With Me Tonight

I woke up to the sound of Norman's light snores, a sound that I found secretly amazing. It was a sound that I could get used to waking up to every morning.

I let my lips turn up into a smile as my eyes fluttered open, apparently during the night I had snuggled up even closer to Norman, leaving my face buried completely in his chest. I breathed in, inhaling his scent, then bringing my hands up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

I had spent most of the day here yesterday with Sean and Mingus while Norman went out to film a small campaign video for The Body of Water. It was a pretty good day actually, and I felt I bonded with Mingus more, which made me a little nervous at first, but then happy knowing I wasn't planning on letting Norman go anytime soon.

I felt perfectly happy playing games and joking around with Sean and Mingus yesterday, feeling like I fit in with them, but when Norman came home, I felt complete. Just like I do now that are bodies are shaped together, like they were made for one another. I know it sounded cheesy or like I was letting this all get to my head, but I know when something is real. Norman is real. Norman had also convinced me earlier yesterday to stay the night, which I had told him I didn't have to so he could have time with Mingus, but even Mingus asked me to stay, saying it was no problem and that means the party would just start earlier. It also meant my first night sleeping in Norman's bed with him. Which had to be one of my new favorite things to do.

If I had the option, I would never get up out of this bed in his arms, relishing the warmth that he makes spread all over my body. But, we have many things to do.

So, that means that today is Thanksgiving. Sean ended up staying over, too, crashing on the couch so we could all hand out today together, mostly because of the holiday, but also because he was leaving to go back to L.A. in a few days.

I was very excited for today. I've never had a relationship like I do with these people, so I was so happy to be able to explore it and embrace it. I was happy.

Norman started to wake up due to my small amounts of shifting, so I quickly leaned my head up and lightly kissed his nose, causing the arm around my waist to tighten. I had gotten better with this romantic fluffy stuff, and I have started to really like it. "Happy Thanksgiving," my voice was quiet, but smooth and his lips perked up into a smile, but his eyes stayed close for a moment. "Mm, happy Thanksgiving to you, too, babe," his voice was full of adorable raspy sleepiness while his eyes fluttered open, the bright blue making my heart skip a beat.

"I have a very serious question for you," I asked, my voice as serious as it could get. Norman's bright blue orbs looked into mine with curiousness while his eyebrows furrowed together. "Would you guys prefer cookies or brownies?"

Norman let out a chuckle, "I'm sure either one will be great. Mingus will probably eat them all either way," he kissed the top of my head quickly and I let out a small laugh.

"Okay. I'll drag Sean to the grocery store with me so you can have some alone time with Mingus today," I said, placing my head back down on his upper chest, tracing the outline of the words on his T-shirt.

He put his soft hands under my chin and lifted my head up so I was looking at him, then leaning down himself and placed his lips on mine in a firm kiss. Jolts shot down my body and his lips made me tremble with warmth. "Thank you," he whispered when he broke away and then he pulled me into his chest more. I sighed happily and let my arms wrap lightly around him, feeling his muscles under his clothes. "You mind if I shower?" I mumbled into his chest.

"Sure babe, go ahead," he kissed the top of my forehead once more and I slid out of his arms, giving him a smile as I started walking towards his bathroom. His bathroom was the same as his room, design wise, not full of much, except maybe a few things he's got from his fans, and just the essentials. It had so much of Norman's personality in it though.

I quickly grabbed my small bag that I had brought over with a few things in it and went into the bathroom, shutting the door and turning on his shower. I stripped out of my clothes and let them fall to the floor, before stepping into his shower. It was both a tub and shower in one, with a shiny shower head that showered me with water. There were a few shelves hanging off the wall that held his shampoo's, conditioners, and soaps.

I sighed content my as I grabbed the shampoo and squirted some on my hand before I started massaging it through my hair, smiling at the sent it gave off, reminding me of Norman's sent. I hadn't been this happy in a long time and it was so foreign and new that it had my heart thumping hard and face hurting from smiling so much. Deep deep down inside me was that fear of getting too attached to these people, only to have them ripped away, but I am never going to hide from Norman again. I've grasped my life by the balls and I'm not going to let it run me with fear because ever since the moment I saw Norman, I fell for him hard...

I finished washing up and turned the shower off before stepping out and drying myself off with a towel that was neatly draped over a metal bar hanging off the wall. I pulled out a fresh pair of clothes from my bag and slid on my under garments, taking out my tooth brush and started to brush my teeth before I finished getting dressed.

