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Cady runs cold. She likes her flannels and her cargo pants, even in the fall when it’s still a little warm. It served her well in Kenya where the burning sun didn’t cause her to overheat too quickly, even in her work jeans and boots.
Waking up in Evanston, Illinois, is a completely different beast. She's not in her tent and the morning sun is already warming her in the cot tucked away in the corner. Instead, she’s nestled underneath blankets on a too soft mattress in a crewneck sweater and fuzzy pyjama pants. Cady loathes the fact that she has to emerge from her den of warmth and comfort. When she imagined her list of “what ifs,” it didn’t include “what if I were always cold?”
Unfortunately, Cady has a reputation to uphold now. She can’t consistently wear her comfortable cargo pants and her work boots; she can’t layer a cotton long sleeve under a flannel because Regina might exile her from the so-called “plastics” (even if they don’t exactly exist anymore) if she shows up in plaid again.
Instead, she’ll deal with the goosebumps and shivering to look cute. Regina keeps buying her skirts and cardigans, and Cady keeps wearing them because she can’t not wear something that Regina gave her. At least no one can see the hair on her arm stand on end throughout her calc class.
The heater in the classroom is on, but Cady's still too cold. Sometimes she misses Kenya for the people, the culture, the climate, and the life she had before high school politics became everything she thought about. But most days she prefers Evanston, even though the air conditioned air makes her shiver constantly.
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Regina runs hot. She wears baggy pants because anything tighter will stick uncomfortably to her legs with sweat, though the baggy pants also get a little gross with sweat sometimes. It works well in the Illinois winter where she can get away with wearing crop tops and jeans. She probably wouldn't fare well in somewhere like Los Angeles.
She wears things that make her look good without a second thought about the temperature, though it does get a little too warm sometimes when her teachers crank the heater on when it's still pretty warm outside (to her). Either way, she can layer leather jackets or custom bomber jackets on top of her crop tops and sheer shirts that make her tits look incredible.
It doesn't cross her mind that her friends don't run as hot as she does. At least her friends look good in their outfits. God forbid that she associates herself with someone who can't dress herself. and they certainly don't look better than she does. as long as she's the best dressed, prettiest, hottest girl in school, it's alright. When Regina deemed Cady accustomed to Chicago life enough, Regina allows her to buy her own clothes, but she immediately goes for the ugliest pair of jeans that make her look like a box, so she's still not allowed to dress herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, Regina notices the goosebumps on Cady's legs in their shared English class. She shouldn't be watching Cady. It's not appropriate of her to be looking at Cady's thighs, but she's checking on her friend, right? Cady's never been to high school before, so Regina's just making sure her new friend is okay—that she's handling the adjustment well. Cady shivers, even though Regina's practically burning. If she didn't mind ruining her top, she'd roll the sleeves of her shirt up because what teacher thinks that it's appropriate to put their students in the depths of hell with how hot this classroom is?
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Regina starts taking note of when Cady's cold. She's not sure why because she's never spared a second thought as to whether or not Gretchen or Karen were cold. But they've also lived in northern Illinois for their entire lives, so it's not like they've never experienced snow before. When she sees snow in the forecast, Regina texts Cady, telling her to wear a pair of baggy but stylish sort of cargo pants that Regina bought her a couple weeks ago. Regina definitely doesn't leave room for Cady to layer warm pants underneath, and if anyone asked, she wouldn't have an answer. Cady shows up to school that day in those cargo pants and a crop top, her jacket stored carefully in her locker, exactly how Regina expects it.
Regina starts checking the weather when she wakes up. She starts giving Cady recommendations on what to wear based on the weather and her knowledge of how the entire school seems to have the heater blasting. Karen and Gretchen can dress themselves and they're capable of styling their own outfits based on the weather. Regina has no reason to be worried about them. Cady always takes Regina's advice. She dresses a little more like Regina: baggy pants, tight shirts, weaponised makeup that Regina took a couple afternoons to teach her how to do.
