You Belong With Me

Taylor's P.O.V.

This night was better than I could ever imagine. For most of this past year, I have been living my life thinking that I would never get to be with the boy that I loved. When he wrote “I love you too” on the memory board, my whole world was turned upside down. A few years ago, if someone came up to me and told me that I would be madly in love with Alex Gaskarth, I would have laughed in that person's face. Now, everything was completely different.

When he kissed me, it was almost like a confirmation of his feelings. We kissed with such passion and emotion that he had to love me back at least a little bit. His lips stuck to mine like glue; we couldn't be broken apart. His hands pulled me into his chest so that our bodies were as close as possible. I wrapped my hands around his neck and attached myself to him. Suddenly, all the noise around us subsided and all the people disappeared. The only thing that mattered was that Alex and I were together. I didn't care about anything else. We were both completely lost in the moment.

“Would you two get a room?!” Jack nearly screamed, breaking us apart. “Quit making out in the middle of the dance floor. You are making me sick!”

“Shut up, dick hole,” said Alex as he hit Jack upside the head. “You are just mad it's not you making out with an incredibly beautiful girl at prom.” I smiled widely at him.

“Ow!” Jack whined as he rubbed his head where Alex hit him. Then he thought about what Alex said and shrugged. “Maybe you're right, but, if I were you, me and my girl wouldn't be here anymore. We'd be in a hotel room and I'd be giving her the ride of her life.”

This time, it was my turn to smack Jack in the head; hard. “Ew, you pervert! Alex and I aren't going anywhere near a hotel tonight.”

“Ow!” he whined again. “I was kidding! Will you guys stop hitting me?”

“Yeah, when you stop being a cockblock,” responded Alex.

He looked at each of us and said, “Ok, fine, Katelyn and I will meet you two back at the table.” He reached behind him and grabbed Katelyn's hand, leading her back to the table and leaving us alone.

Alex turned his attention back to me and we continued to dance. “You know, sometimes I wonder why we are friends with that kid,” he said.

“I completely agree,” I said. “I wonder that all the time actually. But, then again, there are those rare times when he actually has some good ideas. For example, he basically thought of the whole plan to get me here.”

“I guess I'll have to thank the doofus for that later. Who would have thought that he of all people would come up with all that.”

“Tell me about it. I was surprised at how brilliant he was when he told me.”

“You know, even though he's extremely weird, I know he'll always be my best friend,” he said as he held me close. “He may say some really obscene things, but it's times like these that prove to me that he's a great friend.”

“I agree,” I said. “When he told me he loved me, I felt so bad for hurting him. He hugged and comforted me and told me that everything would be ok. The next day, he talked to me as if nothing happened and nothing changed between us. Then, yesterday and even right now, he put his own feelings aside so that you and I could be happy together. If that's not best friend material, then I don't know what is.”

“He really is pretty awesome,” agreed Alex, “especially since he brought me you.” He leaned his head down and connected his lips to mine once more for a short, but sweet kiss. Once the song was over, we decided we really should return to the table. He grabbed my hand and led me off the dance floor.

“How did everything go?” Kara asked eagerly as she saw us approaching. “Jack and Katelyn wouldn't tell us anything.” She shot daggers at them with her eyes.

I held up our connected hands to show everyone. “We are officially together now.” The whole table broke out into loud cheering.

“Well it's about fucking time!” Rian said as he got up to congratulate us. “All I have been hearing for the past few months was how much he wanted to be with you. Maybe now that it has actually happened, I can have some peace.”

“Shut the fuck up,” laughed Alex. “I wasn't that bad.”

“Oh yes you were,” countered Rian. “You called or texted me at least once a day saying something about how you wished you could be with Taylor.”

“Aw, that's so cute!” I said, ruffling Alex's hair and smiling at him.

“Hey, you weren't much better,” Kara accused me. “You called me every day whining about how you couldn't go to prom with Alex and how you wished that he felt the same way about you.”

“Aw, that's so cute!” Alex mocked me. He lifted up a hand and was about to ruffle my hair too, but I blocked him.

“Don't even think about it, mister. If you mess up my hair, you will get smacked in places that no boy wants to be smacked in,” I said.

“Aw, look at you guys,” teased Zack. “You're acting like a couple already!”

Alex and I exchanged looks and rolled our eyes. We sat down and ate the dessert that the waiters served to us. As we ate, I noticed that Jack and Katelyn were sitting next to each other and talking. Every so often, they would burst out into laughter. I couldn't help but smile; they seemed happy together. If Katelyn really was changing like we thought she was, then Jack would be good for her. It was nearly impossible to be mean to his goofy face. Besides, now hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about being a third wheel between me and Alex because now he would have someone of his own.

A few hours later, prom ended and we all found ourselves back in the limo. Jack immediately found the champagne and filled up eight glasses.

“Looks like my toast actually came true,” he said as he handed out the glasses.

“What was your toast?” I asked since I was the only one who didn't ride with them on the way there.

“He said that tonight would be the night that changed everything,” Alex said as he lifted his arm and put it around me. “And it definitely was.” I leaned into him and rested my head on his chest. He turned his attention towards Jack and Kara. “I owe you guys so much. Thank you so much for helping Taylor with everything tonight.”

“Well she has been talking about how she wants to be with you for so long that I wanted her to finally get her chance,” explained Kara. “I'm really glad everything worked out for you two.”

