You Belong With Me

Alex’s P.O.V.

I swear, I don’t think I will ever get bored of looking at her. Everything about her radiated beauty, even down to her graceful movements.

We had just left school and now we were in her car driving to the mall. She said she needed to buy new sunglasses and I agreed to go with her. Anything for an excuse to spend more time with her.

“So what did you think of Taylor and Jack?” I asked conversationally as we drove toward the mall.

“Jack is funny and Taylor seems nice,” Katelyn responded. “I don’t think she liked me too much though.”

“Why would you say that?” I asked. “I’m sure she loved you.”

“Well, when we were in the bathroom together, she told me to stay away from you. She said that she was the only girl in your life and that she was going to make sure it stayed that way.”

“You must have misunderstood her,” I reasoned. “She has a really quiet voice and sometimes it’s hard to hear her. You must not have heard her correctly.”

“No, trust me, Alex, she was loud and clear.”

“But, Taylor would never say something like that to anyone.”

“Well, she said it to me,” Katelyn responded.

I felt my stomach start to boil and, all of a sudden, I wasn’t sure what to believe. I didn’t want to believe the worst in my best friend, but what reason could Katelyn possibly have to lie to me about something like this? I’ve made it pretty clear to her that Taylor and I are just friends, nothing more. Seriously, what the fuck?

“Alex, I know she’s your best friend and everything, but you have to remember that she’s not perfect. I’m sure she’s done stuff like this before.”

“Well, she never really did like any of my past girlfriends.”

“See? She probably doesn’t want you to be with anyone else because she knows that means you won’t have as much time to spend with her. She’s jealous.”

“Maybe,” I said thinking about what she just said. Taylor? Jealous? That didn’t really seem like her. But, then I remembered the look on her face last night when I told her how I felt about Katelyn. She didn’t really seem mad, just sad. I suppose it would make sense for her to be jealous. Lately, I’ve been hanging out with Katelyn more than I have with her. She probably feels like Katelyn is taking me away from her. I would have to talk to her about it later.

“I’m really sorry that happened,” I said. “I’ll talk to her about it later, but, right now, let’s just enjoy our time together.”

“That sounds absolutely perfect,” Katelyn said, showing me that dazzling smile of hers. “Especially since I love spending time with you.” While she said this, she turned into the mall parking lot and found a spot right in front of the entrance.

“I love spending time with you too,” I said grabbing her hand as we walked into the mall, “which reminds me that I have a question for you.”

“What’s that?” she asked turning to look at me.

“I can’t seem to stop thinking about last night. I had such a good time with you. You are different than any other girl that I know and I would love to make our relationship official. What I’m trying to say is, will you be my girlfriend?” I looked down at her with deep, pleading eyes that I hoped looked alluring to her.

She gave me the widest, most beautiful smile I had ever seen. “Alex, I would love to be your girlfriend,” she said. She put her hand around my neck, pulled my head down, and pressed her lips to mine in a passionate kiss. Now I finally knew what bliss felt like. I took my phone out and texted Taylor the good news.

We spent a long time at the mall. You know how girls are. They take forever just to pick out one little thing. She asked me how she looked each time she tried on a different pair of sunglasses and each time I told her she looked beautiful and it wasn’t a lie. When she finally picked out a pair she wanted, it was about 7:00PM.

“So are you hungry?” I asked as we got back into her car.

She nodded. “Yeah, actually, now that you mention it, I’m a little hungry.”

“Where do you want to go for dinner?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” she shrugged.

“Oh no don’t play that game with me,” I said playfully. “You’re the lady here, which means that you get to pick the first place we go to for dinner as an official couple.”

“Well, when you put it that way...” she laughed. “I think I’m in the mood for Italian. How about we go to La Tavola in Baltimore? They have really good pasta. I love their gnocchi.

Afterward, we can go across the street to Viccaro’s for a true Italian desert.”

“That sounds great. Little Italy is always beautiful at night.”

Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting down at a candlelit table for two near the window at the restaurant. We each took a few minutes to read over the menu and then ordered our food. In the end, we both decided to have gnocchi. Since it was her favourite, she wanted to have it again and she wanted me to try it.

“This is so nice,” she said once we ordered our food.

“What is?” I asked looking over at her.

“Being here with you, especially at my favourite restaurant.”

I grabbed her hand from across the table. “I love being here with you too. So tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Well I feel like, even though we spent all of yesterday together, I still don’t really know you that well. What do you like to do? What kind of music do you like to listen to? What’s your favourite book? How many brothers or sisters do you have?”

“Whoa, slow down there, Tiger!” she laughed. “One question at a time. First of all, since I am the head cheerleader, I love dancing and doing gymnastics. As far as music goes, I pretty much just listen to whatever is on the radio. I don’t really like to read. Most books bore me to death. I’m an only child. Now, what about you? You sing, so music must be a big deal to you.”

