You Belong With Me

Alex's P.O.V.

I didn’t end up getting home until about 11:00 that night. Normally, I would have stayed out later, but I knew my parents would get pissed off if it was a school night. When I got up to my room, I threw my bag down on the floor, flopped down on the bed, and began to reminisce about what just happened.

Katelyn and I had the most amazing time. After school, we drove into Baltimore and just walked around the city holding hands. Eventually, we went to dinner and I paid, of course. I could not seem to stop looking into those big beautiful green eyes of hers and marvelling at just how beautiful she was. I never wanted to look away from her. Everything about her was completely irresistible to me: her laugh, her smile, her face, the way she held my hand, her lips...

When we kissed at the end of the night, I could feel my heart rate increase exponentially and an electric current shoot through my body. I had never felt quite like this about any other girl, not even Kelly, who I had claimed to love. This might sound kind of girly and cliché, but, after that, I felt like I was floating in the clouds. I mean, how could a girl as hot as Katelyn Gander be interested in a guy like me with all my flannel shirts, skinny jeans, and chucks? Not to mention the fact that I had almost no muscle. You’d think she’d go for guys that look like models and shop at Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch: preps. She was truly amazing.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket because I felt it starting to vibrate. I got a new text message. When I saw who it was from, a wide smile spread across my face.

From: Katelyn
Hey, babe! I had such a great time today! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow! Xoxo.

I texted back a quick response.

Me too! I really enjoyed spending time with you. See you tomorrow! Miss you!

I heard a soft knock at my door and shouted, “Come in!” The door opened and my brother Eric walked in and shut the door behind him.

If you put Eric and I right next to each other, you still would not be able to tell we’re brothers. We were completely opposite. For instance, he had bright baby blue eyes, short blond hair and pale skin. I, on the other hand, had dark brown eyes, long brown hair, and semi-tan skin. The only similarity in our physical appearance was that we were both tall.
Eric was a jock, plain and simple. Soccer was his passion and he was in college on a full sports scholarship. He eventually wanted to play for the US national soccer team. He was damn good at what he did and the top scorer on his soccer team. I had to admit, my brother and I did not have much in common at all; I was all about music and he was all about sports. Yet, somehow, we managed to always be there for each other. Whenever we could, Taylor and I always made sure to go to his soccer games and cheer him on like we did when we were little. In return, Eric never missed a single performance, not one. We never let our differences get between us.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing here?” I asked, jumping up to give him a hug.

“I finally got a break from school, so I decided to come home and see you and Mom and Dad. Where the hell have you been all night? I’ve been waiting to surprise you.”
“I was out,” I shrugged trying to pass it off as casual.

“No shit, Sherlock. With who, Taylor?”

“No. You won’t believe me when I tell you.”

“Try me.”

“Katelyn Gander.”

Even though he didn’t go to my high school anymore, he still knew who she was; everybody did.

“You’re shitting me!” he said as his mouth dropped open in disbelief just like I thought it would. “You are totally shitting me!”

“Nope, I’m dead serious.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.

“Well how the hell did that happen?”

I told him the whole story about my day with Katelyn without leaving anything out, not even the part about my giant boner. “Dude, I just, I can’t explain it. She has this weird effect on me. I’ve never felt like this about anyone else,” I said, finishing the story.

“It sounds like you got it bad, Bro. You’re fucking gushing like a girl. You should see yourself right now,” he said laughing.

“Shut the hell up!”

“What? It’s true! One warning though: this girl is known for screwing everyone over, so make sure you don’t fall into that death trap.”

“I think it’s different this time though. She seemed to really care.”

“Whatever you say. You can’t say I didn’t warn you though.”

“I think I’ll take my chances.”

“If you say so. Good luck. I really hope everything works out for you. If she hurts you, she’ll have me to deal with.”

“Thanks, Bro. That really means a lot actually. How’s everything with you?”

“Pretty good. We have another game soon, so I’ve just been training for that.”

“Awesome. When do Taylor and I need to come to University of Maryland to see you play?”

“Our first few games aren’t going to be home games, I don’t think, so you can’t come. I will definitely let you know when our first home game is though.”

“Ok cool. How are things with you and Holly?”

Holly and my brother had been together for the past two years. They were the kind of couple that made all those really cynical people want to throw up. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other, not even in public. Anyone could tell they were in love. When they were together, they weren’t two people; they were one in the same.

Whenever I saw them together, I always got this pang of jealousy for my brother. I wasn’t jealous of him per se, but I was jealous of the fact that he had found that one person that would always love him no matter what. What guy could honestly say that he didn’t want the same thing for himself?

“Things are going amazingly well. Did I tell you that we’re moving in together next month? We finally found a place near our college.”

