Hidden Clips

Lightning Strikes Again

Thunder wakes Norma up from her deep slumber. She cursed under her breath when she noticed her window was open. Sitting up it's a challenge for her, the many drinks she shared with Alex over dinner are catching up to her. She feels dizzy, tired. She glances at the digital clock next to her bed and lets out a deep sigh after finding out the time. A sudden lightning strike makes her jump.
 
Norma's never been a fan of this weather. It was worse when she was a little girl. Not having anyone to look after her during storms was what scared her the most. They knew how much she hated it. But neither one of them ever did anything about it. No one was ever there to protect her, and she hated it.

But tonight there was someone there to look out for her. The same man that's been there since the start, and he was only a few feet away. Down the hall. Another lightning strike was all it took for her to find the courage to walk― in this case, speed walk to his room.

Her shaken hand takes the form of a fist, knocking three times on the wooden door.

"Alex?" she calls to him, her voice quiet and shaky.

She leans her head on the door frame, waiting to hear his steps. She overhears nothing.

"Alex? Please open the door."

Her delicate fist bangs on the door again, this time, awakening the man on the other side of it.

"Norma?"

She sighs relieved.

Norma hears as he unlocks the door with urgency, opening the door instantly.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

It pains her that every interaction between them always starts with those two questions.

"Um..." she looks around nervously, finding the right words. "Yes, I'm fine. Everything is okay."

"What is it?" he asks, letting go of the door.

Her eyes take a quick glance at his body, indulging his appearance. He is shirtless, his chest exposed. She moves her glare from his body before he has time to notice her staring.

"I'm-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" she starts to walk away, but Alex stops her.

"Norma," he mutters.

She stops dead in her tracks, his voice being enough to keep her from walking back to her room.

As soon as she turns around to look at him, another lightning illuminates the house, and she jumps. Her hands move over to her chest as if they could keep her heart from pounding so hard against it.

Alex notices the way her body responded to the lightning. He tied the loose ends and figured out the motive behind her hard knocks and her shaken voice.

Her eyes scan the wooden floor, anything is better than the urge of being secured in his arms.

"I-I hate this weather..." she stuttered. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Norma, you knocked on my door. Of course you intended to wake me up."

"That's irrelevant, Alex."

"How so?"

She sighs. "Just forget about it, it's all right."

"You're walking back to your room right now?" he asked as he made his way to where she was standing. "Why wake me up if you're not going to tell me what's going on?"

"I already told you," she looked deep into his caramel orbs. The darkness is making it difficult for them to see their surroundings but their eyes are locating each other with ease. "I'm scared."