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“Lasagna and baked ziti are the same thing, right?” Karen asked curiously. The question sparked a debate amongst the group and it quickly got heated. Gretchen and Damian believed they were different while Janis and Karen agreed that food was food. Regina and Cady were preoccupied with more important things like holding hands under the table. They'd take turns grabbing the other's finger or squeezing their hands as ways to solve their mutual touch starvation.
“Cady,” Cady jumped, looking up from her lunch tray to find the entire group staring at her. Blushing from the attention, she sunk into her seat while squeezing Regina's hand.
“Yeah?” She answered as Regina squeezed her hand back.
“Who's side are you on?” Janis asked, glaring at Damian who had his hand out in Janis's face so he couldn't see her.
“I trust you'll choose the right side,” He said, hearing a scoff from Janis. Gretchen stayed quiet but nodded her head to show she agreed with him.
“Well, I dunno... I'd eat both,”
“We all would, but do you think it's the same or different?” Cady glanced at Regina who had her head lowered and her attention on her phone. Noticing Cady through the corner of her eye, she looked up at her and tilted her head.
“I guess they're different...?” Janis threw her hands up, groaning while Cady shrugged. “I'm not sure, I've never had it,”
“Both are good. They taste the same,” Karen said as Damian and Gretchen shook their heads and fingers at her.
“Absolutely not!”
“They're two different things, Kare,” Gretchen said.
“She's lying,” Janis whispered, purposefully raising her voice so Gretchen could hear. She did, and gasped from offense.
“I would never lie!” Janis chuckled.
“Sure you wouldn't,” Another fight broke out and Cady chose wisely to stay out of it again. She grabbed Regina's finger, watching her smile as Cady hooked her own finger on Regina's. When she glanced at Regina's phone she saw Regina texting her girlfriend so Cady took her own phone out and opened her messages app.
Regina💋: They're both good options, I'll make some for you some day (12:11pm)
Cady🦁: Aww, that's so sweet of you ❤️ (12:11pm)
Regina💋: Don't mention it, I love cooking for you (12:11pm)
Regina💋: You have the cutest reaction when you taste test (12:11pm)
Cady felt herself smile as she hearted Regina's message and turned her phone off. God, she loved her so much.
“Can we talk about something else before someone gets whacked in the face?” Janis declared and Damian gasped, putting his hand to his chest.
“Bitch if it's me-”
“Regina scored most of the points at her last lacrosse game,” Gretchen offered while nudging Regina's shoulder. Regina lifted her head as all eyes set on her.
“Yep, we would've lost had Coach Carr not put me on varsity,” Karen hummed, interested in what else Regina had to say. Janis on the other hand just laughed, causing Regina and Cady to look at her.
“Why'd you choose lacrosse? That's like the gayest spring sport,” Although it was a joke, the table still fell silent with Regina now looking mildly embarrassed and Cady more offended at her comment.
“Janis!” Cady scolded as Janis held her hands up.
“Cady, it's fine,” Regina muttered, squeezing Cady's hands to reassure. Cady slumped in her spot, mumbling incoherent words from frustration.
“I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry if I offended you Regina. I forgot you're like homophobic,” Janis mumbled that last part, receiving her an elbow jab from Damian. He flashed her a look and Janis huffed because of it.
“It's whatever, I don't care whether it's gay or not. It's fun to me,” Regina's voice was quiet, sensitive as she subconsciously leaned her arm against Cady's. Cady turned to Regina before catching sight of Janis's confused reaction.
“Hm, it's not fun when people make fun of things you like, is it?”
“Janis,” Cady groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance. Janis chuckled while she waved it off with her hand.
“I'm just kidding! Life lessons guys, just life lessons,” Regina saw her phone light up and took her attention off of Janis who was now being pestered by Damian about gay rights.
Gretchen🙊: Are you ok? You're a little red (12:16pm)
Regina let go of Cady's hand and when she realized what she was doing, leaned off of Cady's arm.
