[ WP ] The two characters of the story can hear the narrator . The narrator ( being a hopeless romantic ) is trying to make them fall in love with each other . They are uncomfortable with the idea .

Alex paused, fork halfway between bowl and mouth, and frowned. 
 
'Yes,' she thought,'there it is again.' A piece of spaghetti unraveled itself from her fork, stretching out for a moment before it fell back down to the table, flicking tiny droplets of tomato down her white shirt and landing back in the bowl with a faint, sloppy splash. The dulcet tones of Barry White moved softly through the air around the table. 
 
 Rob raised his eyes, mouth full. He was half-hunched over his carbonara, afraid of causing a mess. He paused, swallowed, and sat up straighter. 
 
'Something up?' he asked, half-expecting Alex to shake her head. She was only here because Susie begged her to spend some time with him, and he could tell she just wanted this crappy ordeal would be over with. But there was always a chance. 
 
 Alex lowered her fork slowly. How could she tell Rob how she was feeling? Especially when gazing into his pale blue eyes, slowly losing herself in the swirl of emotion, sinking deeper and deeper into an illustrious reverie... 
 
'Oh, stop it!' Alex snapped. Rob jumped, and his knee bashed the underside of the table in a cute, dorky kind of way. Somewhere in Alex's subconscious, she found this kind of charming. 
 
'Something weird's going on,' she explained, dropping her gaze,'there's someone... *describing* us.' Rob stared back blankly, and Alex could n't help but take a second glance at those wide, icy pools. 
 
'Rob, what colour shirt am I wearing?' 
 
 Rob was truly confused. Was Alex colourblind? He looked at her tomato-spatted shirt, then back up at her soft face. Was this his way in? Could he be the man to console her in this time of crisis? The man to save her of her distress? 
 
'Blue?' 
 
'This is really weird,' Alex said flatly.'It's like what I'm thinking is being *edited* by someone, and I can... hear it. Oh God, I sound mad.' 
 
 But Rob was n't listening to the words tumbling out of Alex's lips. He was transfixed by their motion, their opening and closing. He leaned in slightly, hoping she'd notice. 
 
'Of course I notice - I can hear you!' Alex felt hopeless. Rob did n't understand, but that was what made him so lovely. She could be the strong woman she'd always wanted to be - she was in control of this situation, she had him right where she wanted him. 
 
'Okay, fuck this.' She pushed back in her chair and stood up.'I do n't know what's going on, but this all needs to stop. Right now. Rob and I *do not* love each other.' 
 
 But *of course* Alex would say that - she does n't want anyone to know of their forbidden courting. Rob was the talk of the town, after all, all the girls for miles around were after the most eligible bachelor in the country. 
 
'Are you narrating my life? Am I some sort of fiction?!' Alex could n't get her head around it. She was tormented by her infatuation with the sweet man opposite, lost for words and thoughts. 
 
'So if you're the narrator, are n't you editing my words too?' 
 
 She did n't have a clue what she was talking about. 
 
'So why can I hear you? If you sit *outside* the fiction, so to speak.' 
 
 She's really losing it. 
 
'Do I actually exist?' 
 
 Maybe I should just shelve this one for now. I'm sure they'll be absolutely fine without me.
