make her question exactly how much she'd liked Regina all this time.

Cady went to bed and prayed that she wouldn’t be thinking like this in the morning.

Her prayers went unanswered after a night filled with sex dreams of Regina.

Chapter Text

Cady left Janis’ house early the next morning and tried to call Aaron. She wanted to hear his voice and be reminded of how much she’d wanted him for all of junior year. They’d had a hard time staying as close now that he was in college. He’d visited a few times, but he had so many people to see whenever he was in town. He’d make as much time for her as possible, but it made it hard for them to connect like they used to before he left.

She tried on and off for a few hours, but he wasn’t answering. She tried to distract herself with extra credit math homework, but she couldn’t focus. She needed Aaron to call her back. She needed to stop thinking about Regina.

She heard a text come through, and she hoped it was from Aaron.

Of course it wasn’t.

Regina: Come over.

Cady sighed. Regina was a much better person, but she was still so bossy. Cady didn’t think she could handle being around her right now, but she’d always had a hard time telling Regina no.

Cady: I can’t. Doing math hw.

Regina: You have all weekend for that. Come over.

Cady: Shane’s not there?

Regina: Ew. No.

Cady: Wasn’t he with you at dinner? I figured you’d just have him spend the night.

Cady shuddered at the thought. She really struggled to understand why Regina spent any time with Shane. It didn’t seem like she liked him, and she’d said that he wasn’t great in bed.

Regina: Stop asking questions and just come over. We can talk when you’re here.

Cady took a deep breath. She could keep saying no. Regina would back off eventually. Honestly, she should keep saying no, because she couldn’t stop thinking about how much Leighton looked like Regina, and she’d watched Leighton having sex, which felt like she’d seen Regina having sex, which made her want to see what Regina actually looked like having sex, and what sex with Regina felt like , and-

She was getting carried away.

She needed to tell Regina that she couldn’t come over.

Cady: Can you give me a ride?

She wanted to scream at herself. She could almost see Regina’s self-satisfied smirk in her head.

Regina: Be there in 20.

True to her word, Regina was knocking on her door in 20 minutes flat. Cady’s mom answered the door.

“Hello, Regina!” her mom said, hugging the blonde. Ms. Heron loved Regina. It had taken some time, since she knew a lot of what had happened between Regina and her daughter. Ultimately, though, she’d remembered the drama she’d had with girl friends when she was a teenager, and none of them had been hit by a bus and forced to deal with chronic pain for the rest of their lives. Besides, Regina was good to her daughter, now. 

“Hey, Ms. Heron. I hope you don’t mind me stealing Cady away from you for the day.”

Ms. Heron waved her hand. “No, no, you two have fun!” She turned to Cady. “Text me if you go anywhere. You know I worry.”

“Yeah, Mom, I will. Love you.” Cady gave her mom a hug and left with Regina.

“Hey, you,” Regina said with a smile as they buckled in. “Missed you last night.”

Cady smiled back and tried not to think about Leighton and Regina and…all of that. “How was dinner?”

“Boring. I wanted to leave after 5 minutes. I’m waiting for my dad to get over this whole ‘family bonding’ thing, so I can go back to ignoring him.” Regina paused. “My mom was happy to see me with Shane, though. Or maybe she was just happy to see Shane.”

Regina kept her face neutral, but Cady knew she was bothered. Regina’s parents were a sore spot; she hated her father. He was barely around, and Regina was pretty sure that half of his “business trips” were just covers to have affairs. That was simple - he sucked, and Regina had written him off a long time ago.

Regina’s relationship with her mom was a lot more complicated. She’d been committed to making sure Regina was happy, but no one was sure if it was because she was a loving mother or if it was because she was living vicariously through her daughter. Regina had made a huge effort for a while to be kinder to her mom, but her mom still seemed to use Regina to get attention.

Cady still shuddered when she thought of how happy Regina’s mom had been to be on the news when her daughter had literally briefly died.

Regina had told Cady once that she loved her mom, but she wasn’t sure if her mother truly loved her back. It had made Cady’s heart ache, and she’d done her best to comfort Regina, but it didn’t do much good. They’d ended up just changing the subject, and they never brought it up again.

Cady couldn’t think about it too much without wanting to cry or slap the woman across the face.

“Well, we would’ve been happy to have you last night,” Cady said, trying to distract Regina. “It took forever for us to settle on something to watch.”

Regina smiled. “Let me guess: Janis forced you to watch whatever weird, gory, indie mess that she was into?”

Cady laughed, but she shook her head. “No, we found a compromise.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Really? What did you watch?”

Cady choked a little. “Oh…just some dumb show that Janis found. It wasn’t that good.” Regina looked like she was going to ask questions, so Cady cut her off. “Mind if I turn on the radio? I’m having a hard time hearing you over the wind.”

“Sure.” Cady was thankful that Regina didn’t push back, but she felt like Regina could tell she was hiding something. They listened to music the rest of the car ride.

Cady loved being in Regina’s bedroom. The loud decor, the pink absolutely everywhere, the massive size…it was all very Regina . Cady’s personal favorite part was all of the pictures of her friends that Regina had all over the place. They’d been there as long as Cady knew her; a small sign that she’d always had a lot of love for the people in her life, even if she didn’t know how to show it until very recently. Being in here always brought a smile to Cady’s face…under normal circumstances.

Right now, Cady was just staring as Regina laid down on the bed, knowing that she expected Cady to join her. Instead, Cady sat on Regina’s bench by the window. Regina immediately gave her a side eye.

“Why are you sitting way over there?” She patted the bed next to her. “Come here.”

Cady quickly (too quickly) shook her head. “I figured we could maybe sit over here. We never do, and it’s so nice, being close to the window like this-”

“Ugh, Cady,” Regina stretched on the bed. Her shirt rode up, and Cady tried not to drool. “My back is killing me. I need to lie down for a while.”

A spike of guilt ran through Cady. It always did when Regina mentioned her neck or back hurting. It didn’t matter how many times Regina had said the bus wasn’t her fault; she still felt like it was. She’d just stopped apologizing for it at some point.

“Oh, okay,” she said quietly, but she quickly moved on. “So why did you want me to come over? You could’ve taken some time to rest up.”

“What, you didn’t want to see me?” Regina said with a smirk. She was incapable of not flirting, and usually, Cady was fine with it. In fact, she loved it. But now, she couldn’t stop thinking about why she loved it. She couldn’t really have a crush on Regina…right? They both have boyfriends (at least sort of, on Regina’s end), and neither one of them was interested in girls. This had to just be because she’d seen Leighton in that show, and it had crossed some wires in her head for whatever reason.

It wasn’t a crush. It couldn’t be a crush, because outside of Janis, Regina was her best friend. They’d both worked really hard to get where they were, and Cady wasn’t about to screw that up with dumb feelings that were coming out of nowhere.

Plus Aaron. She had Aaron.

“It’s not that,” Cady said, forcing herself to laugh. “I just…like I said, I thought you’d be hanging with Shane today. Since he came with you last night and everything.

“Don’t remind me.” Regina stared at the ceiling. “He begged me to let him stay over last night.”

“Well…why didn’t you let him?”

“Like I’d let him sleep with me after watching him shove food in his mouth and laugh at my dad’s stupid jokes for an hour.” Regina looked like she was about to gag. “Besides, it’s not like I owe him something, just because he did me a favor.”

“Of course not,” Cady agreed. “You never owe anyone anything like that.”

Regina smiled at Cady in a more sincere way than usual. “Exactly. It’s not my problem if his dick is hard. He can take care of that himself.”

Cady blushed so hard that she knew Regina could see it. “How do you say stuff like that so calmly?”

Regina laughed. “God, Cady, it’s not like you’re some pure, innocent virgin or anything. We’re friends. We talk about stuff like this.”

It was true. Weirdly, even though they weren’t exactly as close as they were now, Regina had been the first person to know when she’d slept with Aaron during the summer. She’d tried to call and text Janis and Damian, but neither had answered her. When Regina messaged her about something totally random, she’d found herself calling the taller girl and blurting it out, and Regina had been…well, supportive wasn’t exactly the right word (The first thing she’d said was, “Wow…sorry.”). She hadn’t been cruel, though, and she’d ensured Cady that it was normal for the first time not to be that great, and that there was nothing wrong with her. It had brought them a lot closer, and now, it was pretty normal for the two of them to trade sex stories.

“I know, it’s just not as easy for me as it is for you.”

“No kidding. You get so shy. It’s cute.” Regina smiled at Cady, and Cady felt like she might melt on the spot. “That’s why I invited you over.”

“Because I’m cute?” Cady prayed that she sounded more sarcastic and less hopeful than she felt she sounded.

Regina laughed. “That, too, but mostly, I just wanted to be around someone I actually like, instead of my stupid parents and Shane.” She looked at Cady fondly before adding, “Speaking of disappointing boys, how’s Aaron?”

Cady was so glad for the subject change that she ignored the dig at her boyfriend. “He’s fine. I mean…I think he’s fine. I tried to call him earlier, but he didn’t pick up. We…haven’t really been talking much for a little while.” Regina looked like she was about to say something, so Cady jumped in. “Don’t be mean. He’s been really busy in school. He calls when he can.”

“Has he at least been texting you?” Cady shook her head, a little ashamed. “Ugh, fuck that guy. I can’t believe he’s gotten both of us to sleep with him.”

“Regina-”

“No, seriously. He’s been blessed twice over, and he’s taken it for granted both times.”

“Didn’t you cheat on him?”

Regina ignored Cady’s interjection. “He can’t even make the time to DM you? What a loser.”

“It’s not like caring about school and family and friends is a bad thing.”

Regina scoffed. “It is when ‘girlfriend’ doesn’t fit into that list. God, Cady, have some self respect.” Regina paused, then quickly added, “Sorry, that was harsh. It’s not your fault that Aaron is an ass.”

Cady nodded. “No, yeah, it’s fine. I just don’t like it when you’re mean to him.”

“I’m not sorry for that; I still hate him, but I am sorry I snapped at you. I just…don’t see why you give him the time of day. You could do so much better.” The room dropped into an uncomfortable silence, until Regina finally said, “Alright, I feel like I messed up. Come over here, so I don’t feel bad.”

Cady laughed. “You know, that’s not how that’s supposed to work. If you feel bad, you’re supposed to comfort me.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll bring it up in therapy. Besides, it’s not like you don’t want to. Just get on the bed with me.”

Something about the way she said it brought back the thoughts she’d been having about Regina since last night. Cady knew it was in her best interest to stay on the bench, but she found herself walking towards the bed and laying down.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Regina said with a smug smirk. Cady gave her a nervous smile in return and tried to keep her distance on the bed. “Now, if we’re done talking about Shane and Aaron, which we are, I wanna know what show you watched last night.”

Cady gulped.

Chapter Text

“I-I-” Cady tried to think of something… anything to say to get Regina to stop asking about The Sex Lives of College Girls, but her mind was blank.

Regina smirked. “What, you thought I’d forget?”

Cady didn’t want to tell Regina about the show, but she didn’t really have a good reason why…at least not one that she could tell the other girl.

“No, I just…why do you care so much?”

“Because you’re being weird about it.”

Cady shook her head. “No I’m not. It just wasn’t really worth talking about. Like I said, I didn’t even like it.”

“Then just tell me the name of the show, and I’ll watch it on my own.” When Cady didn’t say anything, Regina continued. “See? You’re being a freak. Just tell me the name. It’s not like I can’t get it from Janis or Damian.”

Cady knew she was right. She couldn’t keep it hidden from Regina forever. Besides, it’s not like she would immediately assume that seeing a character that looked just like her having sex with another woman had sent Cady into a spiral of imagining her own hand in Regina’s underwear-

Cady closed her eyes. She needed to get a grip.

“It’s called The Sex Lives of College Girls. It’s on Max.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Cady, were you embarrassed to tell me that you watched a show with sex scenes in it?”

Cady was more than willing to take the out being given to her. “Heh…yeah. You got me.”

“Oh my God, you’re such a prude sometimes.” Regina said it like an insult, but the smile on her face gave away that it wasn’t serious. She reached over to grab her remote, pushed a button, and her TV started to slide out of the ceiling. “We’re watching an episode.”

Cady’s eyes went wide. They couldn’t watch an episode of this show laying in Regina’s bed. Especially because when they watched TV together in the bed, Regina tended to get really cuddly at some point, and Cady felt like the thought alone made her want to combust right then and there.

“You said you were going to watch it on your own.”

Regina shrugged. “I changed my mind. It’ll be more fun with you.”

“Regina, I just watched it yesterday.”

“It’s not the first time you’ve rewatched something with me when I missed movie night. It’s not even the first time you watched something you hated again with me. Remember Blood and Honey?”

“That was only because there was no way Janis wasn’t going to make you watch that, anyways, and I didn’t want to waste movie night on it again.”

“Well, if you can sit through that twice, then you can watch an episode of this show with me.”

As Regina pulled up the show, Cady tried to calm herself down, since it seemed there was no stopping what was about to happen. She debated not telling Regina about Leighton, but she figured that would make her look even weirder. 

“Um…full disclosure…the reason we picked this show last night was because…”

Regina looked at her expectantly. “Was because?”

There is absolutely no way that she’ll see Leighton being gay and immediately assume that it made me think about the two of us doing gay things together. Just…be cool.

“It’s funny, really. There’s just…a character that looks almost exactly like you.”

Regina’s eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“And you were trying to keep me from seeing that?” Regina looked at her with fake disappointment. “Bitch.”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot how much you’re in love with yourself.”

Regina smirked as she hit play on the show. “Who isn’t in love with me?”

Cady laughed nervously. Not me…I don’t think. God, I hope not.

As the show started, Regina pulled Cady closer to her until Cady’s head was on her chest. Regina started running her hand up and down Cady’s arm, and Cady had to fight not to shiver. In general, Regina wasn’t an overly physically affectionate person, but she would sometimes get like this when she and Cady were alone. She’d cuddle her, or hold her hand, or run her fingers through her hair…Cady assumed it was just that Regina felt more comfortable and open when she hung out with people one-on-one, as opposed to in a group. 

As the girls were introduced, Cady expected for there to be a reaction when Leighton appeared on screen, but Regina didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until about half way through the episode that Regina finally spoke up.

“So when does the character that looks like me show up?”

Cady laughed, but when she looked at Regina’s face, she could tell she wasn’t kidding. “Wait…really?” Regina just nodded, so Cady kept talking. “There’s no one that you’ve seen so far that you think looks like you?”

“Oh, so we’ve already seen her?”

“Wha…it’s Leighton!”

Regina looked confused. She picked up the remote, then rewound until there was a scene with Leighton. She paused the show, focused on the screen, then eventually shook her head.

“No, I don’t see it.”

Cady’s mouth dropped open. “WHAT?!”

“I don’t see it,” Regina repeated. “Is it because we’re both blonde?”

Cady was in full disbelief. “It’s because you have almost the same exact face!”

Regina looked at Leighton again, but she still shook her head. “Nothing like me.”

Cady hopped out of the bed and pointed at the TV. “You don’t think that this girl - right here - looks anything like you?”

Regina cocked her head to the side. “No?”

Cady wanted to argue more, but her hand just dropped to her side. Maybe this would be a good thing. Maybe if Regina didn’t see the resemblance, then Cady would eventually stop seeing it, too, and her heart would stop pounding every time she so much as thought about Regina.

“Fine,” Cady said. “We can turn it off, then.”

“No, I wanna finish it,” Regina said. “It’s fun enough. Maybe I can catch up, and we can watch season 2 next Friday with everybody.” Regina held out her arms. “Come back to bed.”

Cady felt her whole body react. Even with the potential that Cady might stop thinking Regina and Leighton looked alike, she wasn’t there, yet, and she knew what was coming with Leighton at the end of the episode. Hearing Regina ask her to come back to bed with her stupid flirty voice and her stupid bedroom eyes had Cady weak in the knees, but she knew she needed to hide it. She needed to act normal until this episode was over.

Cady crawled back into Regina’s arms, and she felt more than heard the contented sigh that Regina let out before pressing play.

The rest of the episode went by too fast for Cady’s liking. As the scene cut to Leighton in the bar, she forced herself to keep breathing. When the scene changed again, Cady felt Regina’s whole body freeze. As Leighton kissed the redhead, Regina softly grabbed Cady’s arm, and Cady felt herself gasp and look up at Regina. She could only see half of her face, but it looked like she was blushing, and her mouth was slightly open. Cady couldn’t look away.

The show ended, and the room went silent for an uncomfortably long time. Regina looked completely lost in her thoughts.

“Regina?” Cady finally said, and that seemed to snap the other girl back to reality. She quickly stood up, went to her full length mirror, and started inspecting her skin for blemishes. It was a nervous habit of Regina’s that Cady had noticed as they’d gotten closer. Cady stood up, too, but she gave Regina her space.

“You were right,” Regina said after another pause. “That show wasn’t that great.”

Cady was confused. “Really? It seemed like you liked it.”

“Yeah, well it got weird at the end,” She mumbled.

“Oh,” Cady said, starting to feel wary. Had Regina noticed Cady watching her while Leighton had sex with that girl? Is that what had made it weird? She tried to find something to say to make it better, but she ended up just opening and closing her mouth a few times.

Regina made eye contact with Cady in the mirror. “Is this why you were acting weird about this show? Is this why you didn’t want to tell me that you thought I looked like Leighton? Because she’s gay?”

“No!” Not exactly. “I just didn’t know if you would like it, that’s all.” Total lie. “Like I said, the only reason we watched it is because Janis saw it, and thought-”

“Of course Janis is the one who said Leighton looks like me,” Regina said, starting to sound angry. “She’s still so fucking obsessed with me.”

“Regina…you’re not sounding like yourself.” It’s not really what Cady wanted to say. She wanted to say that Regina was starting to sound like the person she was before she’d made amends with everyone, but she thought better of it before the words came out of her mouth. She wasn’t trying to hurt Regina’s feelings, even if Regina was being a little mean.

It felt like Regina didn’t even hear her. “Janis probably got a good laugh at the rich, blonde girl turning out to be a lez like her.”

Cady was taken aback. “Regina, nothing like that happened. We just watched the show.”

Regina kept talking. “You probably all laughed about it. Shame on me for trusting the three of you to be alone without making fun of me. Plotting another revenge-”

“Alright, just stop!” Cady snapped. “If you think that little of me...ugh, maybe I should just leave.”

Regina spun around and looked at her, still seeming irritated, but she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

“Sorry,” she finally said. “I’m sorry. Please stay.”

“Regina, if you’d just talk to me-” Cady tried to reach out to touch Regina, but the other girl stepped away and walked to sit at her vanity.

Cady stuck her hands in her pockets. She knew that she’d made Regina uncomfortable; she couldn’t remember the last time that Regina hadn’t wanted to be touched…at least by Cady. She just wasn’t totally sure what the problem was.

“Let’s just do something else, okay?” Regina said, starting to touch up her makeup. She mumbled so quietly that Cady was convinced she wasn’t supposed to hear it, “Fuck that stupid show.”

Cady felt torn. Should she ask what had upset Regina so much? Did she really think that they’d do anything against her after last year? Did she really think Cady would hurt her like that again?

She took a breath, but the look that Regina gave her made her stop herself from asking any questions.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s do something else.”

Cady and Regina spent the rest of the day together.

Regina made a point not to touch Cady again. Cady followed her lead.

Chapter Text

The next day, Cady tried to get Aaron to call her. He’d only shot her a single message:

Aaron: Sry CRAZY parties this weekend. Talk next week?

She really wished she cared more that he hadn’t tried to reach out to her on his own. Really, she was a lot more concerned that after she’d left Regina’s house the day before, she hadn’t heard from her again. She hated that she was so desperate to hear from her after less than a day, but after watching the show, everything had been really awkward. Regina had even asked if she was willing to get a ride home from her mom.

Cady was depressed that Regina hadn’t asked her to spend the night like she usually did when they hung out on the weekends, but after the show, she almost expected that. She hadn’t expected that Regina couldn’t even stand to be in the car with her.

She decided that she needed to distract herself…and she thought of the worst way imaginable.

She asked Karen for her Max login. 

She already had Janis’ login info, but she knew Janis would know if she finished the show on her own. And she couldn’t ask for Regina’s for…obvious reasons.

Leighton had even more sex in season 2 than she had in the first season. Cady watched all of it in one sitting. Then, she watched the whole thing again…fast forwarding to the Leighton scenes. Then again, but just watching the scenes where Leighton was kissing or sleeping with other women. 

Cady felt crazy. She’d never felt this turned on in her life.

She tried to rationalize it - so maybe she was bisexual. Not something she’d expected, but it’s not like she was completely closed off to the idea that she could be not-straight in some way. Hell, half of her friends were queer, and she loved all of them. She could love herself, too. It wasn’t that big of a deal, really.

And so what if she thought Leighton was hot? She was good at math, and a little bit of a dork. She grew a lot over the course of less than a school year. She was a totally fine character to have as her first woman-crush. That was all fine.

Except for the part where she knew she wasn’t that attracted to those parts of Leighton.

No, the things that turned her on most about the character were the things that reminded her of Regina.

