C H A P T E R O N E
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If Normani Kordei had been told on the morning of that fateful Friday that she'd end up meeting him at an event where she had been a backup dancer for SZA, she would've probably laughed in the person's face -- and not just any laugh -- a manic hysteric, laugh of disbelief then she'd proceed to cuss the person out because based on how her day had started, it had seemed highly unlikely.

But it had happened.

She had danced as a backup for up-and-coming mainstream sensation SZA and she'd met him.

X O

Her day had started out horribly. First, her alarm didn't ring because her phone had died during the night while it was supposed to charge -- because her phone was slowly deteriorating and she didn't have the time or money to replace it yet.

She'd missed her first lecture of the day in which she was supposed to write her test on Dance History. She tried to set up a make-up test session for that afternoon but her lecturer, a man she was sure was born with a stick up his tight ass had refused to let her make it up. Then, she'd found at that her 11:00 ballet practical slot had been swapped with Jenna Wimmon's 14:00 and she hadn't been informed prior and so --- she'd have to take her practical at 14:00 when she'd planned to be home by 12:00 after her last class for the day but now that plan would have to take a backseat.

By the time she got home, she was tired and annoyed. All she wanted to do was nap for the rest of the afternoon, order a box of pizza and eat as much as she could in the evening and binge watch something on Netflix to take her mind off of things.

The place Normani had called home for the past two years was a cosy two-bedroom apartment off campus. It was empty when she let herself in and dropped her backpack by the front door. She walked a couple of paces from the front door into her bedroom and the first thing she did was slip out of her day outfit, sighing in relief when her bra slid down her arms. She rolled her shoulders to loosen the stiff, overworked muscles.

After changing into a tee shirt that was three times her size, Normani roamed into the small open-plan kitchen and got some of last night's leftover pizza out of the fridge and into the microwave. Normani was never one to eat such fatty foods before a practical so she'd had to munch on carrot sticks for dinner last night while Anika, her roommate had chowed the pizza to her heart's content, alone.

She took the plate of pizza to her room where she settled onto her red-silk themed bedding and loaded season two of Blackish via Netflix. Normani fell asleep by the third episode, exhaustion finally claiming her body.

She had a good, deep sleep -- the kind that was dreamless and comfortable and so it was understandable when she felt slightly disgruntled for being rudely awakened by Anika an hour and a half into her delicious nap.

"Bitch, if you don't have a good reason as to why you're interrupting my nap right now I'm gonna smack you into the next dimension," Normani grumbled as she turned her head to look up at her best friend's amused expression. Normani had never been a morning person and always got verbally violent whenever her sleep was interrupted.

"I forgot how cute you get when you're tired." Anika cooed, not the slightest bit affected by her grumpy friend's words. She pinched Normani's cheek playfully and Normani slapped her hand away.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Your annoying dance friend is here. She says she needs to talk to you about something important. She wouldn't tell me what it was." Anika replied.

"You mean Peaches?"

"Yeah, her." Anika replied, rolling her eyes.

"Ugh," Normani complained -- knowing that she'd have to get up as she could never be rude to Peaches. She only had one friend at the private dance company she spent all her free time at and probably had a good reason for coming all the way to her apartment. Peaches attended a community college on the other side of town and since she and Normani didn't have a dance session today -- she had absolutely no reason to be on this side of town.

Normani sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, donned on a short gown and opened the door to her bedroom.

"Well, are you gonna thank me for personally coming to wake you?" Anika asked expectantly.

"Bitch you woke me up, fuck you," Normani replied dismissively with a small smile on her face.

"Rude." Anika retorted.

"You still love me," Normani replied teasingly before she walked back to her roommate/ longtime best friend and kissed her cheek.

"Das right, you're gonna respect me." Anika tutted and Normani chuckled softly and walked to the living room. Anika went into her own room to finish some of her homework.

