Chapter Text
Cady is so excited to be back home. 12 months in Kenya - her second home - lie behind her. The year in Kenya was great and fun - she’s missed it so much, got the chance to reunite with a lot of friends from her childhood and enjoyed spending much more time with her dad. He was busy during the week but visited her almost every weekend and during the holidays. Cady spent the rest of the time with her host family and the handful of friends she made at school. But she missed her mom and friends and New York City so much too. Sure, there were video calls and text messages but she didn't actually see her loved ones for an entire year. The small town in Kenya was cute and the people there were nice and kind but Cady realized just how used to the hectic, dirty life of New York she is now. So she’s looking forward to finally be back in the city that never sleeps.
After being close to a panic attack because her flight changed gates last minute in Qatar, Cady can finally relax on her second flight to New York and falls asleep as soon as the plane takes off. So she doesn't notice the girl next to her watching some music video of three pretty girls wearing pink, doesn't see the stickers of those same girls on the girl's backpack or the pink friendship bracelets multiple other teens Cady's age are wearing that say stuff like Not My Fault, World Burn or World Peace + Halloween.
Cady runs into her mother’s arms at the airport, just so happy to feel her warmth and smell her perfume and be surrounded by all this love. Her exchange family was kind and it was cool to have a little host sister, but they just weren’t her mom. And even though she spent more time this past year with her dad than probably in the last six years, he wasn’t around as much. Cady never thought she would get this homesick but now she's looking forward to senior year of high school. A whole more year she gets to spend with her mom before leaving for college and who knows, maybe it’s all going to work out and she’s gonna get accepted at one of the colleges close by.
“CADY!” Her mom has flowers for her and definitely drank too much coffee this morning. “How are you? How was your flight, honey? You must be so tired.”
“A little. Even though I slept for the entire second flight. I've been travelling for almost 20h and my body has no clue what time it is. Neither does my brain to be honest.”
Cady is pretty sure it’s the afternoon but her body feels more like it’s 2am. She holds her mom’s hand as they’re walking through the airport, her mom pushes the luggage cart with Cady’s suitcase.
Cady is taken by surprise when they don’t walk towards the line of taxis just outside of the airport and instead turn left to one of the huge parking lots.
“Oh, did you get a rental?” she asks her mother. They have never owned a car ever since moving to New York City. The subway and buses or an uber if it’s urgent work just fine here.
“Not exactly,” her mom says and Cady knows from just the tone that there’s more that her mom wants to tell her.
“What’s up, mom?” she asks her.
“I, uhm,” her mom stutters, “I didn’t know how to tell you on the phone and I also wanted to wait and see how things would develop and, well,” Mrs Heron sighs.
“I’ve been dating someone for a few months now. She, uhm, she actually kind of moved in already,” Mrs Heron admits. “But she can get back to her own place if you need more time to adjust and everything. She's staying at her own place tonight but-”
“Mom!” Cady finally interrupts her mother. “You could have just told me. I’m really happy for you. I don’t mind another person in our apartment, really. I’m excited to meet her.”
They walk past some cars when Cady recognizes a familiar face.
“Mrs. Norbury! What a surprise! I just came back from Kenya!” She greets her favorite teacher.
“Hi Cady, great to see you,” Mrs. Norbury greets back. Then she opens the trunk. And her mom puts Cady’s suitcase in it.
“Wait- You’re our ride?” Cady asks, confused by this. Why would her math teacher drive them home? Where’s her mom’s new girlfriend?
“Sharon, I mean, Mrs. Norbury is who I’ve been seeing, Cady.”
“You’re dating my teacher?” It’s not that Cady is angry about this. She is just taken by surprise. Those are her two comfort people. She had one at home and one at school. She doesn’t really know how to feel about them both being at home now. And them kissing. Oh, God…her mom is dating her teacher!
“Well, congrats. Let’s get home,” Cady says anyway.
She really wants to get to her bed asap. She’s so tired from the long flight and she needs to process all of this now too. Her mom is dating someone. And that someone is her math teacher. And she’s going to live with them. Cady hopes she at least won’t have to get to school together with Mrs. Norbury. She wouldn’t like the kind of attention a situation like this would get her.
On their way back home her mom and Mrs. Norbury tell Cady how all of it started. Apparently Cady’s mom ran into Mrs. Norbury at the grocery store a couple of months ago and Mrs. Norbury asked her about how Cady was doing. They started talking, then continued to talk over a coffee, met up a couple of times more for coffee and, well, they fell in love. Cady can’t help but see just how happy her mom is. She’s never seen her mom swoon over someone like she does now. Right now, this whole new situation is too overwhelming for Cady. But seeing her mom like that convinces her to try her best to get used to it.
“That’s the whole story,” Cady’s mom finishes. “Oh, I love this song,” she turns up the volume on the radio to some annoying pop song about something not being somebody’s fault. Cady really can’t take the noise right now.
“Can you turn it down? I have a headache.”
“Oh, sorry, sure,” Cady’s mom turns the volume down again. “It’s this new girl group. They are everywhere right now.”
Cady doesn’t care. She just wants to be home. So she zones out about her mom gushing over some new pop stars or whatever. Who cares.
Cady is so glad to see her friends again. She has the best friends in the entire world. Janis is an edgy artist who says what she wants and does what she wants and Damian is a plant parent and theatre geek. Together they are the perfect queer trio with Janis being a lesbian, Damian being gay and Cady being bisexual. Queers really have a way of finding each other in school. Janis and Damian are childhood best friends and Cady joined their little group on her first day of 6th grade, when she moved to New York with her mom and switched from homeschooling to public school.