Sometimes, Leighton would do something, and it would only take a small tweak in Cady’s head to make it seem like something Regina would do, and suddenly, Cady would be clenching her thighs, trying to stop herself from imagining Regina. Imagining her fucking women and getting fucked by women, and (most importantly) doing both of those things with Cady in particular.

She couldn’t count the times that she’d almost started touching herself while watching the show, but she always stopped herself at the last minute, afraid that Regina would pop into her mind. She kept lying to herself, though, saying it was Leighton that she wanted. A fictional character was safe; Regina George was as far from safe as she could get. Cady couldn’t imagine a scenario where liking Regina as more than a friend ended well. Regina wasn’t gay. She didn’t want Cady like that.

Cady ignored the part of her that wanted to cry at that thought. And the part of her that questioned just how deep these feelings really ran.

Cady went to school on Monday, determined to deal with all of this in as healthy a manner as possible. She wouldn’t watch the show anymore. She’d just put this all behind her and try to figure out if she was bi in ways that did not involve thoughts and dreams ( so many dreams ) of Regina George.

She didn’t see Regina at all until lunch, which was…unusual. Most days, Regina would seek Cady out at some point. Sometimes, it was to walk her to class. Other times, it was just to bitch about something that someone had said or done in the previous class period (usually in a way that made Cady giggle). Today, though, Regina had made herself scarce, and Cady tried not to assume that Regina was avoiding her.

When Cady got to lunch, everyone was already at the table. Everyone…plus Shane Oman.

Shane never sat at their table.

“Hey, Heron,” he said as Cady sat down at the table. He had his arm around Regina, and she was leaning her head against him.

“It’s Cady,” she replied. She just stopped herself from asking him why he was there.

He shrugged. “Whatever.” He turned to Regina. “Babe, give me a fry.”

“Why? Eat your own.” Regina was always annoyed with him. Cady couldn’t help but ask herself again… why does she put up with him? Why is he here right now???

“I already ate mine, and I have practice today. I need the calories.” He started to reach for her tray and just grab one, but Regina smacked his hand away. “Come on, babe!”

Regina looked like she was about to shove him away, but she looked over at Cady, then back to Shane. “If you leave my fries alone, I’ll make it worth your while later.”

Shane gave Regina a smile, then pulled her into a kiss. Cady looked down and blinked away the tears that sprang to her eyes. 

“Okay, no,” Janis said next to Cady. “He can’t sit with us if you’re just going to make out all lunch.”

Regina pulled away from Shane. “And who says you’re the one who decides who gets to sit with us?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m speaking for the table. Nobody wants to see this, right?” Janis looked around, and everyone nodded.

“Sorry, Regina,” Gretchen said. “It’s just…really gross.”

“Nasty,” Karen added.

“Whatever,” Regina said. “If I want to spend my lunch kissing my hot boyfriend, then there’s nothing any of you can do to stop me.”

“Yeah!” Shane chimed in.

“Shut up,” Regina said, not even looking at him. “You all can keep your opinions to yourselves.” She went back to kissing Shane.

Damian said quietly to Janis, “Oh, no. Have we triggered a Queen Bee appearance?”

“I don’t care,” Janis whispered back. “How am I supposed to eat while he tries to choke her with his tongue?”

Cady couldn’t help but agree. She was surprised Regina could breathe. It made her sick to see it. She wished that it was mostly because Shane looked like he was maybe the worst kisser on the planet, but really, most of her discomfort came from watching Regina. Cady felt like Regina wasn’t even enjoying herself. Why put on the show? Why did Regina always have to do this to her? First Aaron to keep him away from Cady, now Shane, for…God knows what reason.

It was possible she was projecting. Maybe Regina really was enjoying herself with Shane. No matter how much Regina seemed to feel indifferent at best and disgusted at worst with the boy, she had been on and off with him for over a year. Maybe she just actually liked Shane Oman. 

Maybe Cady only wanted to believe that she didn’t, because Cady couldn’t stop thinking about how much she wished Regina was kissing her instead.

“Y’know, I just remembered,” Cady said, standing from the table. “I have some stuff to do for mathletes.”

“Really?” Gretchen asked. “Kevin didn’t mention anything, and he never stops talking about mathletes. It’s actually really cute-”

“Not you, too!” Janis said. “New rule: no boyfriend talk at lunch.”

“I thought we didn’t do lunch rules anymore,” Karen said. Janis was about to argue, but Cady spoke up again.

“Anyways, I’m gonna go,” Cady said, shooting one more glance at Regina, then all but running out of the cafeteria. She could hear Regina call her name a couple of times, but she ignored her.

She sat in a bathroom stall and tried not to cry. She was starting to realize that she definitely had a crush on Regina, and it was probably a lot bigger than she thought. How long had it been there? Since Aaron left for school? Spring Fling? The Halloween party? The first day they’d met? Cady had no idea, but she knew that even though she’d just realized it herself, it had been there for a while.

The tears started to fall, but Cady was proud that she kept herself from fully sobbing.

“I know you’re in here.”

Cady pulled her feet off of the ground and held her breath as soon as she heard Damian’s voice. She heard him walk further into the bathroom and stop right in front of her stall.

“Cady, I already heard you sniffling. Stop hiding and open the door.”

Cady sighed. She grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her tears away before unlocking the door.

“Hey,” she said in a small voice. She tried to sound a little happier. “What’s up?”

“Now why are you crying?” Damian asked, sounding more concerned than Cady had ever heard him.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Cady tried to wave him away. “Just a rough morning. I’ll be fine in a bit.”

“Uh uh. You can’t lie to me.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Where’s Janis?” Cady asked.

“She went to the art room. She tried to follow me in here, but I thought it might be better for us to chat alone.” Damian looked her up and down, and Cady felt like he was seeing right through her. “I have a feeling that I might know what’s going on.”

Cady froze. There was no way he knew. How could he?

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Damian.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and Cady almost thought that he was going to let it go.

“I covered for you, you know. On Friday night.”

Cady was just confused, now. “What do you mean?”

“When you started acting weird about the show? I put it together pretty fast exactly when you’d gone quiet while we were watching, and it was exactly when Leighton kissed that girl at the end of the first episode.”

Cady felt her face heat up. Had she been that obvious? She wanted to keep lying, but Damian gave her a look that said he wouldn’t believe a word of it.

“I…did Janis notice?”

Damian laughed. “No, she was too busy being upset that the only gay girl looked like her friend-turned-enemy-turned-acquaintance. But I did, so I started talking about the boys and about Aaron to give you a minute to collect yourself.”

“Thanks,” Cady said.

Damian went on. “I really thought that you were just freaking out about thinking a girl was cute. Maybe it was weird for you that said girl looked like Regina. But now? Watching you today? It feels like it might be more than that.” He paused, then said, “Is it more than that?”

Cady didn’t feel ready to have this conversation. She didn’t even totally know what she was feeling for girls in general, much less Regina. How could she talk about this with someone else?

“Damian…I don’t know where to start.”

He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Let’s try this: do you think you like girls?”

Cady shrugged at first, but then slowly nodded. “I think…I might be…bisexual.”

Damian pulled her into a hug. “Oh, Cady, I’m so proud of you! Does anyone else know?”

“No,” Cady said, not letting him go. “I mean…I barely know. I’m not even sure if I do know. That’s just…what feels right for right now.”

Damian pulled back and looked her in the eye. “And that’s perfectly fine.” He got a devilish grin on his face. “I can’t wait until you come out to Janis so I can tell her that you told me first.”

That actually made Cady laugh. As much as she knew Janis would be upset, Cady was glad that Damian was the first to know. Janis was her best friend, but Damian had always been a touch more supportive.

His next words, though, made Cady’s stomach drop.

“Now…how do we feel about Regina George?”

Cady took a few deep breaths, trying to think of the right words. Did she like Regina? Yes, she’d always liked Regina. Even when she’d hated Regina, she’d liked Regina. From that first day, Regina looked at her in a way that made her feel special. Like there was no one else around. And Cady had always wanted to impress her. Show Regina how smart she was. How fast she could learn to be cool. Once they’d become friends - real, true friends - Cady just wanted to show Regina that she was a good friend. A good person. Someone Regina could trust, even though Cady had broken that trust so severely the year before.

Add to that her very recent thoughts about the other girl - thoughts that ranged from sweet kisses to much, much dirtier things, and the answer was pretty clear.

She liked Regina. She had a crush on Regina. She just needed to say it out loud, and it would take the power out of it, and she could figure out a way to move on.

“I’m in love with her.”

Wait.

No.

That’s not what she meant to say.

She saw Damian’s eyes go wide, and she knew hers were doing the same.

“I mean I have a crush on her! That’s it. A crush.”

Damian stood there speechless, mouth hanging open. Cady felt like the room was spinning. It was just a crush. How could she only like Regina as a friend Friday afternoon but be in love with her by Monday? 

A crush on Regina was one thing. Crushes come and go. Being in love with Regina? Totally different ballgame.

She couldn’t be in love with Regina.

She’d gotten carried away.

“Cady, did you just say-”

“I have a crush on Regina? Yes, yes I did. Because I do.” Some part of Cady registered how easy it had become to admit her crush now that she’d said something much, much worse.

“You can’t just try to unsend a sentence, woman! You just said you’re in love with her!”

“No,” Cady said. “I mean, yes, but I didn’t mean it. Not like that. Sure, I love Regina, and I have a crush on her, but I’m not in love with her. It’s a silly little thing that I’ll probably be over by next week.” Cady tried to walk away, but Damian blocked her path.

“Look, I’m not going to push you. It seems like you’re really going through a lot of self discovery right now, but let me tell you; lying to yourself about these things only makes them worse.” Damian gave her another hug. “Know I’m here whenever you want to talk.”

“Thanks again,” Cady said, only half listening to him. She was way too far inside of her own head to fully take in what he was saying.

Damian started to leave the bathroom, but he turned around and looked back at Cady. “Please stop hiding out in the bathroom. It’s filthy. Go to the library or something. Anywhere but here.”

Cady laughed and nodded. She was so thankful to have him in her life.

She came out to Janis that day after school while Janis worked on an art project. As expected, she’d been supportive, and as promised, Damian rubbed it in her face that he’d known first.

“What?! How could you tell him before me?!”

Cady shrugged. “He happened to be there? Besides, he basically figured it out on his own.”

Janis whipped her head to Damian. “That’s the last time that I let you comfort Caddy without me.” Damian was too busy giggling to reply, so Janis turned back to Cady. “Seriously, though, thanks for telling me. You know I love you.”

Cady gave Janis a hug. “Love you, too.”

“So how long have you known? Is this an ‘always’ situation, or an ‘I saw a pretty girl, and I realized I wanted to jump her bones’ situation?”

Cady blushed. “I don’t know…it’s really new.”

Damian had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing or spilling the tea on the whole Regina situation. Cady was thankful. She wasn’t ready to deal with how Janis would react to that.

When she got home that day, she felt exhausted. Crying in the bathroom, coming out to her friends (and sort of to herself), and fully accepting that she had feelings for Regina had taken a lot out of her. She’d briefly thought about coming out to her mom, but that felt like too much for one day. She was ready to just dive into her homework and shut out the rest of the world until she went to bed, but as soon as she tried, she got a text.

Regina: Hey

Regina: You okay?

Regina: You ran off at lunch.

Cady considered ignoring it, but her resolve broke after about 15 seconds.

Cady: I’m fine.

Regina: You didn’t look fine when I saw you.

Cady: I’m surprised you noticed.

Regina: What’s that supposed to mean?

Cady: It means you avoided me for most of the day.

Regina didn’t reply for a long time after that. Cady even had time to get through most of her homework and eat dinner with her mom before she finally felt her phone buzz.

Regina: I’m sorry.

Regina: You’re right.

Regina: I didn’t mean to upset you.

Regina: I’ll stop being weird.

Cady smiled at her phone. Regina had really grown a lot since last year. Back then, she would’ve probably just continued to ignore Cady or called her a loser or something.

Cady: Thank you. You wanna hang out after school tomorrow?

Regina: Can’t. Shane’s coming over.

Cady groaned.

She was starting to hate Shane Oman more than she already did.

Chapter Text

The next week was rough. Cady had resolved to avoid watching The Sex Lives of College Girls, which turned out to be harder than she thought it would be, because even though Regina wasn’t actively ignoring her anymore (she’d gone back to walking with Cady between classes and talking to her like she had before watching the show), she was still too busy with Shane Oman to hang out after school. They hadn’t gone a whole week without hanging out at Regina’s house since the summer, but Regina’d had Shane at her house everyday instead. Of course, it was just Cady’s luck that Regina and Shane would start getting serious the exact moment she realized she was in lo-HAD A CRUSH on Regina.

Adding to her stress was the text she’d gotten from Aaron on Wednesday:

Aaron: Coming out this Sunday. Won’t be there long but want 2 talk.

She’d had to stop herself from throwing her phone in the toilet and flushing it away. How was she going to deal with a visit from Aaron in all of this?! What could she say to him? Oh, sorry, I completely forgot you existed for a few days, because I’ve been obsessing over Regina George. You remember Regina? She’s the one that broke up with you for Shane Oman, got back with you to keep me away from you, then cheated on you with the very same Shane Oman. Anyways, I’m totally crushing on her…and doesn’t Shane suck?

Cady squeezed her eyes shut so tight that she started to see stars. She couldn’t have these strong feelings for Regina and string Aaron along, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to break up with him or anything that extreme. He was her first love. She’d tried to destroy Regina’s life because she was determined to be with him.

Although, as she rethought all of her time with Regina, she questioned if she was more interested in getting Aaron or getting back at Regina for hurting her at the Halloween party.

Whatever the case, he’d been her first everything, and he was sweet, and he didn’t deserve to get blindsided with a breakup.

She ignored the fact that none of her reasons to stay with him had anything to do with having feelings for him now.

That Friday, they had a full house for movie night. For the most part, there’d always been a sort of unwritten “no significant others” policy, but of course, Regina decided this week to bring Shane along, to the annoyance of everyone.

“So you’re just inviting people to my house, now?” Janis said as she helped set up snacks.

Regina gave her a side eye. “Who cares? It’s not like you’ve never brought a girl to movie night.”

“Again, it’s my house, so I can invite whoever I want.”

“Besides, Regina, it would’ve been nice to know,” Gretchen said. “I could’ve invited Kevin. Actually, I could call him now. He might be free, and-”

“Again, this is my house!” Janis said. “Stop inviting people over!”

Cady tried to tune out their arguing. She also tried to ignore the fact that she was on the couch directly next to Regina…who was sitting in Shane’s lap. They’d only gotten more affectionate as the week had gone on.  Cady had been the last one to arrive to movie night (she’d almost avoided it altogether when Regina had mentioned bringing Shane), so she’d gotten the seat next to what Janis had started recently calling “the worst, horniest couple ever.”

“Then I’ll host next time,” Regina snapped back. “And you can shut the fuck up about who I decide to invite.”

“Alright, let’s just pick something to watch,” Damian chimed in. “Watching y’all bicker isn’t nearly entertaining enough for me.”

The group immediately broke into an argument about what they should watch. Cady stayed quiet and tried to avoid looking at Regina and Shane. The whole group felt like they were almost at the point where Regina just picked what they were going to watch, but Damian got a smirk on his face and spoke up.

“Well, last week, we started a TV show called The Sex Lives of College Girls-”

“NO!” Cady and Regina yelled at the same time. They locked eyes, and Cady felt like she was out of breath from the intensity of Regina’s stare. 

Regina kept talking. “We’re not watching that.”

“Why not?” Damian asked, trying to sound innocent, but Cady knew he was instigating. “It’s cute.”

“Sounds hot,” Shane said, kissing Regina on the cheek. Cady tried not to glare. “What’s it about?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Regina said angrily. “We’re not watching it. Pick a movie.”

Damian ignored her. “It’s about a group of girls who are freshmen in college.” His smirk got bigger. “And there’s one that looks just like Regina.”

“Ooh! Sounds fetch!” Gretchen said. “I wanna see that!”

Cady could only hear the quiet growl that Regina let out because she was right next to her.

“Damian, we can’t watch it,” Cady said, trying to break the tension. “We already watched the first season. We’re not all in the same place.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Gretchen spoke up again. “I can always catch up on season 1 later.”

“And I’ve already watched it,” Karen said, and everyone looked at her. “I don’t remember watching it, but it says I did on my Max account. But I’d watch it again.”

Cady could feel how hot her cheeks were. She prayed that no one (specifically Regina or Janis) looked at her at that moment, even though she was pretty sure no one knew she had Karen’s Max password.

“I’m saying no,” Regina said with a finality that usually meant something, but Damian was determined.

“And I’m saying yes. The Regina-clone makes out with girls. You’re saying you don’t want to see that, Shane?”

Shane lit up like a Christmas tree. “Hell yeah! Show me that shit!”

“Fuck you, Shane,” Regina mumbled, but everyone surprisingly ignored her. Her next sentence came out louder. “Fine, if you all want to watch a show with a blonde bitch that sort of looks like me, go ahead. Shane and I will be too busy to pay attention.”

Damian looked a little sorry when Regina and Shane started making out, and Cady tried to ignore it as best as she could.

“Just start the show,” Cady said. “I could use the distraction.”

Regina pulled away to look at Cady for a second, but Shane pulled her back in for another kiss, and that was that.

Cady focused on the screen and tried to tune out the pair next to her, even as Regina kept leaning away from Shane and accidentally touching Cady’s leg with her foot.

It was hell.

The first time Leighton hooked up with a girl, Shane leaned away from Regina and said, “Oh, shit! You should make out with a girl at my next party. That would be so hot.”

Regina all but threw herself out of Shane’s lap and wedged herself between him and Cady.

“Couldn’t just keep your mouth shut, could you?” Regina was seething, and usually, Cady would rub her leg or arm or something to calm her down. She didn’t know what to do right then, though, because Regina had reacted so negatively the last time Cady had tried to touch her.

“You’re so fucking moody,” Shane grumbled. He nodded at Damian. “Girls, am I right?”

Damian looked disgusted and shook his head, and Janis paused the show.

“Alright, time for you to go, Shane.” She grabbed him by the shirt and started dragging him out of the room.

“Hey, get off me!” Shane said, angrily taking Janis’ hands off of him. “Regina invited me. You can’t kick me out.”

“You can,” Regina said from the couch. “He’s boring me.”

“Regina, what the fuck?!” Shane looked about to lose it. “Do you know how many parties I ditched to be here? You can’t just throw me out!”

“Seems like we can,” Janis said. “You’re officially uninvited. Never come back.”

“You’re doing God’s work, Janis!” Damian yelled from his chair, and Shane still looked pissed, but he left without another word.

“You okay?” Cady asked Regina after a few seconds.

“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.” She leaned into Cady a little bit, and Cady couldn’t help but smile.

“Great! Let’s keep watching the show,” Gretchen said, trying to distract from the awkwardness that had just happened. “I’m obsessed already.”

“Sorry he’s such a dick,” Janis said to Regina before pressing play, and for a split second, Regina smiled.

Somehow, as the episode had gone on, Regina had fully cuddled into Cady’s side and currently had her hand resting on Cady’s leg. It was like the last week hadn’t happened. At least for Regina. For Cady, she was currently struggling to keep herself breathing. Every place that Regina’s body was touching hers felt like it was on fire. Cady looked around the room to keep herself from staring at Regina, and every once in a while, she’d see Damian smirking at her and shaking his head before looking back at the TV.

When the montage of Leighton hooking up with various girls popped up in episode 3 of the season, Cady had known to brace herself. She tried to act as normal as possible, but she was prepared for Regina to pick up on any weird vibes and push her away like she had when they’d watched the show together the week before.

She hadn’t been prepared for Regina to start running her hand up and down her thigh. Cady was proud of herself for not moaning out loud in a room full of her friends, but she was pretty sure a very quiet whimper had slipped out. She glanced at Regina, and Cady realized that Regina had no idea what her hand was doing.

Cady tried to remind herself that Regina touched her sort of like this all the time, but it was really stretching the truth. Regina never cuddled her in front of their friends, and her hand certainly didn’t usually draw as high up her leg as it was right now.

Cady didn’t want her to stop. Even if they weren’t alone, Cady was almost at the point that she would take whatever Regina gave her, even if there was an audience.

Cady abruptly sat up as the scene ended, trying to get some space so she could think clearly. “I’m taking a shot. Anybody else want one?”

“Ooh, me!” Karen said, quickly moving towards the table.

“Y-yeah, me, too,” Regina said, seeming half in a daze. Cady couldn’t quite put her finger on why…she just figured it was weird to basically watch yourself have sex in front of your friends and tried to move on. She couldn’t let herself believe that it had anything to do with Regina being just as affected by their cuddling as she was. Nothing good could come from indulging in wishful thinking. She needed to distract herself.

Everyone took a tequila shot…then two…then three…Cady cut herself off at that point, but everyone else kept drinking.

Things got out of hand pretty quickly. 

The TV had been turned off ages ago, and someone had turned on music instead. They were all dancing and laughing and having a generally good time, trying to not get too loud, so Janis’ parents wouldn’t come down and find out that they were all wasted.

Regina danced with Cady, hands on her hips, trying to get her to loosen up.

“Just relax,” Regina said, getting closer to Cady. “You’re too stiff.”

