You Belong With Me

A couple of nights later, I was home alone cooking dinner for myself. Nothing had happened much the couple of days that had went by. I had mostly worked and that was about it. I hadn't spoken to Tom much since the day we had had lunch together. He was busy with his own stuff. It upset me a bit, but I understood. He had his own life and it had become even more busy since he got engaged.

As I was turning off the oven and getting the plate I had sitting on the counter, there was a knock on my door. I put the plate back down and walked to the door, curiously, wondering who it could be. I opened it to find Daniel.

"Hello, Daniel," I said.

"Hello, Abbie," he said. "I'm sorry I showed up without letting you know first. I hope I'm not intruding."

"It's fine," I said, moving aside. "Come in."

He walked inside and took off his coat, hanging it on the coat rack I had beside of the door. We both walked into the living room and he took a seat on the couch.

"Can I get you anything?" I asked.

"No, thank you," he said, politely. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I was just cooking dinner if you're hungry."

"I'm fine," he said. "Thank you, though."

I nodded and took a seat beside of him.

"So how are you?" he asked.

"I'm well," I said. "Yourself?"

"I'm good," he said. "I thought I would drop by for a visit and see how you were."

"That's nice of you. I really appreciate it."

"There was also something else," he said after a moment. "Something I wanted to ask you."'

"Really?" I asked him, curiously. "What would that be?"

"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I thought me and you could go to Tom and Jade's party together," he said somewhat nervously. "Be each others dates you could say."

I stared at him for a couple of moments wondering why he was asking me to be his date. Daniel was a very handsome guy. He could ask any girl he wanted and they would go with him. Why me? Then, suddenly, I knew what it was.

"Emma put you up to this didn't she?" I asked him.

"What?" he asked, looking at me strangely. "No, she didn't put me up to this. What are you talking about?"

He sounded genuinely confused and truthful, but he was an actor after all. He could easily just be saying that. I didn't know if I should believe him or not.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he said after I had not answered him.

"No, no," I said, quickly. "I would love to go with you, Daniel. Thank you for asking me."

"Great," he said, smiling and standing up. "I should be going now. I'll call you later on about the arrangements."

"That sounds fine to me," I said, standing up and following him to the door.

"I'll talk to you later, Abbie," he said shrugging on his coat and opening the door.

"Alright," I said. "Bye, Daniel."

I shut the door once he was gone, feeling confused, and immediately walked to the kitchen where my phone was sitting on the counter. I unlocked it and went through my contacts, finding Emma's number and calling her.

"Hello," she answered.

"You," I said, accusingly. "You put him up to it didn't you?"

"What on earth are you talking about, Abbie?" she asked, sounding confused.

"You know what I'm talking about, Emma," I said. "Daniel just came by and asked me to be his date to Tom and Jade's party."

"Abbie, I really have no idea what you're talking about," she said, sincerely. "I didn't put Daniel up to anything. I promise."

I knew Emma well enough to know when was being truthful with me and I knew she was telling me the truth.

"I believe you," I said, sighing. "I'm sorry for accusing you. It just had you written all over it."

"It's okay," she said. "I understand. I mean, I did plan on having one of my guy friends take you. So what did you tell him?"

"I told him I would go with him," I told her. "We are friends after all. I just don't understand why he asked me when he could have asked someone else."

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked me. "He likes you."

"What? You're crazy. He does not like me. He was just being friendly and asked me."

"Whatever," she said. "I think he likes you. I see the way he looks at you sometimes. He tries to be all secretive about it, but I see it."

"You're misreading this completely," I said to her.

"Fine," she said. "Don't believe me. I know what I'm talking about, though."

"Sure, sure," I said. "Well, I'm going to get off here now."

"Okay," she said. "Bye."

"Bye."

I sighed as I ended the call and set my phone back on the counter. Emma was wrong. She had to be. Daniel did not like me in that way. We were only friends. That was it.