I put on a rolling stones tongue t-shirt that clung to my body, as well as a pair of light blue skinny jeans. I stuffed everything else back in my bag, rung out my wet hair a little, then left the bathroom, walking back into Norman's room. He was lying on his back, holding his phone up a little as he scrolled through it with his tongue sticking out a little in concentration. I smiled at the sight and laid my bag down on the floor before walking over to him. "All done."

He locked his phone and put it on his bedside table, smiling up at me when he took in my appearance. I walked over to the bed and he sat up, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against him, back on the bed. "Let's just lay in bed all day," he mumbled into my shoulder and started to place kisses on it, making me shiver in delight.

I sighed, "I wish we could, but we can't. Now go get ready while I wake Sean's lazy ass up."

No matter how much I wanted to just lay in his arms all day, kissing him and just talking, I knew we couldn't. Hell, it was Thanksgiving. He chuckled and I once again slid out of his arms, this time heading to the living room where Sean crashed on the couch. I walked out and had to put a hand over my mouth to stop the giggle from coming out when I saw Sean sprawled out, arms dangling off the couch, and Murphy laying right on his face.

I snuck over to the counter and snatched my phone that was sitting on it, going back over to the couch and taking a picture of Sean, letting out a giggle. I pocketed my phone and picked up Murphy, waking him up and causing his big eyes to open up wide and let out the most adorable yawn. I scratched behind his ears lightly before setting him back down on Sean, letting him prance around. Sean shifted a little, but Murphy rubbed himself against his face, tickling him and making him wake up. I let out my giggle at Sean's face as he tried to figure out what was on him, and only laughed harder when he figured it out and gave me a look.

"About time you got your lazy ass up! We've got grocery shopping to do!" I said, watching as he picked up Murph and set him back on the ground.

He laughed at me and scratched his chin before sitting up and stretching. "Why do I have to go grocery shopping?" He whined like a little kid, making me roll my eyes at him. "Because I'm going to need a big strong man to help me carry that big heavy turkey," I teased, plopping down on the couch next to him and watching as he laughed and continued to stretch out his arms. "And Norman needs some quality time with Mingus, so now you've gotten lucky to get some quality time with wonderful me!" I nudged his side with my elbow and he playfully winced.

I heard footsteps coming so I lightly shoved Sean, "go get ready, we are gona need time to make the food, too."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted and then got up with a grunt, passing Norman on his way to the bathroom. I rolled my eyes and headed into the kitchen, Norman and Mingus following behind me. "Where do you keep your paper?" I asked, looking around the room. Norman shuffled over to a drawer, opening it up and grabbing a notepad and a pen, then sliding them over to me.

I started to got down a list of things to get at the grocery store, biting my lip in concentration. "Do you have any lucky charms?" I asked completely becoming distracted from my task, looking back at Norman who was grabbing orange juice out of the fridge. He chuckled a little, "no, but will pancakes be okay for today?"

My stomach growled a little in response, making him and Mingus chuckle again, me laughing right along with them. "Sounds yummy," I said, turning back to my list and adding lucky charms to it.

--

Norman made us pancakes, which was surprisingly very attractive and cute to see, and we all ate together, laughing at his failure to make a Mickey mouse shaped pancake. I slid on my tan jacket, made out of leather-like material and shoes, turning back to call out to Sean to hurry his ass up.

"I'm comin, I'm comin," he grumbled and slid on his own shoes and jacket.

"We'll be back soon," I called to Norman and he quickly came over and cupped my face, bringing his lips down to mine. I couldn't help but smile, but immediately started to blush when I heard Mingus and Sean playfully 'ewww'. Norman chuckled as I rested my forehead on his chest to hide the blush.

"Alright, come on girl," Sean said as he opened the door, waiting for me. I grabbed my phone and wallet, said a goodbye before following Sean out the door and to his car. He started it up, the radio immediately turning on to Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, causing us to both immediately start singing along.

The grocery store wasn't so far away, so after the song passed and we had sung and playfully danced our heart outs, we arrived there. It was a comfortable friendship with Sean, that if not for Norman breaking me out of my shell, I would have never had him as a friend. I smiled a little; Norman has done so many things for me.

I handed Sean the list as we walked in and I grabbed a cart as he unfolded it and let his eyes scan over it. "I don't even know what half this stuff is," he huffed as he followed me to the first aisle.

"If I told you it was for the best brownies you are ever going to have in your life, would that get you more excited?"

"Of fucking course!" He laughed, and I joined along with him.

As we walked through isles, I did the most of finding the right things while I gave Sean the pen to cross things off the list, working as a odd team. When we got to the aisle that the turkeys were at and tried to pick out the best one, having a limited selection since it was already Thanksgiving day. I was going to grab it, when Sean stuck his arm in front of me, stopping me, then leaning back and flexing his arm muscles. I rolled my eyes at him as he grabbed the turkey and threw it in the cart, pretending he was a weight lifting champion.

