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Regina had never lost. But now, Cady Heron, her strongest opponent, was incredibly close to winning.
The flame of revenge was burning in her eyes.
"It was easy to make fun of me for the 5-1 score, wasn't it?" Cady asked excitedly. Gambling was racing her heartbeat.
She has to teach Regina George a lesson once and for all.
Here and now. In her own home, which was more like a reliable fortress for their secret meetings.
Regina giggled.
She never let others win.
"Just because math is on your side now doesn't mean it will always be," she replied, leaning closer.
Cady bit her lips, trying in vain to calm her nerves.
The silence of the spacious rooms always involuntarily pushed them to intimacy.
Suddenly the phone rang in the living room.
"That must be my mom." Cady flinched, and only now did she realize how close Regina's face was to hers. No call in the world could distract her girlfriend when she was playing.
Cady's heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to focus.
"The game is all that matters now." Cady convinced herself and sank her hands into the carpet.
She shifted on the floor and smiled wryly.
"Math will always be on my side."
After five inevitable defeats, Cady Heron finally got the key to this game with the help of analytical thinking.
"6-7 is a well-deserved victory of common sense over cheap manipulation." she proudly squared her shoulders.
A drop of sweat ran down her forehead.
No math problem has ever required her to be so involved and brainstorm so much.
"Keep on dreaming, sweetie." Regina smiled, "It's my turn." The admiration bordered on mockery in her voice.
She watched the confusion on Cady's face with satisfaction.
None of Regina's opponents went that far.
Perhaps because she rarely went easy on them. And when she did, she couldn't stop herself from completely shattering their ego. Many guys broke up with Regina because of this.
Cady moved closer and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"I'll make it a little easier for you..." Regina said, her eyes lingering on her girlfriend's lips, damp with a hint of sweat.
Cady's vengeful gaze calmed down. But her hands continued to clutch the carpet as if it were the last source of rationality in the world. She closed her eyes and exhaled.
"Come on Cady, you remember the algorithm. Just pick the longest sentence out of the first two." she thought and wiped her lips on her shirt sleeve. "Mom can wait."
Regina watched the mini-meditation closely. Cady looked very much like she was engaged. When she opened her eyes, a wave of enthusiasm made Regina feel goosebumps.
“Listen carefully,” Regina said, her voice shifting from gentle to competitive.
"Firstly. I was in Berlin for a fashion show." she began confidently, looking directly into Cady's eyes. The desire for revenge was burning in them.
"Second..." Regina paused, studying her opponent with a playful look. Cady didn't even flinch as another drop of sweat rolled down her tense forehead.
For the first time, the forces were equal for so long.
The oppressive silence of the spacious rooms pressed down on Cady's shoulders, keeping her focused. The rhythmic ticking of the clock accelerated her heart. Half an hour ago, she was supposed to be home. She had to beat Regina as soon as possible.
"I have blond hair," Regina said.
Cady blinked in confusion, her fingers relaxing.
The blonde giggled. If she loses, Cady doesn't win either.
"What is this? Is this another mockery or a bluff?" thoughts flew uncontrollably into Cady's head. She exhaled heavily, clutching the carpet with her hands.
"The first one has to be a lie," Cady concluded in her mind.
It was many times harder to ignore the second playful look on my face.
"The first must be a lie."
Regina smiled as she noticed her opponent's confusion turned to enthusiasm. God, it suited her so well to be so excited.
"Third," Regina said, gazing into Cady's eyes. The hypnotic look made her forget about the carpet.
"I spotted you right away in the crowd, and after our first conversation, I thought, “I have to keep her as close to me as possible because she's going to turn my life upside down.” Regina spoke quickly, her voice never wavering.
Cady shuddered.
"Shit." she muttered, feeling the remnants of rationality leave her body. "I don't know what to believe anymore," she said in a broken voice. Her heart skipped a beat, sensing imminent defeat.
Regina broke into a smile.
Cady felt a strange chill when Regina smiled. Was it because of the game, or was it something else? She couldn't be sure anymore.
The girl swallowed nervously, casting a brief glance at Regina.
"Third?" Cady placed a bet.
The blonde stood up triumphantly.
