He’s been my neighbor for sixteen years. Since we both were born, we’ve lived next door to each other. We’ve seen each other go through puberty, love, what we only thought was love, breakups, arguments with the family. We’ve been there for each other at midnight when your cell phone rings and you talk about having to go through the ‘sex talk’, or how your parents are so unreasonable or how they think you’re doing drugs. Bottom line, he’s my best friend, and I’m his. The problem? I want more…but I don’t think he does. Why do I think this? No, not because I’m insecure about myself, but because he’s dating Missy Winters—‘the most popular girl in school.’ Not only is she the varsity cheerleader’s co-captain, but she’s our schools girl MVP. She’s captain of the girls basketball team and when she’s not playing basketball or cheering for the football team, she’s playing volleyball. How cliché is that? And it’s not just that Trey is specifically dating Missy. Its that whenever we both happen to be single at the same time, he never makes a move. Ever. Sometimes I think Trey’s blind when it comes to reading signals. You know the song “You belong with me” by Taylor Swift? Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure that song was written about me and Trey. Speaking of ‘You belong with me’, my phone goes off to that song, and I know its Trey because I set my ringtone to that when only Trey calls. Oh god, if he knew that this was his ringtone…he’d know. He’d know for sure that I love him. See, a few weeks ago, I admitted to him that I think she wrote that song about me, and he wanted to know why. I didn’t have a reason to give without seeming obvious, so I just dropped it. But he’s smart enough to figure it out if he were to ever find out.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hey.” Trey says in his deep voice.
“Oh hey. How was the game?”
“Northwest won.”
“Oh, well, tell Missy good game.”
“Yeah…whatever.”
“Girlfriend problems?”
“Maybe…but my problems, so I’ll fix them. So what’re you doing the rest of the night?”
“Homework.”
“Oh fun.”
“You know it.”
“Hey, where are you? I don’t see you.” Trey asks. Our bedrooms are parallel and we usually talk to each other when we’re in our rooms.
“Oh hold on.” I say, coming out of the bathroom after fixing my hair.
“There you are.” He says, smiling his heart-melting smile. I honestly think Missy doesn’t know how lucky she is.
“Here I am.” I say.
“Krystal!?!” My mom yells. “Dinner!”
“Oh uhm…dinner time…”
“And there you go.” Trey says.
“I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay.” He nods.
Dinner took longer than I thought, and I still need to finish my homework so I skip calling Trey back. I feel bad, but I don’t really feel like listening to him talk about Missy.
Its 12:30 when my phone starts playing the chorus of “you belong with me”, and I open my eyes. I fell asleep doing homework and my light is still on.
“Hello?”
“Hey. Did I wake you? I saw that your light was still on, and you never called back…so…”
“Oh uhm. Sorry. Like I said, tons of homework. But I’m awake.”
“So you want a ride to school tomorrow?”
“From you?”
“Who else?”
“Oh, well, you usually ride with Missy…so I wasn’t sure…”
“She’s gotta take her sister to school for some reason. So I figured you and I would. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, of course.” I say.
“Okay, come on over at around 7.”
“Alright.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Kay.”
“Bye.” Trey says.
‘I love you.’ I think.
I wake up at 6:30, shower, eat breakfast, then head over to Trey’s. His mom answers the door.
“Hey Mrs. Gold.
“Oh, hi Krystal! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?”
“Trey was going to give me a ride today.”
“Really? That’s odd. Trey left about ten minutes ago to pick up Missy.”
I suddenly feel light headed and feel like I’m about to pass out. How could Trey do that to me?
“Oh…uhm…okay. Sorry to bug you.” I say, then walk back home. I have to ask my mom for a ride to school, and I end up being late. Lucky for me, I get to walk in to my homeroom --which Trey, Missy, and I share-- late, while everybody stares at me. I walk in with my pass and hand it to Mr. Smith. I turn to walk to an empty desk and see Trey mouth ‘sorry’ to me. I roll my eyes, sure that he knows I don’t forgive him.
When the bell rings for school to be over, I grab my stuff and head out with a few friends while we wait for our parents. We’re the few lucky ones that aren’t spoiled and still haven’t gotten a car. My phone starts playing Trey’s ringtone while we’re outside in the cold.
“Hello?” I answer with an annoyed voice so he knows I’m still angry. Someone turns around behind me, and its none other than Trey. Crap! Did he hear my ringtone?
“Hey.”
“Uh…what…what do you want?”
“To give you a ride home.”
“You sure you don’t wanna give Missy a ride home?”
“Please? I want to talk to you.” Trey says, his deep blue eyes begging for forgiveness. I can’t say no to that face.
“Fine.” I give in. We walk to his car and I throw my stuff in the back.
“Krystal, I’m so sorry about this morning. She called last minute telling me her parents needed her car and she needed a ride.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Kris,” he said, calling me my nickname that was specifically for Trey to call me and no one else.
“What?” I said.
“Please don’t be angry with me. I can’t have you angry at me when I tell you the rest, okay? So save your anger for the end, alright?”
“Alright.” I said, trying to hide my smile.
“I tried explaining to Missy that I needed to take you to school. But she gave me an ultimatum. She thought I spent too much time with you and I should focus on her more, since after all, she was my girlfriend,”
Wait a second…did he just say ‘was’?
“So she gave me the choice. You or her. I drove her to school….but after homeroom and after seeing the look you gave me, I broke up with her.”
WHAT? “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Kris, I couldn’t even last a day without you. And knowing you were mad at me just hurt me inside. Kris, you’re my best friend.”
Of course…his best friend. Never would I be anything else.
We didn’t say anything for about five minutes, but then Trey broke the silence.
“So, my ringtone is Taylor Swift?”
Ohmygod. He did notice!
“Uhm, yeah. My sister uh…she-”
“Kris…you know…” Trey said, pulling into my driveway.
I looked at him, his blue eyes staring into mine.
He was inching closer and closer, I felt his warm breath against my skin.He leaned in and began kissing me, then stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“You belong with me.”