Chapter Text
Rule #1: Just because I’m happy that she’s happy doesn’t mean you need to rub it in. Love, Cassidy
Miranda was sitting in the den with the sketches of the new summer collection when the twins bounded in. They leapt onto the couch with her and snuggled right up.
“These are pretty.” Cassidy lifted the page up to look at the page behind it. “Which one’s yours?”
“None of them, Donatella’s designing my dress for Paris this year.” Miranda took off her glasses and kissed both of their temples. “How was your weekend? I missed you terribly.”
“No, you didn’t, not even a little bit.” Caroline smiled, “you got to spend the weekend with your girlfriend.”
“A girlfriend is no substitute for my two favorite girls.” Miranda said sincerely, “did you do anything interesting this weekend that you didn’t even bother to call me and tell me about?”
“Dad let us drive a little bit,” Cassidy shrugged.
“It was kind of lame. We just drove around a parking lot.” Caroline sighed, “I’m not really crazy about driving.”
“Right, it’s not like we don’t have a driver.” Cassidy rolled her eyes. “When’s Paris again?”
“In two weeks.”
“Can we go this year? Please, please?” Caroline batted her eyelashes and tried her best to look like the very saddest puppy.
“I don’t feel good about taking you out of school for fashion week.” Miranda shook her head firmly. “I’ll take you to Paris sometime this summer.”
“Promise?” Caroline grinned.
“Cross my heart.” Miranda nodded, “you two should get to bed, you have school in the morning. Did you do your homework?”
“Yes…”
“Did you really?”
“…no.”
Miranda looked at her watch, “well, don’t stay up too late.”
The girls nodded begrudgingly. “Alright. Goodnight, mom.” They each kissed a cheek.
“Goodnight, girls.” Miranda put her glasses back on. Caroline retreated up the stairs but Cassidy hung back in the doorway. Miranda looked up, “yes, Bobbsey?”
“Could I go out tomorrow evening?”
“No.”
“Mom, please, I swear I’ll be back by nine.” Cassidy pleaded.
“Sweetheart, no. I love you and I’m sorry if your social life is shriveling and dying but you’re still grounded.”
“Haven’t I been punished enough?” Cassidy sighed and Miranda pursed her lips. “When am I ungrounded?”
“I’ll let you know when it feels right.” Miranda stopped Cassidy from speaking by continuing, “you routinely snuck out of the house to go to adult clubs which means that you made or bought a fake id. I can’t even begin to fathom the end of your punishment for that.”
“You ran away from home when you were sixteen! I don’t know why you’re so mad at me for this when you totally did worse!”
“It is not open for discussion, Cassidy. Go do your homework.”
“This is so unfair.” Cassidy scowled.
“You have no one to blame but yourself.”
“Not the way I see it.” She muttered under her breath.
“So, from your point of view, whose fault is it?” Miranda raised her eyebrows, daring Cassidy to dig herself a deeper hole.
“Um, I would actually say this is Andy’s fault.” Cassidy crossed her arms over her chest. “If she had just left well enough alone, you would never have found out. So, uh, yeah, I would say that the blame actually falls on your little girlfriend.”
“Cassidy, go to your room.” Miranda pursed her lips.
“Goodnight, Mom.” Cassidy sneered, disappearing from the room.
Miranda tossed the sketches onto the coffee table with annoyance and leaned back on the couch. She sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair. She took her glasses off again and set them down on top of the sketches.
She pulled out her phone and called Andy.
“Leslie, I’d like to make a statement to the press this morning, set that up for me.” Miranda closed the phone and dialed Emily, when her first assistant answered, she started, “have an extra coffee waiting for me and push the run through to first thing, clear my schedule from ten to noon. Get Demarchelier to confirm. I want to redo my office, get that interior designer that I like, the one who did that benefit that I went to last year.”
Cassidy pushed her eggs around her plate with her toast triangle. Miranda shut the phone, “Cassidy, eat your breakfast.”
“I’m starving myself so I can tell everyone that you have strict and unrealistic expectations for us.”
“Well, as long as you have goals,” Miranda decided she wasn’t going to argue with her so early in the morning. She gulped down the rest of her coffee. Cassidy sneered at her.