Regina💋: Just hot (12:16pm)
Gretchen🙊: 👍🏻 (12:16pm)
Once Regina turned her phone off, she reached for Cady's hand again, squeezing it three times.
Cady was in her room completing her physics homework when the doorbell went off. Her mom told her that when she was home alone, to not answer the door, no matter who it is. The rule has been bent of course for whenever Regina was standing outside with some sort of gift in her hands. Cady rushed down the stairs and peeked out the window, taken aback when there was nobody outside. She figured it must've been Amazon and opened the door to pick up the package. Instead of a package from Amazon, it was a bright pink gift bag with a card sticking out of it. Regina. Cady smiled as she picked up the bag and brought it inside. She set the box down before taking the note out.
Call me when you open this
-R
Cady set the card down, racing up the stairs to grab her phone. She dialed Regina's number while she made her way back downstairs.
“So what do you think?” Regina asked, switching the call to facetime. Cady pinched her brows as she sat on the ground.
“Of what?” Regina clicked her tongue.
“Of your gift. I thought you'd like it but if not I can exchange it for something else,”
“Well hold on,” Cady giggled. “I haven't opened it yet,” The silence was thick and it caused Cady to laugh as she set her phone down. She took the wrapping tissue out, gasping as she picked up a gold and black Versace bag. “A new bag? Regina!”
“Do you like it? I figured it'd look good on you paired with that other dress I bought for you,” Cady smiled, unable to contain the enjoyment that Regina brought to her.
“I appreciate it, a lot, but my mom's been getting suspicious of the amount of bags you've given me,” Cady said while putting the Versace bag back into its gift bag. Regina tilted her head.
“Why?”
“I ran out of closet space for the last bag you got me and my mom found it and thought I stole it so she tried to return it without a receipt,” First it was quiet. Then the sound that filled the room was Regina's laughter.
“Oh my god, Cady,” Regina's laugh made Cady blush, she sounded so happy, it suited her.
“I got it back but now she technically owns it cause I'm letting her use it if that's ok,” Cady saw Regina shuffling on the other line before seeing some fluffy pink sheets. “Did you sit down?” Regina put her phone to the ground, facing the camera into the ceiling.
“On my bed? Yes, it's not easy carrying all this beauty on just two shoulders,” Cady could practically hear Regina's smirk and it made her chuckle.
“Well, I'd love to stay and chat but physics has been kicking my ass so thank you for the gift, and it was nice talking to you-”
“Wait!” Regina blurted and Cady turned silent. Regina flipped the camera so her face was showing. “That's not why I called,” She murmured.
“Then why did you? To talk to me?” Cady flashed her biggest smile and Regina giggled before sighing.
“You're so adorable, but no, not this time. I've been thinking and... and I want to come out,” Cady's jaw dropped as Regina put her hand to her forehead.
“Really?” Regina sighed.
“Yeah,”
“Oh my gosh, Regi, that's great! I'm so happy for you!” Cady clapped as Regina smiled slightly.
“Can you help me?”
“Yes of course! It'll be perfect! We can host a coming out party if you’d like?” Before Regina could answer, Cady gasped. “And we can bake cookies and cook something I'm not sure yet- oh! We can decorate with rainbow balloons- I’ll get you a column of gay pride balloons!”
“Wow, well, that's a lot,” Regina made a face. “Anyways, I do like that house party idea. But do not buy me a column of gay pride balloons,” Cady pouted and Regina looked away.
“Why not? We can buy two and set them outside,”
“They'll think it's for Janis,”
“Not if we get a sign that says ‘For Regina’ in between them,” Regina chewed back a smile as she faced the camera again.
“Cady,” She said, half laughing.
“Sorry, I'm just so excited!”
“I know, I like it when you smile. You look pretty,”
“Stop,” Cady covered her face, feeling her blush come to her cheeks. Regina laughed as Cady peeked through her hands.