Cady tried her best, but having Regina this close…close enough to pull her into a kiss…it wasn’t helping her relax.

Cady giggled. “Not all of us are…just…like…sexy without trying, Regina.” Cady knew she was saying too much, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Not everyone has the whole school half in love with them.”

“True,” Regina said, shrugging. “I can’t help it that I’m hot. But it’s not like you weren’t making everyone drool over you this time last year.”

As usual, any mention of their junior year made Cady feel a pang of guilt, but she pushed it down. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Not ‘you guess’ Cady. You’re hot as fuck. Own it.” Regina pulled her closer, wrapping her arms around Cady, and her face went to Cady’s neck. Regina nuzzled a few times before sighing. “Fuck, you’re so soft .”

Cady knew she should pull away. Knew that Regina was drunk…that she was also drunk…but she couldn’t manage it. She’d had to spend a week without touching Regina at all, and she felt like she needed this. Needed to feel Regina’s breath on her neck and her hands running up and down her back. Needed to hear Regina complimenting her. 

Needed Regina . 

One of Regina’s hands slipped into Cady’s back pocket, and Cady pulled her closer. She was vaguely aware of Janis yelling “OH MY GOD” from across the room, but she was still surprised when she felt herself getting yanked away. 

“What the fuck?!” Regina protested, before Janis pulled Cady fully outside.

“NOBODY FOLLOW US!” she yelled before slamming the door to the garage shut and dragging Cady even further away.

“Janis, what-”

“SHHH!” Janis snapped, putting her hand over Cady’s mouth. “I need to make sure no one’s here.”

After a minute or so, Janis finally dropped her hand. The world was slightly blurry for Cady, so she was sort of glad for the fresh air. The tequila was hitting her harder than she’d realized.

“What’s wrong?” she asked Janis.

“Since when do you want to fuck Regina George???”

Chapter Text

Janis figured it out.

She’d figured out that Cady had a crush on Regina…or at the very least, she’d picked up on how badly Cady wanted to sleep with her. Cady shook her head and immediately regretted it. She really wasn’t a drinker, and three shots back-to-back combined with Janis’ words were starting to make the world spin. She needed to do damage control.

“Whaaaat?” Cady said completely unconvincingly. “I don’t-I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Janis started pacing in front of Cady. “I saw the way you two were in there! Is this why she’s all over Shane? You two banged, and now, she’s trying to cover with him?”

“No!” Cady said seriously. “Nothing’s happened with me and Regina.”

“But you want something to happen?” Janis asked, and Cady stared at the ground. She wanted to say anything to get Janis away from the truth, but she came up blank. Janis looked horrified. “Cady, are you crazy?! It’s Regina fucking George!”

“I know, okay? I know!” Cady sat on the ground. “I know it’s stupid, and crazy, and she’d never want me, anyways-”

“Oh, my God, Cady,” Janis said, sounding exhausted, but Cady kept talking.

“-but I…we watched that stupid show last week, and now I can’t get it out of my head.”

I can’t get Regina out of my head…

“So…this is about the Regina-clone?” Janis asked, now sounding hopeful. “Not about Regina?”

Cady looked away from Janis and mumbled, “Sure. Yeah.”

Janis shook her head and covered her eyes. “Ugh, this really is about Regina, isn’t it? Why? Why couldn’t it be any other girl in the world?!”

“I’m sorry,” Cady said. “I can’t help it.”

Janis took note of how distressed Cady seemed and sat next to her on the ground. “Okay…okay, so it’s Regina. Regina made you realize that you like girls.” Cady nodded, and Janis sighed. “Jesus Christ, Cady-”

“Please stop being mad at me,” Cady said. “I already know it’s not a good idea, okay? And if I could’ve…I mean, I wish it wasn’t happening, y’know? I don’t want this, and I don’t want to hurt you, and I wish I could just be happy with Aaron.”

“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about Aaron,” Janis said, putting an arm around Cady. 

“To be honest, I forget about him half the time these days.”

Janis laughed and squeezed Cady a little tighter. “Have you talked to him?”

“Not yet,” Cady said. “I guess I should. Or maybe I shouldn’t? I don’t even know how serious this is, yet.”

She felt like she was lying. She really didn’t know if she should bother Aaron with what was maybe just a fleeting crush, but some part of her brain (that was a lot louder when she was drunk) was saying other things.

You know you want her. You know you’re in love with her. You know it’s not going away…

“So what’s the plan?” Janis asked. “Keep dating Aaron while you’re lusting after Regina?”

“I’m not lusting, Janis. It’s just a crush.”

“Caddy, you were fully grinding on each other!” Janis said incredulously. “She was grabbing your ass!”

“No…we were just dancing,” Cady said, trying to keep herself in denial. “You’re exaggerating.”

Janis scoffed. “You two were ten seconds from fucking each other in front of everyone!”

“We were not!” Cady stood up, and she had to take a few deep breaths to keep herself from throwing up. “Ugh, why did I drink?”

“Gay panic makes us all do stupid shit.” Janis stood up with Cady. “Look, Cady, I’m not judging you. Well…I am judging you, because Regina, but I’m not judging you for liking someone that isn’t your boyfriend. But you should talk to him about it.”

“He’s…he’s coming to town in two days.”

“Great! That gives you some time to think, then you can tell him whatever you’re going to tell him face to face. And then, you can get a lobotomy to erase Regina from your memory, and that should fix everything.”

“Janis!” Cady snapped, but it didn’t have any real venom in it. Janis just laughed.

“Seriously, Cady, just be careful. I know that Regina is a lot better than she used to be, but she’s still Regina, and I don’t totally trust her not to do something fucked up if she gets pushed too far. I remember what she did to me all too well.”

Cady thought of how Regina had reacted the previous weekend to Leighton’s reveal, and she nodded. Janis was right; no matter how much Cady wished it wasn’t true, there was still something in Regina that reacted negatively to two girls being together. Whether it was because she really was still a bit homophobic or if she actually did want Cady and was afraid…in either case, Cady needed to tread lightly.

“Okay, I’ll be careful,” Cady said. “I promise.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Janis mumbled, almost to herself. She helped Cady back into the garage. Cady laid down on the couch and fell asleep, even with the loud music playing in the background.

She was pretty sure that she heard Regina asking if she was okay before she completely passed out, but that might have just been her imagination.

By the time Cady woke up the next day, everyone had cleared out besides Janis (obviously - it was her house) and Regina.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Janis said sarcastically. “How you feeling?”

“Like garbage,” Cady said, grabbing her head. “Never let me take shots again.”

“Here’s some water,” Regina said, handing her a bottle. “Drink up.”

Cady took it with a smile, and she noticed that Regina smiled back at her.

“When did everyone leave?” Cady asked, starting to chug the water that Regina handed to her.

“A few hours ago,” Regina said, pushing some hair out of Cady’s face. “It’s 2 right now.”

“Wait, what?” Cady asked, sitting up, but she immediately grabbed her head again and laid back down. “How did I sleep so late?”

Regina laughed and ran her hand down Cady’s arm. “You’re a total lightweight. We need to build your tolerance up.”

“If it means more alcohol, then no thank you,” Cady replied, and Regina just laughed again.

“Fucking gross,” Janis said, and Cady tried to ignore her, but Regina glared at Janis.

“Aren’t you supposed to be her best friend or something?”

Janis rolled her eyes. “Yup. That’s why this whole thing,” she motioned between Cady and Regina, “is fucking gross.”

Regina pulled away, and Cady wanted to kill Janis.

“Whatever,” Regina said. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to die before I left.” Regina stood up and started walking towards the door to the garage.

“Thanks for staying,” Cady managed to get out. “I…I appreciate it.”

Regina was almost out the door, but she turned back at the last minute. “Cady, do you need a ride home?”

“I can walk,” Cady said. She stood up, but she dropped back to the couch almost immediately. Regina walked over and helped her to her feet.

“Come on. I can get you into your house and cover for you with your mom.” Regina helped her walk to her jeep, and Cady was thankful that it didn’t have any doors when the wind hit her face as they drove. 

“You didn’t need to do this,” Cady said, barely keeping her eyes open.

“I wanted to,” Regina said back. “I feel like I talked you into a couple of shots last night.”

“No,” Cady said quickly. “That was all me…unfortunately.”

Regina laughed. “What got you taking shots, anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be the first one to reach for drinks.”

Cady blushed. She knew the reason; Regina’s hand on her thigh had made her feel amazing in a way that she wasn’t allowed to feel for her best friend. She couldn’t tell Regina that, though.

“I just felt like it,” Cady said. “I wanted to have some fun.”

Regina smirked. “Yeah, knocking out on the couch several hours before everyone else sounds super fun.” Regina reached across and grabbed Cady’s hand. Even with all of her conflicting feelings, Cady was glad Regina felt comfortable touching her again.

“Well, before that was pretty fun,” Cady said without thinking. She bit her lip, wishing that she hadn’t said anything. Of course she’d enjoyed dancing with Regina, but she wasn’t sure how the other girl felt about how close they’d been. Regina didn’t seem upset, though, as she giggled and kept holding Cady’s hand.

“Yeah,” Regina said, rubbing Cady’s hand with her thumb. “It wasn’t so bad.”

Cady felt hope bubble up inside of her. Maybe if she told Regina how she felt-

“But we were pretty drunk,” Regina said, pulling her hand away. “What happens at movie night stays at movie night, right?”

Cady wanted to groan. One step forward…several steps back.

“Yeah,” Cady said, deflating a little. “For sure.”

The rest of the car ride was silent.

Cady had no idea what Regina said to her mom when they got to her house, but she knew that she ended up in her bed safe and sound without her mom knowing that she was completely hungover, so she took the win and fell asleep again.

She slept most of the rest of the day to avoid her hangover, but by Sunday morning, she almost felt like herself again. She had a few texts from her friends checking on her.

One from Damian:

Damian: You passed out HARD girlie! Making sure you’ve recovered.

Two from Janis:

Janis: U alive, idiot?

Janis: Because if ur dead, ur mom is going to kill me.

Nine (plus three missed calls) from Regina:

Regina: Hey, just wanted to make sure you’re alright.

Regina: And sorry about inviting Shane.

Regina: He’s an asshole.

Regina: Won’t happen again.

Regina: But seriously, tell me you’re not dead. 

Regina: Or grounded. 

Regina: I think your mom bought the food poisoning story I told her, but I want to make sure.

Regina: Tell me you’re ok.

Regina: Please, Cady.

Cady could feel Regina’s anxiety through her phone. She was well aware that Regina couldn’t handle not being texted back, no matter how much she tried to act like it didn’t bother her. She let Janis and Damian know that she was alright, then texted Regina.

Cady: I’m good! Sorry I didn’t text sooner. Mostly just slept yesterday.

The reply came in a lot faster than Cady was expecting.

Regina: Good.

Cady smiled at the simple text. Leave it to Regina to act like she didn’t care when she’d literally texted nine times . Cady loved and hated the way that it made her feel. She loved the way Regina was kind to her in her own way. She loved that even though Regina still felt a sliver of a need to impress the people around her, she’d grown to be happier caring for her friends than getting approval. She loved that Regina was happiest caring for Cady most of all.

Cady hated the way it made her heart flutter…hated the way that it made her think about what it would be like to get Regina’s attention if they were together. 

To be fair, Regina had been a notoriously awful girlfriend in the past. She was a liar and a cheater, and she’d made every boy in her life feel like they were just one of her accessories. Cady tried to dwell on this part of Regina, and she wanted to believe that she’d be no different. If Regina really wanted to date her, she’d get used just like every guy that Regina had ever slept with, and it would ruin their friendship.

Another part of Cady wanted to believe that Regina had grown enough not to do that to someone she truly liked. Cady imagined that maybe…just maybe…there was a chance that Regina wouldn’t be like that with her. She wanted to believe that it was possible that Regina would cherish her and love her and fulfill her in all the ways that Aaron hadn’t been able to in the time they’d been together.

Cady shook her head at herself. She couldn’t think like this. She was with Aaron. She wanted to be with Aaron.

The same part of her brain that openly wanted Regina screamed at her that wanting Aaron was a lie, and Cady decided that she couldn’t be left alone with her thoughts anymore. She considered checking her socials, but she knew that would just lead her to stalking Regina’s Instagram and Tiktok. She’d probably end up wanting the universe to swallow her whole after liking a post from six years ago or something. She thought about doing homework, but she knew that she’d just end up staring at her books, wishing that she could think about anything but Regina.

Regina, Regina, Regina.

Cady could feel herself getting anxious. She grabbed her tablet, intending to watch something to distract herself. When she unlocked it, however, it was open to a scene from The Sex Lives of College Girls.

A sex scene. With Leighton.

Cady’s teeth clenched. She locked her tablet and threw it to the foot of her bed.

Regina was right. Cady thought to herself. Fuck that show.

Cady was instantly wet after 2 seconds of seeing Leighton kissing another girl.

It hadn’t started before that from thinking about Regina. At least, that’s what Cady told herself over and over again in her head.

She tried to go back to sleep or get out of bed and get ready for her day, but she was too keyed up. She grabbed her tablet and finished watching the scene.

And then she watched it again.

And again.

And the next thing she knew, one of her hands had slipped into her pajama pants.

She threw the tablet to the side again and desperately tried to think of Aaron. She thought of the few times that they’d slept together, but that only proved to frustrate her more. 

Regina’s voice flitted into her mind. He tries his best, but he has no idea what he’s doing. I always had to talk him through it-

Cady tried to push Regina out of her mind, even as she felt herself getting wetter just thinking about the other girl’s voice.

She realized that Aaron wasn’t going to do it for her. She sighed and almost stopped altogether, but she knew she needed to get off.

I’m only thinking about Regina this much because I’m turned on. Maybe this is what I need to move on. Think about a girl, cum, and then I’ll be fine.

Obviously, she started thinking about Leighton.

Leighton, with her long, blonde hair and her sharp tongue.

Cady started rubbing herself faster.

She imagined Leighton kissing her in her dorm room in the show. She could almost feel herself getting pushed back onto the bed. That big, soft bed surrounded by all those pink walls…

Cady snatched her hand out of her pants.

That wasn’t Leighton’s dorm that she’d been picturing. It was Regina’s room.

Cady took a few deep breaths and tried to talk herself out of this. She couldn’t keep her mind off of Regina, and Cady knew that thinking about Regina while she touched herself would only lead to bad things.

On the other hand, she was so, so horny , and she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to stop herself.

Cady’s hand went back under her pajamas, and she begged herself not to think about Regina.

Just think about Leighton. Please think about Leighton. Please.

Pleading with herself only made her think of Regina’s texts…Regina begging her to text back…to tell her she was okay.

How else could Cady get Regina to beg? How would Regina get Cady to beg for her?

Cady felt herself getting closer. God, she was desperate.

She made one last attempt to think about Leighton, but all she saw was Regina.

Regina throwing her down on the bed.

Regina kissing her like both of their lives depended on it.

Regina whispering I love you in her ear while she had her fingers deep inside of Cady.

Cady came screaming Regina’s name into her pillow. She kept shuddering for a lot longer than usual and had a smile on her face until she realized what had happened.

She’d just cum…thinking about Regina…about Regina telling Cady that she loved her, to be precise.

It was exactly what Cady had been trying to avoid.

“FUUUUCK!” Cady yelled into the air. She was sooo fucked.

“Cady?” She could hear her mom on the other side of the door, and she pleaded with the universe that the door was locked and her mom wouldn’t come barging in. “Are you okay?”

“Uh…yeah! Sorry for cursing!” Cady called to her mom, still shaking from her orgasm. “Yeah, just…stubbed my toe! I’m okay, though.”

“You sure?” Her mom said, fiddling with the handle on her door.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Cady just wanted her to leave.

“Okay, well, I was coming to tell you that Aaron is at the door. Should I send him here?”

Fuck.

Aaron.

Chapter Text

Aaron was here.

Cady was still having tremors from cumming thinking about Regina, and Aaron…her boyfriend…was here.

And her mom was about to send him to her room.

Cady jumped out of the bed. “No! I’ll be out in a sec!” She scrambled on legs that barely worked to find something that was semi-suitable for her to wear to greet her boyfriend that she hadn’t seen in months.

She needed to break up with him. It was becoming very clear that her feelings for Regina weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and it just wasn’t fair to keep him hanging around. Regardless of what was going to happen between her and Regina, she knew that Aaron wasn’t the one. She needed to let him go. She just hoped he wouldn’t be too hurt.

When Cady had finally made herself presentable (and was completely sure that the aftershocks from her orgasm were over), she came out to greet Aaron. He was sitting on her couch, but he got up and hugged her as soon as she entered the living room.

“Hey!” he said, lifting her off of the ground. “I’m really happy to see you.”

“Yeah,” Cady replied, squeezing him tightly. “Me…me, too.”

There was an awkward silence that Cady didn’t know how to fill, but Aaron finally spoke up. “How have you been? Seems like it’s been forever. What’ve you been up to?”

Oh, nothing. Just touching myself imagining your ex-girlfriend having sex with me and telling me how in love with me she is. Normal stuff.

“I…just hanging out,” Cady finally managed to get out. “How about you? College seems to be keeping you busy.”

Aaron looked uncharacteristically shy. “Yeah…um…sorry about that. I know I haven’t called much.” Another awkward silence. “Do you want to go out? Maybe grab a bite to eat?”

“Sure, sure,” Cady said, grabbing a coat. She didn’t want to break this boy’s heart, but she knew it was coming one way or another. The last thing she wanted was for her to call out Regina’s name while they slept together or something equally terrible before she got the courage to break things off. “Lead the way.”

Aaron took her to the closest fast food place to Cady’s house.

“What’re you getting?” He asked her.

“Um,” Cady really didn’t have the mental capacity to order anything at that moment. She wasn’t sure that she’d even be able to eat. “Whatever. Surprise me.”

“Really?” Aaron asked incredulously. “You usually hate it when I order for you.”

Cady just shrugged, and Aaron laughed and shrugged back before ordering for both of them.

They parked at an overlook on the edge of town and ate in the car. They’d made some small talk, but Cady could feel the weight of her confession hanging over them. She needed to rip off the band-aid and get on with it, but she really did care for him. She didn’t know how to even approach-

“So…Cady,” Aaron said suddenly, “You know I love you, right?”

Cady felt dread settle in her stomach. “Yeah. And…Aaron, I really love you, too.”

Aaron seemed to grimace, and Cady was confused. “I know. That’s what makes this so hard.”

“Wait…what?”

“I just…look, I would NEVER cheat on you. I respect you too much to do that.”

Cady just got more confused. “I know that? What’s happening?”

Aaron took a deep breath. “College has been really hard. The classes, and meeting new people. Like, I know a few people from high school, but it’s not the same, y’know?” Cady just nodded, not knowing where this was going. “I feel like I’m still me, but I want to be a new version of myself at the same time.”

Cady shook her head. “That’s fine.” She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t totally sure if Aaron knew what he was saying, either.

“And it’s been really hard being away from you,” Aaron said, and Cady tried to chime in, but he kept going. “I think about you all the time. You should know that. But, honestly…I feel like…I don’t know…I just don’t know if we’re really…working right now. As a couple. If that makes sense…” He drifted off.

Cady couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was…was she really getting this lucky? “Aaron, are you breaking up with me?”

Aaron looked at the ground, and Cady knew she was right.

“There have been girls offering me…things, and I swear to you that I’ve turned every one of them down, but I kind of regret it,” Aaron said, looking bashful. “You’re so special to me, but I feel like I want to know what’s out there…what other girls have to offer. I’m so, so sorry.”

Cady felt like she’d never wanted to kiss him more, but it felt rude to be excited at that moment.

“No, I…I get it. I trust that you didn’t cheat on me, and I really appreciate it,” Cady said, trying not to smile. “Thank you for being honest with me. I understand.”

Aaron looked at her surprised. “You’re…not upset? Or mad?”

Cady shook her head. “No. How can I be?”

How can I be when I was about to do the same thing?

“Wow,” Aaron said, looking out his windshield. “I really thought this was going to be harder. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Cady looked at him and felt bad for not telling him the truth.

“Honestly? I’ve also felt like we weren’t working for a while,” Cady said, trying to at least partially come clean. Aaron snapped his attention to her, so she kept talking. “We were both trying to make it work, but I think we both knew that it wasn’t. We barely talked, and when we did, it wasn’t easy like it used to be. We just live really different lives now.”

“I’m sorry, Cady,” he said again. “I really wanted us to make it.”

“Me, too,” Cady said, and in that moment, watching how sweet Aaron was being, and how guilty he seemed to feel, she decided to share a little more with him. “I just think…you need time to be free to meet new people without worrying if you’re going to hurt me…and honestly, I need to explore some things that I’ve discovered about myself, too.”

Now Aaron looked confused. “What’re you talking about?”

Cady took a moment to collect her thoughts. “I’m…I’m bisexual, Aaron.”

He looked shocked. “Oh.”

The car dropped into silence for a long moment.

“I didn’t know until recently,” Cady said, not being able to handle the silence. “I’m still getting used to it, honestly. I didn’t even plan on telling you that. Only Janis and Damian know. But I was planning on telling you that we needed to break things off so I could figure myself out…if that makes you feel better.” Aaron stayed silent, and Cady started to fidget in the passengers’ seat. “Please say something.”

