The power of a smile

Anyone who knows me knows that a great deal of my happiness is invested in my relationships with the opposite sex. The following description of what happened to me a couple of days ago will therefore probably seem hopelessly naive, so please don't read on if you're going to misunderstand or mischaracterise an over-idealistic romantic outlook:

Okay, so it's Monday night and i've just played a gig with my band. I'm taking the relatively-difficult journey back from Aldgate East to Kilburn, and i have reached Moorgate where i hope to change for a better underground train to get me as far as Baker St. As I step off the tube, I can't help but notice an attractive girl getting off at the same time as me (I should add that the way she's dressed is really cute, in a jade green top, a little black pleated skirt and black tights; a slightly quirky look that definitely works for me). She meanders off in a way that suggests she doesn't quite know where she's going, and by the time she has it figured out, i've been on the escalator for a good few seconds. She rushes up the escalator steps, passing me on my left, then about 10 steps ahead of me she staggers and falls over a bit. I feel a bit guilty that i can't help her up, but she's too far up, ahead of me for me to play the Good Samaritan, or even the self-interested young guy trying to score some points with a pretty girl. At the top of the escalator our paths diverge, and I don't really think any more of it. You see good-looking people like this round and about London every day.

Then when I climb the stairs to the Westbound platform, it turns out that she's standing facing me on the Eastbound platform opposite, about 20 metres away. Uncharacteristically, I overcome my shyness, and smile at her. She smiles back really sweetly. For a second it feels electric. Then her tube arrives. I'm still looking at her through the glass windows of the tube as she boards the tube, and I can see that she's still looking right at me, and she breaks into a smile for a second time. Wow. I'm thinking to myself that this is really great, but then she sits down on a seat with her back to me, and actually turns her head right over her left shoulder to look straight at me, continuing to smile broadly until her face disappears under the arch of the tube tunnel. Needless to say, it pretty much made my night.

I'm quite interested in the paradoxical nature of this situation. It's both primal and quite innocent at the same time, and makes me wonder about whether I believe that all such situations of attraction are driven by chance, or whether there is such a thing as fate that makes some come to fruition. Subjectivity has always clouded my ability to rationalise and fully explore fate, free will, and all of the shades of grey in between, to date. I think I need to do some reading on this subject.