You Belong With Me

Alex's P.O.V.

For some reason, I couldn't get Taylor out of my head the whole weekend. Normally, I would say that it's just because I was hanging out with her a lot, but, the truth is I wasn't. On Saturday, she had to go with her parents to see some relatives and they stayed over night since it was a far drive. She asked if I wanted to come along, but we had band practice that day, which was especially important since we actually had a contract now. It was harder to be away from her last weekend than it has ever been. I found myself dialing her number just to remember that she couldn't talk and I couldn't help but look out my window only to remember that she wouldn't be there.

I couldn't stop thinking about how it felt when she held my hand or the way her body felt against mine when we were dancing. Her smile lit up the night and the warmth of her body next to mine heated up the room. The image of the happiness in her bright blue eyes and her sheer beauty constantly danced across my mind. I never felt anything like that for any of the other girls I have been with.

Needless to say, I was relieved when I saw the light illuminate her room when she got home Sunday night. I waited a few minutes so that she could get settled in and then I picked up my laser and shined it at her window and grabbed my dry erase board.

How was your weekend? I wrote and I showed it to her when she opened the curtain.

Boring, she responded. There wasn't anyone there that was my age, so there was nothing to do. I wish you could have come.

I'm sorry. I wish I could have too.

It's ok. I understand. You and the band have a lot to do.

I missed you though,I wrote. I hesitated and then turned the board around to show her. She seemed slightly surprised. Normally, I don't say things like that to her. Soon, she recovered and wrote back to me.

I missed you too. Those were definitely four words that I liked seeing.

Do you want to come over and hang out for a little bit?I asked.

Be right there, she responded.

A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock on my door and she came in a second later. I got up and gave her a hug taking in the sweet smell of the shampoo in her hair as I did.

“So how did band practice go?” she asked as we walked over to the bed and sat down.

“It went really well actually. We spent a lot of time finalizing some of our songs. Now the only thing left is for the producer to look at them and tell us if they're good or they suck, but I think most of them are ready for recording. We start working with the producer next weekend.”

“That's awesome. I can't meet with mine until next month, but I'm ok with that because now I have time to work on more songs.”

“I'm kind of nervous. What if the guy hates all of our songs and tells us we suck?”

“Well, first of all, he can't tell you that you suck because you already got signed. Second of all, he's not going to hate your songs if they are heartfelt, which they are. Besides, he has to be professional and give you constructive criticism to make the song better.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

We both laid down on the bed and I put my arm around her and pulled her closer to me.

“It's kind of funny, isn't it?” she asked turning to me.

“What is?”

“Thinking about how much everything is about to change. I mean, think about it. We're graduating high school in less than four months and we're about to start recording albums and doing national tours. It makes me wonder how everything is going to turn out. Will it be everything we have hoped for?”

“I hope so. It's scary to think about, but the most we can do is try and if we fail, at least we'll have fun doing it.”

Taylor slept over that night and woke up early the next morning so that she could walk back to her house to get ready for school. I missed having her sleep beside me. It felt like we hadn't done that in a really long time. Soon, I heard a loud beep, so I made my way outside and into the front seat of her car. When we got to school, I found that I had enough time to walk her to homeroom, which is not something I usually do. I even held her books for her, which is probably the most surprising part because I don't even want to carry all of my own books.

“Thanks for walking with me,” she said smiling at me as we got to her homeroom and she took her books out of my hands. “You're being such a gentleman today.”

“Are you saying I'm not a gentleman every day?” I asked pretending to be hurt.

Her face turned slightly red. “No, no of course I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that-”

I put my index finger up to her lips before she could finish and laughed at her embarrassed expression. “Sssshhh I know what you meant, I was just kidding.”

She looked relieved. “Oh, of course I knew that. Duh, it's you. I guess I just forgot who I was talking to for a second because you always bust my chops when I say something the wrong way.”

“Damn straight I do. You're so much fun to tease.” I chuckled as I mussed her hair a little bit and she gave me a dirty look.

“Stop,” she said laughing a little bit while trying to hit my hand away. “It took a little while to do my hair this morning and I am not going to let you mess it up.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” I said as I continued to try to mess up her hair and she continued to try to slap my hand away. “You took like an hour just to straighten your hair.” When I said this, she went to hit my shoulder, but she dropped her books in the process. I continued to laugh at her distress.

“Now look what you made me do!” she yelled at me. We both bent down at the same time to gather up her books. As I handed her a pile of books, she glared at me, but when she saw my sad puppy dog face, she couldn't help but laugh. The five minute warning bell began to ring.