That knocked him out of his stupor. “Oh, shit, Cady. That’s fine!” He put a hand on Cady’s shoulder. “Sorry, I was just super not expecting that. But I’m happy for you!”

Cady smiled. “Really?”

“For sure!” Aaron leaned across the seats and hugged Cady as she tried not to cry. He really was a great guy. “I feel, like, honored that you told me.”

That made Cady start to cry a little and hug him harder. “Of course. You’re one of my best friends.”

“That’s awesome,” he said, pulling away. “You’re one of my best friends, too! And if you need any girl advice, just shoot me a text. I've got you.”

Cady giggled. “Thanks, Aaron.”

He smiled. “So do you have your eye on anyone? Like…oh, are you dating Janis?”

Cady quickly shook her head. “No, Janis is practically my sister. We’re not like that.”

“Cool, cool,” Aaron said, nodding his head. “Well, there must be somebody, right?”

Cady briefly thought about telling him about Regina, but she quickly rethought it. There was no way he’d handle his very recent ex being in love with the girl that had broken his heart twice over not that long ago.

“No…just…a general discovery about myself,” Cady said quickly. She changed the subject. “Anybody that you have your eye on?”

“Are you sure?” Aaron asked her. “I don’t want to make things weird.”

“You were ready to listen to me talk about a potential crush,” Cady said with a smile. “So, who is it?”

Aaron spent the rest of their time together talking about a few girls he knew from college while he drove Cady around town. She was just happy that this had gone so well…and that she wasn’t thinking about Regina for once. 

When he dropped her off at home, Aaron walked her to the door and gave her another hug.

“I’m really glad we talked,” he said. “I thought today was gonna suck, but it turned out pretty great.”

Cady smiled. “So you’ll stop avoiding my texts and calls, now?”

Aaron laughed. “For sure. Sorry for ghosting you for a minute.”

Cady waved her hand. “It’s fine. I’m just glad we’re good.”

“Me, too.”

She left him with another hug, knowing that they both felt significantly lighter after their conversation. She walked into her house with a giant smile on her face.

“Hey!” her mom greeted her. “Seems like you had fun!”

“Yeah, it was great,” Cady said, giving her mom a hug. “We broke up.”

Cady’s mom blinked a few times and shook her head. “Wha…what? Are you okay?”

Cady nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was really good for both of us, and we’re still friends. We’ll probably talk even more now than we did before.”

“That’s…good? I guess?” Ms. Heron was just confused. “I’m happy for you?”

Cady smiled bigger. “Thanks! I’ll be in my room if you need me.” She walked away, barely registering her mother’s flabbergasted look in her direction.

The pure relief that she felt was palpable. She hadn’t even needed to break up with Aaron. He did it for her! Having something actually go smoothly in her life felt so good that she almost forgot that she couldn’t deny that she was in love with Regina anymore.

Almost.

She sat on her bed and tried to figure out what to do. She really  was in love with Regina George. The more she said it to herself, the more of a thrill went through her at the idea that Regina might share her feelings. There’d been so many little things that had her thinking that she might not be the only one feeling this way, but Regina was so guarded and hard to read. Was it really worth the risk to tell Regina how she felt?

Cady clutched at her chest. No, she couldn’t do that. She cared about Regina’s friendship too much to put it on the line for the possibility that Regina wanted her back.

She decided that the best thing to do was to pretend that none of this was happening. She’d ignore her feelings, maybe date a different girl, and all of this would pass.

That went out the window the moment that she saw Regina at school the following Monday. Just being around the girl, knowing what Cady knew now…that she was head-over-heels in love with her…was intolerable, especially with Regina still draping herself over Shane fucking Oman, even after what had happened Friday night.

So…the plan changed.

She’d come out to Regina, see how she reacted, then go from there. If Regina reacted well, then Cady would consider…maybe…one day…sharing her feelings with the other girl. If Regina reacted poorly…then Cady would probably crawl into a hole and die, and-

No…Cady couldn’t go down the path of worst possible scenario. She knew that Regina had grown and wouldn’t do anything vindictive like she had with Janis. The worst that would happen is Regina would pull away a bit…maybe be a little less affectionate with her. The idea of them being even slightly less close physically hurt Cady to think about, but it was better than trying to hold everything in.

And if Regina did pull away a bit, it might hopefully… finally …lead Cady to getting over her.

“Hey,” Cady said, grabbing Regina between classes. “Do you think I can come over to your house today? I…I wanted to talk.”

Regina looked worried. “Are you okay?”

Cady quickly nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to spend some time with you.”

Regina smiled. “Sure. Meet me at my Jeep after school?”

“Yeah! Thanks!” Cady pulled Regina in for a hug, and she stopped herself from obsessing over how long their hugs always were…always had been since Spring Fling their junior year.

She could almost hear Janis’ voice in her head telling her that she was being too gay to function…

As promised, Cady got to Regina’s car as soon as the last bell rang. She was already fully buckled in before Regina even got to the parking lot.

“Eager, are we?” Regina said with a smirk when she finally got to her car. Cady blushed and opened her mouth to argue, but Regina laughed in a way that let Cady know she was just giving her a hard time.

Why did she always need to be so flirty, though? Cady thought to herself.

Regina drove them to her house, and Cady fought to keep herself calm. She’d come out to three other people already. She kept telling herself that she knew what to expect, but she knew it was a lie. Regina would probably never stop being the wild card in her life. She had no idea how this was going to go.

As soon as they were in her room, Regina laid down on her bed. Cady sat down on the side edge of the bed, near Regina, but not too close. She needed to be able to think. Regina let her be for a minute before speaking up.

“So what’s up?” Regina finally asked. “I blew off Shane for this, so it better be good.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Cady quickly said, even though she was secretly glad that at the very least, she’d kept Shane out of Regina’s bed for the day.

“Eh, he was here all weekend. I needed a break from his whining about Friday.”

“He was here all weekend?” Cady asked before she could stop herself, but before Regina could respond, Cady spoke again. “I mean…cool…he was here all weekend. That’s…fine.”

“God, Cady, you’re so weird sometimes.” Regina propped herself up against her headboard. “Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” She grabbed one of Cady’s hands. “You’re playing with your fingers, and it’s stressing me out.”

Cady smiled to herself. Regina knew her nervous habits, just like she knew Regina’s. She was so in love with this girl.

She shook her head, remembering that Regina probably wasn’t into her. Regina could have anyone that she wanted. Regina already had a boyfriend that she was spending more and more time with, so she wouldn’t want Cady pining after her. All the little signs she’d been seeing were just her own wishful thinking. Cady took a deep breath, determined to get through this conversation, so they could go back to being friends.

“There is something that I wanted to talk about,” Cady said, still letting Regina hold her hand. It made her feel better….braver, somehow, even knowing that Regina might take all that comfort away once she knew everything. “I…it’s new, so I’m not going to say it totally right.”

“Tell me,” Regina all but commanded.

“I guess the first thing is that Aaron and I broke up.”

Regina rolled her eyes, but smiled wide. “Finally.”

Cady looked at her confused. “What?”

“I mean, that was obviously going to happen.” Regina laughed a little. “He’s so boring, and he was ignoring you. There was no way that was going to last. Honestly, I was considering just telling you to break up with him. Total waste of time.”

Cady couldn’t help but feel a little insulted. “So, you thought you could tell me to break up with him, and I’d just do it? No questions asked?”

Regina shrugged. “I guess there would be questions, but yeah.”

Cady pulled her hand away from Regina. “You know that you don’t just get to order me around, right? I make my own decisions for my own life, Regina.”

“I know that,” Regina replied, looking a little apologetic. “I didn’t think it would be an order. I thought you were just looking for a reason.”

“A reason?”

“Yeah, to dump him. He’s so basic, Cady. You clearly deserve better.” Regina went to put a hand on Cady’s shoulder, but Cady moved away. “Alright, so I guess I did something wrong?”

“He was a good guy, Regina,” Cady said angrily. “You can’t just decide he’s terrible for no reason.”

Cady could tell Regina was getting irritated. “I didn’t say he was terrible. I said you deserved better. Isn’t that a compliment?”

Cady felt herself getting ready for an argument. She kept telling herself that Regina was questioning her judgment somehow by questioning why she would date Aaron. When she took a second to breathe, though, she knew that she was deflecting. She was only this mad because it was easier than dealing with the truth of her feelings for Regina, and arguing put off the conversation that Cady really needed to have.

“I’m sorry,” Cady mumbled, grabbing Regina’s hand again. “I didn’t like that you were being mean to him. He was really kind. He didn’t do anything wrong, and he was careful not to hurt my feelings.”

Regina narrowed her eyes. “Wait…did he break up with you? ”

Cady nodded “Yeah, why?”

Regina looked taken aback. “What an ungrateful asshole.”

Cady’s heart soared, but she tamped it down. “He just wanted to be able to explore his options. I can’t fault him for that. Besides, I was planning on breaking up with him, too.”

“Thank God for that,” Regina said, pulling Cady into a hug lying on the bed. Cady relaxed into Regina’s arms without a second thought. “Still, I’m sure that sucked. I’m sorry he’s such an idiot. You should’ve been the one leaving him behind.”

“Honestly, it made it a lot easier for me that it was him that broke it off.”

Cady felt Regina nod. “Makes sense. You have such a hard time asking for what you want.” Cady pulled herself away from Regina so she wouldn’t just sink into the bed and forget what she’d planned to say. “What? It’s true. You’re getting better, but you’re still such a pushover.”

Cady closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m working on it.”

“I know,” Regina said. “And I’m like…proud of you, or whatever.”

Cady looked over at Regina, but she was avoiding Cady’s eyes. This was turning out to be harder than breaking up with Aaron.

But she needed to do this. She couldn’t live with wanting Regina so badly while the other girl had no idea it was even an option.

“That’s not everything,” Cady said, and Regina finally made eye contact with her. “I…had a specific reason that I thought Aaron and I should break things off.”

“Okay?” Regina said after a few seconds. “Gonna let me know what it was?”

Cady steeled herself for rejection. “Recently, I’ve noticed that…I’m maybe…interested in other girls?” Regina stared at her, face unmoving. Cady couldn’t stand it. She kept talking. “I think I might be bisexual.”

The whole room was still. Silent. Cady could even hear cars passing by in the distance. Regina gave no indication that she’d even heard what Cady had said. She just sat there, frozen, staring at Cady like she hadn’t said anything at all.

“Y’know what?” Cady said, voice wavering, but she had to say something . “I am bisexual. I’m sure of it. And I’m okay with it, even if you’re not.”

Regina blinked a few times before attempting to talk. “I…I didn’t say-”

Cady kept going. “And I know that you’re not always super comfortable with girls who like girls. I know how you were with Janis. I saw how you were watching that show, but I need to say this. I like girls! And that’s fine!” Cady stood up off of the bed and started pacing. “Regina, I care about you a lot, and I care about your opinions of me, but there’s nothing I can do about this. It’s who I am, and it’s not changing, and you’re going to have to get used to it.”

Regina looked shocked. Her mouth kept opening and closing, but all she could manage to get out was, “Cady…”

“You don’t get to judge me!” Cady kept rambling. “This is my new normal, Regina! I might have crushes on girls, and date girls, and-”

“You can’t have crushes on other girls,” Regina said suddenly, and Cady felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. “You-you can’t date other girls.”

“What?”

Regina stood up. “You can’t date other girls, Cady.”

Cady scoffed. “Why not?”

“Because…because I said you can’t. I don’t wanna see you date other girls.” Regina looked indignant, and it only proved to make Cady angrier with her.

“Fuck off, Regina!” she yelled. “I can date whoever I want! You don’t control me!”

“Cady, I am fucking warning you.” Regina was eerily calm, and Cady would’ve relented if it had been last year. “Do not date other girls.”

“Give me one good reason, Regina,” Cady asked sarcastically, getting in Regina’s face. “One good reason I can’t date other girls.”

Regina grabbed Cady’s face and pulled her into a kiss.

Fuck…that’s a pretty good reason.

Chapter Text

There had been a few options that had run through Cady’s mind when thinking about coming out to Regina: maybe Regina would act like nothing changed (she was good at that), or she’d maybe say everything was fine, but she would stop being quite as close to Cady. In her worst scenarios, Regina freaks out and throws her out of her house. In her best ones, maybe Regina hints that she might also like girls…or at least like Cady.

The option that Cady never in a million years considered was Regina kissing her like she was trying to devour her.

Cady knew that she should pull away. She should pull away and put some distance between the two of them and question Regina’s motives.

But Regina was kissing her.

So, of course, she instantly started kissing her back.

She felt Regina sigh against her mouth, and Cady had to concentrate on not passing out. Regina was a fantastic kisser. She was firm, but oh so soft , and she knew when to lead and when to follow…which was honestly a surprise. Cady had always imagined that Regina would be demanding and forceful…insistent on setting the pace on all things physical. It’s how she’d always been with boys.

But right then? Kissing Cady? She pushed and pulled, and it made Cady feel weak and powerful in all the best ways possible. Cady was the one that ran her tongue along Regina’s lips, and Regina groaned and let Cady push her tongue inside of her mouth.

Cady pulled away. “Regina…what’s happening?”

“Shut up,” Regina replied, pushing Cady back onto the bed. Regina crawled on top of her, and Cady’s hands fell to Regina’s waist. “Just kiss me.”

Cady wanted to argue…but Cady also did not want to argue at all, so she nodded and did as she was told and kept kissing Regina. Cady started running her hands up and down Regina’s sides. When her hand went a little higher and grazed the side of Regina’s chest over her clothes, she reveled in the way that Regina gasped and pulled away from their kiss.

It also gave her a second to think.

“Regina,” she said, trying to string a thought together. “What about Shane?” Regina started kissing her neck, and Cady almost forgot her question, but she kept herself talking. “Regina, seriously-”

Regina pulled away, seeming annoyed. “Shane’s irrelevant. He’s barely even my boyfriend.” 

“But…” Cady shook her head, trying to get her thoughts together. “But you said-”

Regina grabbed Cady’s hands and pinned them over her head. “I don’t want to talk about him. Let me do what I want, Cady.”

Cady, really, really should have stopped things at that point, but she just nodded again. Regina went back to kissing her neck, and she truly couldn’t find it in herself to do anything but moan and be thankful this was happening at all. Regina used one hand to keep Cady’s hands pinned over her head, but she used the other hand to start unbuttoning Cady’s shirt. Once it was open, Regina pulled back and looked at her.

“Fuck,” Regina whispered, sounding almost pained. “Why do you have to be so fucking beautiful?”

Cady shuddered and flushed at Regina’s words. Regina kept staring down at her, and Cady couldn’t take the silence. “Do something, please.”

That pulled Regina out of her head and back into action. She helped Cady sit up just enough to get her shirt and bra off before pushing her back down and starting to kiss her again. 

Cady felt completely overwhelmed. The part of her that wanted to question everything and the part of her that was always desperate for Regina’s attention were at odds. She really wanted to know why this was happening…why Regina was kissing her and starting to peel her clothes off and what it meant for them going forward, but she also didn’t want to push Regina to a point that she would stop.

Cady knew she didn’t want to stop. It felt too good and too right. Unless Regina asked her to, she wasn’t about to stop whatever was happening between them for any reason.

Cady felt Regina start to use both hands to run her fingers over both of her nipples at the same time, and she had to pull away and bite her lip to keep from screaming. She tried to go back to kissing, but Regina moved down and took one of her nipples into her mouth.

“Regina!” Cady cried out. Regina hummed against her chest and licked Cady’s nipple a few times before moving to the other one and doing the same thing. Cady whined as she grabbed the bottom of Regina’s shirt. Regina sat back and pulled her shirt off in one fluid motion before she went back to sucking on Cady’s nipple. Cady’s hands flew to the back of Regina’s head, and Regina growled.

Cady didn’t know where this was going. She was holding her breath, waiting for Regina to pull away and panic or laugh at her or something. She felt wary, but she also felt so good with Regina touching her like this. Her hands started to wander, playing with the band of Regina’s bra.

Regina pulled back. “Just unhook it, Cady.”

The way Regina said her name drove Cady wild. “Are you sure?”

Regina pulled away and pulled her bra off herself, and Cady’s mouth went dry.

“Don’t ask me anything else,” Regina said. “Don’t make me think.”

Cady tried to respond, but she was pretty sure that the noise that came out of her mouth wasn’t anything close to the ‘okay’ that it was supposed to be. Regina was on top of her, topless, and Cady couldn’t help but grab both of her breasts and feel the weight of them in her hands. Regina gasped, and Cady figured that she was doing something right.

“Regina,” Cady said wistfully. Despite Regina’s earlier request, she really did want to keep questioning what was happening between them, but her brain was starting to shut off. “I…I want…”

“What?” Regina said breathily. Cady’s hands reflexively squeezed, and Regina’s eyes slipped shut. Cady saw her throat bobble as she swallowed and tried to catch her breath. “Say what you want.”

Cady paused for a moment before capturing Regina’s lips in another kiss. She’d have to get her answers later, because for now, all she could think about was touching and being touched by Regina.

Cady ran her thumbs over Regina’s nipples, and the blonde struggled to keep up with their kiss. The next thing Cady knew, Regina was pulling away from her. Cady strained to try to keep kissing her, but Regina unbuttoned and pulled Cady’s pants off. It left her on her knees in front of Cady, who was only in her underwear. Regina put her hands on Cady’s knees and pushed her legs open, and Cady let it happen.

Regina tucked her fingers into the waistband of Cady’s underwear and started kissing Cady’s inner thigh, and Cady really couldn’t believe this was happening. Some combination of Regina’s name and moans came out of her mouth as Regina kept kissing her inner thigh higher and higher. When Regina kissed her clit over her underwear, her hips jumped, and she felt herself flush from embarrassment.

“God, Cady…I’ve never…” Regina drifted off, and Cady felt the need to reassure her.

“It’s okay if you want to stop,” she said, sitting up slightly to look down at Regina. She forced the next words to come out of her mouth, because seeing Regina between her legs was driving her absolutely crazy, and the thought of Regina stopping at this point made her want to die . “You…you don’t have to do anything.”

Regina locked eyes with her. “No…Cady, I’ve never wanted anything like this before. I’ve never wanted anyone so much. ”

Cady closed her eyes and bit her lip to keep herself from confessing her love for the woman in front of her before locking eyes with Regina again. “Same.”

Same? SAME??? That’s all you could manage??? She just said the fucking hottest thing you’ve ever heard, and all you say back is SAME?!?

When Cady opened her eyes, she expected Regina to look irritated with her. Instead, she was giving her a comforting smile.

“Good,” Regina said, starting to smirk, before tugging Cady’s underwear off of her. There were a few seconds where Regina just looked between Cady’s legs before she moved forward and licked her clit. Cady dropped back onto the bed and wondered if Regina had done this before, because it felt incredible. Better than anything that Aaron had done to her. Cady honestly felt like even comparing this to sex with Aaron was a complete disrespect to what Regina was doing to her now.

Cady gripped the bedspread to keep herself from grabbing Regina’s head and grinding into her mouth. It was bad enough that she couldn’t keep still. She prayed that Mrs. George still wasn’t home, because the sounds she was making were surely filling the entire mansion. Regina’s hands went from rubbing Cady’s thighs to twisting her nipples, and Cady was really trying not to cum within 30 seconds, but it was a struggle.

“Regina, please!” Cady gasped as Regina started sucking on her clit.

“Please what?” Regina rasped out, pulling away, and Cady immediately regretted speaking.

“I…I don’t know? Don’t stop?” Cady was blushing so hard that she wouldn’t be surprised if her entire body was red. Regina laughed at her in a way that felt equal parts cruel and fond, and Cady’s hips bucked forward.

Regina shook her head, but she went back to going down on Cady without another word. One of her hands moved to Cady’s inner thigh.

Cady suddenly realized what she’d been asking for..she wanted Regina inside of her. She wanted Regina to feel it when she came. She was equally shocked and completely unsurprised that Regina had figured that out before Cady could even work it out for herself.

Regina ran her finger through Cady’s folds, still not letting go of her clit with her mouth. She hummed, and Cady whimpered. She felt Regina laugh against her, and she whimpered even louder. A few seconds later, Cady felt Regina push a finger into her, and she focused on not hyperventilating. It only took a few thrusts for Regina to add another finger.

Cady was in heaven. Completely lost in the way Regina was making her feel.

Regina wouldn’t settle on a rhythm. She’d switch from sucking to licking. Go from fucking Cady hard and fast to curling her fingers inside of Cady and slowly dragging them out. Regina’s free hand would travel between Cady’s nipples and down her side and grip her thigh…it was like Regina was trying to drag it out and figure out exactly what made Cady feel the best. Cady felt like it didn’t matter, though. Everything Regina was doing to her felt good, and all of the switching tactics was just making her lose her mind.

Cady’s hips had started rolling against Regina’s mouth and fingers. She knew she was saying words to Regina, but she wasn’t sure what was coming out of her mouth at this point. She just focused on making sure it wasn’t ‘I love you’ and kept letting herself just feel and get out of her head.