“It’s about time you finally came back, dude,” Janis says. They hang out on Damian’s rooftop that is full of his various plants. It’s cozy and messy in the best way with a hammock, bean bags and a mini fridge that is actually working. They are all enjoying some of the Kenyan candy Cady got for them. Janis is working on an art project that Cady recognizes from a picture Janis sent her yesterday. Or the day before yesterday? The timezone and 20-hour-flight thing is so confusing. Cady kinda went back in time yet she didn’t. Even though she had a great nap before meeting up with her friends, she can feel the jetlag getting to her.
“Hang on! They are live! Oh, my GOD! They are live! Sorry, Caddy, I need to watch this!” Damian puts the volume of his phone up and stares at his screen with a huge grin.
“Who is live?” Cady asks, confused.
“His favorite girl group. The Plastics. He’s obsessed with them.” Janis rolls her eyes.
“Shush! Karen is talking!” Damian’s eyes are glued to his screen now.
“Use your headphones like a normal human being, Dame,” Janis tells him off. Damian does as told, not even blinking to not miss a single second of whatever is happening on his phone screen.
“I promise, he’s still the same,” Janis nods towards the fanboy. “Are you happy to be back?”
Cady laughs with a look at Damian. She missed them so much. She doesn’t mind not being Damian’s number one priority for a second. The livestream seems important to him.
“Yeah, I’m so happy I’m back. Kenya was great, but I’m really glad about some wind now.”
“I still don’t get how your parents thought it was a great idea to raise a ginger in Africa,” Janis chuckles. Oh, how Cady missed getting teased by her friends.
“Uh, Janis?” Cady whispers now. She figures she could tell Janis about this mishap while Damian is distracted and hopefully wouldn't hear them. Cady had promised Damian to get him a blood lily, a Kenyan plant that Damian is absolutely obsessed with. That blood lily is still somewhere at the airport of Hamad, Qatar where Cady changed flights to New York and forgot the stupid plant on a bench in her sleep-deprived hurry. She doesn’t want to disappoint him now. They’ve talked about this so many times and Cady had promised him over and over to get it for him. She even sent him a picture of herself with the flower at the airport.
“You forgot a 20 inches tall, bright pink flower at an airport?” Janis asks in disbelief.
Cady nods.
“I have an idea. Tell Damian that the customs authorities at the airport took it or something.” Cady nods again. If Janis has an idea, there is some hope for Cady to get that plant to Damian. They look over at their friend who finally looks up from his screen and takes his headphones out.
“They talked about their concert,” he informs them with an excited grin. “And they have a new super secret job that they get to shoot something for tomorrow. And Regina confirmed that she's single. I know I'm known for being too gay to function but that woman…” Damian sighs.
“Sorry, Cady. You just don't understand the power of The Plastics. But I'm all ears for you now, I promise.”
So Cady tells them about her journey back - she leaves out the plant incident in Qatar - and her mom's revelation about Mrs Norbury.
“Damn, your mom could have at least chosen a teacher of a subject you suck at. But we don't have any other hot teachers.”
“Mrs. Park is cute!” Janis immediately jumps in.
“True. How could I forget about her? Maybe because three months of summer vacation make me forget about everything school related.”
After hanging out with her friends, Cady experiences the first dinner with her mom and her mom’s new girlfriend who is also her math teacher. It’s awkward but not as bad as Cady expected. Still, witnessing her two worlds collide - home and school - just after being back from a whole other world is a little too much. She enjoys her mom’s amazing mac ‘n cheese and then immediately falls into her bed after somehow managing to change into her pajamas and brush her teeth.
Before Janis’ great masterplan can even properly start the next morning they already meet an obstacle when they stand in front of the greenhouse of the botanic garden. There’s a sign on its door saying that it’s closed today.
“This sign doesn't stop me because I can't read,” Janis jokes. She opens the door. It's unlocked. The sign really was the only thing stopping them.
“I'll stay here and distract anyone who comes by and you get in there and get that stupid flower, okay?”
“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.”
Cady takes a deep breath and then gets inside. Janis is the bad influence her mom always warned her about. But it’s doing Cady some good to have Janis in her life. She was too much of a naive goody two shoes before Janis and she’s so glad to have her little rebel back.
Cady carefully walks through the section with plants from Africa. There are great hiding spots just in case someone walks by but it also makes it difficult to find the dumb blood lily. Cady looks at the signs, trying to make sense of how this is structured. On the website she could only find out that this is where they have African plants, including the blood lily. She has to walk all the way to the other side of the section when she finally sees the big, pink flower. She has to dig a little to be able to pull it out. Just when she manages to do so and holds the flower up she can hear footsteps. Quickly, she hides under some huge tree that looks familiar, so it might also be from Kenya. From this hiding spot Cady watches a pretty blonde girl about her age walk through another isle. She’s dressed in black leather - tight leather pants that emphasize the best ass Cady has ever seen and an as tight leather jacket that shows off the girl’s perfect boobs. The girl’s blonde hair is curled and falls perfectly down her shoulders. Cady has never seen someone so stunning. What is this girl doing here? Why is she not hiding? This section is closed. There was a sign. But this girl acts like this place belongs to her. Or maybe she’s working here? Maybe she’ll see Cady with this ripped out plant and she’s gonna sue her for breaking in and stealing a fucking plant. Cady can’t risk that and sooner or later this girl is going to look up from her phone and see her. Quietly, Cady tries to walk towards the door. She’s looking at the girl, ready to duck as soon as she would look over but because she’s staring at the girl and not where her feet are walking she steps onto a plant and you can hear a loud plop. The girl looks up and Cady just freezes. The girl looks at her, confused, then slightly bothered but she comes up to her. She doesn’t seem like she’d arrest Cady any time soon for breaking in and stealing a plant.
