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maybeimamuppet · 1 year

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picking teams- chapter 11: janis

hello everyone!! happy wednesday! i hope you’re all having a great day have this yeeha

tw for

ptsd-ish things

discussion of SA/drugging

and as always please let me know if i’ve missed something so i can put it in :)

enjoy!!

—————

The beginning of November passes by in a blur. Revenge, football, Cady, more football, more Cady, revenge. The general gist is the same.

Cady and Janis are both happy with how their plot is progressing. Of course, they haven’t actually done anything yet, but the ideas give them a lot of hope. It’s a slow process.

They’re both scheming in their heads on their respective buses to an away game. They’ve had a few so far throughout the season, but this one is special. It’s in the city, and they’re playing against a school far enough from home that they’ll be staying in a hotel overnight.

About ten minutes away from their destination, Janis realizes she should probably be planning strategies for the game instead of how to ruin her ex-best friend’s life. She has plenty of time for that, but the game starts in two hours.

Janis is surprised to see the hotel they pull up next to. It’s not a five star establishment by any means, but the North Shore budget she’s used to would barely cover a motel. The football team clearly gets more than the arts departments. For once, she’s not complaining.

“Sarkisian, over here for a sec,” Coach Carr says. Janis grabs her bag from the storage trailer and jogs over to him. “You’ll be rooming with one of the cheerleaders. Can’t have any co-ed rooms.”

“Yes, coach,” Janis nods, heading over to the other girls to find out who she’s been stuck with. Please don’t be Regina, please please please don’t be Regina.

“Alright ladies, listen up! Room assignments!” the cheer coach yells. “Wieners, Smith; 300! Pak, D’Alessio; 301!” The names continue until they get to, “Heron, Sarkisian; 310!”

Janis sneakily looks over at Cady, and finds Cady looking back out of the corner of her eye. Cady shoots her a quick smile before she looks away again and pretends to complain about the room assignment to the Plastics.

Janis heads up to get her room key from the cheer coach. All the other girls give her a wide berth and shoot sympathetic glances at Cady. Janis rolls her eyes as she takes the plastic card and heads off to find their room.

Janis is lounging casually against the wall while she waits for Cady to arrive. She shoots her a smile when Cady comes up. “Howdy, roomie.”

“Hi,” Cady giggles. She fumbles adorably with the lock for a second before she gets the hang of it and pushes the door open. Janis motions for her to go into the room first and follows right after her. “Oh. There’s… only one bed.”

“I’ll talk to coach, see if we can get a new room,” Janis says immediately. “Or I could sleep on the floor. Or-”

“Janis,” Cady interrupts. “It’s fine. I was just pointing it out.”

“I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Janis mumbles sheepishly.

Cady gives her a precious smile. “I appreciate that, but it’s really okay.”

Janis purses her lips the slightest bit and nods. Cady puts her bag down and continues exploring the room.

“Ooh, we have a balcony,” she says as she pulls the curtains open. Janis heads over to see and looks out over her shoulder.

“Oh, and what a view,” she laughs when she sees their room has a beautiful vista over the parking lot and that their room in particular seems to be directly over the dumpsters. Luckily, they’re high up enough that they can’t smell anything.

“I know, right?” Cady giggles. “It’s not so bad. It’s cozy.”

“Yeah, it is,” Janis agrees. Cady closes the curtains again and turns around.

“Are you excited for the game?”

“More excited for this bed,” Janis groans as she flops backwards onto it. “Ooh.”

“Comfy?” Cady asks happily.

“Yeah, for a hotel bed it’s not bad,” Janis says. She hauls herself to sit back upright with a great deal of effort. “I should probably start getting ready, though.”

“How do you get ready for games?” Cady asks curiously.

“I don’t, really,” Janis chuckles. “Spend most of the time I have beforehand trying to figure out what to do with my hair.”

“You can’t just leave it down?” Cady asks, tilting her head like an adorable little puppy. God, how does she do that?

“No. Learned that the hard way,” Janis chuckles. “It’s an easy target for people to grab. Almost lost a chunk my first game. And it just gets hot and sweaty.”

“Oh, and you can’t wear it up with a helmet,” Cady says. “That is tough.”

“Yeah,” Janis says. “You guys are lucky your hair is part of your uniform.”

“Yeah, it is handy,” Cady giggles. She watches Janis stand and go grab her jersey out of her bag. Janis is confused but not complaining when she turns around to find her still staring at her curiously.

“Uh…” Janis says brilliantly. “What’s up?”

Cady taps her fingertips together like a cartoonish supervillain about to unleash her latest evil scheme. “Can I do your hair?”

Janis pauses. “What?”

“I have an idea that might work,” Cady says, deflating a bit at Janis’ unenthusiastic response. “But if you don’t want me to I get it.”

“No, no,” Janis says. “If, um… if you really want to, you can. But don’t you have to get ready too?”

“All I really have to do is get dressed and do some quick makeup, it won’t take very long. Regina gives me time trials now,” Cady says. “Zero to cheer-o in twenty minutes or less.”

“Wow,” Janis says, raising her eyebrows. “That’s impressive.”

“Thanks,” Cady giggles. “Okay, sit, girl, sit.”

Janis obediently sits on the ground next to the bed and tries desperately to ignore Cady’s muscular thighs bracketing her shoulders. Cady tenderly brushes through her wavy hair, making sure not to pull too hard whenever she encounters a knot. Janis almost falls asleep at her gentle strokes and cool hands occasionally touching her scalp and neck.

“Your hair is really soft,” Cady says quietly as she uses her long pinky nail to part Janis’ hair down the middle of her head.

“Thanks,” Janis squeaks, trying desperately to hide how flustered she is. Cady tucks half her hair over her shoulder and instructs Janis to hold it out of the way while she works on the other side. Janis does, and feels Cady apparently start braiding the other half.

It pulls a little bit, but the process is still incredibly relaxing. Or it would be, if Janis wasn’t hyper-aware of her every move and breath and the fact that it’s Cady doing her hair and touching her and making her want to melt into a puddle of queer goop.

Cady is very gentle and meticulous with her work. Janis holds the end of the braid as Cady leans towards her bag to grab a few hair ties to loop around the ends.

Her forehead winds up almost resting on Cady’s leg as Cady maneuvers her head for the sake of the other braid. Janis almost combusts.

She’s not sure if she’s glad or upset when Cady finishes the second braid and pulls her hands away with a thoughtful hum. “How far down your head does your helmet go?”

“Uh… not very, I guess,” Janis says, fidgeting absentmindedly with the end of one of her braids. “It stops about with my hairline, little further down, maybe.”

