Dance With Me (Norminah & Camren)

Chapter 30: Stay With Me

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day weekend! Let's celebrate with some Norminah romance because they're the bestest ship in the world! :D 

PS: When it's time, WATCH DE YOUTUBE VIDEO embedded in the chapter for a more immersive experience ;)

Tap that VOTE & leggo!

Dinah's POV

Our dance production was an extended version of our old college showcase. The first half of our new production showed our old showcase story. For the second half of the show, we added onto the old story to make it a happy ending. Normani's old character, who'd married a man because she was ashamed at having fallen in love with a woman, is just existing in her marriage without having any real feelings for her husband. She goes through the motions of a domesticated married woman for 7 years, including giving up her dance career in order to take care of her kids. When her husband passes away suddenly because of an accident, she enrolls her two daughters into dance classes to distract them from the tragedy. But Normani's old character is shocked to find that the dance instructor is my old character, the woman she'd fallen in love with years ago. Our characters spend time together, slowly rekindle their love, and learn to accept themselves.

Except this time around, Normani and I weren't the ones dancing. Cassie played the part of Normani's old character and Jenna played the part of my old character. And every time we rehearsed, I watched with envy as they kissed. If that'd been Normani and I dancing, then I would've had a legitimate excuse to kiss her without it being weird. Normani and I were more involved in the choreography and behind-the-scenes production logistics, which meant that as we got closer to the showcase, we spent almost every waking moment together trying to solve production issues.

I loved spending time with Normani and even woke up earlier than usual to be a part of her morning planning routine. I'd wake up at 5am every morning and text her to let her know that I was awake. 10 minutes later, I'd be opening the backyard door for her to come in. She'd set her laptop down, make some joke about my lazyass being awake, and then help me make breakfast. While eating breakfast, we'd watch the video of the previous day's rehearsal and talk about things that needed to improve. After breakfast, we'd snuggle up together on the couch and she'd work on her laptop while I'd pretend to work on mine and try hard not to stare at her.

At about 7:15am, Sean would wander into my house looking for his fiancée and breakfast, at which point, I'd snap out of my delusional thoughts about Normani and go upstairs to wake Ryder. Then Sean and Ryder would have breakfast together, while Normani continued working on her laptop and I got ready for my waitressing job. Then Normani would drop Ryder and Ally's kids off to school and me off at work. With the showcase so close, I was taking half shifts at the restaurant. About 1pm, Normani and Sean would swing by my work. I'd feed both of them lunch at my restaurant and then Sean—to my immense pleasure—would take off to go sightseeing in LA.

Normani and I'd then go to the production office for meetings, during which Ally would give me suggestive looks about Normani and I'd try to ignore her. Then Ally, Normani, and I would meet with the theater, costume, set design, lights, and sound crew. At 3:30pm, Ally would leave to go pick up our kids from school and I'd be left alone with Normani again till 5pm, which is when the dancers, the live orchestra, and caterers would start trickling in along with Ally and our kids. We'd rehearse from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, at some point during which Sean—to my displeasure—would come back from his LA sightseeing and Kalin would come to hang out with us.

Around 9:45pm, Kalin would pull me into an isolated part of the theater for some alone time. I knew it was wrong of me to lead Kalin on like that, but seeing Normani with Sean made me feel needy, so I couldn't get myself to break up with him just yet. At around 10:15pm, Kalin and I would emerge from wherever we were, and I'd try to ignore Ally's disapproving looks as we got ready to go home. Normani, Sean, Ryder, and I would all go home together, and by 11pm, Ryder and I would be asleep so that I could start the next day again at 5am.