“Fine, we can take a picture but then you’re gonna leave, okay? No one’s supposed to be in here.”
As the girl gets closer Cady can see she’s in heavy makeup. It makes her blue eyes appear even bigger, her button nose even cuter and her luscious lips even- Wait, what the fuck is this girl even talking about? Why would they take a picture? To prove that Cady is here with this plant?
“I don’t want to take a picture,” Cady says, trying not to sound as panicked as she is. What would Janis do in this moment? Cady wishes she had her best friend with her. She’d know what to do. Then Cady remembers what Janis had told her when they made this stupid plan. Just act like you belong there. Like you’re supposed to take this plant.
“What are you doing here? This section is closed today. The plants need their-...their rest”
Cady is surprised by her own improv. She had watched Damian do it many times but never expected herself to be able to pull this off. The girl looks taken aback by this, then she looks at the huge plant in Cady’s hand.
“Like that one?”
She doesn’t believe her.
“This one…needs to get replanted. It doesn’t get along with the other plants.”
What the fuck did she just say???
The girl looks at her, trying hard to keep a straight face.
“Sure. What’s your name, baby?”
Cady has never been called baby by anyone but her mom. And never like this. Never like she’s the most interesting person in the entire world.
“Cady.”
Maybe she should have come up with a fake name. But looking at this Goddess makes it really hard to think.
“And yours?”
“Mine?”
The girl looks baffled.
“Yeah, I told you mine, now tell me yours.”
Cady tries to sound as flirty as the girl did but she’s never flirted before so this probably just sounded awkward.
“I’m, uh, I'm Gina.”
And then Cady sees a man coming up. He’s tall, and blonde and dressed in all black and he looks like a security guard. A security guard who is checking if the plants are safe and there’s no one here stealing any of them.
“Shit!” Cady says, with a horrified look at the man coming closer and ruining the cute moment she had with the pretty girl. And ruining her life too. Gina turns around to see what Cady is freaking out about.
“It’s fine. I’ll distract him.” She opens up her jacket which makes Cady forget for a second that she should be freaking out about getting into legal trouble. But those boobs in that tight tank top? Even better than in the jacket Gina now holds up for Cady to take.
“For your bullied plant.”
She smirks. Cady understands. She takes the jacket and puts it over the plant. Then she runs.
“Everything okay, Regina?” Shane asks her.
“Yeah, just a fan asking for a selfie. She was cute, don’t worry,” Regina lies. This is the first time in months she's talked to a cute girl her age who didn't know who she was. The girl was terrible at lying so Regina is pretty sure that reaction was genuine. She genuinely didn't know her name.
“Well, you need to get back on set now. They finally finished setting everything up for the shoot.”
Regina sighs. “Great, looking forward to promoting some dumb lipgloss.”
She’s surprised when Shane doesn’t follow her. He’s her bodyguard and he just told her to get back on set. She turns around to see him kneeling down and picking something up. A phone. In a plain phone case with a lion on it.
“Is this from the fan?” Shane asks, holding it up. Regina takes it from him.
“Yeah, probably. I’ll deal with this later.”
Regina quickly checks the phone's lock screen. Sure enough, it's the little plant thief with a woman who looks just like her, just 30 years older, so probably her mom.
Shane frowns. “Don’t you think she’s gonna come back? She just took a selfie with you on this phone.”
“Yeah, and then she saw you and freaked out because she knew she wasn’t allowed to be in here. I’ll find her instagram and text her back, don’t worry.”
She needs to find this cute girl who is probably the only girl in New York who doesn’t know who Regina George is.
Cady runs until her and Janis are out of the botanic garden and she’s sure that no one followed her and no one saw. Back on the streets of New York she leans against the next wall and catches several breaths. Her stamina is terrible but apparently strong enough if she’s just scared enough.
“Oh, my God. I’m never doing anything like that again.”
Janis just laughs.
“Dude, this was the best thing I did all summer.”
Cady shakes her head.
“This was the most terrifying thing I did all summer. And I saw a fucking crocodile.”
“But you got the plant, right?” Janis asks. Cady nods, taking the jacket off of the plant to show Janis.
“Where did you get that jacket?” “Long story.”
So on their way to Damian’s Cady tells Janis about the beautiful girl and goes on and on about just how beautiful she was and how she saved her from the security guard. “Something about this feels fishy. What was the girl doing there? Why was she allowed in there when the sign clearly said that the greenhouse is closed today? Why would she help you?”
Cady doesn’t like how badly Janis thinks of the girl.
“She was just being nice, Janis. We don't know why exactly it was closed but it seemed like she was allowed to be there.”
“She knows your name. Really, Caddy, the very first rule of doing illegal shit is not telling anyone your actual fucking name.”
“I only told her my first name. I panicked, okay. You’re gay enough to understand how much power pretty girls have.”
“Don’t use my lesbianism against me. And really, Caddy, I’m pretty sure you’re the only Cady in New York City. Maybe even on the whole fucking East Coast.”
It’s true, Cady’s name is rare. But not too rare. And it’s not like she told Gina anything else about herself. Janis really shouldn’t worry.
Damian freaks out about the plant as if he just won the lottery. The happiness on his face was worth risking jail for. But Cady would never do shit like that ever again. Not even for her best friends. Damian takes a selfie with the plant and then asks if he should tag Cady on it for an instagram story.
“Sure, why not,” Cady says. She wants to grab her phone to check her instagram. But it’s not in her back pocket. Or her jacket. Or any other pocket.
“Shit! I’ve been pickpocketed.”
Her heart is beating faster and faster. She feels dizzy. Panic is rising up. Her chest feels tight. She can’t breathe, she can’t breathe.