Cady hums again. “Can I get it and check?”

Janis nods, so Cady pops up like an adorable little gopher and heads to root through Janis’ football duffel.

“Oh, it’s heavy,” she says as she finds the helmet and comes back.

“Yeah, all of it is,” Janis chuckles.

“I guess it’s better for you to be protected than comfy,” Cady says as she gently pops Janis’ helmet on her head.

“I guess,” Janis agrees as best she can with her cheeks smushed in by the padding. Cady giggles quietly. “Shut up.”

“Sorry,” Cady chuckles. Janis is confused when she undoes part of the braids and ties the elastic bands a bit higher, at the nape of her neck. Cady tenderly pieces apart the waves before twisting them into two buns right beneath the helmet at the nape of her neck. “Does that work?”

Janis takes the handheld mirror she holds up for her and moves it around to look at her head. The buns are off her neck enough to keep her from overheating, and small enough that her opponents won’t be able to grab them to get her down or hold her back. And they’re not pressing weird against the inside of her helmet, which is always a plus. “Yeah, this is great.”

She can see Cady beam in the mirror and smiles a bit herself under her helmet. She pulls it off for the time being and sees that the part on her head has been delicately twisted into two French braids. “That should stop it from getting tangled and stuff while you move.”

“Thanks,” Janis says. “I love it.”

“You’re welcome,” Cady grins. Janis smiles back as Cady gently takes the mirror back and grabs her makeup from her cheer bag. Janis takes advantage of Cady being in the restroom to start getting dressed. She usually waits to put the padding on until the very last second, but she can at least put on her special pants and her jersey.

Cady really can do her whole routine quite quickly. Janis is expecting her to take a good while, seeing as the routine must be quite involved, but Cady reappears from the restroom in her uniform with her makeup done in almost no time at all. She’s finishing tying her curls up into a ponytail and clipping her bow in as she makes her reappearance.

“That was crazy,” Janis chuckles. “How did you do that so fast?”

“Regina,” Cady says simply. Janis nods.

“Makes sense.”

“Do you… think you could help me with my eyeliner? I can never get it right and you did mine for the Halloween party really well,” Cady says. Janis looks at her. “You don’t have to! I just, like-”

“Caddy,” Janis chuckles. “I’ll do it, c’mere.”

Cady is visibly relieved as she hands Janis the eyeliner pen and sits on the bed.

“How do you need it to be?”

“It’s… um…” Cady says. “It’s supposed to have the, uh… the… bird?”

“A what?” Janis asks with a laugh, pulling the pen back just before she makes contact with Cady’s eye.

“Stop laughing, I don’t remember the word!” Cady grumbles. “The… the little… fwoopy part.”

“Oh, a wing,” Janis says, laughing so hard she actually has to lean on the bed for support a bit. Cady whines and hides her face behind her hands. “The bird, oh my god, Caddy.”

“Stop it!” Cady whines adorably, muffled by her hands. Janis gently grabs her wrists and pulls her hands away from her face. Cady pouts up at her when she does.

“I’m never calling it a wing again,” Janis giggles in a pitch very uncharacteristic for herself. She puppets Cady’s hands to clap a couple times before she lets them go and grabs the eyeliner again. “Ready?”

Cady nods. Janis leans in close and carefully swipes a thin line over her eye before ending it in a flicked wing roughly where Cady’s other eye makeup ends.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Janis whispers as she shifts to do the other eye. She bites her lip to shut herself up as soon as the words slip out of her mouth. Cady’s eyes are quite possibly the most beautiful she’s ever seen; vibrantly green that fade into a deep blue as you get further from her pupil. But Janis still probably shouldn’t say so when she’s straddling the other girl on a hotel bed.

“Thanks,” Cady whispers. “So are yours.”

Janis takes a moment to look down at the girl beneath her. She almost chokes when she sees Cady staring back at her with something almost… no, it couldn’t be. In a friendly way, maybe. But most definitely not that.

Janis tries to ignore the fact that Cady’s actually in her uniform beneath her. She was in lingerie the last time they did this, which was somehow less revealing. Janis tries not to start hyperventilating as she remembers that her thighs are bracketing Cady’s bare legs, exposed by her very short skirt.

Cady’s also unfairly adorable in her uniform. They have long-sleeved undershirts to wear now that it’s getting chilly, and Janis almost squeals every time she sees Cady fidgeting absently with the ends of the sleeves or tugging at her collar. It’s much less revealing than their typical uniform they wore during warmer months, but Janis still can hardly stand it.

And here she is straddling it as she finishes Cady’s eyeliner. Holy gay, batman.

Janis takes a second to admire the beautiful face beneath her. She thinks she passes it off as making sure the eyeliner looks even. She’s not sure what she’d do if Cady caught on to the real reason for her staring.

“Uh… there,” she says when alarm bells start going off in her head, signaling that she’s at imminent risk of kissing Cady against both of their wills. Time to move.

“Thanks, Jay,” Cady says. She takes the pen back and sits upright again.

“No problem,” Janis says, her voice significantly higher than it normally is. She clears her throat and decides to just cut her losses and start packing up for the game.

——

The game is… interesting. Janis tries her best to snap out of Cady mode and into football mode, but Cady mode seems to be turned on at all times these days.

She thought she had finally gotten used to seeing her crush in her uniform doing her thing with the rest of the cheerleaders on the sidelines, but apparently not. Now that she’s had it beneath her fingertips; seen Cady in it up close, she’s unsure it’ll ever leave her mind again.

Every moment of rest she has during the game, few and far between as they are, is spent looking in her direction. Even some moments where she’s not resting and instead meant to be focusing on the game are spent looking in her direction.

“Sarkisian, what the hell are you doing?!” someone yells. Janis pauses and looks at herself. She realizes she had been preparing to pass the ball in the wrong direction. She turns around and finds Aaron, only barely getting the ball launched in his direction before she’s tackled by the opposing team.

Aaron manages to use the distraction to his advantage and score for them. Janis sheepishly heads to the sidelines while the new quarter is handled.

“What the hell was that?!” her coach yells at her.

“I’m sorry, coach, I’m distracted,” Janis says.

“Get your goddamn head in the game, Sarkisian.”

“I will,” Janis promises. “I’ll do better, I’m sorry.”

—-

Janis does her best, but…

Cady is just so… Janis doesn’t even have the words to explain it. Every affectionate adjective possibly applicable is rushing through her mind like the most inconvenient thesaurus in the world.

