The Pedro Pascal Files

Pages of a Good Book // Steve [Hermanas]

(Steve x F!Reader)

You sighed as your fingers gripped around the steering wheel. It had been a long morning and an even longer drive. You groaned quietly as you looked at the passing bleak landscape from the driver's window. As your head swiveled in the opposite direction, away from the road, you noticed a little strip mall in the distance. You glanced down at the clock, a detour wouldn't be such a bad thing.

When you came to the small intersection, you took a right down the road towards the small shopping center. Maybe they'd have a coffee place, so you could at least refuel.

Steve had been there all morning. No one had come in yet. Of course, it was a small place and town was just a few miles away. They were pretty much on the outskirts. It made him question why the center itself even remained open. He just sat behind the counter, waiting and watching for anyone to come by the glass.

You parked your car. Luckily enough, there was a coffee place. You rushed inside to order yourself a small black coffee with cream and sugar. "Kind of an odd place for a shopping center, huh?" You pointed out. The girl's eyes just flickered up to yours. "Well, we just do our best." She said, pushing the full cup towards you. "Cream and sugar is at the end of the bar." She said. You fixed the coffee yourself before going outside again.

A cool breeze shifted through the air. Autumn was just beginning. Your sister had invited you to her place for a party for her youngest daughter. You wouldn't miss it for the world. However, you were tired from driving. The constant vibration of the car for hours on end made you feel exhausted.  You decided to stretch your legs for a little bit and walk along the sidewalk. As you were walking, your eye caught the attention of red lettering just hanging overhead on the building facade. You stopped for a second, angling your line of sight up and reading what the sign said. It read: Book Store. "Can't get anymore simple than that." you say to yourself as you step forward and reach for the door handle.

Steve saw you outside, glancing up at the sign. He was hoping you'd come in, not just because you'd be the only customer of the day, but because you were very pretty and he'd like to see the rest of your face too. The bell rang overhead and in you walked, holding your cup of coffee. 

As you walked in, you were overcome with the smell of old cotton pages and old paper. Books that had otherwise been sitting on these shelves for years. The smell was warm and inviting. While the books were old, the shelves looked fairly clean. Like they'd been dusted every single day. You sighed as you moved through the aisles of books, your eyes scanning over every spine and occasionally stopping to read the titles of the books. Steve remained quiet, nearly invisible behind the counter as he watched you. 

Finally, you rounded the corner. Seeing him there startled you. "Oh! I didn't know you were standing there..." You say, placing your hand over your heart. He gives a smile. "It's no problem. Can I help you find anything?" He asks. "I was just looking around." You pause at the countertop, setting the cup of coffee down on it. "I don't suppose you do too much business." He chuckled. "Not hardly. Since we're further away from the main city, hardly anyone comes out here." He says. "Yet, somehow we manage to stay open." He added.

There was a brief pause before you turned to him. "I didn't catch your name." You said. "Oh, sorry. I'm Steve." He said with a grin. "Y/N." "You from around here?" He asked. "Nah, I'm visiting my sister up in Dallas." You say. "Ah, busy place. Staying for a while?" He asked. "Not too long, just long enough to spend time with her and my nieces. I haven't seen them in a long time." The thought of it made you a little sad. There had been a bit of a falling out with you and your sister. You'd never fully talked about it or even apologized. You chalked it up to being adults and simply moving past things. Once she left Washington state, you tried to keep contact. 

You sister left for a variety of reasons: it was too expensive to live there, it was too wet and rainy during the year, none of the boys caught her eye...little things that seemed like such stupid reasons to leave the place you grew up in. You tried to be respectful of her decisions, like always. Then she invited you to see her place in Dallas. Contact had been sporadic and you were agitated with her. The phone call went something like this:

"Hello?" "Y/N! I was just calling to talk to you. I've been missing you terribly." You balanced the phone between your ear and shoulder as you continued typing. "Yeah, you missed me so much you couldn't answer any of my calls or texts..." You say, already annoyed with her. "Oh, Y/N...don't do this." "Oh I'm sorry, Diana. You just left me here without any rhyme or reason. I've been doing everything myself." "Like what?" "Like taking care of mom and dad?" The tone in your voice was growing more and more agitated. "Listen, it's not my fault if you didn't want to get out of that shitty state. I can't help it if I aspired to be a little more than a crummy bank teller with a second rate degree." From there, you lost your ability to control your temper. All you could see was red and the obscenities that poured from your mouth were too much to even say again. By the time you were done screaming into the phone, Diana was long gone. 

Since then, not much had happened. You hadn't spoken until she invited you (again) to see the house in Dallas. You wasted no time this go round on purchasing your ticket. You'd be there in a flash. And of course, you'd use your nieces as the excuse. Really, you had missed Diana. You two used to be inseparable. 

"Hey, you okay?" Steve's voice broke through your intrusive thoughts. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I space out like that." You say, nervously adding in laughter. He shrugs his shoulders. "It's okay." You glance up at the clock hanging behind him. "Is that really the time? I should get going." You say. "Before you do..." He reaches under the desk and pulls out a pad with a pen. He begins scribbling numbers on the paper. "Here, in case things don't work out and you need to feel like the trip was worth it." He hands you the paper with his telephone number on it. "Don't call after 7:00 am because I'll be at work and I don't get off til 4:30." He added. You smile. "Well, I'll know where to come back to then." You say. 

You tuck the paper into your purse and head for the door. You turn one last time to see Steve smile and wave. You hear the bell ring and you're back out into the humid Dallas air. You head for your car and drive off towards the city. Hopefully things with your sister would work out...if not, you were sure Steve would be a great tour guide.

A/N: a little interlude. just a little backstory: pedro pascal played a book store clerk in a 2005 film called Hermanas. while i have never seen the film itself, i have seen the part where she meets him and this is loosely based on that scene