Maybe I'm the One You Like

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?” Peyton whined, throwing herself down on my bed face first, rather dramatically. I sat down in my desk chair and crossed my arms.

Homecoming. That had been the chosen topic of discussion at school for the past week. And who had happened to ask Peyton? Fucking Teddy. That dick had charmed his way through their first date and now Peyton was all giddy and happy. Frankly, it pissed me off.

I don’t even know why I cared. Homecoming was never something that interested me, if anything my friends and I usually just got hammered beforehand and giggled our way through the night.

“He’s just not a good dude,” I muttered, thankful for my buzzing phone as a distraction from having to explain to her feelings I’m not sure I could even explain to myself.

Jack: What time is practice???

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Peyton pouted from my bed. “He can’t be that bad. You probably just don’t like him because he threatens your male ego, or whatever it is you guys compete for.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored her as I turned back to my phone.

Jack: ???


Alex: Like 4? I don’t know. Can’t talk. Peyt’s here.

Jack: Invite her to practice. M & K will be there too.

I sighed and turned back to face her. “Wanna go to practice today?” I asked. “Meg and Kara are going.”

“Yeah,” Peyton shrugged. “So, how do homecoming dances work at your school? Is it like, no big deal?”

“Psh, homecoming is like the prom,” I retorted. “It’s full of drama, and bitches, and skanky dancing, and hookups, and alcohol, and skanky hookups involving alcohol.”

Alex: She’ll be there.

Jack: Great. Meg says hi.

Alex. Great.

Jack: Jfc, someone’s in a pissy mood today…

“Who are you talking to?” Peyton asked.

“Jack,” I grumbled.

Alex: The douche charmed his way into taking her to homecoming.

Jack: Pike?

Alex: Yup.

“What’s he saying?” I jumped as I felt her breath on my neck and immediately swiveled my chair away from her.

“None of your business, that’s what.”

Jack: And why do you care?

Alex: I don’t know dude. He’s just such a dick.

“You look mad.”

“I’m not mad, Peyt. I’m typing,” I muttered.

Jack: well there’s not much you can do about it. Unless...

Alex: unless what…

“Talk to him later, I’m bored,” Peyton whined. She threw my pillow at me, and it bounced off my head, messing up my hair.

Jack: Dude, you’re not a total idiot. Think about it.

“Talk to me!” She shook the back of my chair and caused me to lose my balance and fall backwards. I smacked my head on the wood floor and groaned as Peyton giggled and grabbed my phone out of my hand. “No, Peyt, don’t...” I trailed off as my head started to throb.

“You’re talking about me!” Peyton accused as she scrolled through Jack and my conversation.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m TRYING to talk to someone I’m talking to someone, god dammit, but you keep interrupting me!” I yelled, pressing a hand to my throbbing forehead. That was going to leave a mark later. I jumped up and grabbed my phone from her, apparently too aggressively because she lost her balance and fell back against my bed. As soon as her angry eyes met mine I knew I had made a horrible mistake.

“Fuck you,” she glared before she stormed out of my room.

“Wait,” I called as my door slammed shut, and I let out a loud, obnoxious groan and sat back down.

Alex: doubt she’ll be at practice.

Jack: fuck, what’d you do?

Alex: nothing!

Jack: ...

Alex: fuck you. I’ll see you at practice.

I tried to convince myself that she was being too sensitive and would quickly get over whatever happened, but truthfully, I hated when Peyton was mad at me. I never used to care about what other girls thought of me, but she was different. She was someone I actually cared about, and that scared the shit out of me.

I grabbed my keys off my desk and trotted down the stairs, figuring I may as well head to Rian’s house for practice early if I wasn’t going to be hanging with Peyton anymore. I was halfway out the door when I heard my mom’s voice. “Alex!” she called from the kitchen. I sighed irritably and walked into the kitchen. “What?” I groaned. “I’m on my way out.”

