Normily: After Effects

It Doesn't Even Matter

It was now December and Norman was asleep against the car window. He'd had a long day and was finally relieved to get away from work. He was completely beat up. He'd decided to do his own stunts in a fight scene for Saints 3, and it hurt. Norman was just getting comfortable when the car screeched to a stop and his seatbelt caught him violently.

"Shit!" Norman cursed.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Reedus," said Hazim, Norman's driver for L.A.

Norman looked around, getting his bearings. He was in central Los Angeles, headed for Burbank. Norman had an interview and then he would pick Emily up from the Talking Dead and they would head to J.W. Marriott and they would have a romantic evening together. It had been tough keeping their relationship a secret for so long. The paparazzi, the cast, the fans, the families; all nice, and all crazy obsessed.

Hazim parked next to the CBS building and let Norman out. Norman thanked him and went inside. Hazim would be back in a couple of hours to pick up Norman and Emily. Norman got through security and went backstage. He knocked on Emily's dressing room and waited. The door locked turned with a Clunk! It cracked open and an eye appeared in the crack.

"Hello." Emily opened the door just enough for Norman to squeeze past before closing it again. She had on a pretty black, partially see-through dress over a pink tank top and black pants. Her hair was done over to the right side of her head and her nails were painted black. It was the airing of Coda. They kissed and smiled.

"Do you need anything before you go out there?" Norman asked.

"No, I'm fine," Emily said.

"I'll see you soon," Norman kissed her forehead and snuck out.

Emily applied the last of her makeup touch ups. She took a selfie and put it on her Instagram. There came a knock at her door and one of the crew members peeked in. He was immediately pulled out and Chris Hardwick stepped in.

"Hey!" he said.

"Hey!" Emily reciprocated, smiling. She loved being on the show with Chris. He was funny and nice, just an all around great guy. They took a selfie and and walked out to the stage. Chris went to his chair and Emily went to the couch. They sat and chatted for a minute before the episode premiered. When the episode started the audience went quiet and they all watched.

At the end of "Coda" nobody said anything. Chris cleared his throat to break to cacophony of silence. Emily stared down at her feet and twiddled her thumbs. During one of the breaks she had given Norman her phone so she wouldn't be distracted during the show; she now regretted this.

As Emily answered questions and talked through the episode she began to feel homesick of the show. At the end, Emily was crying. She apologized several times and Chris reassured her that it was okay for her to cry and that everything was alright. They smiled and talked some more before the show went off air. They let fans ask more questions and Emily signed autographs. Norman had watched all of this from backstage with the production manager. When the audience had cleared out Norman went over to Emily and hugged her.

"Hey," Chris said, "Don't I get a hug, too?" In turn, Norman hugged him.

"Thank you," Chris said, "What are you doing here?"

"Well Chris, I figured I'd probably get to do this one last show with Emily as a cast mate before it was over," Norman said.

"But it doesn't even matter anymore," Emily said. Chris arched an eyebrow and prepared for a snarky response. He was like that all the time. It was his personality.

"And why is that," he said.

"We're dating."

"What?! What!? Oh my god, this is incredible."

"Yeah, and we'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone yet," Norman said.

"But the fans, YOUR fans have wanted is for so long," Chris said, "Why not?"

"Tonight is our first date," Emily said.

"Wow," Chris said.

"Yeah, so we were going to see how this went before we told anyone," Norman said.

"Ok, good luck with your date," Chris said, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do on a first date, Norman."

"Hey!" Norman frowned. Emily kissed his cheek and smiled. She loved Norman and wouldn't mind if they rounded third base tonight. Except that would be taking things way too fast. Emily did love him a lot.

They walked out to Norman's car and got in. Norman shut the door and Hazim drove them to a nice restaurant. Meals by Genet was an Ethiopian restaurant on Fairfax Ave. just southwest of central L.A. It was small and, at midnight, empty. The staff were all seated at a large table, drinking coffee and chatting. Norman and Emily went to the door and gently knocked.A man got up from the table and walked to the door. He unlocked it and opened it slightly.

"Hello," he said, "may I help you?"

"Is there any chance you're still open?" Norman asked, arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Of course," the man said.

They entered and the staff sprang into action. The cooks went into the back and the grills were fired up. A waiter escorted Norman and Emily to a table in the center of the building. They sat down and menus were brought to them. A pair of candles were placed and lit in front of them. A waiter took appeared with a notepad and pencil.

"Drinks?" the waiter smiled at them.

"Water," Emily said.

"Your best wine," Norman said.

"Brotherhood of Sheba?"

"That will be fine."

"It will be right out," the waiter said as they began to scan the menus.

Everything looked so good to them. They had only snacked at dinner time so they could have a nice dinner now. Norman closed his menu and smiled. He knew exactly what he wanted. Emily looked at him from over the top of her menu.

"What are you getting?" she asked.

"Wat," Norman replied.

"I said what are you getting," Emily repeated.

"Wat, it's in the menu," Norman said, "It's a dish that's just vegetables."

"Most of their dishes are just vegetables," Emily said.

"We're vegetarian, aren't we?" Norman said. After working on the show for five years, the special effects always increasing, Norman and Emily had grown sick of seeing, smelling, and eating meat. It didn't matter that it was all fake. The Special effects department got good at their job, so good that most of the cast and crew had turned away from meat. Their waiter returned with the wine, water and two wineglasses. He set it all before Norman and Emily and got out his pencil and pad.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"We will have every vegetarian dish you have," Norman boldly, yet politely said.

"Sir," the waiter said, surprised, "that is more than half of the menu."

Norman nodded and smiled, "Please?"

"Ok." The waiter took their menus and went back to the kitchen, murmuring to himself about the crazy couple.

"Wow," Emily said.

"I don't know about you, but I could eat everything on the planet," Norman said.

"It has been a long time since I ate," Emily said and laughed. Soon they were both laughing at the absurd thought of eating everything on the planet. Their food arrived and they began their feast. In the end, Norman and Emily ate a majority of what had been brought out, leaving nothing untouched. Norman paid and they left in the car. They went to Emily's hotel room and went to bed after each showered separately and got on some fresh pajamas.