Chapter Text
“Cady, Baby,” she hears over her shoulder, goosebumps breaking out all over her body. “What the fuck are you wearing?”
Cady looks down at the shiny pink fringe button-down she’s wearing, which is several sizes too large. It’s Damian’s, but Regina can’t know that.
“It’s, uh—it’s my dads,” Cady says, tugging at the bottom of the shirt before smoothing it over with her hands.
“Is your dad secretly a gay cowboy?” Regina asks, a little smile playing at her lips.
“No. Well, I don’t think so? I haven’t—he’s not super involved. He is really into theater, though, so—“
Regina laughs.
“Are you suggesting that all theater kids are flaming homosexuals?” She teases.
Cady smiles. It’s kinda homophobic, maybe, definitely, but it sounds so sweet coming out of Regina’s smiling mouth that Cady can’t help it. Plus, she’s—like. Cady’s like… she doesn’t know what she is, but she’s allowed to laugh, right? She has gay friends.
Or does that make it worse? Is she enabling homophobia by laughing?
“Earth to Cady,” Regina says, waving a hand in front of Cady’s face.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Cady asks, her cheeks going an electric shade of pink.
“God, you’re so cute when you go all Karen on me,” Regina says. “Fucking listen when I talk though, okay?”
Cady prickles. Does Gina think Karen is cuter than her?
Cady nods. “Sorry.”
Gina winks. “You’re forgiven. I asked why you decided to go all Brokeback Mountain today.”
“Oh, uh,” Cady laughs, nervous. “I don’t—it’s Wednesday. And on Wednesdays, we wear pink.”
“I am familiar with the rule I created, yeah.”
“Right. I just—I don’t really have a lot of pink. It’s not, like, super popular in Kenya.”
“Well fuck Kenya, then.”
“It’s a really cool place, actually,” Cady says.
Regina straightens up, and the four inches she has on Cady feels like an entire foot. Did Cady—shit, is Regina mad at her?
“Cool,” Regina says, her tone strangely neutral. “I’ll pick you up at six. Your wardrobe needs a serious overhaul.”
“Oh, uh, okay. Should I—I can just take the bus to the mall, if you—if it’s too much trouble,” Cady says, cursing herself for being so tongue-tied around Regina and her perfect smile, and her perfect hair, and her perfect breas—
“Ew, gross,” Regina says, wrinkling her nose and—okay, that’s just not fair. The hottest, bitchiest girl in school should NOT also be allowed to be so adorable. “Cady, we’re friends. And my friends do NOT take the bus. Unless they piss me off. Are you planning to piss me off sometime in the next… two hours and thirty-three minutes?”
“Not. I mean—no. I don’t want to make you upset.”
“Good girl,” Regina says with a wink, and Cady is—
Gay!
What?
“I expect you to be ready when I get there, yeah? I don’t like to wait.”
“I would never make you wait,” Cady says, her voice cracking a bit.
The smile that spreads across Regina’s face can only be described as sharklike.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not,” Cady promises.
“Alright, then. See you at six, bitch. And bring shit to stay over, just in case the mall is ass and we need to raid my mom’s liquor cabinet after.”
“For sure. I’ll be ready for whatever,” Cady says, and she sounds pathetically eager. She’ll spend an hour thinking about how pathetic and how eager later, but now, all she can think about is the tilt of Regina’s lips.
“I know you will.”
—-
Cady’s sitting on her front step by 5:47. She convinces herself that Regina’s not actually coming when the clock strikes six and she’s not in the driveway. By 6:03, she decides that Regina probably hates her, and that she’s bringing the plastics and Aaron and the entire football team and maybe even the theater kids to point and laugh at desperate, pathetic, friendless Cady Heron and her massive obsession with Regina George. Maybe she’s even got Janis in on it, the two of them brought back together by their shared hatred for stupid double-agent Cady, who—
Gina’s jeep comes flying around the corner and into Cady’s driveway at 6:06, no fleet of North Shore students in tow, and Cady takes a deep breath.
Cady must stand and breathe a little too long, because Regina rolls down the window and yells.
“Get in, loser. We’re going shopping.”
