Imagines with Niall Horan

78. Your child is embarrassed

Alice is fairly certain she has the most embarrassing parents, like... ever.

They're at the grocery store when they run into Matt, the guy Alice has had a thing for since sixth grade. Now, having just turned fifteen, she finally feels confident enough that she can talk to him without putting her foot in her mouth.

Too bad her parents can't seem to do the same.

"Ok, we have to meet dad over by the hair gel," Mom says after they pick out a few boxes of cereal. "He knows they won't have the right brand he wants but he has to check every time anyway, I don't know why-"

"Alice?"

Alice freezes. She knows that voice and her stomach fills with knots and butterflies. She turns around. "Matt. Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Just, you know..." he gestures around them. "Grocery shopping."

"Ha. Right."

She twirls a strand of hair and her mom says, "Alice... who's your friend."

She jumps, having temporarily forgotten she was there. "Oh, Matt this is my mom."

"Mrs. Horan," Matt says and holds out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"You can call me Y/N."

And then...

"Babe, Alice, there you are. I found that lice shampoo on sale, did you still need it?"

Alice feels her face burn. "No, dad."

"She hasn't had lice in months, Niall."

"But I heard if you use the shampoo for a little longer after it's gone, it might prevent it from happening again."

"It won't happen again. It's been years," she says and avoids looking at Matt.

"Years?" Her dad asks and looks around for a moment as if he'll see the memory suddenly pop into place in front of him. "Really?"

"Well, you're not usually the one who picks out her shampoo," Mom says and takes the green shampoo out of Dad's hand to place it on a random shelf. "And there's a reason for that, Niall."

Matt's still standing there, looking at them with a small grin on his face. Alice smiles and opens her mouth to say something to deflect attention from her parents when-

"Honey, don't scuff your shoes like that, you'll ruin them."

"Mom, it's fine-"

"Listen to your mother."

Alice sighs. "Ok, sorry."

That's when her dad finally seems to see Matt. "Oh, hi. I'm Niall."

Mom says in a quiet voice that's still plenty loud, "This is Matt."

"Oh!" Dad's eyebrows raise and he looks at Matt with not-so-subtle interest. "It's nice to finally meet you. We've heard a lot about you."

"Oh my God," Alice covers her eyes with a hand, like maybe if she can't see the situation, it will disappear.

It doesn't.

Matt just smiles like it's no problem. "I've heard a lot about you, too."

"Really?" Dad asks and crosses his arms. "What does she say about her favorite parents?"

"I never said you guys are my favorite," Alice says.

Dad's mouth drops open in a gasp and Mom teases, "Well. I guess we can tell when we're not wanted." She puts her hand on the cart and starts pushing it away. "Come on, Niall, you can help me pick out the dog food. It was nice meeting you, Matt."

"You too."

After they're gone, Alice rolls her eyes. "I'm sorry about them."

"Don't be," Matt says and sounds like he means it. "I think they're great. It seems like you have an awesome family."

Alice tries not to smile, but she does have the best parents in the world.