LITTLE ITALY

13

It was the time of the week long festivities in Little Italy which ended with the Little Italy pizza contest. Louis should have guessed Harry would take him there, since they used to spent almost all of their week in the streets running between the shops when they were kids.

The festival didn't change much like Little Italy through the years. The stalls were the same, the faces were similar, even the air smelled the same. Louis doesn't know how a place refrained from change this much. There's something constant about Little Italy which brings him a familiar feeling, it's quite comforting.

They weave in between the crowd, browsing from stalls, greeting people they know and trying some samples displayed. Harry clicks selfies while they make wierd faces with new sunglasses perched on their faces.

Louis pulls them towards a stall with t-shirts, taking one to place on his chest, Harry doing the same and turning to show each other what they picked.

Harry has one with 'I'M NOT YELLING- I'm italian' while Louis' reads 'Stop staring at my flags' with two italian flags right on top of his pecks, which makes both of them laugh out loud.

"Good. Like it?" Harry asks about his T-shirt while Louis scrunches his nose in distaste making him throw the T-shirt back. "I like it. It's good." He adds pointing at Louis' T-shirt which earns him a pinch to his forearm. "Save a stallion, ride an Italian." Harry reads from another T-shirt he picked while Louis changes his for one with 'a slice of heaven' with a pizza slice printed on it. "Oh, there you go. I think that you should get that one."

"We'll take both of these." Louis says handing both of them to the shopkeeper.

After Louis pays for it, Harry's quick to lead him to another shop. "I've to get a few things."

"Like what?" Louis follows behind him.

"I think I'd like to get olive oil or something." He picks up a bottle of it from the rows.

Louis hums and picks up a wine bottle and looks at him questioningly. "Wine?"

"Yeah, sure. Wine." Harry nods and turns to the lady behind the stall. "Can I get some of that cheese? Yeah? Thank you."

"Who is this for?" Louis asks curiously as Harry places all the things into a basket.

Harry gives him a cheeky smile. "Don't worry. It's an old friend of ours."

🍕

Harry places the brinjal on the edge of the floor, taking out a small firecracker from his pocket. Louis gasps and covers his mouth to not let his laughs through, so as to not wake up Mr Ganucci who was taking a nap in his chair on the verandah.Harry extends the cracker in his direction making him shake his head.

"No!" Louis whisper shouts.

"Just do it!"

"No!" Louis slaps his hand away with wide eyes.

"Come on! It's tradition." Harry rolls his eyes thrusting the cracker into his hand and fishing out a lighter from his pocket.

Louis pushes the cracker into the brinjal with a mischievous smile, Harry lighting it soon afterwards.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!" Harry pulls him away from house fastly, lifting him up above the fence and they both rush to the scooter. "Let's go!"

A shout is heard along with the boom of the cracker as they climb on the scooter full of laughs.

"You again?" Mr Ganucci shouts placing a hand on his chest to calm his racing heart.