In this world we're just beginnin'
To understand the miracle of livin'
Baby, I was afraid before
But I'm not afraid anymore
"How you holdin up, babe?" I ask, trying my best to hold back my laughter before turning to look at Harry who is walking slowly behind me.
"Doin just great, babe!" He answers in a strained tone of voice.
I can't help but snort out a laugh when I hear him. And when I turn to look behind me, I absolutely lose it.
All the ladies decided to go shopping this morning. And that includes my mother, my aunts, my sister, and me.
Harry offered to come with. He also graciously offered to carry everyone's shopping bags.
Poor guy really underestimated how much my aunts love to shop, though.
So when I turn around and see Harry juggling arms full of shopping bags of various sizes, his face half hidden because of a few shoe boxes he is holding as well, I feel bad. But I only feel bad for half a second, because how funny he looks trying to balance everything, has me laughing uncontrollably.
"Harry, babe," I say through my laughter as I walk towards him. "Let me help." I add.
"No no no, I got it covered." He retorts, but he doesn't sound very confident in his statement. "I think malls should start having trollies, though. The grocery has trollies, the mall should too."
"You didn't have to offer to carry everyone's bags. I tried warning you that they tend to be shopaholics." I counter.
Harry lets out a huff and lifts up his chin to rest it on top of the stack of shoe boxes he's holding so that I can see his full face again. "I know. I just wanted to do something nice, though."
I send him a soft smile before reaching out and taking the shoe boxes from him. "Let's go drop these off at the car and then we can meet back up with them."
Harry ends up agreeing with me, the two of us letting everyone know that we are going to the car and will meet back up with them shortly, before leaving the group.
After the short trek to the car, we enter back into the indoor mall and I text Audrey to ask what shop they are all at now. But on our journey to the shop that Audrey told me to go to, I see a very intriguing shop in the near distance that I feel the strong need to go inside.
Before knowing Harry like I do now, I wouldn't have even taken a second look at this shop. But seeing a big 'Science Rules!' poster hanging in the window display of the storefront has me instantly dragging Harry by the hand towards the shop.
When we walk inside, I suddenly feel like I have entered into what a large portion of what Harry's mind probably looks like. On the left, the whole wall is filled with graphic t-shirts on display and racks below that have folded up versions of the shirts you can pick up your size from. One glance at the shirts and I know that they are all science puns and jokes that I'm sure that Harry will understand.
On the right side of the shop, there seems to be science gadgets of all kinds. Crystals, posters of things like the parts of an atom and the periodic table of elements, boxes of science kits for kids of many different science disciplines, Newton's cradles, plasma balls, and so much more. You name it, I'm sure it's over there.
Against the back wall of the shop is the checkout. And scattered throughout the center of the shop are some tables that seem to have miscellaneous things.
"Pinch me I'm dreaming." I hear Harry breathe out from beside me.
I jokingly reach over to pinch his wrist as I look up at his wide eyed expression. "Is this what Harry heaven looks like?"
He tares his eyes away from observing everything around us to look down at me now. "You and a bunch of science shit? Hell yeah this is what Harry heaven looks like." She quips with a big smile on his face, his dimples making an appearance.
I have to hold myself back from poking the dents in his cheeks. I also have to yell at my heart to not burst at how he said I'm part of his sense of heaven.
This boy is going to be the death of me. In the best way, that is.
Before I even get the chance to ask Harry what part of the store he wants to look at first, I feel him interlock his hand with mine and start walking us towards the right side of the store.
I should have guessed that he would want to start by looking at all of the science gadgets.
Harry quite looks like a kid in a candy shop right now. But maybe after eating a shit ton if candy. His eyes are wide with excitement, that big smile hasn't left his face, and he's practically radiating a buzzing happiness that is honestly contagious. Seeing him like this has me smiling so big that my cheeks are starting to hurt.
"Gray! Look they have a build your own volcano kit!" Harry exclaims, pulling me down the wall a bit.
He takes his free hand to pick up the box that has a picture on it of a young boy in a lab coat and goggles with a volcano in front of him. "You don't even want to know how many of these kits my mum bought me when I was young." He laughs as he sets the box back down.
