First glance
Just before we landed in Egypt by plane, I turned around from my passenger's seat and saw a guy with blue eyes, beard and a book in his hand. He was talking to his friend, while he was standing. Nothing peculiar with that till he stared directly into my eyes. His pupils dilated and he stopped talking. I guess he lost his train of thought or he thought I heard what he said. "No, I have not heard what you have said." It was from then on that I felt that someone was staring at me. Nothing wrong with being stared at right? It wasn't creepy so it is just a one time thing, right? But how can a "simple" stare suddenly end with someone standing next to you, in front of you or just closer than any other person in the room?
Groups and chances
There are two tour guides, each for one group. I am in one and he's in another. So the chance that you would see him would be slim right? That was what I thought the first day, but I was so wrong! He was staying in a room in the same hallway. We saw each other almost every morning, when we went out to eat breakfast. During the middle of the day or afternoon at the stairs. Passing by someone wouldn't be strange if one said "Good morning" or "Hello". Greetings that were told to many fellow travelers, but not to him. We always met each others eyes, but words didn't seem to come out.
Encounters
#1 - Gay?
Seriously my mum can be hilarious. We were standing in line, it was breakfast buffet time, and he and his friend were standing two people in front of us. His friend was whispering in his ear, which annoyed him. He was moving his head away from his friend, but suddenly turned and met my eye with a quite shocked look. What kind of man would like to be whispered to by another guy unless... Yes, my mum said it. "I told you, they are a couple. They can't be not gay!" I laughed, which made the situation kind of worse. What if his friend was saying: "Look she's here." He glanced shocked at me and then a few seconds later he turns towards me with his friend to stare at me laughing. But in her defense, his friend might be gay, the way he wore his scarf, talked to certain people. Or he hasn't grown up quite just yet and is just someone who socializes intensely?
#2 - Smile
I saw his beautiful smile for the first time at a market. He was standing amongst Egyptian men, who were wrapping a scarf around his head into a turban. He smiled, but it turned into a broad smile. I walked by and looked at him. His gaze shifted following me. I smiled back.
#3 - Lobby
The lobby encounters happen daily. They are usually just glances and that's it, but there were moments when you want to say something or wished someone would say something. I usually stood on the outer circle of the crowd and at certain moments even quite far from the crowd. There were plenty of places to stand, but still he was either standing in front of me or next to me. One time he bent forward in front of me, practically showing his ass - Thank goodness, he is not one of those guys who wear their trousers below their asses - Actually, he could pass as a gent if he wore a suit.
#4 - Another lobby scene,
but this one led almost to a conversation - Before I forget to mention this, we are staying, eating in a cruiseship - Daily after a morning of exploring and being wowed by gorgeous temples and other interesting Egyptian culture, we arrive in the lobby of the cruiseship. A man hands us a hot towel and offers us lime juice or a tea. I usually use the towel to wipe my neck and part of my face, because it is refreshing. I folded the towel and saw that he was folding his towel too. I looked around and listened to the conversation that the tour guides were having with other travelers. In the meantime, a strange force moved us, like two constellations moving around the sun. In this case, the sun is the crowd of people in the center of the lobby. We walked towards the man, who was handing out towels next to him is a bucket. I threw my towel in and we stared at each other surprised. I suddenly realized that we unconsciously walked towards each other. There was a pause, a silent stare, that did not last long. We both looked away from one another and walked passed one another. There was no collision, but unlike constellations we were all of a sudden standing next to each other again. His friend was standing on the first floor looking down and staring at him. His friend must have thought: "There you are in the crowd, now look up and see me?" Perhaps, I should have drawn the attention of his friend by making bunny ears on his head with my two fingers and pretended I didn't do anything at all.
His friend has been walking away from him a lot, when I was near or he walked away from his friend and stood near me? I have no idea, I am quite dense when it comes to those kind of things. Luckily, I enjoyed Egypt so I was distracted for most of the time instead of paying attention to a gorgeous guy. I have one more encounter that I want to share with you and I think it might be the funniest of them all.
#5 - Papyrus shop
We were all in the papyrus shop, I was waiting inside of the shop instead to outside due to the boiling weather. Unlike most travelers I have already bought an artwork, the eye of Horus painted on a piece of papyrus. Willem - I found out his name during a primary school lesson in a Nubian village - was first sitting in a chair, but later he walked away talked to some other guy. In the meantime, I saw the salesman try to open a marker. It took him some force to do so, but he accomplished to pull it off. But the cap flew over the counter and rolled towards me. So I picked it up and gave it back to him. He said: "Thank you." I walked back to my spot and a few minutes later. William walked towards me? Or it looked like that. He was juggling with his paper cylinder package, which contains a painting from a scarab facing a sun. Just before he was in front of me, he stared at me. I looked back at him and there it went. His package fell and rolled away. He was shocked once again and ran after it. I held my laugh in, because the papyrus shop was crowded. But I sure laughed, when I was back in my room on the cruiseship.
*Sigh* How should I have acted? What should I have said? How can saying: "Hi" possibly be so difficult? What was he thinking? The complex man puzzle could not be solved because there was no conversation between us. There was no explanation to the mystery. Nevertheless, I guess I really like cute guys, who look gorgeous when they are reading.
Line of today: "Reading men and understanding men isn't possible, but watching men read is possible."