A Peculiar Neighbor + An Unfortunate Crush + My Best Friend = Huh?

He was a peculiar 17-year-old. Instead of the typical sports heads that go to my school, he was a musician. Instead of curly brown hair or wavy blonde hair, he had black hair with streaks of neon green. Instead of the typical Nike and Adidas sneakers, he wore black boots.  I mean, come on, who thinks like that? 

These are just a few of the uncommon attributes of Harris Thompson. 

Unfortunately, he lives next door to me. You’re probably thinking “Ok, so the cute musician lives next to you? How is that unfortunate?” Well, the unfortunate thing is that his favorite time to blast up the radio is at three in the morning. Everyone in the neighborhood hates it. There have been countless noise complaints and angry neighbors banging on their door in the middle of the night. 

Maybe this is what started my insomnia; the not being able to get a decent night’s sleep. 

He stopped doing it after the fourth noise complaint, but I still found myself lying in bed, waiting for the noise. Ever since he started doing it, I just waited for the noise. I couldn’t sleep without it. So now, I don’t. Much. I can only sleep in the afternoons when my household of four kids and two parents is the most hectic. 

“Kimber!” My mom’s voice calls me out of my thoughts. I look at the time and it’s exactly 6:30. I stand up and pull on a white tank top, blue skinny jeans, and my Vans. I brush out my brown hair that has been highlighted with blonde over the summer. I plug in my flat iron as I do my makeup. I add some concealer around my eyes and mascara. It’s weird, my blue eyes get brighter after a night with not much sleep. I straighten my hair, grab my backpack, and head downstairs. I grab a banana and head out to the bus stop. Unluckily, Harris comes out at the same time. He nods my way, locking his door.

We used to be really good friends as kids. Our parents would trade babysitting nights for date nights. I thought it was pretty unfair since his parents had to add four more kids to their schedule and mine only had to add one, but that’s the way it worked. We grew apart in middle school as I started to find new friends who liked the things I did; aka makeup, boys, and clothes. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still polite with each other, I just wouldn’t consider him a friend. 

That’s why I’m surprised when he sits next to me on the bus, taking the seat of my best friend Riley. She gets on at the next stop and she is not gonna be happy. 

“Hey, Kimber. Whatcha been up to?” He asks, as if we had never stopped being friends.

Caught off guard, I stumble over my words. “O-Oh, you know...soccer...friends...etcetera.” Did I really just say etcetera? 

He definitely noticed and laughs. “What, do I make you nervous?” He asks leaning in.

Gaining my confidence again, I shove him off the seat as the bus stops. He smirks as Riley gets on. “Why’s Rocker on the floor?” She whispers to me. Riley has called him that ever since he got into music.  

“I shoved him out of your seat. He was getting a little flirtatious.” I whisper back and Riley giggles. By then, Harris had taken the hint as well as the seat behind us. “It’s weird, he’s usually a lot more of a quiet lone wolf,” I whisper so quietly Riley barely hears, but she nods in agreement. 

When we arrive at school, Riley and I head our separate ways. It’s weird; we have all the same classes except for homeroom. Harris walks up next to me, walking with me for about a minute before he speaks. “Do you even know I’m here?” As you might have expected, I had not. 

I literally jump a whole foot. “No. No, I did not.” I say calmly as he tries not to laugh. I roll my eyes and just keep walking. 

“Kimber.” He says firmly. I stop and turn around, concerned. Harris is never this way.

“Yeah?” I say. His face had gone from laughter to seriousness. 

“Look, I know we’re not friends anymore but…”

“Harris, we grew apart. It’s not like one of us decided it.” I say, interrupting him.

“That’s not it. I get it. You drifted away and made new friends but…I don’t know I guess I’m just tired of getting ignored.”

“Ignored? What do you mean?”

He sighs. “Every time I try to talk to you or come by your house, you avoid me thoroughly.”