“I guess that means I should go. Mr. Hall hates me, so I don't want to give him any reason to get me in trouble.”

“Ok have a good day and I will see you at lunch,” she said and she waved as I walked away.

As I walked toward my own homeroom, a head of reddish brown hair caught my eye and I couldn't help but turn to stare. It surprised me to see that, for once, Katelyn was standing alone at her locker angrily shoving her books into her backpack. A part of me wondered what happened between her and the other Alex and it angered me that I even cared that much. I decided to try to shake it off and walked into my homeroom and sat in my normal seat. I didn't turn around as Katelyn walked past me to get to her seat directly behind me.

“Alex?” she leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

It surprised me that she even had the nerve to talk to me after everything she did to me. I ignored her.

“Alex, can I please talk to you?” she pleaded. Her voice sounded desperate, but I continued to act as if I couldn't hear a word she was saying. When she saw that I had no intention of answering, she continued. “Look, I know I hurt you really badly, but I'm truly sorry now and I just wanted you to know that.”

That last comment put me over the edge. I couldn't stay silent anymore. “Oh so you think that just because you are sorry that it will magically make me forgive you?” I whispered back harshly. “You broke my fucking heart because you cheated on me with some douche bag. I don't think I will ever be able to forgive you for that.”

“I know that you may never forgive me, but I want to at least try. I miss you.”

“Yeah well it's a little late for that. I'm sure you're just talking to me again because the other guy dumped you.”

“That's not true. I really regret what I did to you and I want to prove to you that you can trust me again.”

“Good luck with that one. You got yourself another guy immediately after we broke up and you told me you cheated on me soon after my brother died, so obviously I didn't mean shit to you when you meant the world to me.”

“No, I loved you then and I still love you now.”

“You've got a funny way of showing it.”

“I cheated on you because I was scared of my feelings for you. I didn't want to get my heart broken, so I broke yours instead.”

“If that's the case, then fuck you, Katelyn.”

Thankfully, the bell for first period rang, so I grabbed my backpack and raced out of the room before she could try to defend herself some more. I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I walked toward class willing me to turn around and talk to her. What a manipulative bitch.

“Dude, what's with you?” Jack asked as I slammed my bag down on the table, sat down and put my head in my hands.

“GOD I fucking hate her!” I nearly screamed. Luckily, it was still loud in the room because class hadn't started yet, so no one heard me except Jack.

“Who do you hate?” he asked bringing his eyebrows together in confusion.

'Katelyn! She's such a fucking bitch! Ever since we broke up, she has made sure to flaunt that she moved on, but now that she broke up with her other boyfriend, she's trying to get me back again.”

“When did she break up with her boyfriend?”

“I don't know, but I definitely saw them together last Friday and they looked perfectly happy.”

“Maybe they're not actually broken up and she's just trying to cheat on him too. Did you see him at all today?”

“No I don't think so now that you mention it.”

“Just don't let her get to you, man. She's not worth it. She just knows that you don't want her anymore and it's driving her crazy.”

“Yeah, I think you're right,” I agreed. “She's just a whore who has to have every guy's attention all the time.”

The teacher came in and the class began, so Jack and I didn't have a chance to say any more on the subject.

A few hours later, it was finally time for lunch. I was very antsy in my last class because I was anxious to leave so that I could tell Taylor about Katelyn and she could convince me further that Katelyn was a conniving bitch. However, when I walked into the cafeteria, I was met with a sight that I did not wish to see.

Taylor and Jack were sitting together and laughing and teasing like always. Taylor went to take some of Jack's food, but then he slapped her hand away. She then cradled her hand to her chest and looked at him with a sad face. His lips said that he was sorry and he pulled her hand away from her chest and gave it a kiss. I watched as color washed over her face and she laughed awkwardly. Unexplainable anger seeped through me as I turned around and walked straight back out of the cafeteria.

A realization finally clicked in my head: Taylor and Jack liked each other. As I thought about it, it began to make more and more sense. They flirted with each other all the time. They could barely keep their hands off each other at the club the other night. I stood on the sidelines glaring enviously as they happily danced their troubles away. I was going to ask Taylor to dance with me, but then Jack took her away so quickly. She looked so happy dancing with him that I didn't want to interrupt. And now here they were all over each other in the cafeteria. I couldn't take it.

Another realization also occurred to me: more than anything, I wanted Taylor to like me again, not Jack. I wanted her to be with me, not Jack or anyone else; I wanted her to be mine.