We continued on, his eyes googling at any sweats I put in the cart or we passed by, reminding me of a teenage boy, but not so when he also put in some healthy things, knowing he liked to be healthy. We were stopped at the end of an aisle while I looked over the list, checking over everything, biting my lip as I focused. "So, hows it with the Reedstein?" Sean asked, leaning against the nearby shelf.

I looked up at him and couldn't help the faint smile that ghosted my face, "great, why do you ask?"

"Because you got my boy head over heels, love drunk," he chuckled and I rolled my eyes at him. "You're somethin else ya know, good for him. And he's good for you."

I blushed a little and nodded. "Is he now?" I teased, knowing he was absolutely good for me and thrilled to hear that's what Sean thought.

"Mhm, remember the first time I met you? All shy and scared of real people," he stepped over and nudged me, making me giggle as we walked over to the check out. We payed and lugged all of our groceries back to the car, packing them away in the trunk and plopping back into our seats when we finished, letting out exhausted sighs. "Now we get to cook!"

--

"We're gona have enough food to feed the military!" I called out as we got back, a few hours later and multiple bags in hand each. Mingus ran into the kitchen and grabbed some bags, emptying out the food on the counter and drooling at it, making me laugh. Norman came over, taking the heavy bags from my hand, leaning down to quickly kiss me on the cheek before setting them on the counter with the rest.

Norman spotted the lucky charms and raised an eyebrow at them, then me, making us both chuckle. We finished unpacking everything and I excused myself into the other room to call home.

"Belle!!" A voice I missed so badly called out over the phone after a few rings and I already knew it was Sofie, my niece/little sister.

"Hey, Sofie," I said back, a smile on my face. "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Sofie giggled, "Bee, ye voice is funny."

I couldn't help, but chuckle at that, "your voice is funny!" I teased back.

"Nuh-uh, even mommy says ye voice is funny!"

"Alright, okay," I laughed, "I know, Soph," Sofie giggled to herself. "How are you?"

"Goooooood," she went on, "mommy let me help get us a-uh, a bwig turkey!" Her ma was my ma, which was really her grandma, but Sofie really didn't have a mother figure in her life so my ma decided it was okay if she stepped into that.

"That's awesome, Soph, I miss you," I sighed, I need to see my family.

"I miss ye, too, Beebee. Why aren't ya here?" Her innocent voice broke my heart and I didn't know how to speak for a moment. How do I say I left home to follow my dreams, only to have them turn into a nightmare and then run away from anything that reminded me of my brother? I had visited Scotland many many times since he died, but I couldn't leave New York for good. I had to make Cam and my dreams come true. I couldn't be living at my mom's house for the rest of my life. I needed to live my own.

"I live in a different place now, Soph, but I'm gona come see you really really soon, okay? I miss you so much."

The line was silent besides a few shaky sighs from Sofie. Leaving her and Boom was one of the hardest things to do and it crushed us both, but we talk on the phone almost everyday and I'm trying to teach my mom how to set up a skype."Tha gràdh agam dhut (I love you)," she whispered, "gu bràth (forever)."

I found myself letting out shaky sighs now, too, not wanting to get too emotional. "Cosúil loves an spéir na réaltaí (like the sky loves the stars)," I responded in a quiet voice. That's what her, Boom, and I would always say to each other when times got rough or just to show how much we cared. The first part was always in Scottish Gaelic, which was a language my father spoke most of his childhood and wanted us to learn most of, and the second part was just plain Irish, which my mom also cracked down on us learning since she was Irish. Both were beautiful languages and we used to have fights over which one was better, so that's why we spoke in both, but over the years we ended up speaking a mixture of Scottish Gaelic and Irish.

"Wana speak to Ma now?" She asked, her voice also quiet. Sofie was young, but she was smart. Hell, she already knew how to speak two different languages. But, she also understood things and had wisdom a kid her age normally wouldn't.

"Sure."

There was a little bit of movement across the other line after a few seconds my mothers voice was on the phone. I talked for a little with her, wishing her a happy Thanksgiving, telling her everything was going good, and then her telling me she misses me and I need to come home soon. I do need to come home soon, but all the visits that I had before added up and it is so not cheap. But, now that I have more people to cover me at the store, I don't have that to worry about. I then talked to Boom (my nephew/little brother) for a little and he apparently had too much sweets so he was rambling like a mad man. My dad was currently taking a nap, so I would call back later to try and talk to him.