"No, the first one," she explained, "A draw."
"The first one?" Cady's voice sounded betrayed and ashamed at the same time.
Regina nodded.
"Have you forgotten what color my hair is?" she asked mockingly, offering Cady her hand.
"No... I just don't believe in love at first sight." Cady said as if she were proving a theorem, "It defies logic."
Standing up, she began to straighten her skirt.
"I never thought you would change my life for the better." Regina smiled. "But you've exceeded my expectations."
Cady smiled back sadly, crumpling the pink fabric in her hands uncertainly. Her thoughts continued to wander, and she couldn't imagine how long she would have to pretend that nothing had changed between her and Regina.
The long squeaking under their feet depressed her even more. She did not want to leave this fortress.
"Is everything okay?" Regina asked.
Cady closed her mouth in confusion when she heard the phone buzz by her side. She picked up the phone, knowing in advance whose worried voice she was about to hear.
"Yeah... Yeah... Everything's okay." Cady said.
"Your mom?" Regina mimed.
Cady nodded, stomping on the spot with the phone in her hands, "I just didn't hear the call!" she exclaimed abruptly.
Regina flinched. She had never heard her girlfriend sound so angry. Although the words were not directed at Regina, she somehow felt involved in the conflict.
"But mooom! Okay, okay... I love you too." The call is over.
"What is it?" Regina was confused.
Cady looked at her suspiciously.
"It's just that my mom wants me to come home earlier."
"But it's summer!" Regina was indignant. "At nine o'clock it's light as day."
It was an undeniable argument.
Cady shook her head and turned her body toward the exit instead.
"Explain..." Regina asked, grabbing the girl's hand.
What is there to explain? The fact that if things continue like this, Cady will be forced to leave forever, despite her desire to stay? Or the fact that Cady had already found the most rational solution on her own, and it was to gradually stop seeing Regina George so that the breakup would not seem so painful?
Cady turned to face Regina.
"My mom thinks I have a boyfriend and I actually go to see him," she explained.
Regina barked out a laugh, "Like whom?"
Cady shrugged her shoulders incredulously.
"I didn't mean you couldn't have a boyfriend..." Regina began to defend herself. "It's just that, objectively, you don't have a good match."
"Except for you, of course?" Cady said mockingly.
"I didn't say that." Regina looked away. "Why? Is there someone worthy of attention?" she asked defiantly, squeezing Cady's hand in hers.
"Um..." Cady held her ground. Now their lips were within kissing distance.
"Aaron Samuels, for example," Cady remembered.
Regina grimaced, "The one who's all kind and concerned about his family?" She stepped back, realizing the seriousness of the conversation.
"Is that bad?" Cady's voice faltered.
"No, but..." Regina hesitated.
Did Cady really consider abandoning her for Aaron, for the sake of her parents' approval? Or did she have personal reasons for doing so that Regina missed?
The noticeable pause depressed her.
"I'm sorry." Cady said, finally pulling Regina to her, "It's just that my parents are kind of... homophobic."
Regina looked at her sympathetically. An unpleasant spasm tightened her throat. More than anything, she didn't want to see Cady so sad in her arms. She pulled back, unexpectedly.
"So what?" Regina asked defiantly. Under the weight of longing and frustration, a new plan was born in her mind. "Your parents are wrong to think they know everything about you. Be smart, Cady, and let them be wrong."
Cady looked at her girlfriend suspiciously.
"What's in it for me?"
"The fact that your mother will stop worrying about you. Where you are, who you're with, when you're coming home — all of that will fade into the background when she realizes you're in good company." Regina explained and added, stepping forward, "Let me be your Aaron."
Cady looked down in shame. As much as she didn't want to lie, she liked the idea.
Perhaps, objectively, it would have been better to follow her personal plan. To move away gradually, enroll in different universities, and forget about their little adventure once and for all.
Perhaps it would have been better not to fall in love with Regina George before losing rational thought.
Her brain screamed at the inevitable failure of this plan, but her hand reached out mechanically to Regina, barely touching her.
"Okay," Cady whispered.
"Grool," Regina replied and kissed her on the forehead.
The teaspoon swirled moderately in the cup. There was no sugar in it, but it was where Cady stirred her thoughts.
