i'm only given clues

Chapter 6

"You can have my bed if you want it," Dinah says.

"No, he can't!" Normani says quickly and then her face drops at the inquisitive glares everyone gives her. "Look," she says ignoring the two smirks she gets from Dinah and Ryan. "It's all worked out. You've got it good. The pool house has four twin beds and that's why you're staying there. It has a TV that's hooked up to ESPN, porn and the sci-fi channel. Plus, I'm pretty sure there's an Xbox in there."

Their hard glares soften with the possibilities and Normani goes on.

"Camila and Ally are sharing because Cabello snores like there's a toddler stuck up her nose and Ally sleeps with earplugs in, so it works better that way," she carries on. "So there."

"Yeah," Austin says moving closer to her. Normani rolls her eyes. "But I still don't think it's fair that Camila and I can't share just because you say so. And what if we, or Cordell and Ally, want to... have time alone?" Everyone looks across the room where Camila and Ally sit side by side looking nervous. "What happens then? Have we got to hang a sock on the door?"

A dull surge of protectiveness overcomes Normani as she looks at Camila and Ally. And sure, she isn't too fond of anyone in this room apart from Dinah, right now, but she knows genuine fear when she sees it. Their eyes are wide and bright as they remain silent and, even from here, Normani knows that they're more than happy with the arrangements Normani's made for them.

She crosses her arms. "This isn't going to be one of those vacations where everyone gets drunk, has sex and does a ton of stupid stuff," she says squaring up to him. "I don't want that on my conscience or the thought in my brain. This is how things are going and that's it. Final."

Austin opens his mouth to say something but she raises her eyes in her own perfectly intimidating way and he closes it instantly. The entire room falls silent and Ally and Camila look ready to black out with relief.

Keith groans and rolls his eyes as he gets up from his chair.

"Whatever," he says. "Where's the freaking hot tub?"

/

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he hollers looking down at the ground. Normani screws up her face at him, brow curled into a disgusted confusion. "LET'S ROAST A WHOLE HOG!"

Normani folds her arms and says what they're all thinking. "Powers, you're Jewish."

"So?" Keith indicates at the shallow concrete well dug into the floor, covered in the leftover remnants of coal and burnt firewood left behind from last year. "We have a damn fire pit! I don't want to eat the pig; I just want to set it on fire!"

Ryan scoffs at him as she moves to stand beside Normani with Quincy. "Powers, you're an idiot," she says softly, her hand lingering a little high on Quincy's shoulder and brushing his neck a little too familiarly.

Normani darts her eyes to Dinah again to see if she caught it. The pleased little half-smirk that adorns her face and excited shuffle of her feet tells Normani that she did.

She's about to agree with Ryan and say something smart-ass in her direction, but then something grumbles in her stomach at the thought of cooked to perfection meet and changes her mind.

"I could totally go for a burger, though," she admits with a shrug. Everyone around her murmurs in agreement, everyone except Ryan.

Her face shrinks into a look of deep contemplation, pondering all the possibilities of Normani's suggestion. Her hand falls to her stomach and she rolls her eyes.

"Yeah," she says, annoyed. "Me too."

/

The group decides to barbeque but the pantry only gives them two-year-old crackers and a jar of something that kinda looks like tomatoes.