After Harry reminisces through a few other science kits on the wall, we walk through the center of the store and look at the tables of miscellaneous things.
Something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye that has me dragging Harry through the store this time. "Look how cute these are!" I quip as I pick up one of the animal bucket hats on the table.
"We should get matching ones." Harry states as he picks up a yellow frog hat.
"Really?" I ask excitedly, looking up at him with a smile on my face. I'm a kid at heart and nobody has ever really liked or gone along with my, at times, childlike tendencies. Other than my best friend, Alayna. I get it, it's not like normal twenty-seven year olds enjoy winding down with a care bear coloring book or wearing onesie pajamas on occasion. But also, those are the people who take life too seriously and need to let loose.
"Yeah, why not?" Harry shrugs, putting the yellow frog bucket hat on his head before grabbing an orange one to put on my head. "Plus you look adorable in it." He says with a wink.
My heart flutters and I can't help but rise up on my tippy toes so I can give him a quick kiss. "You look adorable too." I say when I pull away and sink back down to my natural height. It's true, he looks adorable with his wild brown curls peeking from beneath the hat, his glasses perched on his nose, his simple black t-shirt, his heather grey linen shorts, his tall white socks and black low top vans, and his tattoos. He really looks perfect. He might not be everyone's version of perfect, but he's mine.
He sends me a soft smile before leaning down and giving me a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, let's go look at the shirts now. I might get a few to add to my ever growing nerd shirt collection."
With that, we make our way over to the left side of the store to start browsing the t-shirt selection. And when we got over there and saw that the shirts are buy one get one fifty percent off, I think that is the moment that Harry decided to splurge.
He has to have at least ten different shirts in his hand right now. But it's cute how for each shirt that he has picked out, he has explained the joke on them to me.
When we get towards the end of the wall, I have to do a double take at the shirt I see. It's literally perfect.
I let go of Harry's hand to rush over to pick up the shirt from the stack and hold it up against me to show Harry. "We need these." I say in a very serious tone.
Harry's jaw drops slightly and soon turns into a smile as he lets out a laugh of disbelief as he looks at the shirt I'm holding.
On the shirt is a picture of a tatted up Einstein with the words 'time is relative' on it.
"Looks like we're getting matching shirts and matching hats." He quips with a breathy laugh. "I never thought we would be that couple, but here we are."
"Who gives a shit?" I retort simply. "We are a cool couple who will wear frog bucket hats and shirts with punk Einstein on them." I add with a firm nod before I turn to pick out the shirt in both of our sizes.
"Hey, I'm not complaining." Harry laughs. "Brandon and Janet are going to be jealous of how they're not as cool as us."
"Damn right they will be." I reply with a wink.
With all our items in hand, we make our way to the checkout.
After a small argument over Harry paying for my hat and shirt, we head out of the shop and start walking to the shop we were heading to before we got distracted.
"There you guys are!" My aunt Alie is the first to notice Harry and I. "I've been wondering what was taking y'all so long." She adds.
"We stopped at another shop on the way here and got distracted." I explain.
I soon see my aunt Cassie rushing over to us. "Harry, darling, I found an outfit that I think you should wear to the rehearsal dinner. Emma found a dress for Grayson that matches quite nicely actually." Cassie exclaims. "Emma!" She shouts now, turning around to look for Emma.
"Coming, damn. Chill out Cassie." Emma huffs, rolling her eyes as she walks over to us. "What took y'all so damn long to get here?" She adds, looking at Harry and I.
"We found a really cool store with science stuff!" Harry blurts out like he has been dying to tell someone other than me.
"Yeah," I nod as I reach into the bag of stuff we bought to grab the frog hats. "Look, we got matching hats!" I smile, showing everyone.
"You better watch those." Alie says in a warning tone, pointing at the hats in my hand. "You know your aunt Maria's daughter, Edan, will be all over something like that."
"What's her favorite color?" Harry chimes in. "They had a ton at the shop. I can go buy her one too."
Speaking of Maria, out of my peripheral, I see her and my aunt Keri start to walk up to join us all. "Cute hats!" Maria exclaims when she reaches us. "Where did you get those? I bet Edan would love one."