Although Regina pushed Cady to resort to lying, it wasn't so easy to go against her nature. Her parents were the closest people to her. And even when she experienced all the benefits of socialization, she still didn't want to lose touch with them.
She smiled, involuntarily imagining Regina with them on an expedition in Africa. There was a slim chance that such a course of events was possible, given her parents' conservative views. But it warmed Cady's soul more than the tea in her throat.
When Mrs. Heron saw a strange smile on her daughter's face, she decided to ask what had happened.
"Who are you thinking about, Cady?"
Her daughter choked on tea.
"No... No one!" Cady exclaimed through a cough.
The mother suspiciously removed her hand from the girl's back when she calmed down.
Something in mom's expression suggested to Cady that she was threatening, "I'm going to cut your party time by another hour."
"Oh, mom... You know, there's a person I really like." Cady admitted, embarrassed.
Mrs. Heron smiled with satisfaction.
"Who is he?"
"Well..." Cady's throat went dry. Her tongue just wouldn't turn to say "he."
"It's the soul that matters, isn't it?" Cady smiled wryly. "Nothing else does..."
For example, that she fell in love with a girl even though she always told her parents about cute guys like Aaron Samuels.
Her mother raised her eyebrows in question.
"I guess so... But I don't want the boys to distract you from your studies, Cady!"
Is her daughter falling for some mysterious blue-eyed blond? Or is she falling for a drunk, or worse, a motorcyclist, and is afraid to tell her about it? Or is she in some kind of trouble?
"No, no, come on! The boys won't..." Cady resented her mother's distrust. "He's not like that! He's decent and smart!" she explained, adding the truth to the description, "In some things..."
For example, in manipulating people.
This description touched Mrs. Heron to the core. She knew that her daughter had a crush on someone!
"Great! What's his name?"
"Uh... Aaron Samuels." The name rolled off her tongue like something obscene.
Her mother broke into a smile.
It physically hurt Cady to see her mother so happy over such a small thing. Guilt overwhelmed her.
"It's been a long time since you talked about him," mom said.
"Did you spend a lot of time together in secret?"
The words struck Cady in the heart, "Ahem! Mooom..."
Mrs. Heron hugged her daughter.
"Introduce him to us whenever you want."
There was one other person that Cady's parents knew of but hadn’t met. This person was competing with Aaron Samuels for a place in Cady Heron's affectionate stories at the family table. She had displaced Aaron Samuels entirely, and now she was the reason for his return.
"Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Aa-r-Regina George." Cady panted as she ushered the girl inside.
Regina smiled brightly and shook Mr. Heron's hand.
"Make yourself at home." Mrs. Heron said as she headed for the kitchen. "Would you like a snack?" she asked hopefully and opened the oven with fresh pastries. Through the small talk over a cup of tea, she could find out who Cady's friend really was.
"No, we're not hungry." Cady dodged, pulling the girl aside, "We're going to go do our homework right away if you don't mind."
Cady wanted to avoid awkward questions as quickly as possible. Suddenly, Regina stopped, feeling a disappointed look on her back.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Heron!" Regina smiled apologetically, "But I'm really struggling with algebra. However, when Cady is done explaining everything, we will definitely appreciate your efforts." She followed the girl upstairs.
"Don't close it," Regina asked as Cady looked at the door with doubt. What if they were seen together? The thought sent shivers down her spine.
"Don't be afraid. We're not going to do anything illegal, are we?" The blonde said, gesturing for Cady to sit next to her.
"Yeah, you're right." Cady exhaled heavily as she felt their knees touch.
The gesture was simple and innocent. But the fact that the parents could look into the room at any moment made this friendly touch something dangerous.
"I'd rather divide the number by zero," Cady said.
Regina giggled as she put her notebook on the table.
"I've never heard you swear before." The blonde said, “Have I rubbed off on you that much?”
Cady looked away in shame, feeling a hand on her hip.
"I'd love to pass on my knowledge to you in return," she said, pushing the pen into Regina's hands.
"So, logarithms..."
Regina grimaced as she wrote down the problem. It had been a brilliant idea to come over to her girlfriend's house under the pretext of studying for exams. She looked curiously at the posters in the room and the photos of Cady as a little girl.