Caroline popped the last bite of toast into her mouth, “I’m the good daughter, mom.”
Miranda kissed Caroline’s forehead, “you’re both good daughters, Cassidy’s just a little wayward right now.”
“Can I go out with some friends after school today?” Caroline asked, sipping her orange juice.
“Yes, of course you may.” Miranda nodded, “should I expect you for dinner or not?”
“I don’t know, I’ll call you, okay?”
“That’s fine.”
Cassidy gawked, “oh come on! I totally asked the same thing and you said no!”
“Caroline is not grounded.” Miranda put a hand on her hip. Cassidy and Caroline’s phones beeped. “Your driver is waiting for you.”
Cassidy cast Miranda a sidelong dirty look as she stalked out of the kitchen with Caroline. Once on the sidewalk their driver, Taylor, opened the door for them. Settling into the plush seats Caroline shook her head.
“What?” Cassidy rolled her eyes.
“You really don’t understand how to deal with mom at all. You push and she’ll push back twice as hard. You’re never going to get ungrounded the way you’re going.”
“This sucks.” Cassidy sighed heavily and kicked her backpack. “So who are you going out with?”
Caroline grinned, “Derek and I are going on a double date with Rebecca and Jackson. We’re going to the Met and probably get coffee or something.”
“Lucky.”
“Is that thing with Kiki going anywhere?”
“Well, I haven’t had much opportunity to spend much time with her so I don’t know. I’m definitely interested and she’s clearly interested but I don’t know how sure she is that she wants to date women because we’ve never really talked about it. The party was the first indication she’d ever given to me. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high.” Cassidy sighed, “I just hope she doesn’t lose interest while I wait to get ungrounded.”
“Fair enough.” Caroline nodded. “But like I said, stop trying to agitate mom. That’s really not going to get you anywhere.”
“You have your goody two shoes method and I have mine.”
“Whatever,” Caroline laughed, “it’s your social life.”
Miranda slipped her Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses onto her nose and slid into the town car. Andy smiled at her from the other side of the backseat.
“Good morning, beautiful.” Andy smiled.
Miranda cupped her cheek and kissed her sweetly. Andy’s fingers played with the shortest hairs on the back of Miranda’s neck. Miranda’s driver, Carl, tried really hard not to look back at them as he pulled into traffic.
“So what’s the occasion?” Andy rubbed her nose against Miranda’s.
“I’m issuing a press statement today and I’d like you to be there.” Miranda used her finger to trace Andy’s jaw line. “I’m officially coming out today.”
Andy’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding!”
“I’m quite serious.” Miranda leaned back against the seat. “I’m much too old to play games. I also figured that since I plan to take you out and lavish attention on you that I should do it first before Page Six does it for me, right?”
“Are you sure, Miranda?” Andy searched her eyes.
“Sure that I love you? Yes. Sure that I make no apologies for loving you? Yes.” Miranda scrolled through her Blackberry, “sure that I want to do it and not let Page Six do it for me? Yes.”
“That’s a big step, Miranda. I’m proud of you.” Andy took her hand.
The phone rang and Miranda flipped it open. “What time?” Miranda waited, “I’m just making a statement, I’m not answering questions.” She shut the phone. “I’m not undergoing a personality change, of course I’m not answering questions.” She rolled her eyes.
“You’re amazing, Miranda.”
“I know.” Miranda batted her eyelashes at Andy playfully. “I don’t think it’s possible to keep your name out of it, but I can ask Leslie to try.”
Andy shrugged, “it’s not a big deal. I never thought that I’d show up in Page Six at all.”
“Stick with me, kid.”
The car stopped in front of Elias-Clarke and Andy reached for the handle but Miranda put her hand on her arm and shook her head, “Andrea, no.”
Carl opened the door and gave a small bow of submission to the women inside. Miranda let go of Andy’s arm and nodded towards the door.
Cassidy sat in her last period class and stared hopefully at the clock, watching each agonizing second tick by unfazed by her agitation and ill-will. As the minute hand finally clicked over the six signifying 2:30 and the bell sounded through the classroom Cassidy leapt up and, along with a sea of her classmates, booked it for the front door.
“Yo Cass.”
