You Belong With Me

Alex's P.O.V.

Ok, I'll admit it. I know I'm probably being immature about this whole thing, but seeing them flirting with each other was the cherry on top of an already horrible day. I couldn't just sit there and watch it, so I got some food at a vending machine and sat outside on a bench to eat it.

I wished more than anything that I could just rewind the time back to last October when she kissed me in my room after our family dinner. At the time, I couldn't even consider being with her. Back then, she felt like a sister to me, but then she proved that she could be so much more than that.

Of course it's just my luck that once I realize that I have feelings for her, she goes and starts to like Jack. It figures. Fuck, what the hell am I supposed to do? They are my best friends. What if they get together and I still have feelings for Taylor? That would be awful. It would be so awkward hanging out with them that I'm not sure I would be able to do it. It seems karma has come to bite me in the ass because now I know how Taylor felt when I was with Katelyn. The only difference is that I actually like Jack, which makes the situation a hell of a lot more complicated. Fuck my life.

I took a huge, angry bite into my sandwich and felt my phone buzzing in my pocket.

From: Taylor
Hey, where are you?

I thought of an excuse and remembered that I had most, but not all of my classes with Jack, so I decided to use that to my advantage. I'm studying with a friend for a test I forgot I had. Sorry I can't make it to lunch, I responded.

Good luck on your test! Jack and I will miss you, she responded a minute later.

I said thanks and then put my phone back in my pocket and continued to eat. It comforted me to know that she cared enough about me to want to know where I was.

“What did she do to you?” asked a voice that was all too familiar. I turned to see that Katelyn was sitting directly next to me.

“Why the fuck do you care?” I asked sneering at her.

“I do care. A lot.”

“Which is why you cheated on me, right? Oh wait, no, according to you, you cheated on me because you were afraid of getting hurt, so instead you decided to hurt me.”

“Can't we just skip this bullshit and you can just tell me what's wrong? I'm trying to help.”

“No, we can't 'skip the bullshit,'” I said putting two fingers in the air as quote marks. “I don't trust you anymore, so I'm not just going to act like everything is peachy when it isn't. I can't just act like we're friends. It would be a lie.”

“But I don't see why we can't just put that all behind us.”

“Because now, every single time I see your face, I think of what you did to me. I'm not going to get over that any time soon. You told me you cheated on me right after my brother committed suicide. I lost two very important people in my life within a month of each other. Do you have any idea how much that fucked me up?” I waited to see if she would respond, but she didn't so I continued. “I sank into a depression and had to go therapy. I am currently on antidepressants partly because of you. You should be proud. You really did a number on me.”

With that, I got up, got my stuff and started walking away, but she followed me.

“Alex, I'm so sorry,” she said. Something about the way her voice sounded made me turn around and look at her. I was surprised to see a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“What's done is done,” I responded. “There's no going back.”

“But, there's always the future, right? I can always do better in the future.”

“Yeah, I guess just as long as it's not with me.”

She stopped walking and I continued, leaving her behind. I couldn't help but look back over my shoulder. The tears began to roll more rapidly down her cheeks. It appears that I have finally broken her. It was about time she got a taste of her own medicine. There was no way I was going to let her take advantage of me when she thought I was vulnerable. I was smarter than that now.

Somehow, I was able to hold up a normal expression around Jack in our classes together. This is when being in all those stupid little elementary school plays helped me.

“Hey, dude,” he said in one of our classes. “We missed you at lunch.”

“I know sorry about that,” I responded. “I completely forgot I had a test. It was lucky that I happened to run into someone in my class who reminded me.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jack was never one to really care about grades. As long as he had a passing grade in every class, he was happy. Taylor always yells at him for not doing his homework, but he says he doesn't want to waste his life learning about things that he will never need to know in the future. “What are you up to tonight?”

“Nothing really, why?”

“Do you want to hang out tonight? We haven't played against each other in Halo in a long time and I'm still looking to beat your highest score.”

“I don't know about that last part, but you can come over tonight if you want and we can hang out and play some video games in the basement.”

“Alright, cool.”

Then, the teacher caught us talking, so we didn't have a chance to say another word to each other until class was done.

The rest of the day continued relatively normal. Before I knew it, the bell sounded signaling the end of the day, so I went to my locker to grab my stuff and then I met Taylor by hers.

“Hey, how did your test go?” she asked as I approached her.

“It actually went pretty well,” I lied. I hated lying to her, but I couldn't tell her that I was sitting outside brooding about her and Jack. I wasn't ready for her to know just yet. “How was your day?”

“It was ok. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. How was yours?” she said as she finished gathering her stuff and we began to walk out to her car.

“The morning was terrible, but the afternoon was a little better.”

“Why? What happened?” She turned to look at me with a concerned expression on her face.

We got in the car and she started to drive as I proceeded to tell her about Katelyn while of course altering some details about how she came up to me at lunch. By the time I was done talking, Taylor was livid.

“I can't believe that bitch did that to you,” she said angrily. “Right now, I would like nothing better than to drive over to her house and give her a piece of my mind and maybe my fist.”

In spite of everything, I couldn't help but laugh.

