In where a sheltered and shy Normani meets an exuberant and flirty Dinah.
Written: november 12, 2018
"Mani!" A light brunette-haired Allyson Hernandez exclaims as she smacks a pillow against a figure sprawled out against a queen sized mattress. It simply groans in response. "Get up! You promised you'd come with us to the bonfire tonight and it's already eight o'clock."
The body shifts under the puffy white comforter, a chocolate colored foot poking itself out from its confines of the bed sheets. "Phuck dnn boonfrr," the pillow rumbles.
Huffing and rolling her eyes in utter annoyance, Ally rounds the bed until she's at the foot. Then, grabbing the comforter, she pulls the heavy white sheet towards the carpet floor, before hastily covering her eyes while shrieking.
"Why the hell are you naked?!"
Long, dark brunette hair is sprawled messily against a pillow as 21-year-old Normani Hamilton lifts an arm out, her hand searching blindly for the cover that was keeping her warm only mere seconds ago. The ebony whines as she squeezes her eyes tighter, arm still elevated in the air as her clothed legs move towards her bare chest for warmth. She's unbothered by Ally's sudden yelling, instead simply wanting to go back to sleep. She clenches and unclenches her hand. "'Gimmie my covers back, Als." she mumbles, before her arm drops lazily back to her side.
"No, you're coming to the bonfire." Ally's demanding tone wakes Normani from her drowsiness, but only slightly. Out of all the years she's known her best friend, Normani knows she'd never get used to Ally's commanding, mother-like voice when she was tired of enduring people's shit. "Now, get up. Lauren's waiting for us downstairs."
Unenthusiastically, the ebony makes her way down the stairs of their apartment complex, the sleep from her eyes long gone. However, the grumpiness has yet to dissipate. Normani never cared for parties, no matter where they were held. Her one and only desire was to get through college and get as much sleep as she could during her spare time. So, safe to say, she isn't exactly thrilled to go to this bonfire.
"'Sup, sleeping beauty?" Ally's longtime girlfriend, Lauren Jauregui smirks, eyebrows raising in amusement as she leans against the hood of her car. The ebony smiles sheepishly as the slightly taller woman nudges her teasingly. Once the three get into the drop top convertible — Normani hopping in the back, Ally in the passenger, Lauren in the driver's — they make their way to their destination: the beach.
"Surprised is an understatement — how'd you manage to get Frankenstein here out of her bed, babe?" Lauren says, raising her voice over the loud music and the cool blowing California wind. At the nickname, Normani makes an unimpressed face at her through the rearview mirror.
"I used my mom voice." The blonde responds with a shrug. Then, she smiles brightly as she laced her fingers through her girlfriend's offered hand. "It works every time."
Normani pokes her bottom lip out slightly, pouting as she looks out at the night scenery of California, arms crossed over her seatbelt. "I can't believe I'm being dragged to another one of your parties. You guys know I hate them."
"Oh come on, Mani." Lauren says, "Lighten up. It's Spring break! Do you really want to spend it doing absolutely nothing?"
"Hell yeah. Sounds like heaven to me."
"Maniiii," Ally interjects with a sigh. "We're doing this to help you! Lauren and I cannot be your only means of socializing. Parties are a great way to do that!"
"Socializing? Oh sure, like the last party I went to with Keith Powers worked out so well," The curly, dark haired brunette deadpans sarcastically, "Really thought I had something going there, until I finally realized that all he wanted from me was a blowjob and some anal." Thank God for her father, Derrick, for putting her through taekwondo when she was younger.
Tightening her grip on the wheel, Lauren flares her nostrils in disgust. "That fucking disgusting little ass—"
"Not everyone is like Keith, Normani," Ally interrupts her girlfriend as she turns in her seat to meet her best friend's gaze. She smiles at her delicately. "Just try tonight, alright? That's all I ask. If it helps, Lauren's friend can stick by you. They're roommates, and I'm sure you'll like her."
"Fine, only for you." Normani relents, managing a slight smile of her own when Ally's brighten. "But if there's no alcohol at the bonfire, I'm leaving."