Cady practically runs to the passenger seat, throwing the door open and jumping inside.
“Easy, Heron,” Regina says, but she’s biting back a smile. “It’s not that serious.”
“I didn’t want to make you wait.”
Regina grins at her, bringing a hand to her face to pinch her cheek and tuck some of her hair back.
“No worries, baby,” she says, giving Cady’s cheek a pat that’s so hard that it borders on a slap.
Cady wishes she’d do it again.
“I would’ve been earlier, but some idiot in a Prius decided to stop in the middle of the fucking road and rescue an ugly snapping turtle. I swear, I thought the horn on my jeep was gonna die from how hard I hit it.”
Come to think of it, Cady did hear a distant horn in the background as she had her existential crisis on the porch.
“It’s okay. I was running a little behind anyway,” Cady says.
Regina crinkles her nose.
“No you weren’t.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Cady admits.
Gina laughs, and this time, she crinkles her nose as she smiles, and Cady wants to kiss her on the mouth.
Like, over and over.
With tongue.
“You don’t have to lie to me, you know.”
Cady gulps.
“What?”
“Don’t lie to me. To seem cooler, or like less of a neurotic freak.”
“Oh, uh. Okay.”
“You’re kind of adorkable, Cady. It’s cute. So just be a dork, okay?”
“Okay,” Cady says, her face warming at Regina’s sort-of compliment.
“Good girl,” Regina says, and the effect it has on Cady is just as devastating as the last time. Maybe moreso, since Regina strokes her cheek before she moves her hand to the gearshift and pops the jeep into reverse.
Regina turns the radio up once they make it out onto Cady’s street, and all Cady can do is stare out the window and think about how Regina George may be actively ruining her life.
Isn’t the whole “good girl” thing supposed to be mad cringy? When Jason says it to Gretchen, Cady actually wants to crawl into a hole and die. Is Regina just so hot that she can say anything and Cady gets all melty and gooey inside? Maybe Cady’s not even a little gay—maybe it’s just that everyone is into Regina.
Isn’t everyone? Isn’t that why they’re in this whole situation? Cos Janis was into Gina, and Aaron was into Gina, and now Cady’s into Gina. Is that just the way North Shore works? Does everyone simply fall victim to the red-hot magnetism of Regina George?
Cady doesn’t even notice that Regina isn’t driving towards the mall until Regina stops the car in her own garage.
“Are we not going shopping?” Cady asks, her eyebrows furrowing as she turns to Regina.
“Nah, I wasn’t feeling the mall,” Gina says, crinkling her nose again.
Cady sighs.
“I thought we could just hang out here, and maybe you can try on some of my old stuff. If you want. I have a shit ton of stuff that I don’t wear anymore. Because it’s from last season.”
Regina tacks on the last sentence like an afterthought. Like she can’t be too sweet to Cady, or she’ll burst into flames.
“Is that okay with you?” Regina asks, and Cady doesn’t really know how to respond because—well, it’s a question. Regina typically gives orders. She doesn’t really ask questions.
“I can take you the fuck home right now if you—“
“No, that’s—yes. No. I mean—I’d really like that. To stay here. With you. And hang out. And try on pink things,” Cady says, blowing out a long breath. Is it hot in here?
“Gorg,” Regina says, expertly unclicking Cady’s seatbelt and then her own. “Keep up.”
And then Regina’s bouncing into the house and Cady’s running after her.
Cady’s still a little behind when a significantly younger version of Regina rounds the corner.
“Gina!” She squeals, running straight into Regina and trapping her in a hug.
“Hey, Ky,” Regina says, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. “Is dance class over already?”
“Cassie Chu threw up all over the studio. It even got on the mirrors!” The little girl says, practically bouncing up and down with the information.
“Sick,” Regina says like it’s exciting, and Cady can’t help but laugh.
Little Regina freezes, her eyes meeting Cady’s over Regina’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she says, her voice raising in pitch. “I didn’t mean to—I didn’t know you had friends over, Regina—”
“It’s okay, Little Me,” Regina says, ruffling the smaller girl’s hair. Regina’s mouth is pulled tight when she turns to face Cady, her eyes already fixed in a glare, but it softens when she sees Cady’s open expression. “This is my friend Cady. She’s from Africa.”