A particularly amazing feeling flick of Regina’s tongue, paired with her curling her fingers just right had Cady hurdling over the edge and into an orgasm. The best orgasm of her life. Possibly the best one she would ever have.

Unless she could get Regina to do this again. Then she was pretty confident the other girl would find a way to make it even better.

Cady struggled to catch her breath. Regina had moved her mouth away, but she was still fucking Cady with her fingers really slowly. Cady let Regina keep touching her for a while. It felt so incredibly good. When she started to feel a little sore, she finally batted the other girl’s hand away, and Regina climbed onto the bed with her. Cady went to try to say something, but before she had the chance, Regina was kissing her. Regina’s tongue went immediately into her mouth, and Cady felt a tremor roll through her whole body when she tasted the combination of Regina and herself.

That had really happened.

She’d really just had sex with Regina George.

Before she could even start to process that, Regina climbed on top of her and shoved Cady’s hand into her pants and down to her pussy.

She was fucking dripping wet.

Cady immediately felt so turned on that she couldn’t believe that she’d just cum.

“Fuck me, Cady,” Regina ordered against Cady’s lips.

Cady didn’t need to be told twice.

She started rubbing Regina’s clit, but Regina groaned and pushed two of Cady’s fingers inside of herself.

“Regina, holy shit,” Cady managed to gasp before pulling Regina into a kiss. It felt less like Cady was fucking her and more like Regina was using her fingers to get herself off.

It was so fucking hot that Cady had to concentrate on not cumming again.

Cady wanted to make Regina feel as good as Regina had made her feel. She wanted to be the best that Regina had ever had, even though she had no idea what she was doing. She wanted to take her time the rest of the day and night making Regina cum over and over again. She wanted to ditch school for the rest of the week and spend all of her time wrapped up in Regina.

She loved Regina so much, and she felt so unbelievably lucky that Regina was letting her touch her like this…fuck her like this. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to stop.

“Cady…” Regina panted against Cady’s mouth. She was too far gone to keep up kissing. “Just like that, Cady. Don’t stop.” Cady kept moving her hand, but she moved her thumb to rub Regina’s clit, and the blonde almost stopped breathing. “Yeah…fuck! You’re…you’re so fucking good…”

Cady hoped the smile that broke out on her face didn’t look as stupid as it felt.

Regina kept talking her through it and praising her, until all she could manage to say was Cady’s name. They moved faster and faster together  until Regina finally went over the edge.

“CADY! Jesus fucking Christ, Cady!” Regina’s whole body shook as she came, and Cady never wanted it to end. She could’ve died happy, lying under Regina, feeling her clamp down around her fingers.

Regina laid on top of Cady once her orgasm was finally through, slowly getting herself to breathe normally. Cady ran her free hand through Regina’s hair and kissed her temple. She pulled her other hand out of Regina, and Regina fully whimpered and clung to Cady harder. It was strange and amazing to Cady, seeing Regina this vulnerable.

Regina finally rolled off of Cady, and they both stared at the ceiling. Cady really wanted to wrap her arms around Regina, but she could feel the other girl tensing next to her…starting to panic. Cady knew she needed to speak up.

She swallowed a few times before finally saying, “That…was incredible.” Regina stayed silent, so Cady kept talking. “I feel like…maybe we should talk about this? I mean…it was kind of a big deal-”

Regina suddenly stood up. She seemed shaky on her legs as she grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head.

“Okay,” Regina said, looking at anything but Cady. She picked up all of Cady’s clothes and laid them on the bed next to her. “Okay…so…you should get dressed.”

Cady sat up on the bed. “Um…okay?” Cady didn’t move. She just watched Regina start to pace back and forth in front of her.

Regina still seemed determined to look anywhere but at Cady. “So…so that…fuck!” Regina yelled. She looked more rattled than Cady had ever seen her. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Cady tried to hide the slight hurt that she felt at Regina’s words. “I know it was sudden, but if we just talk-”

“No, Cady, we can’t talk about this!” Regina looked like a trapped animal, continuing to pace and starting to seem like she was going to have an anxiety attack, before she stopped, closed her eyes, then took a deep breath.

Cady didn’t like the look she saw when Regina opened her eyes again. They felt cold and distant…dangerous in a way that they hadn’t in a long time.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” Regina said, forcing her voice to be even. “This doesn’t have to-this didn’t mean anything. You came out, and I showed you a good time. That’s all.”

Cady blinked a few times. “Wh…what?”

Regina shrugged in a way that made Cady feel very small. “I’m going to take a shower. You should probably be gone when I get out.”

Cady felt like she’d been stabbed in the chest. “Regina-”

“Can you get your mom to pick you up?” Regina asked “I can’t-I don’t feel up to driving you home today.”

Cady wanted to beg Regina not to do this…not to push her away. She wanted Regina to ask her to stay. She wanted to tell Regina that she didn’t need to be afraid and that they could figure things out together…but she couldn’t find the right words.

“I-” Cady said, starting to get dressed. She felt far too exposed talking to Regina like this while she was naked. “Are…are you sure?”

Regret flashed across Regina’s face, but it was gone as quickly as it came, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Her voice slightly wavered as she said, “Go home, Cady. I need…I can’t be around you right now.” She walked out of the room and into her bathroom. Cady could feel the tears running down her cheeks as soon as Regina closed the door. She finished getting dressed and thought about calling her mom before deciding to just walk home. She didn’t want her mom to see her like this…sobbing while her heart broke.

By the time she got home, it was already getting dark. Cady went to her room, ignored her mom, locked her door, and crawled under her covers. She’d just felt more fulfilled than she’d ever felt in her life, and then she’d been told it didn’t mean anything. Of course it meant something. It meant everything. She knew it had meant something for both of them, but she was also aware that Regina was very good at pretending that things didn’t affect her, even when they clearly did. Regina was nothing if not the queen of compartmentalizing.

She hadn’t been like that for a long time. At least not with Cady…but this had been a step too far, and Regina’s worst survival instincts had kicked in. Cady screamed into her pillow in frustration. She couldn’t stop replaying her time at Regina’s house over and over again in her mind, trying to figure out what could’ve been done to stop Regina’s panic. 

Regina was silent when I came out…then angry that I might date other girls…

Then we had sex…incredible sex that I REALLY wasn’t expecting…and then she all but threw me out…what was I supposed to do?

What the hell had Regina George done to her?

All she knew is that she’d fallen in love, and it was starting to feel like the girl she’d given her heart to had chewed her up and spit her out. She felt angry…angry with Regina for all but rejecting her…angry with herself for not stopping things sooner…angry with every single thing that had made something so wonderful turn to complete shit so fast.

What the hell were they going to do now?

For the first time since Spring Fling, Cady was dreading seeing Regina.

Chapter Text

The next day at school was horrible. Cady had considered skipping, but she’d decided against it. She was too bad a liar at this point to fake being sick, and she didn’t want to have to explain to her mom why she was ditching school.

Regina was ignoring her. Cady had tried to get the blonde’s attention during passing periods, but Regina just marched past her without a second thought. Cady felt completely helpless.

“What’s wrong with you?” Janis asked Cady in French class. “You’re all mopey.”

She wanted to tell Janis and Damian everything, but she also didn’t want to out Regina. She wasn’t even sure if she was outing Regina…she didn’t know what sex with Regina really meant. She knew that she’d been trying to share everything of herself with the other girl in that moment, but after it was over, Regina had said she didn’t want it to be that serious.

Regina had wanted Cady to feel like she’d just been caught up in the moment, or she was doing a favor for a friend, or she was feeling controlling or possessive or…something. Anything other than Regina having feelings… real feelings …for Cady.

Cady got caught between the part of her that knew Regina had pushed her away because that’s what Regina did when she felt too much…and the part of herself that felt insecure.

She clearly hadn’t been feeling the things that I was feeling, or she wouldn’t have kicked me out.

She shook her thoughts away before replying to Janis, “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Lies,” Damian chimed in. “Something is going on, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with Regina. She hasn’t been talking to any of us all day, either.”

Cady looked back at them. “Really?” She knew that she shouldn’t sound happy, but at least that meant that Regina wasn’t just ignoring her.

She felt pathetic with how happy she felt that Regina wasn’t just ignoring her.

“Did you two fight or something?” Janis asked. “Not like I’m sad to go a day without hearing her talk, but…” Janis’ voice dropped to a whisper. “Well, with you having feelings for her or whatever, I just want to make sure she hasn’t, like, figured that out and done something terrible to you.”

Cady almost managed a smile. She appreciated how protective Janis was being of her. She didn’t know how to respond, though; she didn’t know how to classify what Regina had done to her. Terrible felt wrong but completely right at the same time.

“I…it was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“So she did do something?” Janis was angry. “I swear to God, I thought she was better than that, now, but once a horrible bitch, always a horrible bitch, I guess.”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Cady said. She still wanted to defend Regina, even after everything that had happened the day before.

Janis bristled and started to respond, but Damian cut her off. “Cady, you can talk to us. We’re here for you. Regina may be our friend now, too, but you know we’ve always got your back above everyone else’s, right?”

Cady smiled at him. “Yeah, I know. I just…” She almost started to tell them what had happened, but she stopped herself at the very last moment before the words came out of her mouth. “It’s complicated.” Damian looked like he was about to speak again, but Cady kept talking. “Can we just drop it for now? I don’t want to get into it.”

They both looked like they wanted to argue, but they just looked at each other, then back to Cady and nodded their heads.

Lunch was awkward, to say the least.

“Where’s boytoy?” Janis asked Regina as she sat down at their table.

“Shane’s gone,” Regina said, stabbing a fry with her fork and popping it into her mouth. The table was a mix of cheers that it was over and groans that it had happened at all.

“Why?” Cady asked before she could stop herself. Regina stared at her for a few seconds, so Cady asked again, “Did you break up with him?”

Regina locked eyes with her. “Yeah.”

“Why?” Cady asked again.

Regina kept staring at her. “He was irritating me.”

That’s not the answer that Cady had wanted, but she felt her heart flutter a bit. She was happy at the least that after everything, she wasn’t going to have to watch Regina throw herself at Shane again, even though she was still so hurt by how Regina was handling things. 

Janis scoffed. “Seriously? You put all of us through that torture for nothing?”

Gretchen chimed in. “She does this all the time. Boyfriends are never permanent. You’ll get used to it.”

Regina gripped her fork a little tighter, but she didn’t say anything to Gretchen.

Janis mumbled, “Oh, I already know. She’s always been like this.”

Regina’s eyes snapped to Janis, and Janis raised a challenging eyebrow to Regina.

“You don’t know shit about me,” Regina finally said, before going back to eating her lunch.

Janis threw her hands up. “Jesus, sorry for trying to make conversation.”

Regina grabbed her tray and stood up. “Y’know what? I’m eating outside.” She left without another word.

“Well…that was weird. Even for Regina,” Gretchen said. “She always sits with us.”

“Except that one time,” Karen added, and Cady felt guilt rip through her like a knife, but it faded into anger.

I shouldn’t be feeling guilty for something that happened last year if she’s not feeling guilty for what she did to me yesterday.

Gretchen shook her head. “I wonder what’s wrong with her.”

“I don’t know,” Janis said, then she looked at Cady. “Any reason Regina would be so upset?”

Cady glared at Janis, not at all surprised that Janis would try to use this to pry into what happened between Cady and Regina. She knew Janis just wanted to help, but at that moment, Cady felt like she was prying. “No idea.”

Cady stayed silent for the rest of lunch, trying not to snap at everyone or run after Regina. If Regina was going to ignore her, Cady wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of chasing her around the school.

They went through the entire school week like that - ignoring what had happened between the two of them. Cady stopped trying to talk to Regina, and Regina would always find some reason to storm off during lunch. Cady found herself flipping between anger and concern. Regina was still her friend, and she still loved the girl, no matter how much she tried to hate her.

She’d never been good at hating Regina.

Still, Cady, at times, was furious. Regina had some nerve to pull what she did, then avoid her for days. Cady knew she deserved better than that. If it were anyone but Regina that was hurting her like this, she was sure that Regina would offer to kill that person for her. Which made it harder…she knew that Regina cared about her, so the way Regina was treating her hurt so much worse than it would have when they weren’t as close. Sure, she still had her moments where she was harsh or less than kind, but she hadn’t done anything this cruel for a long time.

That Friday, at movie night, they finished The Sex Lives of College Girls.

Regina hadn’t shown up. She said she had a family thing. Cady knew it was a lie…or at the very least, it was something that Regina would have bailed out on under normal circumstances.

Cady could barely stand watching the show…watching Leighton…knowing that Regina was barely talking to her after everything…making her cum harder than she ever had before…making Cady fall in love with her…

That weekend consisted of Cady holing up in her room, trying to pretend that Regina George didn’t exist. She managed to ignore every call, text, DM from everyone she knew. She couldn’t risk looking at her phone and being devastated that Regina hadn’t tried to reach out to her. 

She’d even managed to ignore every desperate knock on her door from her Mom until that Sunday. Her mom finally just unlocked Cady’s door while she laid in bed crying.

“Cady, I’d normally never do this,” Ms. Heron said as she slowly cracked open the door, “but I heard you crying, you’ve barely eaten, and…well…I really want to know what’s wrong. Can I help?”

Cady’s mom stood in the doorway, waiting for her daughter to fully let her in. Cady knew that if she turned her mom away, she would leave without another word. She’d lock the door behind herself, and she’d never ask Cady why she was crying again.

“Mom,” Cady said in a quiet voice, and Ms. Heron perked up. “Do you want to come in?”

Ms. Heron nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. Cady felt comforted, feeling her mom this close to her, but she didn’t say anything else for a long time.

“Do you need anything from me?” Ms. Heron asked after a few minutes. “Or do you want me to just sit here with you?”

Cady took a deep breath before speaking up. “I think I messed up again, Mom.”

Ms. Heron ran her hand through her daughter’s hair. “I can’t imagine that it’s anything worse than what we went through last year.”

Cady let out a watery laugh. “You’d be surprised.”

“Try me,” Ms. Heron said.

Cady took a few deep breaths before whispering, “I’m in love with Regina.”

Her mom’s hand went still in her hair, but her face remained neutral.

“Oh…okay.”

Cady sat up in her bed. “Are you mad?”

Ms. Heron quickly shook her head. “No…no, that’s just…you’re in love with Regina?”

“Yeah,” Cady said, nodding.

“Regina George? The girl you spent all of last year hating?” Ms. Heron asked, and Cady nodded. “The girl that you fought to get Aaron’s attention?” Cady cringed, but she nodded again. “The girl that tried to ruin your life, then got hit by a bus?”

Cady looked down and felt ashamed. “Yes, Mom.”

Ms. Heron held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I know that’s tough for you to think about.”

“Yeah, it is,” Cady said, looking purposefully away from her mom. “She’s told me not to blame myself, but-”

“No, she’s right,” Ms. Heron quickly said. “I’m sorry I even brought it up. I’m just…shocked. I-I don’t know what to say. This was not how my female friendships went when I was your age.”

Cady laughed a bit at that. “Well, you weren’t gay, so…”

“Are you gay?” Ms. Heron asked. “Because if you are, I’m fine with it, I just…I didn’t know. And I’m sorry if you felt like you couldn’t tell me.”

Cady shook her head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I just…I didn’t know until really recently. I thought I just…liked boys, but because of…well, because of Regina, I’m starting to realize that I’m bisexual.”

Ms. Heron grabbed Cady’s hand. “And I’m so glad that you’ve figured that out about yourself. I love you. You don’t have to worry about me being mad or anything like that. Just know that I’m here for you.”

Cady hadn’t even fully considered that she was coming out to her mom when she started talking about Regina. She’d been sure that her mom would love her no matter what, and she was so glad to be right. She grabbed her mom and hugged her, and her mom hugged her back. They stayed like that for a few minutes, before her mom spoke up again.

“So…Regina?”

Cady pulled back and nodded. “Yeah. Regina.”

Ms. Heron sighed. “Couldn’t have picked someone maybe a tad bit less complicated?”

Cady laughed. “No, I guess not.”

“Well…you’ve always been a challenging kid. In a good way, for the most part…but still challenging.” Ms. Heron stood up and looked at her daughter laying in bed. “If Regina is the one for you, then I support you. She seems…honestly, she seems like a lot, but she still seems very nice. And very loving. She’s taken good care of you as a friend since the accident, so I like her. I support it. I support you.”

Cady held back more tears. “Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s actually going to happen, so…”

“Why is that, sweetheart?”

She didn’t know how much she wanted to tell her mom. She knew that while her mom would feel…not great about her sleeping with Regina already, she would be supportive. She mostly just didn’t want her mom to hate Regina, because she could be super protective at times.

“We’re not exactly talking right now,” Cady finally said. “It’s complicated. I don’t even know if we’re friends right now.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Ms. Heron said. “Did something happen?”

“We…” Cady tried to find something that was close enough to the truth without telling her mom everything. “We kissed, and Regina didn’t react well. I don’t think she’s ready to like me…or maybe she just doesn’t like me.”

Ms. Heron smiled. “You’re a great person, Cady. She sees that. And if she somehow doesn’t?” Her mom got a disbelieving look on her face before shrugging. “You’re only eighteen. You’re still young. Whether Regina’s struggling with herself or she has feelings for you or not, there are plenty of fish in the sea. You’ll be okay…okay?”

Cady smiled genuinely at her mom’s pep talk, but she didn’t fully share her mom’s belief that everything would be okay. Still, she didn’t want her mom to worry. “Yeah. I’ll be okay, Mom.”

Ms. Heron nodded. “Do you want to keep talking about it?”

“No just…can you stay here? For a few more minutes, please.”

“As long as you need,” she said, going back to running her hand through Cady’s hair.

As always, Cady was thankful to have her mom. She felt better than she had…less alone…but she still wanted Regina all the same.

Chapter Text

The next day at school, Cady was determined to get Regina to talk to her. She went up to Regina at her locker.

“Hey, can we talk?”

Regina looked at Cady for what felt like the first time in forever. Cady swore that she saw Regina quickly check her out, but it was so fast, she thought she may have imagined it.

“About what?”

Cady took a deep breath. “About what happened with us?”

Regina looked away. “We already talked about it. We had fun-”

Cady felt the anger rise in her as she cut Regina off. “Well, I don’t remember getting to say anything.” Regina stayed silent.  “You can’t seriously try to act like what happened meant nothing.” Regina continued to not respond, so Cady snapped, “So is this it for our friendship, then?”

Regina’s eyes went wide and a bit glassy.

“No!” Regina immediately said, shaking her head. She said much more timidly, “I mean…I hope not.”

“Then we need to talk about this,” Cady said. “ Really talk.”

“Cady…I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Just tell me why, Regina. Tell me why we…” Cady looked around at the hallway full of people and chose her words wisely. “Tell me why we did what we did, and then you wrote it off and threw me out.”

“I didn’t throw you out,” Regina said, looking back to Cady, and Cady’s eyebrows shot up. “Technically.”

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. You’re the one who kissed me-”

“ Shut up ,” Regina snapped through gritted teeth.

“Sorry.” Cady wanted to kick herself for her slip up. “I know you’re struggling, but if you could just talk to me-”

The bell rang, and Regina all but sprinted towards her class. Cady had to stop herself from screaming or crying in the middle of the hallway. Regina completely avoided her locker for the rest of their passing periods, so Cady didn’t have another chance to talk to her again until lunch. Part of her was scared that Regina would avoid their table altogether, but she came in, a few minutes later than everyone else as usual, and sat across from Cady.

“Oh, look who’s joining us for the next five minutes,” Janis said, sarcastically. Cady grimaced. She really wanted to talk to Regina, and she was afraid her only chance was going to get ruined by Janis…even though Janis was saying what she was thinking, too.

“Shut up, Janis,” Regina said, pushing her food around on her plate. “I’m not in the mood.”

“You’ve been a bitch for, like, a whole week. You’re not over it, yet?”

“Seriously, leave me alone.” Regina’s voice sounded defeated, and that caught Janis’ attention, but it was Gretchen who spoke up.

“You’ve been weird for a while,” she said, then she turned to Damian. “Regina got weepy drunk at Tyler Woodson’s party on Saturday. She never gets weepy drunk…in public, at least.”

Damian ‘awwed’ at Gretchen’s comment, and Regina closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead in irritation.

“Gretchen, have you ever kept a secret in your life? Ever?”

“It wasn’t a secret! The whole party saw it!” Gretchen said defensively. “Besides, I’m only telling everyone because I’m worried about you.”

“Worry about yourself,” Regina mumbled, and she started to leave the table.

“What’s with the constant running away?” Janis asked Regina.

Regina sat back down. “I’m not running away. I just don’t waste my time around people that annoy me.”

“Regina, we’re your…we’re your friends,” Janis forced out of her mouth. “And you can’t keep treating us like shit. Why-”

“Cady’s being quiet,” Karen said, and the table looked at her. “Usually, when Regina gets cranky, Cady gets her to stop.”

“Yeah, that’s another thing,” Janis said. “You’ve been weird since last week, too. You barely talked to any of us, you ditched out early on movie night, and ignored me all weekend. What’s wrong with the two of you?”

Cady’s mind was immediately flooded with images of exactly what had happened to make things so awkward, and her face immediately went red. Regina locked eyes with her, then she glanced down at Cady’s lips, and Cady’s brain completely stopped functioning.