When I finally hung up I sighed and stuffed my phone into my pocket, running my hands over my face. I let out a breathy laugh, talking to my family could be kind of sad, but I loved hearing their voices so much.

I walked back into the kitchen and took off my jacket and shoes, then tied my hair up in a bun while looking at all the food. When close enough, Norman put a comforting hand on my lower back, probably knowing it wasn't easy talking to family you missed, maybe he even heard some of the conversation. I smiled up to him and then looked around. "Ready to get cookin?" I asked the boys, who looked like the didn't know weather to be excited or scared, making me laugh.

Making the turkey and stuffing went smoothly, surprisingly no one here was really a bad cook and seemed to enjoy doing it with each other. Norman had eventually started to play some music throughout the kitchen, making it even more enjoyable when we would dance and sing along.

As I reached up in the top cupboard to grab the flour, I felt hands sneak onto my hips, and I immediately knew it was Norman. I turned around with a smirk dancing across my face as I met Norman's eyes, his hair brushed back a little above them. I couldn't help myself and smeared some flour on his cute nose, earning him to scrunch up his face, and then get a devious smirk. He grabbed the flour from me quickly and set it on the counter behind me before putting his hands on the counter, trapping me between his arms. Our faces were only inches apart and we were looking intently into each others eyes, but before anything went further, he lifted his hand up and blew, making flour fly all over my face. "It's on!" I called out, grabbing some flour from behind me and smearing it all over his cheeks, then squirmed out of his arms, running across the kitchen. But, I was only stopped by Sean grabbing me and smearing left over melted chocolate from the brownies all over my cheek.

I squealed and heard the boys up roaring in devious laughter as Norman grabbed the bag of flour again with Sean at his side. "Mingus!" I called again and pointed to the bowls of melted chocolate on the counter. He went and ran to grab one, then handed one to me before forming by my side. "It's on like Donkey Kong!" Mingus cheered and then our "teams" started going at each other, laughter filling the room.

Mingus and I both nailed Sean and Norman, so we turned to each other, gave a high five and chest bumped, laughing like crazy as we continued our battle.

Before I knew it, Norman had grabbed me, smearing all kinds of flour and chocolate over me. "Norm!" I squealed and squirmed, but he just cornered me into the counter and unexpectedly crashed his lips to mine. My hands immediately went to the back of his neck, getting chocolate and flour on it, but also pulling him down on me more.

I could taste the flour and chocolate on his soft lips as they enveloped mine with passion, giving me that familiar tingle all around my body. His hands found my waist, and before we could get lost in each other, the sounds of Mingus's and Sean's laughter brought us back to reality. He broke away and rested his forehead against mine for a second, letting the gaze in our eyes say the words we would have before he grabbed my hand and pulled us over to where the other boys were. "I think we have more of the ingredients on ourselves then in the brownies," I laughed, looking over my flour covered self.

"At least we'll taste good!" Sean said, getting up from play wrestling with Mingus and leaning against the counter, draping an arm around my shoulder. Mingus came over to us, holding up a ball of what I thought was flour, until I saw eyes on it. I started breaking out in laughter when I saw that it was Murphy, who must have gotten caught in the crossfire.

Norman pulled out his phone, taking a picture of Mingus, Sean, Murph, and I, then one of us all with him sticking his tongue out at the top, seeming a very bright pink due to the white flour all over his face, making me laugh. He then came over to me and Mingus joined him, almost reading each other's mind as they both stuck their tongues out on each side of my cheeks, pretending to lick me as Norman took the picture.

Mingus giggled and went over to the counter, eating up the left over batter to the cupcakes. "Ming, don't fill up on that! We've got a shit ton of food to eat tonight!" Norman called over, Mingus looking like he was a deer in head lights, caught. I laughed once again and started to grab all the dirty dishes, dumping them into the sink and starting to wash away while the boys started to help clean up the mess we made, goofing off more than cleaning it. I rolled my eyes when Norman and Sean started whipping each other with the dish rags, I swear they are children.

Even though we were cleaning, I smiled to myself the whole time, loving everything about today. When we finished cleaning up, we all came over to the sink and drenched our faces in water, trying to get off as much of the flour and chocolate we could with out having to fully shower. Of course, that ended up with everyone squirting each other with the faucet that you could pull out, making us all squirm and laugh.

It wasn't until the oven beeped that we stopped goofing around and I swear I could hear all the boys stomachs rumble at once. Norman helped me get the turkey out and he claimed he had experience, so him and I took over while Mingus and Sean went in the other room to watch tv and wait.