As January turns to February and Cady doesn't seem to get used to the cold, Regina starts bringing an extra jacket to school, always careful to match it with what she told Cady to wear. Cady's mom still drives her to school, but Regina makes sure to appear mysteriously next to her at the front entrance of the school, pretending like she wasn't waiting for Cady. She drapes the jacket over Cady's shoulders before taking her by the shoulders to appraise her outfit. Once Regina's given her approval, the two of them can go on with their days. Regina still keeps an eye on Cady during English, lunch, and gym.
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March is still cold, but Cady should be defrosting by now. Last year, when Regina got hit by a bus, Cady didn't seem to be as affected by the cold. Maybe her heart was too cold for her to feel temperature (hypocritical of Regina to think). Regina's outfit suggestions don't seem to provide any warmth, but it's also considerably warmer, so she shouldn't need to keep not so secretly layering long johns or whatever she wears under her pants. At least she has no reason to wear snow pants. Not even Regina can make those look good. Cady's shaking like an anxious chihuahua during lunch in a skirt and cardigan, and Regina should probably do something about that, seeing as that is her outfit suggestion.
Regina slowly, very slowly as to not startle or weird Cady out, drops her right arm around Cady's shoulders. Even though everyone and their mother saw what was happening, Cady still startles. Glancing up at Regina questioningly, Cady searches Regina's face for any warnings, but she finds open softness and a hint of concern. So Cady tucks herself into Regina's side, soaking up the warmth that Regina is offering. Looking around, Regina glares at anyone who looks like they have anything to say. No one dares to look at them.
Post bus, Regina only sort of stopped caring about what other people say. She still makes sure to dress up, to style everything she wears, mostly because she feels better in these outfits. She doesn't try to get another boyfriend because boys never really interested her. Instead, Regina focuses on Cady, Gretchen, and Karen, though she cares a little more for Cady than for her older friends. And maybe she should be able to listen to her stupid emotions and understand why, but she's never exactly been the best with her emotions.
Somehow, Cady ends up tucked into Regina's side during lunch more often than not, even when it warms up. Regina doesn't mind. Cady is also a pretty good temperature regulator, absorbing Regina's absurd warmth.
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As summer approaches, Regina still finds Cady constantly touching her. During lunch, they sit side by side, Cady's thigh pressed up against Regina's. Regina finds herself much more comfortable with casually touching and flirting a little with Cady. Well, she wasn't not flirting with Cady before this, but she's not doing it with any ulterior motives this time (unless you count wanting to date her an ulterior motive).
Summer brings shorts. well, typically skirts for Cady, but Regina's loosened the reins a little. She only sort of hates how she finds Cady attractive in cargo shorts and graphic t-shirts. When Regina deems her able to dress herself again, Cady's style settles on some sort of mix of her work attire and the cute outfits that Regina bought (and will continue to buy) for her. Regina wears shorts. Her own style is evolving as well. Gone are the extremely feminine outfits of sophomore year, instead Regina chooses to wear shorts with longer inseams, typically paired with some shirt that she gets her hands on to cut and style them as she wishes. She's still the hottest and most stylish girl in school.
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Senior year is almost entirely over when Regina starts wearing shirts that she cut into tank tops. She's not going to get dress coded for the open sides because never once in her life has she been dress coded, so Regina struts into the school in a shirt she cut into a cropped muscle tee and a pair of thin, baggy, loose green sort of cargo pants, similar to the pair that she bought Cady. Cady finds her at her locker, touching up her makeup in the mirror that's hung on the inside of her locker door. Cady sneaks her hands under Regina's shirt via the giant holes in the sides, exactly as Regina intended. Cady's fingers dance across Regina's abdomen, and she doesn't even mind the slight tickle or the fact that she still doesn't think her body is at its best. If she hadn't just reapplied her lip gloss, Regina would press a kiss into the side of Cady's head.
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They have a series of events for the graduating seniors. Regina wants to skip on the day of the senior picnic to hang out with her friends instead of taking the bus to a campsite somewhere near the city and then a bus back to school after the senior boys have spent a whole day running around playing sports. Cady begs her to go, though, because she "wants the whole high school experience" (Regina makes a joke about bullying her like she's a freshman, but Cady scrunches her face up and Regina can't possibly bully her). So, Regina boards the charter bus, tucking her tote bag under her seat as Cady slides into the seat next to her. Cady, in one of Regina's designer hoodies that Regina lent her one biting morning in February before never seeing it again until now, smiles sleepily at Regina and then drops her head onto Regina's shoulder and wraps her arms around Regina's.
