Let's Be Birds

Part I - Let's Be Birds

Dinah just looked up at the sky and gazed at the stars. She was absolutely mesmerized. They hardly ever stopped in places where she could see the sky as clear as she could at this moment. It was simply beautiful, the most beautiful sight she's ever seen. Well actually, it was the second most beautiful sight she's ever seen. It was second compared to her.

The way the stars twinkled brightly in contrast to the almost pitched dark sky, reminded Dinah of the girl that she loved. It reminded her of the way the girl's smile would brighten in contrast to her dark skin. She continued to lay there, closing her eyes, letting the image of the girl play in her head. Even when she was supposed to be getting away from her, Dinah still thought about her. Fortunately, she was brought out of her stupor by the sound of someone's breathing. Unfortunately, she knew who it was just based off of the smell of the girl's perfume.

"Dinah..." said girl opened her eyes at the sound of her name being called. "I've been...looking for you...everywhere," the newest arrival gets out in between panting breaths. Dinah turns her head to her right to look at her best friend and addresses her, "I'm sorry. I just needed to get away for a second. Also, why do you sound like you've just run a marathon?"

Her best friend straightens up after bending down to her knees to catch her breath. "Well, that hill is a lot steeper than I thought." Dinah only chuckles at her, eyes twinkling in mirth. "Normani, you can dance for hours and hours at a time, but a little hill tires you out?" Normani, turns a glare onto her friend, letting out a huff. "Dinah, it wasn't a 'little hill' as you put it. Can you stop picking on me?"

Dinah just smiles at her, eyeing her a she does so. Sighing carefully, Dinah asks, "Hey Little Bird? Come lay with me." Normani rolls her eyes at the younger girl's usage of her nickname for her, remembering the origin of the nickname. She does as asked, however. Going to lay over Dinah's right arm that said girl laid out for her to do so. She cuddled into her best friend's side, just enjoying the closeness that they haven't had since the tour started. Normani plays with the fabric at the bottom of Dinah's sweater while Dinah just moves her left arm to rest under her own head.

After a few moments of silence, Dinah kisses the girl's hair before speaking. "Do you ever just want to travel? Not as we do now. Going from city to city, country to country, in a way too cramped tour bus with your bandmates. But just, really travel with someone who means everything to you and just explore the world? Just leave everything behind for a while without anyone knowing exactly where you've gone?"

Normani looks up at her friend slightly, before she goes back to her previous position, head laying on the girl's shoulder. "I have actually. I want to go to the places that we've been to before, but I also want to go to places we've never been. There's just so much to see and we have so little time to do so. What's the point of living in a beautiful world that you'll never see?"

"But, do you see a specific person in these places with you? The question was two-fold, you only answered one," Dinah speaks, lightly chuckling. "Di, it wasn't exactly a two-fold questi-," before Normani can finish, however, Dinah cuts her off, nudging the girl's arm with the one that she has wrapped around her. "Semantics, but just answer it please." Normani sighs and says, "No, Di. I don't picture anyone with me as I explore the world. Do you see anyone?"

Dinah clears her throat slightly, trying to ignore the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. "I do. I see," she clears her throat again. "I see someone so unbelievably important to me. I see someone so undeniably beautiful exploring the world with me." Normani sits up from her position and turns to face her best friend. Dinah only glances at her companion but doesn't move from her lying position.

Normani could never explain to you why she was suddenly nervous but she was. "Who do you see Dinah?" Dinah sighs deeply and moves to face her friend. She runs a hand through her dull blonde hair and looks down, trying to muster up the last bit of strength that she has to say what she needs to say. Normani just looks at her friend, tilting her head slightly. She wonders what is troubling her. What she's thinking about so hard that it's causing her to now pick at her nails in distress.

Having had enough of the girl's fidgety behavior after an extended moment of silence, she grabs her hands and holds them in hers. The appendages seemingly finding their way to intertwine with one another. "Dinah? You know you can tell me right?"

Dinah looks at their hands and just how perfectly she thinks they fit with one another. "It's you. The person I see, the beautiful person that I want to travel with," she pauses to look her best friend in the eyes. "The special person that I am so far in love with and I just want to experience new things with, is you. And it has always been you."

Dinah feels the rejection before she actually hears it. She feels the way Normani's hands tense at the admission. She feels her hands trying to escape her grip but she doesn't let them. She instead grips her hand a bit tighter, tugging gently. "Dinah I don-," Normani begins but Dinah just looks at her with tears swimming in her eyes. But that's not what stops Normani's sentence. It's the amount of pure unadulterated love that she sees. She sees so much love in the younger girl's eyes, that it's heartbreaking honestly.

"I know you don't feel the same way. I've always known that you didn't and I promise you it's fine. I've loved you for so long Normani, since I was 17 and you 18. That's about 4 years of loving you and I've just gotten tired of keeping it to myself," Dinah admits. The tears that built in her eyes have long since spilled over. "Dinah, I'm so sorry," Normani says. She looks down at the tan hands in her brown ones. She follows the movement of the younger girl's thumb moving across her hand. She follows the other hand as it floats up to her face and cups her cheek, making her look at the brown eyes across from her.

"Hey, it's okay. I mean I feel like absolute hell at the moment but," Dinah lets out a watery chuckle but lightly smiles at the beautiful girl across from her. She continues, "I want you to make a promise to me. If you ever want to travel when we end up with all the free time in the world to do so, come with me. Okay? Just come with me. We can go anywhere that you want to go." "Dinah-" "Normani, please?" And Normani promises because she simply could not handle how the other girl was looking at her. "Thank you," Dinah breathes out. Not even aware that she was holding her breath to begin with.

Abruptly, Dinah stands up. As she dusts her pants off, she feels a sudden rush of determination. She looks at the older girl who's still sitting, staring wide eyed at the girl in front of her. Leaning down to kiss her forehead, she starts to walk down the hill intending to give her the space to think. After wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater, Dinah stops walking.

She turns her head over her left shoulder and yells out to her friend, "Oh! And just so you know, when we go traveling, I intend on getting you to fall in love with me. I'm not giving up just yet. See you in a while Little Bird," she gives her a barely there smirk before she turns back around and heads down the hill back to their parked tour bus.

Normani is just sitting stock still, looking at the place where the girl was standing moments ago. She doesn't particularly know what just happened but she feels excited by the prospects. A small smile breaks out on her face as she says to herself, "I look forward to falling in love with you Dinah Jane." Before she lightly chuckles and gets up to head to their bus.