The next day, unlike the previous, started off a calm one. Alex Romero woke up later than usual. He put on his clothes for work and walked to the motel office to get coffee. Strangely, no one was there. No Norman, no Emma, (they had probably left to school by now), no Dylan, and no Norma. The coffee though, smelled fresh and the computer was on.

Suddenly, the door of the room in the back of the office opened, and there was a barefoot Norma putting on black heels clumsily with one hand, and holding her more casual clothes, which Alex assumed she had been wearing earlier, with her other arm. She was wearing a dark blood red dress, sophisticated but revealing and tight fitting. She had on red lipstick that matched her dress, and her locks fell upon her face beautifully. Alex had never really seen her dressed up like that before and he couldn't help but stare. Once she finished putting on her heels, she looked up, a deer in the headlights look on her face, as if she'd been caught doing something bad.

"Good morning," she said, casually smiling and regaining posture. Norma sat down on the office desk, before quickly opening a drawer and stuffing her clothes there quickly. "I didn't even notice you were there for a second. How's the coffee?" Her tone was friendly.

Alex took a few seconds to respond, and got angry at himself for being distracted over her. He hoped she hadn't noticed.

"Haven't had any yet," he said, turning away from her and getting a cup.

Alex poured himself some coffee and took a quick glance back at Norma, who was using the computer now, looking bored.

"Going somewhere?"

"Oh, yeah, I know I'm overdressed," she laughed nervously. "I have to put the sign up so people will know I'll be back in a while. It wont take long though, hopefully."

Norma sighed heavily.

"I need to fix something."

Alex sipped his coffee and wondered if this had to do with George. He figured they had gotten very, very close recently. But he also realized he hadn't seen him around lately. Maybe she and George had some kind of argument and she was going to try to win him back. Obviously, if that was the case, it was going to work. Part of him wanted to know exactly what was going on, but he didn't dare ask any further. There was another part of him that didn't really want to know why Norma was dressed up like that or who for. It would only annoy him.

"Well, I'm going to, uh, get going," said Alex, who headed for the door.

Norma interrupted him half sentence. "If there's no sign of that guy I told you about last night today, you can park your car in front of your room again."

"Alright."

Suddenly it hit Alex, the strangeness of the earlier situation. Something he hadn't thought about because he was busy just, well, looking at Norma. Why was Norma changing in the back room out of her clothes? Why didn't she already get dressed in her house earlier?

"So is the coffee good?" Norma asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said giving her a quick smile.

"I'll pour you some more in a to go cup so you can take it to work. I have some of those lying around here somewhere. You'd think I was going to open a new coffee business or something. You know, that wouldn't be a bad idea..."

Alex was going to stop her, but didn't. He simply stayed by the door, listening to her talk. Sometimes her little rants were, well, he hated to say it, cute. Norma had opened some cabinets and was shuffling through some things.

"Here we go," she said, satisfied with herself as she found the cups and lids. Norma took one of each out and went to the coffee machine and poured. Alex drank more of his coffee and took advantage of the fact that Norma wasn't paying attention at him to stare at her. Why was he becoming obsessive about her? He took in everything he could of her face and body in the few seconds he had. Her hair, her face, her curves, her legs. He caught everything from her chest rising and falling slowly with her breathing, to the curve of her lower back. Once she put the lid on the cup and walked over to him, Alex took his eyes off her body and looked back at her face, which didn't make things easier, because he found himself not being able to keep from looking into her eyes. Everything about her was so distracting, and it didn't help that she was dressed up extra nice today. Norma looked back at Alex as she walked towards him and he was unable to break eye contact.

"You done with that?" asked Norma, signaling at his almost empty cup of coffee.

He nodded and she took the cup from him.

"Alright, here. Hopefully it stays hot," she said giving a slight smile as she handed the new cup over to him.

"Yeah." Alex glanced away quickly and took the cup in his hand, his fingertips brushing hers slightly. "Thanks."

Norma nodded and Alex opened the door to leave. Once outside, he walked to his car and got inside, not looking back. He let out a huge sigh. Sometimes when he was around Norma he felt strange. Like there was something held back and uneasy. There was a strange energy between them. Alex didn't know if it was good or bad, but Norma made him feel out of control. In many ways. She was a puzzle he never got to piece together completely, and probably never would.