“Hey Doug. What’s up?”
“Jane and George and I are going to the mall. You should come.” He fell into step next to her.
Cassidy shook her head with resignation, “no can do, Doug. I’m super mega-grounded, I told you that.”
“Sneak out like usual.” Doug shrugged.
“My mom is so pissed at me, she’s being super vigilant. There’s no way I could swing it.” Cassidy sighed as they stepped out into the courtyard. Cassidy slipped on her Vera Wang sunglasses.
“Nah, but she’s all into her girlfriend or whatever, right?”
Cassidy stopped her friend and turned to look at him with furrowed brow. “How do you know about her girlfriend?”
“Oh, well, the news was on in study hall and there was a recap of the press statement she gave this morning.” Doug shrugged, “you knew about it, right?”
“Yeah, no, I knew…” Cassidy was in shock, “I can’t believe she went public with it.”
“Must be pretty serious, huh?” Doug smiled a little, “what with the girlfriend standing behind her looking totally Jackie O. She’s cute enough. Do you know how old she is?” Doug’s cell phone beeped.
Cassidy shook her head. “This is ridiculous. How is it that my love life is falling to pieces and she’s the belle of the ball, as per usual? I cannot believe she went public for Andy.” Cassidy sighed heavily. “Doug, I have to go home. I have to play angel so my mom will want to unground me, you guys have fun, okay?”
“Aw, Cass, Kiki just confirmed that she’s coming to the mall.”
Cassidy groaned, “tell her I miss her and I’ll call her later. I really can’t go.”
Doug shrugged, “suit yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Cassidy stalked off toward the row of idling cars to find Taylor. She passed by a newspaper stand and was assaulted by a front page picture of Miranda staring out with an icy expression that showed her disgust at being photographed. The white block lettering beneath her face read: “Who’s Melting the Ice Queen?”
Cassidy snatched one of the magazines. She couldn’t believe that it had hit newsstands already. As she flipped through the newsprint pages, staining her fingertips with the cheap ink, the man behind the kiosk barked, “hey kid, those aren’t free!”
Cassidy turned a patented Priestly glare at the unfortunate man. “Get over yourself.” She spat as she threw a ten at him and continued on her walk to the car.
Taylor smiled at her, like usual, and opened the door for her. She dropped down into the seat heavily and haphazardly discarded the bag next to her. Finally she located the article on Miranda and began to read.
“Taylor, have you seen this?” She demanded.
“No, Ms. Priestly.”
“The Wicked Witch just came out of the closet in a global venue and she’s being praised.” Cassidy sighed heavily, “which, you know, don’t get me wrong, good for her, but I just feel like there’s nothing she does that doesn’t come up roses and it seems so unfair.”
Taylor remained silent. He knew that Cassidy intended for him to be a sounding board and not to offer any actual words of wisdom.
“Even Irv Ravitz praised her.” She shook the newspaper in disgust. “he says: ‘Miranda and I are frequently divided on a lot of issues, mostly over her budget, but the fact of it is is that she’s good at what she does and she sells magazines.’ I mean, it wasn’t a rave review, he basically said I hated her before, I hate her now but it doesn’t sound like he plans to try and fire her or anything. I don’t even want to read Andy’s quote. It’s undoubtedly some sickeningly saccharine thing dripping with love and admiration.
“If she were a politician she’d be ripped to shreds but because she’s already part of this subculture, she’s already a bitch and a half without any apologies so it’s like no big thing, you know? No one expects her to be pious so it’s not a big shock. Plus, it’s totally not like there aren’t a shitton of gay people in fashion. If you’re going to come out in any industry it should really be fashion. Like, at a fashion meeting someone stands up and says ‘hi, I’m gay’ and they’re answered by a sea of ‘me too.’”
Cassidy spent the rest of the ride listing all the reasons why Miranda’s smooth outcoming was unfair and unrealistic. When the car rolled up to the curb in front of the looming townhouse Cassidy shoved the magazine in her bag and got out, ascending the steps.
She swung open the door, surprised to find Miranda and Andy waiting in the foyer.
“Cassidy,” Miranda started but Cassidy cut her off.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Cassidy grumbled as she disappeared up the stairs and into her room.