You Belong With Me

Alex's P.O.V.

Senior year seemed to speed by like a race car competing in NASCAR. The last week of May and the beginning few weeks of June were spent doing nothing other than preparing for the upcoming tour and finishing up last-minute school assignments. With only one week left until graduation, you could say that we were all getting a little antsy. Now, the only thing left to do is study for finals. Unfortunately, that's not as easy as it looks. Between tour practice every day after school, schoolwork, and spending quality time with my girlfriend, free time to study was hard to come by. Lucky for me, Taylor agreed to help me study tonight.

Jack and I were currently not-so-patiently waiting in line to get fitted for our caps and gowns. Jack could not seem to stay still; he kept tapping his legs or hopping up and down on the balls of his feet so that he could see how far we had to go. On the other hand, I couldn't seem to stop touching my hair. I guess you can call it an impatient twitch: when I'm bored or impatient, I touch my hair. Laugh if you must.

“Damn it, why is this taking so long?” asked Jack as he yet again got on his tiptoes to see how many people were ahead of us.

“When does this school ever do things quickly?” I countered.

“Point taken,” he responded. “While we're here, I have to talk to you about something.”

I finally stopped touching my hair and stuffed my hands into my pockets, giving him my full attention. “What's up?”

When he began to talk, he looked at the floor. Whatever he was about to tell me must have been big for him to be this nervous. “Well, I-.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Katelyn and I have been seeing each other ever since prom and I'm starting to really like her-”

“Ask her out,” I cut him off. He finally looked up at me and I could see the relief on his face.

“Really? You mean that?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course,” I chuckled. “You don't need my permission.”

“I just wanted to make sure since you are my best friend and you two kind of have a pretty bad history. I just wanted to make sure that this doesn't break our bro code or something.”

“Nope,” I shook my head. “The bro code is still intact. Go for it. The only thing I ask is that you be careful. I think she's changed, I really do, but I also don't want what happened to me to happen to you.”

He gave me the biggest Jack smile I have ever seen and said, “Will do.”

“So, when are you going to ask her out?” I asked as the line finally started moving forward.

“Tonight when we go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory,” he answered.

“The only thing I recommend is that you do not let her see your dick before you ask her out. When she sees how tiny it is, she may run for the hills. It could be a deal-breaker.” I cringed a little as he gave me a hard smack on the back.

“I am perfectly happy with the size of my dick, than you very much! Just ask my previous fuck buddies. They have all come back more than once, so that must mean it's pretty good.”

“Yeah, or it could just mean that they were desperate,” I laughed. Luckily, we were now at the front of the line, so he couldn't hit me anymore. As Jack went off to be fitted, I shouted, “Let me know what happens with Katelyn,” and he nodded in response. A woman beckoned me over to where she was and I slipped a red graduation gown over my clothes. For the next ten minutes, I was poked and prodded with pins and needles until the gown fit just right.

Eight hours later, Taylor and I were sprawled out on our stomachs on my bed with our textbooks open. She was attempting to teach me pre-calculus, but it wasn't working out very well.

“Ok what's the formula for the circumference of a circle?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” I answered honestly.

“How can you not know this?” she wondered. “It's pi times the radius squared!”

“Pie? I want some pie! Let's go get some pie.” I was about to jump off the bed, but then she grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Alex,” she said as she gave me a look that said, “Are you really going to go there?” “If you can't be serious about this, then I'm not going to help you study.”

“Fiiiine,” I sighed. I couldn't wait for all of this to just be over.

At first, it was very frustrating, but after about a half an hour or so, I really started to understand what Taylor was teaching me. Once I felt prepared enough for the final, Taylor and I decided to take a break.

'I really do want pie, you know,” I said as I closed my pre-calc textbook with a satisfied look on my face.

She turned to look at me and laughed. “Well then I guess that means we'll have to go get pie then, won't we?”

“Let's go!” I said excitedly as I took her hand and led her downstairs and all the way out to my car. Neither of us really felt like going to a restaurant, so we just stopped at the nearest supermarket and picked up some apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. Now that's what I call a good dessert!

“Hey, you know what's funny?” Taylor said as we got back in the car.

“What?”

“We've known each other practically our whole lives, yet I think this is the first time we have ever done a quick run to the grocery store together.”

I thought about what she said. “You're right. We were always too lazy or made our parents get stuff for us if they were out. I guess there's a first time for everything. If there was one person I could choose to do quick grocery store runs with for the rest of my life, it would be you.” I smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

“Ditto,” she responded.

My parents were gone for the night because my mom had a business trip, so the house was nice and peaceful when we got home. When we walked into the kitchen, Taylor went to take out the pie, but I made her sit down at the table as I went about the kitchen. I even went so far as to dim the lights and light two candles in the middle of the table. It was all about the atmosphere.

“Aw, Alex, you don't have to do this,” she smiled as I put a piece of pie topped with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream down in front of her.

“I wanted to,” I responded. I gave her a quick peck on the lips, went to get my own piece, and sat down across from her. As I ate, I stared at her beautiful pale face in the darkness and laughed quietly when I saw that she had gotten ice cream all over her luscious pink lips. Without even thinking, I reached across the table. Even though we had been together for a few weeks, my pulse still quickened when my thumb came in contact with her lips. When she realized what I was doing, she gave me an embarrassed, but grateful smile. I lovingly rubbed her cheek and she leaned into my hand and closed her eyes. Simple moments like this reminded me of why I loved her so much.

“Thanks,” she said.

“You were just so cute that I couldn't help myself,” I said as I licked the ice cream that was on her lips off my thumb.

She laughed and then said, “We've just been studying this whole night. I haven't gotten a chance to ask you how your day was today.”

“It was good. Jack actually asked me if it was ok if he asked Katelyn out. Of course I told him to go for it.”

“Why did he ask you that?” Taylor wondered.

“Since Katelyn and I used to be together, he did not want to break the bro code,” I explained.

“He's such a good friend,” she responded. “He's so loyal. We are lucky to have a friend like him.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed.

Then, as if right on cue, I got this text message: SHE SAID YES!!!!

I showed Taylor and she cheered. These past few weeks, Jack has been even happier than normal, especially when he was around Katelyn, so we all knew he really cared about her. And, if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Jack.

“Oh yeah and Jack and I both got fitted for our graduation gowns,” I added. “It was unreal.”

“Yeah, I'm supposed to be fitted for mine tomorrow,” she responded. “I can't believe we're really graduating. I still remember the night back in September before our first day of senior year.”

I laughed as I remembered. “That was the night I made you swear not to tell people that you came to me for fashion advice.”

She laughed and nodded. “Yup. We were both so nervous that night because we did not know what was going to happen. I never thought in a million years that it would lead to this.”

“What, us being together?” I asked.

“Let's just say I never dreamed that I would graduate high school completely in love and about to go on a nationwide tour with a bunch of huge bands. In fact, that's the last thing I would have ever expected to happen.”

“Fate works in mysterious ways,” I agreed. “This past year has changed the both of us in so many ways. We have literally hit rock bottom, but then we helped each other rise from the ashes and now here we are happier than we have ever been.”

“Needless to say, it has been a roller coaster, and one hell of a ride at that,” Taylor added. A truer statement has never been made.

“I'm glad it got us here though,” I said. Again, I reached across the table, but this time, I went for her hand.

“I wouldn't want it any other way,” she responded. We finished our delicious dessert and then headed back upstairs. As I fell asleep with her in my arms that night yet again, I could not help but smile as I thought of what was to come.