Care for me (L. S.)

27

Monday the 5th of October | Harry

Their tutoring session ended soon after Zayn had run away: Louis admitted that he had a shift in the bookstore, upon which Alice suggested that he walk with her because they had to go in the same direction. She kissed her boyfriend goodbye and then hooked her arm into Louis'. He watched them saunter away, wondering when they had become such close friends. He and Niall had walked in the opposite direction, along the shopping street.

"You know what?" asked Niall, throwing his arm over his shoulder. "You and Louis... that's definitely going to be something." He'd probably seen Harry's crestfallen face.

Harry simply shook his head. "I don't know. It all seems so... complicated." Niall shook him rather ungently, so that he had almost fallen into someone's front yard. "What a lark! Harry, don't you see how he looks at you when you're not looking?"

He frowned and let his brain roll over that sentence. Actually, it was hard to argue with this because of course he couldn't see Louis' face when he was looking the other way. "You're insane! He has a girlfriend! I-" He peered at the hairdresser on the corner; if you turned down that street, you came to all sorts of little shops. He always liked coming here. It was quiet here, and lively at the same time. Although he had noticed years ago that the two only boutiques were both terribly at odds with what was called fashion. But their thrift shop was nice. Without agreeing on anything, they crossed the street and walked past the hairdresser.

"Having a girlfriend is a bad excuse," Niall said suddenly. "You can perfectly have a girlfriend while being secretly gay." He stopped in front of the window of the fish shop and peered at a pair of lobsters in a tank. Only then was he aware of Harry's shocked face. "Not that I- no no I didn't mean that," he laughed nervously, "I'm not gay, Harry." Harry chuckled and cringed when a giant lobster suddenly started moving around in the tank. "Neither am I," he admitted, tapping the glass. "I don't know what I am." Niall went back to hanging irritably on his back. "Oh I know what you are," he said teasingly. "You're incredibly in love with Louis, that's what you are." He laughed along, blushing like a beetroot and squirmed under his friends grip so that he finally let go.. "Yeah yeah, let's just keep walking."

At Terrible Boutique Number One, they stopped again to comment on the garments. "Is that supposed to be a skirt? Ok just one question: where is the shape?" Niall giggled. "That's not too bad compared to that thing over there." He pointed in disgust at some sort of bag draped over the corner of a clothes rack. "I can't imagine anyone would want to wear that..."

"Perhaps it's like a wrap dress of some sort." Niall pressed his face against the glass. "But how are you supposed to tie it up?"

Harry pulled a face as if something stank badly. "It looks more like a tent sail." He tapped Niall on the shoulder. "Imagine that this is the new way of camping; you pull that thing over your head and start walking and when you're tired you just plop down and tadaa! You're in your tent!"

Then a woman entered the shop. She shot the boys an unapproving look, which made them quickly back away from the window.

They secretly watched as the woman sauntered past the racks, occasionally picking up a piece of clothing. They giggled as she threw a sweater in a hideous pistachio colour over her arm. Unfortunately, they couldn't contain their laughter as she picked up the tent dress with interest. She must have heard them, for she turned and looked at them with a destructive look. Then she turned to the cashier and said something, pointing to the window. Their laughter didn't even stop when the cashier stood up and looked at them reproachfully. They ran across the street and Niall unexpectedly pulled him behind a flower box, where they hid a little unnecessarily. It took a moment for him to catch his breath and say anything. "You know," he squealed, squeezing his eyes because his stomach ached with laughter, "that they can see us from there." Niall was still laughing as well. "What do you mean? behind this little pot?" He gasped and took a big breath of air. "Really?!"