"Okay, I actually agree with you on that one."
Normani's face twists in slight annoyance as she watches Shawn Mendes, a white kid — and she'll admit it, he was wildly attractive — that had no sense of rhythm whatsoever, dance offbeat to the rapper Quavo's new single, Swing, (aka the best track off the entire album), along with a few other people she wasn't familiar with. Normani would've walked off by now to spare herself the torture, but she was content at her spot: sitting in a chair next to a cooler full of an assortment of drinks. The brunette's eyes light up for the first time that night when she finds a cold bottle of Corona chilling under a couple cans of sodas.
"Ah, I see you've found the jackpot." Normani's head turns so fast she swears she almost gives herself whiplash, to see a tall, blonde woman settle herself into the chair beside her. Habitually, the brunette furrows her eyebrows and crinkles her nose at the unwanted presence. She watches silently as the stranger helps herself to the container resting between them, producing a Corona for herself and opening it effortlessly. Their gazes finally meet, and when the blonde smiles, all of Normani's coherent thoughts are suddenly nowhere to be found.
This woman, in the brunette's eyes, is the most stunning woman she's ever seen in her short-lived life. The bright light of the huge bonfire illuminates both women's features, and Normani finds herself mentally saving the delicate curve of the stranger's eyes, the sharpness of her jaw and the tenderness of her smile. After a beat, the stranger arches a well-done eyebrow, and the light smile that was formed on her face soon turns into a knowing smirk.
"You want a picture?" She says, temporarily throwing Normani off-guard. Fucking hell, Normani thinks hastily, Even her voice is alluring.
The brunette wants to come back with a witty retort, yet, due to her currently mushed brain, all that she manages to muster is a: "W—what?"
The woman smiles once more, genuinely, and shakes her head in amusement, never removing her gaze from the other. "You're Normani, right? I'm Dinah, Lauren's roommate."
Mutely, Normani nods, breaking their mini staring contest to take a very, very long sip of her beer. When she goes to put it aside, she notices that the bottle is already a third empty. Shit, that would come to bite her in the ass later. How'd she end up being so thirsty all of a sudden?
"Yeah," the brunette verbally responds after a few moments. She wonders why Lauren failed to mention that her roommate's basically a gorgeous supermodel. Normani silently prays to God she keeps her cool. "Ah—it's nice to meet you, Dinah."
"Likewise," The tiny grin continues to play on her lips even after her smile fades. Normani forces herself to tear her eyes away from Dinah's full, glossed lips and back to her eyes. She has to attempt to prevent herself from drooling over someone she's just meeting and currently, she was failing. Drastically. "Your friends have told me quite a bit about you. Glad to finally be able add a face to the name."
"I can only hope they're good things."
"Mostly," Dinah takes a swig of her drink, and uses her free hand to run her fingers through her tousled blonde hair. "But, I'm curious. Lauren told me you didn't want to come. Why?"
"I don't like people," The brunette replies with a simple, half shrug as she holds the neck of her newly opened beer. "And the partying scene has never really been my thing. So, I guess I'm more of a stay-at-home Netflix junkie than anything."
Dinah nods in understanding, and Normani's almost certain that the woman hasn't broken her gaze off of her since their eyes met. "Ah, well, I do happen to love Netflix, myself...." She trails off and tilts her head to the side, abruptly changing the subject. "What's your major?"
"Um, it's—"
"Ayo, Hansen!"
Lauren's roommate tears her eyes away to turn her head towards the sound, and Normani follows her gaze to see a mocha skinned male in a letterman jacket flailing his arms at them a few feet away.
"We're doing body shots!" The guy calls, lifting two bottles over his head from their previous spot on the makeshift bar table. "You guys in, or what?"
The chocolate skinned beauty's automatically shaking her head in denial when the supermodel's eyes find hers again. Dinah pouted playfully, lightly nudging the other woman's shoulder with the hand that cradled her half empty beer bottle by its neck. Her perfectly done eyebrows wiggle suggestively. "You sure? Body shots can end up getting interesting." When Normani shakes her head once more, Dinah obliges, albeit with slight disappointment, and she turns her head back to the figure. "We're good, James!" The blonde answers, holding up her drink in thanks.
