The Boy Next Door || Harry Styles

chapter one. {melanie}

During my thought process, I had not realized that Riley unlatched the door and was now standing on the tree house bridge that connected to my balcony. Containing my fear, I run out and grab his arm before he tumbles to the ground.

"Riley! Don't ever go into the tree house without me, okay?" Riley nods his head slowly, obviously shaken by what just happened.

"How come the bridge is also connected to that house?" Riley asks after taking a couple of breaths. He points to the Styles' house. Immediately, I get the recurring vision of me and a boy, who evidently seems to be Harry Styles.

"Oh," I sigh," Because me and the boy next door used to be really, really close friends." I smile and urge Riley to step inside and out of the cool, February wind.

Once Riley is safely inside, I latch the balcony door and also push the safety bolt up into the door frame. Just a precaution. I don't want Riley falling out of the tree house.

"Mel?" I hear a young, raspy voice, but when I turn around it was only my mind playing tricks,

"Melanie?" Riley repeats. He is perched on top of my bed.

"Yes, Riley?" I come over and sit next him.

"Do you miss your really, really close friend?" He looks down and plays with his thumbs. I sigh,

"A little, but not really. We both stopped being friends when I left." The small boy looks at me with furrowed eyebrows and concern in his eyes.

"What? Why?" He gives me his full and undivided attention.

"I don't know. We just stopped talking and remember, I moved all the way to California." I still remember the night I left like it was only yesterday.

"But - but," Riley couldn't understand what I was saying. I couldn't explain to a 3 year old that I ran away from a boy I once loved.

"Come on, do you want to come with me? I'm going to say hello to some people." Within seconds, Riley was already up and out the room. I take that as a yes.

* * *

"So do you wanna walk or do you want me to drive?" I ask Riley. He has on his animal beanie, a big, blue jacket, and boots.

"Can we walk, please?" I bob my head up and down and begin to walk in the direction of the cafe. Riley steps around some puddles and splashes on other ones. I ask,

"Why don't you jump on all of them?" I laugh and wonder what is going on in his little head.

"Oh, some of them aren't ready to be hopped on," he stops and points at a small puddle,"You see, this one isn't worth it. It's small and theres a crack underneath it. You have to pick the right puddles and just hope that they'll splash everywhere, those ones are the best." I think I just learned a life lesson from a three year old.

He smiles and walks a little forward to jump into a fairly, large puddle. When the water soaks up Riley's pants, he laughs and exclaims,

"See! That one was totally worth it!" I catch up to him and say,

"Let me try, tell me which ones to step on." We start to weave through the puddles and once we reach a "good" puddle, we decide to jump on it together. Riley breaks out in giggles when we both get drenched by the water and I watch as he just takes in every moment of life and appreciates it. I would do anything to be young and careless again.

"Look, we're here!" The café was just as I remembered it. Small and cozy. Inside, the restaurant is half packed and my favorite table was vacant. Walking towards it, I lift Riley and position him across me. When the waitress comes, I realize that it is Brenda, the ultimate waitress that has been at the café even before I was born.

"Hello, Brenda! How are you?" Brenda smiles and gives me a hug,

"I'm great! It's so nice to see you! Are you visiting?" She tugs on her small apron.

"No, actually, I'm moving back here!" I exclaim. Brenda screams and startles Riley. Announcing to the whole restaurant, she says,

"MELANIE HARTE IS BACK IN HOLMES CHAPEL, EVERYONE!" People start to clap and I laugh, it felt nice to be back with everyone I knew. Brenda continues to take our order,

"So the usual," I nod,"And what will you have today, Riley?" Riley thinks for a second, he has obviously been here before.

"Can I have the chicken sandwich today, please?" Brenda replies with a fast 'of course,' writes it down and walks away.

"Hey do you want to go to the park tomorrow?" I pop the question.

"Yes!" He throws his arms in the air,

"Can we also get ice cream?" I laugh,

"Why not? I also wanted to ask you how nursery school is. Do you like it?" Riley gives me a drawn out 'mhmm.'

"We play fun games and play on the swings and draw and paint and talk and sleep! I also learned the alphabet and I can count to 50! Wanna hear?" Shaking my head, I say,

"What else did you learn?" He taps his head and thinks for a while,

"I learned how to add! And they taught us about the trees and the bugs and the flowers and . . ." The list went on and on. Riley didn't stop, even after he had chicken sandwich in his mouth. There was so many things he knew about and I couldn't wait for him to grow up and explore the world.

"Oh, but most importantly," Wow, a pretty big word for a 3 year old,"I go to lunch everyday with this girl. Her name is Cara. She's really pretty. She's got blue eyes and blonde hair and . . ." Suddenly, I felt myself drifting. Riley's voice begins to fade and I remember the day I first met Harry. He told me his name was Harold and I laughed so hard. Snapping out of my daze, I realize that we were both finished with our meals.

"Do you want dessert?" I question, accidentally interrupting his description of Cara.

"Nope, I'm okay. I'm full." Hm, I've never heard a kid turn down dessert before. I shrug it off and pay for the check. After standing up, I help Riley out of his chair,

"Thank you for lunch!" He smiles up at me and I respond,

"You're very welcome, Mr. Harte." He laughs and hops all the way to the door,

"That sounds funny. It sounds like I'm an old man or something. Just call me Riley. I like Riley. Or Ry. Cara calls me Ry." I grin and open the door for him. Immediately, he jets out and runs toward the sidewalk.

"Riley!" I exclaim and I run after him. With my focus on the fleeting boy, I fail to notice a man in front of me. We collide shoulders which almost sends me tumbling towards the floor. The man catches my left arm and helps pull me up before I hit the gravel. I notice his other large hand is on my waist.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. And thank you!" I say in a rush. I notice that Riley was standing in the middle of a puddle, looking at this reflection. This allows me time to properly say sorry to the man.

When I turn back around, I notice the man is wearing a green beanie, white t-shirt, and some very, and I mean, very, tight, black jeans. I make direct eye contact with familiar, green eyes. If not for the curls peeking out of his beanie and the dimple on his left cheek, I would have assumed it was someone else or even a look alike, but undoubtedly, it was Harry Styles.

"Sorry," his voice is raspier than it was before. He removes his hands from my body.

"Oh my god. Harry? Harry Styles?" I smile and hope the memories flooding into my thoughts are also running through his mind.

"Yup, that's me," He chuckles. I wait for him to recognize me, because after all it has been four years since we last talked or even seen each other. After minutes of silence, I realize that he doesn't remember me at all.

"You don't remember me?" I ask hesitantly. He furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head,

"Sorry, what is your name again?" Wow, ten years of friendship down the drain. How could you possibly forget your best friend? With anger building up inside, I mutter a quiet 'nevermind' before running after Riley.