three other women scattered about the room are eating lunches of their own.
the television is on, but no one is focused on it. the news is merely noise in the background.
the air is warm and stale. the air conditioner must be broken.
reaching into my pocket, i pull out my cell phone and set it on the table to keep the time.
suddenly, the door flings open and hits the wall. the loud sound causes me to jump in my seat.
i turn around to see who it is. it's one of the managers.
she walks in with a friendly smile.
"hi, how are y'all?"
her loud presence presence changes the energy in the room.
nobody answers directly, but instead, we give her a nod or a smile.
her loud footsteps travel to the shelf where she picks up her can of peanuts. she sets them on a table and sits down.
"so what's everybody watching?"
one of the ladies says, "nothing...you can change it if you want."
the once ignored t.v. becomes the center of attention.
she doesn't change it. it's the end of a pet food commercial.
the news comes back on. the news anchor is introducing a reporter on location at some sporting event, but the subject of it is about cheerleaders. apparently they are having some sort of upcoming cheerleading tryouts.
the camera man zooms onto two girls cheering as they kick their legs up and down.
being the only guy, i begin to feel akward because i'm expected to be oogling these sparsely dressed girls.
obviously, it does nothing for me. i pick up my phone and pretend i received a text.
i don't want to stare making it seem like i'm interested, but i don't want to totally ignore it.
the camera is still on these girls, but now they've zoomed in on their moving hips.
i hear my manager's loud sarcastic voice, "i guess that's all you have to do to be a cheerleader!"
after hearing her, i look up at the screen because i'm curious as to what they're doing now.
as i look up, i feel all the women looking at me.
now i feel more akward because they are probably thinking, "typical boy. just eyeing those girls."
even if it's not true, it's what i'm thinking.
i feel my face heating up.
it sure is warm in here.
the quiet room is once more interupted by my manager, "look! mr. x's face is all red! hahaha."
oh geez.