“And I was so sick of both you coming to me complaining about how you never though you could be together,” Jack chimed in. “It's all you guys would ever talk about when the other person wasn't around. I couldn't take all the brooding anymore, so I decided that this thing needed to happen. It all worked out because the Jack Attack is the best, most smartest person who has ever lived!”

“Most smartest?” Katelyn laughed.

Jack pouted and said, “You all just wish you were as smart as me.”

“Oh yeah, we all wish we were Jack the genius,” Alex rolled his eyes. “But, you really did do a lot for Taylor and me, so thank you.”

“You're welcome, Bro. That's what best friends do; we have each other's backs.”

“Hell yea, we do,” Alex agreed. “This night was the best of my life.”

“It just sucks that it's all over,” said Rian.

“Oh no, it's not over yet,” said Jack.

“What do you mean?” Zack's date, Laura, asked him.

“It's prom!” answered Jack. “We have to celebrate. I propose that we all go home and get some sleep and then wake up tomorrow morning and drive down to Ocean City for the night. This way, when we party, we won't have to worry about parents. Besides, we all have pretty good fake I.D.s, so we can go to bars and clubs all night.”

“But our parents would never go for that,” I stated.

Jack shrugged. “So just tell them you are spending the night with some friends. You don't have to tell them that you plan to go out and get trashed all night. I'm sure they'll understand. It's prom weekend anyway. Live a little.”

“But how the hell are we going to get reservations now?” asked Zack. “I'm sure everyone else from our school had the same idea.”

“Already done,” responded Jack. “I already got us a reservation at the Princess Bayside.”

“Nice!” Alex said as he leaned forward to give Jack a high-five.

“So, who's in?” asked Jack.

It took some convincing, but eventually everyone agreed. It seemed like this was going to be one wild weekend. Count on Jack to find a way for us to party.

The limo dropped everyone off at their respective houses and we all decided to meet up at Jack's house the following morning to leave for Ocean City. Alex and I were the last to be dropped off. He got out first and then turned around and offered me a hand out of the limo and we walked up to my front doorstep.

“I never wanted this night to end,” I stated, looking into his big brown eyes. “I never dreamed it would turn out this good.”

“Maybe it doesn't have to.” He put his hands on my hips and pulled me close to him. “We slept over each other's houses when we were friends. It shouldn't be any different now that we're together. Stay with me tonight.”

I brought my index finger up to my chin and pretended to think about it. “Hmmm, I don't know...”

“Come on!” he pleaded and I laughed.

“I was just kidding! Of course I would love nothing more than to spend the night with you.”

“Good,” he said and he kissed me. No matter how many times we kissed, I knew those butterflies in my stomach would never go away. “Now, which house do you want to sleep at?” he asked once we broke apart.

“Let's go to yours,” I answered. “I feel like I haven't really seen your parents in awhile.”

“My house it is,” he said as he took my hand and led me toward his front door. Once we were in the house, he picked me up bridal-style and carried me up the steps. I couldn't stop laughing and smiling the whole time, not to mention worrying that he would bang my head into the door frame like guys always do in movies. When we got to his room, he dropped me on the bed and started kissing me passionately. We broke apart a few minutes later and laid next to each other breathlessly.

“I could totally get used to this,” I said.

“Get used to what?” he asked, turning his head so that he was facing me.

“Kissing you,” I smiled. In response, he just kissed me again. This would never get old.

Even though we both wanted to do nothing more than make out all night, we knew we should get some sleep if we wanted to be ready for tomorrow. He gave me some of his clothes to wear to bed, so I went into the bathroom and changed. When I came back out, he was already changed and laying in bed, smiling widely at me.

“God, you look so sexy in my clothes,” he commented. I could feel my face grow hot as I blushed and he laughed at me. He patted the space next to him, so I crawled into bed and cuddled close to his chest.

“It feels so nice being with you,” he said once I was next to him. “I've never felt this way before about anyone, not even with Kelly or Katelyn. This is a whole different kind of love.”

“Is that good or bad?” I asked, not quite sure I wanted to know the answer.

“It's amazing,” he said simply. “You are the only thing I think about anymore; you are the most important person in my life. I hope you know that.”

I looked over at him. “The only thing I have to say to that is ditto.” He smiled and kissed my forehead. I rested my head on his chest, never feeling more comfortable in my life.

All of a sudden, he started to laugh. “What's so funny?” I asked as I rubbed his chest with one hand.

“I'm just picturing how our parents are going to react when we tell them we're together,” he answered. “They are either going to completely flip a shit or be so happy that they'll attack us with hugs.”

“It'll definitely be interesting to see,” I agreed. “I'm sure they'll be happy for us though. My parents have been asking me why I wasn't with you for awhile now.”

“Yeah, back in September after we had our fight, my mom noticed that we were mad at each other, so she told me that she and your mom always thought that we would end up together. At the time, I never would have imagined her to be right, yet here we are.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “This time last year, I was still with Ryan. I thought he was the one for me, but, boy, was I wrong. I never would have thought that I would end up here with you one year later. It's funny how much things can change.”

“I'll tell you one thing though,” he said as he held me close to him. “My life is so much better right now than it was last year, or even than it ever was.”

“Mine too,” I responded. “Goodnight, Garth.”

“Goodnight, Swifter. I love you.”

I fell asleep with a smile on my face. That was definitely the best thing to hear right before I went to sleep.