“Africa?” The girl asks.
Cady nods.
“What country?” She asks, still holding Regina’s hand but stepping out from behind her body.
“Kenya,” Cady says, shooting the girl a smile. “Hi, I’m Cady.”
Duh. Am I ever going to stop embarrassing myself around Regina?
Regina just shakes her head, a little smile on her face.
Little Regina smiles at her.
“Hi! I’m Kylie. Have you ever seen a Lilac-breasted Roller?”
Cady smiles, wide and friendly, and Regina desperately tries to ignore the fuzzy feeling in her chest.
“Yeah! Lots of times. I saw them more when I was younger, because there aren’t as many of them as there used to be, but they aren’t too hard to spot in Kenya. Have you ever seen one?” Cady asks, leaning down just a little bit to make it clear she’s giving Kylie her undivided attention.
Regina’s chest goes all warm again. fuck.
“Not in person,” Kylie says, her face falling just a little before a smile overtakes it. “But they’re supposed to get some new African and Asian birds at the zoo in the Spring, and Gina said she would take me to see them!”
“That will be so fun!” Cady says, matching Kylie’s enthusiasm.
Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!
“Yeah! Do you know a lot of African birds?” Kylie asks.
Cady hesitates for just a second before answering honestly. Regina said she’s adorkable, right? So she can dork out a little now.
“I do, actually! There are lots of neat birds in Kenya, and in some of the neighboring countries, like Uganda and Ethiopia.”
“The Grey Crowned Crane and Stresemann’s bushcrow.”
“That’s right!” Cady says, and Kylie beams. “You must be super smart to know the national birds.”
“She’s a genius,” Regina says, giving Kylie a little squeeze. “She knows the national birds of every country that has one, right Ky?”
“Yeah! I am pretty smart,” Kylie says, her shoulders rising with her confidence. “And Gina’s the pretty-pretty one. That’s what mom always says, right Gina?”
Regina’s face falls before she can mask it, and Cady sees. Their eyes meet, and it’s almost like Cady can see Regina’s shield going up.
“You’re very pretty too, Kylie,” Regina says softly, squeezing her again.
“Regina!” Mrs. George says, gliding into the kitchen. She must be at least ten years younger than Cady’s mom, not a single wrinkle on her face, her blonde hair perfectly coiffed in the exact same style as the first time Cady met her. Cady briefly wonders if it’s a wig. It sort of looks like a really chic version of that Lego hair you could clip onto the heads of the little figurines. “And your friend is back! Cady, right?”
“Hi, Mrs. George. Nice to see you again,” Cady says, lifting her hand up in a little wave.
“Oh, no need for all that, Cady. Call me June. Any friend of Gina’s is a friend of mine,” she smiles, and it’s too white and too stiff and Cady doesn’t know how to respond.
“Cady and I were just heading upstairs,” Regina says, squeezing Kylie once more.
“Oh, I’ll meet you up there. We can—”
“We have a project to work on, actually, so don’t bother us. Bye, mom.” Regina says, turning away from her mother and pressing a little kiss to her sister’s head before she whispers in her ear.
Come get me if you need me.
Kylie nods, kissing Gina’s arm cos it’s what she can reach, and then waving at Cady.
“Bye, Kylie,” Cady says, and then she’s being attacked with a hug.
Cady returns Kylie’s hug, of course, and God, Regina is hopeless!
Regina turns and marches up the steps without a word, and Cady chases after her.
“Wow, Regina, have you ever thought of going out for like, track, or something?” Cady asks once Regina shuts the door to her pink wonderland of a room behind them. She knows Gina is pissed and she doesn’t know what to say.
That was the wrong thing, apparently.
“Sports are fucking gross. I may be an attention whore, but at least I look good while doing it. Who wants everyone watching them get all sweaty and ugly?”
“Right, uh. Good point,” Cady says, her voice unsteady.
Regina finally looks at her, and Cady withers under her stare.
