Retrying Love

twenty one

Normani was awoken by a knock on her door the next day. The brunette got out of bed and went to open her front door. When she opened it she smiled softly.

"Hey, baby," she said.

"Hey," Dinah smiled, kissing her girlfriend's forehead.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had to go to work?"

"I do," the blonde said, stepping inside. "Tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Court."

"What's the point in even going to court if they're in jail for life?" Normani asked.

Dinah shrugged and grabbed Normani's hand, leading her to the couch. The Polynesian wrapped an arm around her and lie down, pulling the younger girl down with her. Normani lie her head on Dinah's chest and smiled softly.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I love you too, princess," the Polynesian said, kissing the top of her girlfriend's head.

Normani smiled even wider. "I–"

Dinah's phone began to ring. She sighed and got it out of her pocket. She answered it an placed it to her ear. "What?" she asked.

"Let's try that again."

It was her Lieutenant.

"Yes?"

"I need you to come in. Right now."

"I can't ever get a day to myself, can I?" the Tongan mumbled.

"If you wanted days to yourself, you should've have applied to be a detective. Hurry up."

And the line disconnected.

"Mani–"

The younger girl sighed and sat up. "Okay."

"I'm sorry," Dinah said.

"Can I go see Arin and Chris?" Normani asked.

The older girl looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you insane?"

"Dinah, we're going to be in a visiting are with police all around us. What the hell are they going to do to me?" the brunette rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine. I'm going to have Kehlani go with you, though. I trust that she'll make sure nothing happens to you."

"Okay," Normani nodded and stood, "just let me put on some clothes."

-

"Go with Kehlani, I'll go see what Perrie wants," Dinah pecked Normani on the lips.

"Okay," Normani smiled and turned to her girlfriend's partner.

"Follow me, Mrs. Powers," Kehlani said

"Detective," Dinah said.

The older girl lifted an eyebrow.

"If she comes back with a scratch on her, you're going to pay the consequences," the blonde said.

And she was dead serious.

"She's safe with me, Sergeant," Kehlani winked and the two girls walked off.

"She better be," Dinah said before she walked off

-

The two girls walked into the visiting are to see Chris sitting down. He looked up at Normani and smiled a little. The brunette smiled back and went to sit in front of him.

"Hey," she said sitting down.

"Hey," Chris said.

"How are you?"

"I'm still breathing, so pretty good," the older man said. "What took you so long to turn us in?"

"I was scared."

"Of what? Of what he would do?"

"Chris, you know as much as I know that he's a dangerous man. I never understood how Keith was his friend since grade school. How he was his friend without living in fear..."

"Arin wasn't like how he is now when he was younger."

"I'm being told that by everyone. What the fuck changed him?" Normani shook her head.

Chris sighed. "You did."

The younger girl furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the man. "Pardon?"

"You were the girl of Arin's dreams, Mani. Ever since the seventh grade he wanted you. Then, Keith got you. His best friend got the girl he wanted–"

"Did he ever tell Keith that he liked me?"

"No, but–"

"Then, how the hell was he supposed to know? Arin should've said something."

"Normani, you don't understand–"

"Time's up," Kehlani said.

"A few more minutes, Detective."

"Five minutes each," Kehlani said, "Sergeant's orders."

Normani sighed. She knew that Kehlani couldn't disobey Dinah. Or, and I quote, 'she would face the consequences.' Nobody knew exactly what the consequences were, because nobody dared to ignore what Dinah said. At her job she was a very strict and intimidating person, but to Normani she was just a sweet ball of fluff. Like cotton candy.

She looked up and saw Arin walked out. She saw him kiss his knuckles before sitting down in front of her.

"Normani," his deep voice said.

She looked up and gave the man a small smile. "Hey, Arin."

"You turned me in."

"I did–"

"After everything I did for you, you turned me in," Arin said.

"You did nothing for me–"

"I did everything for you," the older man said, keeping his voice from raising.

"You abused me mentally and physically. I would barely call that anything," Normani said.

"You deserved it. You're nothing but a whore who doesn't deserve love. Who doesn't deserve anything but death."

"You're nothing but an ignorant man who doesn't deserve anything but to stay in jail. I wouldn't be surprised if you got the fucking death penalty. You're a god damn low life. You don't deserve to be on this earth. You're nothing but a burden, and I'm sure each time your parents look at you they think, 'A mistake. That's what he was.' Because I would think the same damn thing. You piece of shit," the younger girl snapped.

Everything happened so quickly. Arin had managed to break to cuffs that cuffed him to the table. He reached across the table and his fist connected with Normani's cheek, knocking her out cold. Kehlani along with other officers charged at him, pushing him onto the ground.

Kehlani got out her walkie-talkie and calling for someone to call an ambulance. Of course, it only took two minutes for Dinah to burst into the room and start yelling. She ran over to Normani and cupped her face in her hands before glaring at her partner.

"You took off his handcuffs?!" she yelled.

"He broke them!" Kehlani yelled back.

"Why weren't you watching them?!"

"I was! It all happened so quickly!"

Dinah yelled something at the detective in Samoan before yelling something in English.

"You're fired!"

-

A/N: 🤷🏾‍♀️