As Harry rummaged through his fridge and pantry for anything that he might be in the mood to eat, he came up pretty empty handed. It's been a couple weeks since he's last been to the market and stocked up which could explain his scarce food selection. Sighing, Harry grabbed his car keys and wallet from the door side table and began the small trek to the car park outside his apartment.
Fortunately, his local Tesco was hardly even a mile from home so it wasn't too out of the way. He had just gotten back from work, however, so he deemed the trip as an annoyance since he just wanted to relax. In a few short minutes, he had arrived to his destination and managed to score a pretty close parking spot to the front. The weather was quite chilly so he muttered a thank you to no one in particular as he parked, grateful he wouldn't have to be in the cold for long.
Harry exits and locks his car, stuffing his keys into his front pocket and swiftly walks to the entrance. Upon arriving, he grabs a basket from the stack off to the side and begins his shopping trip. He roams in and out of aisles, gathering a few cooking essentials and an assortment of snacks. He has a few meals envisioned for the rest of the week so he gathers the ingredients to those and by the end he regrets not grabbing a shopping trolley. His basket is overflowing with food and he figures he has enough to last for a while.
Satisfied with his array of food, he makes his way to the checkout and chooses the shortest line to wait in. There's one customer ahead of him, a seemingly sweet older woman who is digging through her coin purse to gather the exact amount of change. Then, Harry takes a glance at the cashier and has to do a double take.
He's got blonde hair with brown roots, a pale complexion, and from the sound of it, an Irish accent. He sports a pair of glasses and a kind smile, however, from his demeanor Harry can tell he's getting impatient waiting on the older lady. In his opinion, the cashier is quite a handsome bloke, one that he hasn't seen around before.
Harry is broken from his trance when he's stunned to see the older woman whack the cashier on the head with a baguette out of nowhere. He zones in on their conversation to understand what's happening.
"M'am, I'm just trying to tell you that you gave me the wrong change." The cashier sputters out aggravated but semi-fearful.
He then tries to explain the difference she owes and she huffs as she slams a few more coins onto the counter. Before he's able to hand her the receipt, she hurriedly rushes off in a fit, well as fast as a woman her age can rush that is.
Harry, who is still standing in shock, chuckles as he watches the cashier shake his head in annoyance. They then make eye contact after Harry places his basket on the conveyor belt and takes a few steps forward.
"Get hit by nans often?" Harry questions with a smirk.
"Not the first time," Niall, as the name tag reads on his vest replies with a lighthearted sigh. "She had it out for me the moment she saw me I think."
Harry laughs, "You alright, though?"
He nods, beginning to scan Harry's items, "If the bread was stale I think I might have a concussion."
"Thank your lucky stars," He replies. "Get off work soon?"
Niall nods graciously, "Had an eight hour shift and I'm out in fifteen minutes."
Harry smiles, "Well at least you can say you ended it with a bang, or should I say whack."
The cashier simply snickers in response, continuing to finish the transaction. He tells Harry his total and once he's payed, Niall hands him his receipt and smiles.
"Have a good evening," Niall says before moving onto the next customer.
"You too! Stay clear of anymore dangerous nans," Harry jokes but soon regrets it when he sees another older lady next in line.
He quickly recovers from that slightly embarrassing statement and heads outside to the car park. After Harry spots his car, he unlocks the trunk and places the few bags of groceries inside, hurrying to get into the car.
On the drive back to his apartment he begins to think about the cashier and hopes to see him again soon.
[ x ]
The next day, Harry begins to cook himself dinner in his lone apartment. He grabbed all the necessary ingredients to make chicken alfredo but as he searched through his cabinets for the noodles that he thought he owned prior to his shopping trip yesterday, he was sadly mistaken when he realized he didn't have any.
He had his heart set on this meal and now he has to make another trip to the market to get those damn noodles. He believes his cooking to be above subpar so he figures it'll be worth it once he retrieves the missing ingredient.
Off to the store again, Harry chuckles at himself in the car for being so forgetful. He then looks around self consciously in case someone else in their vehicle nearby saw him laughing to himself, but luckily all the other drivers in the city aren't paying attention to him. Once he arrives yet again to Tesco, he looks around to see if the same cashier from yesterday was here again today. He smiles when his eyes eventually land on the blonde haired lad at one of the tills upfront.