“Yeah I honestly do not know what my life would be like if I didn’t have my music and my guitar. I’d be pretty lost. Anyway, I love playing my guitar and hanging out and doing random stuff with friends. I love all kinds of music, but Blink-182 is my absolute favourite. No one will be able to beat them. They are fucking awesome. I don’t really like reading either. If I had to choose between reading and writing, I would choose writing in an instant. I write my own songs as a way to get my feelings out. I have an older brother named Eric. He plays soccer for University of Maryland.”

“What do you usually write about in your songs?”

“All different things really. If I’m having a really bad day or a really good day, I’ll just sit down and write about it and see what comes out. I wrote a really good one last night about my night out with you.”

“Did you now?” she asked with wonder in her voice.

“I did,” I nodded.

“You will definitely have to play that for me sometime.”

“I will if you come to our next show, whenever it will be.”

“That sounds like a deal to me.”

We spent the next half hour talking and getting to know each other and then our food came. There was a comfortable silence as we ate; we did not feel the need to say anything. Each of us was watching the other and smiling.

“So how do you like the gnocchi?” she finally asked.

“You were right; it’s completely delicious,” I responded.

A little while later, we finished our dinner and I paid for the check. It was around 9:15PM when we finally left.

“So are you ready for that ‘true Italian desert’ you were talking about before?” I asked as I took her hand and we left the restaurant and began crossing the street to Vicarro’s.

“I’m always ready for desert,” she said as she lifted our hands up and twirled herself around under them. Her red hair was beautiful as it flew in the wind. She looked around and I turned to see what she was looking at.

For some reason, the whole street was completely deserted, which never ever happens in Baltimore’s Little Italy. We both stared at the emptiness.

“You know what this reminds me of?” she asked as we reached the other side of the street.
“What does it remind you of?”

“It reminds me of that scene in The Notebook when Allie and Noah were walking in the street and then they started to dance and they laid down in the street and watched the lights change. It’s one of my favourite parts.”

“Oh yeah, I do remember that part,” I responded. I will never admit this to anyone besides Taylor since we watched it together, but I loved that movie and I cried like a baby at the end. She actually had to hold me in her arms for awhile just to get me to calm down. “So, will you have this dance?” I offered her my hand. She took it and wrapped her other hand around my neck as I placed mine on her waist. I began to sing.

Meet me on Thames Street
I’ll take you out though
I’m hardly worth your time
In the cold you look so fierce
But I’m warming up because the tension's like a fire
We’ll hit South Broadway in a matter of minutes
And like a bad movie I’ll drop a line
Fall in a grave I’ve been digging myself
But there’s room for two
Six feet under the stars

“What song was that?” she asked when we stopped.

“It’s a verse of the song I wrote for you last night,” I said smiling down at her.

“Alex, I don’t even know what to say,” she said looking up into my eyes. “That was so beautiful. I love it.”

“That was kind of the idea,” I chuckled. I leaned down and gave her a kiss. I could definitely get used to this.

“Come on,” she said as we pulled apart a minute later. “I want some desert!”

Even though the street was deserted, Vicarro’s was completely packed. We had to wait in line for about half an hour just to get to the front of the line. Katelyn decided she wanted a cannoli and I settled on some gelato. Since there was no room in the restaurant, we went back outside and sat on a bench nearby.

“So what do you want to do now?” I asked as we finished up.

“I’m actually kind of tired, so how about we go back to my house and watch a movie or something?” she suggested.

“That sounds great,” I agreed. I was actually kind of tired too and it would be nice to cuddle with her and watch a movie. “If you want, we can stop by my house real quick so that I can grab my car and you won’t have to drive me home.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

We walked back to her car and left. It took us about 15 minutes to drive back to my house. I quickly got in my car and followed her to her house. We got to her house around 10:30 and decided to watch How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, her idea of course. By the time the movie was over, it was about 12:15AM. My phone began to ring right as the movie ended. I looked to see who was calling: Jack. He usually just texts me, so it must have been something important.

“Hey, Jack, what’s up?” I asked as I answered my phone.

“Alex, I think you had better get down here,” Jack said frantically.

“Whoa, whoa, Jack calm down,” I said getting a concerned look on my face. Katelyn turned to look at me curiously. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Taylor and I decided to go to The Den, that club near Johns Hopkins because they don’t card. She got really drunk and now I can’t find her anywhere. I’m really worried. I haven’t seen her in like half an hour.”

“Jack, did either of you drive there?” I asked, worried now.

“No, we took the bus.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I didn’t have to worry about her driving drunk. “Alright, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t move.”

“Alex, what’s the matter?” Katelyn asked as I hung up the phone and practically ran to the door.

“Jack and Taylor went to The Den and now Taylor is really drunk and Jack can’t find her anywhere. I have to go find her.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, you stay here. I don’t want to have to worry about you too.”

“Ok,” she nodded. “Please let me know when you find her.”

“I will,” I said as I gave her a kiss and ran out the door to my car.