How could I forget?

C'mon, Handsome

Ariana's POV

When we all arrived to the store we agreed to go our separate ways in order to finished faster. We all had sunglasses on and hoods over our heads. Well, the boys did, me and Sophia chose not to ruin our hair. I was never bothered when I came home, I didn't want to act like I had to hide who I was. It was Liam, Zayn, and Sophia, then Louis, Harry, Lux and Lou, and for some reason Niall was the first to call dibs with me. As I picked out the tomatoes I decided to ask him why that was. He responded 'no reason,' but I knew better than that. When we were alone he asked me how Danny was, since he was 'a little weird' while I was gone. I told him that he was fine, he just didn't do too well around strangers.

"I wouldn't exactly call us, especially Harry, strangers."

"I get where you're coming from, Niall, but he's just a kid. A really smart one at that, he doesn't really like meeting new people. No offense or anything, but neither of you boys, except Liam and well, recently Harry, have put in effort to get to know him. So yeah, to him, you'd be strangers." I replied, shrugging my shoulders then went over to pick a lettuce. He nodded his head then asked, "How's Harry?"

I had a feeling I knew where this was headed, but chose to brush it off and answer him, "Don't know. You're his bandmate, pretty sure you see him more than I do."

He nodded his head once again and went to go pick some avocados. After staring at them for a few seconds, he admitted that he had no idea how to actually do it. I went over and did it, then he finally said what's been going through his mind since he volunteered to go shopping with me.

"Saw a few photos of you and a guy while you were out in LA, papers said he was your ex."

I nodded my head and admitted we had lunch together. He then asked if I had told Harry about it.

"I don't need to tell him every little thing I do in my life. I don't have to tell him anything if I choose not to. It was only lunch, no big deal."

"No, you're right. Just thought that you'd let your boyfriend know that you're hanging out with other men, an ex at that."

I know these words weren't coming from Niall, he's much too sweet to say anything like that. I assumed Louis had put him up to say that, but I didn't care at the moment, I snapped. "Well, my boyfriend should know to trust me. I have lots of male friends, just like he has lots of female friends. Listen, Niall, I don't really know you, but I know you're not you're not a sexist human being and are well aware of what double standards are. I'm sure you tell Harry the exact same thing each time he goes out to a party, or to a club, and even when he has dinner with those really pretty supermodels, right? And maybe if you would've asked instead of suggesting I did anything wrong, you would've known that the only reason we had lunch together was for business. Last year when we were together I had agreed to help write his album, meaning we're going to be spending more time together. Now you can go report back to the other boys okay? I'd much like to finish shopping without your presence at the moment."

I didn't wait for a response as I left him there. I might've overreacted, but I couldn't help it. I can hang out with friends that are boys just like he can hang out with friends that are girls. I don't need his permission and neither does he from me. I picked up whatever else was on the list then went to the cash register to pay. Apparently I was the last one to be done because they were all waiting outside. I gave them a fake smile then followed them to one of the cars to put the food in.

As they piled up into the two different vehicles, the only seats available were either next to Harry in the passenger side or in the separate truck in the back seat next to Niall and Liam. I made up an excuse and asked Liam if he could trade seats with Sophia because I wanted to talk to her about some girl things, he bought it. I glanced over at the car Harry was in and he looked hurt and confused, he had clearly left the passenger seat available for me, but I just couldn't today. He either would've noticed my dull mood or not, and both outcomes wouldn't have been good. We got to my mom's house and brought all of the supplies in. My mom wasn't home yet, she had taken the twins to the park then would bring them back and leave to my nonna's house.