After Gordo and Brad left Lizzie and Miranda locked in the laundry room they hurried into the kitchen and sat down at the table together. "Man, I feel like the biggest schmuck locking them in there," Brad said.
"I know," Gordo said, "but trust me. I have been friends with both of them for long enough to know that they both have a pretty wide stubborn streak and forcing them to talk it out is the best way."
"Won't they be mad at us?" Brad asked.
"That, my friend, is the whole key to the plan. We need to give them something to agree on so that they will start talking again. If they are both mad at us they will start to talk about that and before you know it they are starting to realize that they were being stubborn and make up," Gordo said.
"Hmmmm," Brad said, "Sounds logical enough."
"We just have to sit back and wait," Gordo said.
Back in the laundry room Lizzie was sitting on the floor with her back against the washing machine and Miranda had hopped up on top of the dryer to sit so that she wouldn't have to look at Lizzie. Miranda was rummaging around in her purse trying to find something that would occupy some time. Silently she was cursing Lizzie's good fortune to have her MP3 player in her purse. She could hear Lizzie quietly humming along with her tunes. If she could help it she was not going to be the first one to talk and she could bet that Lizzie was thinking the same thing.
"How long have they been in there?" Brad asked.
"Only about 45 minutes," Gordo said.
"Should we go and check on them?" Brad asked.
"No. We could hear them from here if they had made up and were ready to come out. But I only hear silence, which means they probably haven't even started talking yet. We need to give them more time," Gordo said.
"What if they never start talking?" Brad asked.
"Don't worry. When they get hungry they will start talking, because otherwise we will refuse to give them any food," Gordo said.
"That seems harsh," Brad said.
Gordo was about to respond when the phone rang. He jumped up and grabbed the receiver, "Hello?"
"Gordo, this is Jo. Do you know where Lizzie is?" Jo asked.
"Yeah, she is here," Gordo said.
"Can I talk to her?" Jo asked.
"Is it an emergency?" Gordo asked.
"Well, no…" Jo began.
"Then you can't talk to her," Gordo cut in.
"What exactly is going on over there?" Jo demanded to know.
Gordo explained about how he and Brad were holding Lizzie and Miranda captive in the laundry room until they agreed to work out their differences. He told Jo that he and Brad couldn't take them fighting any longer so they were prepared to keep them in there all night if they had to.
While Jo, like Brad was a little unsure of the method, she too noticed that the girls weren't talking and wanted them to work it out.
"Well, tell Lizzie to check in, if she ever makes it out of your laundry room," Jo said.
"Mrs. McG?" Gordo began, "Can you call Miranda's house and fill her Mom in so she doesn't worry about where she is?"
"Sure Gordo," Jo said and she laughed a little as she told him good-bye.
Back in the laundry room Miranda was now stretched out on her back across the washer and dryer. Her eyes were closed and she was pretty sure that for a few minutes at a time she had actually dozed off once or twice. How long were they going to make them sit in here, she wondered. She opened her eyes and counted the ceiling tiles in the small room. She closed her eyes again and was nearly asleep when a sharp bang on the washer below her head nearly caused her heart to stop.
"What the hell!" Miranda yelled.
"My batteries just died," Lizzie said furiously as she banged the washer again with her elbow.
"I guess now you also get to suffer in silence," Miranda said.
Lizzie didn't answer. After a minute or two of rummaging around in her purse she pulled out some nail polish and went to work on her fingernails. Miranda rolled her eyes and lay back down. She rolled to the side a little to watch Lizzie work on her nails. The longer they were in here without talking the more guilty she felt. She knew that she was being unreasonable in taking out her anger on Lizzie over the yearbook positions, but that wasn't the whole reason that she was angry. She wasn't completely sure that she knew how to explain why she was angry and she wasn't completely sure that anger was the best word for it. A better word was probably jealously.
Lizzie finished her nails and started to blow on the wet polish. In a gesture that Miranda had not expected, Lizzie reached up behind her head to hand the bottle to Miranda. Startled, Miranda took it and said, "Thanks."
"I was determined not to be the first one to talk, but the longer we sit in here, the dumber our argument seems. So, after an hour and a half of sitting in here, I guess I will start," Lizzie said.
She paused for a moment to think and Miranda cut in, "No, let me go first. I'm not even sure what you should have to be sorry about. I am the one who is being completely irrational and unreasonable about the whole yearbook thing. It is my own stupid fault that I didn't sign up for more jobs than the one I really wanted. I took my anger out on you because I was jealous that you got the job that I wanted."
"Are you sure that is all that you have been upset about?" Lizzie asked, "It seems like it should be something bigger, based on the way you were treating me."
"That was the thing that set me off, the last straw," Miranda said.
"So, what is the big picture," Lizzie asked.
"I'm jealous of you," Miranda said.
"What? Why?" Lizzie scoffed.
"For everything…I thought that my jealously was starting to fade when Brad and I started dating, but after a little while it started to show again," Miranda said.
"I don't understand." Lizzie said.
"You are Lizzie McGuire. You are perfect, beautiful, blonde, smart, funny and everyone loves you. At time is can be hard to be best friends with someone who shines so brightly," Miranda said.
"But what about all the other things that I am: klutzy, ditzy, slightly self-centered, sometimes careless and irresponsible," Lizzie offered.
"All your good qualities outweigh the bad though," Miranda said.
