fp: 4/12/21
part 50 - how did this get so far? and it's nowhere near the end. wild. stream ordinaryish people by ajr and enjoy!
dinah
clara offered to babysit tonight
dinah
she did coat that with saying that i'm uptight and probably need a night to myself but
dinah
she has michael tonight
normanz 💕
that sounds like an invite to come over
dinah
i ordered pizza and chicken wings
normanz 💕
i'm coming
-
Half an hour after their texts, Normani arrives at Dinah's. They talk for a while and the food arrives, which they devour in no more than one crappy romcom.
"How long were you mad at me for?" Dinah asks once they've decided to go lay down in her room.
Normani sighs, not meeting her eyes, "Longer than I'd like to admit."
It's quiet for a few minutes and Normani grabs her hand, gently running her thumb alongside the younger girl's knuckles, "If you stayed after high school, do you think you ever would've gotten over Lauren?"
Dinah hums, "I was already almost over her when I left. I knew she was happy with Camila and it was enough for a really long time. And I liked you... but, I don't know how to explain it. UCLA accepting me was like this fresh start that I never imagined for myself."
"So you're happy that you took it?" Normani asks.
"Even though it hurt so much at the time?" Dinah asks and Normani nods, "Yeah, I'm glad I did, because it gave me the time I needed to reevaluate everything I was doing. And I found Michael... and he just makes everything so much better in my life."
"That's the only time I've ever heard you use male pronouns in a loving way," Normani laughs, and Dinah laughs with her.
"I mean," Dinah's stomach twists at the way Normani's looking at her, "I loved my brothers. They just never really came up."
"You never talked about your family except for your mom," Normani replies, shuffling so she could cuddle closer to Dinah, "and that was always just bashing, you never spoke fondly of her."
"There's not a lot to be fond of," Dinah explains, "like... the one time she was truly proud was the day we got the confirmation that I could move on to fourth grade instead of third. She and my dad took me and my siblings out for ice cream and because I was showing so much promise, she got me two scoops while the rest of my family only got one."
"My mom did shit like that for everything. Good grades, bad grades, graduations, bad days especially but she'd bring home a tub and we'd go to town with shit movies playing... she was the best at that," Normani recounts, a perfectly placated smile on her face, "even when I moved out, she said that once a month we needed to have a treat together, even if it was over FaceTime."
"I loved your mom," Dinah says, "She always asked me how I was doing, even if I was fine, and I was so not used to it that I was really standoffish at first and she had to sit me down and explain that she wasn't trying to catch me doing anything wrong and she just cared."
"She told me about that after you left," Normani says, and Dinah barely notices how their voices have fallen from loud laughter to gentle voices that were reserved for only them to hear. "I never asked because I was pissed and kind of just wanted to rip your eyeballs out, but how did you manage living alone?"
Dinah raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
Normani cocks her head slightly, "I mean, you used to be talking all the time. I couldn't turn the TV off for the month after you left because the quiet bothered me so much."
Dinah flushes, "I didn't realize I talked that much."
"I didn't either, until you left and it was like nothing was happening in the house anymore," Normani replies, "oh my god, and you sang when you were doing shit around the house too, like when you were doing homework you'd always be singing to yourself."
Dinah flushes again, this time bringing her hands up to cover her face.
Normani just smiles and gently pulls Dinah's hands away from her face, "I don't know if you remember this, but you used to crawl into bed with me like three times a week because you hated sleeping alone."
Dinah groans, hiding her face in the pillows, "It wasn't that often."
"You're right, it was probably more," Normani giggles, and Dinah doesn't say anything. "I just- how did you manage?"
Dinah finally pulls her face out of the pillows and looks at Normani, gently playing with their joined hands, "It sucked at first. I was all alone in this scary big city and it was so boring. But then I taught myself how to cook and started playing piano again and started classes and occupied myself."
Normani nods, finally taking Dinah's face in her hands and kissing her, "I really missed you."
Dinah kisses her back gently, almost if she tried too hard the older girl would break. They pull apart and their eyes meet, and just as quickly as it started, they laugh and kiss again, smiles on their faces the whole time.
"How did we hold ourselves back in high school? I was like ten times hornier then," Normani asks, and Dinah laughs.
"I was scared that I was going to fall in love with you like I did Lauren," Dinah admits, "Or worse, I would fall in love with you and Lauren at the same time and my head would explode."
"Surprised it hasn't with all the nerd shit you do," Normani laughs, and Dinah rolls her eyes.
"It's called a coping mechanism," Dinah retorts, and Normani groans.
"My coping mechanisms when I'm sad are hiding under the covers or pretending my problems don't exist. Why do you have such a productive one?" She whines, and the younger girl shrugs.
"If I ever find out, I'll tell you," Dinah says, "but for right now, I'd rather fuck your brains out."
"Romantic."
Dinah kisses her, "I wasn't trying to be. But if you don't want to, we don't have to."
"Oh, I want to."