“I’m just busy with soccer,” I say, knowing that’s not the truth.  The truth is that I had a crush on him and wanted to get over it, so I started branching out. I didn’t mean to ignore him, I just wanted to get over him. I had always planned to go back to being his friend, but I love my new group. 

Riley is a daredevil and fiercely loyal. She’s got the best sense of style and she’s always there for you when you need her. She always knows what to say when you’re hurting or if you’re trying to talk to a guy. 

Lydia is kind and shy. She’s super bookish and smart and can solve any math problem so she’s a great tutor, which is good because I suck at math. She’s a great listener and she’s got such a quiet demeanor that it’s impossible not to love her.

Janie is an athlete. She loves soccer just as much as I do and is incredibly focused. We run together on Saturday mornings, every Saturday morning, whether I want to or not. The other days of the week, we have practice and she knows I love running at night, which I do a lot.  

Kayla is the one who keeps us motivated. She is a cheerleader after all. She keeps us all focused and keeps us accountable for getting our homework done, being on time for events, and texts us all quotes in the morning, fitting us personally and perfectly. 

As I said; my group is filled with great girls. They all love me and I love them, even though I’m a bit closer to Riley than the rest. We stick together in everything and we are there for each other. We are always in call for each other for a group FaceTime call if someone needs to talk about a guy or if they just want to vent about something. We’re like a pack of wolves; we fight for each other and even though we may go off in pairs or groups of three, we always come back to the others. 

“I know you aren’t busy with soccer, Kimber. You only have practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“How do you know that?”

“My girlfriend is on the team?” He says, weirdly.

“Wait, you have a girlfriend?”

“Why are you surprised? Y’all are friends?”

“Wait, who?”

“Janie. I really thought she was in that group you ditched me for. Weird.” I storm off to homeroom without another word. 

Why wouldn’t she tell us? They all know about my crush on him. I never truly got over him. I still wish we could be more, and Janie knew that. Yet she’s dating him?

In first period, Riley can tell I’m mad. “What’s up? What happened?”

“Did you know Harris and Janie are dating?” Her gasp tells me she didn’t. 

“What? How could she not tell us? Did she tell you first or something?”

“No. Harris did,” I say, trying out to cry. Harris; the guy I have been crushing on for almost four years, is dating one of my best friends and she didn’t even tell me. 

After school, I have practice. I walk into the field already in my practice clothes. Janie, Harley, and a few other of my soccer buddies are sitting on the bleachers waiting for Coach. Janie sees me first and waves me over. I make eye contact with her and then walk past them, sitting away from them. 

“Hey, you Ok?” Harley says, moving and taking a seat next to me.

“I’m fine. Did you know that Harris and Janie are dating?” Harley looks unfazed but surprised at the same time.

“Yeah? Didn’t you? I thought everyone knew. But you’re one of her besties!” She says, her brow wrinkling. I sigh and a Harley gets up. I hear her tell Janie she needs to talk to me. Now. 

“Hey, girl, you OK?” She says.

“Yeah. You into anyone?” I say as she sits down?”

She laughs nervously. “Nah. I’ve only got sports on the kind. No room up there for boys.” I gave her a chance to tell me. She could’ve told me. 

“Really. Not into anyone. Your boyfriend would beg to differ.” I say looking her in the eyes. “You know. Harris. My neighbor. My former friend. My crush. But none of that mattered to you when y’all decided to date, did it?”

“How did you find out about that? Did Harley tell you just now?” She says, looking angry.

“No. She didn’t. Harris did. I guess you were lying to him too because he thought that we were friends; I and you that is. I did too. But no friend does that.”

“Look I’m sorry but I fell for him; hard.”

“I don’t care that you’re dating him, Janie! I could’ve dealt with that! I’m angry because you didn’t tell me!”

“I didn’t want to tell you like this.” She says with tears in her eyes. “I wanted to tell you but I thought I’d lose the best friendship I’ve ever had.” Those were the words that caused me to forgive her

“Ugh, I just can’t decide which side I should be on.” She cocks her head in confusion. “I mean, if you break up should I kick your butt or his?” I say with a laugh and she laughs too. 