Cady was still naive enough to take the phrase "I really need help with algebra" literally.
Although Regina was pleased to hear the enthusiastic math chatter around her, she would have preferred to change the vector of their activities a bit.
"You're wasting a lot of time on the number crunching," Cady remarked, leaning closer.
Regina blinked in confusion.
"I can't multiply the number 2 by itself six times that fast." she hissed. "Not everyone is born with lightning-speed math, Cady."
She was both annoyed and fascinated by her girl's intelligent look. It could contain tenderness and understanding of the whole world. What annoyed Regina the most was the lack of resentment or reproach in it.
"Look," Cady said, putting her hand on the table.
It was just unbearable. Regina felt like a stupid first-grader.
"The finger number is the degree, we start with the first one," Cady said, sticking out her thumb. "Two to the first power is two."
Regina exhaled an exasperated breath but continued to listen.
"Multiply it by two-four." Cady stuck out her other finger.
"Then 8, then 16, and 32..." Cady continued to multiply the numbers by two until she ran out of fingers on her hand.
"64 would be six fingers, you know?" Cady looked at Regina, "So 2 to the 6th power is 64. You'll be able to figure out powers a lot faster this way."
Regina nodded slowly. Only now did she notice how thin and delicate her girlfriend's hands were.
"Okay, then tell me..." Cady caught the focused look on her. "625 is 5 to what power?"
Regina began to mutter something unhappy as she curled fingers on Cady's hand. She could have tried this method on herself, but Cady’s hand was undoubtedly a much better specimen.
Her girlfriend didn't mind.
"25... 125," Regina counted, "125 to add... I'd rather have those hands around my neck than... 625." She didn't realize that her thoughts had become loud enough to be heard.
"What did you say?" Cady asked.
"625?" Regina smiled wryly.
"I heard it..." Cady said, covering her face with her hands. She heard something else that made her blush, but Cady didn't want to distract her girlfriend with that. They were only meeting at her house for algebra.
"So what kind of degree will it be?" she asked.
"Oh, the degree! 4," Regina exclaimed, flinching in embarrassment. For a moment, Cady paused as if she could hear Regina’s thoughts. Regina was still ashamed. However, it turned out that her girlfriend was just waiting for an answer.
Cady smiled with satisfaction. She glanced at the door and then at Regina's lips.
"I think a short break won't hurt us..." she said, standing up.
"I totally agree," Regina whispered, feeling hands on her neck. The transition from math torture to kissing made her brain melt.
"Enough." Cady pulled away, feeling slightly dizzy. She looked anxiously at the door as if her parents might hear her racing heartbeat and burst into the room with the first aid kit.
"Enough algebra for today," Regina added with a smile and wiped off the rest of her lip gloss.
She shoved the door open and went down the stairs to the kitchen. Cady followed her shyly.
Mrs. Heron happily made tea and took out chocolate cupcakes from the hiding place.
"So how are you doing with your studies, Regina?" she asked.
"Oh, great!" the blonde said, stirring the sugar in her cup. "Thanks to Cady, I'm getting straight A's in all my classes now." She smiled and bit into a cupcake.
"Come on, don't lie..." Cady said sarcastically, knowing full well the ways Regina had deceived every teacher.
"But I actually like your... logical thinking," Cady said, sipping her tea. "We have a lot in common."
Her mother listened to their conversation with satisfaction.
"Mmm! Thank you, Mrs. Heron!" Regina blinked her eyes innocently as if she hadn't recently kissed her daughter until she lost her breath.
"It was wonderful!" she added, looking at the remnants of her lip gloss on Cady's lips.
Mrs. Heron broke into a smile as she watched Cady's friend kindly pat her daughter on the back, easing her cough.
"Take your time, Cady," Mom said sympathetically. "This isn't the first time you've eaten so badly."
It happened as Regina's plan had guaranteed. Mrs. Heron really stopped worrying about her daughter. Mostly because Cady spent half of her free time with Regina George, and the other half with Aaron Samuels (who was also Regina, but her mother didn't need to know).
"I need to be late." Regina decided as she hurriedly put on her summer dress. She wanted to make Cady worry a little.
