Chapter 2
—Louis' POV—
"Hazz, I promise I'll be back to the hotel in 20 minutes, alright?" I say into the cellphone I hold against my ear. I have one hand in my pocket fiddling with a pen. I don't know why, but I've been so distracted lately. This is what I need. Just a little time by myself.
"Alright… but you better. Li says we have an interview in an hour. You sure you're gonna make it?" Harry replies, sounding a bit worried.
"Yes I'm sure. Don't worry about it…" I say with a sigh. If there's one thing Harry does, it's worry. Especially when it comes to me wandering around a random supermarket. But it happens a lot, so he's bound to get used to it sometime.
"See you in 20?" he says, making it sound like a sort of question.
"See you in 20," I repeat, this time making it a statement.
"Oye! Who ate the last of my chips?" I hear someone shout in the background in a thick Irish accent. I can't help but smile, knowing what's bound to come next. Niall isn't someone known for being forgiving when it comes to food.
As I hang up, I hear Harry sigh into the phone. Looks like I chose the right time to leave the hotel. I've been here for probably a good hour at this point, wandering around the many aisles of Walmart. I don't really have a goal or a certain thing I'm trying to find, at least that's what I think.
Suddenly something catches my eye from the left most corner of the store. That's when I finally realize it: all this time I am looking for one thing. Carrots. The one food I can guarantee Niall won't steal, Harry and Zayn won't bother touching, and Liam won't even notice is hiding in the back of our shared fridge; that is, if it even gets there. I usually gobble up all the carrots in the bag before anyone has a chance to notice there were any in the first place. What can I say? I love carrots.
I find myself just staring at the bag. The last bag, I should mention. Just sitting there, resting perfectly on top of a stand leaning against the wall. Although I know the smart thing to do is to grab the bag before anyone else has a chance to, but I just find myself standing there. I can't move, and I suddenly realize why: I feel as if someone is watching me. Please, not another fan, I almost beg myself. Although I love all the fans greatly, as I would never be where I am without them, they sometimes get overwhelming. Always having someone watch you, someone follow you, someone judging you. It gets in your head. And so I find myself frozen, here, in the middle of the vegetable section of a Walmart in Los Angeles, California. I stand there for a few more seconds, keeping my eyes focused on the carrots before finally forcing myself to move forwards. Good, I think. If it was a fan, they would have already been bothering me for an autograph or picture. The coast is clear, I decide, and I better get out of here before I am seen by an actual fan.
I slowly start to walk towards the carrots, when something catches my eyes. I look over to my right and see a girl, about a foot shorter than me, with bright red, wavy hair hastily tied in a bun on the top of her head. Her breath-taking green eyes maneuver between me and something in front of her. I widen my eyes with slight alarm. She recognizes me. She knows who I am. My only goal now is to get towards the carrots before she can fully process what's going on and scream that "One Direction is here".
But before I can even reach the carrots, something unexpected happens. She lunges forward and grabs the bag, quickly heading on her way to the cash registers. So that's it. She's not a fan. Just a girl who wanted some carrots. I can't help but smile with relief; before I remember what just happened.
"Hey! I saw those carrots first!" I protested. She took the carrots, the last bag of carrots, my carrots!
"Too bad!" I hear her yell back with a heavy Irish accent. I can't help but smile; her voice reminds me of the one belonging to one of my best friends: Niall Horan.
In that moment, I made a plan that was quickly executed. I quickly and quietly started to walk towards her, stopped when she started to turn around, and jumped in front of her while her head was turned the other way. I carefully reached forward and gently took the bag of carrots from the cradle she had made with her arms. I smile slightly with victory and stare at her, waiting for her to turn around and realize what just happened. Surprisingly, I didn't have any sort of urge to run with the carrots on my own. In fact, in this moment in time, my mind was completely elsewhere from the carrots and was solely on her. I was resisting the urge to jump up and down, waiting for her to turn. And finally, after what seemed like an hour, she did.
The first thing those amazing green eyes of hers went to was my own. She locked eyes with me and stared at me with an expression that made me melt inside. I smiled a bit wider. But then, she looked down in my arms and saw the carrots. With a quick flick of her arm she snatched them out of my arms and clutched them in hers again.
"Excuse you!" she shouted, backing up away from me. I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. I was simply having fun with this.
"Do you know who I am?" I asked dramatically, not literally being serious.
"No, should I?" I couldn't help but grin. She doesn't know who I am. She really doesn't know who I am. Fantastic!
Before I could even process what I was thinking, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pen I was fiddling with earlier. I gently took her hand and held it in one of my own, using the other to carefully write my number on the back of her hand. My mind was racing and it was all I could do not to mess up my writing. Her hands were soft and small, seemingly fragile as if they could shatter if someone clutched them too hard.
I tried to write quicker and finally finished, hesitating before letting go of her hand and just grinning at her.
"You should call me sometime. And keep the carrots," I said to her, smiling as I turned and walked towards the exit of the store. I couldn't believe what just happened. I just fought over carrots with a girl who doesn't know who I am. She doesn't know everything about me. She doesn't follow me on twitter or anything! And to me, that was amazing. I can't wait to see when she'll call me, if she does. And I'm honestly hoping she does.