The Child in Me (Norminah)

💫Promises💫

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《...late afternoon/early evening...》

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It's been a long while since Treasure Planet had ended, along with the Lion King (one through one and a half), Atlantis, and WALL-E. With Quincy joining the party for a little bit, the little ones had gotten even more excited and antsy. Quincy always had a way with kids. Like Dinah, he came from a big family; a family that was very well known thanks to his dad. Quincy came from a line of very successful racers. But oddly enough, he wanted to train and teach more than wanting to be behind the wheel. It definitely came in handy for when he trained Lenny. And it benefited him now that he was training Jason. But deep down, he knew that training Dinah would be the best. He was just patiently waiting for the Poly to take a chance and do something that would make her happy.

It was soon time for everyone to leave, which meant that everyone would start to pack at the last minute. For Ally it was no problem, seeing as she only had Lizzie. As for Lauren and Normani, that was a whole other story. Quincy decided to help Lauren with packing her and her boys' things to give Dinah and Normani some time to themselves. As much as Dinah was happy to have another moment alone with the ebony, in the back of her mind she kept thinking over how her and Kai were gonna be in a quiet, empty house really again soon. There was a time when Dinah liked having a quiet place all to herself. But now that she was able to enjoy life the way she used to before Lenny passed, she feels like she'll be going back in time to a place she never wanted to stay.

Normani could sense that Dinah's mind was going a thousand miles per second, so she stopped her packing, nicely asked her daughters to help their Aunt Ally and cousin Lizzie with their packing, and took Dinah by both her hands as she looked directly into her eyes.

"Talk to me Dimples."

Dinah sighed, looking down at the floor to keep the ebony from seeing how glossy her eyes were becoming.

"I just..." she began, "...I just really want you to stay. Without Lenny, this house doesn't even feel like home anymore. When Quincy's here, I feel more at ease, but whenever I'm around you I...I'm finally home. And now I have to watch you leave to go all the way across the country."

Normani's face softened as she tried her very best to hold back her own tears. Though Dinah always tried to hide whenever she became emotional around her, the ebony could always tell when she was on the verge of just breaking down. She knew that Dinah was carrying more than she was letting on. That's why she contacted Quincy the other night so he could spend some time with her when everyone else left to go back home. She took Dinah's hands and led her to the bed, the both of them facing each other once they sat down.

"There were so many things that we promised each other when we were teenagers," she said softly, "promises that I made to you. But no matter how hard I try, I keep breaking the biggest, most important promise I made to you when we first became best friends."

Dinah looked up from her lap and into Normani's tear filled eyes, her heart breaking more at the words that she knew would come out of those beautifully soft lips. And yet, for some reason, she still wanted to hear the ebony say it.

"What promise?"

"To always be there for you."

It was the smallest crack in Normani's voice that did it for Dinah. For as long as the Poly knew her, she never heard Normani's voice crack when she cried. This was the first time she heard it not only crack, but falter in pitch as well. This was always the hardest part for the two women; saying goodbye. Sure, when they were younger, they would always joke around about not seeing each other for "years" when it had only been a few months of the group being on break. But now, they had families of their own. And time never allowed them to see each other nearly as often as they used to. They knew this, and yet, somehow, this goodbye was the hardest they've had to do.