i'm only given clues

Chapter 1

It makes them feel all the more awkward when she informs them it's what her parents used to sing to each other on Sunday mornings after date night.

/

Normani doesn't know why she agreed to this part of the trip. Camila walks around telling them about Graceland and seems to know more of its history than most of the tour guides. Austin gets confused by half the things that she's saying and grows a strange obsession with Elvis's kitchen. Cordell spends the entire time doing impressions, and Troye just continually comments on the tackiness of the décor, no matter how many obese old ladies wearing Elvis shirts can hear.

The Jungle room is kinda cool though, and Dinah is genuinely confused to how there's grass inside. They walk through the rest of the house, admiring all the artifacts and eyeing all of Elvis' gold records. Keith follows behind them with Quincy, both of them deciding what they'll do with their own Gracelands once they're huge, world-famous rock stars.

Normani listens to them for a while, but when they start talking about video games, she goes back to listening to the tour. It gets kind of boring after a while. There's only so much Elvis she can take. She's pretty sure if she doesn't leave now she'll never be able to get "Suspicious Minds" out of her head.

/

Next stop on the Memphis tour is to see Sam Phillips' Sun Studio. Keith almost pees his pants at the sight of the birth place of rock and roll, and he and Camila squeal for an hour about what it must have been like back in the day.

Normani chooses to wander up and down the street with Ryan. She's been quiet all day and Normani's starting to think it's not just the hangover that's dragging her down. She has that feeling again, tugging at her chest, and it starts to frustrate her that she can't seem to identify it. She just knows that something's not right.

"You okay?" she asks softly. The words feel foreign on her tongue.

Ryan nods and doesn't say anything. They walk up and down the street in silence.

/

The thirteen of them end up walking around Memphis for hours, relishing in a new place and new air, another corner of the world where no one knows who they are.

Normani stands between Ryan and Dinah at the back of the group. The back of her hand keeps brushing against Dinah's and she wants nothing more in the world than to feel comfortable enough to just tangle their fingers together and not let go, but she's afraid to let other people know.

Instead, she links their pinkies together and squeezes. For a while, it's enough.

/

They end up in an old bar that only plays the songs of the artists that made the area famous. It's like jumping back in time.

Ally and Ty charm the manager with their too-fast rapping and he gives them all a free dinner for brightening up his day. When the food arrives, Ally and Ty flop onto their empty chairs exhausted. The entire restaurant applauds them and Lauren leans over to press a proud kiss to Ty's lips.

Jealousy begins to bubble inside of Normani and she purses her lips to tamp it down. She watches as they giggle together and whisper things in each others ears. She tears her eyes away, not willing to torture herself anymore, only to be greeted with Camila, giggling with Austin, and Troye and Jacob leaning in close as they whisper like there's no one else in the room. Even Ally and Cordell seem more interested in each other than the rest of their friends and Ryan's talking intently with Keith and Quincy.

Dinah's hand falls to her knee beneath the table and squeezes. She leans in close to whisper into Normani's ear while no one's looking, leaving her face there a few seconds to wallow in the feel of being so close to one another.