Driving Me Crazy

Which is more awkward?

While driving on the freeway, I see what I believe is my coworker's car in the lane to my right a few cars up. Since my lane is moving faster, I eventually am next to the car. It is my coworker! That is most definitely eir long grey hair and side profile. I wave for a few seconds until my coworker sees me. My coworker turns and gives me a perplexed glare -- perhaps because, though that was my coworker's profile, that wasn't my coworker from the front. It's just a stranger at whom I've waved and is now apparently creeped out. The stranger is now trying to both avoid further contact with me, while at the same time sneaking a peek trying to verify whether ey might know some weirdo half eir age. I have the good fortune of my lane moving quicker so I can escape ahead and avoid the situation. That is, until maybe forty seconds later when a traffic jam forces all motorists to stop and inch forward when my coworker's doppelganger (well, profile doppelganger) gets stuck next to me as we pretend not to keep checking whether the other person is looking at the other. This scenario continues for approximately seven painful minutes.

or

Three days later, I see a different coworker on the same freeway driving in the lane directly to my left -- or so I think. Wary of my last mistake, I give em a long look over before deciding I am yet again having a case of mistaken identity. Spotting the stranger turning to notice me, I quickly turn my head away so as not to appear as though I am staring. For the next few minutes as we are side by side, out of the corner of my eye, I sense that this person is looking at me, but I refuse to turn in fear of a repeat performance of my other blunder. The following day at a morning meeting, the coworker I thought I saw the previous evening confronts me. "How come you acted like you didn't know me when we were driving yesterday?" "What?" I say, unconvincingly pretending I don't know to what ey is referring. "You were on the 15 at like 5." "I don't remember seeing you," I stammer. "I saw you look right at me! Then you kept ignoring me each time I tried to say hi. What was that about?" "I..." I don't want to lie, so I choose my words carefully. "If I recognized you, I would have said hi." "All right..." the coworker says, "You don't have to be shy."

From now on, I keep my eyes on the road and only on the road.