I was starting to doze off when I heard someone screaming my name. For a moment, I lay still as I stared up at the ceiling fan; I had barely slept since we got home on Saturday morning because it was either too loud or someone needed me for something
"Dinah come get this big ass package before I open it!"
"Hoi can you get it for me!"
I heard him mutter something from the next room but a minute later, he actually went downstairs to get it for me. I was starting to fall asleep again when he kicked my door open and carried the neatly wrapped boxes into my room.
"Thank you."
"You owe me," he muttered as he walked out.
I FaceTimed Normani once I had shut my door and checked my reflection to make sure I didn't look weird. "Hey Mani, Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you too Hansen. What are you up to?"
"I am about to open your gift well gifts," I answered. "How did you get them to deliver on Christmas?"
"I had them delivered to my friend's place and then someone picked it up from there this morning and delivered it to your house. I didn't what you peaking before Christmas. You look tired Hansen, what's up?"
"Thanks jerk, that's sort of the aesthetic I was going for. Chic fatigue."
She laughed, "no, I mean you rock it well but you look like you've had a long day, and it's only 7 am your time."
"Well yeah... I haven't really slept much. But it's fine. Anyway, you said this wasn't a big thing. But it's huge."
"No, I said it wasn't expensive, there's a difference. C'mon open them."
I moved to the floor and put my laptop down so that she could see what I was doing while I unwrapped the first box. Kamila and Regina came into my room and basically took over the FaceTime call and unwrapping the boxes.
"Oh my gosh this is so cute! Look at Seth and G," Regina gushed as she showed me the picture of the two of them laughing before handing it to Kamila who was presently on FaceTime with Normani.
I picked up one of the boxes that was underneath the others and I moved to sit on my bed while I unwrapped it. Despite it being specially marked with my name, I don't know why, but I hadn't expected a picture of just me, well me and the dogs; one that she had taken when I wasn't aware that she was even taking a picture.
Normani| 07:32:
You okay Hansen?
Dinah| 07:32:
Yeah I'm just looking at the picture of me with Ryder and Duke
Normani| 07:33:
Yeah I really liked that one too. We'll hopefully have an uninterrupted phone call at some point.
I smiled, when I looked at my laptop, she was listening attentively while Regina talked about a boy at school that she clearly had a crush on. Mila came to sit beside me on the bed. She picked up the picture of me and smiled.
"This is beautiful, she's actually really good."
"She is."
"Mani when did you take these?" Regina asked.
"I didn't take all of them, I got the ones of you and your siblings from your family's IG because y'all stay fighting and I couldn't get a proper picture of any of you when you were together. But uh, I took the rest when I was there for thanksgiving."
"These are beautiful," I murmured, staring at the picture of my parents. "Everyone's going to love them."
"Yeah? You think so?" Normani answered, I hadn't realized that she was even listening.
I nodded, "I know so. Thank you Mani. Now I wanna know what you got me."
"It cost a little more but I think you'll like it."
"Oh so you were really just buttering me up so I'd be ready to accept that gift huh?"
"Maybe..."
"Why didn't anyone tell me that it was gift time?"
Regina smirked, "it's not, we were just helping Dinah open Mani's gift to us. There's a picture of you and Fetu, Mani actually managed the impossible."
"Yeah what's that?" Normani asked with a confused frown.
"You made Naki look halfway decent."
"You little—"
Regina put my laptop down and sprinted out of my room, leaving Kamila and I laughing. "I saw that coming from a mile away."
"One day she's going to beat the hell out of her," Kamila mumbled. "Anyway, let me leave you two to it. You've got an hour and a half at most, then I can't protect you from Mom calling you."
I mouthed the words, "thank you," to her as she left. "I guess I'm getting my nap after all."
"Good, you need the rest."
"Are you busy?"
"No, most of the family's still on their way here so there isn't anything going on. Why? What's up?"
"Can you stay on FaceTime with me, just till I fall asleep? Then you can hang up after."
She grimaced, "uh yeah, I guess I can. So how was your weekend? We haven't talked much since you got back."
"It was okay, but crazy busy. So one of my aunts came by on Saturday, said she's tired of not getting to see her nieces and nephews over a feud that she never wanted anything to do with in the first place. Plus she wanted to bring her new born and her fiance by the meet us."
"That's amazing right? Were you close before everything went down?"
"Yeah, we were... actually she was one of the few people in my family that kept in touch after I came out, but it hurt not seeing her at family stuff even though we were talking so I pushed her away. It's amazing that she's back but I feel horrible. When she saw me, she just hugged me like I didn't push her away and when we talked, she asked me if there was a special man or woman in my life."