“Never if you keep reacting like that. God, I wish you were with me right now I’d give you a big hug,”
“Maybe if a pretty pink jeep pulls up outside my house, I'd tell her to take me to my girlfriend,” Now it was Regina's turn to blush, making Cady laugh as Regina tilted the camera away from her. “No! Let me see!”
“Absolutely not,”
“Please?”
“Nope,”
“Please!” Hesitantly, Regina showed her face and Cady awed. Regina’s face looked puffy and concentrated like she was trying to tone her blush down. It only made her look more adorable.
“You're so cute,”
“Anyways!” Cady laughed. “When should it be?”
“I'm free tonight, but I'd have to ask my mom first,” Regina clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes sarcastically.
“Mommy's girl,”
“You're my mommy,” Cady leaned forward, flashing a bubbly smile that was in contrast to Regina's mildly horrified face.
“That does NOT mean what you think it means,”
“People call each other that all the time,” Regina raised an eyebrow.
“Who?”
“Kyle and Erika,” Regina thought for a minute before deciding to shrug.
“They're the only couple that can do that, everybody else is ugly as fu-”
“We are not dissing couples right now,” Regina groaned and Cady crossed her arms to show she was serious.
“But they're fugly,”
“Save the talk for Gretchen. Now continue,”
“Ok,” Regina thought back to where they left off. “I can do tonight, that way if it goes poorly I can take it out on my teammates tomorrow at practice,” Cady doubted it would go as bad as Regina thought it would. Both her, Janis, and Damian were out and Cady knew that Janis had a sneaky suspicion about Regina's sexuality. She made a mental note to tell Regina later.
“Just don't hurt them, ‘k?”
“‘K,”
“Can you come pick me up while I text my mom?” Regina gave Cady a thumbs up so Cady reached forward and picked her phone off from the wall it was leaned against. “I’ll see you in a bit ok? It's going to go great, I promise!”
“I physically cannot promise to that but I do trust your judgment,”
“Works for me, bye bye!” Regina blew a kiss and Cady caught it, pressing it against her chest.
“Bye,”
“Fuck Cady I'm going to shit myself,”
“Did you take a laxative?” Cady sounded genuinely worried and she rushed to Regina's side in the kitchen.
“It feels like it, my stomach hurts,” Regina held onto her countertop, stretching her back. Cady frowned.
“When's the last time you pooped?” Regina's face twisted as she stared at Cady with disgust and shock. “I'm just kidding, I'm not that out of touch. Everything will be ok,” Regina relaxed as Cady took both of her hands and held them with care.
“It doesn't feel like it,” Cady rubbed her thumb on Regina's hands.
“Half of our group is part of the ‘Rainbow Mafia’ as Damian called it, I think you're ok,” Regina looked down, shifting the position of her foot.
“It's not that... it's Janis,” Cady's mouth formed an o as Regina pulled her hands back to rub her arm.
“Oh,”
“What if she records me? What if I embarrass myself? Cady what if she posts it to Instagram and I get bullied?!” Cady watched Regina throw her hands up and grabbed them from the air, pulling them close to her chest. Regina's widened eyes locked onto Cady's sympathetic ones and it helped her start to relax.
“Hey, relax, it's going to be ok. Janis wouldn't do anything like that,” Regina nodded, she knew that but it didn't stop her from worrying.
“She totally could, I know she's still mad at me from that sleepover,”
“Well, what you did wasn't ok-” Regina tried to pull her hands away, the guilt choking the life out of her. She felt undeserving of the support she was receiving from Cady. “But you grew, and you're better now. You and Janis talk about girl stuff all the time!”
“Do you think she knows? I mean, I kind of told her when we were kids but that's about it,” Cady bit her bottom lip, nodding her head slightly. Regina sighed. “What did she say?”
“Well sometimes she tells me that she finds it suspicious at how helpful and true your girlfriend advice is,” Regina grinned, prideful.
“That means I'm a good girlfriend,”
“You are,” Cady smiled while she spoke and Regina shimmied her shoulders.