They had planned to meet not far from the amusement park where their first dates had taken place. Today was their little anniversary, three months long.
Cady was taking her time getting ready, enjoying the melodic ticking of the clock. She no longer had to hide the fact that she was in love from her parents. She was going on a date calmly and smiling, knowing in advance that everything would turn out incredibly. And when she returned home, she would no longer have to hide the remnants of her blush from her always attentive mother!
When she saw a nervous Regina up ahead, Cady got excited. She wanted to reach out to her but didn't want to ruin the surprise.
Regina's heels clattered toward Cady in embarrassment.
Not only was she not late, but she came twenty minutes earlier than the appointed time.
"Long time no see, jungle freak!" Regina said, smiling broadly. "I have a present for you."
She also kept her hands behind her back.
"I have something for you too, queen bee of the plastics!" Cady said and laughed.
On the count of 3, they exchanged gifts.
Regina was now clutching a knitted monkey in her hands, and Cady was holding a bouquet of flowers.
"Oh, my God, it's so cute... Did you knit this?" Regina asked in awe.
Cady nodded.
"I thought so," the blonde added teasingly. Before Cady can take offense, she says, "Because you passed on your kindness to her..."
"Shut up!" Cady giggled.
"No, thank you very much. It will remind me of you." Regina looked away, embarrassed by the tenderness of her voice.
Cady gently touched the dark top of the flower with her nose. The bouquet in her hands shimmered with a pleasant warm gradient.
"What are they called?" she asked.
"Osteo-something..." Regina replied.
Cady smiled.
"I forgot the scientific name, too."
She pulled the girl to her by the hand.
"Are you doing this on purpose or just fooling around?" Cady asked, looking playfully into Regina's eyes.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The blonde swallowed.
"These flowers are also called African daisies." Cady said, "But I'll believe you didn't know that."
Feeling a kiss on your cheek, Regina smiled.
"What a nice coincidence!" she said and happily led Cady around the park.
"Oh, please!" Cady paused when she heard the clacking of heels behind her stop, "And this is the person who told me she wore heels when she was five?"
"But that was the only time I ever cheated in the game..." Regina looked guiltily at her angry girlfriend. They were practicing Two Truths and a Lie again, and Cady began to beat her with merciless ease.
"Of course you did! My algorithm was perfect." Cady snorted in disdain. She sat down next to Regina on the bench.
"Fine!" Regina made an angry face out of habit. But one pitiful tremble of Cady's lips was enough to calm her down.
"I actually put them on when I was 4 years old," Regina admitted, exhaling a loud sigh.
The sudden drop in tension made Cady laugh.
"Wait... You really learned to walk in heels so young?" she asked in confusion.
Regina nodded.
"What about your legs?" Cady's concern grew exponentially in her voice.
"It hurts..." Regina answered, looking away guiltily.
"God, honey." Cady grabbed the girl's hand, "Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I didn't want to make you angrier," Regina said, gently squeezing Cady's hand in hers.
"Silly," Cady whispered as she tucked a lock of Regina's hair behind her ear. "More than anything, I don't want you to get hurt." She kissed the girl's ear.
"Besides, I can't hold a grudge for long over little things," Cady said as she took off her sandals.
"Shall we switch?" She offered and put the shoes near her girlfriend's feet.
Regina smiled gratefully.
It was incredibly hard to walk in the thin heels. Cady came home looking like a drunken skier... A drunken, happy skier with a bouquet in her hands.
"How was your day?" her mother asked, meeting her daughter in a dark corridor.
Regina had taught Cady how to lie well, so Cady didn't hesitate to start her story.
"I had an amazing date with Aaron Samuels!" she smiled.
"He gets me so well. I admire… the sincerity." She kicked her heels to the side.
"And I love herm very much." Cady quietly corrected the incorrect pronoun.
But Mrs. Heron suspected something and turned on the light to see her daughter's face better.
The pink heels instantly caught her eye.
"What is it?" her mother asked gently.
Mr. Heron put the newspaper aside when he heard the change in his wife's voice. Cady seemed to be in trouble.
"Oh, we exchanged," Cady said indifferently and went to her room.
