Catch Me When I Fall

The sound of my phone ring tone woke me up from my peaceful slumber. I groaned as I darted my hand to the nightstand, grabbing my cellphone. I opened my eyes slowly and rubbed it a few times using my free hand. As I got adjusted to the light in my room, I checked the caller I.D.

“Are you crazy or what?! You just ruin my slumber!” I said to the phone in a high pitch tone.

“Whoa. It’s already 1pm, mate,” She snickered to the phone, “You should get up! We’re having lunch together with Alice right now.” I groaned quietly to the phone.

“But I’m still sleepy, Ally!” I whined to the phone.

“No buts. Taylor is coming there in 15 minutes to pick you up. We’ll see you later, Ella,” Alice butted in and hung up the phone immediately. I groaned and put my phone on the space beside me. I stood up from my bed and dragged my feet to my bathroom so I could get ready for the day.

About 15 minutes later, I finished taking shower and the bell rang. I rolled my eyes at how on time Taylor could be. I opened the door and said, “Hey, Happy New Year,” He passed me a toothy smile and walked in.

“Yeah, Happy New Year to you too,” he said as I closed the door.

“I haven’t done getting ready but I’m sure I’ll be done in about 5 minutes,” I said to him as I walked back to my room and let him watching TV or doing something while waiting for me. I combed my hair and put on a beanie then slipped on my TOMS before grabbing my bag and walking out of my room, “Let’s go,” I said to Taylor as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

We walked out of the apartment complex to Taylor’s car in silence. The weather was a little bit chill and the sun didn’t shine brightly. I slid in to the passenger seat and buckled up, “How’s your night, Tay? Having fun with Alice?” I opened up a conversation as Taylor backed up from the parking lot and drove off.

“Um, yeah. I had a lot of fun with her last night. We actually planned to catch up with you, Diana, and Ally at James’ house but we changed our plan and went to Emma’s.” He explained with a smug grin on his face. I gave him an odd look and shook my head in disbelief, “What about you? Have fun on your first date with Kendall?” He asked with a chuckle in the end, making me to shot him a look.

“It wasn’t a date. It’s just a dinner between two friends that haven’t caught up in a pretty long time,” I corrected, “We ended up partying at James’ house though.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“How was it?” He pushed and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Well, I had fun. I met some friends back from high school,” I paused for a while, “Uh, I met Morgan and Kris, actually.” I muttered.

“Really?” He asked in a disbelief tone.

“Yeah,” I trailed off and with that, the conversation was over. Maybe Taylor realized that I didn’t want to bring up that topic anymore or mention that girl and that guy name. I have ever told Taylor about Morgan before, but not in detail. His name slipped off of my mouth when I was telling him some of my good and bad moments in high school.

When we arrived at the resto, Alice, Diana, and Ally were already there. They seated on the table that located in the middle of the room. Taylor and I walked towards them and Alice waved her hand at me with a smile on her face, “Hey,” she stood up from her seat to give me a quick hug.

“How was your night?” I asked as I sat next to Ally after ordering a chocolate shake.

“Well, I had fun but not too much fun,” Ally said with a slight chuckle and gazed at Taylor and Alice as she said it. I furrowed my eyebrows and decided to just shrug it off.

“What about you and Kendall?” Alice asked and I just shrugged my shoulders.

“Um, we had a dinner, talked, laughed, enjoyed each other’s company and such…” I trailed off.

“You forgot to mention the kiss, by the way,” Diana butted in and I shot her a look. Taylor and Alice’s eyes bulged out and their jaw dropped.

“Kiss?” Taylor asked in a high pitch tone and his eyes lit up. Gee, thanks a lot, Di.

“Yeah, we kissed. Then, so what?” I asked in a ‘duh’ tone and sighed softly like it’s not a big deal. Well, it’s not a big deal, though.

“That’s great!” Taylor exclaimed, earning a high-five from Alice. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed softly.

“What’s great with that? Now things can be so awkward for me and him,” I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed again.

“Nah,” Alice waved her hand off and chuckled slightly, “Both of you like each other. What would be so awkward?” she added with a chuckle. Alice stopped talking when the waiter came with our drinks. I sipped my chocolate shake slowly and realized that I haven’t asked anything to my best friends about their night.

“What about you, Taylor? What did you do with Alice?” I asked right to the point and glanced at him. He had a smug look on his face and couldn’t stop smiling. I knew something happened with Taylor and Alice last night.

“Well, we had dinner too just like you and Kendall,” Alice said and shrugged her shoulders casually with a wide smile on her face.

“Are you guys dating?” Diana spoke up and I nodded frantically at her quesion. Oh gosh, Diana was just so smart! She hit it right to the point. I glanced at Taylor and Alice who already started to laugh awkwardly.

