Rivals // Norminah

60

As the sun shines in my face through the curtains, I slightly turn to block the light from my eyes. The hands around my waist tighten pulling me closer to their body.

I turn to see Dinah asleep peacefully. I sigh and turn back to my original position. I totally forgot she spent the night over here.

As I get lost in my thoughts I hear the sound of the front door downstairs open and close. I immediately sit up fast accidentally waking up Dinah.

"Princess?" She yawns. I immediately fling the covers off of us. Is it her?

"Mom!" I slide off the bed quickly and run out of the room.

"Normani, wait!" I hear Dinah yell. I ignore her efforts and continue to run down the hall and down the stairs.

"Mom! Is that you?" I watch my step as quickly descend down the stairs. I reach the body and freeze.

It's just Kehlani and Zendaya.

"Oh... it's y'all" I say disappointingly. Dinah reaches the bottom of the stairs out of breath. All three of them look at me awkwardly not knowing what to say. I scratch the back of my neck. "Sorry... I, um, I thought y'all were someone else"

I walk over to the couch and lay down. Aspen jumps up next to me snuggling into my side.

"We brought over some food and some movies to watch" Zendaya smiles.

"Yeah, we thought it'd be fun to hangout here and have a movie day" Kehlani suggest.

"Whatever" I mumble. I pull Aspen closer to me, snuggling into him more.

"Here. Y'all can bring the stuff to the kitchen. Follow me" Dinah glances at me before leading them towards the kitchen.

I grab the remote off the ottoman in front of me and turn it onto some random channel. I'm not really paying attention to it, just keeping my focus on Aspen, petting his head lightly.

Mom got me him my freshman year of high school. She thought he'd be a great addition to have in the family. That way when she was gone for work and traveling, I wouldn't be so lonely until she got back. That was the important part though.

Until she got back...

She always came back. Whether it was late or early, rainy or sunny, she always did. Why couldn't this time be like the rest? Why did she have to leave me when everything was finally going good?

I wipe my eyes and focus back on the tv. I look behind the couch towards the kitchen. Those three have been gone for a minute. I get off the couch and walk over towards the kitchen. I hear them talking, but instead of going in, I decide to ease drop and push the kitchen door open slightly to see.

"I don't know what do guys. She's just so checked out; it's like she's in her own little world" Dinah shares.

"I mean, she did just lose her mom Dinah. It's gonna take sometime for her to adjust" Kehlani expresses.

"How long is that gonna take? I hate seeing her like this" Dinah runs her fingers through her hair.

"Grief isn't something that you can put a time frame on D" Zendaya adds.

"Well, how was she when Derrick passed?" Dinah asks. My stomach sinks a little at his name.

"I don't know... Quiet. Checked out. On edge. I mean, she slowly got back to her normal self but we could all tell she wasn't the complete same, but who would be after that?" Zendaya shares. I decide to step in to show I can hear them. They all turn and look at me.

"Shit, Mani... how long have you been there?" Dinah asks. I shrug.

"Long enough" I state. I turn and look at Zendaya. "Is that true? You guys think I haven't been the same since my dad's death?" I ask.