“My phone!” is all she can say. Her phone. All the pictures from Kenya. Gone. She got everything on her phone. Does she need to block it now? There isn't more than 50 dollars on her bank account but it's still all the money she has left. She regrets ever connecting her phone to her bank account. Not to mention she now needs to ask her mom for money for a new phone.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Hey, calm down. We’re just gonna call you, okay?”
Cady nods but she won’t get her hopes up. Some asshole took her phone because she was too focused on carrying the stupid fucking plant through New York City. It’s the definition of karma. Cady stole a plant so someone else stole her phone. Damian tries to call her anyway.
“Hi, this is Damian, Cady’s friend.”
Someone picked up? Cady can’t believe it. She still doesn’t want to get her hopes up though.
“In the botanic garden?” Damian looks at Cady with confusion. “Yeah, I’ll pass you on.” Damian gives the phone to Cady, still confused about why the fuck Cady’s been at the botanic garden.
“Hello?” Cady answers the phone. Is she busted? Did someone find her phone at the crime scene and now she’s gonna go to jail for stealing an African plant from the botanic garden?
“Hi, it’s Gina. I found your phone. It must have fallen out of your pocket when you saved that plant from its bullies.”
Cady could hear the smirk on Gina’s face. She thought she would never see the girl again. And now she might get to. It's destiny that Gina found her phone.
“Thank God! I thought I got pickpocketed. Now you saved me twice in one day. I owe you!” Cady says with so much relief. Her phone isn’t gone and she gets to see Gina again because she found it. It’s like Cinderella Story, only gayer.
“Shit, I gotta go,” Gina suddenly sounds rushed. “I can get your phone back to you tomorrow morning. What’s your address, baby?”
Maybe it’s stupid to tell a stranger your home address. It’s definitely stupid. But damn it. Gina calling her baby makes Cady do the stupidest things. Like telling someone she just met her address before said someone just hangs up on her with nothing more than an
“Okay, bye.”
“Did you just tell a stranger your home address?” Damian asks in disbelief. Janis, who just got back from getting all of them some boba, stops in her tracks.
“You did what?”
So Cady tells Janis what she missed and Janis helps her lying to Damian about why she was at the botanic garden this morning - she wanted to make sure that she got the right plant for Damian. Now both her friends are freaking out about how stupid Cady was.
“You just told a stranger where you live!”
“She’s not a stranger. I know her name.”
“Gina sounds like a nickname. Like Georgina, Virginia, Regina, like Regina George-”
“Can you stop talking about the stupid Plastics for a second, Dame? Cady just told a stranger her name and address.”
“It’s gonna be fine. She’s our age, not some old creep stalker. And she’s nice. And she has my phone so I need to see her again somewhere.”
“At least you didn’t tell her your last name too. There are so many people living in your apartment complex, it would take her ages to find the actual one.”
Cady promises her friends to just wait in front of the apartment complex tomorrow morning. Damian got work and Janis planned on going to a free art class. Both insist on cancelling their plans to be Cady’s bodyguards but Cady promises that it’s going to be fine.
At dinner Cady thinks about how to tell her mom that she lost her phone and a girl she met once for a few minutes is going to come to their apartment complex to bring it back. At least Mrs. Norbury isn't there tonight.
“Cady, I want to talk with you about something.”
Cady immediately knows from just the tone that whatever her mom wants to talk about isn’t good.
“What is it?”
She really can’t take much more bad news. This day has been stressful enough.
“Sharon asked me to come with her to a wedding in New Jersey tomorrow. It’s her best friend’s wedding and it would be the first time she’s gonna introduce me to all her friends. But I know it’s your last weekend before school starts again so I wanted to check in with you first. I’m totally fine with just hanging out with you, really. If you want me to I can call Sharon and cancel immediately.”
Cady is relieved. The tone of her mom’s voice made it sound like she had some actual terrible news. But this is fine. Better than fine. She can’t remember the last time her mom ever did something fun for herself on a weekend.
“Mom, it’s just one day. We’ve got a whole school year of weekends to hang out. I’ll be fine on my own for just one day.”
Her mom seems relieved now too. “Thank you, honey. Maybe you can invite Janis and Damian over for a sleepover. I’ll leave you some money so you can order food.”
Cady asks more about the wedding now and her mom tells her about their plans. They would leave early tomorrow morning because Mrs. Norbury needs to pick up the cake - so Cady doesn’t even have to tell her mom about Gina and how she lost her phone! They‘d be long gone once Gina shows up. The wedding party has an open ending so they’re gonna sleep at Mrs. Norbury’s place because it is much closer to where the wedding takes place and would come back around noon on Sunday so they can have lunch together with Cady.
Cady looks at her watch again. Gina didn’t tell her a specific time so Cady just went outside around 9 to wait in front of the building. It’s 10 now. And it’s a little cold. At least for Cady who spent the last 12 months in Kenya. Her body still needs to readjust. Cady is thinking of just getting back inside the building to warm up for a bit when an Uber slows down and then stops right in front of her. A blonde girl steps outside. Cady almost didn’t recognize her. Instead of perfectly styled curls Gina is now wearing her hair up in a bun stuck through a black cap. She’s wearing sunglasses too and no makeup which somehow makes her look cuter. Her outfit is so different from the tight black leather Cady saw her in yesterday. She’s in wide denims and an oversized gray hoodie that says ‘dramatique’ in light pink.
“Hi, baby. How are you?”
That’s when Cady is sure, this is Gina.
“Hi, Gina!” She sounds way too excited but she can’t help it. The hottest girl she’s ever seen came back to her.