"With Aaron Samuels?" her father blocked her passage.
Cady's mouth took on an O-shape as she realized what she had just said.
The mother gently pulled her husband toward her, trying to calm him down. She was no less frightened than her daughter.
"No, not with Aaron!" Cady said, backing away, "With Regina! She gave me her shoes to impress Aaron." The lie had been tempered by the pressure and was quite convincing.
Cady swallowed in shame.
"Bring that Aaron to us. I need to have a man-to-man talk with him..." Mr. Heron suggested.
Cady's heart skipped a beat when her father's words hit her. What if he and her mom guessed who the real Aaron was all along? Her shaky story could unravel before she even had time to process it.
She mumbled a quick goodnight and headed upstairs, the silence in the hallway stretching with each step. Reaching her room, she closed the door and leaned against it, finally letting the fear settle in her chest. Turning over in bed, she tried to sleep. It would have been easier to cry, to calm down, and to be objective, but she couldn't do any of those things.
For three long days, there was no visit or call from Cady. Regina thought she was sick or hit by a bus, but it turned out to be much worse.
Cady came to her house, pale as a ghost.
"We need to breakup," she said.
Regina's throat got dry.
"No. I don't want to." She stepped forward and squeezed Cady's hand. She was as cold as winter.
"I'm not letting you go until you explain everything to me." Regina insisted, pulling Cady inside...
"I don't know how well my parents will react to us." Cady summed up the story. Her dry tone signaled the end of the conversation.
"Wait. I still don't get it, do you want to go out with me or not?" Regina asked, standing up.
Cady looked away.
For a moment, she remembered a fantasy where Regina stood in a funny hat under the hot African sun. She looked with fascination at the silhouettes of lions in the distance, which Cady's mother pointed out. In the evening, they would gather around the campfire. Cady's father told scary stories, and Regina would fake fear to snuggle up to Cady once again. They would laugh...
"I don't want to," she said.
Regina giggled.
The sincere laughter made Cady shudder.
"You haven’t learned to lie well, Cady." Regina said, "But that doesn't mean the game is lost, okay?"
"It's better to prepare for the worst than to have hopeless faith in you," Cady said, causing Regina's heart to skip a beat.
"I knew your plan was doomed to fail from the beginning! I've never believed in love at first sight, or in a long-term first relationship, I was thinking rationally, Regina!" Cady blurted out, looking directly into the confused blue eyes. They didn't flinch.
"You don't realize that the world is prone to regression, and sooner or later you will be inevitably defeated. It is mathematically impossible to win all the time."
Regina stared at Cady stupidly, in mute fascination, while the girl scolded her fervently in mathematical lingo from head to toe.
Suddenly, Cady stopped, realizing that her girlfriend was still there, listening intently. Cady had just scolded and pushed Regina away, and she was looking at her as gratefully as if Cady had just kissed her.
Why didn't she leave? Why didn't she get angry in return?
Why was Cady's heart pounding in an erratic rhythm if her brain had correctly reproduced the arguments?
"If only math could explain these feelings," she thought, and something broke inside her.
"So you love me," Regina said.
Cady blinked in confusion.
"This is not rational..." she mumbled, her eyes glistening with tears.
"It wasn't rational to believe that I wouldn't fight for our relationship, Cady," Regina said as she hugged the girl tighter.
"I've never lost this game, remember?"
Cady burst into tears.
And for the second time in her life, she allowed herself to hope, against all odds.
Regina stood at the door, clenching her fists, her confidence gone. She'd wanted to make a strong impression, but now... the floor felt like it had fallen in under her. The weight of the truth was tightening her shoulders, and she could almost see Cady's parents judging her.
"Well," she thought, forcing herself to breathe steadily. "If they want the truth, they'll get it."
Regina knocked, the sound cutting through the silence. Someone was prying at the lock from the other side.
"Oh!" Cady flew out the door, nearly knocking Regina off her feet. "I'm sorry," she whispered and held out a trembling hand.
Her ponytail was tidy, her shirt ironed, and the ever-so-gentle smile on her face — Cady looked ready for anything but that. Her eyes darted around, studying Regina from head to toe. She was looking at her so eagerly and hurriedly as if she was trying to memorize every feature of her face at that moment.
