steve harrington | imagines

| the girl from the bookstore |

steve stood behind the counter at scoops ahoy, absentmindedly twirling his ice cream scooper in his hand as robin leaned against the counter. it was a slow day at scoops, not a lot of people were currently in the shop. a lot of people were next door in the brand new bookstore that had just opened. ever since it was opened, steve hadn't seen it empty. wether it was only a handful of people or a few large groups, people were always in it.

"i don't understand what the great thing is about a bookstore." steve said as he spun the scooper in his hand. robin shrugged. "maybe, just maybe, people like reading, dingus." she replied, sarcastically. steve rolled his eyes. "yeah, but, people are constantly in there." he said. "and?" he didn't know what point he was trying to prove so he just shrugged and the topic quickly disappeared. robin looked over at the sailor themed clock on the wall and then looked at the single customer that had just got up to leave. "do you think we could close early?" she asked, turning to face steve. "probably not." he said, pushing himself off of the wall. robin groaned. "it's only like, fifteen minutes early." she whined. steve checked the clock and sighed. "fine, let's just close. we're not getting any good business anyway." he complained, placing the scooper into his holder on his uniform. "can you close?" robin asked, looking at him with pleading eyes. steve looked at her like she was crazy. "please? i have somewhere to be!" she begged. "fine! but you're closing next time." steve told her. robin smiled. "thank you!" she exclaimed, running out of the sailor themed store.

steve turned off all the lights and made sure everything was ready for him to close before he pulled down the metal bar shutters. he took the 'ahoy' hat off his head and began walking out of the mall. he stopped outside of the new bookstore and looked inside. this was the first time he had saw it empty. well, except one girl but she looked like she worked there. she stood in front of the bookshelves and placed some books in any gaps she could find, running her fingers down the spines once the books were sandwiched between two others. steve realised that the mall was still a little busy and he looked like a creep standing outside the bookstore, staring at the lone girl, especially in the stupid sailor uniform he was forced to wear. he decided to walk into the bookstore when the girl was too focused on the books to notice anyone walk in. steve quickly walked in and stood at the other side of the bookshelf from the girl in the middle of the store. he took a book of the shelf in case she came around and just saw him standing there awkwardly.

as you placed the books on the shelves, you saw someone on the other side of the bookshelves through the gaps above the books. you slowly walked around and saw a boy around your age with long brown hair, wearing, what looked to be, a sailors costume with a white hat scrunched up in his hand. "can i help you?" you spoke up. the boy jumped slightly when you spoke, making you smile sweetly at the stranger. "sorry. didn't mean to scare ya." you apologised, taking a step forward towards the boy. "it's fine." he smiled back, nervously. you looked down at the book in his hands. "stephen king?" you asked, looking back up at the boys brown eyes. "hm?" he hummed. he looked confused. you furrowed your eyebrows and pointed at the book. "pet sematary, the book, it's written by stephen king." you explained. he looked down at the book then looked back up. "oh! right, right, yeah." you smiled at him. "i can take it up to the counter for you if you want." you told him, holding your hand out. he placed the book in your hand. "yeah, thanks." you smiled once again and walked to the counter.

steve was mentally kicking himself right now. he didn't want to actually buy a book right now. his plan was to come in here and turn on his charm, getting him a date, not a book. he sighed and ran a hand down his face. he blames the uniform. it has to be the red, white and royal blue uniform because honestly, who would find this attractive? he walked up to the counter where she was standing behind the wooden worktop, the book sat atop the worktop. the girl picked up the book and placed it in a little bag for steve. as she was ringing it up, steve decided this would be the best time to turn in the harrington charm. "so, uh," he began. he had no idea what he was going to say. 'just be cool.' he told himself. he leaned to his left slightly, aiming to lean against the wall beside him but just ended up knocking over a full book display. "shit!" he exclaimed as the display fell. 'way to play it cool.' he thought. if he was mentally kicking himself earlier then he was mentally kicking, punching and slapping himself now. he started to panic when the display had completely fell, quickly crouching down to tidy up the mess.