"Do you like white or dark mea-" my question was cut off by Norman spinning my around to face him and once again crashing his lips down to mine, finishing off what we started earlier. It was full of passion and almost as if he was trying to say something with it. I ran my fingers through his soft hair and let my hands rest on his lower neck and shoulders while my body shuddered from his lips. Our heads turned side to side to try and envelope each other's lips as well as we could while Norman's tongue slithered inside my mouth. My heart was thumping strong and heavy in my chest, while my body reacted and my head started to spin a little. Our tongues massaged each other, not battling for dominance because passion settled them down. Every chance we had, we were touching or kissing each other today, not being able to stay away for too long.

When he broke away, leaving my lips tingling and my breathing heavy, he moved so his breath was on my ear, making me shiver. "I'm so glad you're here," he kissed my upper neck. "You're so good with Mingus."

My heart fluttered and I pulled his head back, connecting our lips quickly one more time before breaking away with a smile. "I'm glad I'm here, too." He smiled at me, flashing his straight, white teeth, and kissing my forehead before looking over to the turkey.

"I don't think I can wait any longer to eat that," I said, my mouth watering at the sight a smell.

"Then let's get cuttin'," Norman said, pulling out an electric carving knife from a near by drawer.

I let Norman start to slice the turkey and finish with it while I started to finish up on the sides; mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, dinner rolls, jello, and three cheese macaroni. It was enough to feed a ton of people, but I think 3 starving men would be nearly equivalent.

"Ming, come set the table!" Norman called over to Mingus while he finished cutting up the turkey, his tongue sticking out in concentration.

I started to bring food over to the table and in the blink of an eye the table was set and Sean and Mingus were sitting on the edge of their seats, drooling at the food, dying to eat.

And man did we eat.

We laughed, we joked, ate, swapped stories, ate, laughed more, and finally leaned back in our chairs when we were stuffed beyond belief. "I think I might explode," I said, hand resting on my stomach. I would definitely need to run a little more next week to work this feast off.

"That was so damn delicious. I think I might kidnap Belle and take her home with me so she can just cook me more delicious shit," Sean said, taking a drink of some wine that Norman brought out.

Norman chuckled, but leaned over, draping his arm around my shoulder to show I wasn't going anywhere. I smiled slightly and leaned into Norman, letting out a small yawn, it had been a busy day.

Mingus leaned back in his chair and proper his feet up on the table by me, making me playfully pinch my nose from the 'smell' and flick them away. He rolled his eyes at me to stop his chuckle and then got up from the table to go plop on the couch, looking as tired a I felt. "Hey not yet little man!" Norman called out to him, "we gotta clear the table."

Mingus sighed, obviously wanting to do anything but that, but still came over to help as we all slowly got up. We carried all the dishes and piled them up on the counter and sink, then got the trash and started to throw away everything else. While they did that, I grabbed a dish rag and went to the sink, turning it on and putting my hand under it to wait for it to get warm. "Babe..." Norman said lightly from behind me, like I was doing something I shouldn't be. "Leave the dishes," he walked up behind me, putting one hand on my waist as he reached over and turned the sink off.

I sighed and turned around so I was facing him, I never liked to clean, but when I knew it had to be done, I liked to get it done right away. I was about to protest when he pulled the rag out of my hands, but it completely slipped my mind when Norman's hand then came up and brushed some of my loose hairs out of my face. His eyes were bright, but squinted in concentration as they danced across my face, like he was thinking hard about something. He was truly a beautiful man. "You're so fucking amazing."

I don't think he really meant to say that, but it just slipped from his mind and out of his lips. I blushed, but my heart started beating hard, reaching out for him. "You're not too bad yourself," I teased and our eyes locked right before Norman's face lit up in a smile, my own mimicking him. He wasn't bad at all. He was perfect. Perfectly imperfect.

"Dad! We're gona watch a movie!" Mingus called over, him and Sean now finding their way to the couch.

"What movie?" I asked excitedly, grabbing Norman's hand that was on my face, kissing it lightly, then pulling him into the other room. Sean was on one end of the couch, letting his eyes rest while Mingus dug through their movies. Norman and I both sat down at the same time, and he pulled me over to him immediately. Mingus didn't answer me, just let out a long 'uuuuuhhhhh' as he searched for a good one. "Got it!" He called out, sliding a DVD in the player and coming to the couch. Norman ruffled his hair and I lifted my feet up, shifting so they were in Sean's lap as Jurassic Park came on the screen.

As we watched it, I couldn't help but feel completely happy. More happy than I have been in years as I sprawled out over the couch with people that were becoming extremely important in my life. I smiled as I thought about how terrific today was and how fucking lucky I had gotten, especially now that I have gotten over my fears.

I was falling hard.