Peaches was seated on one of the old, mismatched couches that she and Anika bought at a yard sale last year, drawing patterns on the sofa's arm with her finger. She was demurely pretty, with dark skin, a small round face, tiny cupid bow's lips and large dark eyes that seemed too big for her face and fluffy relaxed hair that she religiously died black.

She always wore bright colours and today, she had donned on a loud peach-pink lipstick and had matching hairties on her head. The reason why Anika couldn't stand Peaches was that the girl had the energy levels of a three-year-old and was always friendly and happy-go-lucky. While Anika couldn't stand that, Normani loved that about her.

"Hey, Mani!" Peaches greeted excitedly.

"Hey, girl," Normani replied back in a far calmer tone.

"How are you doing? You look tired girl, are you alright?" Peaches asked, her tone going from excited to concerned in a couple of seconds.

"I'm good, I was just napping, I had a long day."

"Oh, sorry that I woke you then, but I have good news." Peaches said excitedly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh." Peaches said with the largest smile on her face.

"Okay, wassup?" Normani asked, dropping down onto the nearest couch and sat down.

"Well remember that solo I asked you to help me with for next month's show?"

"Yeah," Normani replied.

Peaches had difficulty learning her dance routines by herself and often needed a partner to help her memorise the steps.

Peaches had asked her to help her with a new routine to the RNB hit Love Galore by SZA and Normani hadn't thought much of it. It was different to Peaches' usual dancing style -- which was hip hop but hey, a sister could experiment with new genres.

"I lied about it being a solo for next month."

"Oh my god." Normani gasped. "Peaches, you never lie."

In the two years she'd known the odd girl, she couldn't tell a lie to save her life. One time, Peaches had failed a test for her maths class during her freshman year at college and after lying to her mom about her results, she'd been nauseous all week with guilt and had finally called her mom in tears and told her the truth.

"I know, but I had to. It was difficult but I had to." Peaches acknowledged.

"But why?" Normani asked.

"I was required by law not to tell anyone."

"Law? Peaches woah-"

"Let me explain." Peaches replied excitedly. "A few weeks back, I got an e-mail from a representative from TDE. I thought that the name sounded very familiar. It turns out that they're SZA's record label! Apparently, SZA  saw my Humble dance routine on Peaches Emporium and loved me. She asked her manager from TDE to contact me and ask me to be a backup dancer for an upcoming event she was performing at. I obviously took the offer and I met her a few weeks back. She got me and three other people to backup for her and one of them -- Christina broke her leg and can't make the event anymore so I told her about you. You know the dance since you learned it with me and I told her you could fill in. She promised that you'd get paid and everything."

"Wow, Peaches this is huge!" Normani replied, her eyes widened in shock.

"I know!" Peaches squealed. "If you accept the offer then you gotta come with me to rehearsals. We're going through the routine for the last couple of times."

"Of course I'm accepting, lemme just change my clothes!" She said nearly rocketing out of her seat and flying into her room.

X O

Normani didn't consider herself a fan of SZA but she did bop along to her songs whenever they played on the radio or at a turn-up. She'd met her later that night before the final rehearsal before the event. SZA, or Solana as she preferred everyone to call her in the rehearsal room was calm, reserved and had kind eyes. Normani loved the deep husk of her voice and how it could easily become a high pitched note on a song. 

Normani had felt really nervous as she entered the private studio they were rehearsing in. Solana and Layla-- Solana's personal dance instructor had their eyes trained on the duo and specifically on Normani.

Peaches walked towards them first, Normani closely in tow.

"Hey Solana, hey Layla. This is my friend that I told you about, Normani."

Layla looked Normani up and down with an unreadable expression on her face. Normani was a little intimidated.

"Hi," Normani waved.

"Hi Normani, I'm Solana." The pop star introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, Solana." Normani gushed a little.

"Wow, you're really beautiful, isn't she beautiful?" Solana asked Layla who nodded. Normani felt a deep blush rise to her cheeks.

