Normani's POV

I pull up to the church an hour before service starts. I have to be here with the choir to rehearse one last time. I head straight for the rehearsal room and spot Tori and Ally talking. Ally is in the choir too but only at church because she can't be the school mascot and on a team she would have no time. Tori waves me over with a smile and when I get there they hug me.

"Good morning soloist."

"Morning Tori. How are you Ally?"

"I'm good I saved you some of the donuts you like so much, I know you must be nervous about your song."

I take the offered donuts and smile at how nice Ally is. Even though I'm way too nervous to eat right now it's a really sweet gesture.

"Thanks Ally, but I'm way too nervous to eat right now."

"It's going to be fine. I heard you perform it yesterday you'll be great."

"Thanks T. Your mom is recording it right?"

"Yup, she's gonna be right in the front too."

I nod and sit down by the table and drink some of the water that's sitting there. I'm thankful for this distraction from Dinah but I know as soon as I'm done singing she'll be all that's on my mind. When I got home I was at least expecting a text from her for about half the night until I remembered that she didn't have my number. I was emotional and anxious all night between thinking Dinah and worrying about this performance.

Tori sits next to me and I instantly lay my head on her shoulder. Ally left to answer a phone call so it's just us.

"You need to eat babe. We can't have you getting lightheaded up there."

"I don't want to, I'm not in the mood."

"What's wrong, is it nerves?"

I think about it but ultimately end up shaking my head, knowing that my nerves aren't the problem this time.

"Is it what happened between you and Dinah yesterday?"

I stay silent but nod again her shoulder.

"You know after you left she told us what happened? She was so upset and angry at herself that she hurt you, that she left five minutes after you did."

I sit up when I hear that. Hearing that she was probably as sad as I was last night makes me feel slightly better.

"Tori if this was Zendaya what would do?"

"This almost was what happened with Zendaya and I. She wasn't as bad as Dinah is known to be but all three of them were players. After our first date I didn't hear from Zendaya for two weeks until Kehlani literally had to force her over my house to talk to me."

"So you're saying there's hope?"

"When have I ever said there isn't hope? Do you even know me at all?" She reaches for one of my donuts and breaks a piece off of it. I take it from her as she talks.

"Dinah's gonna take time to get it together. Just like it took time to get you to open up just now. One step, or piece, at a time."

"Did you really just use a donut to tell me to stop worrying?"

"It worked didn't it?"

"You're so lame, you know that right?"

"Just eat your donut."

Alessia's POV( Last Night)

Ally and I are playing video games with my little brother, just like every Saturday my parents have a date, when my phone rings.

"Hey I'm going in the other room. Ally crush him!"

"You're my sister you're supposed to be on my side!"

"And end up in the doghouse? I may be your sister but I'm smart enough to make the right decision!"

I run into the kitchen as he throws a pillow at me. Since he wasn't looking he missed and it hits the wall. I answer the phone and start looking for snacks.

(AN: Dinah is in italics)

"Hello?"

"Hey ale."

"Dinah? You sound weird are you okay?"

"No worries I just woke up. Anyway is Ally there?"

"Yeah she is, why what's up?"

"Can I talk to her?"

"Sure hold on."

Walking back into the TV room Ally is just about to win the game so I wait for them to finish.

"Boom I won!"

"Not fair you picked Rainbow Road. You know I hate that track, I can't drive it!"

"I won fair and square face it!"

"Man whatever!"

"Ally."

She turns to me mid victory dance and runs up to me.

"Baby did you see? I won! I never beat Dario at Mario Cart!"

"I know, anyway Dinah called me wanting to talk to you. She didn't say what about and she sounded off."

"Off how?"

"Like not her usual self. Not upbeat, plus she called me to talk to you. She has your number too."

"Okay let me talk to her."

She takes my phone upstairs to talk. While she's gone Dario and I order some pizzas for dinner, by the time she comes back I'm just getting off the phone with the pizza place.

I don't get to talk to her about what they talked about until I'm walking her to her car. She told me everything and I make it a point to call Dinah later before I go to bed.

"You gonna come to church tomorrow?"

"Well I kinda have to now."

"You better be on time."

"I will I promise. Now give me a kiss goodbye."

Normani's POV

Ally comes back and sits with us for the rest of the time until service starts. I block out most of the sermon until it's my turn to sing. I think it was a blessing that I'm singing right before the end of service that way I don't have to wait long to leave.

"And now church we have a special treat. My niece has has been chosen to honor us with her voice this fine morning. So please give a warm welcome to young Sister Normani Hamilton."