-
camila @camila_cabello · 3m
someone please tell @normani that i'm a good dancer
→ normani @normani · 2m
@camila_cabello don't make your fans lie to you
→ camila @camila_cabello · 34 sec
@normani so rude i don't know why i even hang out w you
-
dinah
imagine flying on a private plane and complaining
normanz 💕
I HATE FLYING
dinah
you picked the wrong career then
normanz 💕
stfu
dinah
you texted me
normanz 💕
hi dinahhhh it's camila and normani's busy ignoring you
dinah
hi mila
dinah
tell normani she's a wimp
normanz 💕
it was not appreciated
dinah
wasn't supposed to be ❤️
dinah
where are you guys going anyway
normanz 💕
it's mani again
normanz 💕
and we're going to new york
normanz 💕
i'm still unclear as to why i'm here
normanz 💕 would like to FaceTime...
Dinah picks up the call, smiling when she sees Normani on the other end, "You have like ten minutes until my lunch break is finished."
"I still don't know why I'm here and I'm over it," Normani says, and the screen quickly flicks to Camila, who's laughing.
"I brought her along because she's helping me with tour. Even though she doesn't want to," Camila explains before panning the camera over to another section of the plane, "and Lauren's over there sleeping. Or she's fake sleeping so she doesn't want to be annoyed by Mani's overdramatics."
Dinah laughs lightly, "How much longer is your flight?"
Camila looks over her shoulder, "Um, two hours, maybe? I don't really pay attention. And Mani's been all I'm gonna blow so I've been listening to music so I'm not hearing that."
"Now you are, though," Dinah replies, "is it really as bad as she's making it sound?"
"No!" Camila exclaims, "There was minor turbulence in the beginning but it's been perfect since then. Mani's a wimp."
Dinah hears a "Mila, shut up," off to the side and laughs again.
"Anything exciting happening today?" Camila asks, and Dinah shakes her head.
"Nothing, really. It's Friday, though, so I'll probably take Michael out for ice cream tonight," she replies, and Camila grins.
"When do I get to corrupt him with my music? You have to raise fans, Dinah," she says.
"He loves Havana," Dinah responds, "It came out when he was first starting preschool and when he overheard Zendaya and I talking about you he told everyone that his mom knew The Havana Girl."
Camila laughs, "I'm okay with that reputation."
"Good," Dinah smiles, "I should probably get going, tell Normani I'll call her tonight."
-
Something strange happens when the girls arrive at the apartment. It's not Normani immediately leaving to get food, it's not Camila suggesting that they leave the suitcases as a tomorrow problem.
It's Lauren saying that she is over the rain.
Lauren's always loved rain, Camila always has found it weird that Lauren enjoys something that is supposed to symbolize something crappy, but she loves Lauren and has grown to love rain as well.
Camila brushes it off, though, and Lauren just moves on to unpacking their bags and looking at her class schedule.
Camila's nearly asleep by the time that Lauren crawls into bed with her, and Camila wrinkles her nose at the scent of weed on Lauren's breath.
"Jesus, Lauren, go brush your teeth," Camila whines, pushing Lauren away gently by her arm.
"I'm tired," Lauren whines, and Camila sighs.
"Please, baby? We can cuddle after if you do," she asks, and Lauren huffs before getting out of bed.
Camila cuddles back into the pillows, now unable to get the scent out of her nose.
She truly doesn't mind it when Lauren smokes, she knows that it's relatively fine and actually helps more than it hurts, but the scent is something that Camila hasn't ever been good with. It hurts her nose always brings her to the brink of a headache.
She buries her face in her pillow, listening to the quiet rumblings of the city over Lauren brushing her teeth in the bathroom.
Soon, Lauren clambers back into bed and presses herself as close to Camila as possible, and Camila winds her arms around Lauren's waist.
"I love you," Lauren whispers against her neck, and Camila gently traces circles on Lauren's back.
"I love you, too."
-
"You're so depressing," Normani says, pulling Lauren's blanket off of her, "Get your sorry ass off the couch."
"No, I'm sad," Lauren retorts, rolling over so that she doesn't have to face Normani.
"You don't get to be," Normani says, folding the blanket and draping it over the armchair, "you're the one that kissed another person, not Mila. So get your sorry ass off the couch and at least get food with me, or come to a party with me tonight."
"No," Lauren mumbles, "I deserve to rot here."
Normani rolls her eyes, not voicing her agreement. "I'll call your mom. She still doesn't know, would you really like for her to find out through me?"
Normani's never seen Lauren jump up so quick, "Where are we going?"
Normani, flabbergasted, takes a moment to respond. She notes in the back of her head to use Lauren's mom as a threat more often.
"Well, before you and Mila broke up, you were thinking of getting your second tattoo, how about we do that?" Normani asks, following Lauren to her room.
Lauren shuts the door and Normani sighs, that was a long shot.
Lauren appears two minutes later in fresh clothes, "Why not?"
Normani smiles, "Alright! Let's go then!"
-
kind of a lame fiftieth part but anyway! this book has come so far in the last 5-6 months i've been writing it and it's been so much fun to write
while i'm in the midst of plotting the rest of the book out, is there anything that you guys have yet to see that you want to see? any confusion that i should clear up? let me know!
anyway i love you all thank you all and maybe i'll update again soon we'll see how productive i feel.