"Dammit, I should've gotten a basket," you murmured to yourself as you struggled to carry your groceries in your arms.
You had only come to the store for some shampoo and conditioner but, along the way, you realized that you needed a multitude of other things. As you neared the hair care aisle, you heard low voices arguing rather loudly grow closer and closer. You silently pleaded that the group of rowdy boys weren't in your aisle, but the moment you turned into the lane, you felt your heart drop.
There, standing a mere few feet in front of you, was a group of boys you recognized immediately. Not knowing what to do, you jumped away from the middle of the aisle and hid behind some shelves, peeking out at them nervously as you watched them argue with various kinds of shampoo and conditioner being waved around and shoved in each others faces.
Honestly you wouldn't have been surprised if one of them had chucked it straight at the other.
"Guys, Axe is obviously the better brand here!" Luke said exasperatedly.
"Luke, are you crazy? Axe is shit compared to Dove, dammit!" Calum retorted as he scrambled to snatch the bottle in Luke's hands and put it back on the shelf.
"Fuck your guys' brands. We only brought ten dollars and that ten dollars is going to be used for some color protector or else," Michael said while sassily gesturing toward his vibrantly colored hair.
Ash was merely standing to the side with his hands pressed against his forehead, looking completely done with his younger band mates' petty argument.
Hoping with all of your heart that they wouldn't look at you, (God knows what would happen if you made eye contact with one of them) you tried to walk past them to get to your usual hair products as normally as you could.
Right when you walked past Ashton, you caught your foot on a stray bottle of Axe conditioner that had been hit out of Luke's hands only moments beforehand by Calum. Letting out a small yelp, you dropped all of your belongings and held your hands out to try and break your fall, but before you could so much as brush the floor with your fingertips, a strong pair of arms--Ashton's arms--wrapped around your waist and pulled you toward his chest, a blush immediately blossoming onto your cheeks.
"Luke! Now look at what you did!" Calum yelled.
"What I did? You're the one who knocked the bottle out of my hands!" Luke argued back.
Michael didn't add any input except an irritated eye roll before he bent down to pick up your things, glaring at Luke and Calum all the while for being dumb asses. His thoughts not yours.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked with concern lacing his voice, his arms still wrapped around you.
"Yeah," you nodded shyly.
His eyes widened when he realized that his arms were still around your waist and he immediately removed them and shuffled a couple inches away with his eyes downcast. His hand scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and a tiny pink blush blossomed on his cheeks.
The sound of someone clearing their throat just beside you drew your attention and you quietly murmured a "thank you" to Michael as you grabbed your items out of his hands.
"Sorry about my mates, they're dumb as fuck," Michael apologized before shuffling back over to Luke and Calum and thwacking them both on the head.
Turning back to Ashton, you shot him a smile before speaking, "Thank you for catching me."
"You're welcome," he hummed back with a bright smile before holding out his hand, "I'm Ashton by the way."
"I'm (Y/N)," you replied.
"Well (Y/N), I'd love to stay and chat but I have three man children to attend to," Ash said jokingly while gesturing to the still bickering boys behind him.
You merely nodded before he turned around to sling his arms around his band mates' shoulders and lead them away from the shampoo aisle.
Your body acting on its own accord and you found yourself lunging forward to grab onto the back of his shirt with a loud "Wait!" escaping your lips.
He merely turned his head to look at you with his eyebrow cocked in confusion.
Blushing beet red, you stared at your shoes with your fingers still gripping his black t-shirt, "Will I get to see you again?"
He nodded flusteredly with a large smile on his face as the other boys smirking suggestively at the both of you, "You know that little book store right by the park?"
You nodded, the image of a small, paper-scented store floating to the front of your mind.
"Meet me there tomorrow at one," he said before shooting you a wink and turning around to continue out of the store.
Breathless, you whispered a quiet okay that didn't reach anyone's ears but yours and his before clutching your things to your chest and whipping toward the other exit, your shampoo and conditioner completely forgotten in the midst of the excited thoughts of the curly haired drummer you'd be seeing the next day.