"Girl please, look at you! Your tattoos as sick! But thank you, thank you so much." Normani replied.

"Come on, Normani, show us what you got." Layla encouraged.

×

Rehearsal started and it only took a couple of minutes for Normani to fall into sync with everyone else. She knew the routine and even Layla was smiling at her in approval. Solana was happy with her too and even offered her an extra role during the interlude of the song.

Everyone made use of the showers the studio had and got ready for the performance. Everyone wore short, flowy dresses and black four-inch heels to match.

Everyone got into a minivan and bopped along to some trap music. The venue was a popular club that had been booked out.

Normani knew that whoever had booked out the place was stinking rich because the club was difficult to get into.

After a successful performance, all of the acts were invited to relax in the VIP section, which was a secluded room in the club. Janelle Monae turned the invitation down as she had someplace else to be.

There, everyone enjoyed the free alcohol and food and got to mingle. The birthday girl and her entourage entered the VIP section and mingled amongst everyone as well. The Birthday girl spent a lot of time gushing over Dua, Janelle and SZA while her boyfriend hovered close by, watching her with a fond smile and taking pictures of her with her idols.

So far, the party had been chilled and the vibe was alright. Normani had spent the night at Peaches' side, occasionally catching the eye of the dark, handsome stranger that had been giving her flirtatious looks all night. Normani was up for some fun and so, she'd entertained his attention.

When slower RnB music came on she saw the distinguished man walk in her direction. His smile made her knees a little weak and the dark slacks and white button-up he wore that hugged his firm body didn't help much either.

Before she knew it, she was dancing with the stranger, pressed against him as he held her waist. As the music got more sensual, she had turned her body and had pressed her back to his chest and moved her hips sensually against him. She loved the way he smelled and how he held her with his strong arms.

"What's your name?" He whispered into her ear as they continued to move together. His breath was warm and sweet against her cheek and she bit her lip at the chill the ran down her spine.

"Normani," she responded.

"What a gorgeous name," he responded. The way he said it, so softly but lowly with a deep delicious tone made her heartbeat accelerate. The man was sexiness personified.

Normani turned her body to face him and without thinking much about it, she looped her arms around his neck and stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him. His lips were smooth and plump against hers and his hands slithered down to cup her firm backside and she gasped softly, holding onto him more tightly.

In the distance, she felt her core begin to tick with arousal at the way he was handling her -- with assured dominance. He knew exactly how to handle her and she felt weak with arousal.

When they parted for air, Normani had a dazed expression on her face, while the stranger smiled down at her gently as if he didn't know the effect he'd just had on her. It made Normani want to drag him to some dark corner and do sinful things with him. She had just met the man, but he was doing things to her and her body that hadn't been done to her in a long time.

Normani's lashes fluttered and she stared up at him, memorising the lines of his jaw and the angles of his nose and the position of his cheekbones. He was a man sculpted by gods she believed.

"What's your name?" Normani asked, gazing up at him in awe because he was a man too beautiful for words.

"Keith." He said back.

The name suited him well. Normani reached up a hand to cup his cheek to tilt his head down so that she could kiss him again.

After their hot makeout session, another sexy song came on and Normani took the liberty of grinding sensually over him and revelled in the feeling of his erection on the small of her back. As the night wore on the drinks continued to flow and Normani and Keith continued to be joined at the hip.

It was around 01:00 when Peaches pulled a drunk Normani to her side and told her that they had to go home because it was getting late. Normani was too inebriated to protest to her friend leading her out of the club and into an Über. Peaches knew Normani would be extremely hungover the next morning but it had been nice to see her friend having a good time. It had been a long time since she'd seen Normani has carefree as she had been that night.

Normani kept on drunkenly mumbling about the man she'd met that night and Peaches couldn't help but chuckle at her words, enjoying how uncensored Normani became when she was drunk.
Normani fell asleep in the Über soon after and Peaches cradled her head in her lap.