Knowing Her ( Norminah)

--EPILOGUE--

She was pretty sure she was hallucinating.

The kitchen was a disaster zone. Ellie and Peter were covered head to toe with cake batter, an exasperated Elizabeth standing next to them, an empty bowl (looking suspiciously like it had been full of cake batter just moments before) in her hands. John was leaning over the sink, one hand waving in the air, the other deep in the drain. Hannah was holding back the twins, who'd somehow found a carton of eggs and were using a slingshot to fire the makeshift ammo at everyone in sight. Camila, Ally, and Tyler stood to the side, identical expressions of faux innocence on their faces, flour plastered in their hair, using their bodies to unsuccessfully hide the ruined cake behind them. Lauren stood next to Normani, forcibly holding her back, and Normani—her fiancée, the love of her life, her future wife—had clumps of icing and cake in her hands, cheeks streaked with tears, fiery gaze on the caterer. Dinah blinked, once, twice, three times. But the image didn't disappear.

She wasn't dreaming. Or hallucinating.

Before she could speak, the door swung open and Mrs. Hamilton burst into the kitchen, eyes over her shoulder (as if something was chasing her).

"Andrea and Dinah are here, we—" She turned and immediately cut herself off, momentarily looking sheepish before she grinned widely at Dinah. "Never mind then."

(Dinah blinked once, twice, three times, but John's hand remained stuck in the sink, Camila remained in front of their ruined wedding cake, Normani remained glaring at the caterer. She wasn't hallucinating. Or dreaming.)

"Should we ask?" Andrea muttered, turning to Dinah with an incredulous expression, jaw still slightly ajar.

"Nope," Dinah said, shaking her head for effect. "Nope, I don't want to know."

"Logical as always, Dinah," Mrs. Hamilton offered, and it was only then that Normani turned away from the caterer, her fiery gaze now focused on Dinah.

"You promised me," she said harshly, and without bothering to explain, she let the cake clumps in her hands fall to the ground with a disturbingly satisfying splat, before she walked out the door (taking great care to ram her shoulder hard into Dinah's).

Dinah blinked once, twice, three times, and she went after the love of her life, her fiancée, her future wife, without a second thought.

//

"I don't understand why we bother arguing over this every time. We both know you'll eventually agree with me." Dinah rolled her eyes, not looking away from the newscaster or shifting from her seat on the couch.

"I'm making a point," she said, refraining from turning around when she felt Normani's stomach press against the back of her head.

"Oh yeah?" She punctuated her words with a gentle graze of her hands against Dinah's neck, and it was truly a low blow. Dinah suppressed her shiver and tried to focus.

"You can't always get your way, Normani."

"But you're arguing for something you don't even want." This time, her lips brushed against Dinah's neck, and despite all her focus on the newscaster, she couldn't help the sigh that escaped her, couldn't help but lean her head to the side, giving Normani more room. (Couldn't help smiling a little when Normani let out a victorious laugh.)

"It's the principle of the thing," Dinah continued, wishing Normani wasn't standing behind the couch, wishing that turning around and pulling Normani into a proper kiss wouldn't be considered tacit surrender. "I argue to assert that my opinions should be factored in as well."