Once he remembers what he came in for, he quickly heads to the aisle that contains the noodles and spots the type he needs. He hastily grabs the rectangular box and heads to the checkout, more specifically the lane with his favorite newfound cashier. Unfortunately it must have been the longest line in the store but he wasn't in a rush so it didn't matter too much to him.
As he waits, another cashier comes from around the corner and tells him he can go to her line since she was available. Harry quickly waves her off, saying he's fine where he is, but the customer ahead of him gladly took the opportunity and scurried off to follow her. Now he's only got one more person in front on him and he's relieved for Niall's sake that it wasn't another old woman. Instead, it happened to be a young lady around their age who was obviously flirting with him and laughing a bit too hard at jokes that weren't even meant to be jokes. He looks at Niall and he can tell the bloke is a little uncomfortable. That makes Harry feel a little bit better even though he has no right to be jealous.
Soon enough the lady leaves after some lingering stares and unnecessary touches to his hand when she's been given the receipt. On cue, Harry places his box of noodles down and glances up at Niall.
"Back again so soon?" He asks.
"Yea, I forgot the most important part of my meal I planned on making for dinner tonight," Harry explains.
"What're ya makin'?" Niall asked curiously as he rang the one item up.
"Chicken alfredo, my famous recipe," Harry grins.
"Two pounds," He reads the total, "You a good cook?"
Harry hands him the money, "The best. I'm actually cooking for one, care to make it two?"
Harry laughs slightly, hoping he isn't being too forward, especially since he's inviting the bloody cashier over for dinner considering he barely knows him. He feels his cheeks start to flush once he realizes he actually is probably being too forward.
"Can't, I work for another three hours but that sounds like a good meal," Niall replies, handing him his receipt and bag. "Enjoy your dinner, though."
He nods understandingly and gives a curt nod, "Thanks, have a good one!"
"Same to you," He replies.
Unknowing to Harry, Niall watches him saunter off this time. Harry exits the building and feels déjà vu set in.
It didn't go as bad as he thought it would, although he probably shouldn't have suggested dinner after having one conversation with him either. He quickly brushes it off, thinking that it could have just been taken as a kind gesture.
Once he arrives back at his apartment, Harry sets the bag down and truly begins to start dinner. With the stove clicked on and a pot of boiling water started, he grabs the box of noodles from the bag.
"Bloody hell."
Harry grimaces down at the box of penne noodles in frustration and turns the stove off. He'll just have to settle on a sandwich and crisps for tonight.
[ x ]
Harry has definitely made this trip way too many times to count this week and secretly he doesn't mind, but at the same time he feels a bit embarrassed. He decided to wait a couple days before returning, but at this point he seriously just wanted his damn alfredo. Maybe it was fate giving him another excuse to visit the blonde cashier or maybe he was losing his sanity and memory all at once. Whatever the reason, he's landed in Tesco once again.
This time he is positive he's grabbed the right type of noodles, but unfortunately this time, Niall seems to have the day off. Oh well, he thought. It was probably for the better since the blonde might think he's stalking him. Harry lightly laughs at the absurdity of his thoughts. As he waits in a random line, he sees Niall emerge from his peripheral vision. He walks up to the cashier Harry's in line for and he can hear him tell her to take her break and now takes her place.
Harry grins to himself in amazement. Coincidence or not, he was just happy to have Niall as his cashier again. After the man in front of him pays, he walks up to Niall and pretends to be looking up at the ceiling.
"Ah, you again. Miss me so soon?" He questions smugly.
"You wish," The brunette smiles. "I grabbed the wrong type of pasta last time."
Niall chuckles, "I thought it was funny you were making alfredo with penne pasta but I didn't want to say anything."
"Well you should have, would have saved me the embarrassment," Harry truthfully said.
The blonde waves him off, "S'okay, mistakes happen."
They go through the usual process as Niall reads the total and Harry pays.
"You know, my offer still stands from last time, that is if you want," He suggests, lingering before he has to part ways.
Niall raises an eyebrow, "Mate, before you even think about making me dinner, 'least tell me your name and maybe I'll think about it for next time."
"It's Harry," He says bashfully.
"I'm Niall if you haven't already read my name tag, but I'm sure you have," The cashier smiles. "It was nice seeing you again, Harry."
Harry simply raises his hand to wave goodbye before putting his head down shyly and leaving the building for the third time this week. As flustered as he felt, Harry can at least say that some kind of progress has been made with the crush he has on the cashier.