They had barely known what happened until after it had ended.
He had been walking along, minding his own business and studying the textbook he was supposed to teach with. His own papers with notes stuffed into various parts of the book.
She had grabbed the small stack of returned books from behind the front counter of the library. It had been a slow day and she saw no point of using the roller cart. Her mind off on some distant cloud.
If she had been more mindful of what was around her or if he had paid more attention to where he was going, it may have been avoided. But that was not the case.
She turned just as he took another step forward, and they collided with each other, dropping everything they had been holding, books and papers falling down to their feet, as they grabbed each other in an attempt to steady themselves.
He barely registered that the small person he'd walked into had been a young woman as she apologized and scrambled to the floor to pick everything up.
He dropped to his knees and began to pick everything up, insisting that it had been his fault as he should have been more careful.
He reached out to pick up one of his papers when her hand had gotten there first. Typically, he would have pulled it away immediately and apologized, but there was something strange about this; almost as if he knew who this hand belonged to.
It should have unnerved her when he didn't take his hand away. She knew it should have unnerved her. She felt as though she knew this person's touch, but she didn't know how that could be.
They both looked up and their eyes met.
He saw a small, petite woman dressed in a pencil skirt and vest. Her jet black hair tied into a bun that was falling apart. Her circular face held a strong jawline, a small perky nose, and ruby red lips with wide eyes behind a pair of glasses.
She saw a man that had to have been at least a head taller than her, dressed in an old jacket and bow tie. His long dark hair pulled back into a pony tail with a short beard covering half of his long face. A straight nose and dark eyes staring back at her.
They knew they had never seen the person looking back at them before, but there was such a strange sense of familiarity, they could only ask the other the same question.
"Do I know you?"