“Guys, we know, okay? We always know that there would be something between you two,” I said to Taylor and Alice with a genuine smile.

“Yeah. Even Taylor couldn’t stop asking me about you!” Ally butted in with a huff, making me to laugh slightly at her. The awkwardness between Alice and Taylor went away as Ally said that. We continued to talk about some other things and laughed while having lunch. When Taylor was telling us some jokes about his days on the set, my phone rang loudly.

“Who’s that?” Diana asked and I just shrugged my shoulders. I pulled out my phone and checked the caller I.D. A small smile crept on my face as I answered the call.

“Hey,” I answered the call casually.

“Hey, how are you today?” he asked through the phone, making me to smile wider and my friends to send me an odd look.

“I’m great. What about you?” I asked back, leaning against the back of my chair.

“Me too. Oh, by the way, where are you right now?” Oh please, don’t tell me that he has another plan for the day.

“I’m having lunch with my friends…” I trailed off and there was a silence. Taylor decided to ignore me and started to talk with Alice about something while Diana and Ally talked about the other thing.

“Look at your right,” I did what I was told. My smile got wider as I did this. There he was, leaning casually against a black SUV with his 3 other friends. He waved and smiled at me, “Can I steal you from your friends for a while?” He asked, still looking at me through the clear window.

“Sure, why not?” I answered with a chuckle, “I’ll see you in a few seconds,” I added before hanging up the phone.

“Aw, was that Kendall?” Alice asked and I nodded at her, standing up from my seat.

“You’re going out with him again? Oh god. I think I better have a new boyfriend,” Ally said that made me to roll my eyes playfully at her.

“I’ll see you guys later, okay?”

“Okay, don’t have too much fun!” Taylor teased and I shot him a look before walking out of the resto. I walked towards Kendall who was still talking about something with his friends. Logan nudged Kendall and pointed at me, making Kendall to turn around and smile at me, showing those cute dimples on his cheek. I thought I was just about to melt by his smile.

“Hey, guys,” I greeted the guys and they waved at me. I gave Logan, James and Carlos a hug before finally turning my head to see Kendall.

“Hey,” I greeted him and pulled him in a hug. I inhaled his scent and smiled softly, pulling back from the hug to give him a kiss on the cheek, “What are you doing here?”

“Um, I actually went to your apartment when I knocked on the door, there was nobody inside. So I text Ally to ask where you were and… here I am right now,” he said with a genuine smile at me.

“You text Ally?” I raised my eyebrows and turned my head to look at the resto through the window. Ally waved and smiled innocently at me, “I don’t know you have Ally’s number on your phone.” I said randomly.

“Well, I actually didn’t have it, but I got it from Logan.” I stood on my tiptoes to look at Logan from Kendall’s shoulder. He smiled innocently at me and his cheeks brushed in red.

“Is he trying to hit on my best friend?” I whispered at Kendall and he had a smug look on his face.

“Maybe,” he shrugged his shoulders casually, “You don’t have any plan for today, do you?”

“Actually, I do have some plans for today,” Kendall raised an eyebrow at me, “Well, after this lunch, I was planning to get some sleep again and just have a lazy day… and maybe watch some movies or read novels. But I think you’re gonna ruin it.”

“No, no, I’m not gonna ruin it,” he said quickly, “Well, I was actually planning to take you to the park so we can chill and stuff… but I think we can just go to your apartment and watch some movies. Wait. You don’t mind, right?”

“Nah, chill,” I waved off, “Um, Kendall, I think we should leave now. It’s kinda getting cold outside,” I shivered and smiled innocently at him.

“Oh, okay,” He turned around to see his friends, “Guys, I’m leaving, okay? I’ll see you again tomorrow!” He said and waved at his friends before walking away to the parking lot with me.

The car ride to my apartment was filled with laughter. We sang loudly to the songs on the radio and laughed like a lunatic because of some silly, lame jokes. We told each other some stories when we were still a kid. Well, we basically just shared some stories about ourselves, “What do you wanna watch?” I asked him as I shut the door. I led him to the lounge and stood near the couch, “Well, pick whatever you want but I forbid you to pick scary movies. I’m gonna be at my room if you need anything.” I told him before walking to my room. I put my bag on my bed and walked towards my desk to turn on my laptop.

I checked my e-mail inbox and got no new e-mail. Well, I’m wondering why Emma hasn’t sent me any schedule for this month’s concert.

“I don’t know you still have this,” I almost jumped from my place as I heard Kendall’s voice. I turned around and saw him looking at my junior high photos.

“Fay sent me some of them a few weeks ago,” I told him and grabbed a box full of photos from under my bed. I sat on the ground with my legs crossed and a box full of photos in front of me.