"You're not going?" The brunette asks once she regains the other woman's attention. Although Normani isn't the one to really participate in party activities—or attend parties in general—she doesn't like the fact that Dinah declined to enjoy herself in order to keep her company. The last thing she wants to be is a burden.
But the short haired blonde just shrugs nonchalantly, a slight smile adorning her features. "Eh, they'll always be other opportunities. Besides, I'm more interested in getting to know you." She tilts her head to the side. "Also...it seems that Lauren definitely failed to mention how gorgeous you are."
Normani stays quiet as her shy nature takes over, averting her gaze to her beer bottle as a blush creeps up her neck and to her cheeks. She definitely wasn't used to compliments. The brunette looks up to see the other woman still looking at her. "I—Thank you," Normani pauses to clear her throat, blinking once. Twice, before speaking again. "But, I don't think I'm all that intriguing. I don't do much in my spare time. My life literally revolves around school."
"And Netflix." The blonde adds matter-of-factly, with a lopsided smile. Normani can't help but return the gesture. Dinah's upbeat, and outgoing personality was incredibly infectious, and Normani finds herself yearning to know more about Lauren's supermodel-like roommate, just as Dinah wanted to know more about her.
"So, Normani," The way her name rolls off the Polynesian's tongue is enough to cause the brunette's cheeks to flush once more. "What's your major?"
"Psychology. I have this odd fascination with the human mind."
"Oh?" Dinah prompts, teasingly. She leans in closer, brown eyes wide with fascination and Normani can't suppress her giggle.
"Yeah. Ah, I may have watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds when I was younger....and I love crime documentaries. So, I guess those played a part in why I want to get into the forensics field." The curly haired brunette shrugs lightly. "But, what about you? What's your major?"
"Engineering," Dinah says, after taking a sip of her beer. "Mine has a bit of a backstory as well; I worked on cars with my Dad as a kid. Majority of the men in my family are Engineers. They never imagined I'd follow in their footsteps but, here I am."
"So, you're into cars? I never would've guessed." Normani says, casually gesturing towards her chosen outfit: a white crop top with cuffed denim blue jeans and tan cardigan. Her feet were bare, polished toes wiggling in the sand. "I would've assumed you'd be studying something more — I don't know, less masculine? I hope that's not offensive."
"Not at all," The blonde smiles, a gentle twinkle in her light brown eyes, courtesy of the flames from the huge bonfire. "Even though there are more women in Engineering these days, I get that a lot, surprisingly. But, never judge a person by their attire. People also assume that I'm straight, but the only straight thing about me is my hair."
Normani snorts out a laugh, and it seems to make Dinah's smile grow even wider. She can't seem to remember the last time she smiled this much, so effortlessly, until meeting the melanin beauty. "God Dinah, that was so corny."
"Yeah," The blonde responds lightly, "But you laughed, right? So that's a point in my book."
"I would say I'd love to use that line, but," She motions towards her curly locks. "My hair is anything but straight."
This causes Dinah to arch an eyebrow. Now she was even more intrigued by Normani than before. "Are you into girls, too?"
"Guilty as charged. I'm bisexual."
Before Dinah could ask more, Ally gleefully skips up to them and wraps her arms around both of their shoulders, squeezing as tightly as her small arms would allow. "Hey, guys!! I see you've finally met, I'm so happy!"
"Hey, Ally." Dinah chuckles out a surprised laugh as she patted the arm around her neck. Normani just frowns up at her roommate.
"Als, how much did you drink?" The brunette asks, cupping the short blonde's chin to look in her eyes. "You know you're a lightweight."
Ally swats at Normani's hand, huffing out a breath in protest. "I'm fine, Mani! I've never felt more alive until tonight!"
Dinah's obviously amused, a grin on her face when Ally leans her weight against her back, mumbling something about wanting to go skinny dipping but not having a swimming suit. "Yeah, she's definitely gone."