“Let’s go with his.” She says, linking her arm through mine. 

“Deal.” After practice, Janie and I go over to her house where Harris is waiting. 

“Oh, I forgot we had plans today. I'm sorry.” She says once we get there. 

“It’s fine. Kimber…why’d you storm away earlier?” He asks.

“Oh, Janie hadn’t told me yet, but everything is fine how. I’ll let y’all hang out.”

“Wait, Kimber. Friends again?”

I look over at Janie who looks a little jealous, but that’s only because I know her so well. “Im sorry, but no. That season is behind me now. I’ve got Riley and Janie and the other girls. Im good.” I say and walk away, trying not to let tears fall. Even though I had told Janie it was OK they were dating, it still really hurt to see Harris with someone else. 

When I get home, my older brother James is in the kitchen. He’s only a year older than me and we go to the same school, but I feel like I rarely see him.

“Hey, little sis.” He says when I take the seat at the aisle. 

“Hey.”

“So I’ve got an idea; you and I rarely see each other because I’m spending so much time with Sabrina, so maybe we could do a double date thing?” Sabrina is his girlfriend for the last two years. They’re perfect together. 

I smile “I’d love that.”

“Really? I thought you’d say no. You never say yes to double dates after Ryan.” I roll my eyes. 

“Riley set me up with him. That’s different. I trust you a little bit more to pick someone great for me.”

“Nice. I was thinking I’d ask Harris if he wanted to come.” I almost spit out the water I had started to take a sip out.

“Jay, he has a girlfriend.”

“He does?” He says, looking shocked.

“I know, right? But yeah. He and Janie are dating.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Maybe I’ll ask Leo then.” I nod.

Leo is James’ best friend. He’s the quarterback of the football team and he has all the girls swooning over him. Unfortunately for them, he doesn’t love going on dates. He only goes with someone he cares about or if James takes him on a double. 

“Sounds perfect. Leo’s a nice guy.” And he is. 

What I didn’t know was how wrong I was about Harris. 

I always thought that Harris was the perfect guy for me, but he wasn’t. When we went on that date, I realized how amazing Leo is. He’s into the same music as me, which is a hard find, and he loves journalism just as much as I do. We dominated the conversation and exchanged numbers at the end. He even insisted on driving me home so I wouldn’t have to wait for James to drop Sabrina off. 

I know, it sounds like I got over Harris quickly. But, the thing is, he was never a crush. I just wanted my friend back. I missed him. Once Leo and I started dating, it became a lot easier. We went on a lot of double dates with Janie and Harris and our other friends. 

Janie and Harris eventually broke up, but Leo and I didn’t. Today is our 3 year anniversary. He proposed to me three weeks ago because he just couldn’t wait for this day. For our anniversary, we decided instead of going out, which we learned we both hate, we would sit in and plan our wedding. It was a magical evening. 

On our wedding day, Janie was one of my bridesmaids and Harris showed up. Leo nor I invited him, so we were all confused. When the pastor asked for any objections, to everyone’s surprise, Harris stood up. 

You’d think he would’ve made this huge speech about how he loved me. He tried to, that’s for sure.

Janie tackled him. Yes, I’m telling you the truth. She tackled him. She knew I was happy with Leo so she got rid of the objection before it even started. Security dragged Harris out and the wedding continued.

Harris was always a weird person. He was different from everyone else. From Leo. And I guess that was a good thing because Leo was exactly what I wanted. 

A weird neighbor, a weird crush, and a best friend can turn into a lot of drama, but in the end, it all works out. Well, in my case, at least.

*Author's note

Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! If you liked this story, please like and comment. If you didn't, I'd love for yall to leave feedback in the comments as well (or if you liked it and also want to leave feedback, I'd love that as well!). Either way, I hope yall have a great day! Bye!