Normily: After Effects

Destiny?

Emily payed her fare and went into the building. She was greeted by the man at the desk. He was tall, handsome, and had dark hair. He smiled at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Miss Kinney?" he asked.

"Yes," Emily replied, tired. The man nodded to one of the chairs in the lobby. Emily approached it from behind and rounded it to be met by a nappy, blonde boy with blue eyes and a face beginning to look like his dad's. His eyes were closed and he had on basketball shorts, a hoodie, and headphones in his ears. It was difficult to discern if he was listening intently to music or if he was sleeping.

"Hey?" Emily lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" the boy looked up.

"Mingus, right?" Emily said, feeling stupid and mentally hitting herself on the forehead. Of course he was Mingus. He looked like a direct crossover between Norman and a supermodel, which technically he was.

"Yeah," he stood.

Mingus was tall for a fifteen-year-old. He was almost a foot taller than Emily. She smiled.

"Let's go up," Mingus said, smiling, "Dad set the couch up for you."

As they rode the elevator up, Mingus continued to listen to his music while Emily went online and got a plane ticket for tomorrow. She put her phone away as the door chimed and opened. They walked out and Mingus led the way to Normans door. He unlocked it and held it for Emily. She entered and found the lavishly furnished apartment dark. Mingus flipped on the lights and closed the door, locking it. Norman groggily walked into the livingroom and smiled.

"Sucks that your place is virtually useless," he said.

"Yeah," Emily agreed. But at least I can spend the night with you. Norman motioned for her to follow him.

He led her to his bedroom and set a hamper in front of her, "For your dirty clothes. I'll have them washed and ready for you before you leave."

"Thank you," Emily said.

Norman led her to the master bathroom, "Take a shower if you need to, just don't walk out without getting dressed."

"Why would I do that?"

"It's a precaution, something I tell everyone. A model stayed here with me one night and decided she'd surprise me by exiting the bathroom nude. Mingus was in here with me when she exited," Norman explained, "I figured better safe then sorry."

"Oh," Emily glanced back towards Mingus's room.

"Don't worry," Norman said, "I'll keep him from doing so if he tries."

"Ok," Emily said as she went into the bathroom and looked around, "Where are your towels?"

Norman walked in and opened one of the cabinets. It was filled with clean white towels and washrags, almost like a hotel, but they were finer, more expensive, better quality linens. Norman turned to walk out and let Emily get cleaned up.

After her shower, Emily toweled off and put on some pyjamas. She wiped off her makeup with an alcohol pad from her night-kit and dried her hair. Emily walked out of the bathroom into Norman's dark bedroom. Norman was lying in bed, snoring. Emily walked over to his bed and kissed Norman's cheek gently. She didn't know why she did it. Maybe she was beginning to feel the infatuation the fans wanted them to have for each other. Norman's eyes opened slowly and he looked up. He smiled and sat up, his eyes were barely opened, but he was immediately able to identify who she was.

"What was that for?" Norman asked.

"If we're going to try to date, I figured we'd keep doing little, cute things for each other," Emily said nervously. Norman smiled and hugged her.

"Let's not take this too fast, ok? I'd rather this be a slow and easy development than a rapidly escalating relationship that we don't have control over," he said.

"Ok," Emily said, confused.

"I want this to last Ems," said Norman, "but I suppose a kiss goodnight won't hurt us every once in a while." Norman kissed her cheek and smiled. He did love her. A lot. But right now it was difficult to tell what kind of aspect of love it was. She was a really awesome friend, and she also felt like his sister after being on set together for four and a half seasons, and now she was going to become his girlfriend. If this was going to last, it'd be a little trial and error before they'd have figured out how to go about this.

Emily felt something in her stomach. In her mind she felt like she'd just floated into the air for a couple of seconds. He'd kissed her, and Emily had liked it. She smiled and walked into the livingroom, knowing that he was The One.

"Goodnight," she heard Norman call sleepily.

"Night," Emily replied. She lay down on the foldout couch bed and closed her eyes. But she couldn't sleep. Not when she felt like Norman was the one she should have been with the whole time. It was just one kiss, she thought to herself. A lot could happen over one kiss. Look at Romeo and Juliet. Of course that ended in tragedy. Emily tried to push the thought of Romeo downing poison because he thought Juliet was dead when she was faking it and then Juliet stabbing herself in the heart because Romeo was dead. Emily had finally fallen asleep when the nightmares began. She dreamt of them together, in a zombie apocalypse, but not being able to save each other from being torn to pieces by walkers.

Emily bolted upright shaking and sweating. She was disoriented and worried she wasn't in her apartment. She collected her thoughts and remembered she was at Norman's apartment for the night. She sighed and lay back down.

"You alright?" Mingus said, holding a glass of water and standing at his door.

"Bad dream," Emily said.

Mingus walked to her and held out the water, "Here, you want this?"

"It's ok, Mingus," Emily smiled and shook her head, "You keep it."

Mingus took a drink and nodded towards Norman's room. Emily looked and saw Norman standing in the doorway. His hair was nappy and he was scratching his chin. Mingus went to his room and closed the door.

"You good?" Norman said, his voice was scratchy.

"Yeah, just a nightmare," Emily said.

Norman walked over to her bed and sat down next to her. He hugged her and rested his head atop of hers. He closed his eyes and slowly rocked back and forth.

"You want me to stay or to sleep in my bed?" he asked.

Emily bit her lip. Of course she wanted him to stay or to sleep in his bed! Who wouldn't want to sleep with Norman Reedus? What do I say? This was a tough one.

"Stay until I fall asleep?" she said.

"Okay," Norman said as he lay down.

Emily lay down next to him and snuggled up to him. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. After thirty minutes of lying there Emily had still not fallen asleep. She sighed and felt something scratchy press against her forehead. She looked up. Norman was looking back down at her.

"Can't sleep?"

"No," Emily said.

"What's wrong? Not comfortable or is it me? Are you too cold or hot?" Norman asked.

"It's something that I've been thinking about can't get it out of my mind."

"What's bothering you, Ems?" Norman said as he rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows and rested his head in his hands- the perfect listening intently, hanging on every word position.

"I think... I th-think," she felt butterflies well up inside her, "I think I love you." Emily covered her mouth like she'd said something wrong. Norman smiled and chuckled.

"I-" he began.

"I said it too soon, didn't I?" Emily cut him off, "I'm so stupid."

"I love you too," Norman finished, "You're not stupid."

"You do?" Emily said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, Emily, I do," he said, "And I love you enough to tell you you need get some sleep. You have a show tomorrow." Emily smiled and closed her eyes. Now she could sleep.