Hey, not me!

Chapter seven: Infectious.

I walked to the human resource offices after getting cozy in my new office. I wanted to complete the formalities before I assumed my new role. Apparently, there had been several changes throughout the organisation and quite a few people sat in waiting. I couldn't help getting impatient as I watched the queue slowly move along.

"Is this seat taken?" A voice asked. I looked up to find Bruce waiting for my answer with a hopeful expression.

"Yes, am reserving it for someone." I lied quickly. I was not going to land myself in that bowl of trouble. I mean the guy was huge with broad shoulders and muscled arms like those of a weight lifter. It would totally be uncomfortable being pressed to his side for whatever long I had to wait.

"But..." I never got to hear the rest of his statement because right then walked in someone I was super glad to see.

"Sheila!" I called out. The beautiful lady walked over with the most delighted smile.

"You saved me a seat," she observed as she flopped down next to me. "I would have hated to stand." She said gratefully. One look at Bruce showed that he was quite disappointed. Tough luck for him. "The look on his face," Sheila giggled when Bruce walked away.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh come on. I know you didn't really save me the seat, you didn't even know I'd be here." She laughed.

"Well, thanks for having my back. I have to work with that guy and I can't stand him. Doesn't help that he thinks he is the best thing to happen to humanity," I muttered sourly.

"Uh, a girl who finally has some sense. You should see the ones I have to work with. They are always drooling over some guy or other. During break all they talk about is guys," Sheila complained.

"That must be horrible," I agreed.

"Horrible is an understatement. It is a downright nightmare," she replied.

"You should have seen the ladies in my department fawning all over that guy. It was the most disgusting thing I've seen in a long time," I gagged.

"I wonder what they see in them," she said thoughtfully.

"You might say he is quite handsome," I answered.

"Oh I know, but they are all handsome if you look hard enough. You might have to really squint to see it but its there," she said seriously.

"Huh?" I said in disbelief. I couldn't understand how she could say something so weirdly funny with a straight face. I couldn't keep the imagery off my mind and a peal of laughter slipped out of my mouth. Sheila watched me with a smile slowly taking over her face.

"I was trying to describe inner beauty" she said sheepishly. Losing my fight to laughter, I just let myself give in to the thrill. I was laughing so hard that my sides ached. One look at Sheila confirmed that she also found the situation quite hilarious. We kept laughing until tears covered our faces and our breaths were coming in short puffs.

"What is going on here?" Someone asked. Looking up, I saw a young man with glasses and a somewhat baggy suit. I recognized him as one of the people who would be drawing up the paperwork. His face was a constellation of acne and black spots.

"Even him?" I asked Sheila. I didn't have the willpower to hold myself back. I mean I was being a jerk but there was no harm done.

"Yes, I believe so." She agreed. The guy had no idea what we were talking about. His confused look sent us into another laughing episode, this one harder than the previous one. What was even more amusing was that the man was one of those who got easily drawn into laughter. He soon started laughing at us laughing and for some crazy reason that had more people laughing without even knowing why.

We must have sounded like one horrible choir since the whole HR department burst into the waiting room. They looked around trying to understand what was happening to no avail. It must have looked like a case of mass hysteria and I can't say I disagree with that observation. I was really trying to catch my breath and stop laughing but my body had other plans.

"Will you stop laughing, this is an office not some unruly nightclub where you can do anything," the department head tried to integrate order. More laughter was all he got in return.

I knew I really had to pull myself together. Sheila was too far gone to hold herself back. I started taking deeper breaths and closed my eyes so I didn't catch sight of someone else laughing. After a laboured minute the constrictions of my body came back under my control and I managed to stop laughing. As I opened my eyes, I found that more people were getting themselves under control.

"What a weird experience," I muttered.

"Oh my gosh! That was so weird," Sheila agreed. "Did we just cause a mass hysteria? We are so going to get in trouble," she added.

"Trouble for what?" I asked with my most innocent expression. She quickly caught on to my meaning.

"I see. I mean did we all get like that. Must have been a gas leak or something," she observed nonchalantly.

"I can't believe they would have laughing gas just lying around here somewhere. The carelessness of people this days," I said and clicked my tongue for effect.

We were being overly dramatic with our exchange but we both got the gist. We wouldn't take the fall for what had just happened. If anyone asked, we had just fallen under the spell of laughter like everyone else. As we went on talking, I realised that it had been such a long time since I had genuine fun with someone other than my family. Our meetings had been accidental so far but I had a feeling Sheila would be sticking around.

"Are we friends now?" I asked.

"I don't know. I haven't had a friend for so long that I have no idea what am supposed to do," Sheila replied.

"Me either," I seconded.

"I guess that decides it then. Best friends forever," she proclaimed.

"I like that," I returned. This was surely going to be a ride of a lifetime. I couldn't wait to see where it took us.