"You have plenty of good qualities going for yourself you know," Lizzie said. When she could tell that Miranda did not necessarily agree she started to list them off, "You're unique, independent, smart, pretty, funny, creative…"
With a smile Miranda said, "Okay, okay…I get it."
"I don't understand why you are jealous of me. You are not the kind of person who wants to be like anyone else, so why should it matter to you what I have or what I am?" Lizzie asked.
"I know, it didn't make sense to me at first either," Miranda said, "After a lot of thought I think it all goes back to your relationship with Gordo. We were supposed to be the three amigos, all best friends, but it was always a little lopsided because of the extra attention that Gordo paid to you. It made me jealous that he was closer to you when it should have been even. After I was jealous about that everything else seemed to add to it."
"Like what added to it?" Lizzie asked.
"You got a car for your birthday and your parents put a pool in and you and Gordo finally started dating and when we started high school you suddenly had all these guys interested in you and all these new friends….just everything. It seemed like your life was perfect and that you always got everything you ever wanted. It was hard not to want such a charmed, easy life too," Miranda said.
Lizzie scoffed and said, "My life has been far from perfect. Did you forget about Shane and that whole mess? What about the past week of my life? I was sure that I was losing both my best friend and my boyfriend in the same week."
"You and Gordo were fighting too?" Miranda asked with surprise.
"It's fine now, it was more like a misunderstanding than anything," Lizzie said, "But the point is that my life is not perfect and it is stupid for you to be jealous of me. I do not expect that things go perfectly in my life. I admit that at times things do seem too good to be true, but that is not something I ask for. I am sorry that you always felt that the three amigos were uneven and unfair, but that is not something I asked for either. I hope that you can resolve your feelings of jealousy—because as far as I am concerned, they are unfounded. If you need to be jealous of anything I guess you can be jealous of the good luck that I sometimes seem to possess, but that is all."
Miranda was speechless for a moment. Lizzie was right…all the things that she was jealous over were not things that Lizzie or anyone else could control. If she took a moment to look at her life she would have noticed that things had been going well for her too. Maybe she needed to take a little more stock in what she had going on in her life and pay less attention to what Lizzie had going on in hers.
"I'm sorry, Lizzie," Miranda said, "I feel really silly now."
"It's okay," Lizzie said, "Friends?"
"Best friends," Miranda said with a smile. She jumped down from her perch on the dryer and hugged Lizzie.
Gordo and Brad had listened to the entire exchange with their ears practically pressed up against the door. After nearly an hour and a half of silence the loud banging of Lizzie's elbow on the dryer had drawn them. For a brief moment they had been afraid that things had come to blows. Hearing that the girls had peacefully resolved their issues Gordo opened the door, releasing them.
"Finally," Lizzie moaned when they noticed the door swing open. Growing serious for a moment though she added, "Thanks guys. We needed someone to push us in the right direction.
"Yeah, thanks," Miranda added quietly.
"Miranda, can I speak to you privately?" Brad asked. She nodded and followed him upstairs to his bedroom. When she'd settled on the bed and he'd closed the door behind them he said, "You know that Gordo and I heard every word of what you and Lizzie said in that room." Miranda nodded again and he continued, "Why didn't you ever tell me about those feelings?"
"Yeah," Miranda said sarcastically, "Because it is such an admirable quality for a girl to be somewhat insecure and jealous of her best friend."
"I'm being serious Miranda. It wouldn't have changed how I felt about you. You're still you," Brad explained, "I would hope that you can always feel comfortable enough to tell me anything."
"No one wants to admit the bad things about themselves," Miranda said quietly.
"No, but maybe sometimes when you share those things, those feelings, you'd find that you're not the only one who feels those things," Brad said.
"What are you taking about?" Miranda asked.
"Don't you think a nerd like me has some insecurity? Brad asked.
"I supposed that is possible," Miranda conceded with a small smile.
"More than possible, it's the truth," Brad said firmly, "I've been jealous of Gordo for years. I just didn't get how if I was kind of a dork and he was kind of a dork, why did he have you and Lizzie as friends when I had no one. I am aware now that we were not the same caliber of dork, but never the less."
"So, what exactly are you trying to say to me?" Miranda asked.
"I just want you to realize that how you are feeling is normal, you aren't alone," Brad said, "Don't you think everyone has some degree of jealously toward someone else? You don't think that Gordo was jealous of that Ethan Craft guy who Lizzie couldn't take her eyes off of for so many years? And don't you think Lizzie was jealous of Kate who used to be friends with you guys before she got popular and left you behind?"
"You're probably right," Miranda said, "But I'm the only one who came forward and admitted my jealously out loud."
"I happen to think that was extremely brave of you," Brad said, "And I think hearing about it has made me love you even more. And possibly more importantly, maybe Lizzie will see your friendship in a different light."
"How is it that you're so smart?" Miranda asked, then in a more serious tone added, "Thank you, I needed to hear those things."
The two couples headed out to the local pizza place together and caught up all the things they'd missed out in each other's lives in the last week or so while things had been strained. Each realized how important their trust and communication were to maintaining both the relationships and friendships they all held so dearly. They also hoped that in these realizations they'd make their bonds stronger and manage to survive the rest of the semester unscathed.
Author's Note: I know it has been years since I updated this story but I reread this whole story recently and saw the potential that there still was. Maybe I still have some readers; maybe not…it was fun anyway. Please review and let me know if I should keep going with this story! Thanks!