“Here you go,” Gina reaches her hand out to give Cady her phone back. Their hands touch and Cady enjoys it for as long as possible until it's about to become awkward. Gina's hands are soft and warm. Cady notices the long pink nails immediately though and can't help but be disappointed. She was so sure her gaydar was ringing but then again, Janis always tells Cady that she's got the worst gaydar out of the three of them.
“Thank you so much,” Cady puts her phone back in her back pocket.
“I charged it, because it was only on, like, 5 %. It took me ages to find the right charger for android.” Gina complains but…did Cady understand her right?
“You bought a charger just to charge my phone for me?”
“Of course, baby. You've got a bunch of texts by the way. I didn't read them but your phone kept buzzing.”
Cady gets her phone back out to see. It's only texts from Janis and Damian. Even after they knew Gina had her phone. Janis sent threats just in case Gina was a fraud. Cady quickly lets them know that she got her phone back with their safe word kälteen bars. Some Swedish protein bars Cady's mom makes her eat when she forgets to eat a meal. Janis and Damian find the name incredibly funny.
“Do you have any plans for today?” Gina asks her. Cady can't believe it. Gina wants to hang out with her?
“Not really. My friends are all busy and my mom is at a wedding with her new girlfriend.”
She only mentions the second part to see Gina's reaction to gayness. A little smile appears on Gina's face.
“Well, I've got a day off. Wanna hang out?”
“Yes!” Cady says it way too quickly but again, she can't help it. Even if Gina is straight Cady wouldn’t say no to hanging out with the hottest girl alive. She wants to get to know her. “Where do you wanna go?” Gina asks.
“Maybe just a nice café? My friend is working at one we could go to.”
Gina seems to think about it.
“I don’t really feel like going to a café yet. I just had breakfast.”
“Central park?” Cady hasn’t gotten the chance yet to go there again. It’s one of her favorite places in New York. But Gina doesn’t like this idea either.
“The mall?” Cady doesn't even like the mall but Gina looks so stylish, she seems like someone who enjoys going shopping. But Gina shakes her head to this too.
“Way too crowded on a Saturday. But I’ve got an idea. Do you like boats?” Gina asks her. “Yes! But aren’t boat trips pretty expensive?”
Cady’s only a student. With 50 dollars on her bank account. Plus the 30 dollars her mom gave her for food tonight.
“It’s my treat, let’s get back inside the uber.”
Cady doesn’t know how to feel about getting invited to something expensive by someone she just met. But if it’s the only chance to hang out with Gina, she’s gotta let her. Maybe she can invite Gina for a coffee later. She follows Gina back inside the uber. No thoughts but gay inside her brain. Cady enjoys staring at Gina's ass a little too much as she watches her get inside the uber first. It's the best ass she's ever seen. So…plump.
“Let me just quickly book everything.”
Gina taps on her phone for a bit. First to let the uber driver know where she wants to go next, then to book tickets for a boat trip. Cady just watches her. Gina has put the sunglasses and her cap down next to her but her hair is still in that messy bun and Cady can see her beautiful face that's not half hidden by the sunglasses anymore. She’s got some freckles that weren’t noticeable yesterday with all that makeup. She scrunches her nose when she concentrates. Even though Cady assumed Gina isn’t wearing any makeup at all she now notices that Gina is wearing a lipliner and some mascara. But that seems to be it. Cady doesn’t know that much about makeup. She lets Janis do something to her face sometimes but that’s only in private. She would never go to school like that because she prefers to just blend in. It's fascinating to her how Gina is just so naturally stunning. She probably would never be able to blend in even if she tried. Gina seems to be done now. She puts her phone down and turns her attention back to Cady.
“So, Cady, I'm curious. What were you actually doing in that greenhouse yesterday?”
Cady still isn't entirely sure what Gina was doing there. Could Cady still get into trouble if she told her?
“You're a terrible liar so I know you weren't allowed to take that plant. I promise, I won't tell anyone,” Gina says when Cady hesitates.
“It's silly,” Cady admits. She decides to trust Gina. She doesn’t know why, she just does. “I was in Kenya for an exchange year and I promised my best friend Damian, who loves plants, to get him this one plant he loves that is so hard to get here. We went through this whole ordeal to get it through the border control at the airport and everything so he knew I was actually getting it for him but then I forgot it at the airport when I changed flights. I forgot it on a bench because the gate changed last minute and I didn't want to disappoint him because he was just so excited and I promised him. And then my other friend Janis, got the idea that I could just…take one from the botanic garden.”
“You did all that just so you wouldn't break your promise?” Gina asks her.
“Yeah, I love my friends. It was a dumb idea though. I'm never gonna do something like that again. My heartbeat was going through the roof when that security guard showed up.” Cady admits. “Thanks for helping me out.”
“Oh, I support women's wrongs, always.”
“What were you doing there?” Cady has been dying to know, ever since yesterday.
“Oh, my answer is so boring.” Gina rolls her eyes. “I was just there for a job. Some dumb commercial.”
Gina models? That makes sense. She's so beautiful and she looked like a model from a commercial yesterday, with all that makeup and her hair styled perfectly. It also explains why the greenhouse was closed in the first place.
“So you're a model?” Cady asks.
“I don't really have the body for that,” Cady immediately wants to interrupt. Sure, Gina has curves which most models don't have for whatever reason, but she's the most beautiful person Cady's ever seen. Cady could totally see her as a model.
“But enough about me. You were in Kenya for an exchange year? How did you end up there?”
So Cady tells Gina about her upbringing and her move to New York and how she felt torn because she missed Kenya and her dad so much and how suddenly the opportunity to do an exchange year came up so she took it.
“I realized I actually prefer New York over Kenya. There's just so much more to do and it's not so incredibly hot.”
