A C T O R S || OS 02

141. Tom Cruise | The Fix

By : random-imagines-blog | Tumblr

Wordcount: 2214
Summary: Eye contact with a stranger on the street leads to a conversation over books.

It all started off with eye contact. You hadn't meant to do it. Normally you would have your sunglasses on over your face, and avoid it with the world. Because once you made it, people felt like they could come up and talk to you. It's not that you hated people you just - tended to attract the bad sort of person. The stalkers, the creeps, the cat-callers. The ones that felt like just looking at them was invitation enough to invite them to be a part of your day, even if you gave no other indication. Oh y/n, what have you gotten yourself into? Green eyes, not ones that you saw every day. That's what you were getting into. Falling into. Blue ones were common, brown ones were common but green? It was hard to look away.

And apparently the owner of these green eyes felt the same way about you. Because even after you looked away, you could feel him staring still. You kept on going about your business. Walking down the street. You were headed east. He was headed west but on the opposite side. Brown hair peeking out from under a ball-cap. Sun shining off of very white teeth. He was attractive enough but you weren't going to go crossing the street for a pretty face.

You stopped in front of the shop that you were looking for. One final look over your shoulder showed that this man, whoever he was, had a bit of a startled look on his face. Now that had you confused as you turned your head to look back at the door, opening it. Would it really be so startling that you were stepping foot into a book store? It shouldn't be.

The place was cozy. The shelves were like a maze, but that's what you liked about it. There were private little corners that you could slip into, ones with chairs and school-like desks. Piles of used books that someone had picked up and set down. Oh, the smell of the old pages. The smell of adventure.

The bell rang over head and an older woman with her hair in a long braid looked over at you from the counter. You avoided eye contact, though you did gaze along at the books that were on display behind her, and gave her a smile. You didn't want to be rude. But she looked the type to draw you into a conversation about Hemingway for hours. She smiled back and then buried herself in a book. You let out a sigh in relief and started to stroll around, finding your favorite genre, near the back of the store. The bell rang again. You could faintly hear it through your headphones, your favorite music playing. You didn't look up. You were running your fingers over the spines, trying to remember which of these books that you had at home already. Your to be read pile was already big enough. You really shouldn't be giving into the temptation to buy more.

So you missed the sound of the gasp. And the woman dropping her book. And then scrambling to pick it up. You missed the woman asking for an autograph. And then a picture. And then offering a discount on anything within her used book store.

All that you knew was that there was a book here by your favorite author that you were not only missing, but was SIGNED. The price set at a hefty hundred dollars. The author had won a few awards but was hardly a King, a Rowling or a Gaiman. Carpe Diem, right? You tucked it under your arm and kept on browsing. Seemed worth it. Oh, was that another author that you like?

You didn't hear that someone was talking to you. You were reading over the titles, over the authors, head bobbing to the music, too much into your own world. It took that someone putting their hand on the shelf - thank god it wasn't on you - to get your attention. You looked over to see the same man from outside, standing there, two books already tucked under his own arm.

You took out one of your earbuds and felt yourself fall prey to those green eyes again. You could still faintly hear the music coming out of one of the pods. And now he could too. But your voice would overpower it. "Yes?"