The Boy Next Door

Oscar just left.

Ella remembers waving goodbye but her eyes couldn’t help concentrating on the light that just flickered off over at Harry’s. She had been so involved in her conversation with Oscar that she hadn’t even noticed the light turn on in the first place.

Harry was finally home.

A nervous set of butterflies invaded Ella’s stomach as she saw the back porch light flicker on. Moments later, Harry climbed over the small fence that separated their gardens. Ella stood to her feet, somehow hoping that he may greet her with the same warm embrace they shared the following night. But as Harry stops a couple of steps in front, she knows something doesn’t feel right.

“Hey,” She breaths, wanting to extend her hand and run her hands through his dishevelled hair, pull him close and hold his lips against hers again. Fear paralyses her to the spot and any confidence she once had has evaporated.

“Hey Ella,” He smiled gently.

“So you’re home now?” She asks, mentally slapping herself for the awkward and obvious question.

“Yeah, got in about fifteen minutes ago,” He says, running a hand over the back of his neck and looking at the lounger. After another minute of awkwardness, Harry sighs and motions to the lounger as they both take a seat. Harry imitates the pose of Oscar, sitting on the edge as she sits up and propped against the back.

“Is everything okay?” Ella asks, leaning forward slightly, watching with woe as Harry stares ahead, hunched forward and his hands clasped together in front of his face.

“I think we need to talk about us.” He eventually speaks up, not yet looking at her.

“Oh, okay,” She whispers, knowing that nothing good ever comes from those words.

Harry looks up at her finally, but his eyes hold nothing but regret? She wasn’t sure, as his green eyes looked so dark tonight.

“This friendship I have with you is something I’ve always wanted. I always imagined it with a guy, because I can’t say I ever believed I would come across a girl who has been so laid back and cool like you. You don’t realise how much I value our friendship, Ella and I know that there’s that possibility it could be ruined, especially if we took it further.” Harry’s word’s sliced through Ella like a thick knife, cutting up all hope she had had for them. Eleanor and Zayn had been wrong, Harry wasn’t in love, he was confused; a lost confused boy.

“You don’t have to say anymore,” Ella looked away, not trusting herself to look at him as she felt the tears prick the back of her eyes. She had fallen hard for Harry, had grown so fond of the curly haired boy who was just that to her- a normal boy.

“Ella,” he breathed, trying to get her attention back on him. Ella gulped down the lump that had formed and blinked away any tears that were threatening to spill. She turned back, but this time her wall was back up and her face was stripped of emotions.

“It’s fine, Harry. I agree with you actually.” She says, her tone nothing but mono. “It would be foolish to pursue anything when we already have something good going.”

Harry stared at her, trying to gauge what she was really thinking, but Ella had her wall up pretty high now.

“It’s getting late, I better head back in since I have school tomorrow and everything.” Ella stands and begins to head towards her house.

“Ella,” Harry stops her and for a moment she hopes he will say he was only being careful and precautious but really wants to be with her. Instead, he stands there awkwardly and still looks so closed off. “We still up for that lunch soon? I really would like to make up for having to cancel our plans.”

“I’ll let you know. Goodnight Harry,” Ella mumbles, turning on her heel and almost running towards the back door.

When her alarm rings out the next day, Ella hits it off and carries on staring at the ceiling. She had barely slept a wink last night, her mind overthinking everything with Harry and her.

Stepping out the covers, Ella heads to her bathroom and flicks on the shower. She slips from her underwear and steps into the scolding heat. She stands for a moment, daydreaming in a sleepy haze before snapping out of it and quickly cleaning her body and hair and shaving in all the necessary places.

In her room she ran the blow dryer over her hair and decided she couldn’t be bothered with make-up today. She wasn’t out to impress anyone. The one person she wanted to impress had no interest in her whatsoever.

Outside, Ella fumbled in her bag for her car keys, stopping at the vehicle to dig deeper into the bag. From the distance she heard a door closing and when she looked up, she saw Harry walking down his drive. He had on a beanie and was chatting on the phone. Ella noticed he looked over, so she quickly looked down and unlocked her car as soon as her fingers found the keys. She shut the door and started the engine, pretending to not have heard her name being called.

She didn’t even look his way when she pulled out the drive and headed towards Clara’s house.