“Get the fuck out! Dude, that’s awesome!” I said as I got up to give my brother a congratulatory hug. “It’s about time.”

“Thanks. I’m pretty excited about it. We’ve been looking for awhile now, so it’s nice to finally have a place that we can both afford that’s not too far from home and school.”

“I’m sure.”

“So how’s Taylor doing? It feels like forever since I’ve seen her.”

“She’s fine, still the usual Taylor. Actually, I was thinking of going over there soon. I haven’t told her about my night with Katelyn yet and I think I might need her help on some homework already. Why don’t you come with me and surprise her?”

He nodded. “That sounds like a great idea.”

I walked over to my window and saw that her light was on, so I went over to my desk and grabbed the laser and white board. I went back to the window and flashed the laser twice directly at her window. A few seconds later, she came to the window with her white board, already in her pajamas and ready for bed.

Are you busy right now? I wrote.

Nope, what’s up? She responded.

I was wondering if I could come over for a little bit, I wrote back.

Of course you can come.

I’ll see you in a few minutes.

I erased the board and put it back on my desk and grabbed my bag. Eric and I quietly left our house and went over to Taylor’s. Two minutes later, I was knocking on her bedroom door. As soon as I heard her shout that I could come in, I opened the door. She was sprawled out on her stomach on her queen-sized bed with a book in front of her nose. She looked up when we came in and when she saw Eric, her whole face lit up into a smile and she got up and gave him a welcoming hug.

“Eric!” she squealed. “When did you get home? I missed you!”

“Hey, Girly!” he said as he kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve missed you too. I came home today to surprise everyone because I had a break from school for once in my life.”

“That’s great! How long are you going to stay?”

“For about a week. Guess what?”

“Good so I have plenty of opportunities to bug you over the next week. What?”

“Holly and I are moving in together. We finally found a place.”

“Oh my God that’s great!” she said, giving him another hug.

“Yeah we move next month. We are pretty excited.”

“I’ll bet.”

“So, enough about me. How have you been?”

“I’ve been pretty good. Nothing really big has happened lately. I’m just bummed the summer is over. I already have homework and it’s only the first day.”

“Speaking of homework,” I said, “I have some too and I need help with mine.”

“What do you have to do?” she asked.

“It’s math,” I responded. Everyone knew I was the worst person at math.

“Uh oh, I think that’s my cue to leave,” said Eric.

“But, you just got here!” whined Taylor.

“I know but I’m really tired. Plus, like you said, you’ll have the whole week to annoy me and make me wish I was back at school.”

She laughed and playfully hit him over the shoulder. “Ok fine then get out of here!”

“Good night, Guys,” he said and then he left.

“So what do you need help with?” Taylor asked turning to face me fully.

“Uhm, everything?” I admitted sheepishly.

“Ok then let’s get started,” she laughed as she led me over to her bed. We sprawled out on our stomachs side by side. I took out the homework I had to do and she looked over some of the problems. Once she figured it out, she taught me exactly how to do it. I could always count on Taylor to help me. She’s probably the only reason I was able to pass math so far. By the time we were done with my homework, it was around 1:00AM.

“So how was your day after school ended?” I asked as I packed up my stuff.

“It was pretty ordinary. I just came home and didn’t really do anything. What about you?”

“It was amazing! We spent literally the whole night just walking around Baltimore and getting to know each other. She’s different than anyone else I have ever been with.”

When I said that, something changed in Taylor’s expression. Her mouth seemed to turn down slightly at the corners and her eyes got this sad look to them. It was very subtle though; if I hadn’t been sitting right next to her, I would not have noticed it. She pretended that nothing had happened.

“That’s great, Alex,” she said. “I’m really happy for you.” I don’t know why, but I got this odd feeling in my gut that she was lying.

“Thanks,” I responded ignoring my gut. “I really want you to meet her soon so that you can tell me what you think. Maybe we can all sit together for lunch sometime next week.”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Sounds good.” There was no feeling in her voice.

For some reason, I felt growing tension in the room, so I decided it was time to go. Something felt different between us and I didn't like it, We did have school tomorrow, after all.

“I’m going to go,” I said getting up off the bed. “It’s getting late and we have to get up early tomorrow. I don’t want another repeat of this morning.”

“Ok, night,” Taylor said as she got up and gave me a quick hug goodbye.

Soon, I was back in my room lying in my bed with the lights out, but I couldn’t manage to get to sleep. With a sigh, I sat up and turned on the lamp on the night table. I could not get Katelyn out of my mind. Walking with her in Baltimore under the stars was completely perfect.

I saw my acoustic guitar lying in the corner next to my closet. For the first time in a little over a month, I got out of bed and picked it up. Then, I went to my desk to get a notebook and began to write a song.