“I…I…” Cady tried to make words happen, but nothing would come out. Janis looked between the two of them a few times, and Cady felt terror run through her as she saw Janis put the pieces together.

“Wow,” Janis said, and Cady tried to beg her with her eyes to stop talking, but Janis just looked between the two of them. “I fucking knew it…”

“Janis,” Cady said, trying to stop Janis. Even though she didn’t totally know where this conversation was going, she knew it wasn’t going anywhere good.

“What’re you talking about?” Regina said, not seeming to hear Cady’s plea.

“Oh, nothing,” Janis said. “So how’s Kyle these days?”

Regina looked even more confused. “Where the hell did that come from?”

Janis shrugged. “Just curious. Something just…got me thinking about him. That’s all.”

“Who knows?” Regina replied. “Who cares?”

Janis smirked. “You’d think you would, since you know everything...and he was your first boyfriend, after all. First boy you really liked , right?”

“Janis, please,” Cady tried again, but when Regina and Janis got each other going, there was no stopping it.

Regina started to tense up. “I don’t make a habit of keeping up with my exes.”

“Do you make a habit of keeping up with any of the boys in your life?” Janis asked, and Cady sensed the hidden question underneath. She could tell Regina did, too.

“Fuck off, pyro-lez.”

“Regina-” Cady’s words were useless. Neither of them were listening.

Janis laughed and dropped her voice so no one away from their table could hear. “I may be the one that set a really good fire, but I think we both remember who kissed who that day-”

“STOP!” Cady finally yelled loud enough to make the tables around them go silent and look over. Cady hated the attention, but she hated where this conversation was going more. “Just stop. Both of you.”

Janis looked a bit sheepish before saying, “Sorry, Caddy.”

Regina looked panicked before storming out of the cafeteria altogether. Cady ran after her calling her name, but Regina ignored her. She walked into an empty classroom, and Cady went in behind her.

“Regina, are you okay?” Cady asked, and Regina spun around.

“You told her?!” Regina yelled. “You told her what we did?!”

“No!” Cady immediately yelled back. “I didn’t say anything to her. You saw her figure it out!”

“Bullshit, Cady! I know that you two talk about everything. God, did you tell Damian, too? Maybe Gretchen and Karen while you were at it?”

“Regina, I swear to you that I didn’t tell anyone!”

Regina turned away from her and leaned her hands on one of the desks. “I can’t believe you would do this to me, Cady.

Cady instantly went from concerned to enraged. “You…first of all, I didn’t do anything, and second of all, you’re the one that kissed me, threw me on your bed, had sex with me, then told me it meant nothing and to leave your house! And you’ve barely spoken to me since! I can’t believe you could do that to me , Regina!”

Regina stayed facing away from Cady. Before Cady could keep going, Regina spoke up in the quietest voice Cady had ever heard her use.

“I’m sorry, Cady.”

“What’re you even apologizing for?” Cady snapped.

“I…I don’t know,” Regina replied. “Everything?”

“Not good enough.”

Regina looked back at her, and Cady saw that a few tears had escaped Regina’s eyes. “I’m just sorry, Cady.”

Cady fought the part of herself that wanted to comfort Regina…that always wanted to comfort Regina, even if she was wrong. She needed to be strong. She needed answers.

“Are you sorry that you dated Shane?” Cady asked first.

“Obviously,” Regina replied.

“Why did you?”

Regina paused, before saying, “He was a decent distraction…until he wasn’t.”

“And why did you break up with him?”

“I already told you…he was annoying,” Regina said. Cady stared at Regina for a few seconds, before Regina finally said, “I couldn’t be with him after…what happened with us.”

Cady was happy Regina had at least given her a bit of honesty. Maybe Regina was finally ready to talk.

Cady followed with another question. “Are you sorry that you kissed me?”

Regina stared at her for a long moment, before shaking her head. “No.”

“Are you sorry that you threw me out?” Regina looked like she wanted to argue, but Cady glared at her. “Don’t try to deny it. You threw me out, Regina. Are you sorry for that?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sorry that we…that we had sex?” Cady asked, afraid of the answer.

Regina opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying, “In a way.”

“Regina, what does that mean?” Cady asked, exasperated. “Because for me? It was the best sex I’ve ever had in my life, and for you to say that you ‘sort of’ regret it…to say that you were just ‘showing me a good time’ when it meant so much to me…” Cady covered her face with her hands and held back her tears. She didn’t want Regina to see her cry.

“It’s not like that,” Regina finally said. “I don’t mean…I didn’t mean…it’s hard to explain.” Regina sat on one of the desks. “I’m trying to be better about being honest, but it’s so hard. Especially with this. With you. About-” Regina cut herself off.

“About?” Cady questioned, but Regina just looked away. “Regina, we’ll never move on if you don’t tell me what you’re thinking. If you keep running and avoiding me…then this is the end for us.” Cady swallowed the sobs that wanted to come up after that sentence. “I can’t be in your life if you won’t let me. And if that’s what you want…for us to stop being friends-”

“It’s not.” Regina was firm with her declaration. “That’s not what I want.”

“Then you have to talk to me,” Cady said. “Right now. We…Regina, we had sex. That’s not just something that you can ignore and just go back to being friends like nothing happened.”

“I know that,” Regina said. “ It’s just really hard to talk about…how I feel about you.”

“How do you feel about me?”

Regina was struggling to keep eye contact. “I feel…well…how do you feel about me?”

Cady was taken aback. “What?”

“You never told me how you feel about me,” Regina said, crossing her arms over her chest. “You told me you liked girls or whatever, but you never told me how you felt about…everything…with me. How do you feel about me, Cady?”

“I tried. I tried to talk to you for days, but you ignored me.” Cady knew that Regina was deflecting, but she didn’t care. She was desperate to tell the truth of how she was feeling. “I do like you. I told you that I’m bisexual because I like you, and I was trying to get over you, because part of me figured you wouldn’t feel the same, and the other part of me figured that you would never admit it, even if you did. I thought a little honesty would help me move on, and maybe I could date around. I thought you might even help me find girls, since we’ve gotten so close, but I was also a little afraid you’d be freaked out by me liking girls at all.”

“I’m not a homophobe, Cady,” Regina said, flatly. “I’ve hooked Karen up with tons of girls.”

“I know,” Cady replied. “I just know how you were with Janis-”

Regina rolled her eyes. “That was forever ago, and I’ve apologized. You were the first one to tell Janis to forgive me.”

Cady nodded. “Yeah, but…you were really weird when we watched The Sex Lives of College Girls, and it made me a little paranoid.”

“That was…for other reasons.”

Cady waited for Regina to continue, but Regina just stared back at her. “Are you going to give me anything? I just told you I have a crush on you, and you’ve barely said anything.”

Regina sighed. “Fine.” She stood as tall as she could, like she was trying to steel herself for something. “You told me that girl looked like me. The one on the show. And when she turned out to be gay, it made me feel like everyone thought that was the reason we looked the same. Like everyone thought I was gay. And I hated it.”

“Why?” Cady asked.

“Because…it’s something I think about myself every once in a while. Like…maybe I’m gay.” Regina tossed her hair over her shoulder, like she was trying to seem calm when she was anything but. “Then I just start dating a guy, and I don’t think about it anymore for a while.” She took a deep breath. “But the thought that everyone else could see it? I hated that. Especially the thought that you could see it.”

“I…” Cady tried to sort her thoughts. Was Regina trying to come out to her? Or maybe to herself? She went back into ‘comfort Regina’ mode. “That’s really not what I was thinking. Seriously, Leighton looks exactly like you.”

“Still don’t see it.”

Cady rolled her eyes. “Well, I do, and so does everyone else. It didn’t have anything to do with her being a lesbian. We honestly all thought it when we saw the preview picture for the show before we even knew that about her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them spoke for a little while, before Regina finally said, “Well maybe I overreacted, then.”

Cady didn’t know what to do. Regina was so reluctant to talk about her own feelings. Even when they’d just been talking about friendly stuff, Regina always had a hard time opening up, and Cady knew that she had already shared a lot more than she normally would. Cady internally swelled with pride, knowing that Regina was saying all of this to keep Cady in her life, but she also needed more. She also knew that saying the wrong thing could have Regina leaving the room. 

“But you do think…you’re a lesbian?” Cady asked gently.

Regina seemed to ignore her question. “When you came out to me, it bothered me. Not that you were bi. I really don’t care. You just…getting closer to you was okay, because you were definitely straight, and then you suddenly weren’t, and it made things a lot more complicated for me.”

Cady tried to not assume anything, but Regina was making it hard. “Complicated how?”

Regina huffed out in annoyance. “Come on, Cady. You’re smart. You know what I’m saying.”

“I need you to say it, Regina.”

“Going down on you wasn’t enough to get the picture?”

Cady blushed so hard it almost hurt. “Please, Regina, just say it.”

Regina looked like she might run again, but she straightened herself up and said, “I like you. Like…as more than a friend. When you started talking about dating other girls, I panicked. Dating boys is fine. Boys don’t matter, and if that’s what you want, I can’t do anything about it, but if you date other girls? That just means…you don’t want me.” Regina deflated a little. “I couldn’t live with that.”

“So you…had sex with me?” Cady asked.

“The plan was just to kiss you, but…I kind of got carried away.” Regina blushed a little. “I’d been thinking about doing that with you since we watched the show together. Maybe a little before that-”

“How long before that?”

Regina ignored her question. “-and when I kissed you, and you were so…” Regina drifted off.

“Into it?” Cady supplied, and Regina nodded.

“I kept pushing, and you kept saying yes…so I didn’t stop.” Regina broke eye contact. “And then you wanted to talk after, and I realized what I’d done, and I couldn’t handle any of it.”

“Regina, that’s not fair,” Cady said. “You can’t just…take what you want, then ignore me.”

“I know, Cady.” Regina looked at the ground. “I told you, usually, when I think I might be…that I might like girls, I get a boyfriend to distract myself. With you, though, it’s just…never been enough to get me to stop thinking about you. Shane wasn’t enough, and neither were the occasional random hookups, and neither was-” Regina cut herself off.

“Neither was what, Regina?”

She took a deep breath. “Neither was Aaron.”

Cady’s voice caught in her throat. “You…you haven’t dated Aaron since last year.”

Regina looked Cady in the eye. “Yeah.” 

Cady felt like she was out of breath. “How…how long have you had feelings for me?

Regina took a deep breath. “I mean…probably always? I called you out from across the room, Cady. I figured it out at the Halloween party. You were wearing that stupid fucking costume, and all I wanted to do was kiss you.” Regina took another breath. Cady could see how hard it was to say all of this. “But I acted like I didn’t, and then Gretchen told me you liked Aaron.”

“So you dated him to keep him away from me.”

“It’s not something I’m proud of…at least not anymore.”

“Regina…” Cady was overwhelmed. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

Regina rolled her eyes. “ Because I don’t want to be gay, Cady. I don’t want to be gay, but I want you. I don’t want to, like, come out and deal with my family and school and all of that, but I don’t want you to feel like I don’t care about you. That I don’t-” Regina cut herself off.

“I feel like we’re skipping some steps,” Cady said. “Whether you’re gay or bi or anything else, that’s your own journey. I don’t care, as long as you eventually get to a happy place with yourself and, hopefully, want to be with me…which it seems like you do.” Cady paused, and Regina gave a small nod, so Cady slightly smiled and kept talking. “And I’m not asking you to come out right away. That’ll happen on your timeline, and as long as you aren’t mean to me, I’m fine with you taking your time.”

Regina scrunched her nose, and Cady had to fight the urge to walk over and kiss her. “Really? I think that’s usually a pretty big deal to most people. No one likes being a secret.”

Cady shook her head. “I’m not trying to rush you into anything. Sure, eventually, it would be nice to tell everyone important in our lives, but that doesn’t have to happen tomorrow. As far as your family goes…” Cady’s voice got very small. “I don’t really like them, so I don’t care if they ever know. They’re awful.”

Regina stared at her for a few seconds, then laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I-I didn’t mean anything-”

“No, it’s fine! You’re just usually so nice. I forget sometimes that you have a little bite to you.” Regina bit her lip and looked Cady up and down, before composing herself. “I don’t like them, either, Cady. I just want my trust fund.”

Cady sighed, relieved that she hadn’t offended Regina…and happy that she’d managed to make Regina a little hot and bothered. “Then I’m fine pretending to be your ‘friend’ at the occasional party or holiday.” Cady took a few steps toward Regina, but she still gave the other girl her space. “I only care about the people we care about knowing, and again, that doesn’t have to happen right away. I’m still figuring myself out, and even though I’m fine with everyone knowing I like girls…mostly that I like you,” Cady shot Regina a smile, and Regina gave a small smile back, “I’m also not in a hurry to tell every single person in the world. If my mom was anywhere near as horrible as your parents are, I wouldn’t be telling her anything, either.”

Regina took a few deep breaths. “Okay, but…what if I take too long? What if I’m never okay with being…a lesbian? I don’t-” Regina closed her eyes, and a tear slipped out. Cady stepped forward, wiped it away, and kept it on Regina’s cheek. “I don’t want to lose you, Cady.”

“You won’t,” Cady said, rubbing Regina’s cheek with her thumb. “Even if it’s just as a friend, I’ll be in your life. I’m in no hurry to get rid of you, Regina. You just need to be honest with me and stop ignoring me from now on, and I’ll be here for you.”

Regina covered Cady’s hand on her cheek with her own. “You’re too sweet to me.”

Cady shrugged. “You make it easy.”

Regina gave her a side eye. “No, I don’t.”

“Okay, maybe not always,” Cady said with a laugh. “But you make it worth it.”

Regina grabbed Cady into a hug, and Cady melted into Regina’s arms.

“I really am sorry that I ignored you,” Regina said.

Cady pulled away a little. “You can’t do that again. You have to talk to me if this is going to work.”

“If what is going to work?” Regina asked. “What exactly are we doing?”

Cady was happy that Regina was the one to ask the question. “Well, I’d like for you to be my girlfriend.” Regina’s face went blank, and Cady started to panic. “I mean, if that’s what you want. Or we can just date and take it slow, or be friends-”

Regina cut Cady off with a kiss, but she took a few steps away before Cady could really kiss back. “I’m thinking.”

“Oh, okay,” Cady said. She watched Regina as she shifted from one foot to the other. Cady wasn’t sure what Regina would say, since she knew Regina was still pretty deep in the closet. Cady knew that they’d need to talk more after this, but she hoped that this could be a step forward for the two of them. Together.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Regina asked. “I really don’t want to force you to do anything just to be with me.”

“I’m okay,” Cady said, letting herself feel hopeful. “I know what I’m getting myself into.”

“Alright,” Regina finally said, and Cady braced herself. “I think us being girlfriends sounds good.”

Cady’s face broke into a huge grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, why not? It…honestly, it sounds nice.” Cady pulled Regina into another kiss, and this one lasted a little longer before Regina pulled back, but she stayed closer this time. “I’m not ready to tell anyone, though. You can come out to whoever you want, but just…leave the me part out of it.”

“Of course.”

“Especially with Janis,” Regina said. “I know you’ll want to tell her, and she’ll probably ask questions, but just…I can’t let her know, yet. We don’t trust each other enough.” 

Cady hesitated. She knew that Regina and Janis weren’t on perfect terms, even though they’d come a long way, but it would be hard not to tell her best friend about something so huge in her life. Plus, if she couldn’t tell Janis, she couldn’t tell Damian; he could keep a secret from Janis for a bit, but Cady had no idea how long it would take for Regina to be comfortable to come out, and she didn’t know if he could hold it in long enough.

Cady sighed. Ultimately, it made sense not to tell Janis right away. She’d never purposely out Regina, but she was also known to make poor decisions when it came to the blonde. When it came to Regina, Janis often lost her cool and did things in the heat of the moment that she would never do otherwise. Cady couldn’t risk that. “Alright, but can I tell my mom?”

Regina shook her head. “It’s too soon. Besides, if your mom knows, then she’s going to question my motives every time I invite you over.”

“I promise she won’t care,” Cady said. “She already knows that I’m bi and that I’m in l-” Cady bit her own tongue. “She knows that I like you and that we kissed.”

“She knows we kissed?” Regina asked, concerned. If Regina noticed Cady’s near admission of love, she didn’t show it. “Does she know…”

“That we slept together? No,” Cady responded, “But she does know that we kissed, and she didn’t get mad or anything, and she was supportive of the idea of the two of us getting together.”

“Being okay with us dating is one thing. Being suspicious that we’re having sex is another.”

“She knew I was sleeping with Aaron.”

“What the fuck kind of relationship do you have with your mom?”

“An honest one, especially after last year,” Cady replied. “Her only rules were that we be safe and that I don’t share too many details.”

Regina looked hesitant. “Cady…I don’t know…”

“Please?” Cady was almost begging.

Regina fidgeted on the spot. Cady had never seen her so nervous. “Fine. If you’re sure she’s not going to be weird around me, then you can tell her.” Regina paused for a second before adding, “I don’t want you to be alone in this…and I like your mom.”

Cady’s smile beamed. “Really?”

“Don’t make a big deal of it,” Regina said quickly. They both giggled a little bit, before Cady pulled Regina into another kiss. This one got heated in a hurry, and before either of them was fully aware of what was happening, Cady was sitting on one of the desks with Regina standing between her legs, kissing Cady’s neck. 

“Regina,” Cady breathed out. “We need to stop.”

“Why?” Regina asked, slipping a hand under Cady’s shirt. Without thinking, Cady wrapped her legs around Regina’s waist.

“Because-fuck!” Cady was caught off guard by Regina pulling her earlobe into her mouth.

Regina groaned against her ear, and Cady had to fight to keep consciousness.

“God, I love it when your voice gets all strained like that,” Regina said, and Cady could feel her smirking against her skin.

“Regina, lunch is about to end, and that door isn’t locked.”

Regina sighed, but she pulled her mouth away, and Cady whined.

“You’re making this harder,” Regina said, pushing some hair behind Cady’s ear.

“I’m sorry,” Cady said, breathlessly. “But I don’t want us to get caught.”

“Right,” Regina said. “Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.” They stood there for a few minutes, just trying to catch their breaths, until Regina spoke up again. “Wanna let go of me with your legs?”

“Oh, shoot, sorry!” Cady quickly let go and jumped off of the desk. “I didn’t realize…just…sorry.”

Regina laughed. “It’s fine.”

“Can I come over after school?” Cady asked, hopefully, but Regina’s face fell. 

“Unfortunately, my asshole dad is in town, and he wants family time. So no.” She placed a kiss on Cady’s forehead. “He’ll be gone next week, though.”

Cady pouted. “Alright. If you want to escape to my house one of these days, you’re always welcome.”

Regina nodded. “Thanks, I’ll-” The bell rang, and Regina took a few steps away from Cady. “We need to get to class. I’ll see you, Cady.”

Regina left with a wink, and Cady walked out when other students started to trickle in.

Her smile was so big that her face hurt.

Chapter Text

Regina and Cady spent the next month and a half trying to get used to being a couple. It was hard, because there weren’t a lot of places that they could be open with their relationship. They’d thought Regina’s house would be easier once her dad was gone, but that turned out to be a bust when Regina’s mom kept bursting in with snacks and asking where Gretchen and Karen were every time they were alone.

They tried Cady’s house next, but that posed a completely different problem.

“Hey, Ms. Heron!” Regina said as she arrived with Cady.

Ms. Heron pulled Regina into a hug, then Cady. “Hello, Regina! Hi, Cady! How was school?”

“Same old, same old,” Cady said, holding Regina’s hand. Her mom had been extremely supportive and very happy when Cady had told her that Regina was her girlfriend. When she found out that they’d already had sex, she’d been…taken aback, but still happy for her daughter, and relieved that she at least wasn’t risking pregnancy.  “We’re going to my room to hang out for a while.”

Ms. Heron’s eyebrows rose, but she quickly schooled her face into a smile. “Okay, um…have fun!”

Everyone in the room cringed.

When they got to Cady’s room, Cady immediately pushed Regina against the door and started kissing her. Regina started talking once Cady started kissing her neck.

“So…your mom definitely knows we’re hooking up right now.” Cady hummed against her throat in a way that distracted Regina for a second, but she eventually pushed Cady away. “Yeah, I can’t do this. Too weird.”

Cady looked indignant. “Regina, it’s fine. It’s not like she’s listening.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Regina replied, sitting in the chair that Cady had near her door. “Let’s just…do homework or something.”

“What? Homework? No, Regina, it’s fine.” Cady sat across from Regina on her bed. “She’s not going to bother us.”

“Cady, I can’t, okay? I don’t want to think about your mom judging me for taking advantage of her daughter a few rooms away from where she’s sitting, okay? Maybe when she’s out later at work or something.”

Cady pouted. “She only has morning classes this semester. She’s home at, like, 2 for the next few months, and then she’s off for the summer.”

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. “Well, fuck.” She looked at Cady. “Okay, I know that she’s fine with it, or she says she’s fine with it, but I don’t want to risk that eventually, she’s not fine with it, and then she doesn’t want you to date me anymore.” Cady started to speak up, but Regina held up her hand. “And I know that you’re about to say that’ll never happen, but I’ve heard from a ton of boys that it was fine for me to come over for hookups. That their parents didn’t care. And it was fine until it wasn’t, and I don’t want that to happen with your mom.”