Regina doesn't mean to spend the whole bus ride staring at Cady, but she does. She's wearing another t-shirt that she cut into a muscle tee, and anticipating Cady's reaction to when she takes her sweatshirt off. Cady startles awake when the bus goes over a speed bump a little bit too hard, her head also accidentally hitting Regina's jaw. Without a word, Cady carefully cradles Regina's face, looking for any sign that she hurt Regina. Once she's satisfied, Cady pats Regina's cheek twice. Regina definitely doesn't think that Cady's about to kiss her.
The park is more of a grassy field with some picnic tables and an inflatable waterslide. Regina'd rather roll around in the grass than get on that slide. She strides purposefully towards a table in the back, covered in the shadow of a tree, dropping her tote bag onto the bench and waiting for her friends (and Janis and Damian because Cady convinced her to be civil with Janis) to catch up. She pulls her speaker, a handful of low-cal snacks, and some card games out of her bag, quickly connecting to her speaker and pulling up a carefully curated playlist.
Cady pulls some metal spoons out of her bag (no way that Gretchen, Karen, or Regina are willing to risk their silverware and they needed something that wouldn't blow away in the event that it was windier than anticipated), silently begging to play the only card game that she's remotely good at. It's still overcast, so Regina rolls her sleeves up, grins in a way that completely gives away her competitive nature, and starts dealing cards.
Karen wins the game of spoons because she always wins at spoons. Regina's used to losing to Karen, but that doesn't mean she likes it. Cady's still wearing Regina's sweatshirt, occasionally letting the sleeves drag across the wood table. Regina tries to not cringe every time. Cady also probably shouldn't be shivering in her stolen hoodie as the sun begins peeking out from the clouds, but she's constantly cold. If Regina weren't also wearing a sweatshirt, she'd offer her jacket.
Karen's secretly a little bit of a frat boy and she drags Cady, Damian, and Janis into playing three flags up with her and the frisbee she brought, so Regina and Gretchen watch as their friends slap a frisbee out of the air to prevent each other from catching it instead of catching it themselves.
The longer Cady runs around, the more she pushes the sleeves of her stolen hoodie up, and Regina doesn't mean to visibly cringe, but she does. Gretchen nudges her lightly, a silent warning to stop making that face.
"Oy, Cads! C'mere for a sec," Regina calls across the section of the grass that her idiots have taken over. Obediently, Cady trots over.
"What's up, Reggie?"
Regina pulls her UC Santa Barbara crewneck sweatshirt over her head and drops it on the table before pulling gently at the hem of Cady's hoodie.
"Up," she mumbles, and Cady lifts her arms over her head, allowing Regina to slip it over her head. She hands the slightly thinner crewneck to Cady.
"Don't get my fucking Balenciaga hoodie dirty, baby."
Cady nods bashfully before pulling the UCSB sweatshirt on and jogging back to the game, her baby hairs all over the place. Regina refuses to look at the grin that she knows is painted on Gretchen's face. Once her golden retriever of a best friend gets tired of her frisbee, she plops down on the bench, resting her forehead on her arms next to Gretchen.
Janis is good for something as she pulls cold sandwiches out of the cooler she's been lugging around, none of them trusting the catered food that's being warmed in hotel pans by the parking lot. Around well made but not store bought or restaurant made sandwiches, Janis and Regina end up at their roots, judging the shirtless boys tossing a football around (it’s like they’re fifth graders at the beach again). Regina, who decided to actually attempt to be friends with Shane once senior year starts, boos loudly every time he gets the ball. He blows her a kiss every time. Gretchen, Karen, and Damian play Dutch Blitz on the other half of the table while Cady slips her arms around Regina's waist, tucking her head into the back of Regina's neck as Regina and Janis make fun of the future frat boys that are doing nothing to impress either of them. Cady's long since discarded her sweatshirt, and Regina's stomach flutters as too much of her skin touches Cady's.