“I can imagine,” Gina says. “I've never been outside of the US but I really want to see everything someday. Tell me more about Africa.”
So Cady tells her about the people and the culture and the animals, especially the lions, until they arrive at the port where Gina probably booked that boat.
Cady expected ferries with hundreds of tourists or at least boats for a boat tour of some sorts. Instead, they are at a port with private boats. Maybe Gina owns one? Or a relative of hers does? There's a guy waiting in front of one of the boats.
“Miss George?” He asks when they walk up to him.
“Yes,” Gina answers.
So her name is Gina George. It sounds a little funny with that alliteration. But Cady shouldn't be one to judge with a last name that sounds like a drug.
The guy is apparently their captain. The boat they step onto is small but Cady is sure it's still an incredibly expensive one. Gina confirms that they booked a 2-hour-trip around the area and the captain tells them they can always come up to him if they want to go somewhere specific.
“My friends did this yesterday and recommended it,” Gina explains to Cady as they step onto the open deck. The captain disappears behind a door to the cockpit and soon enough Cady can hear the motor starting and they take off. Cady hasn't been on a boat in a while. The feeling is unusual but fun. She gets closer to the railing to look at the waves.
“It's so beautiful,” she says out loud. The waves, the skyline of New York, the boat itself.
“It is,” Gina is now right next to her. She takes her sunglasses off again which she had put on as soon as they got out of the uber. Some loose strands of hair fly around her face in the wind but her messy bun is surprisingly still holding up. Cady realizes that she's just staring at Gina and not saying anything and that she was the one who did most of the talking in the uber. Pretty girls just make her nervous and when she's nervous she starts yapping. But she wants to get to know this pretty girl in front of her.
“I told you all about where I grew up. Where did you grow up? The upper East side?” Gina gives her a smile. She's got such a pretty smile. And perfectly even and super-white teeth. “No, I'm not from New York, I'm just here a lot for work. I’m currently living in LA but I grew up in Illinois. Right at lake Michigan, so I'm not a stranger to boat rides.”
“Oh, I've been to Evanston before. I really liked it.” Cady remembers that short holiday. Her mom got invited to do a guest lecture at Northwestern and they decided to spend some more days there.
“No way! Evanston is actually my hometown.”
“What a coincidence.”
Is it a coincidence? Or something more like fate? Cady hasn't been to that many places in the US but somehow the place Gina is from is one of them.
“What do you do for work?” Cady asks now, wondering what makes Gina come here so often. It's not modeling. That's how far she's gotten until now.
“Oh, uh, I'm a musician,” it almost seems like Gina is embarrassed. Cady didn't expect that from her. She seems so confident and cool. But being a musician is cool too and clearly nothing to be embarrassed about.
“Do you sing? Can I hear some of your music?” Gina plays with the loose strands of her hair. She really is nervous about this.
“I guess, yeah, if you want. I've got this girl band with my two best friends. We all sing but I write most of the music and Karen can play the piano and Gretchen the guitar. We released our first album last year. That's my favorite song from it.”
Gina gets her phone out and connects it to the bluetooth speakers of the boat. Soon enough they can hear the first beats of a pop song. The sound is upbeat and fun, the three voices harmonize extremely well but it's when one of the voices sings a solo part full of riffs that Cady is sure: That's Gina's voice and it's incredible.
“Wow! That's you right?”
Gina nods.
“The song is so good. I'm sure it's gonna hit the charts someday!”
This makes Gina grin. It's the first time Cady's seen her smile so wide and it makes her heart skip a bit because she just made Gina this happy with her compliment.
“Thank you,” the song ends and Gina doesn't put another on. Cady would love to hear more but she got the feeling that it makes Gina uncomfortable.
“Your voice is so insanely good. That riff was my favorite part,” she tells her. She wants to see that smile again, with the nose scrunch. She gets it.
“Thanks, baby. I love a riff. Maybe a little too much. Our manager got so annoyed because I kept wanting to add riffs on every song of our new album and he didn't like that. We kept fighting about it.”
“Well, he should listen to you. That riff was the best part of the song.”
Gina shrugs. “We're done recording now. It's gonna come out soon. Probably without any riffs.”
She doesn’t seem very happy about the album which takes Cady by surprise. Shouldn't musicians feel happy and proud once they're about to release their album?
“I'm sure it's still gonna sound great. Your voice is incredible with or without doing riffs.” “Thanks, baby.”
God, Gina should stop calling her baby.
“What are you into? Other than lions and saving plants?”
Cady shrugs. “I'm boring. I don't have any cool, insane talents. I just like hanging out with my friends, watching movies, reading, and we like to go to museums too sometimes.”
“Cady,” Gina looks at her and Cady can’t help but notice yet again just how pretty Gina’s eyes are. “You grew up with lions. Nothing about you is boring.”
Cady shrugs. She has to think about Aaron. Damnit, the hottest girl alive is right next to her and she has to think of her ex who dumped her less than two weeks after she left for Kenya because he found her boring.
“Can I get you a drink? There’s a mini fridge onboard.” Gina’s question brings Cady back to the present.
“Uh, yes, please. Do they have juice?”
Gina grins, “I’ll check.”
Cady watches Gina disappear inside the little cabin and then turns her gaze back to the ocean. The waves, the huge skyscrapers, these stark contrasts are so beautiful. This really is the coolest thing they could have done today. They’ve got perfect weather for it. Cady just doesn’t want to think about the costs. Gina comes back with a bottle of orange juice and a diet coke for herself, she hands Cady the juice.
“Here, baby. I hope orange juice is fine. It’s the only juice I could find.”
“Orange juice is perfect, thanks.” The juice is cool, just like Cady likes it. It tastes fresh and sweet and a little sour. Now they stand next to each other and look at the sight in front of them.