My mom was standing in front of the stove, cooking who knows what for dinner this evening. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I was definitely eating at Rian’s tonight. This mystery goop smelled terrible. “Where are you going?” she asked. “And do you have homework?”

“I did my homework,” I lied quickly, averting my eyes to the floor.

“How’s math?”

“Math is...good?” I said carefully, leaning against the wall. I could tell by the tone she was using that I was in trouble for something.

“Oh that’s funny, because your teacher sent me an email saying that you’ve been sexually harassing Peyton,” she said calmly. My eyes widened and I gasped. That bitch, of course she would tell on me. Obviously our truce meant nothing to her.

“What the hell!” I yelled. “I wasn’t!”

“Oh really, Alex? then how come she’s told me that she’s had to tell you numerous times to stop talking, she’s caught you looking down poor Peyton’s shirt, and you’ve made her CRY! Really, Alex? What are you thinking! What is running through your head sometimes?!” she yelled back, furiously stirring the pot and causing it to bubble over.

“Witch...” I muttered, almost laughing at my lame joke.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” I muttered. “But it’s not true. I don’t know why Peyton would say that! We’re friends now! I never fucking-”

“Alexander William Gaskarth, I will NOT allow language like that in my household. God, why couldn’t you be more like your brother?”

I bit down on my lip and glared. Nothing pissed me off more than when I was compared to my brother. He had always been the favorite, the golden boy, the star of my family who’s shadow I had always lived in as a child. I could feel my face darkening as my fists clench. “If you want me to be more like him I wouldn’t be here where I am today,” I growled.

“Stop being so over dramatic, this wouldn’t even be happening if you hadn’t acting like such a boy,” mom said furiously. “When will you learn to keep it in your pants and focus on school work?”

I felt my blood pressure rising and my face heating up, although at this point there wasn’t really anything I could do. I’d already dropped the F-bomb, I’d sworn, insulted her, there was no other comeback. Plan B: get the fuck out of here.

I stormed into the living room, looking for something destructive I could do to make me feel the slightest bit better. Nothing appealed to me, so I growled and punched the wall as hard as I could. “Fuck!” I yelped as the pain hit me.

“Are you alright out there?”

“FUCK,” I yelled again as I slammed the front door shut. I sat down on the front step and dropped my head in my hands, wincing at the pain in my knuckles. What was I supposed to do now? My own mother wanted nothing to do with me. What a shitty feeling, knowing you’re not wanted, that you aren’t measuring up to someone else’s standards. I didn’t know what to do. I was shaking out of anger, for fuck’s sake.

“Alex?”

I jumped and lifted my head to see Peyton standing over me, arms crossed. “You came back,” I stated.

“Yeah, because I heard yelling. What’s going on at your house right now?” she asked, sounding concerned. “Holy shit, what happened to your hand? Please come over and let me help.” I nodded and stood up, wincing at the pain I felt in my hand. My knuckles were bloody and there were already black and blue bruises forming.

“I punched the wall.”

“Why?!”

“Because my mom is a douchebag,” I muttered as I stood up and crossed the yard into Peyt’s driveway. She gasped. “Alex!”

“It’s the truth.”

She let me into her house, led me into the kitchen, and instructed me to sit while she filled a bag full of ice and handed it to me.

“Teddy and I aren’t going to homecoming together,” she said softly, turning my hand over to inspect it more closely. I raised my eyebrows.

“Why?” I asked a little too eagerly.

“He said he’d rather go with someone else.” She sighed and shrugged, trying to put on a smile. But I could tell her feelings were hurt.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. You were right. I guess I’m not going to homecoming.”

And suddenly I understood what Jack meant. For once, my best friend made sense. “Wanna go with me?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

“Really?”

“Uh, yeah.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes. I would.”

Notes

I'm supposed to get up to 14 inches of snow this weekend, so I will be working on this haha. And potentially something new as well, possibly?