You Belong With Me

I saw on a wooden bench, looking back and forth for any sign on Tyler. The guys were busy with the game so they didn't notice I wasn't watching them. We've only been here for twenty minutes and I was curious as to whether Tyler was going to show up or now. Maybe he couldn't find his way to the park, but it's only the easiest place to find. Or, if that wasn't the case, Brian told Matt about my alleged 'crush' and Matt got to him. I'm sticking with my first conclusion.

I turned my attention to the game. They were split into two teams, but it was hard to tell who was on which team. Matt and Jason Berry were playing along we well. Matt scored another point after stealing the ball from Jimmy. They were probably the best players out of the group. Jimmy beat everyone for height; Matt had a lot of skill.

I just barely heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Tyler walking with his hands shoved in his pockets. I bit my lip and stood up to walk over to him. When we stood in front of each other, he pulled me into a hug. Can you say unexpected?

"Hey," I said with a big smile on my face. "You made it."

"Of course. I'd be sitting around otherwise, bored out of my mind. And I really wanted to hang out with you," his smooth deep voice remarked.

"Well I’m glad you came. I'll introduce you to everyone." I walked over to the court where the guys were sitting down watching me with Tyler.

They were all staring at Tyler.

"Guys, this is Tyler. Tyler, this is Johnny, Jimmy, Brian, my brother Matt, Zack and Matt and Jason Berry," I said, pointing to each of them. Tyler and the other guys exchanged waves and small smiles.

"Well, um, we're just…gonna walk around," I said slowly, backing away awkwardly as I saw a glare start to form on Matt's eyes.

"So how was the rest of your day?" I asked.

"It was alright. Nothing exciting."

"What other classes did you have?"

"I had Chem, Personal Finance, Gym, tomorrow though, and Math," he told me.

"Oh sounds fun."

"Yeah I guess so. They're pretty boring classes."

"I don't have Math until next semester so I'm kinda happy. Math isn't my thing."

"It's definitely not mine. So do you come to the park often?"

"Yeah. And the beach. The guys have this 'spot' here where they drink and stuff. I usually don't go because Matt doesn't want me drinking."

"So he's protective of you?"

"Yeah, just a little."

"So does he get mad if you hang out with guys?" he asked.

"Not exactly mad, but he's just very watchful."

"Hm, so would he want to kick my ass after tonight?"

"If he tried to do anything, I'd stop him."

Tyler laughed as we walked past the big pond where a bunch of ducks were.

"There's that huge duck I keep seeing!" Jimmy yelled. I turned around to see Jimmy and the guys on the other side of the pond. I slapped my hand against my forehead, knowing that they were following us, but Jimmy just blew their cover. He ran over to us. This gave me the perfect opportunity to yell at Matt.

"If you ever wanted to see a huge duck, this is where you'd go. That is the biggest duck I have ever seen!" Jimmy exclaimed.

I walked over to Matt quickly. When I got over to him, I pulled his arm to pull him aside.

"Are you stalking me?" I yelled.

"No," he said.

"Then what are you doing?"

"We were going to leave."

"Yeah right. You're always like this when I'm with a guy. We aren't even on a date and you're already following us around."

"I need to make sure that he's not going to try anything," he said.

"Matt, we just met today, he's not going to try anything. And even if he did, I could take care of that myself."

"Sure. Be careful, Bails," he said, patting my shoulder. He walked away, joining the group. I walked back to where Jimmy and Tyler were walking. They seemed to be getting along quite well.

"Bails, I was just telling Tyler about how we go to Johnny's and I think that we should take him," Jimmy said as he threw an arm around Tyler's shoulder.

"Well," I started to say but Brian interrupted me.

"That sounds like a great idea."

"Yeah let's go! You do have a fake ID right?" Jimmy asked.

"Of course," Tyler said, adding a deep laugh. Matt threw me a questioning glance but joined the guys.

"So I didn't know your friend would be into this kind of thing," Brian whispered into my ear as we walked to the cars. Matt, Brian, Tyler and me got into one car and the other guys got into Zacky's car.

"Bailey, I know you don't have a fake ID," Matt started. I was hoping he'd say that they got me a fake ID so that I could join them, but his sentence ended in disappointment. "that's why we're dropping you off at Sydney's."

"What! I can't come in with you guys?"

"Bailey, you know how they get," he said, looking at me through the rear view mirror. I couldn't believe he was going to take Tyler to Johnny's and leave me with Sydney.

Tyler leaned over and leveled his head down to mine. "I'll bring you something," he whispered. I cracked a smile but stayed silent. I was still pissed off.

We pulled into Sydney' driveway and I opened the door. I peered into the car to say bye to Tyler.

"I'll see you later, Tyler," I said. He waved at me. I shut the door and walked up to her porch. I knocked on the door as I watched them pull away.

"Hey. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Matt."

It was probably around 11 pm and there was no sign of Matt. He's probably still at the bar, so I’m not going to ride with him. I'm going to have to get a ride from Sydney. We got into her car and she drove me home. I thanked her and went straight to bed. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I was woken up by loud footsteps coming up the stairs. My door opened to reveal an obviously drunk Matt.

"Hey Bailey," he said, walking into my room. He stumbled over to my bed and sat down beside me.

"Hi."

"I know you're mad at me but hear me out," he said. He really didn't seem as drunk as I thought, but I'm glad because I get scared every time Matt started drinking because I don't know if he's going to make a stupid decision to drive himself home. But I think that he's responsible enough to only have a few if he's drinking.

"I don't want you drinking yet. You're too young. I know I drank way younger than you and I know that I'm a bad influence, but I don't want you getting into this lifestyle. I wouldn't want to see you ruin your life like other people have. You're my baby sister and I love you."

Matt pulled me up and into a hug, holding me tight.

"I love you too," I said. "And I wish you would follow your own advice. I don't want you to be living the ideal rocker life. I don't want you to ruin your life either. You're my big brother."

"Don't worry about me."

"Well I came in here to actually talk about Tyler," he said.

"Okay?"

"So I got to talking to him before drinking and after drinking and he never once said something or did something that disappointed me. So I…I decided that that I like Tyler and it's okay if you hang out with him, date him, whatever." He pulled me into another hug.

"Thanks."

"Yep. Sorry for taking him away from you today."

"It's alright." He walked out of my room and shut the door.

"God he's such a dork when he's drunk."