“If you tell anyone that I’m a total softie with my sister, or if you repeat any of the fucked up stuff my mom says—”
“I would never,” Cady says, her tone so serious that Regina actually believes her.
Gina just sort of stares at her then, aggressively biting her lip.
“Do you, um,” Cady says, holding her arms out just a little bit, “do you want to talk about it?”
“Fuck no. Not with you,” Regina says. It’s too mean, she knows it as soon as she says it, but she’s Regina Fucking George and she’s good at too mean. It’s her brand.
So why does she feel so bad?
“Oh, okay,” Cady says, her shoulders curving forward as she stares at the floor.
She looks destroyed by Regina’s rebuff, and surprisingly, Regina hates it. She’s usually drunk on power, but Cady makes her feel like she wants to be sober. Or at least, like, California sober.
Evoking a little bit of fear is kinda hot, and she’s not trying to become an entirely new person. But Cady does make her want to be different, which leads her to do the most insane and un-Regina thing she’s done since at least middle school. Possibly, since ever.
“I’m sorry,” Regina says, shocking the hell out of the both of them. “I didn’t—I do want to talk, actually. Kind of. I’m new at this not being a frigid bitch thing, okay?”
“Okay,” Cady says, and Regina doesn’t even feel bad that Cady doesn’t try to insist Regina is not a frigid bitch. She asked for honesty, after all. “Um. That—that thing your mom says to you and Kylie, that’s fucked up. You’re not just a pretty face, Reggie.”
Regina does not know how to respond to that, because… isn’t she the one who is supposed to bring up her own mommy drama? Should she be pissed? Why does she want Cady to hold her face and call her Reggie for the rest of forever?
“It’s not even the fact that she thinks I’m stupid that bothers me. It’s that she acts like being pretty is better than being smart, and I’m—once Kylie realizes how my mom is saying it, like I’m the good one for being pretty and she’s the bad one for being smart… she’s gonna be destroyed, Cady.”
She wants to say more, but mortifyingly, Regina feels wetness on her cheeks.
The shock on Cady’s face is clear, but she only hesitates for half a second before she crosses the few feet of plush white carpet to pull Regina in for a hug.
Regina immediately folds into her arms, burying her face in Cady’s neck.
Cady is perfect in her consolation, holding Regina close and humming soothing words against her hair, gentle hands pressed firmly to her back.
Regina’s bigger than Cady, she knows she is, but she feels small and protected in her arms.
She’s mostly okay with it.
When her breathing calms down a bit and she quits making those horrible choking noises, Cady’s hands start moving up and down her back.
Regina relaxes into her in a way she hadn’t previously thought possible, an embarrassing sigh escaping her lips. Thankfully, Cady’s fringe catches on Regina’s mesh top only moments later.
“Jesus, Heron, buy me dinner before you try to tear my clothes off.”
“I didn’t—I wasn’t—I’m sorry,” Cady says, her cheeks bright red as she pulls back. Regina’s shirt is still hooked to the fringe, and there’s a distinct tearing sound when Cady rips her arm away.
Her eyes go wide, her mouth already falling open in an apology.
“Regina, I’m—”
“It’s okay, Cady,” Regina says, surprising them both. Why is she letting her off the hook? God, she needs to get it together!
“It is?” Cady asks, eyes wide and hopeful. Does she have to be so cute?
“Yeah, it is. But if you tell anyone I’m an ugly crier—or that I have the capacity to cry—I will kill you in your sleep. Got it?”
“Got it,” Cady says, nodding her head.
“Good. Let’s get you out of that fugly shirt.”
Gina leads Cady over to the closet, picking out a couple of crop tops before rifling through her drawers for some sweatpants.
“Are we… am I going shopping in your closet?” Cady asks, wringing her hands.
“Nah. I’m thinking sweats and a movie?”
“Sounds great,” Cady says like it's a relief, shooting her a little smile before looking away.
Regina grins. Once she finds her favorite pair of black joggers and a similar pair for Cady, she flicks off the light and ushers Cady out of the closet.