“Thank you,”
“I don't get one back?” Cady scoffed, letting go of Regina's hands to cross her arms. Regina grinned, pulling Cady into a hug before she could try making a dramatic exit.
“This is a me moment, Heron!”
“Ugh, fine, I guess,” Cady said through squished cheeks. She decided not to fight back, rather relax in Regina's arms. She felt so safe in them, like nothing could ever hurt her when Regina was hugging her. “I love you,”
“Me too, I'm pretty great,” Regina grunted when Cady elbowed her stomach. She laughed as Cady wiggled out of her group and grabbed a pan from the cabinet.
“Let's just start baking,”
“Ouch, that hurt Cady,” Regina mumbled, rubbing her stomach. Cady turned, her smile falling when she noticed the pain on her face.
“Are you ok? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you so hard,” Cady walked up to her, ready to check for bruises. She was stopped by a kiss on her forehead and she looked up, being met with Regina's smug face.
“Gotcha,” Cady blushed, puffing her cheeks as she walked away to grab supplies for baking. She left Regina giggling in the corner while she got to work.
“Janis said she's outside,” Cady said after reading the text from her phone. The house was decorated with streamers and pink balloons hanging almost everywhere. The home lights were dim and the house itself was cleaned (kudos to the cleaners). The cookies were cooling on a platter and Regina was taking out lasagna from the oven.
“Damn it, why is she first?” She said through gritted teeth while setting the food on the stove. She closed the door as Cady shrugged, getting up from the couch to let her in.
“We should've gotten the balloons!” She called out but Regina huffed.
“Nope. A surprise party works just fine,” Cady stuck her tongue out before opening the door.
“Hi Janis! You're first here,”
“Goodie,” Janis said, stepping inside with her phone in her hand.
“You didn't bring Damian?”
“We're still on bad terms,” Janis faked a pout as she turned her head. Cady chuckled, leading Janis into the living room.
“If you have any movie ideas, feel free to let us know,”
“Yup,” Janis mindlessly flashed a thumbs up as she went on her phone. She then paused and looked up as Cady bounced into the kitchen.
“Hello, need help?” Cady asked while she walked up to Regina.
“Nope, I took my meds before this so my back will not be fucked up,” Cady chuckled, grabbing Regina's hand to swing it around.
“Mkay-”
“Hey Caddy,” She dropped Regina's hand at the sound of Janis's voice.
“Yeah?”
“What did you mean I was the first guest here?”
“You came first...?” Cady turned to Regina, wondering if she was missing something. Regina caught on and shook her head at Cady.
“Nope, Cady was the first guest here,” Regina corrected, giving Cady a look that told her to change her answer.
“Oh right! I forgot,”
“Right,” Janis muttered, rolling her eyes as she sunk into the couch. I forgot my ass; she was so texting Gretchen about this.
When Gretchen arrived, she brought Karen and Damian with her. Now that the group was here, everyone was in the living room getting comfortable on the couches.
“Why are we just now friends when you've had couches like this?” Damian said, sinking with a grin into the couch. He spread himself while Regina helped grab Karen a pillow.
“Cause my mindset back then was different and not so open,”
“Chile, I can get used to this,” He mumbled.
“You should see her bedroom, her bed is so comfortable. I've slept on there once and it was heaven,” Gretchen whispered and Damian hummed, daydreaming the feeling.
“So who's the surprise for?” Karen asked, looking up from her nails to gaze at Regina. Regina looked at everyone while she sat next to Cady on the loveseat.
“You guys!” Cady said, motioning to the entire group. She then nudged Regina who had frozen up beside her. “Take it away,” Regina rubbed her hands on her pants, watching everyone with worried eyes. The silence felt suffocating and the realization of the situation crashed onto her like a rock. She couldn't do this, it hurt so bad and she didn't even open her mouth.
“Who wants lasagna?” Regina asked, standing up to rush into the kitchen. Cady frowned as the group erupted into chatter.
