West Coast [Harlena]

Chapter 1

Everything surrounding us is constantly changing in subtle increments of different; it's inevitable. It's specifically those seemingly insignificant types of alterations that spill themselves into our lives and lure us like fish to bait into making the next rash decision.

I stood apprehensively in front of the monstrous looking thick dark stained wooden door as I had an internal conflict with myself over pushing the small round glowing silver doorbell button.

Last night just before I went to bed I received a text message from my close friend Niall asking me if I wanted to come over to his house the following day in the afternoon for a small barbecue that his friends and him were going to be having.

I appreciatively replied too quickly to his message before processing what he had asked me so now here I found myself shamelessly standing on his porch in a yellow summer sundress that cascaded itself like a waterfall down my body while my heart felt like it could grow its own pair of wings and fly out of my throat.

The sound of distant cheerful voices and mellow music playing in the background resonated towards where I still stood frozen in place which really tempted me to turn around and drive back home.

I hesitantly pressed down the silver button as it set off a chain reaction and caused the church sounding bell to be heard booming catastrophically throughout the interior of the whole house.

There was an absolute dead silence that followed.

The seconds of anxiety filled anticipation danced on by before I heard a masculine voice on the other side of the wall yell out a faint 'coming.'

I mentally prepared myself for what I thought would be the worst but immediately relaxed once the door swung open to reveal the face of my favorite Irish boy.

"Selena, you made it!" he practically yelled as he saw me and instantly pulled me in for a friendly hug.

I laughed at how precious his radiating enthusiasm was and shook my head.

"I did Niall, you had me at free food," I jokingly responded as we both pulled away from each other.

He laughed at my inaccurate declaration and shut the door behind me as he told me to follow him towards the backyard.

The smell of delicious food being grilled sprinkled itself like pixie dust in every direction of the house and when I took a step outside, it hit me even harder.

"Hey guys, this is my friend Selena," Niall announced as soon as we stepped outside and approached the group of chatting strangers gathered underneath the contemporary styled gazebo. 

They all diverted their attention to me and greeted me with almost the same amount of enthusiasm that Niall had shown me a few minutes ago. I reciprocated what they had just done and pulled out a seat to sit in hopes of trying to get rid of this nagging suffocating feeling that was bothering me the moment I got out of my car.

Niall took a seat next to me and although I probably should have been engaging with the conversation that was happening, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt extremely distracted but had no idea why.

I continued to zone in and out as they all talked about subjects that were unknown to me but at the same time I tried my hardest to keep a smile on my face through it all.

I was so engulfed in my unidentifiable pity party that I didn't even realize that there was somebody by the grill cooking the food.

It was Harry.

He was the only person besides Niall that I actually knew at this house and even then I didn't really know him. We never really had had a formal conversation in past brief encounters but sitting at this table was beyond excruciatingly boring and Niall seemed too engrossed in the conversation with the others for me to bother him.

I excused myself politely and made my way over to the oblivious lonely distracted man who was too busy flipping chicken breasts to acknowledge my presence. 

"Hey," I spoke up almost too quietly as I reached him and tried my best to push down the resurfacing nerves.

He looked away from the grill and directed his gaze towards me as soon as the words left my lips.

I had never before been this close in proximity to him so when our eyes met I was left feeling speechless by how immaculate his face appeared to be. His somewhat short brown hair was being pushed back by an olive green bandana which just made the color of his eyes look more vibrant than usual.

"Selena, how are you?" my named rolled off his tongue in that British accent of his as he kept checking up on the meat.

I carefully took a seat on the gray stone bench integrated next to the backyard grill and shrugged my shoulders at his question.

"I'm okay, what about you?" I asked back.

He closed the hood of the grill and leaned against the stone table that was next to him as he genuinely smiled at me. He was looking at me with a funny expression. 

"That's good to hear and I'm fine as well. How's the album coming along for you?"

I looked down at my lap with a smile and then back up at him.

"It's coming along pretty good so far, thanks for asking," I replied.

"The party too boring back there or why did you leave?"

"No, it's not that. I just feel a little out of place with the conversation they're having and I don't want to bug Niall while he talks to his friends," 

Harry nodded at what I said and proceeded to open the grill again, releasing a cloud of steam looking smoke. 

"Well that works out perfectly because now I have someone to talk to and you also get food before anyone else," he beamed with a bright smile. 

I laughed at his response and watched him start to struggle with an ear of corn that caught on fire.

"Oh my gosh," I quietly muttered as I tried to suppress my giggles.

"You're a terrible cook Harry, look what you've done," I placed my hand over my mouth as I began to shake with laughter.

He tossed the flaming piece of corn into the sink and turned on the water immediately to put out the flames that engulfed it.

"How dare you insult the chef?" Harry smirked as he turned around, turning off the grill and started putting all the cooked meat into a big stainless steal tray. 

"I already know you're a hazard and I've only talked to you for a few minutes," I jokingly let him know.

"Quit bullying me and come get food before I call everyone else," he responded with a wink.

He picked up the heavy tray of meats and placed it on the stone table where a bunch of food in containers had already been placed. I hadn't realized how much food there was but now that I stood there, I didn't know where to begin. 

Harry handed me a plate and let me serve myself before he called everyone at the table over. My plate consisted of a hot dog topped with condiments, a few pieces of grilled chicken, macaroni salad, and an actual salad to trick myself into believing I'm healthy. 

Once I finished filling my plate, I walked back to the now empty table and took a seat where no one had been sitting before. 

Harry was such a nice guy, why hadn't I talked to him before?

I was so caught up in my little world again that I hadn't noticed him take a seat besides me.

"You going to eat love?" he asked me.

I turned as pink as a dragon fruit and nodded as I began to eat the mouthwatering food.

I can't remember when the last time I had this sort of food or interaction was but I was glad I came. The atmosphere was so light once I got myself used to the surroundings and everyone at the table were being such gentle sweethearts that I didn't want to leave anytime soon.

It was the ideal perfect afternoon; extraordinary food, extraordinary music, extraordinary vibes, and even more extraordinary people.