aisle 13 // h.s.

2.

"Aurora? Honey."

"Yes, grammy?" She asked, pushing her hair out of her face and turning to face her grandmother. It was Thursday night and she was headed to Books.

"I made you some muffins. Here, take some." Grandma shoved a box of 4 muffins towards her.

"You be careful, you hear? A pretty girl like you can get hurt walking these streets alone." Her grandmother warned, pointing her finger accusingly. But Aurora knew she meant no harm.

"Alright Lucille, don't break your back pointing that finger." She joked, kissing her grandmother's cheek and then running down the house steps in her old sneakers.

Aurora walked the same dulls streets to the bookstore. She got there in a short amount of time. Aurora opened the door and the bell chimed, signaling a customer had arrived.

it was 8:00 and the bookstore closed at 10:00. She was hoping she could jam in at-least one short book.

Harry was at the front desk, his feet sitting up on the counter, shoved into some black boots. His eyes were lazily scrolling through his phone, and his long fingers were latched onto a different coffee mug, this time Dora The Explorer was occupying his coffee cup.

"Nice mug." She said, tapping her foot on the carpet and staring at him, clearly amused.

Harry took his feet off the counter, spinning his chair around to face her.

"Well, look who it is."

"Who else would it be? I'm your only customer." She said, smiling slightly.

Harry laughed. He knew that was true.

"You don't buy anything."

"Hey," She warned,

"I buy all these stories in spirit."

He rolled his eyes, standing up and taking his mug with him.

"Do you want some coffee?"

"Yes, what cool mug do I get?" She asked, setting her box of muffins on the counter.

He handed her a plain mug. She scoffed.

"This," She said, holding up the mug, "Is discrimination."

"Let's not be dramatic Aurora." He said, smirking at her.

"Alright, alright."

Aurora picked up John Green's 'The Fault in Our Stars' and her mug, then she headed onto aisle 13.

-

45 minutes later she felt breathing on her shoulder.

"What're you reading?" Harry whispered, staring at the words in front of him.

Aurora turned around and stared at him.

"The Fault in Our Stars, for the 12th time, because I can't think of anything else to read." She responded, munching happily on her chocolate muffin.

"I've never read that." He said, his deep voice soothing the shit out of Aurora.

"Okay, sit down. I'll read you some of it."

"Okay." He responded, making his way 3 feet across from Aurora.

He laid down on the floor. Aurora handed him a muffin and began reading, lifting her head up every 10 minutes to see if he was still awake, and he was.

He kept his eyes on her every single second. He was breathing in her words and focusing on her moving lips.

He hadn't touched his Dora mug in 2 hours, and before they even realized it was 1 a.m. and the sky was so dark. The store was lit up by a couple lights at the front of the shop.

"Ohmygod, I need to go, my grandmother is probably worried about me." Aurora said, hurrying.

She picked up her things and set the mug on the counter.

"Goodbye, Harry."

Harry rubbed his eyes, but he missed it.

She was already running down the dark streets.