“May I see it?” Kendall asked politely as he sat in front of me. I nodded my head at him before silently grabbing some photos from inside the box and giving it to him. His eyes scanned through all the photos and sometimes he would smile or chuckle, “Who took this picture?” He asked and showed me one of my embarrassing photos.

“Ally did,” I said with a chuckle as I looked at the photo. I was drenched and my hair was full of flour and soda in that photo, “It was taken on my 15th birthday.”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t come that day because I was sick,” he said and continued to look at all the photos, “What about this?” He showed a photo where in that photo I was lying in a bed with my hospital gown and smiled weakly at the camera.

“It was when I was still 11 years old. This photo was taken the day after I had my appendix surgery. My dad took this picture,”

“Why Matt looked happy in this photo? I thought he was supposed to be sad,” Kendall added with a slight laugh.

“Well, you know he’s weird like that. I think he was kinda happy because I didn’t have to argue with him for a few days with him over some stupid things,” I shrugged my shoulders and chuckled slightly.

“I assume this photo was taken when you’re in high school,” Kendall gave me 2 photos and my heart sunk as I saw that photo. The first was a photo of me, Ally, and Morgan laughing like lunatic on a park. I could slightly remember that day. Morgan asked me to go out on a Sunday morning and he took me to a park. In that park, we played monopoly together and spent a whole day together. The other one was a photo of me and Morgan.

His arm was around my shoulder casually and I had a smile on my face. Uh, no, it’s not that. Actually, in that photo Morgan kissed my cheek and I laughed at the camera. I could still remember that day like it was only yesterday. The way Morgan kept his arm freely around my shoulder, the way he kissed my cheek, the way he treated me like I was the only thing that mattered for him.

“Yeah,” I said in a small voice and blinked back the tears that almost fell down to my cheeks, “Taken when I was still with Morgan,”

“Do you mind if I ask about what happened with you and Morgan in the past?” He asked carefully as if he would make me cry.

“Well, it would sound like a soap opera,” I said with a slight laugh, “Morgan was one of the guys from the football team and I was just one of those nerd kids that weren’t popular. I was just as cold as ice. No guys had interest in me until one of my nerdy friends told me that Morgan liked me. I thought it was impossible because Morgan was very popular at school and he wasn’t like those jerks in the football team. He was different.”

“It was started when I had to be in a same group with him for Biology. Well, at first, it wasn’t a big deal for me because we just had to do our homework together and got along for a little while. Morgan didn’t stop talking with me after that Biology project. He kept contacting me, talking to me at school that made every girl to send me death glares and such. Slowly, I got attracted by him. We usually spent our time together then we went on a date and a few weeks after that, we dated,” I stopped for a while to take a deep breath. Kendall looked at me intensely and kept his focus on me.

“In a matter of a few months, I was already head over heels. Every thing was great. I was so happy to be with him because he made me happy. He treated me right. He treated me like I was the only thing that mattered to him. Things were all great until Kris had to come along. She was transferred from Florida and got very popular in a snap of fingers. She joined the cheers team and with that, she’s known as the biggest bitch at school. She always got every guy she wanted and that made me afraid because I didn’t want to lose Morgan.”

“She tried so hard to snatch Morgan away from me and I tried my best to keep Morgan close to me. I forbid Morgan to go to every school’s party because I knew Kris would be there. I was sick and didn’t go to school for a few days. Morgan came to see me after school every day but he acted different. He went to a party and it started from there,” I took a deep breath before continuing, “Long story short, when I got back to school, everything was changed. Morgan didn’t look at me and Ally told me that something happened on that party. I found out from those gossip girls on English class that Morgan and Kris slept together on that party and Kris told him something about to him that kept him away from me,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, that was the past and I already moved on. No biggie,” I said casually and stood up from the ground. Kendall breathed out loudly and put the photos back to the box.

I was about to walk out from my room when Kendall asked me, “Ella, how did you get this?” I turned around and saw him holding our photo, a photo of Kendall and me dancing.

“I told you it was from Fay,” I told him again in a ‘duh’ tone before turning around again.

“You have no idea that my heart beat so fast when we danced together,” those words made me to freeze on my place, “I liked you,” with those words; I was glued to the ground.

“Kendall,” I breathed out with my back on him. There was a silence that killed me inside. I turned around and realized that Kendall was already a few feet away from me. He sighed and ran his fingers through his blond hair. What’s this? Why were we saying these words? What happened to us?

When I was about to open my mouth, Kendall cut me, “No, don’t say anything. I just need to get those out of my head. I just need to say it to you directly after a very long time.” This made me confused.

After a few minutes of a silence that felt like years for me, I finally spoke up, “Okay. I understand that. Come on, let’s just watch Harry Potter,” I said to him with a genuine smile and dragged him by his wrist to the lounge.