"You have to put your mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health first, and if a relationship is adversely affecting that in anyway, then you either address it in the relationship or you distance yourself. You chose distance, but you now have this opportunity to rekindle that relationship if you feel like you're in a good place to do that emotionally and mentally. If it helps, talk to your aunt about how you're feeling, and tell her there is a special woman in your life."
I laughed, "I will talk to her, she's coming over later with the baby. And I already told her I'm dating an incredible woman."
"And if you need to get away, let me know and I'll get you on the first flight out to New Orleans. Or I can come over, whichever one you feel is best for you."
"You'd do that?"
She made a face, "yeah I would, I don't want my girlfriend feeling sad during the holidays. "
I forgot what I had been about to say, "did you just call me your girlfriend?"
Normani smiled as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Maybe... is that something you'd be open to? I know this probably isn't how you expected or wanted to have this conversation."
"I've come to expect the unexpected with you."
"Ha... yeah," Normani sighed, "I haven't done this in a very long time, but I know asking someone to be your girlfriend isn't something that people do."
"Well you haven't actually asked me anything Normani."
She cleared her throat, "okay uhm... so I really like you, which I hope is evident to you at this point, but if it isn't, I really like you. When I'm not with you, I think about you, when I'm with you, I feel things. Things that I stopped allowing myself to feel for people a long time ago to protect myself from getting hurt. And then you came into my life. I won't lie, I disliked you."
I laughed, "Yeah, I didn't like you very much either."
"When you flirted with me that night in the club something changed. And I know that I fucked up with the Aja thing but I swear to you it'll never happen again. I don't want anyone else but you. So with that being said, will you be my girlfriend Hansen."
I pretended to think about it for a while before finally answering her. "Yes, but only if you agree to be my girlfriend."
"You are corny in the most amazing way," Normani smiled. "I thought you were going to say no to be funny or something."
"I wanted to but I know how hard this was for you, and I'm happy that you want to try for real."
"I do, but we can talk about that later. For now, you're going to get some sleep while I wrap Dad's presents to Mom."
"Okay I'll sleep, thank you again for the gift Mani, it means a lot."
"You don't need to thank me. Stop responding beautiful."
She put her phone down and I watched her wrap a box before finally falling asleep. Mom came to wake me up two hours later when the whole family had arrived.
"I was only supposed to sleep for like an hour, I'm sorry Mom."
"It's okay baby, I know you haven't slept much since you got home. Just brush your hair out, put your Christmas onesie on and you'll be good to go."
"Can you brush it out for me? My arms don't work."
She rolled her eyes but went to get the brush anyway. "So those pictures were all from Normani? Gina wanted to show them to us and you were gone gone, so she brought them downstairs.
"Yes they were, she took some of them and others she got from the family IG page."
"I'm surprised considering we almost killed her when she came to visit."
I laughed, "yeah... we've kind of been seeing each other, actually we made things official today."
"Huh," she stopped her movements for a moment before continuing. "Your dad and I thought you were doing that whole "this is my friend," routine like you did with that girl that you brought home."
"We weren't together then, well we kissed but we hadn't even been on a date." We both fell silent for a while before I spoke again. "Do you like her?"
"Put on your onesie. Your dad and grandpa said the only they don't like is the fact that she's a Saints girls.Grandma and your sisters adore her and I'm pretty sure your brothers love her."
I frowned, "and you?"
"She's great, but you like her a lot more than she likes you, I sensed it and I don't want you to fall too hard, too fast and end up with a broken heart."
"She does like me, but she was hurt before, and I think it made her push people away and be more cautious."
"Hurt how?"
"I don't know exactly, she just said the relationship ended badly."
"Just be careful baby, I don't want to see you hurt either."
Normani
As soon as we were done eating, the food was cleared away and the dishes were done so we could play Christmas games which were really just regular games that we had to dress up in ridiculous Christmas stuff for.
I slipped out once we were done clearing up. Choie came out of her grandma's house across the road and waved at me. I sat down on the steps and she came over to sit next to me.
"You look ridiculous," she said as she sat next to me. "Why is your sweater lighting up."
I shrugged, "yours is worse. It looks like Santa vomited all his Christmas cheer onto your sweater."
"You don't need elf ears because your ears are already big as fuck in their own."
"Your head is big. You're still coming over for games and pie right?"
Choie scoffed, "I've been doing that since we were kids, of course that's why I came over. Thank you for my gift by the way."
"Thank you for mine big head," I mumbled with a smile. "So I called Dinah my girlfriend on FaceTime, and I ended up asking her to be my girlfriend, on FaceTime..."
