7 Things About the Boy Next Door

Chapter 6

"When I first met her I knew in a moment I would have to spend the next few days re-arranging my mind so there'd be room for her to stay." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

~Dylan~

I remember hearing the distant cries of a girl yesterday during sunset. I have no idea what happened to her to cause those heavy cries, but my mum made a similar noise when Grandpa died few years ago.

Even though I had never met the girl whose heart sounded like it was being torn from her live body, it still pains me to listen to her so distraught.

I sat by my bedroom window that night just listening to her sobs. Even though I try and cover it up with my 'bad boy' façade, I've always been very tuned into other people's emotions and when someone else is hurting, it hurts me too. But for some reason, her pain is hurting me more than normal and the need to comfort her was so strong it scared me from doing so.

I couldn't see her from my window sill, but I knew when she went inside because that's when the sniffles muted from in her room.

I laid awake for most of last night, just thinking about the girl. What could've happened? What does she look like? Does she need a friend?

I eventually dozed off, but was quickly woken by the cries floating through my window again. I am a light sleeper, so even though she might have been trying to mute the sound, I could still hear her.

I looked at the clock and then outside, realizing that this time she was watching the sunrise.

What's up with that?

I didn't move for a while, just sat and listened again, but I couldn't take it for long, especially when I heard her broken voice talking. She mentioned someone called something like Melany, but it was hard to hear her cracked words.

I pulled on a top and joggers and rushed out my window so I wouldn't wake my parents creeping down the creaky hallways. I know my hair probably looked like I'd been dragged through a bush backwards, but I needed to see her. It was a pull, like planets to the sun. Indescribable.

I landed on the dewy grass and saw a trellis climbing the side of their house, right next to my window. This was going to make my job very easy; a clear path to the roof.

I climbed slowly and quietly, careful to avoid the large nails jutting from the wood. Easing myself forwards over the gutter, that's when I saw her. And she was beautiful. Tear streaked face and all.

My breath hitched and my heart beat faster. I've seen a lot of good looking girls before but this one is just... wow.

Her bloodshot baby blue eyes met mine and I was hooked. The pain behind her features and stiffness of her body portrayed just how much she was hurting and I think my heart broke a little because it sure felt like it.

She didn't move, but when I fully pulled myself onto the cool slate tiles, she began shuffling back in fear. My aim wasn't to make her more uncomfortable or scare the poor girl; I just wanted to see if she needed someone.

"Wh-who are y-you?" She croaked in quiet voice. Even though it was filled with misery, I could tell it was soft like silk and rich like honey.

I wasn't sure what to say to her to make sure she didn't freak, because I'm not sure what I must look like; a big guy climbing her roof at six thirty in the morning still with bed hair.

"The boy next door." Short, sweet and very true. I praise myself internally.

The girl curled in on herself after staring for a few more seconds and I took the moment to study her. Dark chocolate hair falls to her lower back and even though I can't see her face now, I know she has soft, pale skin and a faint dusting of freckles scattered over her nose from moments before. The rising sun is casting a golden halo over her hair making her glow. She looks around my age and what most people would call petite.