It almost costs them the game. Luckily, her teammates can scramble around her and make up for what she’s lacking today.

Janis breathes a sigh of relief as they barely scrape by with a win. Not quite as satisfying as decimating the opposing team on their own turf, but satisfying nonetheless.

And now she’s got free reign to think about Cady all she wants.

—————-

“I stink!” Cady declares as she enters their room and drops her bag by her feet. Janis startles from her spot on the bed and looks up with a laugh.

“Thanks for sharing.”

“Is it okay if I take a shower?” Cady asks, pulling her bow from her hair.

“Yeah, I already got one at the school. They don’t let us on the bus if we don’t,” Janis says. “Have at it.”

“Thanks,” Cady says with a sigh. She grabs a couple things from her bag and heads off to the bathroom.

Janis continues playing games on her phone since there’s no internet connection at their hotel and tries desperately not to think about the fact that her crush is in the shower mere feet away from her.

She must black out at some point, because it’s suddenly twenty minutes later and Cady is exiting the restroom. Janis almost chokes when she sees her just wrapped in a towel. She looks back at her phone immediately and hopes she isn’t blushing.

“Shit,” Cady grumbles in the corner, rooting through her bag for something.

“What’s up?” Janis asks.

“I forgot to pack pajamas,” Cady sighs. “All I have is my spare undergarments for my uniform.”

“Do you want my sweatshirt?” Janis offers. “Just… y’know, for the night?”

“Really?” Cady asks. “But then what’ll you have to sleep in?”

“I can sleep in my jersey, it’s pretty cozy,” Janis shrugs.

“If you’re sure, that would be great,” Cady says in relief. Janis nods and tugs it off, tossing it over to her. Cady picks it up from its spot at her feet and pads off to the bathroom again to change. “Thanks, Jay.”

“Yep,” Janis calls back, pulling her jersey on and suddenly thanking the lord she had the foresight to leave her sports bra on after the game.

Cady makes another return after a couple minutes, and Janis almost chokes again. Cady’s only wearing the shorts she wears under her uniform, which are, needless to say, short, and Janis’ sweatshirt; which is so big on Cady it could pass as a dress. And it’s adorable.

“Your shirt is cozy,” Cady says, hugging herself happily. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Janis chuckles. “Doesn’t quite fit.”

“What do you mean?” Cady asks sarcastically, holding up her hands to show off just how long the sleeves are. Janis got it a couple sizes up so it would be big on her, and on someone as tiny as Cady, she’s practically drowning in it. “Anything good on TV?”

“Not unless you’re really into the hotel you’re already at,” Janis sighs. “Or Sesame Street.”

“I do happen to be a big fan of Cookie Monster,” Cady hums. “Then I guess we’ll just have to entertain ourselves.”

“We do have a balcony,” Janis reminds her. “Pretty nice night.”

“Ooh, yeah,” Cady says. She pulls their curtains open and climbs out the window onto their tiny little balcony. Janis follows her and sits down on the frigid metal. Cady looks up at the sky with a childlike look of wonder gracing her delicate features. “It’s pretty.”

“Yeah,” Janis agrees, looking with her. “Kind of amazing you can still see so many stars with all the smog and light and stuff out here.”

“Yeah,” Cady says with just a touch of melancholy in her voice. Janis looks at her gently.

“Do you miss it?”

“Miss what?” Cady asks, turning to look at Janis as well. Janis feels her heart stutter at the blue-green eyes peering innocently at her. So pretty.

“The sky,” Janis says lamely. “In… Kenya.”

“Oh,” Cady says, looking upwards again in thought. “I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t,” Cady says quietly. “I do miss it, but… I like it here too.”

“That makes sense,” Janis says with a gentle nod. She leans back against the wall and tips her head back towards the stars. “Do you miss Kenya in general?”

“No,” Cady scoffs immediately. She pauses and inhales, looking briefly at Janis, before quietly saying, “I… miss… walking on ground that isn’t pavement all day. You have to pay attention more, and it makes you feel… awake. And the sky was really beautiful there. There were always so many stars, it just felt like you could reach up into the abyss and grab a few. And I’m always freezing here.”

“Might be how you dress now,” Janis jokes.

“Shut up!” Cady giggles, gently knocking against her. “It’s the air conditioning.”

“I dunno how you survived without it,” Janis sighs.

“Now that I have it, I don’t know either,” Cady says with a chuckle. “I miss a lot about Kenya, but I still… I’m glad I’m here. I like it here too.”

“Really?” Janis questions. Cady nods.

“It’s not perfect. But neither was Kenya,” she murmurs. “At least here my friends can talk. And don’t bite.”

“Speak for yourself,” Janis mumbles under her breath. Cady looks at her in confusion, but Janis just says, “What else?”

“Things are… um… I-I don’t know,” Cady says.

“So the only thing you like about Evanston is that your friends don’t bite you?” Janis chuckles.

“I guess so,” Cady shrugs. “There’s a lot of it that’s kind of… up and down for me. I love it here, and I love the people, but it’s still not… home, for me, I guess. It’s hard sometimes.”

“I get that,” Janis says softly. “Big moves are always tough. Especially when it’s, like… to another continent. And you’re sixteen.”

“Definitely,” Cady giggles. It fades quickly, and she fidgets with the hem of Janis’ baggy shirt. “Did you grow up here?”

“No, actually,” Janis says. She gets the feeling Cady doesn’t want to talk about herself anymore, at least for a while, so Janis begrudgingly explains her own story. “I’m from Georgia.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” Janis says. “Damian is too.”

“He makes sense,” Cady says, tilting her head as she mulls this over. “He kind of still has an accent.”

“Wait ‘til you meet his mom,” Janis chuckles. “But yeah, he never quite got rid of his twang.”

“You don’t have an accent at all,” Cady says in confusion.

“It comes out sometimes when I’m really angry,” Janis says. “Or really tired. But I, uh… had to practice a lot to get rid of it.”

“Regina?” Cady asks quietly. Janis nods. “How old were you?”

“I think I was… seven or eight when we moved?” Janis recalls. “It was pretty soon after Stevie was born. My mom got a new job here and they didn’t really have many ties to be worried about other than my grandparents and stuff, so we moved. And we just visit them from time to time.”

“Hey, that’s why we moved too,” Cady giggles. “So… your mom’s family lives in Georgia?”

“Yeah. My grandparents and a couple aunts and uncles,” Janis explains.

“Are they…” Cady begins before trailing off. Janis gets what she means well enough, and shakes her hand in a meh sort of gesture.