"What did I tell ya?" Alie quips with a playful eyeroll.
"We can show you when we're done here." I say with a kind smile to Maria.
"Grayson, you need to go remind your mom that just because her name is Karen, doesn't mean that she needs to act like a Karen." Keri speaks up.
"Oh no," I groan. "What is she doing?"
"She asked to speak to the manager about something."
"I think I'm going to let Audrey handle that one." I reply, taking the dress my aunt Emma has found for me and taking the outfit my aunt Cassie has found for Harry. "The two of us are going to go try these on now." I let everyone know as I reach out to grab hold of Harry's hand. "Come on, babe." I smile at him before leading us away from all of my crazy aunts and towards the dressing room.
Clearly not having a problem with changing in front of each other at this point, I don't think my decision to share a dressing room with Harry is really a big deal.
Harry takes off his glasses and carefully sets them down on the bench before he starts to get undressed. And when I catch a glimpse of his toned torso in the mirror, I have to force myself to look away so I don't jump him. He definitely doesn't realize how hot he is, he is still working through his past trauma and own mental blocks about his looks. But I sure as hell realize how hot he is.
Instead of gawking at Harry, I focus on putting on the sundress that Emma picked out for me. It is a cream color with a sweetheart neckline and light blue striped detailing on the hem lines. The colors match perfectly to the cream trousers and light blue striped dress shirt that Cassie picked out for Harry.
Once my dress is on, I turn around to see Harry who has just finished buttoning up the dress shirt. He has the trousers on, but they aren't zipped and buttoned yet. Which I presume to be because he is planning on tucking in his shirt and then doing that step.
But what has me snorting out a laugh, is the fact that Harry has buttoned every single button of the shirt, all the way up to the collar. "Encyclopedia, that's," I trail off, trying to figure out how to word what I want to say. "Yeah, no."
He runs his hand through his wild curls in attempt to tame them and looks at me, worry and insecurity written across his face. "Do I not look good?"
"Oh no no no, that's not it." I'm quick to diffuse his thoughts. "You look amazing." I reaffirm him. "Just, we need to make this look not so...hmmmm...boy scout."
I take a few steps forward and reach up to undo the top three buttons of Harry's dress shirt to expose some of his chest. I then turn open the shirt a little more so that his swallow tattoos peak out a bit and you can really see the silver cross necklace he is wearing.
After I'm satisfied with that portion, I move on to roll up the sleeves so they rest just at his elbows. It's amazing how just a few adjustments to one top makes the vibe go from uptight to relaxed. "There!" I exclaim proudly, bringing my hand up to fluff his hair a bit. "From boy scout to sexy suave model." I quip, eliciting a bashful laugh from Harry.
"Take a look in the mirror." I encourage Harry, picking up his glasses off of the bench and handing them to him.
He hesitantly puts on his glasses and steps into view of the mirror. I watch him anxiously as I await his thoughts.
He furrows his brows and pouts his lips in thought as he thoroughly studies his appearance. "Are you sure that I don't look weird showing this much of my chest?" He asks, looking at me through the mirror as he fixes his hair.
"I don't think it looks weird. But if you don't feel comfortable, we can do up one more button or find a different top."
He doesn't respond, still looking deep in thought as he fidgets with the shirt a bit more. "I guess I don't look that bad." He says after a few moments.
I mentally leap for joy. That's progress.
"I mean, I think no shirt is a good option as well." I retort playfully with an over exaggerated shrug.
I notice Harry's cheeks blush as he jokingly rolls his eyes. "Okay, I think that's enough." He laughs as he starts to get dressed back into his original clothes while I do the same.
Once we are dressed and walk back out to the main part of the store to find everyone again, I see my mother walking up to the checkout, carrying five shoe boxes. "Looks like you are going to have your hands full again." I say to Harry, pointing over to my mother.
"I already have my hands full with you." He retorts, looking down at me with a playful grin.
"Oh you little," I trail off, acting offended. But before I get the chance to smack him upside the head, he starts laughing and rushing over to help my mother.
"Encyclopedia! You get your cute ass back here!" I shout before I start to chase Harry around the store until we get kicked out for causing a ruckus.