The cafe on Rue Boulevard was still a noisy place around two in the afternoon, but Steve was used to it. He tuned everything out as if it were so much static and all he saw or felt was his work. Mechanically, he sipped a glass of water and took a bite of his sandwich before typing in another sentence.
He worked this way, finishing a paragraph, before he became aware of something. The hair on his arms stood on end even though the room was at a pleasant temperature. He looked over his laptop screen and saw two bulging eyes staring at him.
The woman wasn't unattractive, but despite the long slim legs encased in a short skirt and curling brown hair draped over her shoulder, it was her eyes that provided the greatest unease. If she didn't blink, he thought, they would pop out of her head.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, is something wrong?"
"Don't I know you?"
Frowning, he wracked his brain for a faint memory, a flicker, for the identity of this woman. Nothing. "Should I know you?" he said instead. "I'm Steve."
"Oh." The woman appeared startled and blinked, but if anything, her eyes bulged more as if she were a surprised cartoon character. "I thought you were someone else, a collegue I worked with years ago."
He offered her a smile. "Well, no problem. I make the same mistake too sometimes."
She made some sort of apology and fled, leaving Steve with his work once more.
