Knowing Her ( Norminah)

--CHAPTER 13--

She watched in fascination as one of the Maddies ate her s'more. First, she took it apart, licking the chocolate off the graham cracker before handing it to Peter who cheerfully tossed it into the fire. Then, she ate the marshmallow, getting it all over her chin, before repeating the cycle.

The campfire event was loud. Camila and Ally were playing some sort of game with Ellie, trying to see how much they could make the teenager blush as they talked about boys. Hannah, Andrea, Kate, and Elizabeth were trying to outdo each other in a game of chicken involving several glasses of wine. Barbara was humming under her breath, watching her children and grandchildren without straying too far from her bowl of chili, making an endless number of s'mores and handing it to the twins. John kept chasing the twins and his son away from the fire and their snacks, shouting playfully, practically drowning out the sound of the music that played from the small radio. Normani leaned against Dinah's shoulder, dozing off, and Dinah herself was struggling to stay awake.

"I assume you two were never the life of the party?" Barbara asked, ceasing her humming. Dinah blinked, shifted so that Normani's chin wouldn't dig quite so sharply into her shoulder, and smiled at Barbara.

"A day of repressing your feelings tends to sap you of all your energy."

"You sound frustrated."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"You get snarky when you're tired and frustrated. I don't know if I like it."

"You're the one who wanted me to grow a backbone."

"I regret that now."

"What's that they say? Be careful what you wish for?"

"I'll keep that in mind, hon. Do you want to take her up to bed?" She nodded towards Normani, but before Dinah could answer, Normani shook her head.

"I can go on my own."

"And trip and fall down the stairs, sweetheart? That's not very festive."

"I'm sleepy, not drunk. I can go up stairs." Dinah chuckled.

"Once," she said, allowing Normani to lean further into her, clearly about to doze off once more, "Normani tripped as she went up the stairs to our apartment, holding groceries. And our neighbor had a vase outside his apartment that he was insanely proud of."

"Oh god, not this story," Normani muttered, hiding her face in Dinah's neck. Dinah just laughed.

"Mrs. Hamilton, I cannot overstate how much he loved that vase. It might've been a family heirloom or something. Held his great-great-grandfather's ashes?" Normani didn't look up, so Dinah continued, unable to help her grin. "Anyway, so Normani tripped. And the groceries were just tossed down the steps, and the next thing we knew, our neighbor is shouting at us, saying Normani desecrated his vase."

"He didn't use that word," Normani protested, pulling away with a frown.

"Sure he did."

"No, he said, and I quote, 'I thought you were one of the good ones, Miss Hamilton, but it turns out you too go out and partake in nights of debauchery and depravity.'" Dinah snorted, hanging her head as she tried to hide her laughter, but Barbara had no such reservations. Her laughter boomed across the yard, briefly drawing the attention of her children.

"Desecration, debauchery, and depravity. It was quite the night, obviously," Barbara said, shaking her head in mock affront. Dinah nodded seriously.

"It was a night I wasn't invited to, sadly," she added. Normani rolled her eyes.

"I tripped. He thought I was drunk," Normani defended, but she was hiding her own smile, turning her head so they wouldn't catch her grin.