Love at Second Sight by Cathy Hopkins Page A

his dog. He glanced at his watch then looked down the street as if looking for someone. He turned
and looked in the window. For once, he wasn’t wearing his shades. Our eyes met and for a moment, there was a jolt of recognition. He stared. I stared. No smile.
    Oh this is ridiculous, I thought. I’m going to go and talk to him. Break the ice properly. We have to speak sometime if we’re going to be working on the clairvoyant article
together.
    I got up and walked out onto the street to join him. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘I don’t think we’ve actually met properly. I’m Jo Harris–’
    ‘I know who you are,’he said.
    Boy, he really is unfriendly, I thought. ‘OK. And you’re Ben Fraser and don’t say you know who you are as well because that would be obvious.’
    A glimmer of a smile crossed his face. Without his shades, he was actually quite good-looking. Amber brown eyes, even features and a full wide mouth – if he smiled once in a while,
he’d be very attractive – and he had a nice voice, soft but deep. His dog nuzzled my hand so I bent over and gave him a stroke.
    ‘What’s his name?’ I asked.
    ‘Max,’ Ben replied.
    ‘So how do you know me?’ I asked.
    He looked straight into my eyes. ‘You don’t remember?’
    His gaze was so intense, like he was really looking into me. It made me feel strange. Exposed in some way. I looked away, leant on one hip and attempted to look unflustered. ‘Um . . .
Yeah. Course I remember. I saw you playing on the Heath, at the fair and then again at Camden Lock. You’re in Minted with Finn, yeah?’
    ‘Finn. Yeah. No, not then.’
    ‘Oh. The Chillaxin meetings. My friend Effy said you’d been at them.’ I was beginning to feel awkward, bad for not having noticed him.
    ‘Yeah I’ve seen you at those too. But we met before that.’
    ‘When?’
    ‘At junior school. I remember you.’ He stared at me intently again.
    I felt myself blush and had to look away. I didn’t remember him from school. ‘Oh. Sorry. Long time ago I guess.’
    He shrugged his shoulder and let out a sigh. ‘I guess. Whatever. Ages ago.’
    ‘So as we’re going to be working on an article together – the one about clairvoyants – I thought maybe we should talk about it. What angle you’re taking and
that.’
    What angle are you taking?’ he asked.
    ‘Oh. To tell you the truth, I’ve only made some rough notes so far. I’m not sure what I’m going to write yet. We’ve seen a few. One seemed genuine, others seemed
sincere but no more in touch with the spirit world than me or . . . your dog, Max.’
    ‘Are you into all that stuff?’
    ‘Not really. It’s more Effy’s thing.’
    He nodded.
    ‘What do you think about it all?’ I asked.
    He rolled his eyes. ‘Load of tosh. Fodder for idiots.’
    I laughed. ‘Don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel’
    That glimmer of a smile again. He’d be cute if he lightened up.
    ‘That’s how I feel,’ he said. What’s your opinion?’
    ‘Same as yours. Well, mainly. For gullible people–’
    ‘They tell people what they want to hear. End of.’
    ‘Yes. At least, maybe. I don’t know any more.’
    ‘Why? Have you’ve been told something that’s come true?’
    ‘Not exactly. I. . .’ I didn’t want to tell him about Lily and her pointing to my dad’s ring nor did I want to tell him about the Henrietta story. That was private stuff
plus I was getting the message fast that Ben was as cynical as me, or at least, as I used to be. Not that I’d changed my mind that much, but I was definitely wavering around the edges.
    ‘Give me your number,’ said Ben. ‘When you’ve thought about the article more and what you really think maybe we can talk.’
    I scribbled my number on a piece of paper and gave it to him. He put it in his pocket. He began to walk away then turned back. ‘Hey, Jo.’
    ‘Yes.’
    He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. ‘Exhibition next week. Not far from here.