The street was busy, but not unusally for a lunchtime on a Tuesday. Chris skuttled into the foot traffic, hoping to make it to the local deli before there was line.

Suddenly he felt a large shove and stumbled into the crowd. He ran right into a woman and they both went down.

“Oomph” she said as they landed, there faces only inches away. There eyes locked for a moment, hers blue, his green. “Are you hurt?” Chris asked earnestly, deep concern etching across his face. “Uh, sorry!” Chris said again as he realized where his hand was on the woman. He quickly took his hand away and scrambled to his feet.

“Here, let me help you up.” he offered, and she smiled. She took his hand with narrow, lengthy fingers and stood up. Her grip was shockingly strong.

“Say, can I make it up to you? Buy you lunch?” He asked embarrassedly, their gaze still unbroken. “Yeah, it’s the least you could do after groping me.” she smiled, making him blush. “Bernardelli’s sound good?” Chris asked, finally breaking their gaze.