karen drops the two boys off at the door before she tries to find a parking spot. harry and liam walk in the store side by side, liam holding his scarf over his face.
harry grabs the first cart he sees but before he could hand it over to liam, liam goes straight for the disinfectant wipes. he wipes the handle of the cart once, twice, and three times before throwing away the used wipe. liam
pulls out two gloves from his pocket and slides them on with ease. he hums satisfactory and finally puts his glove covered hands on the rail.
"clean freak?" harry asks.
"something like that."
it isn't long before karen comes walking into the store. "okay boys. i'm going to try my all not to be tempted to buy unnecessary things."
"she always says that but it never happens." liam tells harry. "mom if you don't want to be tempted to buy unnecessary things, we shouldn't be at costco right now."
"you can find a lot of good deals at costco!" karen protests and pulls out her grocery list. "now first we need eggs."
"you want harry and i to go scope the free samples?" liam asks and grabs harry's hand. "perfect. let's go harry." before karen can say another word, liam is pulling harry away.
"shouldn't we stay with your mom and help her?"
"trust me. by the time we're done, she'll still be in the same spot."
the two boys walk around the huge store, stopping at each booth with free samples. they varied from bacon to chocolate covered blueberries. there was even this fruit juice that was absolutely disgusting. harry didn't hide his mortification and spit it right back into cup. liam had to force himself to swallow drink and he quickly thanked the lady.
when the boys return to liam's mom, she's in the produce section with her cart filled with everything but eggs.
"do we really need all these muffins?" liam asks and points to the dozen muffins in the cart.
"you can eat them for breakfast!"
"okay and what about these apples? i don't like them and you rarely eat them."
"they're three dollars per bag and look at how big they are!"
"were any of these items on your grocery list?" liam finishes his interrogation.
karen hugs the list to her chest. "don't worry about it. i'm the one paying for it."
liam just rolls his eyes and bats his mom's hands away from the cart so he can push the cart.
when they finally leave the store, they had to have the help of two employees because of the amount of stuff they bought.
harry laughs as liam gives his mom a smirk while crossing his arms as if he was saying, "i told you so." karen simply sticks her tongue out at her son in which liam retaliates.
"you guys want ice cream?" karen asks once everyone and everything was situated in the car.
"mom! you just spent like three hundred dollars not even ten minutes ago!"
"so? plus, poor harry here has to put up with all of this."
"this is the most fun i've had in a while, actually." harry says. and it's true. who knew grocery shopping could be so fun?
liam smiles wide at harry. "same here."
when they get to the ice cream parlor, liam leaves harry in line with his mom saying he wanted to get an icee because he wasn't in an 'ice cream mood.'
"you know," karen starts and licks her ice cream, "this is the happiest i've seen liam in a while. thank you."
"why are you thanking me?"
"because it's you! he's all smiles whenever you're around. i haven't seen that in a while. it makes me so happy to see him happy. he's been through a lot in his life and-" karen chokes up and she reaches up to wipe her stray tears. "just thank you harry."
"no need to thank me. liam makes me happy too."
karen chuckles happily and wipes her eyes once again. "i'm glad he has a friend like you. he hasn't had many friends since-"
"are you gossiping about me again?" liam asks and joins them.
"of course not." karen says playfully.
"are you crying? what's wrong?"
"nothing sweetie. it's probably just my allergies. i'll go pay. you guys boys find a table." karen walks off and liam gestures for harry to follow him as he searches for a table.
"i like your mom." harry says once they sit down. "she's sweet."
"she is." liam agrees. "she's my best friend."
"she better watch her back. the best friend spot might just be taken over by a certain harry styles." harry winks.
"you still want to be friends with me after all this chaos today?" liam genuinely looks surprised.
"of course. it'll keep my life interesting."
karen soon joins them at the table and they eat their ice cream in silence. "ugh that was good." karen groans and eats the last scoop of ice cream.
"you could've bought ice cream at costco, you know."
"i did." all of a sudden she freezes, the spoon still in her mouth. she quickly scoots her chair back and stands up. "i did! we have to get home, it's probably all melted by now!" she exclaims and runs out the parlor.
liam laughs and stands up. "she'll leave us if we're not out of this building in point two seconds." liam grabs harry's hand and leads them out of the ice cream parlor. harry hates to admit it, but he likes the feeling of liam's hand in his.
karen speeds the whole way back to the house. she parks the car in the driveway and pulls the keys out of the ignition. she tosses them to liam and yells, "go, go, go!" liam gets out of the car and fast walks to the front door. he unlocks the door and scurries into the house, leaving the door wide open.
"has this happened before?" harry asks and jogs to the trunk.
"all the time. now try to grab any frozens that you see." harry has a total of six bags as he rounds the car.
liam is standing in the doorway. "run, harry, run!" he yells. harry giggles and runs as fast as he could into the house.
liam is standing by the freezer which door is already open. harry empties the grocery bags and liam grabs them off the counter and places them in the freezer.
once they're done karen mumbles, "i need a nap," and walks out of the kitchen. liam shuts the freezer door and turns around, his back slumping against the refrigerator. all it takes is one look at harry for both of them to bust out into laughter.
liam's laugh is music to harry's ears so he quickly pulls out his phone.
it's a perfect shot of liam leaning against the refrigerator with his hand on his stomach and his eyes shut as he laughs.
then harry takes the picture.
