Anayis' POV
I looked at the clock. Crap! Its 7:50 and I'm not even finished getting ready for for my date. I put on a classy, flowy, royal blue top that had no sleeves. I put on some dark washed skinny jeans and some cute boots on. I fixed my curls and my make up as best I could and put on some small, gold, hoop earrings. I grabbed my phone and headed out the door.
I ran up the stairs to the very next floor. 518, where was it?!? I looked at the time, 8:05. Crap, I didn't want Norman to think I stood him up. I hurried and found his room.
I took a deep breath and knocked. The door opened a few seconds later, revealing a sharply dressed Norman; with his pressed, black, dress shirt and his hair combed perfectly. "Wow," he said "you look stunning." I blushed and thanked him, "You look pretty dashing yourself." UGH! I face-palmed. I'm such a dork. Norman giggled and lead me into his suite. It was set up just like mine, a part kitchen and a lounge area with a TV with his bedroom separated by a door.
"Come, sit," Norman led me to the couch in front of the television. Norman walked over to the part kitchen and threw a bag of uncooked popcorn into the microwave. He started it, then walked over to the mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. "Wine?" He asked.
"Um, yeah, just a small glass," I replied.
Norman poured the wine into two glasses and took the popcorn out of the microwave. He poured the bag of popcorn into a bowl and tried to balance the bowl and glasses of wine as he made his way over to me.
"Thank you," I said as he handed me my glass.
Norman walked over to the TV and switched to the DVD player and put season 1 of The Walking Dead in.
I crossed my arms, man it was cold in here. "Are you cold? Do you want a blanket?" Norman asked alarmingly. I opened my mouth to answer him, but before I could, Norman was already grabbing a blanket for me.
We started the first episode, of course I started asking Norman a bunch of questions. Especially asking him to remind me the characters names.
"Where are you?" I grew a little impatient, I wanted to see Norman's character asap.
"Well I don't come in till the third episode," Norman replied.
"Ugh," I laid my head on his shoulder in frustration. Norman giggled, and put his arm around me. I broke his side hug for a moment as I spread the blanket out over my body. I laid my feet on the couch then leaned over and rested my head on Norman's chest. He went back to laying his hand around me and I wrapped my arm around his lean waist.
The first episode ended on a great cliffhanger. Of course I wanted to continue watching more but I really just wanted to talk to Norman. I love talking to him. "Ready for the next episode," Norman asked as he grabbed the remote. I stopped him,
"Well, Norman, I actually kinda wanted to just talk to you," I smiled at him.
He laid the remote down and faced toward me. We basically started talking about our past, Norman told me funny stories of his attempts trying to fish with bacon as bait and how Sean pranked him.
Then we got to the topic how we were discovered. Norman, he was at a party, got drunk and started running around yelling. And before he knew it, someone came up to him and asked him if he wanted to be in a play. Norman set down his glass, "Enough about me, I want to hear about you," he said sweetly. "How were you discovered?"
I took a deep breath, I knew this was going to be a long story. "It all started back in high school. It was my senior year, and I had been in choir and show choir ever since middle school," I shrugged my shoulders and smirked "I love to sing and preform." "So," I continued, "it was talent show day. I had put together this really amazing song, that I couldn't wait to sing in front of everyone. Now before this, I had the biggest crush on Gareth."
"You both went to high school together?" Norman questioned.
I nodded, "Yup, he knew I liked him but he never showed an interest in me. So, after I preformed, a week later I received a call from a manager of a record company. I guess he was on a hunt for talented singers and was at the talent show that night. I signed a contract with him and started writing a lot of songs. I was a big hit, and then before I knew it, Gareth was texting me. He told me he liked me and always had and some other BS. So we dated and I helped him get a big name in the acting industry in the first month of our relationship. By then everyone knew who we were, some called us the 'picture perfect couple' but...it...it was far from."
Norman looked at me with content. "After awhile, Gareth started pressuring me into taking our relationship to...'that level' and at the time I was barely 19. I wasn't ready for that. He would ask me almost every other day and every time I told him no, Gareth would get pissed and would ignore me for the rest of the day. Soon I found out he was cheating on me, Gareth came home late and I called him out on it. He was angry, he had enough. He punched me, I fell smack on the ground. Gareth would grab me and throw me around." Tears started to fill my eyes, and my voice became shaky. "I...I tried so hard to get away, but he would threaten me. He said he would kill me if I left him. He would beat me and abuse me physically, emotionally....sexually." By this point tears were flowing from my eyes like a river, "He would rape me Norman." I wiped some tears from my cheeks, "Every night. He gave me scars from beating me. There's something wrong with him!" Norman pulled me in, my face nuzzled in his neck, "There's something wrong with him," I repeated over and over into his chest. Norman caressed my head with his hand. We sat there like that for awhile until I calmed down.
I broke from his embrace, "I'm sorry I didn't..."
"Its okay, Anayis you dont need to apologize," Norman spoke softly.
Silence fell and I fiddled with my fingers. "Maybe *sigh* maybe something is wrong with me..." I spoke.
Norman's eyes grew wide and he laid his hand on top of mine, "Nothing is wrong with you. Anayis, you...your perfect."
I shook my head, "No,I'm not."
"Yes you are," Norman voice grew a little louder.
"No, Norman, I'm not," I said a little annoyed. Norman gently grabbed the sides of my face and turned my head toward him.
"Yes you are!" he said in a firm voice. His face was tense but it fell quickly, "your perfect to....me."
His eyes were soft, our faces were just a breath away. Norman tilted his head and then it finally happened. We kissed.
Norman laid his thin, soft lips upon mine. His hands still cupped my face, one slowly fell to my neck and the other hand gently grabbed the back of my head. His fingers sank into my hair.
Norman slowly pulled away, our foreheads still touching. I could feel his breath on my face. We both parted our eyes, just gazing at each other. Norman tilted his head once again, kissing me over and over again. My hands fell on his neck, one slipped to his chest. Norman pulled away once again, a huge smile creeped across my face as I softly giggled.
Norman pulled away from me, "I...I'm sorry" He quickly sat up from his seat, rubbing his hands across his face as if he did something bad. "I shouldn't be doing this to you Anayis."
"Norman," I went to grab him but he pulled away from me. "Norman listen to me, its okay..."
"No, no its not" Norman was hysterical. Every time I tried to calm him down, he would get all panicky and would cut off what I was saying. "I shouldn't be kissing you Anayis, you were almost raped yesterday. You were just crying a little bit ago, I mean I don't know. I just, I really like you Anayis and..." I stopped his frantic episode. I grabbed his face and kissed him once again while he was in mid sentence. I felt his shoulders relax and his face fall soft. I pulled away slightly, our faces still nuzzled. I opened my eyes, "I wanted you to kiss me Norman."
We kissed over and over and over again. It felt like we would never stop. Norman picked me up and took me to his room.
I know what you're thinking but no, we didn't do anything. Norman knew his boundaries, and he respected my wishes, unlike Gareth. We both fell asleep, nuzzled and cuddled together.
