Emma Clarke, a fellow Marvel fan, and Anders King, an actor most famous for his portrayal of Bucky Barnes, cross paths more than once, leading them to think there just might be a reason they keep showing up in each other's lives.
It all started thr...
ANDERS STEPPED OUT of his hotel lobby and onto the bustling Portland street. He had a habit of going on spontaneous travels, and this time, his travels took him to Portland, Oregon. Anders liked to travel all over the world and visit places unique to each city, state, or country- he had always enjoyed traveling, even as a kid. Having enough money to travel wherever he wanted was a definite perk of working in Hollywood.
Anders had taken a train up to Portland from LA the night before. The city had a lot to offer: coffee shops and bars at every corner, hipster thrift stores, bike riders, forests (trees were everywhere), hikes, and the list only went on. But Anders was here specifically to visit Powell's Book Store. It was the world's largest used and new bookstore, and Anders had always had a soft spot for books and reading.
Portland's motto was "Keep Portland Weird," and Anders had to admit that the city did a pretty good job of staying true to it's peculiarity. Street performers could be found on every other block, some making music with old buckets, others singing on their own accord. Graffiti art covered most buildings, and although Anders had no idea what the art meant, it was fascinating to look at. There was even a doughnut shop that was famous for it's weird and sometimes disgusting flavors (there was a infamous maple bacon doughnut).
Los Angeles was distinctive in its own way, but it was nothing like Portland.
Anders turned around the corner and there stood Powell's. It definitely lived up to its hype- the building was huge. It seemed to take up the entire block. In fact, he was pretty sure it did.
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Anders was even more amazed as he stepped through the front doors, where he was greeted by looming bookshelves, which were so full of books they seemed close to toppling over.
Anders pulled his baseball cap lower over his face as he strolled through the aisles. He wasn't trying to come off as a big-shot celebrity or anything, but he liked to minimize the chance of screaming teenage girls approaching him. It was more for the sake of his ear drums than anything else.
He felt like he could easily get lost in the bookstore, there were so many aisles and shelves. Anders wasn't complaining, though. In fact, the sight of so many books in one place filled him with downright joy.
The press often depicted Anders as a muscular jock of an actor, and although he did go to the gym every week, there was way more to Anders than what the media knew. He was a total book nerd (if that wasn't obvious by now), and had always had a minor Star Wars obsession. He was able to quote most of the movies line-for-line (so maybe it was more than a minor obsession).
Anders' head was preoccupied with thoughts about what book to grab first when he turned into another aisle and nearly ran into someone. At least, he thought it was someone. They held a gigantic stack of books in their arms, and the only thing Anders could see was a pair of legs, which were walking forward quite unsteadily.
