"Are you nervous?"
Normani turns her head to the side, and notices the warm smile on the older man's face. "Yeah." She admits, nodding as she speaks. She looks down at her shoes, and sighs deeply.
"Well, don't be." He replies smoothly as he grabs her slightly trembling hand. "We've been together in front of an audience before, remember?"
"Yeah." Normani nods in agreement, but as she listens to the cheers outside, her heart sinks a little more, and her nerves build up once more. "But never of this size. Never in a building this big."
"You'll be fine." He responds, slightly swinging their hands. "I mean, you've got me..." he begins listing, but doesn't continue as he smiles, watching Normani giggle softly. "And as long as we're here together, we can do this. We can go out there, and not be nervous."
"We can." Normani sighs confidently as she looks down at her outfit. "You think I look okay?"
The man playfully steps back to look at her behind, but Normani raises their joined hands in a motion to hit him, causing him to chuckle. "I'm kidding!" He defends himself through his laughter as he steps forward again. "You look gorgeous." He says sincerely. "As usual." He adds with another chuckle. "Even with that booty poking all the way out."
"Vaaaaallll." Normani whines as she swings their hands in mock frustration again. "Stop."
"Okay." He nods as his laughter dies down. "But we aren't called booty and the beast for nothing."
"We aren't called Booty and The Beast, at all." Normani reminds the light skinned man. "It's Valmani."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Val shrugs as he playfully rolls his eyes regarding the topic of Normani's die hard fan base.
"Ready?"
The pair turn their heads toward a man with a microphone, and Val meets his eyes as he nods at them.
"Ready?" Val asks Normani, who nods with a nervous smile.
"Ready." She confirms.
"Okay, we're set." The man says into the microphone, before motioning the two over, gesturing towards a small cross on a sort of conveyer belt. "Just don't get off too fast." He warns them before motioning for them to step on top of it.
Val gets on first, respectfully waiting for Normani as he holds her hand. As the two are set, the man makes a sort of hand signal to another, and then a thumbs up. Normani yelps quietly as the "floor" begins to move. "Let's do this." Val whispers as the two are whisked to the main stage.
"And now." The voice of MC Lyte fills the arena, "Please welcome, from the cast of Season 24 of Dancing With The Stars, model and actress Normani, and Val, team Valmani!"
The smile spreads across Normani's face wider, as the crowd begins to cheer louder than before, sending chills down her spine.
Val gets off first, again waiting as Normani takes his hand, allowing her off slowly as well. As soon as she's off, Val secures their fingers in a hand lock, and leads them towards the podium as Normani waves towards the audience, making them scream a little louder.
As they reach the podium, Val leaves Normani's hand, rather bringing his arm over her shoulder as he smiles, pointing at her. "A beauty, huh?" He asks, gaining more screams from the audience. He laughs before dropping his arm, and looking at a blushing Normani. "Wanna go?"
"Right." Normani's voice is a bit shaky as she reaches the mic, and she adds a giggle when she hears a fan scream "Fuck me!". "Alright." She laughs, causing the audience to laugh too. "So as we all know, tonight is a night to celebrate music, not only in America, but all around the world." Normani reads off the screen first, and then nudges a slightly distracted Val.
