When Fate Itself Is Altered At A Bookstore In LA

[1] The Handsome Stranger with the Starbomb Shirt

This is it. The last copy of the last book of the Leviathan series. The 3rd book, specifically. Goliath. The last book Westerfeld wrote for it. It was, at some point, discontinued from printing. Probably due to lack of interest by the general public.

I grazed my fingers along my back pocket to make sure my wallet was where I'd left it, and indeed it was.

With a soft sigh, I finally pressed forward, sort of anxious in the large bookstore. I was always anxious in large places with a lot of people, especially without the comfort of my best friend. He'd run off to the manga section as usual, leaving me surrounded with my sights on a single book.

I saw someone else approaching the display and my strides began to quicken, brushing my fingers smoothly through the blue of my hair and again sighing. I really hated how anxious I got.

This is it, I thought, hurrying up to the small display and finally reaching for Goliath. I'd spent the last few years of my life writing theories and drawing fanart-albeit bad fanart-of things from this book. I had custom made posters and everything!

As I reached for it, I froze. Another hand brushed against mine at the exact same time. Tan, thick fingers, veins obvious.. A very pleasant sight to the very easily attracted me. A gentle touch that left an odd feeling when I pulled my hand away quickly, turning to look at who'd reached for it.

Taller than me. Soft-looking black hair. Broad nose that seemed to slope perfectly. Friendly chocolate-brown eyes. His lips were slightly parted, eyebrows raised. Fuck, he's attractive as hell.

I was frozen in place for a moment before he smiled shyly, pulling away a bit. "Oh, uh, sorry. I see you're a Scott Westerfeld fan such as myself." He spoke with a soft chuckle, brushing a bit of hair from his face. I could really get lost in his voice.

"N-no, uh, it's alright.. !" I didn't know what to say. I debated on just reaching for the book and hurrying off, but that would just be an asshole move. Grab the book and run, make conversation, or excuse myself to look for G while this handsome stranger takes the book I've been after for 2 years? I supposed making conversation was a good option.

We both stood there for a moment, the quiet chatter of the people in the bookstore suddenly feeling 100 times louder in our silence.

Finally, he spoke, and the obnoxiously mindless words in the background seemed to fade. I focused only on his voice, only on his words.

"So, assuming you intend to buy this book for yourself, you're a fan of this series?" The words seemed to flow with a soft eloquence that was too polite for his outward looks. He wasn't dressed in anything fancy, a simple t-shirt with a pink, blue, and yellow logo on it, and - wait. That's the Starbomb logo.

I nodded at his comment and glanced down at his shirt, a faint smile growing.

"You like Starbomb, too?"

"Of course! I'm friends with the singer, actually."

Boyfriend material.

"Wait, really? You're friends with Danny Sexbang?"

"Yeah! He's a super cool dude."

We ended up making conversation for an unknown amount of time, but it was a while. Just standing in front of the display, stalling the inevitable moment where one of us would have to take the book.

But at some point, a good portion of people had left the store, oddly quiet now. We were still endlessly rambling about Starbomb and our Leviathan theories when I flinched at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder, spinning on my heel to look at who's hand it was. I let out a breath of relief as I realized it was only G. He glanced at the stranger and smiled politely.

"We should go, man. We're late already."

"Late..?"

"Remember? Brian wanted us to meet up at Starbucks?"

"Oh, oh fuck! Shit. Yeah, alright."

I dropped my shoulders and looked down at the book on display, then back at the handsome stranger with the Starbomb shirt. He gave me an almost apologetic tight-lipped smile. "I'm sure I can find a PDF online, you can have the book."

"Hey, hold on. I've got an idea. Since, uh, you were going for the book, too.. If you're cool with giving me your number, I guess, when I finish it I could lend it back to you?" I raised my eyebrows just a bit and gave him a hopeful little half smile, more an excuse to get his number and see him again than anything.

"That sounds perfect, actually!" He grinned wide and my thoughts were immediately drawn to the fact of how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, bright and friendly and just wow.

I never believed in love at first sight. Well, I don't know, really. Never felt it so I never knew if I should believe in it or not. But somehow a chance encounter with an attractive hawaiian-looking (I'm not sure yet..) man with fluffy hair, nice hands, great taste in music and books, and happens to be friends with the singer for one of my favorite bands. Just wow. Boyfriend material.. If I were gay, that is. I don't think I'm gay. I might be bisexual. I just label my sexuality as "girls are pretty and guys can be hot", simple as that.

But Starbomb Library Stranger (Who put himself in my phone as "Mark", so I'm assuming that's his name) is definitely boyfriend material.

Just the way he repeated my name once I introduced myself with a little smirk and added in a quiet, "cute name".. The way his eyes got a bit squinty when he smiled. The way he grinned almost too wide when he brought up a topic he was passionate about.

I found out a few things about him in the process of our conversation.

His name is Mark, he lives with his best friend and his dog, he's a local comedian who's getting reasonably famous reasonably fast, he once gave Danny Sexbang a blowjob backstage at a Starbomb show (while Arin watched, apparently), he's read the Leviathan series' first book 10 times, and he's single.

The fact that he threw in the comment about his relationship status almost threw me off.

As G and I walked to the Starbucks later, G holding a huge ass bag which I knew was the entire Cowboy Bebop manga series, I was a bit zoned out. 

I flinched as G snapped his fingers in front  of my face, bringing me back to reality. I stumbled just a bit and turned to look at him, frowning at his smug expression.

"Daydreamin' bout Starbomb dude?"

"Fuck off."

And that was that.

Notes

(heyo this is,,,, good. i like dis a lot. sorry for long titles, i'm in a fall out boy title mood. i might change it at some point if i ever get canva to stop lagging idk.. also like! hey this is good! this is going good!!!! asdfghjk vALIDATE MY WRITING- im kidding. but you should definitely drop some comments? criticism? i'm here for all of it??? please??)