"Okay progress, but on FaceTime Mani? If you weren't you I'd be extremely disappointed but you are."
I sighed, "well it's done now... and I feel weird."
"Firstly, up top," Alex grinned, neither of us had noticed or heard him come over from next door. "That's what I like to call growth. And I'm proud of you for going for this. And it's not weird at all that you feel weird and vulnerable and shit. Y'all been doing nothing but talking for like a month and some change, and you probably know shit about her that you ain't know about old dude when y'all were getting together."
Choie made a face, "okay everything he said but what are you doing here?"
"Oh I thought the squad was getting back together, my bad. Choie when are you letting me take you out."
"When I'm single and my biological clock is ticking extremely loud."
Alex should his head, "you play too much. You still with Mr. Big Shot News Anchor?"
"I am..."
"One day you'll let me take you out and you'll see Choie Sumpter," Alex said as he walked away.
We both laughed, "you know he got that paediatric residency in New York right? And that dude worships the ground you walk on, literally. He's had a crush on you since forever."
"Wasn't he just in a relationship?"
"Exactly, dude wants to settle down but he can't find nobody because he really just wants you."
"We're not talking about me, and anyway, what he said was right. It's okay to be scared. What you went through was horrible and you want to be cautious. But don't run from this. If you let it, it could be one of the best things that's ever happened to you."
"What if she breaks my heart?"
"Then I will be here to help you pick up and put the pieces together."
The front door opened and Miche came out with a bowl of chips and a plate of cookies. "Grandma said we can play outside while they play dominos."
"Aye y'all are having cool people snack time without me? That's just wrong!"
"Go away Alex!" Miche retorted without looking up. "Kels is challenging Aunt Mae for her dominos crown."
"You think she'll beat her?"
"Grandma couldn't even beat Aunt Mae and she's been playing for the longest time. What were y'all talking about?"
"Mani and Dinah are official."
Miche grinned, "oh shit will you look at that, I swear the universe just be knowing."
"I still haven't told her what happened with Eli..."
"Why not?"
"Because, when she looks at me, she sees this mysterious, strong, successful woman. If I tell her, that changes, and I'm not that girl anymore."
Choie shook her head, "except you are, you still have a big heart and you still love dancing and music. You're shy and you fan girl whenever you meet someone famous. But you're also stronger than anyone I know, you're smart, and you work your ass off. If Dinah doesn't see all that then fuck her, it's her loss."
"What Choie said," Alex said.
"Boy get down here and stop being weird."
Miche and I looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "Girl when are you going to give him a chance? He's a lot hotter now, and he's successful."
"Yeah I wouldn't judge you for dating him now. I wouldn't have judged you back then because he was driving that truck while we were taking the bus."
"Oh my gosh, that fucking truck! He wouldn't let anyone drive it or eat inside."
"Betty was a lady," Alex said as he walked up to us. "I treat all the ladies in my life right."
Choie rolled her eyes, "you're doing all this but I have a man."
"Oh shit my bad, I thought you wanted a husband."
"You ain't come up with that shit but you get a high five for being smooth with it," Miche said as she stood. "I'm mad at you though, you were working hella hard for Choie but Mani and me were there and single."
Alex shook his head, "you were being chased by all the boys. Mani moved, and she had big ears."
"Had?"
"Alright fuck all of you okay, y'all know damn well my ears aren't even that big. Assholes. And give me the damn bowl."
"Awww come here you little elf, you found someone who likes you and your big ears."
"And you got someone who likes you and your basketball head right here," I retorted.
Alex waved me off, "don't worry, she's going to come to her senses one day. And I personally cannot wait to tell her that I told her so."
My phone started ringing and as soon as I saw that it was Dinah, I walked down the road a little to answer it. "Hey, is everything okay."
"Everything's perfect, I just thought you might be interested to know that I'm wearing it..."
I smiled and went to the app, smiling when I saw that she had given me control. "You understand what you're getting yourself into right?"
"I don't think so, why don't you tell me?"
"I think I can show you better than I can tell you," I answered. "Be alone in half an hour, if you aren't... well then I can't be held responsible for what happens."
"Challenge accepted."
Miche gave me a weird look when I got back. "Who was that and why are you smiling so damn much."
"It was your boyfriend's mama asking for his balls back."
"I didn't even make fun of your ears, that was unnecessary."
"You know I'm playing. How long you think they got before the domino championship ends?"
"I'd say an hour, why?"
I smiled, "I will be back in an hour then. Cover for me, tell Mama I got an urgent work call if she asks, but she won't."
"Okay girl, but I want details!"