I Work With A Weirdo, Her Name is Aja

I am listening to french radio on my laptop
My headphones are on
but
not plugged in
subjecting the rest of the office
to rapid indecipheral speech and lots of hawking.

Gabe surreptitiously cast sideways glances
every now and then
as does my Boss when he walks by

I am trying my best to look
completely, utterly absorbed
in what I am pretending
is blaring into my ears

They are wondering whether
I am fucking stupid
to have headphones
on
yet not notice that they are not plugged in
or
if they are hearing things.

" Aja?" says Gabe.

"Huh? yeah?" I say a little too loudly.

" Are you hearing anything on your headphones?"

"No gabes, can't you hear the music coming from my laptop?"
I look at him concernedly
"I'm just warming my ears".

Later my Boss walks by again.
He stops by my desk.

The radio is on the breakfast talkshow
and the hosts are playing a joke on parisian taxicab companies..

Boss lifts a quizzical eyebrow
he hovers
I am absorbed in the beat that
I'm supposedly hearing

Ask, damn it
I silently will him.

He opens his mouth
he shrugs and turns away.

Damn! I so wanted to tell him
that I unplugged the headphones
because
the music
was disturbing
the voices in my head.