Things We Don't Normally Do

THIRTY SEVEN

Alex wasn't sure how she got roped into this. It definitely wasn't how she imagined meeting a bunch of Harry's friends as he crumbles from the pressure.

"Harry! What are you doing?" Alex gasped as Harry burns two more buns.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Harry groaned, chucking a completely charred burger patty off Toby's balcony.

"Oh god." Alex did her best to stifle a laugh. She felt for Harry; she knew best what it's like to be overcome and overwhelmed by anxiety, but she couldn't help but find him adorable. In their short history, he was almost always the stable one, so it was interesting to find their roles reversed.

So she put both hands on Harry's shoulders, forcing him to stop for a second.

"For fucks sake, I'm gonna burn another one!" He groaned, loving over Alex's shoulder to watch another party turn into charcoal.

"Fuck that burger." Alex laughed, "Go in, pretend to entertain everyone, then steal us some alcohol. I'll watch the grill."

Harry hesitated, "You sure?"

Alex nodded, and pointed him into the apartment. She pointed at a couple of burgers that might pass off as edible.

"Take those. Might be alright." she said.

Harry, being the idiot that he can be, grabbed the burgers patties and slapped them on some partially toasted buns (but of course toasted in Harry's world is completely charred). And he carried the burgers by hand.

"Harry, put them on plates!" she called after him, as he walked into the apartment, offering the burgers to his friends by hand, "Oh jeez, he's fucking barbaric."

If she was being honest, she was just relieved to get away from the grill and off of the balcony, because him breaking down was making her anxious.

Charlie, who had been filming the shambles that was Harry's attempt at the grill, was just chuckling to himself as he panned for a view of the mess.

Alex cleared the grill, putting the lid on and partially closing the vent to cool it down. Harry really had no business manning a charcoal grill. That, or everyone needed to stop complaining about his cooking because every single time anyone whined, Harry just performed worse. But she supposed they were all playing everything up for content.

After a few minutes, Harry comes back out with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice. It made Alex feel ill just thinking about all the times she and her friends from University had Smirnoff Ice. Those were the dark ages.

Harry passed her the bottle after taking a swig. And to add to the disappointment, it was pretty much piss warm.

"What the fuck is this?" she laughed, "Are you trying to lose this? Or is this how you think American frat parties go?"

Alex managed to partially salvage some food, making enough not-burnt food for everyone. Although for the content, they kept all the initial charred burgers and buns—despite Harry's protests. He even tried to bribe Kon to edit in the good burgers.

He also managed to botch the dessert. Alex had no idea what he was going for. And to her that was the last straw, because you just cannot ruin dessert. So she offered to go to the shops, to try and salvage dinner.

"Please lass." Ethan begged, "I'm about to kick off. I was excited about a frat party, you know? Not this!"

Alex genuinely felt bad for Harry. He was taking everything in stride but Jesus Christ! His friends had mo qualms whatsoever about going in on his cooking.

Did he burn pretty much everything? Yes. But the boy was honestly trying. And with everyone whining and complaining, Harry was just in shambles.

Harry wanted to go with her to the shops but they were still filming and everyone was having a laugh at seeing him crumble.