She couldn't believe she was actually doing this, Emily thought as she stepped off the walkway of the plane that led into the airport. She had never done anything like this in her entire life, especially with a coworker. She guessed that is what he is. Well, was. They had started out as costars and then became friends. Then the writers had taken Beth's character in a whole new direction and the natural result of that turn was that she and Norman had a lot of scenes together and they got closer.
When she had learned that Beth was being killed off, she thought maybe that would be it and he wouldn't want to talk to her anymore. Though they had shared some great moments together, she had somehow gotten worried all the sudden that he wouldn't want to continue their friendship.
It turned out that fear had been completely unfounded because over the course of the last few weeks, they had only grown closer. It was actually right before Halloween that she had noticed a subtle shift in their relationship. He had begun to text her more. At first it was just simple little notes here and there to tell her he was thinking about her during the day. Then she started noticing the patterns in his Twitter posts, tweeting love songs. He'd broken up with his longtime girlfriend a few weeks previous and she would be lying if she said she wasn't just a tiny bit curious about why he was tweeting songs over and over with no love interest on the horizon.
"Is there something I should know about the song you keep tweeting?" She'd texted him.
"This girl I know told someone that if you wanted to get her attention to send her a song." His voice was husky and she felt a flutter in her belly at his words. Who could the girl be? He had not mentioned anyone lately.
Something was vaguely familiar about what he said and it struck her then. "That's so funny. I told an interviewer that once." After the words left her mouth, it hit her like a ton of bricks what he was actually saying. And she wasn't sure what to say so she didn't say anything. Speechless wasn't something she was used to being.
"I know." He was quiet. So quiet and that was not like Norman. Normally he'd be cracking a joke right about now but he didn't. That had to mean something right? What had started as a flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach had turned into the mad flight of a bird, hell bent on escaping its cage.
"Oh." Her mind scrambled for words and Beth and Daryl's conversation in the kitchen of the funeral home popped into her head. Somehow she felt very much in character as she chose her next words carefully.
"Now is that all songs lately or just that one?" She knew he could hear the flirty tease in her voice. He was supposed to. She was trying to decide how she felt about his admission. That he wanted to get her attention; and she got nearly giddy with what it all meant.
Even though they didn't get far on the subject that night, although he had admitted that every song he had tweeted had been for her, they hadn't discussed it further. She knew now why he told her the way he did. He was giving her something to think about. To decide. Like there was even a decision to make. Ever since she and Norman had worked together, there had been a pull between them, like they were drifting towards something neither of them really knew exactly what to do with.
And as exciting as that was, it was dangerous. To date a costar, especially on a show like they were working on; it could ruin everything if things didn't work out, but gradually the tweets between the two of them had grown more frequent and the late night texts and phone calls became part of her normal routine.
It was right about that time that Halloween rolled around and she was in town filming anyways so she had booked a night at Eddie's Attic, which was kind of her stomping ground and a great avenue for her to release her music to the public. She had filmed separate from everyone else because they were having to keep everything such a secret from the rest of the cast. Only Norman and Andy knew that Beth wasn't really dead and they had to keep it that way to maintain the element of surprise come season six when she returned.
She hadn't expected anyone to show up at her show that night. Everyone was busy with other engagements or filming and some even had Comic Con events to attend. She herself had tried to schedule some time at a con but the rest of her schedule just would not permit it in the end. She was scheduled to be on the Talking Dead after her big episode aired on Sunday night. It was a busy weekend and she was pretty much flushed with excitement at any given moment but when Norman had walked in 10 minutes into her set while she was singing "Julie" all that just melted away and once her eyes locked on his, it was very difficult to focus her attention anywhere else the rest of the evening. As soon as her set was over she was escorted by security out the back to where Norman waited.