Lips, nose, eyes — a feeling of reproach and guilt was driving Cady. She looked away with doubt.
Regina's heartbeat was uncertain, feeling a sad look on her lips.
The lip gloss resembled a celestial plexus of tiny stars, the radiance of which beckoned to Cady so strongly.
No, she didn't have time to study and memorize every constellation. A wide shadow covered them all.
"Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet… Regina George," Cady said respectfully.
Regina smiled firmly, but her throat tightened as Mr. Heron's gaze narrowed, peering cautiously at her. His rolled-up sleeves revealed muscular arms crossed as he stood next to Mrs. Heron, who looked at Regina with a polite but skeptical expression.
" There is no mercy in his eyes, " Regina thought, feeling her confidence shaken.
Mrs. Heron took a step forward, frowning slightly.
"But, dear... You didn't say we should prepare for your... friend's visit."
The chill in the room seemed to deepen. Regina looked at Cady, whose face had turned pale. Her parents still didn't understand.
"No," Regina said, clearing her throat to strengthen her voice.
"You got it right," she shrugged, "I'm... Aaron Samuels."
Mr. Heron’s face contorted in confusion, his eyebrows shooting up. He looked at Cady, who was holding onto his hand tightly. Mrs. Heron glanced at Regina, then at her husband, bewildered.
"Are you saying..." Mrs. Heron slowly ventured, "That you two are together?"
"Yes." Regina felt her cheeks flush, but she fought through the tension, refusing to look away. "Cady was with me the whole time."
Mr. Heron's jaw stretched, his gaze petrified.
"You’re both..." He swallowed, "Both girls?"
Regina blinked as if she had been slapped, "Yes?"
He sighed in a strange combination of relief and anxiety, his broad shoulders relaxing — if only slightly.
"That's right. Girls." His eyes darted to Regina again, and this time there was a hint of something softer in them. He muttered, almost to himself, "Well, better than some guy... in heels."
"Come in," interrupted Mrs. Heron, pushing them inside, "Before everything goes cold," she said mechanically as if she were still processing the information.
Regina exchanged a nervous glance with Cady, feeling a surge of warmth as Cady's fingers wove into her hand. They followed her parents into the dining room, where the table was set neatly, with every plate and utensil perfectly arranged. Mr. Heron took a deep breath and gestured for them to sit across from him and his wife.
Once seated, Cady glanced sideways at Regina, a flicker of worry in her eyes. Regina took her hand, squeezing it gently under the table, silently reassuring her.
"Let's start fresh," Mr. Heron said, choosing his words carefully. "This... was a bit of a surprise to us, but that doesn't mean we don't want to understand."
Regina nodded, sitting straighter. This was the moment. The real test.
Mrs. Heron studied her with a look of concern.
"We're not here to judge you, Regina. But, as you might see, we care about Cady. And we'd like to know what kind of future you're planning for her."
Regina's heart was pounding. This wasn't just talk — it was a test of her intentions. She glanced at Cady, feeling the weight of the parent's expectations pressing down on her. What were her plans? She had never thought about it fully, but at that moment she realized how much she wanted a future with Cady. The uncertainty was gone.
"I want to make Cady happy," she said quietly but firmly, meeting Mrs. Heron's eyes. "I know we're young, and maybe... that's not always easy to understand. But she means everything to me."
For a moment the silence was tense, but slowly she felt Cady's parents relax. Mr. Heron looked down, his face softened with reluctant reconciliation.
Cady shifted in her chair happily. She looked at Regina gratefully.
This look stopped her heart for a moment.
Regina realized that she was fighting not so much for the parents' approval, but for the desire to share victories and defeats with Cady.
"We may not fully understand this," Mr. Heron said slowly, squeezing his wife's hand. "But if this is what makes you happy, Cady, we'll support you."
Mrs. Heron looked at Cady's radiant smile and nodded.
"What we want the most is happiness for you."
Cady laughed with relief, and when they all calmed down, Mr. Heron cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
"Only... could you maybe avoid... kissing? At least in front of us?" he added in a light but uncertain voice.
The room erupted in laughter, and the tension finally dissipated.