School seems like a blur and ends quicker than Ella had actually hoped. At lunch she had received a call from Eleanor who wondered if Ella wanted to meet her in town to do some shopping and get some dinner. Feeling like she needed to get some advice from Eleanor and have some girl time- Clara had been busy mending yet another argument with Wes- so she agreed.

Ella popped home quickly, changing out of her clothes she had worn to school and slipped into something a little nicer but still comfortable. She slicked on some make-up and after attempting with her hair, she grew frustrated and instead pushed it back with a red bandana, forgetting it was one that Harry had given to her when he said she looked good wearing it.

Leaving the gates felt good and when she pulled up and parked, Ella felt happy to spend time with Eleanor.

“Hey girl,” The bubbly brunette greeted, hugging Ella and linking her arm through hers. “Love the bandana, very indie.” She chuckled.

“So where did you want to go?” Ella asked Eleanor, who wanted to find a new pair of heels for a family party she and Louis had to attend. They tried Oxford Circus, Bond street, Regent Street and Saville Row and eventually they found the perfect pair, as well as picking up a few other bits here and there.

“Louis and I think Niall will be at The Italian House to meet us for dinner if that’s okay?” Eleanor asked, looking at her phone.

“Yeah, that’s absolutely fine.” Ella smiled, realising she had missed the other guys.

At The Italian House, Ella and Eleanor walked in and told the man at the door that they would be joining the Tomlinson party. Ella wondered why it was called a party when it was just the two of them- but upon turning the corner, she realised why. All the guys were there and when she is talking about all, she means Harry too. When he sees her, he looks momentarily shocked, but then covers it.

“Ella,” Niall greets her, jumping up and hugging the girl, “We’ve missed you, where have you been?” His smile was infectious as well as his personality. Ella decided to sit herself between him and Zayn, who was shooting her a small smile.

“Hey,” He leans in and greets.

“Hey yourself,” She smiles, picking up the menu and gazing over the choices.

Lunch started off okay, with chat on the band and often Ella had no reason to speak to Harry. But she knew it was too good to be true when Liam asked her about her party.

“It was okay.” She smiled meekly.

“It sounded more than okay. I could hear the beautiful sound of barfing and endless alcohol being consumed.” Louis laughed, sipping his Beck’s.

“It was fun,” Ella smiles, telling them briefly about some of the fights and attempt at gate crashing by the younger years.

“Harry snuck out to try and get a cheeky look at how big it was. He told us it looked like a pretty good party and that you looked amazing in your Pretty Woman outfit.” Liam added, looking at Harry who was looking slightly awkward.

Ella looked at Harry for the first time and swallowed the bile in her throat. She was looking forward to what he had to say next.

“Did he,” Ella raised an eyebrow and challenged Harry by holding her eyes over him.

“It was a sick party,” he mumbled, stabbing at his spaghetti the waitress had put in front of him.

“Have you got pictures of your outfit?” Eleanor asked, noticing the tension between the two. Ella was thankful for the attention to be taken from Harry and began showing the pictures to everyone on her phone. Ella gushed over how awesome she looked and Niall kept asking questions about Clara, who he had taken a liking too.

“She’s a little loud, mate, and needy.” Harry spoke from the corner. Ella’s head snapped to him and deep frown lines were etched into her head.

“No she isn’t.” Ella dared him to say something else about her best friend. Okay, Clara didn’t really have much tact, but it was Harry Styles she had been speaking too, so he can’t exactly base his opinion on that one meeting.

“Needy or not, she looks hot in that latex cat suit.” Niall laughed, holding the phone close to his face and flicking through the pictures again.

“She isn’t needy, Niall, don’t listen to that grump over there. She’s lovely, but I’m afraid she’s taken. All my friends are pretty much, apart from her, but she’s like in love with my ex.” Ella pointed to Tamera.

“She’s sweet looking. Who’s your ex?” Eleanor asked, looking at the picture of Tamera then back to Ella.

“Well he wasn’t really an ex, we never were together with the formal title- it was very casual with us.” Ella could feel the blush on her cheeks.

“Fuck buddies then?” Louis said, a slight smirk to his lips.

“God, how awkward, but yes, I guess a better way to say it would be ‘friends with benefits’” Ella laughed, noticing Harry’s tense body as his eyes stared daggers at her.

“He’s not much of an ex though is he now.” Harry quietly said.

“What?” Ella said a little stunned.

