In the dark

1.

A girl sits at the end of a huge conference room table. The table is a deep brown that shines wherever the sun touches its glossy surface. Modern rolling chairs surround the large table and are placed neatly together; they could easily seat 20 people around it. An older man wearing a black suit, white button-down shirt, and black tie (typical penguin in the business world) is making some presentation that the girl has stopped listening to long ago. His drabble about the upcoming schedule, due dates, and quarterly projection timeline blah blah blah have the girl rolling her eyes. It was THE most boring meeting she had ever witnessed in her life.

Not sure how long she would make it if that man kept talking, the girl let out a loud grumble while raising her index finger and middle finger together to her temple. She was placing the imaginary gun to the side of her head and letting out a mimicking sound of a weapon going off. Whipping her head to the side as if it killed her on the spot. She heard a small chuckle and snapped her head to the noise.

Her eyes glared at a young man sitting opposite the presenter. He was dressed differently than the other men in the room. He had more street style than the comparative penguins. A plain white t-shirt tucked into a pair of light-blue washed denim jeans and a tie-dye-like cardigan placed over the shirt with swirls of purple, cream, and light blue all over the knit fabric. His hair was a yellow blonde that clearly did not match his thick, black eyebrows. The girl knew immediately it was the product of bleaching his hair, most likely on its way to becoming vibrant colors like blue or lavender. Although, it appeared as though he didn't belong in that board meeting. He was exactly where he was supposed to be. 

Her eyes squinted as they focused on the younger man. She seemed confused by the man's actions. 'Did he just laugh at me?' she wondered to herself. The girl continued to stare in confusion, but the young man seemed oblivious to her looks.

It was quite the opposite in reality. He had laughed when he saw the finger gun blast her away from the meeting. Thinking the exact same thing she was probably thinking about too. This meeting was bor-ing. He didn't want to be there. He would pick any place other than to be in another drab discussion about the marketing sales reports. Hell, he even picks dance rehearsals over this meeting. 

The girl's actions had snapped him out of the glazed-over look he had before. It was refreshing to see someone with the same mentality as he had. When the girl's head snapped over at him, he quickly threw his head down and picked up his phone, pretending to be scrolling it, but all the while, he was looking at her under his lashes. She stared at him hard, trying to decipher what he had done. Was she angry when he laughed at her actions? He didn't think so. She seemed more confused than any other emotion. Wondering if it was really him that had made the chuckle. 

The girl continued to stare at him. Her eyes never left his body. The more she looked at him, the more he noticed her brows furrowing and her head tilting to the side. She was definitely trying to figure something out in her head, unsure what to make of what just happened. It wasn't until the presenter clapped his hands together loudly that she stopped and moved her attention back to the presenter. 

"Alright, well, that concludes this meeting, everyone!" The presenter began. "As I said before, everything seems to be right on track. We will continue to monitor the sales over the next couple of months and reconvene at the next meeting in four months. I'll see everyone then! With that, let us get back to work." he finished. 

Everyone rose and began to say their goodbyes, bowing and shaking hands. One by one, they all began to file out of the room. It wasn't until the young man was halfway down the corridor that he stopped and looked behind him back into the conference room. His eyes seem to be looking for something.

"Hey man, thanks for coming to the meeting today. I know you guys are busy these days, but I appreciate it when at least one of you can make it to these types of things. Even though I know it's not your thing, I am still happy all the same." An older man began to say to the young man.