Cady slumped in defeat. She knew how important Cady’s mom’s approval was to Regina, so she didn’t want to argue. “Alright. Can we at least hold hands and kiss a little?”

Regina smiled. “Of course.” She started to go over to Cady, but she stopped to open the door first. “Just…so she really knows nothing is going on.”

No matter how sexually frustrated Cady was, she couldn’t help but be charmed by how sweet Regina was being.

When Cady’s mom’s voice came down the hallway yelling, “Thank you, Regina!” Cady felt mortified, but Regina just laughed.

So Cady’s house was alright, because at least they didn’t need to hide. They were both really thankful for that, but it was still very limited with Cady’s mom in the house.

They’d gone on a few dates, but Regina was too nervous to act too coupley where they might run into someone that she or her parents knew. They still had fun, but they made sure that they seemed more like friends than anything more.

They’d tried to do the normal “teenagers hook up in the car” thing, but Cady didn’t have a car, and Regina’s Jeep didn’t have doors…so that was out.

(Regina had never hated that Jeep more.)

Obviously, school was the hardest. They could talk, but they couldn’t be a couple at all. They pushed it as far as they could, but the occasional stolen kiss wasn’t enough. Because Regina wasn’t ready to come out, they couldn’t even be honest when they were around their friends.

Janis and Damian had asked about a thousand times what had happened when Regina had all but run out of the cafeteria, and Cady had maintained that they’d talked and gotten to a good place.

“Yeah…but what happened?” Janis pushed a little harder one day after school while they hung out in her garage. “What made the two of you go from barely speaking to totally fine?”

“I told you already. We talked, we worked things out, and we’re fine, now.”

“That literally gives me nothing!” Janis sighed. “Come on, we tell each other everything. Just tell me what you talked about. Or am I going to have to guess? Because I have some pretty good guesses-”

“Janis, behave,” Damian said. “She’ll tell us when she’s ready.” He turned to Cady. “You will tell us eventually, right?”

Cady nodded. “I will. It’s just-”

“Complicated, we know. You say that every time.” Janis sighed. “I just…I’m glad you guys are good, but I want to make sure you’re actually okay, Cady. That’s all.”

“I know,” Cady said with a smile. Cady hated not sharing everything with her friends, but she trusted Regina to be ready to tell them eventually, and she knew they would forgive both of them.

Well…Janis might not fully forgive Regina, but that was sort of their whole dynamic, at this point.

Regina had tried to talk Cady into making out in the 3rd floor janitorial closet, but Cady had rejected that immediately.

“I don’t want to go where you used to hook up with Shane,” she said. “Plus, you got caught there.”

Regina had reluctantly agreed that it wasn’t a good idea.

They’d actually had their best luck at a random party. Cady wasn’t even fully aware of whose house she was in, but it didn’t matter to her when Regina dragged her into a room upstairs after they’d had a drink and spent the better part of an hour grinding on each other.

Regina flipped the lock on the door and pushed Cady onto the bed in the center of the room before crawling on top of her and kissing her.

“You look so fucking hot tonight,” Regina groaned between kisses. Her hand ran up Cady’s thigh, and Cady thanked every God that existed that she’d decided to wear a skirt. “You’re driving me crazy.”

Cady rolled her hips, hoping that Regina would slip a hand into her underwear. “I need you, Regina. Please.”

Regina started sucking on Cady’s neck, and just as her hand palmed Cady over her underwear, there was a loud knock on the door, and Regina sprang to her feet.

“Hey! No one can be in there!” The guy on the other side of the door pounded a few more times. “Seriously, my parents will kill me! Get the fuck out here!”

The banging on the door continued, and Regina turned to Cady. “Weird question, but can you make yourself cry on command?”

Cady nodded. “Actually, yeah.”

Regina raised her eyebrow impressed, as she watched Cady work herself up and hug a pillow to her chest. Regina blinked a few times and squeezed a few tears out herself before going to the door and swinging it open.

“Hey, sorry, Adam,” Regina said, voice wavering. “It’s just…Cady is having a really hard time right now. Aaron broke up with her and…God, it’s so sad. I know how it feels…”

“GOD, I MISS HIM SO MUCH!” Cady wailed from the bed, sobbing. “HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO ME?!?!”

Adam looked shocked. “Oh, uh, I…uh-”

“Can you please give us some privacy?” Regina said, glancing back at Cady. “She’s really fragile right now.”

Cady threw herself back on the bed and kept sobbing. “HE WAS EVERYTHING TO ME, REGINA! WHY?!?!”

“Shit, sorry,” Adam said, starting to back away. “Yeah, that’s fine! Just…calm her down so she doesn’t ruin my party.”

“Thanks, Adam,” Regina said, before slamming the door shut. Cady wailed a few more times before stopping and wiping at her eyes.

“Think he’ll leave us alone?” Cady asked with a smile, throwing the pillow to the side.

Regina was dumbfounded. “Yeah. Y’know, the whole of last year is starting to make sense to me, now.”

Cady just giggled. “Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want to do something more fun?”

Regina crawled back on top of Cady. “I think you know the answer to that.”

They picked up right where they’d left off, with Cady pulling Regina into a kiss, and Regina’s hand going between Cady’s thighs, but she immediately slipped her hand into Cady’s underwear this time. Regina started rubbing Cady’s clit fast and hard, and Cady had to stop kissing Regina and bite her own lip to keep quiet.

“You’re certainly…not…t-taking your time,” Cady managed to get out between moans.

“Who knows how long we have?” Regina said. She started trying to pull Cady’s top off with her free hand, but Cady stopped her.

“No. Clothes stay on. Just in case-” Regina’s fingers pumped into her twice before going back to her clit, and Cady gasped. “Just in case he has a k-key.”

Regina squinted her eyes in annoyance. “Fine.” She ran her hand under Cady’s top and started pinching one of Cady’s nipples. “It would feel so much better in my mouth, but I hope this is good enough for now.”

“It is!” Cady said, almost too loud. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down a bit, but Regina pushed two fingers inside of her, and keeping calm became the last thing on her mind. Cady went back to kissing Regina to muffle the noises coming out of her mouth. 

Regina went back and forth between her clit and fucking her a few times before Cady came, moaning against Regina’s lips. They didn’t stop kissing as Cady rode out her aftershocks until she rolled Regina onto her back.

“Hold on,” Regina said as Cady undid the button and zipper on her pants. “Don’t you need a minute?”

Cady fought to catch her breath. “Ideally, yes. B-but like you said, we…we don’t have a lot of time.” Cady pulled Regina’s pants and underwear off. 

“Wait, weren’t we supposed to keep our clothes on?” Regina asked with a laugh. “Just in case?”

“I changed my mind,” Cady said with a shrug. “Sit up by the headboard.”

Regina immediately listened and got settled, but still asked, “Why?”

Cady crawled on top of Regina and pushed her thigh between Regina’s legs. She could feel how wet Regina was against her skin. She whispered into Regina’s ear, “Because this time, I wanna go down on you.”

Cady pulled back to look Regina in the eye as she kept rocking her thigh. Regina’s eyes rolled back in her head as she groaned out,  “Fuck yes, Cady.”

They kissed and ground against each other a couple more times, before Cady slid down and settled between Regina’s legs. Cady had been thinking about doing this with Regina since Regina had done it to her. Once they’d officially started dating, it had almost become an obsession for Cady - the thought of going down on Regina George.

Now that she was about to do it, though, she felt a little nervous. She wanted to kick herself for not doing some research or something before getting to this point. She froze for a few seconds, just looking at Regina. She was practically twitching in front of Cady’s face, and Cady was so afraid to disappoint.

And also more turned on than she’d ever been.

She sort of wished that she’d done this before Regina had gotten her off, because she felt like she needed to be touched again, but she knew they didn’t have time.

“Cady?” Regina said, looking down at her. “You okay? Because you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I was really enjoying what we were doing before.”

Regina ran her hand through Cady’s hair to comfort her, but all it did was make Cady even more sure that she wanted this. She leaned forward and took a lick from Regina’s opening to her clit, and Regina’s hand instantly pulled her hair.

“Was that okay?” Cady asked, but Regina just pushed Cady’s mouth back where it had been, and Cady took that as a yes. She moved her tongue and tried to listen to the sounds Regina was making to figure out what she liked, but it became very clear very quickly that Regina seemed to like everything. Fast flicks with the tip of her tongue…slower, broader licks…up and down, side to side, sucking…it didn’t matter. It all made Regina beg and moan.

When Cady pushed two, then quickly three, fingers inside, Regina tried to pull her hand out of Cady’s hair, but Cady stopped her from fully pulling away.

“Ca-Cady, I can’t-” Regina’s hips were fully rolling into Cady’s mouth, now, and all of Cady’s nerves were out the window at this point. “Don’t wanna hurt you, baby.”

“I’m fine,” Cady mumbled against Regina’s pussy, and Regina whimpered.

“But Cady-”

Cady pulled a little farther away to look up at Regina, who was looking right at her. “I said I’m fine, Regina. I like it.”

Regina was practically panting after hearing Cady’s response. “Fuck, that’s sexy. How are you so fucking good at this?” She put her hand back in Cady’s hair and pushed her back to sucking on her clit.

Cady felt pride swell inside of her at Regina’s praise. She’d almost started touching herself, but she wasn’t confident she was coordinated enough to get them both off at the same time, and she certainly wasn’t about to risk disappointing Regina.

Cady could feel Regina starting to clamp down around her fingers and felt Regina’s grip in her hair get tighter. It was starting to make Cady’s scalp burn just a bit, and she loved it. Loved Regina hurting her a little bit. Loved that she could feel Regina holding herself back from hurting her more.

They’d have to explore that later.

Regina’s moans got louder until she shoved a pillow over her face and screamed Cady’s name as she came. Just like their first time, Cady felt fully fucking privileged getting to give Regina an orgasm. She kept up with slow licks and movements of the hand inside of Regina until the other girl pulled her away. Cady immediately helped Regina shimmy her underwear and pants back on without making her get out of the bed, then Cady crawled up and cuddled her as she continued to tremor after her orgasm.

“Wow,” Regina said out of breath. “Cady…”

“Good?”

“Fucking fantastic.” Regina ran her hand through her hair. “Even better than last time…and that’s saying something.”

“So you won’t kick me out this time?” Cady said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” Regina said, pulling Cady closer. “I am still so sorry about that.”

“I know,” Cady replied. “You’ve said that almost every day since we got together.”

“I know, it’s just-” Cady gave her a quick kiss, and Regina took the hint to stop apologizing. “On another note, this is the one time that being in the closet has actually paid off for us.” They both laughed, and Regina nuzzled into Cady’s neck. “Fuck, I missed doing that.”

“We’ve only slept together one time before this,” Cady said, almost delirious.

“You’re saying you didn’t miss it?”

Cady shook her head. “No, I definitely missed it, too.”

Cady didn’t want to leave, and she got the feeling that Regina didn’t, either, but they knew that people were going to start wondering where they were.

“I hate this,” Regina said. “I got to be with all my boyfriends all the time, and I didn’t give a shit about them. Now that I have a girlfriend that I actually care about, I don’t get to do any of that? It sucks.”

“It’s not like coming out would really help with that,” Cady said. “We still wouldn’t have anywhere to-”

“It’s not just the sex, Cady. It’s the kisses and the cuddling and the hugs where we don’t have to worry if they’re going on too long, because people might get suspicious…we don’t get to go out and act like a couple. We don’t even get to tell our friends, because I’m too afraid. It’s dating, Cady. All of it. We don’t get to do that, and it’s my fault, and I hate it.”

“I know,” Cady said, running her hand along Regina’s leg. “I hate it, too, but I know you need time. It’s okay to need that.”

Regina looked at her, a rare, small bit of vulnerability shining through. “Sick of sneaking around, yet?”

“Not any more sick of it than you are,” Cady said. “I’m okay, and I’m not thinking of leaving you, if that’s what you’re asking. I said that we’d go at your pace with telling people, and I meant it. I still mean it, okay?”

Regina closed her eyes and sighed in relief. “Okay. Just checking.” Regina ran her thumb across Cady’s cheek a few times, before saying, “I love you.”

Cady wasn’t even sure she’d heard right. “What?”

“I said…I love you.”

Cady was stunned into silence, but she found her words once Regina started to look a little panicked.

“I love you, too, Regina,” she said with a smile. “I love you so much.”

Regina smiled and pulled Cady into a deep kiss. She pulled back after a minute or so.

“Alright, we need to stop before we get carried away.” Regina said. “Before I get carried away, really.

“No, I’m there, too. It’s been so long since we’ve gotten to be alone together like this. Plus, you just said you love me, so…yeah,” Cady said with a goofy grin. “Wanna go back to the party?” She didn’t want to go home and be away from Regina, yet.

“No, I really want to fuck you again, but I don’t think we could get away with it.” Regina pulled herself away from Cady and off of the bed. “You can stay the night at my house, if you want. Gretchen and Karen are…unless they make other plans. In any case, my mom is expecting me to have company. It wouldn’t look weird.”

Cady nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

The two of them spent the rest of the party trying to look like Regina was comforting Cady after a rough breakup and not like two girls that had finally been honest about how much they loved each other.

After finding out that Karen was staying with Adam and Gretchen was headed to Kevin G’s place, they waited until they were sure Regina’s mom fell asleep, then they made each other cum until they were both too exhausted to keep going.

Right before they fell asleep, Cady heard Regina whisper, “I love you. I wanna make you so happy.”

Cady was too tired to react, but she wanted to kiss Regina so bad. She fell asleep, wishing this is how they could be all the time, but thankful that they got to be like this at all.

So…the month and a half had been equal parts amazing and trying, as far as Cady was concerned, but she could feel Regina getting antsy.

The Monday after the party, things sort of…boiled over at lunch.

Cady sat next to Janis, admiring her latest piece of art for her senior project. Regina sat down at her usual seat across from Cady.

“I have an art show this weekend, if anyone wants to come. I’m entering this piece, and I feel good about my chances of getting some grant money for college,” Janis said, nonchalantly. Damian and Cady both started to speak up, but Janis held up a hand. “I know you two are in. You already have tickets.”

“Me, too!” Karen said. “I love your art. It makes my heart happy.”

Janis smiled. “Thanks, Karen.”

“I’ll be there,” Gretchen said quickly. “Get me two tickets. Kevin will probably want to come, too.”

Janis nodded, then turned to Regina. “You coming?”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

Cady smiled next to Janis, and Regina just stared at her.

“Okay, so should we all just carpool from Janis’ place after movie night?” Cady asked. “I figure Damian and Janis will be on the Jazzy, and Gretch, you’ll be with Kevin, so Karen, Regina, and I can go in the Jeep. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded, but Regina just kept staring at Cady.

“Regina?” Cady asked. “Is…is there a problem with that plan?”

Regina looked at her for a few more seconds, before muttering, “Screw it.”

Cady was confused, until Regina stood up, walked around the table, grabbed Cady’s face, and pulled her into a kiss.

The whole cafeteria seemed to freeze.

Cady herself froze, until on instinct, she started to kiss Regina back. She started to pull away once she realized that they were being watched, but Regina just leaned forward and kept kissing her. After a minute that felt like twenty, Regina pulled back and stood tall before turning to everyone else in the room.

“I’m gay,” she said, sounding a bit insecure, before saying more confidently. “I’m a lesbian, and Cady and I are dating. Anyone have a problem with that?”

A few people shook their heads. One guy yelled, “HOT!” before his friend smacked him upside the head.

“Alright,” Regina said, scanning the room. “Go back to eating.”

The cafeteria was full of life again, with some people going back to normal, some people whispering about what had just happened, and some people seeming to cram food into their mouths, trying to follow Regina’s orders to the T.

Regina bumped Cady’s hip. “Scoot over so I can sit next to you.”

Everyone moved down so Regina had room, and Cady smiled as Regina sat down and wrapped her arm around Cady’s shoulders.

“Regina…are you sure?” Cady asked.

“I sure hope so,” Regina said, dragging her lunch across the table. “Sort of too late to take it back, now.”

“But…your parents?”

Regina shrugged. “If anyone got a video or a picture, I’ll say it was photoshop. My parents are so in denial, they’ll buy it, and they’ll sue whoever’s parents until the problem goes away.”

Cady laughed. “You live a very different life than I live.”

Regina just shrugged again and pulled Cady closer. “You get used to it.”

Cady gave Regina a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered, “I love you.”

Regina smiled. “I love you, too.”

Cady couldn’t imagine ever getting sick of hearing Regina say it.

When Cady managed to pull her eyes away from Regina and back to the rest of the table, she saw that all of her friends had their mouths hanging open.

“I knew it,” Karen said.

Damian laughed. “So did I.” He gave Karen a high five.

Janis looked the most irritated, but she just leaned into Cady and whispered. “You have so much explaining to do, bitch.”

Cady nodded and laughed. “I promise, I’ll tell you everything.”

Chapter Text

Cady couldn’t believe it.

Tonight, they were about to have their last movie night before they all went to college.

Cady looked at herself in the mirror in her room, proud of where she was, but sad that things were going to change. They were all going to be relatively close to each other, but it still wouldn’t be the same. They wouldn’t all be hanging out every Friday like they had most of senior year and all of the last two summers. They would all be spread across California, and Cady had some fear that they would drift apart and stop being friends.

She sighed. She had to believe that wouldn’t happen. They’d all been through so much with each other…if they could survive outings and revenge parties and the burn book and being hit by a bus (that one in the literal survival sense), they could survive anything.

Karen, Gretchen, Janis, and Damian were all headed for LA. Karen wanted to be an influencer, Gretchen was going to FIDM for fashion design, and Damian was going to split his time between LA and New York to try his hand at singing and acting. Janis was going to UCLA, but for the most part, she was just trying to get her art in influential shows and galleries around southern California.

Cady, Kevin, and Regina were all going to Stanford. Cady and Kevin because it had an amazing math program, and Regina…well, Regina just wanted to follow Cady at first, but she’d had to join the debate team to get extra credit to pass English (her teacher refused to be paid off or threatened, which Regina thought was ridiculous), and she realized that arguing with people and getting rewarded for it was pretty fun, so she decided to go into pre-law.

A sizable donation to Stanford from her dad had secured her spot. Regina felt a little bad at first, since she might be taking a spot from someone else, but she’d made sure most of the donation would go to the math department and funding scholarships…and then she felt better.

The movie night plan was for them to all meet at Regina’s house, since they’d have more people than usual, and Regina’s parents were going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so they were all going to spend the entire weekend at her house before going home to finish packing and heading to California. Cady tried to keep herself from being slightly angry that Regina’s parents hadn’t even bothered to make sure that they were around to send their daughter off to college. She was just grateful that she’d get to spend the extra time with Regina without having to pretend to just be her friend.

Cady couldn’t believe how well things had been going with Regina. For the most part, they’d just gotten along for the rest of their senior year and through the summer. Being friends and being girlfriends in a lot of ways was really the same. They still spent a lot of time together, joked, cuddled, and talked about anything and everything with each other. Now, there was just the added bonus of kisses and constantly saying ‘I love you’ to each other. 

Plus, Regina had gotten a set of keys for the debate practice room. Much nicer than the third floor janitorial closet with the added bonus of having a lock on the door. They’d had a lot of fun in there…except for the one time they’d almost gotten caught by Regina’s debate coach, and they’d had to hide in the tiny coat closet at the back of the room…half naked. As usual, Cady had been mortified…Regina thought it was funny.

Sure, they’d had their arguments, but they’d gotten really good at talking out their problems without it turning into a fight. Cady knew to be assertive, direct, and honest with Regina, even when it was hard, and Regina fought her fight or flight instincts and just talked when she had an issue. Also, when they could manage to find somewhere to be alone after a fight…the makeup sex was incredible.

Things were really good, and they were about to be living alone together in an apartment off campus (although, they’d lied to Regina’s parents and said that Kevin would be living with them, too…just in case). Cady was nervous…it was a big step…but she was so excited for them to be able to be fully a couple all the time far away from Regina’s whole family.

Cady heard her doorbell ring. Regina was picking her up early so that they could have some time together before everyone showed up. Cady made sure her outfit looked okay before running out of her room towards the front door. By the time she got there, her mom had already answered the door and was giving Regina a big hug.

“Oh, I’m going to miss you!” Ms. Heron said, squeezing Regina tighter. “I can’t believe you’re both going so far away from me!”

Regina pulled back with a smile. “I know, but I promise we’ll visit every chance that we get.”

“You better!” Ms. Heron said with a smile. “Every holiday and every break!”

Regina nodded. “Of course! Outside of maybe a couple of hours or so where I have to make an appearance for my parents, we’ll be around every time.”

Ms. Heron patted Regina on the cheek. “Good, because you’re family…and I need you to cook, because I’m terrible in the kitchen.” They both laughed until Cady’s mom sighed. “I still can’t believe that you couldn’t talk my daughter out of moving across the country for school.”

“I would never,” Regina said. She looked at Cady, still smiling, but she kept talking to Ms. Heron. “Little Math Nerd needs to go to the best school possible.”

