Imagining Us

Chapter 3

"Excuse me?"the sharp, low voice said, pulling her away from her intense observation of him. 
He stared at her  incredulously while subtly glancing around, as if he wasn't quite sure that she was speaking to him. Then, he focused down on her with an unsmiling face, in a way that made her a little self-conscious.

He raised one of his eyebrows and Esi thought that she saw what could be a look of impatience flicker across his face.

That did it for her. She took a step back from him and attempted to draw herself up taller. She narrowed her eyes and steadied her voice, projecting confidence with a bit of sass—just a little bit.

"I saw you comparing the books like-," she paused, searching for her words. "Like fruits at a vegetable market or something." Her mind wandered back to the vibrant fruit and vegetable markets back on the island of Trinidad. "So," she continued, " I thought I'd help this situation—she gestured between him and the books with her right hand—by letting you know that it's the same words in both". She pursed her lips in completion of her sarcastic spiel and raised a challenging eyebrow.

He looked at Esi, slightly wide-eyed, like he was still trying to mull over everything she had just said. Then, a strange look flickered across his face and he composed himself and reverted back to his stony expression. He closed the books, deliberately tucked them in the crook of his elbow and folded his arms and leaned against the shelf.
Esi cringed internally at that action. Those poor books. She narrowed her eyes at the movement, and figured that he must have realized that the blue book was the last copy on the shelf. She ran her tongue over her teeth, pursed her lips, and glared at him.

A part of her couldn't fathom that she was basically having a stare-off with a stranger over a book.

How mature, Esi!

She chided herself mentally.

He peered down at her and said, "How would you know?"
The audacity of him!
She opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off before she could start. " Actually, don't answer that."
Those sharp eyes lazily scanned her from head to toe and back up, taking in every aspect of her.
His eyes stopped at her hair and lingered there. His brows came together as if he was trying to figure out a puzzle, then he glanced down to her face, and his eyes widened slightly. He quickly schooled his features before she could try to decipher what that look was about. She hoped that his reaction wasn't about her hair because she had enough of those looks since she'd moved there.
But as his eyes slid back to hers, it wasn't judgment that showed, and she shifted slightly under his intense gaze. When his eyes, flickering with something she couldn't name, held hers again, she felt a flush run through her body. If she didn't have as much melanin as she did, her cheeks probably would be red.

"You do look like someone who would have enough time to know the amount of words in each book," he drawled.
His words snapped her out of her reverie. Was he calling her a nerd? 
She had a retort on her tongue ready to let loose, when she noticed his expression.
His eyes were challenging her, but Esi saw the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. 

He was teasing her.

She relaxed a bit at that and smirked.

"Well, you don't look like someone who's ever even read these kinds of books at all."

It was a lie.

She had been observing him for a while.

He very much looked like someone who knew all about the classics. Standing there at a little more than 6 feet with perfectly coiffed blond hair. Knowing grey eyes. A fitted button down, long sleeved shirt and dark framed glasses. With  a leather messenger bag slung over his shoulder.
He looked like ever the academic.