Pen cap between his teeth, Hayden stared at the paper in front of him, leg tapping a restless rhythm beneath the table. He made another in a series of seemingly endless red lines on the paper, indicating with an arrow to the margin where he then wrote a note in cramped handwriting. The page was awash with red, he really needed a more comprehensive color coding system. Thankfully, this page was turning out to be the worst of the lot, the rest of the novel was actually somewhat decent.
Sighing, he leaned back, taking the cap from his lips and pinching the bridge of his nose to try and stave off his headache. Which was probably because of the four mugs that were scattered around the cafe table, caffeine tended to do that after a while. Really, he needed a break, but he’d also promised he’d get this manuscript looked over as soon as possible. The ache in his shoulders protested.
Just as Hayden leaned forward to get back to it, footsteps approached his table.
“If you’re coming over to tell me I’ve got a bit of ink on my face, you can kindly fuck off” Hayden spoke up, not even looking away from the page.