The silence around her was enticing. Actually the condition was perfect, just the way she liked it. The emptiness created this “new world” atmosphere. With excitement flowing through her body, Daphine grabbed the broom and her head phones. This was the beginning to her night. Working till late on weekends wasn’t spectacular for a college student but she spiced it up. The gym was her dance/night club and coffee house for one. During these moments Daphine completely captivated herself in music. She enjoyed dancing around the gym with the broom. It was fun and fueled her motivation to clean. The lyrics rolled off her tongue into a horrible off key noise, “This was radioactive…. let me feel the beat”. Daphine engulfed herself in the beats. Her hair swayed back and forth as she whipped her head in front of the mirror. Her imagination pumped as she expressively sung into her broom handle. Daphine’s ridiculous, silly charisma brought laughter to her face. Hey, what’s a girl to do when every weekend she’s cleaning the gym?

Eli was amused and fascinated as he quietly watched this chick dance around the gym. His eyes attentively followed her without hesitation. He couldn’t resist laughing because she was clueless of his existence. Ha. “I don’t want to interrupt her buuttt…. I kinda need my gloves”, he was constructively thinking of strategy. Eli didn’t want to alarm her, resembling some super creeper dude wasn’t appealing. However, before he could announce his presence she directly faced him.

As Daphine froze in embarrassment her eyes closed tightly and her facial expression twisted in humiliation. She ran her fingers through her hair slightly sighing. Automatically her thoughts raced, “Ohh. Why now? Why me?” Uggh.

“Ah. Sorry. I left something behind”, his voice broke the awkward silence. “But please, continue. You’re very entertaining to watch”, the smirk on his face accentuated the statement. Eli was unaware of his intense, undeviating gaze. He felt the atmosphere drastically change and the level of comfortableness. No surprise there. Eli waited for response. The feeling of disturbance was strong yet he remained cool and collective before speaking again. All wanted was his workout gloves since tomorrow he was hitting up a boxing class.

Daphine’s mind was racing,” So much for ‘alone time’”; she seriously thought she was exclusively alone. Great. In her own working space she managed to make a fool out of herself. Only she would encounter a situation where a stranger accidently witnesses her foolish escape into her own world. Daphine lightly bit her bottom lip before responding, “Okay, I’m gonna crawl into a shell and act like a hermit now”. She started walking towards the janitor’s closet.

“It’s all good….” His laughter afflicted her humiliation more.                                                           

Instead of amplifying the discomfort, Eli made his way to the cubicle to grab his favorite workout gloves. Without disturbing the chick more, he left quickly. “Freaking comical. That girl is funny”, his laughter erupted inside his head.