“Some are, some aren’t,” Janis says. “My cousins are all chill, and my grandpa is. He managed to get my grandma around eventually, but it took her a while. And my aunts and uncles are a pretty even split.”

Cady nods with a thoughtful hum, but doesn’t say anything in response. “Did you and Dame move at the same time?”

“No, we were, like… ten, when he moved,” Janis says. “His, um… his parents got divorced, so his mom moved up here to be closer to some of her friends and family and stuff.” Janis decides not to tell Cady that Damian’s dad had actually walked out on them when Damian had come out and was never heard from again. That’s his bit to tell Cady if he wants to. “We’d kept in touch a little bit as, like, pen pals and stuff, but he didn’t tell me where he was moving, and then he just walked into my fifth grade class and it was like I’d never left.”

“Aww,” Cady says. “You guys have the sweetest friendship.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Janis snorts. “We gotta keep up our image.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles. “I won’t tell anyone you’re the greatest people I’ve ever met.”

“…That might be okay,” Janis amends. Cady laughs, and Janis can’t help but laugh along with her. Cady’s laugh is so sweet. She has the fakey titter she’s gotten accustomed to doing whenever there are people around, but her real laugh is so deep, so genuine. A hearty belly laugh. It might sound goofy to anyone else, but to Janis it’s the sound equivalent of ambrosia.

“I’m really glad I met you,” Cady says quietly, looking at her lap again for a moment before she dares glance up at Janis.

Janis gives her what she hopes is a gentle and not awkward smile as she says, “I am too.”

Cady smiles at her. Janis’ own grows.

Janis gasps as Cady suddenly leans in and presses their lips together. She’s trying desperately to kick her brain into gear, kiss Cady back, hold her, anything, but her brain is caught in a loop of holy shit pretty girl kissing me hello that she can’t escape.

Before she gets a chance to mentally kick her own ass, Cady breaks away and pulls back. Her eyes are missing their usual sparkle, and Janis can tell she’s putting on a brave face, thinking Janis didn’t want this.

“I’m sorry, I-I don’t know where that came from,” Cady whispers, gripping the rail so tight that her knuckles go white. Janis stares intently at her small hand poking out from the sleeve of Janis’ shirt. Get it together, do something.

Cady looks at her in shock when Janis gently rests a hand on her arm, giving a little squeeze and trying to get her to relax.

“Did you want to kiss me?” Janis replies quietly. Cady inhales sharply and looks away. Takes a moment to think. Then, nods. “Then… can we try that again?”

“Wh-what?”

“I messed my part up,” Janis whispers, making a bold move and stroking some of Cady’s hair behind her ear. Cady looks back at her, hesitantly, and leans partway in.

“Really?” she whispers, ghosting the word against Janis’ lips. Janis is lost in the dizzying scents of strawberries and textbooks swirling around the redhead in front of her, the blue-green eyes blinking hopefully at her.

She doesn’t answer. Out loud, anyway. Cady inhales as Janis just grins, nods, and cups her cheeks to pull their lips together once again.

Cady releases her breath as a content sigh that puffs against Janis’ cheek, as she gently grabs on to Janis’ wrists to keep her hands held against her face. It’s a chaste kiss, slow and sweet, but they both don’t ever want it to end.

Unfortunately, they both need to breathe, and break apart with a gasp. ‘Apart’ is a little bit of a stretch, since neither of them really want to pull away. Janis rests her forehead against Cady’s, and can’t quite hold back the smile that spreads across her face.

“Much better,” she whispers, still panting to catch her breath. Cady giggles quietly, smiling wider than Janis has ever seen her smile.

“Definitely,” she whispers back.

“Since when have you been into girls?”

“Since I met you,” Cady murmurs. Janis raises her eyebrows.

“Are-are you sure?” she asks. “I’m not gonna be your experiment, or whatever. Or if Regina talked you into this, then… I’ll just go. You can tell her you won.”

“Janis,” Cady whispers, the hurt visible in her eyes. “She had nothing to do with this. You know more than anyone what she’d do if she found out I like you. That I like girls at all.”

“Then…”

“I kissed you because I like you,” Cady continues. “A lot. I… I’ve wanted to for a long time, I just… didn’t realize until a little while ago. But I would never do something like that. I’m not her.”

“You actually like me?” Janis asks shyly.

“Is that so hard to believe?”

“Yeah, actually,” Janis chuckles sardonically. “The great Cady Heron wants to kiss me. Regina’s second in command. And me.”

“I’m not her second in command,” Cady says.

“Might wanna tell the school that,” Janis teases.

“I’m not!” Cady whines. “I made a mistake. Getting involved with them. I just… can’t undo it. I’ll be crucified.”

“So what do we do now?” Janis asks, looking worriedly into Cady’s eyes.

“I don’t know,” Cady replies. “Wait, do you even… do you even like me back?”

“That wasn’t enough evidence for you?” Janis laughs. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since you fell into my arms that time you were tumbling.”

“That was in August,” Cady whispers. Janis nods, as if to say, duh. “That long?”

“Yeah, Caddy,” Janis says. “That long.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Janis asks. Cady hesitantly moves to straddle Janis’ lap and kisses her again. “Oh.”

“Can we… be…”

“Girlfriends?” Janis smirks. Cady nods shyly. “I think that works for me.”

“You think?” Cady giggles. “Do I have to make you believe it?”

“Definitely.”

“Can I make you believe it inside? I’m cold,” Cady asks softly. Janis laughs and nods. Cady delicately clambers off Janis’ lap and back through the window. Janis follows suit, shutting and latching the window again behind her to keep out the frigid November air.

Cady is on her again in a second, winding her arms around Janis’ neck and smiling at her for a moment. Janis can’t help but smile back. She kissed me.

She laces her arms around Cady’s petite waist and leans in partway. As much as she wants to kiss Cady again, and as much as she thinks Cady wants that too, forcing herself on her is most definitely not something she wants.

Cady gives her a gentle, thankful smile and stands on her tippy toes to close the gap between their lips once again. Janis smiles against her lips and pulls her closer by the waist, gently shifting a hand to tangle in Cady’s still-damp hair and fisting the other in the fabric of her sweatshirt.

Cady falls back onto the flats of her feet, but doesn’t pull away. Janis bends at a strange angle to keep their lips together while Cady starts slowly walking backwards towards the bed.

Janis presses in further when the backs of her knees finally hit it, never breaking away from their kiss. She gently guides Cady beneath her and holds herself up on her elbows. Cady releases a quiet, content noise as she lands on the bed with her girlfriend on top of her. Janis swallows it and swipes her tongue gently across Cady’s bottom lip.