"Get in beautiful." Lord, God, he looked so good standing there by his Jeep, in a black button up shirt and ball cap and it was ridiculous that anyone could look that good wearing a ballcap and sunglasses at night but he did. He could make anything look good and she knew it was at that moment that she had crossed the line in her mind already because all she could imagine was taking his hat off of him and running her fingers in his hair and though she was no virgin by any means, the thought had her face firing up crimson at the thought of in what context that would ever be possible. That was until he called her beautiful and it wasn't that he hadn't used any term of endearment with her before. He had. Mostly sweetheart and gorgeous, but there was something different in the way that he had said this and she suddenly realized that it had nothing to do with his voice or even his words. It had to do with the way he was looking at her.
She had smiled at him, just a little flustered that this was Norman who was making her heart beat just a bit faster and made her skin flush with a heat that seemed to just glide over the surface, barely skimming. Quite frankly every single thing about him turned her into a complete and utter mess. He had taken her to a salsa club and they'd danced until 2 and when she'd had too much to drink, he had taken her back to his place and tucked her in on his sofa where she'd collapsed.
Emily wasn't stupid, she had heard the rumors about Norman before and how he seemed to like his women but never settled down and she could never have imagined he would take his time as he was with her. That he would have been such a perfect gentleman and he hadn't even kissed her yet.
That was maddening actually. That he had not kissed her yet and in her weaker moments she started to think that she was imagining all this with him, whatever this was. But then she'd get a text from him like she did this morning.
They hadn't seen each other since Halloween and it was after Christmas now. She had a break in her schedule this weekend for the first time in weeks and so did he. He had to be back at filming for his movie on Monday and she didn't have to be anywhere until Monday morning either. When he'd suggested it, at first it had been a joke. He had been complaining that he was going to be bored out there all alone so he was going to go snowboarding and see some sights.
"Oh you poor baby. Yes, I feel so sorry for you, all alone in a hotel room with a hot tub." She'd grinned through the phone and rolled her eyes mockingly.
"It's a lodge." He corrected. "You're not sorry at all, Em." He laughed. "If you were, you'd come out here with me and keep me company." He'd gone quiet again and that was her cue. He was serious.
"Okay." The word was out of her mouth before she could even think about the implications of going away with a boy for the weekend. Well, a man. Norman really didn't qualify as anything other than all man, all the time.
And now here she was and somewhere in this airport Norman was waiting. For her. She took a deep breath to calm her jangled nerves. She glanced up at the signs and took the escalator to the lower level. She got halfway down and it was odd the thing that she spotted first. His worn out black converse shoes and black jeans holding a sign of some sort. She started laughing as she approached him and read what he had written. "Emily Kinney Fan Club"
She had playfully smacked him on the arm as she approached him. "Nerd." She didn't mean it. But it was easier than giving a name to all the butterflies that were suddenly fluttering around in her tummy.
He smirked at her as he wrapped her up in a big hug. She knew there was no one else in the world that gave better hugs than Norman. She was surprised to find that hugging him this time held a different feel to it though. She hadn't expected to feel this nervous. This full of anticipation. Now that she was with him, she let her mind go there. To that place where she had avoided until now. Because now that she was standing in front of him and all this build up over the last several weeks, it was like everything was changed. In a good way. She flushed as she looked up at him. He wanted to kiss her. She could tell. She wondered if he would taste like cigarettes and leather and sex and she sort of hoped he did.
His eyes seemed to sink right into her and she felt raw, exposed and good lord, how long did it take to get back to the lodge where he was staying? Where she would be staying with him. He plucked her bag from the conveyor belt before she even knew her luggage had finally floated around to them and slung his arm around her shoulder.
"I'm glad you came, Em." He pressed his lips to her cheek then and they were warm, wet on her face and she could hear his breath in her ear, could feel it, warm and masculine and everything tilted just a little bit sideways.
She pressed in little closer briefly and as they walked out of the airport into the brisk night air and she answered. "Me too." Good, god, was this really happening?
She shivered a bit as they walked to his Jeep and she knew with a certainty that it had very little to do with the cold. Instead it had to do with how he made her feel, how he turned her once sensible self into a quivering, shaking ball of anticipation. Into one big mess. And the worst part of it was.
She loved it.
Well, there u have it, all this Normily pushed me over the edge and I gave in to writing another Normily fic. Hope you enjoy!