My music starts as I walk out and I hug my uncle before he leaves the stage. As I'm singing people start dancing in the aisles and I hear tambourines from people in the audience. From the side of the stage I see my family with Tori and Ally's family right next to them. Alessia is sitting next to Jerry and I almost stop singing when I see who's next to her.

Dinah is standing next to Ally's mother Pat, clapping along to the song. I look back at my friends but they aren't paying attention so I keep singing. The song ends and I sit in between Tori and Ally really confused about Dinah being here.

"Do you know who I saw in the audience as I was singing?"

"Who?"

"Dinah. She was sitting next to Alessia and your parents."

"Really?"

"Yes I know what I saw. And I saw a tall blonde Polynesian standing next to Ally's mother, clapping along to my song."

"Well you'll just have to find out why she's here after service."

I look back over to Dinah as ahe talks to Alessia. What the hell are you doing here?

Dinah's POV

What am I even doing here? I'm standing with Alessia outside of the church waiting for Normani and Ally to walk out. Alessia is trying to say something to me but I'm too far in my head to hear what she's saying.

"What did you say Ale?"

"I said calm down, everything will be fine."

"I'm sorry if I'm a little anxious, the last conversation we had was anything but positive."

"Yeah but you're trying to make things right so relax. And don't forget your bag it's in the back seat."

I close the door to the back seat with my bag in hand and straighten up when I see Normani walking towards us. Ally is steering her in our direction of the empty parking lot and suddenly I'm not anxious anymore, I'm nervous.

Ally hugs me and her girlfriend before speaking to any of us.

"I can't believe you showed up late. I told you to show up on time!"

"I was gonna be on time if I didn't have to pick her up on my way."

"You and your excuses."

"Anyway.....Normani you were incredible up there."

"Thank you Alessia I was really nervous about singing."

"I don't see how you could get nervous. You got up there and made that song your own. You were incredible."

Everyone turns to me as I praise Normani for her performance. My eyes soley focused on Normani as we make eye contact.

"Thank you Dinah."

"Well I better get going, Ally do you need a ride home?"

"Yes I do. Come on."

Normani and I watch them leave, following the plan we made last night perfectly. Step one check.

"Did you drive Dinah?"

"No Alessia was my ride. Can I hitch one with you?"

"Sure come on."

As I get in I check off step two in my head before moving along to step three.

"Look Mani I know after what happened yesterday things are a little weird between us. Can we go somewhere and talk?"

I can visibly see the wheels turning in her head as she thinks leaving me waiting in the passenger seat.

"Sure but I pick the place."

"Of course."

Normani's POV

I drive to get some food to go from my favorite place then take her to one of my favorite places. There's this mountain range I found one day when I was running and was amazed that I lived so close to such a beautiful view. I always go up there when I need to think and, I will definitely need a good place to think if Dinah wants to talk. Dinah gets out of the car unsure as I move from the  trunk to the back seat to change my shoes to some more comfortable to walk in. She has a vice grip on the strap of her bag, and keeps looking around.

"This is when you take into the woods and kill me, isn't it?"

"Relax, I wouldn't have bought you food if I was gonna kill you."

She breathes a sigh of relief but I can't help myself really.

"Plus if I was gonna kill you I wouldn't bring you to my favorite places in the city. That would taint the memory of it for me."

I walk ahead of her so she doesn't see my smile so she thinks I'm serious until I turn around.

"Hey! You coming or not?"

"You're so mean that was not cool!"

"No you're just a big baby. Now come on it's this way."

She walks in my direction sporting the most adorable pout I have ever seen. I turn back around and lead the way to the spot I want to show her. We get to the top of the cliff and I hear her stop walking and gasp.

Dinah's POV

This place is beautiful. I take my phone out and take a few pictures so I can draw this later.

"Hey you gonna sit down or what, the food is getting cold!"

I'm so into the view I don't see that Normani pulled out a blanket and set up a mini picnic for us.

"Did you just have that in your car or something?"

"Yeah I come up here a lot so I make sure I have it just in case."

"Always prepared huh?"

"For most things,  now come on let's eat. You'll feel less nervous after you eat something."

"I am not nervous."

She levels me with a look and I don't even say anything I just sit down. I reach in my bag and pull out my speaker to play some music and she chuckles at me.

"What?"

"I can't have a blanket in my trunk, but you brought a whole Bluetooth speaker to church? Now who's always prepared?"

"I always have my speaker, it basically lives in my backpack. I even take it to school with me. Don't hate!"

"Whatever just play a song."