Cady lets her in, hesitantly flicking her tongue against Janis’ and reaching her hands up to tangle in her hair. Janis purrs quietly and ghosts her hands down Cady’s sides.

Janis is gently working her fingers under the hem of Cady’s shirt, and then she’s suddenly on the floor. Cady has scrambled into the far corner and curled herself into a ball.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she says frantically.

“Hey, whoa,” Janis replies gently as Cady bursts into tears. “It’s okay, what happened?”

“The-the p-party,” Cady stumbles, wringing her hands together. “Mem-memories.”

“Oh god, Caddy, I’m sorry,” Janis says, frantic but still trying to keep her voice low and comforting. “I-I wasn’t thinking, I’m-”

“I’m sorry,” Cady whimpers.

“No, sweet thing, don’t be sorry,” Janis murmurs. “Can I touch you?”

“No! I mean, um… not-not yet, p-please,” Cady chokes. Janis nods and adjusts her clothes.

“Okay. I’m not gonna do anything, I promise. I’m gonna go hang out in the bathroom so you can have space, okay? Come get me when you’re ready,” Janis murmurs.

Cady nods and continues doing what she needs to do to calm down. Janis watches anxiously as Cady rocks herself slightly and coaches herself through some deep breaths.

She grabs her phone and heads off to their restroom. There’s not a huge amount of space to just be in here, but Janis doesn’t want to pressure Cady any further by lingering in the main room.

So Janis leaves the door cracked so Cady knows she’s welcome in and curls up in the bathtub.

She feels awful. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t, clearly. They’ve only been together for fifteen minutes and Janis has already fucked something up. Maybe irreversibly.

She tries to apologize telepathically through the wall as she hears Cady sobbing to herself and trying to calm down. Janis tries to play games on her phone again, but she’s so worried and pissed off at herself that she can’t focus on anything but Cady in the other room.

How could she have done this? Lost control of herself so quickly? She doesn’t even want that with Cady yet! And with Cady’s history…

She’s stewing in the bathtub so much that she doesn’t hear when the faint sniffle comes from the doorway. Cady creaks the door the rest of the way open and pads over to Janis, wiping tears from her eyes with a sleeve as she does. Janis looks up at her as she stands next to the tub.

Cady seems a bit confused, even cracking a faint smile seeing Janis just chilling in the bone-dry bathtub, but she climbs right in to join her and curls up in a ball against Janis’ chest.

“Hey,” Janis greets gently, not touching until she gets an okay from Cady.

“Hi,” Cady croaks in response, adjusting herself so she’s laying more comfortably against her. “Will you squish me?”

“Squish you?” Janis asks. Cady nods. Janis isn’t totally sure what she means, so she hesitantly wraps her arms around Cady’s body and squeezes as hard as she can. “Like that?”

Cady nods and gives a relieved sigh, resting her head on Janis’ shoulder as she adjusts Cady to sit fully in her lap. Janis is suddenly very glad for all the arm workouts she’s had to do lately. It means she can hold onto Cady like this for a good long while without getting sore or tired.

Neither of them say anything for a while. Cady shifts periodically; Janis tightens or loosens her grip depending on how much she can manage in a moment, and beyond that, the only sound is the quiet humming of the air in the vents and a few muffled sounds from the room next door.

“I’m sorry,” Cady murmurs eventually.

“No, Cads, I’m sorry,” Janis says. “I don’t even know what I was doing, I don’t… don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want to… do that with you yet. And I know what happened to you, I shouldn’t have-”

“I started it,” Cady interrupts softly. “I don’t want that yet either, but… I liked you touching me. I liked you kissing me. It just… went too fast.”

“Yeah,” Janis murmurs. “I still shouldn’t have done it.”

“Maybe not,” Cady agrees gently. “But I got too into that, too. It was a heat of the moment thing, Jay. It’s not your fault.”

“I’m still sorry,” Janis mumbles shyly. She feels Cady give a weak grin against her chest.

“It’s okay,” she replies reassuringly. “And… I really appreciate you apologizing.”

Janis isn’t sure how to respond to that and simply nods, squishing Cady a bit closer and resting her cheek against her head. “Still wanna be girlfriends?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I do,” Cady giggles. “I’ve been crushing on you so hard I literally didn’t even notice I was on fire because of you. That’s not gonna change because of one little slip-up.”

“That was about me?” Janis asks shyly. “You said it was Aaron.”

“It kind of was,” Cady shrugs, stretching a bit and shifting positions so she’s crouched astride Janis’ lap and they’re face to face once again. “But it was mostly you. You just looked like the cutest little bug in your goggles and I couldn’t stop staring and then… I was on fire.”

Janis squeaks as Cady makes claws with her hands and gently pinches Janis’ cheekbones before leaning in to kiss her nose. She’s still reeling from all the earlier kissing. And now the girl of her dreams is practically in her lap talking about how cute she finds her. “Oh.”

“See? Cute,” Cady says like it’s a simple matter of fact. She smiles widely, and Janis can’t help but smile back. Cady cups her face in her sweatshirt paws and gently pulls Janis’ face to hers for a soft kiss. It’s barely a brush of lips, but it still sends an electric thrill coursing through Janis’ veins and out her extremities; her body coursing with adrenaline that could easily rival what she felt after her first game.

“You’re cuter,” she breathes against Cady’s lips when they pull back the slightest bit. Cady smiles and shakes her head, accidentally nuzzling their noses against each other.

“No way,” she whispers. She kisses her again before she pulls back a bit more and asks, “Can we get out of the tub now? There’s not much room in here.”

“Yeah,” Janis chuckles. Cady climbs out of the bathtub and reaches her hands to help Janis out. Cady pauses to splash some cool water on her face and rinse off the tears before she follows Janis out to their room. They wind up on their queen sized bed; under the covers and face to face. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Cady says with a smile.

“Can we talk a little bit?” Janis makes herself ask. She doesn’t want to, but… it needs to be done. Cady’s face falls the slightest bit in concern, but she nods.

“Yeah. What about?”

“Earlier,” Janis says softly. “Just a bit. So I don’t trigger you like that again.”

“Oh. Okay,” Cady says. She doesn’t continue, so Janis takes the initiative.

“Okay,” Janis begins with a deep breath to settle her nerves. “I think we should definitely wait a while before…”

“Sex?” Cady asks bluntly. Janis nods and hopes she isn’t blushing like a child at the mere word. It’s not like she hasn’t had sex before. Everything with Cady is just so different.

