i'm only given clues

Chapter 3

They're on the road by seven-thirty, and it's really hard not to be impressed that they're only an hour and a half behind schedule.

Dinah keeps good on her promise and lets Normani black out in the passenger seat as she climbs behind the wheel.

/

They woke up at six-thirty. Well, Normani woke up at six-thirty, goaded into consciousness by a nose nudging softly at her cheek. When her eyes fluttered open, she'd be lying if she said that waking up with a half-naked Dinah (if underwear that small and snug can constitute for someone being half-naked), didn't completely blindside her. It's something that always blindsides her, but upon waking that morning, it was mixed with a heavy and overwhelming dose of unsatisfied sexual frustration.

Three hours of sleep or not, it took her everything in her power not to push Dinah onto her back and fix that. But then, it didn't take long for her barely-charged batteries to drain and for her to do it anyway, rolling them steadily to the edge of the bed farthest away from Quincy and Ryan, and tease teasing their mouths together.

A part of her had thought that maybe it would be okay, to sneakily press a kiss to Dinah's mouth while everyone was sleeping (they'd done it before at parties, many times), but this was different. Dinah's breasts were pressed against her stomach where Normani's tank had risen up and she'd managed to slip a thigh between Dinah's, pressing upward.

Alarm bells started ringing.

There was no way it would just be a kiss, and she couldn't let them be caught in the act this early in the morning. It would be hard to blame drunkenness when they weren't even drunk anymore. Not just because of the normal reasons but because the hangover she'd predicted the night before was present with full force. Thinking of an excuse would be too hard. It would have been too big a risk.

Dinah shook her head in refusal, like she knew that Normani was going to move away, and pulled her forward close enough that she could suck gently on Normani's top lip. It earned her a narrow-eyed smirk. Dinah knew that Normani found that particular move difficult to resist, and Normani let her do it again a few more times just because it was impossible for her not to. Dinah smiled softly, proudly, and let their fingers clasp together either side of her head, pulling Normani even closer until she was choking on a moan.

Before she knew it, they were kissing hungrily and lazily, like only the best morning kisses are, and her eyes were fluttering closed in submission.

It wasn't until Ryan sighed sleepily, and rolled over onto her front, that they darted away from each other. It shocked both of them when, instead of panicking, Normani just covered her eyes with her hands and let out a laugh of disbelief.

She even pecked a kiss to the corner of Dinah's mouth when she got up and headed to the bathroom.

/

It's only now that the panic's starting to set in, the full realisation of how stupid she's been almost making her want to throw up with fear.

Catching sight of Dinah every so often in the mirror, she can't help but feel guilty. She's sitting here panicking and regretting what happened for all the wrong reasons, while Dinah's softly singing along to the stereo like everything's great in the world for all the right ones.

Normani hates that Dinah's sitting there, dancing a little and trying not to make the car mirror her moves, just as much as she hates knowing that it's any minute before she freaks out again. While Dinah's happy, Normani's renewed with fear and she curls tighter into a ball, covering a hand over her mouth to stop herself from sobbing.

Sure, Ryan knows about them. At least, she knows how Normani feels and she knows there's something going on with them, but that's okay. She's convinced herself she has little to worry about there. Normani knows that as much as they pretend to hate each other, she and Ryan care about each other more, and this is one of those things where best friends come first.