I hit shuffle on my phone then put it away so I can focus on her as I eat.

She starts clearing away all the trash and goes back down the hill to find a trash can leaving me alone for a five minutes. When she gets back I know she'll want to talk and I won't be able to avoid it anymore. I go over my plan in my head again just to calm myself down.

Step one: Get Normani alone after church
Step two: get my ride to leave without me so she has to drive me
Step three: get her to talk to me
Step four: be myself and actually talk to her.

So far the plan has been foolproof, it's been working a little bit too well now that I think about it. I just hope that I can get through step four before punking out.

Normani's POV

"So, you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah I did. First off I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened yesterday."

"What exactly are you apologizing for?"

"For just letting you leave like that. I was shocked that someone as smart as you liked me that I didn't know what to say. You were right, that's not who I really am. I was scared because the last person who saw the real me tore my heart in half. I just didn't want to hurt again."

"So the girl in the bathroom at the party and the girl at the park?"

She cringes at her own actions, especially about the girl in the bathroom. I can tell she doesn't feel good about it.

"They were distractions from the my heartbeat goes crazy over you, and how my brain can't stop bringing you up. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since Friday."

"If you're telling the truth then I have to say the same. I haven't stopped thinking about you either."

She smiles at me, a real smile not a smirk,and then reaches for her bag.

"Can I show you something?"

"What is it"

"Proof I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"Okay."

She pulls out these pieces of paper and hand them to me. I unfold them to see myself on the page. One sketch and one in color. (AN: Art not mine belongs to Roogomez on twitter and ig)

"We had a homework assignment in art to draw something we thought was beautiful. I started drawing you before I realized it was you."

I'm staring stunned at the fact that she took the time out to draw me. The picture is beautiful. I wonder if this is how she sees me.

"I didn't know you could draw."

"A lot of people don't but it's what I do when I'm stressed. It calms me down."

"Did you do this from memory?"

"Memory and what you look like in my head."

"Will you need this back for class?"

"The color one is yours to keep, I do need the sketch back to get a grade tomorrow tho."

"Okay, you might have to remind me later because I will keep it."

"You don't have to keep that one, I'll draw you a million more pictures. It'll be kinda hard to recreate a masterpiece tho."

"Well I'll happily be your muse as long as you be my model?"

"You have a deal."

Dinah's POV

We stayed up there for a while until I got a call to come home for dinner. We sat up there for hours just talking and it felt good. I didn't even realize how late it was. Right now we're driving to my house and I'm playing with her fingers. I have a lot of nervous energy for some reason, probably because I've never brought a girl home or told her my address before. I think Normani can sense my nerves but is letting me work it out on my own. We didn't talk about what we are or any of that because we were basically on the same page. We're taking things slow and not putting a label on it right now, which I think is good since I have a lot of baggage to unpack. We did make a decision to be committed to each other so we could really try this out. We're just taking it one day at a time.

"This is it right here."

She parks and meets me on the other side of the car as I get my stuff.

"So. Sit together at lunch?"

"Yeah definitely. Zendaya will probably drag my over to you when I tell her what happened today."

"I would love to see that actually."

"Oh I'm sure."

I chuckle then she fixes one of the loose strands of hair that came out of my ponytail. She leaves her hand there and I lean into the feather-light touch. She steps closer and kisses me on the cheek. When she pulls away I pull her back in but I go for her lips instead. I don't pull away until I hear my mother yelling at me from the doorstep.

"Ay stupid!"

"What ma?"

"Is she coming inside for dinner?"

Mani, who ducked into my neck in embarrassment, shakes her head no.

"She said no."

"Then stop eating her face and come inside for some real food!"

She closes the door and I just lean back against the car and shake my head. Normani starts shaking against me andI just know she's laughing and I start laughing too.

"Did that just happen?"

"Knowing my mother yes it did, and she'll probably do it again if I don't go inside."

"I better let you go then."

"Even though I don't want you to, yeah you probably should."

She backs up and I go inside to deal with my nosey family all throughout dinner. I'm asked a million and one questions until I head up to my room to get ready for bed. I'm laying up in bed when I see my phone light up from my nightstand.

Mani: goodnight cant wait to see you tomorrow

I smile before rolling over and going to bed. I can't send a good morning text if I wake up after her.

AN: The End. No but seriously that's it this is the last chapter. I might be persuaded to write an epilogue but no more full chapters for this story. Thanks for all the love you gave this story, I really wasn't expecting it but I appreciated it so much. As always Vote comment and share and I'll see you next time.

Happy Reading

Peace,

Meags