out of my league [Regina George]

ten

"so.." regina started sitting up from where she was laying down on her bed as Ava sat on the edge

"so" ava looked into her eyes as she put her hand on regina's in the latter's lap "i had no clue you liked me back" she confessed

"yeah, i am unpredictable like that" she mumbled as her gaze flickered to ava's lips then back to her eyes "but we do have to keep it on the low" she said caressing ava's knuckles with her thumb

"yeah, i agree" ava nods "we do have to go over inorganic chem-"

"you're such a buzzkill" regina cuts her off by grabbing a pillow and hitting ava with it as the two laughed

"hey I still am your tutor" Ava laughed

it's been a couple of weeks since Regina and Ava had started dating in private.

sure it hurt Ava seeing Regina with Aaron whenever they were in public, but the blonde made sure to make up for it in private

it was one lazy Sunday afternoon when the two were at Regina's. Ava had somehow convinced her to study

"and I am done" Regina smiled giving Ava back the test paper

"good job" she smiled back at the blonde "can you grab me my pen? it's in my bag" she said pointing over at her backpack

"sure" regina walked over towards the girl's bag as Ava looked over Regina's answers

regina did not find the pen in Ava's backpack, she found something else

"what the hell is this?" the blonde asked as she turned around with a pack of cigarettes from Ava's bag

"cigarettes?" ava furrowed her eyebrows

"why? why do you smoke?" regina asked worriedly

"i don't" Ava chuckled "see love, you need something like a lighter to light the cigs to smoke it, I don't have a lighter" she explained

"then why do you carry around a pack a cigarettes?" she asked making her way over to Ava

"i-" Ava cut herself off waving her hand around "it's a long boring story" she said

"we've got time" regina sat down in the chair in front of Ava's

"no, what we've got is got to stu-"

"shh" regina softly shushed her closing the notes on the table shut "tell me the story"

"okay okay," Ava chuckled surrendering in defeat

"that's like it"

"so i was around 10-ish when i found a pack of cigarettes in my dad's stuff. like any wanna be cool kid i lit it and took a drag, it almost killed me with the coughing" she smiled remembering the memories

regina leaned forward maintaining ee contact as she couldn't fight the smile that came on seeing Ava smile

"and my dad saw me" Ava continued "he however, didn't stop or scold me. he sat down with me and taught me how to smoke"

Regina's eyes widened with surprise but she didn't say anything not wanting to disrupt Ava

"and i became somewhat addicted in only a month. then within a couple of years I was smoking like a pack a day" Ava shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes

Regina's eyes softened seeing Ava's state, she held the latter's hand in hopes of conveying some comfort through the touch

"yeah and uh" Ava tried blinking away the tears "at 15 years old i ended up in the hospital for a couple of months and i remember when I was on the verge if dying my dad made me promise him that I'd never smoke again if it wasn't with him" she sniffled "so I've been trying to quit and that pack is just there to remind me of how nice he was once upon a time" she dry chuckled

seeing Ava like this broke Regina's heart. the blonde got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the girl as she wrapped her arms around her neck and Ava's hand snaked around Regina's waist, as she sobbed into her torso

"yeah and the cigarette between my lips tricks the brain into thinking I am actually smoking when I am not" Ava explained as Regina scratched her head softly, playing with her hair

"oh baby" regina sighed "that's terrible" 

"yeah" ava pulled away as she chuckled dryly "i really did get the best of both worlds, huh" she sniffled, referring to what others call her at school "druggie dad and whore mom, qualities to inherit" 

"who cares what they think? they're wrong. they don't even know you" regina kneelt down in front of ava, taking the girl's face into her own hands "i know you, and i say you're nothing like that. you're a nerd, a prodigy. you're loyal and kind and comapssionate, alright?" 

"yeah" ava chuckled "thanks, regina. that really means a lot to me" 

"hey, you wanna hear a funny story?" regina asked

"yeah" ava appreaciated the blonde's efforts as she sat back 

"so" she started "there was this girl call her golden about nine-ten years old and was n bicycling when one of the tires of the bike got stuck in some mud and she fell. she saw a really big, scary dog that was barking at her, she was so scared she froze when this other girl with short hair, let's name her shorty, threw stones at the dog making him run away" 

ava nodded at the familiarity of the story 

"shorty then helped golden getting up and introduced herself, she also took golden's bike that was stuck in the mud and at that moment, golden felt something for shorty she didn't uncover it until years later when she saw shorty again, but now shorty for some reason hated her and golden never got to confess her feelings" regina paused "cute, right?" 

"mhm" ava smiled "except golden and shorty are together in a relationship right now" she said "golden being you and shorty being me of course" 

"what? no" regina said which only confirmed ava's suspicion

"shorty, maybe just didn't recognise golden, you know?" she said before she let out a laugh she was holding "baby, you've been in love with me for like seven years?" 

"shut up" regina elbowed the girl 

"and here i wasthinking, i fell first" she said scrunching her nose 

"you definetely fell harder" regina snapped back 

"yes" ava nodded "yes, i did"