i'm only given clues

Chapter 1

"I'm really glad you decided to have this trip," Dinah whispers when Normani doesn't say anything. "I like it that you let everyone come along. I'm glad that I got to come too."

Normani sighs then because responding to that is easy. "Me too."

Dinah shifts to share Normani's pillow and soon her arm is wrapped around Normani's waist. Normani tilts her head to look at her, their noses touching softly. It doesn't surprise her as much as it should when she notices that her arm has wormed its way around Dinah's back or that her hands are clinging to the fabric of her shirt.

They move closer at the same time. It's such a familiar action, to kiss goodnight. They used to do it all the time, but Normani can't remember the last time they actually did and pauses reluctantly. Things are different now, in a way that she both loves and hates at the same time.

It takes a minute or two, but Dinah nudges their noses together again, coaxing her forward to make the first move and letting her know it's okay. She does it gladly, eyes fluttering closed as her mouth moves closer...

"Ryan needs ice," Keith sing-songs as the balcony door slides open with a crash. They break apart, but he barely notices them anyway as he makes his way quickly through the room and out the door.

Normani waits a few moments before turning in Dinah's arms. Dinah understands the motion instantly and wraps her arms around Normani's body until they're spooned tightly together. Her face buries itself in Normani's hair and Normani lulls into a deep sleep at the feel of Dinah's breath steady against her neck.

With their hands locked over her stomach beneath the covers, she finds her first bit of peace.

/

Normani wakes at 5am with Ryan laying beside her. She stinks of Jack Daniels and cigarettes. That uncorroborated sense of guilt Normani felt yesterday tugs at her chest but it feels different and not really like guilt at all.

She reaches over and tangles her fingers with Ryan's, just in case someone would see her with Dinah and suspect anything.

/

Camila wakes them at 7am, much to their disapproval. Normani throws the pillow beneath hers and Dinah's heads at the door, and Ryan just covers her face with the one she'd been resting on, groaning in pain.

Dinah switches to using Normani's shoulder as a pillow and Quincy stares around the room in confusion.

Keith doesn't even stir.

/

They leave for Memphis on the scheduled time that the itinerary says they should. Everyone's dressed, fed and watered; Normani has a fresh cup of coffee in the cup holder beside her, and she feels better about today than she did yesterday.

Dinah sits behind Normani instead of beside her, choosing to waste away the three and a half hour journey by watching Friends episodes on the DVD players set in the back of Normani's headrests. Ryan sits beside Normani, Quincy next to Dinah with Keith laid out in the back clutching his stomach. The three of them are hung over and manage to sleep the entire journey, even with Dinah giggling every few minutes at something Joey says.

/

They arrive in Memphis around noon and head straight for Graceland. Camila jumps out of the car and looks strangely excited even though she's never expressed a fondness for the King before.

She sings "Burning Love" all the way up to the entrance, garnering stares from everyone around them until Troye stops her and kindly asks why, of all the songs in Elvis's catalog, she chose that one.