“I always forget how beautiful New York can be,” Gina says. Cady nods. “Me too.”
Their little boat trip ends too soon. But once they’re back on land Cady has an idea of what to do now.
“Do you like gelato?”
“Sure.”
“Let me show you the best gelato in all of New York.”
Gina orders another uber. Cady doesn’t really get why they can’t just use the subway but apparently Gina prefers it to public transport. Cady tells her the address, a little Italian Gelato shop pretty close to her home. She hasn’t been there in a year but she usually spends half her summer there. Giovanni recognizes her immediately once she and Gina arrive at the place.
“Cady, bambina, where have you been?”
“I’m sorry, Giovanni, I was in Kenya all year,” she explains.
“And who do we have here?” He asks, looking over to Gina who watched the interaction with curiosity.
“That’s Gina, my new friend,” Cady isn’t sure whether that’s the correct relation they have now. But it feels weird to say acquaintance and she can’t say crush. Giovanni greets her too, “Ah, Gio e Gina, how funny. Welcome to my little Gelateria, what can I get for you, bambini?” Cady orders her usual - one scoop of chocolate and one of strawberry. Giovanni makes the best chocolate gelato in the world. When it’s Gina’s turn she hesitates.
“My friend Janis always gets the cookie one. That one is amazing,” Cady tries to help Gina decide but Gina still just stares at all the options, unsure about what to order.
“I just…uh,” Gina stutters. Cady hasn’t seen her anything but confident before, it’s odd. Even when she was showing her her music, she was nervous and a bit uncomfortable but not like this. “One scoop of lemon, please,” she finally decides.
“Oh, that one is good, “ Cady confirms, hoping it helps Gina feel better. “My friend Damian gets that one a lot.”
Giovanni hands out the cone with the scoop of lemon.
“E il gelato al limone for Cady’s new friend Gina”.
They decide to take the gelato to go and walk around for a bit.
“Do you like it?” Cady asks after they both had a bit of their gelato. Gina nods.
“It’s so good! It really tastes so lemony and fresh. You weren’t exaggerating when you said that this is the best gelato in New York.”
Cady is relieved. She got a bit worried after Gina acted off in the gelato shop.
“Do you wanna try mine too?” She offers. Gina nods and tries Cady’s two flavors. Cady can’t help but be a bit turned on by that. Watching Gina try her gelato. She wishes she was that gelato. Damnit. She curses herself out for those thoughts.
“So good!” Gina says. “Sorry for being weird in the shop.”
Cady is surprised that Gina mentions this again now.
“I just…” Gina trails off. Cady waits for her to continue. It seems that whatever was going on is hard for Gina to talk about. “My mom never allowed me to have ice cream or gelato or anything like that as a kid. She was terrified I could get fat. So whenever I get myself a sweet treat now, it sometimes overwhelms me a little.”
Cady didn’t expect that. What a fucked up thing for a mom to do to a kid. Gina didn’t deserve that. “I’m sorry you never got to have gelato.”
Gina shrugs. “It could have been worse. At least my parents were rich.”
Gina sounds sad about that though. But Cady doesn’t want to push this further. If Gina is done talking about it, Cady won’t say another word either.
Cady shows Gina her neighborhood. Her favorite bookstore, the little park - more like a square of green with one bench - and the record store Janis loves to go to. For some reason, Gina still wants to hang out with her. So when they pass the African store where Cady and her mom get most of their groceries Cady offers that they could cook a Kenyan meal for dinner together at her place. Gina seems to be excited about it. She already said earlier how the Kenyan food Cady described in her stories sounds absolutely delicious. They get all the ingredients they need, Cady insists on paying just like she did at the gelato shop and then they walk back to Cady’s place.
Cady is a little nervous to show Gina her home. Gina is so rich that she just spontaneously booked them a private boat tour and Cady lives in a two bedroom apartment with her mom. After they put the groceries away, Cady shows Gina around. Gina takes her time to look closely at the African art on the walls, asking Cady about some of the paintings and some of the other African decorations. She comments on the cute pictures of Cady as a kid and takes in all the books Cady and her mom put on the giant bookshelf. Then they get to Cady’s room.
“So you’re bisexual, huh?” Gina asks, immediately noticing the huge bisexual flag above Cady’s bed.
“Out and proud since I was 13. I’ve always thought it was normal to like girls and boys. But then I found gay friends who made me realize that’s just being bisexual. And it made my mom realize she is too.”
Gina doesn’t say anything in response. She doesn’t reveal anything about her own sexuality. It drives Cady crazy. Every time she thinks she’s sure Gina is straight she does something so insanely gay that Cady is seriously questioning their entire interaction since they first locked eyes. Gina asks about the decoration in Cady’s room too. So Cady tells her some stories about the pictures with Janis and Damian, about the art pieces from Janis and the few things from Kenya. Gina can’t get over the picture of a tiny Cady sitting on a giant elephant.
“Your home is so beautiful, Cady,” Gina says once they’re back in the living room. “It’s so cozy and lived-in. I love how much of your personality and I’m guessing your mom’s shine through every corner.”
Cady now wonders what Gina’s home might look like. Cady’s stomach interrupts that thought. “Sorry, I’m getting hungry. Should we start preparing dinner?”
“Sure, baby. But you gotta show me how. I’m a terrible cook.”
Cady thought Gina exaggerated but she really has to explain every single step in detail because Gina has no idea what she’s doing. She doesn’t know how to cut vegetables, how to prepare meat, how to season stuff.
“Sorry,” Gina says at one point. “My mom never cooked. We just ordered delivery or had microwaveable meals. The only home-cooked meals I ever got were from my grandma during the holidays and from the nanny we had for my little sister for a while.” Gina seems embarrassed about it.
