flower crowns // l.s.

✿22✿

Liam turned around and shrugged. "It just was."

Niall pressed his lips together and pushed the cart down the aisle, snatching the grocery list out of Liam's hand so he could get out of the grocery store sooner. He glanced down at the list and made a turn for the frozen foods.

"Someone seems grouchy."

Niall rolled his eyes and looked for the frozen fries. "I'm not," he muttered.

He heard Liam sigh behind him. "Niall, what did I do now?"

Niall only shook his head. He wasn't the kind of guy to voice his feelings too often; it made him uncomfortable. He just felt better staying away from drama and focusing on how nice life is. That led him to pushing his feelings away and ignoring them. Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder as soon as he had opened the door to where the frozen fries were, and he immediately knew it was Liam. Niall released a noise of frustration and turned around, two bags of fries in his hands. "Cajun or French?"

Liam stared at Niall and placed a hand on the door to keep it open, and the other on a closed one, trapping him. "You've been acting strange lately, what's wrong?"

Niall muttered incoherent words and tried to push Liam's arm away so that he could continue shopping, but he wouldn't have it. "Liam, I'm fine, ya dick. Let me outta here now, will you?" He asked, fiercely staring right into Liam's eyes.

Liam's eyes searched Niall's until he sighed and stepped away. "I'm not a dick," he quietly said.

Niall huffed and tossed the original fries in the cart. "I know, you were just annoying me."

"I'm soooorry," he drawled out, putting his arms around Niall's shoulders.

Niall looked down and shook his head, still upset. It's true that he had been acting strange lately for reasons he would not like to voice aloud. Liam started to sway side to side, arms still around Niall's shoulders, and finally, he broke out into a smile. "You're too touchy, wanker."

Liam patted Niall's chest. "I'm just caring." He pulled away and squeezed his shoulders. "What else do we need? I'm getting hungry."

"Tampons. I think you're getting your period," Niall rushed out as he pushed the cart forward, laughing.

The rest of shopping went something like that; making stupid jokes and testing out each other's masculinity by showing off how many bags of dog food they could carry. Niall hated that Liam won that round. Once they arrived back to the apartment and had put all the food away, Liam called Ed over for supper because they were attempting to cook a homemade pizza.

"You've gotta, like, toss the dough. In the air, like you see on TV!" Ed shouted from where he was sitting at the table, beer in hand.

Niall, determined, threw the dough in the air and widened his eyes as he watched it flop on the oven. He was quick to grab it and try to reshape it before Liam saw where it had landed. "Blooming idiot, why don't you try it? It's harder than it looks, and I don't want to be the one to ruin this!"

Ed was laughing, even snorted when Liam came in the room. Niall acted as if he didn't just drop the dough onto the unsanitary oven top.

"My arms hurt," Niall grumbled.

"Too bad. We need at least three pizza's, I think. I invited a pretty girl over from school, so please, no embarrassing stories! I've been trying to get this girl home for weeks," Liam said.

Niall choked and accidentally dropped the dough on the floor. He took a step back with wide eyes, hands lifting to his forehead. Liam was talking, but Niall couldn't hear. There was a ringing in his ears, and as he looked up, he saw a concerned Liam stepping towards him. He placed a hand on his chest and moved away from the outstretched hands, ducking away from both Ed and Liam to make a run for Harry's room. Once he entered, he immediately pulled out his phone and called Harry, making sure the door was locked behind him. No one was knocking on the door, but his chest was pounding like someone was beating against it like one would a locked door.

"Niall! Hiya. I just woke up, you have great timing," Harry spoke.

Niall sat down on the bed. "Harry? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"If you saw Louis with someone he liked, what would you do? Like, what if Louis didn't know you liked him at all, so he didn't think it would hurt you if he brought a date home? Or, like, you didn't know you felt this way until he spoke of a pretty girl, um."

"Niall, Niall. Hey, slow down. Breathe, okay? Deep breath in." He inhaled. "Deep breath out." He exhaled. "Now, start from the beginning. You like someone? Who is it?"

Niall gripped his phone tightly and looked down. "I can't . . . can't say. If I do, it just means what I'm feeling is real and I'm not ready for that."

"Okay. That's okay. Right, so if I saw Louis go on a date with someone, what would I do...? Ah," Harry paused, voice quiet. "I probably wouldn't do anything. But I know what I should do, and what you could probably do. Uh, maybe . . . tell whoever you like how you feel? That way you know if the feelings are reciprocated or not, and then you won't be, y'know, pining like I do a lot. Once you figure that out, though, you could just decide where to go to from there. Communication is important, I guess."

Niall huffed. "I can't do that, though. How would you handle the hurt?"

Harry inhaled deeply. "Going to America," he laughed out. "Niall, I'd just distract myself and try not to focus on that stuff. Go hang out with Liam and Ed to get your mind off things! Go buy some drinks and invent the best cocktail of all time; you like experimenting like that, right?"

Niall nodded. "Yeah. I'll go see if Berrie's needs any extra help tonight. Thank you, hope you're having a nice time. And, Harry? Can we keep this conversation between us?"

"Of course, pal. I love you! Take care of yourself, and stay safe."

After saying goodbye, he hung up and called his boss to ask if they needed an extra hand. Thankfully, they accepted the offer, so now he was off to work and able to avoid Liam and this girl. He stepped out of the room and grabbed everything he needed. "Hey, guys, I'm heading to work, they need me in tonight," he shouted out as he jogged over to the door.

Liam rushed out of the kitchen. "Hey! Wait, you're okay, right? What happened back there? You just took off."

Niall, with his hand on the doorknob, sighed. "Sorry, but I'm good!" He cheerfully said, then opened the door and ran out. This won't be fun.