Cady rolled her eyes. “Don’t love that nickname.”

“Yes you do,” Regina said, walking forward and giving her a peck on the lips.

Cady got a goofy grin. She always did when Regina kissed her. “Yeah, okay. I do.”

Regina smiled down at Cady, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Hey, baby. You look amazing. Ready to go?”

Cady nodded. “I’m all packed up for the weekend.” She turned to her mom, and she had tears in her eyes. Cady sighed. Her mom had been crying on and off for the last week. “Mom, stop. You’re making me cry.”

Ms. Heron quickly wiped at her eyes. “I just…it’s just been you and me for so long.”

Cady pulled away from Regina and pulled her mom into a hug. “I know, but I promise that I’ll video call you every week.”

Ms. Heron pulled her daughter closer. “Every kid says that, and then they forget about their parents.”

Before Cady could say anything, Regina spoke up. “Not a chance. If Cady forgets to call, then I will. Trust me.”

Cady kept holding her mom with one arm, but she stepped back to smile at her girlfriend. Regina and her mom had become really close, and Cady was happy that her mom approved and Regina finally had a trusted adult in her life. Her mom on several occasions had ensured Regina that she would still talk to her and support her even if she and Cady broke up (only if she hadn’t completely broken her daughter’s heart, of course…she still needed to protect Cady first and foremost, afterall). Regina tried to act like the assurances didn’t mean as much to her as Cady could tell that they did.

“So you’re spending the night here before you all leave me, right?” Ms. Heron asked.

Cady rolled her eyes again. “Yes, Mom. We’ll be here for you to send us off.”

“I really wish you weren’t taking the Jeep,” Ms. Heron said. “It’s so dangerous.”

“Actually, I had my dad buy me a new one,” Regina said casually. “Same Jeep, newer model. Little bigger. Has doors and all the safety features you could ask for.”

“Wait…when did that happen?” Cady asked. However impractical, Cady had always loved Regina’s Jeep.

“Last night,” Regina said with a shrug. “Late graduation present. It’s not like we could drive across the country in an open Jeep with a bunch of our stuff.”

Ms. Heron smiled. “Thank you, Regina. You have no idea how worried I’d been about the two of you driving in that thing.”

“How could she?” Cady interjected, a little annoyed. “You only bring it up every single chance you get.”

Regina laughed. “Cady, you’ll like the new one. I promise. Now, are you ready to go? I wanna get to my house before everybody starts showing up.”

Cady nodded quickly, grabbing her bags. She wasn’t about to risk losing all of her alone time with Regina before their friends got to her house.

“Love you, Mom!” Cady called over her shoulder, walking out the door. Regina trailed behind a bit, giving Ms. Heron one more hug before following behind Cady. 

Cady saw Regina’s new car, and she had to admit…it was nice. It wasn’t that different from her old one, but it was bigger, it did have doors…and it was hot pink.

“Wow,” Cady said, throwing her bags into the car before climbing into the front seat. Regina got in quickly as well and pulled Cady into a quick but deep kiss before pulling back and starting the car.

“Nice, right?” Regina said, pulling away from Cady’s house with one last wave to Ms. Heron. “Figured the pink felt right, since I won’t have all the pink on the walls in my room anymore.”

“I love it,” Cady said, leaning across to kiss Regina on the cheek. “I’ll miss the old one, though.”

“Me, too, but I needed an upgrade, anyway.” Regina got a sly smile on her face that made Cady’s heart flutter a little bit. “Besides, with the doors, we’ll probably get to christen this one on the road trip.”

Cady blushed bright red. “Isn’t Kevin coming with us?”

Regina shook her head. “He’s going with Gretchen and Karen. I told him I’d buy him a flight from LA so he could get some more time with Gretchen before school started.”

“Aw, you big softie!” Cady said, laughing.

“Shut up,” Regina said, laughing along with Cady. “Besides, my main motivation was fucking you at pretty much every rest stop on the way to school.”

“I-uh-” Cady closed her eyes and shook her head. “How do you always do this to me?”

“It’ll only get worse now that we’ll be living together. I plan to have my way with you in every room of that place.”

Cady fully shuddered in her seat. She couldn’t let Regina get away with affecting her like this without giving a little back. She set her hand on Regina’s thigh, leaned across the center divider, and whispered in Regina’s ear, “What makes you think I won’t have my way with you first?”

Cady held in a laugh as she watched Regina’s jaw clench.

“Don’t make me crash my brand new car,” Regina finally said, voice sounding strained as she reluctantly pulled Cady’s hand off of her leg. “We need to wait until we get back to mine.”

“How long until everyone shows up?” Cady asked.

“A couple of hours,” Regina said with a smirk. “Plenty of time to have some fun.”

They spent the rest of the car ride flirting and trying to keep their hands off of each other. When they pulled into Regina’s driveway, there was another car parked in front of the house.

“What the fuck?” Regina mumbled to herself. “She should be gone by now.”

“Your mom?” Cady asked, and Regina nodded. Regina parked her car and grabbed all of Cady’s bags. “Do you need me to grab-”

“No,” Regina said, quickly walking to her front door and letting herself in. She barely had Cady’s stuff on the floor by the front door before Regina’s mom was walking into the room, drink in hand.

“Hey, girlies!” Mrs. George said, pulling Cady into an awkward hug.

“What’re you doing here?” Regina asked angrily. “You were supposed to leave an hour ago.”

“Well, I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to everyone, could I?” Mrs. George turned back to Cady. “Couldn’t let the squad leave without one last dose of cool mom, right Cady-cat?”

“Gross. Don’t call her that.” Regina was fully glaring at her mother.

Regina’s mom laughed. “God, Gigi, you’re so funny!”

“Don’t call me that, either.” Regina grabbed Cady’s hand and started dragging her up the stairs. “Leave us alone!”

Mrs. George ignored her. “I’ve got some snacks whipped up in the kitchen. Want me to bring them up to your room?”

“No!” Regina started taking two stairs at a time, and Cady had a hard time keeping up, but she managed. Regina took a few deep breaths at the top of the stairs, trying to calm herself down.

“Hey, she’ll be leaving soon, okay? It’ll be okay,” Cady said.

“She’s not leaving until she can embarrass me in front of all of my friends!” Regina snapped. Cady didn’t even take it personally. She knew Regina needed to vent. “She’s taking all of our time together, and she’s offering me snacks, like she’s actually going to let me eat them before she takes them out of the fucking room, and…ugh!” Regina’s whole body was tense, and Cady knew she had to be careful with how she comforted the other girl - her mom was always hovering. She placed a hand on Regina’s shoulder.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Cady said in a calm voice. “We can just hang out in your room and watch a movie or something, and we’ll get through the beginning of the party together.” Cady quickly corrected. “All of us. We’re all your friends. We’re all here for you.”

Regina looked at Cady seriously before grabbing her hand and pulling Cady into her bedroom. Cady didn’t have a chance to ask any questions before Regina had pushed her up against the door and started making out with her. Cady immediately sank into the kiss, but she pulled away from Regina slightly after a few seconds.

“Regina, what-”

“Can’t wait,” Regina said between kisses. “Need you now.”

“But your mom-”

“Can’t open the doors if we’re leaning against this one,” Regina said, starting to kiss Cady’s neck. “That okay?”

 Cady just nodded and pulled Regina closer. “God, why didn’t you ever get a lock?”

Regina stopped kissing, but her lips were still against Cady’s neck as she spoke. “Lost that privilege a long time ago,” Regina’s hand went under Cady’s shirt and started rubbing Cady’s hip above her skirt. “My dad almost broke the knobs off one time while I was hooking up with some guy, and the lock was gone the next day.” Regina latched back on to Cady’s neck and ran her hand up to the underside of Cady’s left breast. They both gasped. “You’re not wearing a bra?”

“I thought we were gonna be alone for awhile,” Cady managed to get out. Regina immediately went to pinch Cady’s nipple. Cady had to fight to stay quiet. “Regina…is this…a good idea?”

“Like I fucking care,” Regina mumbled before she pulled up Cady’s shirt far enough to pull the nipple she wasn’t already pinching into her mouth.

“If you’re trying to get me off, this needs to be quick,” Cady said. “I-you know I can’t-” Regina’s mouth felt so good against her. Cady ground her teeth to keep herself from screaming before she whispered, “You know I can’t stay quiet for long.”

Regina let go of her nipple with a pop and went to whisper right in Cady’s ear, “I know, baby. I know.” The hand that wasn’t on Cady’s chest went under her skirt. “I really wanted to take my time today.”

“Just…just wait until we’re in our apartment.” Cady was starting to lose her mind already with Regina touching her over her underwear.

Regina pulled back and looked at Cady as she started rubbing Cady’s clit over her underwear. “Our apartment. I love the sound of that.”

Her hand slipped under Cady’s underwear and immediately, Regina slipped two fingers inside. Cady’s head thunked against the door, and they both stilled and held their breaths for a few seconds. Once it was clear that they hadn’t alerted Mrs. George, Regina’s hand started quickly moving in and out of Cady.

Cady was clenching her teeth so hard that she knew her jaw would be sore the next day, but she also knew how important it was that she stayed quiet. They were so close to getting Regina out of this house and getting to be together without the threat of Regina’s parents finding out.

Cady’s hips were moving in time to the thrusts of Regina’s hand. Cady started to reach into her own underwear to rub herself while Regina fucked her, but Regina grabbed her wrist and pinned her hand above her head on the door.

“Regina, please…” Cady gasped out.

“Desperate,” Regina growled into Cady’s ear.

“You did this!” Cady hissed out, and Regina quietly chuckled. Cady let out a groan that was almost too loud, and they paused again, holding their breaths. They were met with silence once again, Cady’s hips started bucking, and Regina started moving her hand again. She moved her palm so Cady could grind against it, and Cady’s eyes rolled back in her head.

“You’re so pretty like this,” Regina said against Cady’s ear. “You close?” She felt Cady nod, and she started to move her hand faster and push her palm harder into Cady’s clit.

“ Yes! Regina…fuck, yes…Regina!” Cady did her best to whisper as she was thrown into an orgasm. Regina sighed against her ear as Cady came down.

“You’re perfect, Cady,” Regina said, kissing Cady’s cheek. “I’m so lucky.”

Cady blushed and smiled as she took deep, even breaths to try to calm down. “I’m the lucky one. And I love you.”

Regina looked at Cady with a grin that felt too goofy to normally be on Regina George’s face. “I love you, too.” Regina pulled out, and Cady shoved her face into Regina’s neck to muffle the whimper that came out of her mouth.

“Your turn,” Cady said a few seconds later, reaching for the waistband of Regina’s pants, but Regina pushed her hand away.

“No…that’ll have to wait.”

“Regina, come on-”

“We can’t risk it,” Regina said. Cady started to protest, but Regina let go of her wrist and covered her mouth with a finger from the hand that hadn’t been inside of Cady. “You may have a hard time keeping quiet, but we both know that I can’t at all. We have to wait.”

Cady pouted. “Not fair.”

Regina leaned her forehead against Cady’s. “I could always tell my mom about us. She’d probably be mad enough to leave the house for a while.”

Cady laughed. “Do you want to tell your parents? Would it make you happy for them to know that you’re a lesbian?”

Regina got quiet before mumbling out, “No. But it would piss them off. That might be fun. And…you wouldn’t have to be a secret.”

Regina brought this up every once in a while…coming out to her family. The first time, Cady had been shocked. She’d asked why Regina suddenly felt the need to tell her parents.

“Because you don’t deserve to be hidden.” Regina had said. “Because I want you to know that you mean more to me than a trust fund.”

Cady loved the sentiment, but ultimately, she was practical. If Regina wanted to tell her parents for her own peace of mind, then Cady would support her…but if it was from some sense of chivalry for Cady? Her answer would always be the same.

“I don’t care. Let’s take the money and run.”

Regina gave her a crooked smile, then kissed her before pulling away and dragging Cady to her vanity. “Come on, let’s do your makeup before you get me too worked up.”

They spent the rest of their time before their friends showed up getting themselves and the house ready. Mrs. George had come into Regina’s room several times to try to talk, but Regina tried to ignore her as much as possible, and Cady only talked to her enough not to seem completely rude. When the doorbell finally rang, Regina ran downstairs, trying to answer the door before her mom had a chance, but she was too late. Her mom already had Gretchen and Karen pulled into a hug.

“Fucking great,” Regina mumbled as she walked towards the door. “Mom, let them go.”

“We were just catching up!” Mrs. George said, then she turned back to Gretchen. “Having a little girl talk, right, besties?”

Karen squealed and clapped while Gretchen smiled and nodded. 

“Yeah!” Karen said. “Always happy to see you!”

The only reason it didn’t bother Regina is because Karen was happy to see everyone.

“It’s good to see you, Mrs. George,” Gretchen said. “You’ve met my boyfriend, Kevin, right?”

Mrs. George barely spared the boy a glance. “Sure. Hi. So girls, are you just so excited to be moving to LA?”

Kevin just shook his head and let himself in while Gretchen, Karen, and Mrs. George kept talking. He perked up when he saw Cady.

“Golf Bird!” he said, pulling Cady into a hug. “Ready to flex on every hater at Stanford?”

“Why are you like this?” Regina asked, but Cady laughed.

“I’m so excited! Did you happen to-”

Regina cut Cady off. “If this is going to be a math related question, just stop right now. I’m already gonna have to deal with so much math talk between the two of you once we get to school.”

“How did you know that it was about math?” Cady mumbled dejectedly. “I barely said anything.”

“I know you, ba-” Regina cut herself off. “Cady. I know you, Cady. And I know that when you start talking to Kevin G, it’s probably about math.”

Regina’s mom joined their conversation. “I still don’t understand why you aren’t going to LA with the girls.” She turned to Cady. “No offense, but she’s just been with Gretchen and Karen for so long! I don’t know why she would get a place with you and Kevin and talk about boring math stuff when she could go with her best friends and find a nice, rich actor or model or…oh, maybe an agent!” She turned back to Regina. “You could probably pull off being a model! You’ve got your mother’s face, after all. I could’ve come to visit you! The parties in LA are supposed to be amazing!”

Regina looked like she was about to pop, but she kept her cool. “Mom, I told you. I want to be a lawyer.”

“Sure, sweetie,” Regina’s mom said, quickly rolling her eyes. “The plus side is that I’m sure that you can find a hot doctor or lawyer to marry while you’re there. And you can always fly down to LA to visit your friends on the weekends.”

“Is she for real?” Kevin whispered so only Cady would hear.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Cady stepped forward and put her hand on Regina’s shoulder. She could feel the other girl shaking, so she squeezed a little to try to calm her down. “Yeah, Regina’s already made plans to do a lot of visits to LA. I’ll probably tag along, too, if that’s okay?”

“Oh, for sure Cady-Cat! You can-”

“Mom, go make yourself a drink!” Regina said, barely holding onto her composure.

“Good idea, Regina! I’ll be back in just a sec!”

“Take your time!” Regina called out after her mother. When her mom was out of the room, Regina’s whole body relaxed. “So close…so, so close to being done with her.”

Cady leaned up and kissed Regina on the cheek. “Let’s just go to your room and text everybody to let themselves in. I need you to keep your sanity.”

Regina nodded, and everyone made their way upstairs into Regina’s room. Damian and Janis showed up not long after.

“Hey, bitches!” Janis said with a smile. “Jesus, Regina, I always forget how fucking awful your mom is.”

“Aw, that makes me actually happy to see you for once,” Regina said, going to hug Janis. After Regina and Cady came out as a couple, Janis spent about a week mad at the two of them (mostly Regina), but she’d gotten over it, and Regina and Janis had made a real effort to completely bury the hatchet and call everything even. 

They still constantly gave each other shit, though. They’d both decided it was too much fun.

“Where are the drinks?” Janis asked Regina. “I’ll need ‘em, if I’m dealing with you for the rest of the night.”

“You two are so boring,” Damian said, but he was holding back a laugh. “Getting some space will be good for you both…and for the rest of us.”

“Exactly,” Janis said, smirking. “Gives me time to think up all new insults.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Maybe someday, you’ll think of a good one.”

Janis flipped Regina off with a smile and sat down in one of the chairs.

They all joked and laughed with each other, not letting it settle in that things would be different for all of them this time next week.

“So are we going to pick a movie?” Kevin asked. “I’m trying to cuddle with my sweet thang.”

Gretchen almost recoiled. “Don’t say that.”

“Oh sorry.” Kevin put on his best white girl voice before saying, “OMG can we, like pick a movie? That would be so fetch!”

Everyone laughed, including Gretchen, who hit Kevin with a pillow. “I don’t sound like that!”

“You sound exactly like that,” Karen said, still laughing.

“I thought there were two of you!” Damian said, and it sent everyone into another fit of laughter.

“Alright, alright,” Cady said, cuddled up to Regina in the bed. “We can’t start watching anything until-”

There was a knock on Regina’s door before Mrs. George walked in with their last guest.

“Aaron!” Cady said, jumping away from Regina and running to Aaron to give him a hug. “I’m so glad you came!”

“I wouldn’t miss this!” He said with a smile. “I’m gonna miss you all so much next year.” 

“You could always transfer next year,” Cady said.

He nodded. “Seriously considering it.” He waved at the room, and everyone said hi. He awkwardly nodded towards the bed. “Hey, Regina.”

“Hi, Aaron,” Regina said back, forcing a smile in his direction.

When Cady had finally told Aaron about her dating Regina, he wasn’t thrilled, but he accepted it…after spending the better part of an hour warning Cady to be careful. He and Regina tried their best to be cordial for Cady’s sake, but it was still uncomfortable.

“Ugh, you could cut the tension with a knife!” Mrs. George said, wrapping her arm around Aaron’s waist. Regina groaned under her breath.

“Mom, isn’t Dad waiting for you in Cancun?” Regina asked, jumping up to pull Aaron away from her.

“Relax, Gigi! I wasn’t stealing him away!” Mrs. George said with a wink at Aaron. “Besides, I need to sober up before I drive. Figured I could maybe sit in on movie night!”

Regina’s eyes went wide with horror, and she started tapping at her phone. “No.”

“Come on, I can have one last night with everyone before they head out!”

Cady got ready to order Mrs. George a rideshare, but Regina was a step ahead of her.

“Actually, I got you a limo, it should be here-” There was a honk downstairs, and Regina started ushering her mom out the door. “Right now!”

“Oh my God, Regina, really?!” Mrs. George asked, excited. 

“My gift to you,” Regina said, forcing a smile. 

Cady whispered to Regina as she went towards the door, “How did it get here so fast?”

“I ordered it as soon as we got here. Just in case.” Regina said, turning back to her mom. “Now, please leave.”

Regina pushed her mom out the door, and the rest of them waited in her room.

“What is wrong with that woman?” Damian asked, looking shocked.

“Best not to think about it too much,” Gretchen said. “Just smile and nod.”

“Agreed,” Aaron added. “She’s always…weird.”

“Regina makes so much more sense to me,” Damian said. “Do you think she’ll get her mom to leave?”

“I hope so,” Cady said. “I can’t deal with her for much longer.”

They all chatted for a few minutes while Cady looked out Regina’s window. When she saw Mrs. George finally get in the limo and pull away, she sighed in relief. Regina was back in the room less than a minute later.

“Let’s get fucked up!” She said, holding up a couple liquor bottles, and everyone cheered. They all drank and ate, and Regina finally fully relaxed for the first time since they’d gotten back to her house. She kissed Cady over and over again as they all chatted and laughed and listened to music.

“Alright!” Janis yelled over the sound in the room. The music stopped, and everyone turned to listen to her. “We need to pick something to watch.”

Every person in the room started talking all at once. Even though they knew they had the whole weekend, they knew this was the last official Friday night movie night that they were going to have. Everyone wanted to be the one to pick the movie for the night.

After a while, it became very clear that no one wanted to compromise, which meant that eventually, Regina was going to pick something. They all got more desperate to make their cases for different movies or shows, but no one would budge. Finally, Regina had heard enough.

“Okay, I’m picking,” she said, grabbing her remote. Everyone protested but no one stopped her. Regina clicked through a few menus before settling on a TV show.

“No!” Janis yelled. “Not again!”

“Yes again,” Regina said calmly as she clicked on The Sex Lives of College Girls.

“Wait…is this the show?” Aaron asked Cady, and she laughed and nodded. “Well, I wanna watch it. I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Shut it, Samuels!” Janis snapped. “We just watched this! Not even a few months ago!”

“Well…to be fair,” Gretchen spoke up, “I never really got around to watching the first season, and Kevin’s never seen it, either.”

“And I just want to watch anything at this point,” Damian said, filing his fingernails.

“Really, Damian?!” Janis said, but Damian just shrugged. She was getting desperate. “Karen, back me up, here.”

Karen shook her head. “I don’t care about this conversation.”

Janis sighed, finally giving up. “Ugh…fine. Whatever. But that means I pick the movie for tomorrow night.”

“Deal,” Regina said, pulling Cady even closer to her on the bed. She gave her a peck on the forehead.

“Why did you even pick this?” Cady asked. “We’ve already watched it a ton.”

“What can I say?” Regina said with a shrug and a smile as she pressed play. “It’s my favorite show.”