Visitor (Normila / Laurmani)

Chapter 9

Camila could hear the other residents in the house rise for the day, but she stayed inside her room until Lauren left. She couldn't even bear to look at the violent woman. Her goal now was to do everything she could to avoid interacting with Lauren and finding a way to get Normani to leave her.

Once Camila heard the front door open and shut and a car drive away, she ventured out of her room to speak with the only friend she had on this planet. She found Normani sitting on the couch doing something on her phone. She was fully dressed with makeup on obviously prepared to go somewhere. The ice she put on her lip yesterday must have helped the swelling go down, but the cut was still somewhat visible through the lipstick. When Normani noticed that she wasn't alone in the living room, she looked up from her phone to make eye contact with Camila.

"Good morning," said Normani.

Camila wasn't exactly in a cheerful mood and was confused by Normani's behavior. "Did I hear you two...you know?"

"No offense, Camila, but that isn't really your business," answered Normani.

"How could you have sex with someone who just hit you in the face?" Camila questioned.

Normani was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. "Couples fight and make up all the time."

"You're telling me that it's normal and acceptable for couples on Earth to hit each other whenever they fight? Silly me for thinking that you all were a little more civilized than that," Camila quipped.

"If you haven't noticed, Lauren and I aren't exactly normal. We have accepted that," Normani explained.

"There is no excuse for adults hitting people in the face whenever they get mad! You're always making excuses for Lauren's behavior. This relationship, or whatever you want to call this dysfunction, is unhealthy," argued Camila.

Normani wasn't in the mood for defending her relationship with Lauren. She wanted this day to be a good one. To her, the fight yesterday wasn't worth dwelling on. "Let's look on the bright side. Lauren gave me her credit card. I'm going to take you shopping for more clothes, and I'm going to get myself some new hair."

The visitor was frustrated with Normani's lack of desire to change her situation. If she could agree with Lauren on one thing, it was that Normani was afraid of change. "I can see that she can buy your forgiveness. What do you mean by 'new hair'?"

The dancer ran her fingers through her locks. "These are extensions glued in the back to make my hair appear longer." Normani reached into her pocket to pull out a credit card and waved it in the air. "Get dressed. We're going to have fun."

Camila went to her room to clean herself up and put on some of the oversized clothing Normani had given her. The clothing she had in her ship didn't exactly fit current trends in the U.S., so they would make her stand out even more than having slightly baggy clothing. When she walked out, Normani noticed something off about her attire. "How come your shoes are untied?"

Camila shrugged it off. "It's good luck."

"I wouldn't think such an advanced race of people would still be superstitious, but whatever. If you trip, that's on you," Normani responded.

The two women went to several stores at a strip mall and indoor mall. Camila let Normani take complete control over her wardrobe choices trusting that she knew better than she did about what looked good to Earthlings. Camila almost felt like a doll that Normani enjoyed dressing a little too much, but she had no qualms with spending hundreds of dollars of Lauren's money.

After they were done with shopping for clothes, Normani drove them to a beauty supply store. Inside, Camila was in awe at the hundreds of wigs, fake ponytails, and tracks of hair on display. Even though Normani said that she was looking for new extensions, a wig caught her attention. She went over to where it was and removed it from the mannequin. Spinning the wig around on her fingers she examined it. It was styled in a short hairdo one might find on a woman twice Normani's age. She walked over to a mirror, tried the wig on, and was pleased with what she saw.