“Gimme a big ol plate,”
“Lasagna makes me feel like Garfield,”
“I love that cat!”
“Oh he's so cute,” Cady slipped from her seat and joined Regina in the kitchen.
“Cady I can't do this,” Regina whispered while cutting pieces of their dinner.
“You can, I believe in you,” Cady said but Regina huffed.
“Yeah well you believe in everybody,” Regina snapped, feeling regret as soon as Cady's smile twitched. “I'm sorry, that was wrong of me. But it just feels so wrong,”
“Janis won't do anything to you,”
“I know, but I don't think I deserve to come out and be happy about it when I couldn't do that for her. Cady you don't understand, I outed her and then bullied her for it, I mean what possessed me to do that?!” Regina wanted to throw her utensil, too frustrated with herself to try and look on the bright side. That was what Cady was here for, to cheer Regina up.
“Some evil spirit that's more than gone now. Do you want some help leading into it?” She frowned, nodding like a wounded puppy at Cady. Regina looked too cute doing that.
“Yes,” Cady crossed her arms, tapping her foot.
“Manners?” Regina tried not to groan and rolled her eyes instead.
“Yes please,”
“There you go,” Cady patted Regina's arm before grabbing two plates and heading into the living room. Regina grabbed two plates and joined the group, handing them plates with forks.
“Lasagna after our argument is crazy,” Janis said before shoving a forkfull into her mouth. Cady smiled as Regina quickly left and came back, handing Gretchen a bottle of parmesan.
“I just have to say, this is the best surprise ever,” Damian said and the others agreed with him. “Next is ziti,”
“That's not the surprise, well it's not the main one at least,” Cady stated, seating herself with Regina. Janis glanced at Damian before shifting her body towards her.
“So what is?”
“Well before she says it, I want everyone here to treat her with respect, love and care because she's been nervous about this all day-”
“You're done,” Regina jumped in, pushing Cady back into the couch. While Cady giggled, Regina cleared her throat and looked at everyone again. “Today, we threw a surprise party to let everyone know... that I like girls. No cock, just pussy,”
“Oh!” Gretchen said, slightly horrified at that last part.
“Probably Cady's pussy,” Janis said, laughing when both girls on the loveseat blushed.
“Girl you're going to hell!” Damian said, laughing whilst slapping Janis's arm.
“Me and Cady are dating by the way,” Regina directed that mostly to Gretchen and Karen since Damian and Janis seemed to already know.
“Aww, I'm so happy for you,”
“So that's why you guys kissed after the lacrosse game!” Everyone turned to Karen.
“You saw them kiss?!” Janis gawked.
“When was this?!” Damian asked.
“You saw us kiss!?” Cady exclaimed.
“Yeah. It was cute,” Karen said.
“Ok but how many times?” Janis leaned closer to Karen and Karen began to think.
“Ew, don't be a perv,” Regina chastised.
“Just once, but they hugged for a while. Also cute,”
“When was Karen spying on us?” Regina whispered to Cady who shrugged as a reply.
“No clue,”
“So you threw a coming out party?” Gretchen asked and Cady nodded.
“We'll always accept new members of the Rainbow Mafia,” Damian said, bowing as the girl's laughed. Regina smiled, holding Cady's hand as she leaned her arm against her.
“Happy to be here,” Regina stated.
“Ok but can we eat now? Like damn, I'm hungry,” Janis addressed to everyone, only taking a bite when they all nodded or gave verbal confirmation.
“Someone didn't eat dinner,” Damian joked.
“Regina always has good food,”
“She's not wrong,” Gretchen agreed with Janis. While everyone ate, Cady slung her arm around Regina to give her a half hug.
“I'm so proud of you, you had nothing to worry about,”
“I guess so, thank you anyways,” Regina whispered, cuddling closer to her girlfriend with confidence.
Cady woke up to five Gucci bags and a note outside her house the next morning.
I love you, thank you for supporting me
-R