Stand By Me One Shots/Imagines + Preferences (The Cobras x reader)

At the Bookstore (Ace)

This has been sitting in my drafts since March because I kept getting stuck. You cannot imagine how glad I am to have finally finished it. Big thanks to MionSnojkorn for helping me get unstuck<333

Warnings: Swearing, reader has social anxiety

Ace meets you at the bookstore. He's looking for the sequel to some silly fantasy novel he read a while ago, and went to the bookstore up the city to avoid running into anyone he knows.

Luck seems to be on his side, until he walks up to the counter and finds you standing there, chatting with the girl behind it. He remembers you from school, though he can't remember your name right now. You've changed, but not much; there's no doubt it's you. The shy, pretty girl that always made his heart beat a little too fast, that he stayed away from for that very reason. A goody-two-shoes that wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the likes of him, anyways.

Would you remember him? Recognize him?

Probably, given his reputation. But if he remembers correctly the girl behind the counter is your best friend, so you probably won't be leaving any time soon, and chances are she will also recognize him. It's too late to turn back now, anyway. He'll just have to suck it up and pretend he isn't embarrassed about the book. He can always still lie and say it's for someone else.

You look up, and the surprise on your face tells him you do recognize him, but you still give him a friendly smile and step aside, turning to a nearby bookshelf to let your friend work.

While he pays he's too distracted by you to pay attention to wether or not your friend is judging him for his choice of reading material. He just can't stop looking over at you, and when he walks out of the store to his car, the only thing on his mind is that shy little smile you had on your face when you looked at him.

Oh no. His old crush on you is really resurfacing, huh? He tries to fight it, but nope. He's fucked. Oh, this is bad. He has to make sure he doesn't run into you again. Next time he wants a new book he'll just go to the bookstore in Castle Rock, fuck it if anyone sees him. Better that than feelings.

You stare at Ace's back as he leaves, continue staring at the door long after he disappeared from sight, and only snap out of it when Sandra calls your name for the fifth time.

"Did Ace Merrill just buy a book from you or did I dream that?" you ask.

It had to have been a dream, right?

"You didn't dream that. And you know what? It wasn't just any book, it was the second book of that fantasy series you like so much."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"What the hell."

Ace fucking Merrill just came in and bought a fantasy novel. What the hell indeed.

You take a deep breath, and try to calm down. It's no big deal. Or at least it shouldn't be. A guy you used to go to school with came in and bought a book. So what? Sure, it wasn't just any guy, and you would have never taken a hood like Ace for the type to read fantasy — or any books at all, really, porn magazines aside — but so what? His taste in literature is none of your business. Why would you even care? You never even talked to the guy in all the years you went to school with him. Yes, there is the crush you had had on him all throughout high school, but that. Does. Not. Matter.

Sandra thinks it does, judging by the way she's grinning.

"He was watching you, you know?"

You almost choke on your own spit. "He what?"