Eye contact by the Woodbride bus

I was walking through the dark and quiet streets of Hobart just now. I had skirted the busy Salamanca strip, passed the waterfront, just warming up, and I was heading towards the buses. There aew lots of people around, for sure, but they are all of my mind: it's the end of the day and it's time to go home. Exhaustion is part of it. Another part is just enjoying solitude for a moment; relaxing.

To enhance this effect I'll frequently listen to music. I'm not alone in this practice either. Shuffle being what it is, Snow Patrol's Run is playing. I do quite like this song but it's not in my usual rotation. I'm not sure I've consciously known its name before. The scene is set.

The song has just started and I'm striding along past Treasury, though the dark patch towards the buses. My walk is more purposeful than usual, truthfully because I'm imagining I'm at the end of a movie. Or maybe a middle bit where the character is going on their solo journey and has to leave the mentor behind. Of course all I was leaving behind was the pub (not that I went to the pub. I was invited to the pub, made an abortive trip all the way to Salamanca and decided I didn't want to go, for all the usual socially anxious reasons. Whatever. I don't really like pubs anyway. They're noisy and expensive and either too hot or too cold).

As I approached the Kingston bus stop (the only one where people line up, as the facebook group proudly, honestly proclaims) where the bus to Woodbridge was taking passengers, I made accidental eye contact with a young lady of around my age who was wearing a red sweater. You know this phenomenon. You're wandering along and find that you've accidentally looked at someone's eye while they're looking at yours. I did the proper thing and looked away. As my eyes flitted around further, I noticed that this girl (curly dark hair; that's all i can reconstruct) was still looking to me. We made eye contact again. I wasn't sure what to do now. I panicked and looked away again, returning only to find that her eyes still held mine. I smiled, briefly, and kept walking. She got on the bus. And it was over.

Her eyes said something but I'm not sure what. It wasn't laughter but it was happy. I'm convinced she knew why I was walking funny.