You Belong With Me

Taylor’s P.O.V.

Alex and I have been best friends for pretty much our whole lives. He has always been my confidant, my saviour, my rock. No matter what, I always knew I could turn to him and he would always be there for me. I would not know myself without him. No matter what happens, he will always be a big part of my life.

Even though I was only two years-old when we met, I remember the day pretty well. I had no idea how much he would change my life.

*FLASHBACK*

“Taylor, Honey, don’t do that! Stay still!” my mother scolded. I could not stop squirming trying to get out of my car seat. My parents and I had been in the car for I don’t know how many hours. My dad’s job got relocated, so we had to move from Nashville, Tennessee to Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. If you think a really long car ride is hard for an adult, it’s even harder for a two year-old. . I looked down at my little baby pink dress and white shoes and started to cry. I was tired and I was hungry and I was bored of all the games I brought to play in the car. My whole body was stiff from sitting for so long.

“Mommy, wh-when can we get out of the c-caw?” I whined through my tears. I had been talking for a year now, but I still had trouble pronouncing my R’s.

“Soon, Sweetie. We’re almost there, I promise.” My dad was driving and my mom was sitting in the front seat, so she reached back and put a comforting hand on my leg.
“My body weally huwts though!” I continued to wail.

“I know, Honey. Just hang in there for a few more minutes,” responded my dad. “When we get to our new house, I promise I will make everything feel all better. Right now, Mommy and I need you to be a good girl for just a few more minutes so that we can figure out where we are going. Can you do that?”

“Ok,” I sad grudgingly and folded my little arms across my chest.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about five minutes, we finally made a turn into a residential neighbourhood. My dad drove slowly down the street trying to find our new address. We ultimately stopped at a medium-sized baby blue colonial-style house with a white wrap-around porch. To my enjoyment, there was a porch swing in the front of the house. The moving truck pulled into the driveway and my dad pulled up to the curb.

“Here we are at our new home sweet home!” my dad said as he got out of the car. He opened the back door, unbuckled me from my car seat, and lifted me out of the car. He took my hand and walked me over to the sidewalk beside my mom.

“Alex, Honey, no!” At this, I looked up and saw a boy with big brown eyes and messy brown hair running toward me. He was the exact clone of his mother, who was chasing after him in heels. As he ran, he tried desperately to take off his shirt; it appeared that he did not much like wearing clothes. He looked around to see how close his mother was, but then he bumped straight into my father and me.

“Whoa, slow down there, Slugger” Dad said as he grabbed the boy’s shoulders so that he would not fall backward.

“Alexander William Gaskarth, you are in big trouble, Young Man!” his mother stormed as she approached us. She grabbed her son’s hand then looked at my father and gave him an apologetic smile. “I am so sorry. He’s not usually this rambunctious.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dad responded. “My wife and I have our hands full with this little one, so I know how you feel.” When he said “this little one”, he looked down at me and smiled.
For the first time, the woman looked at our front lawn and realized that we were moving in. “Oh you must be my new neighbours! I’m Melanie Gaskarth and this is my son, Alex.”

“So nice to meet you, Melanie! I am Barbara Swift and this is my husband, David, and my daughter, Taylor.”

“Welcome to the neighbourhood. Where are you guys moving from?”

“We’re originally from Nashville, but my job got relocated, so we had to move” answered my father.

At this point, since I was a little girl who was not very interested in jobs just yet, I stopped listening to what the adults were saying and turned my attention to the boy in front of me. I could tell he was bored just standing here too. He looked around and found a brown leaf on the ground. He threw it up in the air and watched it float down into his hands. I decided I wanted to try too, so I did the same thing. He looked over at me with a sense of curiosity in his eyes. I guess he had never really been around a girl his age before, so he did not really know what to expect. Being an only child, I could say the same thing myself.

“What’s youw name?” he asked me. I guess he couldn’t pronounce his R’s either.

“I’m Taylow, what’s youw name?”

“Awix. Do you want to go pway in my backyawd?”

I nodded and so he took my hand and led me into his big backyard. The adults seemed to be too wrapped up in their conversation, so they did not even notice as we left. In their backyard, they had pretty much everything a little kid could want: a set of swings, a jungle-gym including a slide and monkey bars, a plastic car that a little kid could drive on the deck, and a big space to run around in. The car looked very alluring to me; I had wanted one when I saw it in the toy store, but my parents said I was too young to have one. Alex must have read my mind because he led me straight to it.

“Do you want to dwive?” he asked.

“No thank you,” I answered politely. I climbed into the passenger side and he started driving the car all around the porch. For some reason, neither of us could stop screaming and laughing.

A few minutes later, our parents seemed to realize that we weren’t with them. All three of them ran frantically into the backyard searching for us. When they saw us, Melanie walked up to the deck and stopped the car.

“Alex, you know better than to wonder away from Mommy” she scolded as she lifted him out of the car and held him securely on her hip.

“Taylor, that was very bad of you. You never, ever walk away from us like that!” my own mother said as she also lifted me out of the car and held me to her hip.

“Sowwy, Mommy,” Alex and I said at the same time.

“Well, isn’t that cute?” laughed my dad. “It seems like our kids have become friends already.”

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? I’m sure you guys are tired from your long drive and you might not feel like going out again,” suggested Melanie.

“Are you sure we’re not imposing?” my mom asked.

“No, of course not! Plus, it would be a great opportunity to get to know each other better. You still have to meet my husband and my other son. They are at soccer practice right now, but they will be back soon.”

“As long as you are sure,” responded my dad. Melanie insisted that we eat with her and her family, so she led us inside and up to Alex’s room so that we could play while the adults continued to talk about boring topics that I did not understand. A few minutes later, we heard the front door open and close from downstairs.

“Hello? Honey, we’re home!” a deep male voice travelled up the stairs.

“DADDY!” Alex shouted and bounded down the steps into his father’s arms. “I missed you, Daddy.”

Mr. Gaskarth laughed and said, “I missed you too, Little Man.” Then, he looked up and saw the rest of us standing at the top of the steps. He looked at his wife with a question in his eyes.

“David, these are our new neighbours, David, Barbara, and Taylor Swift,” said Melanie. “This is my husband, Robert and my other son, Eric. The Swifts are going to stay for dinner so that we can get to know them better.” When she mentioned there was another boy there, my eyes searched and found a tall, timid boy with bright blue eyes and blond hair hiding behind his father and smiling shyly at me. Judging by his height, he was a few years older than Alex and me. Then, I looked up at his father and noticed that there was very little difference in terms of looks between Eric and his father. It seemed Alex was the spitting image of their mother and Eric was the spitting image of their father.

“Great! It’s nice to meet you,” said Robert brightly. “Our last neighbours weren’t so nice, so hopefully it will be better this time.”

“Oh, I just know it will all work out,” said my mom. “I have a good feeling about this.”

While the adults went to get dinner ready, Alex, Eric, and I were allowed to go upstairs and play. I remembered feeling completely at ease. At that age, most girls would not have wanted to play with boys, but I welcomed the change because I did not have anyone else to play with. I never had any siblings and Alex and Eric were my first friends. That night, my parents let me sleep next to Alex in his crib. Neither of us was big enough for a bed yet and my crib was not set up in my new room yet.

Ever since that first night, our families have pretty much merged into one. We spent every single holiday together and had dinner together at least twice a week. If Eric had a soccer game or I had a dance recital, we would all go. Melanie and Robert thought of me as their daughter and my parents thought of Alex and Eric as their sons. We were inseparable; nothing could tear us apart.