“Yeah. I don’t want to rush things with you,” Janis says.

“I don’t either,” Cady murmurs. “And I’ve never… had sex with anyone. I want it to be special.”

“Yeah,” Janis agrees. “So… maybe… if we ever, like… get to that point, we talk about it first? And… maybe after that, you initiate things. So I know when you’re feeling okay with… stuff.”

Cady nods again. “Okay.”

“What else can I do?” Janis asks, gently resting her hand on Cady’s cheek and tracing her cupid’s bow with the pad of her thumb.

“Um… I think… lying on top of me makes me… panic,” Cady says, looking at Janis’ mouth instead of her eyes. Janis doesn’t mention it. She understands why she doesn’t feel up for eye contact at the moment. “So maybe don’t do that? Unless… I ask you to. And he, um… he covered my mouth, so I don’t… that… that brings it back too.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Should we have a safeword? We don’t even have to use it for… intimate things, we can just use it if we ever feel uncomfy,” Janis offers.

“What’s that?” Cady asks, tipping her head into the plushy pillow beneath her.

“Something we can say that wouldn’t come up too often in normal conversation that’ll let the other person know to take a second and check in. Basically our own word for ‘stop what you’re doing’.”

“…Pompom,” Cady says quietly. Janis grins and gently brushes her thumb over her cheek.

“Pompom it is,” she says. Cady hums happily at her touch and nuzzles into her hand.

“Is that it?”

“For now, I guess,” Janis agrees with a shrug. “We can talk more if anything else comes up later.”

“Okay,” Cady says. “This was nice.”

“Yeah,” Janis says. It was an awkward conversation, but a necessary one. Janis isn’t normally a big talker. Maybe with Damian, but most definitely not with anyone else. But Cady… it’s like she’s pulled a stopper somewhere in Janis’ mind and all the words just come pouring out. And she doesn’t really find herself wanting to stop them.

Cady gives her that fantastic, adorable smile. Janis decides she definitely doesn’t want to stop.

“So, uh…” she says anxiously. What now? All she can come up with is, “More kissing?”

Cady nods eagerly and leans in. Janis meets her halfway and shifts her arm to wind around Cady’s back. She keeps it close to the middle, not wanting to risk going any lower or higher and bringing up any memories again. Cady wraps her arms around Janis’ neck and tilts her head a bit for the best angle.

“Thank you,” she murmurs between sweet kisses.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Janis replies, gently nuzzling her nose against Cady’s. Cady grins happily and gently kisses the tip of Janis’ nose in retaliation.

“I’m gonna. Can we snuggle?” Cady replies softly. Janis kisses her one more time before gently tangling their legs together and pulling Cady impossibly closer. Cady sighs happily and curls in on herself, nosing her way into a tight embrace and pressing her face just above Janis’ chest.

They’re quiet again, both just relishing in finally holding the other girl close. Janis listens to Cady breathing and focuses as much as she can on the feeling of Cady’s fingertip tracing little figure eights on her tummy. It’s an absolutely beyond perfect moment.

“You’re still tense,” Cady whispers after who knows how long. She tips her face up to look at her. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Janis says. “I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” Cady asks softly.

“Everything,” Janis says. “Nothing.”

Cady nods thoughtfully. “You wanna talk?”

Janis shrugs. “It’s not really the kind of thing you can put into words, you know?”

Cady nods again. “Yeah. I get that. But you… look like you wanna talk to me or something.”

Janis shrugs again. “It’s nothing important.”

Cady adjusts herself a little bit so she’s as much on top of Janis as next to her. She looks meaningfully into her eyes as she says, “But I wanna know anyway. I don’t care if it’s not important. I wanna hear what you have to say.”

Janis blinks back the burn of a few tears and clears her throat as Cady starts fiddling with the blonde ends of her hair. It feels nice, so Janis doesn’t stop her. Until she quietly asks, “How much do you remember?”

“From the party?” Cady clarifies. Janis nods shyly.

Cady starts fidgeting again, but it’s clearly with some extra agitation. Whether it’s nerves, bad memories, or genuine anger; Janis can’t be sure. Stupid. Of course she wouldn’t want to talk about this.

She’s surprised when Cady says, “Not much.”

Janis pauses her worried, self-deprecating spiral in her head and blinks up at the redhead hovering on her elbows above her. Cady doesn’t meet her eyes, but Janis gets the feeling she really wants to. It’s just not something she can handle, one way or another.

“When I woke up in the hospital, it was just, like…” Cady mumbles hollowly. “You know when you have a nightmare, and then you wake up and can’t remember it? But you just know that you’ve just seen something awful?” Janis nods. “It was like that.”

Janis still doesn’t say anything. Cady seems to need her quiet. Need her to really listen.

“I knew something bad had happened. To me. I just… didn’t know what it was at first,” Cady says. “But I heard the story. From Aaron. And my parents. And… now it comes back in bursts, I guess.”

“Bursts?” Janis asks quietly. Cady nods and flicks her eyes up to meet Janis’.

“Sometimes if people touch me a certain way, or I smell something specific, or… I see… him,” Cady says. “It can be the littlest thing or the biggest thing, but sometimes a little piece of what happened just… hits me like a bus. But it all still just feels like a bad dream.”

Janis had almost completely forgotten Shane is still at their school. She doesn’t have any classes with him, and apparently the damage Janis did to his testicles at the party scared him enough that he doesn’t approach her outside of school hours.

But he is here. Cady’s had to see the boy who assaulted her, who could’ve seriously injured her, or worse, every single weekday for months since it happened. And she hasn’t complained or said anything once.

“I try not to think about it,” Cady continues quietly. “As much as I can. I just… don’t… I don’t want to face what’ll happen if I do. I know I have to, but I just- I can’t even sleep in the dark anymore because of him. I almost quit the squad because of him. I washed my uniform five times before I could wear it again just so there wasn’t any of him left on it. I didn’t leave the shower for, like, literally two days after I was released from the hospital and it still wasn’t enough. I literally scrubbed my skin off in a couple places.”

“God, Caddy,” Janis breathes. Cady bites her lip as tears well behind her eyes, and she looks off into the distance for a second.

“And I’m one of the lucky ones,” she chokes quietly. She looks back to Janis and whispers, “Because of you.”

“He still hurt you,” Janis says, rolling Cady back onto the bed and wiping her tears away with the back of a finger. Cady sniffles and nods.

“He did. But… you and Damian are the only reason I didn’t beg and plead to move back to Kenya,” she says shakily. “I learned that there are some… really shitty people in America, that day. Some really shitty people who do really shitty things. And if you hadn’t saved me I think that would’ve changed… everything, in me. Everything about me. But you did, and… I know there are some really incredible people here too.”

