salt and sand || narry ||

Prologue: Sunshine, eh?

A/N: Hi guys! First off, thank you for reading the prologue! Let me know what you think!

I decided that starting in Chapter 2 it's better to write alternating from Harry's POV to Niall's so if you keep reading, I promise it gets better!

So this book is going to have a slow burn type of romance, so you'll have to keep reading to get to the good stuff ;) This book will likely contain smut and will contain swearing and other mature images, so please don't read if those types of things bother you! But enjoy the fluffy stuff for now!

ALL SMUT CHAPTERS (no matter how minimal or full on) will be marked with a plus sign (+) see chapter 6 for an example!

"Get out of the fooking way!" the curly, brown-haired lad screeched at his best mate as he went rushing towards the water with his surfboard, freshly waxed and ready for a ride. "It's the first day of summer, Harry! The water isn't going anywhere, you arse!" he yelled back, shaking his head in amusement as he narrowly avoided a smack in the back by the white and orange board the boy had been carrying.

Summer had finally come around in the tiny beach town of Callerny Dunes. This meant school was out, the tourists were starting to stream in, and for four local lads, it was their last summer on the island as full-time residents. Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik were all fresh graduates of the local high school and were headed off to college in the fall.

They all had been best friends since primary school, Lord knows how. The four boys were vastly different from one another: Harry was tall, lean, and lanky with a charming and laidback aura; he had an unbothered soul and thick skin. Louis was the prankster of the group with his loud, sometimes downright obnoxious voice, but was loyal and fierce friend who never let you down. Liam? Poor Liam. He was the parent of the group. The voice of reason, if you will. Except for maybe that one time the lads talked him into a tattoo on his forearm. Lastly, Zayn was the brooding artist. His dark features and quiet nature gave him mystique, which seemed to drive the local girls wild. They were all roughly the same age: Harry was 17 and waiting for his birthday to roll around this summer, Liam and Zayn were already 18, and Louis was 19, having been held back a year when his family moved to town when he was younger.

"I can't believe that at the end of this summer, we won't be by the beach all day everyday," LIam noted as he helped Louis carry their things to a flat spot in the sand. "Speak for yourself, Liam, I'm headed to Bournemouth in the fall, so I won't be too far from the coast," Zayn reminded him as he settled into his chair, pulling out a sketch book from his bag along with graphite pencil. "Aw guys, can we not talk about how we're all going our separate ways right now? It's June 4th. We just finished sixth form!" Louis said, kicking a soccer ball over to Liam, a spray of sand following its path.

Harry was dragging his board up sand from the water, knocking some of the saltwater from his left ear, "What are you lot going on about? No, no, we aren't talking about the end of summer when it's only just begun. I say, we make a bucket list for this summer. Everything we want to get done here on the island before we go," he said, tossing his board down beside their things. His brown curls were damp as he laid his navy-striped towel across his board. "Zayn, spare a piece of paper from your sketchbook and jot down the list. Alright, it's last summer, we need to break some rules, shoot our shots, having fooking fun!" Harry said, his eyes lighting up as he looked around at his best friends.

They tossed out ideas and bickered for another hour or so before the list was finalized. The list went as so:

1. Bonfire party on the beach

2. Hook up with some cuties (local or visting)

3. Fishing out on the pier

4. Bike from one end of the island to the other all in one day

5. Go for a smoke in Lessi Woods

6. Camping trip

7. Steal Mr. Kronick's ugly flamingo lawn ornaments

8. Throw our own house party or crash someone else's house party

9. Sneak Harry into one of the 18+ clubs

10. Make some new friends for the summer

Liam shrugged as he finished writing the last one, "Maybe it's just a work in progress, but this is a good start, right? I mean, the locals have barely started arriving and that's when the real fun begins," he laughed, folding up the piece of paper and tucking it into his backpack. "Er, maybe I spoke too soon, some family has already made their way to this end of the beach," he groaned, pointing to a mother, father, and their two sons, one in his teens around the same age as the boys and the other in his mid-twenties.

The boys eyed the group as they came closer, sizing up the lad that seemed to be around their age. "Blond, we don't have a blond in our group, could help with the ladies this summer..." Louis thinks aloud, earning a smack in the shoulder from Liam. "Or we could make friends with because maybe he's nice or something? Plus new friends is on the bucket list and we always find a good handful of tourists that are chill to run with each summer," he reminded the boys. Zayn was lost in his sketch, pretty much unaware of anything going on while Harry's green eyes stayed trained on the blond. He skimmed the boys feature, blond hair brushed up and away from his forehead, a big smile, a happy one at that. On the shorter side, like Louis, and pale as he could be. "His hair looks a bit like sunshine, don't you think? All that bleach?" Louis snorted, rolling the soccer ball under his tanned foot.

"Sunshine, eh?" Harry's deep voice repeated. That's exactly what the boy exuded with his bright smile and ocean blue eyes. He heard him laugh at something his older brother said and he smirked. The sound was...infectious. "They're Irish folk, sounds like..." Suddenly the soccer ball Louis had been messing with went sailing towards the blond and his family. "Louis, you idiot!" Zayn said, anxious as to how this would play out. "Oi! I didn't mean to! Liam wasn't paying any attention, call him the idiot!" Liam whirled on Louis, "Me?! You sent that shot way too far to the left!"

Harry watched as the blond boy scooped up the soccer ball and began walking over to them. He looked at the two bickering boys for a moment before turning to Harry's tanning figure. "Eh, that looks like something I don't want to get in the middle of, so I'll just leave the ball here, yeah?" he laughed softly, setting the ball down next to Harry's surfboard. "Thank bringing it back, Louis has a terrible left foot," Harry teased his friend, grinning up at the blond. "The name's Harry, this is Zayn, and that's Liam and Louis, it's nice to meet you. How long are you staying for? We know you aren't a local," Harry said, looking the boy up and down from over his sunglasses.

"I'm Niall...Niall Horan."

*Author's Note: Yes, I know Harry's birthday is not during the summer in real life, but I'm changing it for the story. Come back for chapter two soon!