got to get you into my life ➥ narry

three

The next day as Harry planned, he stopped at his most frequented place. More times than none, he found himself in the grocery store that his newfound favorite cashier works at. He was in urgent need of his favorite crunchy nut cereal (more like in need of another excuse to stop by) and decided to swing by after getting off work.

He just finished a lengthy nine hour shift and he felt like it dragged by with how excited he was to see Niall again. There were always the regular customers that came in, newcomers that wanted to buy their first musical instrument, and people that came in for the classes that were offered weekly. Business was steady as usual, but of course his mind seemed to drift else where lately. When the shop was quiet, he could swear he audibly heard the seconds tick by slowly.

When the time came when he was able to clock out, he was more than happy to be walking out the doors. Although his conversations with the cashier were always short lived with the time restraints they faced with him having to work and all, those small moments were what Harry eagerly awaited for. At first he worried he might be bothering Niall with how much he comes in, but he figures since he hasn't said anything negative that he doesn't seem to mind so much. That, or he was too nice to mention it.

After he walked from the car park into the store, he looked around to see if he could spot Niall upfront like usual. This time, however, he didn't see his blonde head of hair. He felt a frown start to take over his face as he contemplated whether he should just turn around and leave. Nowadays, his visits to the store were mainly fueled by his desire to see Niall rather than actually needing to buy something.

Huffing quietly, Harry decides to turn on his heel to leave, but just as he does, he hears his name called.

"Harry!" An Irish accent calls, "Leaving so soon?"

He turns back around and sees Niall appear from the restrooms. He's not sporting his usual store-given vest with his name tag on so Harry feels almost out of place seeing him anywhere other than behind a till.

"Hi, Niall," Harry greets, "I was just going to run back to the car, I think I left my phone behind."

Niall shakes his head and laughs, ignoring the fact that he sees the lad pull down his shirt as if to cover his phone in his back pocket.

"I'm on break for another ten minutes," He explains. "I took off my vest since I don't like customers asking for help."

"Well maybe you can make an exception, I seem to have forgotten where the cereal is located." Harry says, pretending to be oblivious.

Niall throws his head back in laughter, "Very forgetful, you are. I guess I'll let it slide this one time."

Harry grins as he begins to follow Niall through the store. They both knew he didn't actually need help finding the cereal, but Harry was just glad Niall went along with it.

With both of them closer to each other than usual, Harry could tell that the blonde was a few inches shorter than him. This is actually the closest the two of them have been to one another and in another fantasy, Harry would like to believe they're doing grocery shopping together.

"Has it been very busy today?" Harry asks.

Niall shakes his head as he tries to weave them through other customers, "Steady as usual, but it seems like the self-checkout has been more popular."

Harry is struggling to keep up with the swift pace Niall has assumed. He almost lost him a few times with other pesky bystanders getting in between. He should be able to keep up, Harry thinks, he does have longer legs than him.

"Why are you walking so fast?" Harry questions, letting out an airy laugh.

"Oh?" Niall stops for a second to let him catch up. "Forgot that you're not a customer I'm trying to get rid of. Usually when customers talk to me on the floor, it's when I'm trying to leave."