Anchor {h.s}

fifteen

Thrift shopping was definitely not one of Harry's fortes. We hadn't even been in the shop for fifteen minutes, and already he was getting impatient. Although he didn't tell me and tried to act as if he was okay, as if he liked being here, I could see right through it. He took in longer breaths and didn't stand as tall as he usually did.

I had warned him while we were eating at the restaurant earlier; I had tried to tell him that if we were to come to this shop, we would be spending quite some time there. But he had brushed it off, insisting that all he wanted was to spend time with me, no matter where it was.

His words had warmed my heart in a way only Harry could, but it didn't change the fact that I wanted to make the most out of my trip to the store. It was a good forty-five minutes drive away, which made it really complicated to visit as I lived in the city and didn't own a car.

Plus, I couldn't really afford to come here too often since, whenever I did, my bank account would suffer immensely. I couldn't help it, this shop was filled with wonderful treasures impossible to resist. 

Although Harry was clearly not as fascinated by the shop as me, he did make the shopping experience much nicer. All he needed was for me to encourage him to explore the store with an open mind. It took fifteen minutes but once these minutes passed, he started to be silly with all sorts of object that he could find. Sure, this wasn't his favourite thing to do, but at least he still tried to make the best of it.

This Harry was my favourite, happy and carefree, it felt as if we were back to five years ago, when our relationship was nothing more than friendship, when Harry seemed worry-less, and when everything was just so much simpler.

"Look!" Harry called me from another aisle.

I put the picture frame I was holding back on the shelf before looking his way. He was wearing a hat, one that I expected to see on an old man's head. It looked funny, sort of good, but still funny.

"What is that?" I asked cautiously, hoping that I wouldn't hurt his feeling by doubting his choice.

He rolled his eyes. "It's a hat," he replied, mocking that it was obvious.

I clicked my tongue. "I know that," I replied, walking to him. "I mean, why are you wearing that?"

"It's nice, innit?" He asked, a small pout on his face.

I shrugged. "I guess so," I admitted. "Unusual, but I guess it's nice, yeah."

He smiled enthusiastically. "And with my long hair, I think it's cool."

I shook my head, laughing softly, knowing that it was better to end the conversation there and preserve Harry's joy, than to try and argue with him. He was a stubborn one after all, so arguing would be a waste of energy anyway.

I went back to my aisle, searching through all of the picture frames while considering how odd Harry's attitude was. Not that it felt fake or wrong, but it was definitely not something I was used to with him. For the past two years, he had kept pushing me away, he had been distant and I don't think we ever laughed as much as we did on that day. It all felt surreal, as if we were both in that little bubble, as if we had both unconsciously decided that we were leaving our worries behind for today.

"How about this?" Harry asked from a few aisle back.

I turned around and looked him up and down. He still had the hat on, but he also put on some sort of aviator jacket.

This time I laughed without holding back. "You're being ridiculous."

I shook my head, but still smiled at him. I couldn't help it, he was being so different, a good kind of different. He was messing around but there was no time to lose, I wanted to have a look at everything, so I went back to my treasure hunt.