“Well, now you know how to make Githeri,” Cady tries to cheer her up. It works. Gina is smiling at her. “I believe that once we tried it and I didn’t manage to ruin it somehow.”
“What would you like to drink?”, Cady asks as she prepares the table for dinner.
“Do you have diet coke?” It seems to be Gina’s favorite drink. Cady remembers Gina drinking one on the boat too.
“No, sorry. We got juice, tea and water.”
“Water is fine.”
Cady pours some water in both glasses and then serves their perfect looking home-made meal. Gina loves it. “This is so good, Cady! I can’t believe I helped making it and it turned out like this.”
Over dinner they talk about their favorite meals, desserts and snacks which leads to Cady getting some cookies for them from the kitchen cabinet after they finished their meal. They sit down on the living room couch and snack on the cookies. Cady notices that this is the closest she’s physically been to Gina so far and Gina doesn’t seem to mind how their thighs are touching.
“You said your senior year starts next week, right? I thought you said you're 18 already,” Gina asks. A fair question. One Cady struggles with answering a lot.
“Yeah, I…uh,” she deliberates on how much of this she wants to tell Gina. “My parents’ divorce was really hard for me. I'm an only child. Homeschooled. I was never around a lot of other people. Only my parents and the animals and some people from the village. So when my parents started fighting more and more it was tough for me. Very tough. I didn't really want to do school anymore and they didn't notice because they were focusing on fighting with each other. So when my mom decided to go back to the US with me and enroll me in public school I failed almost all tests that would put me in the age appropriate class. We decided I would repeat the year. Age wise it wasn't too bad. My birthday is in late August and I started school just after turning six so even though I repeated the year I'm not even the oldest in my class now.” “Oh, so you just turned 18. Happy belated birthday,” Gina says. Cady's glad that's the only thing Gina says about this.
“Thank you.”
“What are your plans for after high school?” Gina asks her.
Cady is a bit embarrassed. Again, she blames her stupid ex who couldn’t stand that a girl was better at math than him. But luckily Gina is not Aaron. Gina seems so interested in everything about Cady. So maybe she wouldn’t think Cady is just a boring nerd if she told her.
“I know that’s gonna sound super nerdy but I want to study math. Either at Columbia or NYU.”
To Cady’s relief, Gina seems intrigued.
“Oh, wow! You must be super smart then. I hardly passed math.”
Gina told her that she and her friends finished high school early to be able to focus on their music career. That’s why she’s been out of school for a year already even though she’s only half a year older than Cady.
“I’m only really good at math. I like the feeling you get when you finally figure out the answer to a really complex problem. It’s fun.”
“That’s so cute,” Gina smiles at her and her nose scrunches and Cady’s heart skips a beat. That is flirting. It must be. Gina is flirting with her. Right?
“Do you ever want to go to college?”
Gina shakes her head.
“I never really liked school. It’s not really the type of environment I strive in. I always knew I wanted to make music. That’s what I was good at. I had a tough time at school and at home and music was my escape. I want to do this for the rest of my life.”
Gina looks away from Cady, down on the blanket Cady got for them.
“I know this sounds cheesy, but this is my dream. Just to write songs and spend hours in the studio just to get the recordings right and to perform live in front of people who feel the exact things I do and who enjoy what I’ve worked on. It’s hard work but it’s worth it.”
Gina almost sounds like she’s close to tears. Cady can tell just how important her music career is for her.
“I believe you can make it. Your music is so good, I’m sure you’re gonna be successful.”
They switch the topic to lighter things. For hours and hours they talk about their favorite tv shows, funny stories from their childhood, their friends, what other dreams they have for their future. Cady feels like she could talk with Gina about anything. She’s so different from Cady but somehow this fits perfectly. At some point, when it’s already past midnight, Cady gets another blanket and offers Gina she could stay overnight if she wants to. Neither of them remembers falling asleep on the couch.
But Cady remembers waking up with her cheek on Gina’s soft boob. She hears the sound of keys unlocking a door. Their front door. Her mom is coming home. Cady is instantly awake and jumps up from the couch. This rushed movement wakes up Gina.
“Oh, Cady,” she smiles, still half asleep.
“My mom is coming,” Cady tells her, wanting to give Gina the tiny heads-up they still got. Gina yawns. “What time is it?”
Cady checks the time on her phone. “11am”, she reads aloud.
This makes Gina jump up in a panic.
“Shit, shit shit,” she frantically grabs her phone. “I had an appointment at 10. My manager is going to kill me. Fuck!”
Cady feels horrible. She didn’t know that. She would have set an alarm. Before she can do anything else about this her mom and Mrs. Norbury interrupt.
“Hi, honey. We’re back,” they walk inside the living room.
“Oh, hello,” her mom says to the unfamiliar visitor. “Uh, hi mom and Mrs…uhm, Sharon.” Cady watches Gina put on her shoes while simultaneously calling someone.
“This is Gina,” Cady introduces her new friend. Her mom just stares at the blonde. Cady knows she won’t get into trouble for letting a girl her mom doesn’t know stay over for the night but it’s a very unusual thing for Cady to do so she’s sure she’s gonna have to answer some awkward questions about this. Gina is talking to someone on the phone but stops for a second to shake Cady’s mom’s and Mrs. Norbury’s hands.
“So nice to meet you both. I’m so sorry, but I need to leave now. Bye everyone,” and with that, Gina is back on her phone and hurries out of the apartment.
All three women who are left watch the blonde leave with perplexed expressions on their faces.
“Cady,” her mom is the first to recover from this rushed goodbye. “I think that was Regina George.”