As the day gets later and the sun grows stronger, Regina unwinds Cady's arms from her, insisting that everyone (even Damian) needs to reapply sunscreen. She refuses to be friends with anyone who puts themselves at risk of skin cancer, she says. That's just not cool. Once Regina's lied to Janis that all the sunscreen on her face is definitely rubbed in, Cady wriggles her way into Regina's lap, even though Regina's definitely going to overheat with this tiny ice ball of a human in her lap. But she doesn't think about it when Cady winds her arms around Regina's middle, exhaling a laugh against her collarbone every time that Regina or Janis say anything remotely funny.
Cady wears herself out between running around and losing to Regina at card games, passing out in her bus seat as soon as they're back on the bus. Regina finds she really doesn't mind Cady lightly drooling on her shoulder, even though she'd kill anyone else who drooled on her. Regina's arm falls asleep but she doesn't even mind the tingling racing up and down her arm.
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Regina ends up playing the role of "Cady's pillow" once again on the bus ride to Six Flags: Great America for Grad Night. Regina's a thrill seeker and she's so ready to introduce Cady to roller coasters. She's not sure if Cady will even like them, but Regina wants to take her on at least one, and definitely not because she wants Cady to cling to her arm in fear (Cady will cling to her arm regardless of if she's on a roller coaster or not).
Cady's apprehensive of the giant roller coasters. She's wrapped in Regina's pink balenciaga hoodie again and it doesn't match her jeans, but she doesn't even look stupid. She's swimming in the sweatshirt and Cady wriggles her hand out of the overly long hoodie sleeve just to let Regina guide her around by their intertwined fingers. the sleeve falls down, covering both of their hands.
Cady gladly holds her friends' bags as Regina and Janis get on the not at all dangerous roller coasters. Even though she dressed for the weather, she's still cold. And of course, Regina notices as soon as Cady starts shaking. As they take a break from the thrill rides, waiting in line for the bumper cars so Cady can have some fun, Regina pulls her leather jacket out from where it's carefully folded in her bag and drapes it over Cady's shoulders. It's not a jacket she wears to school very often because it's soft with wear and doesn't go with a lot of what she wears. It's what she gets for taking it from her dad's closet, but it's what she gets for wanting a brown leather jacket.
Cady's outfit is a mess at this point but she still looks stupid cute. The longer the night goes on, the more exhausted Cady grows. between the hoodie and leather jacket, Cady's swimming in a far too comfortable outfit and Regina finds her half asleep on a bench.
"C'mon, bubs. Let's get you something to eat and a little caffeine."
Cady links their fingers together and gladly traipses after Regina towards the nearest concession stand.
Regina ends up buying her a side of fries and a Dr. Pepper that Cady keeps trying to nudge Regina into eating. Regina ungracefully slurps at the second half of Cady's soda after the carbonation starts to hurt her stomach as they wait for another ride, her other arm draped on Cady's shoulders. Cady's fingers dance on Regina's hip, occasionally slipping under her shirt, and her thumb is curled in her belt loop,
Even though Regina's used to staying up late (her insomnia loves to take the reins), the exhaustion hits after she's gone on all the rides she wants to, the adrenaline catching up to her. And Regina has always been a little hypocritical and genuinely contemplates passing out on a bench until the buses arrive to go back to school, but Cady won't let her, unfortunately. Instead they split a funnel cake at the entrance of the park. Cady gets powdered sugar all over Regina's jackets, and only smears it around as she tries to dust it off. Regina should probably not be feeling affection for this idiot who somehow keeps managing to get her clothes dirty.
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The fact that it's summer doesn't mean that Cady stops stealing Regina's jackets. She says that it's still colder than Kenya, but Regina doubts her (not enough to google it or anything, but she certainly doesn't believe her completely). Instead of Regina's designer clothes, she ends up wearing that worn leather jacket that Regina took from her dad's closet when she was in middle school, when she wanted a leather jacket but couldn't buy her own clothes yet.
During grad practice, when the sun still isn't shining through the cloud cover, Cady's wearing a pair of green cargo shorts and Regina's jacket. at least she's not wearing plaid today. Regina's a couple rows ahead of Cady, and she stops caring for long enough to turn around just to see Cady every hour or so. The only reason Cady's not the valedictorian is that her transferring in junior year meant that there was no way that she would meet the threshold for number of AP credits. Regina prefers it this way because now she can entertain herself by only sometimes shamelessly staring at Cady.