She launches the shirt and pants at Cady even though she’s close. The sweats hit her in the chest, but she manages to snag them before they hit the ground. The crop top escapes her grasp, landing on a fluffy pink rug. In the time it takes Cady to bend over and pick it up, Regina has already untucked her shirt and pulled it off.
“Oh! Uh,” Cady says, trying desperately not to look at Regina. Gina hasn’t moved by the time Cady looks back. Apart from her mouth, which has morphed into a huge smile. “Hi.”
Gina laughs.
“Hey, baby. You okay?” She asks, tossing her shirt into the corner of the room before she unbuttons her pleather pants.
“Yeah!” Cady says too enthusiastically. Her face is redder than her hair, and Regina is enjoying it too much. She knows she’s hot, but she’s usually hot as a way to get noticed by jealous bitches and dickhead athletes, not cute homeschooled girls who clearly have a crush on her. “Should I…?”
“However you’re comfortable,” Regina says with a little nod. “You can go back into the closet and change there, if you’d like.”
“I don’t need to go back in the closet. I’m fine.”
I’ve never left!
“Alright then,” Regina says, pulling on the sweatpants. She’s still adjusting her cropped tank top to show a comfortable amount of titty by the time Cady is fully dressed and looking at her again.
She’s staring a little, but it’s alright. It’s what Regina wants, even if she doesn’t want to admit it.
Regina takes her time, tugging her shirt this way and that until she’s been sufficiently stared at.
“Have you seen Twilight ?”
“Like, the vampire one?”
“No, like The Twilight Zone . Yes, the vampire one.”
“No,” Cady says, shaking her head. “I have seen The Twilight Zone , though.”
Gina grins—a real thing, big and loud and bright and just a little crooked—and Cady is enamored.
“Of course you have,” Regina says, settling onto the bed. Cady follows, waiting for Regina to pat the bed next to her before she climbs up.
Cady tugs at the bottom of her crop top while Regina queues the movie. When she’s still adjusting it during the opening credits, Regina can’t help but comment on it.
“It’s supposed to be like that, you know. Like, showing a little skin.”
“Oh, okay,” Cady says, moving her hands. “I’m just—I’m not really used to showing anything. All of my clothes are, uh, full-size.”
“Well, you look hot. Seriously, your waist is crazy small. I’m happy to get you a sweatshirt or something if it would make you more comfortable, though.”
“I’m just a little cold,” Cady says. Regina knows she’s lying, because her face is still bright red, but she doesn’t call her on it. She knows better than anyone that talking about someone’s body right in front of them puts them on the fast track to an eating disorder.
Regina pops up without another word, trotting over to the closet to grab Cady a hoodie. It takes her longer than it should to pick one out, but the delusional fantasies she’s having of Cady wearing it home and keeping it ‘cause it smells like her are just too strong to not indulge in. She ends up picking out a light blue one she wears relatively often, at least when she’s at home. It smells more like her than the others do.
Cady is perched on the edge of the bed when she gets back, waiting, and Regina shoots her a little smile. The grin Cady shoots back as a result is enough to give Regina a whole new set of delusions, but she pushes them down.
“You can get comfortable, baby. I don’t bite. Well...”
Cady laughs a little nervously.
“Sure. Can I, um. Can I have the sweatshirt?”
Regina gently sets it in her lap instead of launching it at her this time.
Cady thanks her before pulling the sweatshirt over her head. It’s an oversized fit anyway, but Cady’s so small that it drowns her. Her hair is sticking up a little from the static electricity, and she’s so fucking cute lying in Regina’s bed wearing Regina’s clothes that Regina can hardly take it.
She jumps back onto the bed and clicks play, trying not to look at Cady. She lasts a whole ninety seconds before her head turns in Cady’s direction and she notices that Cady’s hair is still all staticky and wild. Her hand comes up of its own volition, really, and gently brushes the hair back down.
Cady jerks her head to look at Regina when she feels Gina’s fingers, and Regina just smiles. Her cheeks go a little red, and Cady is… in love, maybe? Is that crazy?
Regina strokes her hair for far longer than is necessary, but neither of the girls is mad about it. She’s seconds away from asking Cady to crawl into her lap and never leave when June George barges into the room.