“I saw him at your house last night. You both looked pretty cosy!” Harry didn’t sound cruel or even jealous, his tone was completely neutral and that bugged Ella the most.

“He came over to apologise for… Well you know what for.” Ella could feel all eyes on her as her embarrassment grew.

“And you forgave him?” He asked, sounding a little surprised.

“Yes, I did. Oscar isn’t a bad person and I’m not one for grudges.” Ella was conscious of the others staring at the two exchanging words they couldn’t understand. She was hoping Harry wouldn’t reveal what Oscar had done- she hated painted bad pictures of people who didn’t really deserve it.

“Last time I checked, people who force…” Harry wasn’t able to finish before Ella was too her feet.

“I really need to get home,” The hurt was evident on her face and everyone was throwing questioning looks at Harry who was just watching Ella. She quickly scooted past Niall and into the walkway.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Eleanor stood, looking at her with worried eyes.

“I’m fine, I think my brother said he was in town today so I might go meet him. I’ll text you later.” Ella reached over and hugged the girl who had been more than kind to her. She gave a wave to the others before practically running out the restaurant.

Outside the air was growing thick with darkness and a nasty chill had taken over the city. She had been stupid not to bring a jacket as the walk to the car was a good ten minutes. As she headed in the direction of the multi-storey car park, she heard faint footsteps behind her that sounded like they were running. She clutched her bag tighter to her side and stayed within the light, thanking how the streets were still busy if this was some guy trying to creep on her.

“Ella,” Harry’s voice rang out, “Please Ella, can you stop for a second.”

“What do you want, Harry?” Ella said through clenched teeth, though that was mostly down to how cold she was.

“Can we talk?” He asks, holding her shoulder and making her stop on the side walk. Ella looks at him before looking away and sighing. She found it hard to hold her ground when looking at him. He was beautiful to her and that had all the potential to break through her wall.

“I think we’ve talked enough.” She said bitterly, looking at her feet, hating how hard it was to not look into those eyes or those pink lips.

“But we haven’t said enough.” He added, tipping her chin with his thumb and finger.

“I think you’ve said plenty.” Ella said accusingly, now looking hard into his eyes. Keep it together, Ella. You are stronger than this.

“Please, I’m so sorry about back there, I don’t know what came over me. I guess I didn’t like hearing that twats name; it still angers me to know what he tried with you and then to see you so easily hug him in your garden last night!” Harry shakes a little like he doesn’t like the image in his mind.

“It’s my life and I know who I can trust- I’m slowly learning the hard way who I can and can’t trust!” Ella knew her eyes were practically pointing at him, the word Harry tattooed across her words.

“You can trust me.” His voice sounded hurt and like he was almost pleading with her.

“I can decide for myself, I’m a big girl; a big girl who knows when someone is bad news or when someone isn’t worth her time and effort!” Ella knows she doesn’t mean the words she is saying, but she wants to hurt him like his rejection hurt her.

Harry stares at her for a moment, his hand was wrapped around her wrist and she wondered when that had happened. He had a firm but comfortable hold on her, like he was scared she would run from him for good.

“I’m sorry about everything. I didn’t mean for things to get this far- I didn’t want to kiss you then reject you. I wanted to kiss you and then make you happy, but I just can’t; and then seeing him with you, that just sealed it all for me. I can’t be there like he or any guy in your school can be- I’m there one minute and gone the next; my life may be full of schedules and plans, but most the time it’s unpredictable and last minute. My intentions were to save you from the hurt, not to inflict it on you like this.” Ella wanted to understand it all, but she couldn’t. If you loved someone or wanted to be with them, you tried to make it work. He wasn’t even giving them a chance.

“You don’t feel anything for me, Harry. You are confused and lonely and I’m the first girl who hasn’t tried to jump your bones or scream your name in your face. If you truly liked me, then you would at least try and make it work. You can make any feebly excuse you want, but nothing will prove your feelings except the actions I need to see.” Ella could feel her strength growing, her wall plastering over the cracks his eyes and face had caused.

“You know that isn’t true. I… I…” Harry stuttered, his eyes wide.

“Save it, please Harry.” Ella sounded exhausted and just wanted to get home and crawl under her bed. “I want this friendship to work, but for now I need space to get over you because unlike you, I can’t deny myself of these feelings so easily.”

Harry didn’t have a chance to say anything as Ella walked off, holding her arms and rushing towards the car lot.

What had he done.