It's a shame that their names aren't closer together in the alphabet because Regina would much rather suffer through the mind-numbing sitting and standing and sitting and standing and sitting and standing that she has to do whenever Mr. Duvall goes through his long list of cues with Cady. Regina would much rather have Cady half man-spread into her space, waiting for Regina's permission to press their legs together and sear patterns into her skin.
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Regina drives with her left hand on top of the steering wheel and the other dropped faux carelessly onto Cady's thigh. Cady's the only person that Regina allows on the aux, though she's constantly regretting her choice as she listens to a song titled "Angry Russian Bong Rips." She waits a handful of seconds before tapping twice with her thumb, waiting for Cady to skip the stupid song.
Regina spends her summer with Cady in her passenger seat playing horrible music (she's been playing a song called "Cocaine Jesus" on repeat). They drive anywhere and everywhere that isn't Evanston. Well, Regina drives and Cady goes along for the ride because neither of them have anywhere better to be. Cady keeps trying to pay her back, but she's so obvious in her movements that Regina watches as she stuffs cash into her cupholders, her glove compartment, her pockets, or she returns the jackets she's somehow still wearing with pockets full of cash.
Even though she has a backup camera, Regina drapes her arm around the back of Cady's seat to see as she's backing out of her parking spot. It's warmer than usual, so Regina's wearing more tank tops, more shorts, just generally showing more skin. Cady's finally ditched stealing Regina's jackets because it's just too hot. They drive all the way to North Bay in Wisconsin to stay at the AirBNB that Regina rents for two days.
Without doors and driving only a little over the speed limit, Regina blares music as the wind provides enough air conditioning that she's not blazing hot. The wind is hot enough that she's pulled off her linen button up and she's driving in and now is pretending like she hasn't noticed that Cady's been staring at her bikini-clad chest.
For whatever reason, Regina idly plays with the baby hairs at the back of Cady's neck even though her hand has no reason to be there. She's winding a couple strands around her first finger and gently tugging, letting her fingers trace over the goosebumps she's already raised on the back of Cady's neck.
Cady can't keep her hands to herself once they're at the beach. Her fingers dance across Regina's ribs in the house when they're splayed across the couch when it's too hot to do anything more, she plays footsie under the table, and she spends way too much time with her arm wrapped around Regina's waist as they walk around.
Cady's far too surprised when she discovers that Regina's a reader. There was only so much that she could do with a broken back, so her Kindle became her best friend (well second best because Cady maintained her best friend status) throughout her recovery. She's slowly making her way through The Apollo Murders on the deck of the lake house, her feet in the sand when Cady gently nudges the Kindle away from her face and settles in Regina's lap. It's far too hot for this right now, a light sheen of sweat from simply being out of the air conditioning already painted on her back and the underside of her thighs. but Cady sits in her lap anyway, draping her arms around Regina's neck. She smiles, content, before tucking her head into Regina's shoulder and whispering “read to me” into her collarbone.
Regina mumbles through a couple pages before Cady's body heat becomes unbearable and she has to either get in the lake or get back in the house.
The way she carries Cady is definitely not advised by her doctor or physical therapist, but Regina’s not about to make Cady unwrap her arms from where they’ve taken up residence around Regina’s neck. She doesn’t toss candy in the lake, though she seriously contemplated doing that. Instead, Regina allows Cady to hang off her like a koala or a sloth while she wades into the water.
Regina somehow manages to find a way to crawl onto the roof at Cady's behest. Cady presses herself into Regina's side on the thin blanket they've laid, dragging her finger through the air and tracing constellations that Regina doesn't know. It's certainly not the most comfortable way to spend her last night away from home, but she'll take it.
Sometime between eighth grade and junior year, Regina developed a strong aversion to touch, but it's not like Janis was ever super touchy-feely. Maybe she's always been like this and Cady's the only person who's ever wanted to actually touch her. Even though Regina's not really the biggest fan of anyone touching her (mostly due to her tendency to overheat), she'll gladly let Cady and her ice cold fingers dance across her stomach, trace patterns onto her skin, and curl around her jaw whenever she feels like it.