Janis smiles sadly and kisses her cheek, tasting the salt from her tears staining her sweet skin. “You’re one of them, too.”

Cady sniffs again and kisses her for real, resting a soft, gentle, chilly hand against her jaw and gently brushing the pads of her fingers against the sensitive skin just beneath Janis’ ear. She doesn’t say anything when she pulls back. She simply looks at Janis like she hung the stars and keeps her hand where it is. Janis can feel a similar look in her own eyes as she looks back at Cady in the relative darkness.

Cady wriggles close again, pressing back against Janis like she’s trying to pass directly through her. Janis certainly doesn’t complain.

She almost drifts off to sleep like that, with Cady’s steady, soothing weight pressed against her front and Janis’ arm looped around her waist to keep her that way. But Cady does something that gives Janis pause.

“Are you sniffing me?” she asks quietly.

“…Yes,” Cady says so, so softly, almost like an apology. Janis chuckles.

“Why?”

“It’s dumb,” Cady whines, hiding somehow closer against Janis. Janis laughs and squishes her a bit.

“No it’s not,” she says. “It’s cute. I just don’t get it.”

“I’m making a memory,” Cady mumbles.

Janis feels her heart melt a little. “A memory?”

She feels Cady nod against her chest. “I really like this. And I dunno when it’s gonna stop. So I like to go through everything I can to make sure I remember things like this forever.”

“What are you memorizing?” Janis whispers.

“You’re really warm,” Cady begins. “And your nails are scratching my back in a really satisfying place, but they’re dull, so they don’t hurt. It kind of tickles. And I’m in your shirt and it’s very cozy. Aaaaand… the wallpaper in this hotel is really garish, and the curtains are still open a little bit and I can still see the stars behind you. And it’s dark, but I can still see your face and your eyes and they look really pretty but kind of scary in the dark. And you smell like… the woods, but in a kind of fakey way. But a nice fakey way. And you also smell like paint. And laundry detergent. And I can just smush my face right in here and you have a freckle right here too. And your skin is really soft and warm.”

Janis laughs and squeals a bit as Cady noses right at the point her neck meets her chest. “That tickles.”

“And your voice is croaky,” Cady continues quietly. “Because you’re tired. And I can hear you breathe.”

“Sounds like a nice memory,” Janis whispers back. Cady nods contently.

“You should try it.”

“Maybe I will,” Janis says, grinning at Cady in the darkness. “Goodnight, Caddy.”

“Goodnight, Jay,” Cady echoes with a matching smile. She leans in for a sweet kiss before they settle in and drift off to sleep tangled together.

—————

Janis wakes up very slowly. There’s a warmth beneath her she isn’t used to; a steady rising and falling and the faint thumping of a heart. She opens her eyes and looks around.

She somehow wound up on top of Cady during the night, her ear just beneath Cady’s sternum and the blanket tucked just beneath her chin. She can faintly hear Cady’s tummy rumbling and the beating of her heart.

Cady has one hand resting protectively on Janis’ upper back and the other sprawled above her head. She’s still deeply asleep beneath Janis.

Janis feels herself smile as she wakes up a little further. Cady kissed her last night. They’re together. Official, in the flesh, bona fide girlfriends. They can’t tell anyone, but still. It happened.

Janis looks at the clock on the nightstand and sees it’s already nine. They don’t have to be out of the room until noon. The school, luckily, realized that trying to get a bunch of teenagers up and ready by any earlier would end in unavoidable disaster, so they have plenty of time.

Janis still thinks she should get up. She doesn’t want to. Ever. But she should probably get breakfast and stretch a bit so she doesn’t get too sore from yesterday’s game.

She carefully removes herself from Cady’s cuddly grasp, inching herself to the side and out of bed. Cady snuffles discontentedly when Janis’ weight is no longer on top of her. Janis freezes. Cady seems to drift off again, so she continues her sneaky scoot to the side.

She’s in the home stretch, one foot on the ground and everything, when Cady wakes up for real. Janis freezes when she feels a small hand gripping her shirt and hears a sleepy, “Don’t go.”

She turns her head to see Cady looking groggily at her; one hand on the hem of Janis’ shirt and the other being used to rub the sleep from her eyes. “I gotta go eat breakfast, Cads.”

“No,” Cady whines. She actually looks near tears at the prospect of Janis leaving her all alone in the big hotel bed. “Stay.”

Janis doesn’t even try to resist her. She rolls her eyes affectionately as she tugs the blanket aside and crawls back into the bed next to Cady. “Fine.”

Cady takes her turn to pin Janis to the bed, snuggling tightly against her side and resting her head on her chest. Janis gently squishes her close with her arm and rests her other hand softly against Cady’s side.

Before she knows it, she’s waking up again an hour later with Cady half on top of her. She’s staring at her like she’s been waiting for her to wake up the whole time. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Janis says as she stretches and yawns, interrupted partway through by a smile. “Girlfriend.”

Cady smiles back and sits up, crouching over Janis’ face to kiss her. Janis kisses her back before she rubs her eyes and sits up. “You have morning breath.”

“Thanks,” Janis chuckles. She pulls the covers aside and pads off to the bathroom to go brush her teeth. Cady follows and follows suit.

Janis can’t help but smile watching Cady do something as simple as brush her teeth; foam all around her lips and everything. And Janis knows then that she’s hopelessly in love with this girl.

Cady kisses her again when they both spit out their toothpaste and wipe the residue from their lips. “Much better.”

“Good,” Janis grins.

“Do you wanna stretch with me?” Cady asks eagerly as they head back into the main room. She looks like the most unhinged of angels, her still-wild slept on curls illuminated by the bright morning sun streaming in through the window and an even brighter smile on her face. Janis can’t find it anywhere within her to say no.

“Sure,” she says. She should anyway, but she gets the feeling that Cady’s definition of stretching is going to be a fair bit different from her own.

Sure enough, Cady immediately sinks to the ground and goes into a sort of lunge position. She pats the ground across from her and looks up at Janis with that same adorable grin.

Janis hesitates for a moment. It doesn’t look not painful. She takes note of how Cady’s legs are positioned before she carefully tries to copy it. “Ow.”

“Be careful,” Cady says in concern. “And make sure your knee doesn’t go past your toes.”

Janis looks at her foot and carefully adjusts herself. Her muscles are practically screaming at her. She hopes it’s just from all she did at the game yesterday and not some muscle she’s pulling now. It does feel almost kind of nice. “How often do you do this?”