“What's so funny?” she asked crinkling her eyebrows.

“You are,” I laughed. “Hearing you say something like 'I want to give her a piece of my mind and maybe my fist' is just so out of character for you. It's kind of funny picturing you being violent, especially since you are usually so innocent.”

'Hey, I can't be a violent bad girl when I want to be,” she said. “I'm not always little miss innocent.”

“I'd like to see you try,” I challenged.

“Alright then,” she said as she made a wrong turn.

“Where are you going?” I asked. “We live the other way.”

“I know. I'm taking you up on your challenge and we are driving over to Katelyn's house.”

“What? Wait, how do you even know where she lives?”

“I looked up her address in the school directory after she left our party. I was seriously thinking of paying her a visit then too, but I didn't because you needed me.”

“Ok, turn around. You don't need to do this. I see your point now. You would go beat up Katelyn in a heartbeat.”

“Damn straight I would.”

“You don't need to prove anything to me. I don't want you to do anything stupid, now please just turn around,” I pleaded with her. She looked at my face for a moment and then finally gave in.

“Ok, fine,” she said, turning the car around. “But, if she does anything else to hurt you, she had better watch out.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” I did not want to be responsible for Taylor getting in trouble and I would feel even worse if, God forbid, she got hurt. “I must say, I do kind of like this wild side of you, though. It's fun to watch.”

She laughed. “Well, I'm glad you're amused. She turned into her driveway.

“Jack is coming over tonight if you want to come hang out with us,” I said before we got out of the car and internally cringing at the thought of watching them together again. I guess I would just have to get used to it.

“I can't,” she responded. “I have a doctor appointment tonight, but maybe I'll come afterwards. I have to go do all my homework now so that I don't run out of time.”

“Ok cool, I guess I will see you later then,” I said as we each got out of the car.

“Yeah, definitely.”

We parted ways as she headed toward her front door and I walked over to my house.

As I waited for Jack to come, I decided to be a good boy and do some homework in my room because I had nothing better to do. When I got bored, I would look over into Taylor's room. Sometimes, we would make eye contact and smile at each other and wave.

He came over around six o'clock and we decided to get some pizza delivered for dinner. As we ate, we turned on some Monday Night Football and wished we could each hold an ice cold beer in our hands. Unfortunately, my parents were home. Neither of us were particularly into the game since the Ravens weren't playing, but it was still something to watch.

“I hope it's the Ravens versus the Steelers in the Superbowl just so that we can kick some Steeler ass,” Jack said during a commercial.

“Yeah, I can't wait to see the look on Ben Roethlisberger's face if that happens and we win,” I agreed. “I hope we make that fucker run scared.”

“If that happens, I fully plan on getting completely trashed.”

I gave him a look. “Jack, you know you would get completely trashed anyway.”

“That might be true, but if the Steelers win, I would get trashed to get rid of my misery. If the Ravens win, I would get trashed in celebration of our victory. When the Steelers won the last Superbowl, I went into a depression. It was one of the worst days of my life,” he said dramatically.

“Yeah, I remember that. When they scored that last touchdown and the game ended, you started screaming and running around like a mad person and then you ran yourself into a wall.” I laughed as I remembered watching Jack run headfirst into a wall and then falling down. He gave himself a bloody nose.

“Like I said, I was severely depressed and not in my right mind.

“I don't think you have ever been in your right mind,” I joked.

“Hey, fuck you,” he said laughing a little bit. He slapped my shoulder and we got into a hitting match. A few minutes later, our hands were red and we were laughing so hard it hurt.

After the game ended, we decided to play Halo so that Jack could try to beat my high score. Luckily, by the time we were done, nothing had changed and I still remained the champion.

“You are such a fucking cheater!” he said angrily when we finished.

“How am I a cheater?”

“Because you are you!”

“What the fuck? That makes no sense!”

“I know, I'm just mad that I lost.”

“Thought so.”

“Hey, where's Taylor?” he wondered.

“She said she has a doctor appointment and that maybe she will come later.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I hope she can come.” I could hear the emotion in his voice. He really wanted her to get here as soon as possible.

We were both silent for a few minutes. The look on Jack's face told me he was thinking deeply about something, which is unusual for him.

“Speaking of Taylor,” he finally said. “I have a question for you and I want you to be completely honest with me.”

“Ok,” I said, wondering what he was about to ask me.

“Do you like her?”

I knew exactly what he was asking me, but I tried to avoid an answer. “Of course I like her. She's my best friend. Why wouldn't I like her?”

Now it was his turn to give me a look. “You know what I mean, Alex.”

“Honestly?” I gulped.

“Honestly,” he responded.

I decided to just tell him the truth. It was better to have everything out in the open. “Yes,” I finally said. “I like her. I realize now that I've liked her ever since Valentine's Day, maybe even before that.”

He let out a long puff of air in response. “Are you going to tell her?” he asked.

“Well, that depends.”

“On what?”

“I also have a question for you and I want you to be honest.”

“Ok,” he said crinkling his eyebrows in confusion.

“Do you like Taylor too?”

It took him awhile, but eventually, I heard a very distinct “Yes” come out of his mouth.

Houston, we have a problem.