“Every day,” Cady says nonchalantly.

“Every day?!” Janis yelps, losing her balance with the exclamation and tipping to the side. Cady catches her with a laugh and steadies her before she grabs her back foot and bends it to touch her bum. Janis tries to do the same. She doesn’t get anywhere close.

“It helps keep me flexible,” Cady says. “And it’s a nice quick way to wake up.”

“How do you do that?” Janis asks as they switch legs. She’s already out of breath.

“I’ve done it every day since I was four,” Cady giggles. “It stops hurting if you do it enough.”

“How nice,” Janis says. Cady laughs as she makes a visibly pained face.

“You don’t have to do it if you’re in that much pain, Jayjay,” she says.

“I’m committed,” Janis groans. She sighs in relief as Cady finally gets out of the hellacious lunges.

“Now the next one.”

“Next one?!”

“You can’t do a split if the only stretch you do is a lunge,” Cady says with a smile.

“I can’t do a split anyway,” Janis says. Cady does a similar move, but her front leg is straightened in front of her and she bends down to touch her nose to her knee. “Oh, hell no.”

Cady laughs so hard at that even she loses her balance. Janis chuckles with her and tries to do it. The straightened leg is easy enough, but she’s barely at a forty-five degree angle. Her nose is nowhere close to her knee. Cady says, “Thats really good!”

“You’re a hot liar,” Janis groans. “Good god.”

“No, really! For a beginner that’s really not bad, Jay,” Cady says. Janis shoots her a smile, which Cady returns.

Cady slides straight from that stretch into a split. Janis watches in awe and tries to do the same, but there’s a solid four inches between the apex of her thighs and the ground. Janis isn’t sure she’d be able to get a piece of paper between Cady’s and the ground.

The stretches for the middle splits are only slightly less painful, but they’re almost relaxing. It’s not dissimilar to the yoga classes Damian dragged Janis to a couple summers ago. She can almost see how this might be a nice way to begin a morning.

Cady can hold her split and lean forward to lie flat on the ground. Janis can… sit. She tries not to stare at Cady’s bum or muscled thighs as she stretches. She doesn’t quite manage it.

“Isn’t this nice?” Cady says as she straightens back up.

“Yeah, it’s a nice reminder that I have so many muscles I never use,” Janis sighs as she lays on the gross carpet of their room. Cady giggles and leans over her for a kiss.

“You did it, though,” she murmurs before she pulls away. Janis chuckles and kisses her back, leaning after her as Cady teasingly pulls away.

“Barely,” she sighs as their lips separate. “Cheer shit is intense.”

“You’re telling me,” Cady giggles as she does… some… back bend thing. Janis looks at her and leans in for another kiss while Cady’s upside down. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Janis responds. “I’m not doing that.”

“Suit yourself,” Cady grins. “You’re pretty upside down.”

“So are you,” Janis chuckles. “And right side up.”

“So smooth,” Cady says. She lets herself down from her stretch and ends up with her head in Janis’ lap. “Breakfast?”

“Finally!” Janis groans. Cady laughs and stands up, reaching to help Janis off the ground. She leads her to the door and out into the hall. Janis wants to hold her hand all the way down to the dining room, but she drops it before the door is even open all the way. Cady looks a bit upset. Janis gives her an apologetic look back. They both just channel it into looking like they want nothing to do with each other and walk down as far apart as they can bear to be.

They eat at separate tables, sneaking glances at the other as frequently as they dare to while also desperately trying not to arouse suspicion. Among other things.

Cady finishes first and heads back upstairs. Janis takes her time a bit more, savoring the off-brand Lucky Charms before wolfing down the last couple bites and running after her girlfriend.

She pauses in the elevator. They’ve had to act like they hate each other for at most ten minutes. It was agony. Are they getting into this too quickly? Nah.

Cady startles when Janis returns to their room, but she smiles when she sees her. Janis smiles apologetically. “Just me.”

“Hi,” Cady breathes, resting a hand over her heart. “Sorry. Plastics have me on edge.”

“Did they say anything?” Janis asks in concern as she starts lazily gathering her things to pack up. She winces as she opens her football duffel and is almost knocked off her feet by the smell. That’s definitely getting a thorough wash when she gets home.

She stuffs what she can into it and zips it back shut before Cady can be subjected to the heinous smell. The rest gets shoved into her personal backpack. Along with the mini shampoos and soaps in the bathroom, because of course. Damian hasn’t taught her nothing.

“No, I’m just being paranoid,” Cady says.

“Probably better than the alternative,” Janis chuckles wryly. Cady laughs too.

“Yeah, true.”

Cady pouts when they’re all packed up and only have five minutes to get down to the buses. Janis isn’t exactly thrilled herself. This hotel room was like their own little world, hidden in plain sight. Somewhere they could just enjoy being together without worrying too much about what anyone else would hear, or see, or think.

But their twelve-ish hours in paradise are up, and it’s back to reality. Janis sighs as she grabs her duffel and is almost out the door. She jumps as Cady slams it shut as soon as she has it open a few inches and somehow finds the strength in her tiny self to turn Janis around, pin her against it, and pull her down for a hungry kiss by the collar of her shirt.

Janis squeaks in surprise and kisses her back once she gets her bearings. What the hell just happened?

She’s not complaining, tasting the sweet syrup Cady had on her breakfast waffle off her pillowy soft lips.

Cady pulls back once they both run out of breath and gives one final peck to the corner of Janis’ lips. She pants, “Will you text me when you get home?”

“Of course,” Janis whispers back, leaning in to kiss her again. Cady smiles against her lips and kisses her back.

“Good.”

“Good,” Janis grins, smooching her one more time before she regretfully pulls away. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Cady says with a precious smile. “See you soon.”

Janis has a dopey grin on her face the whole way down to the buses. She can’t get rid of it even as she chucks her stuff into the storage trailer behind the bus and climbs on. Even as her teammates slowly make their way on after her. Even as the bus whirs to life and they’re off, heading back home.

Janis rests her head against the glass and watches the city go by absently; head filled to bursting with thoughts of Cady. Her girlfriend, Cady.

Maybe this year’ll turn out okay.

—————

thanks for reading!! i hope you enjoyed!!

lots of love,

ezzy

#cadnis #paint by numbers #space safari #cady heron x janis sarkisian #cady x janis #cady heron #janis sarkisian #mean girls #mean girls musical #mean girls broadway #mean girls the musical #mean girls on broadway #mean girls tour #mean girls on tour

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