Things I'll Never Say
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! Keep 'em coming!
Disclaimer: Lizzie McGuire doesn't belong to me; "Things I'll Never Say" belongs to Avril Lavigne; Moulin Rouge belongs to Baz Luhrmann.
Chapter Seven:
The next day, which was a Friday, passed by rather uneventfully. Before I knew it, I was driving Miranda and myself - Dad had returned to town a few days earlier, giving me my car back - to the Sanchezes' house to start getting ready for our dates. I was still being a little uncooperative with Miranda, but she was just glad I'd agreed to go with Dustin's cousin - I'd found out his name was Andrew.
"Dustin said that Andrew's really nervous about the date, too," Miranda was saying as she looked through the clothes in her closet. I had just shown her what I had planned on wearing, and she'd instantly said it wasn't dressy enough.
"I'm not nervous," I replied, catching a black skirt that Miranda tossed to me. I held it up to my body and wrinkled my nose before tossing it back to her. "I'm just not jumping for joy that I finally have the chance to go on a blind date. So sue me."
Miranda stopped rifling through her clothes long enough to stare at me in a reprimanding manner. "Lizzie, if you act like that around poor Andrew, he'll probably be scared to death!"
I could just feel my nastier side coming out with each "oh, pity Andrew" word that Miranda was speaking. Normally, I'm not a nasty person, but Miranda could always bring my unpleasant characteristics out. "Sounds like a pansy to me, Miranda," I replied pointedly.
"Lizzie, I'm serious - please be nice to him," Miranda begged. "When I told Dustin that you were going to be Andrew's date, he was so relieved because he knows that you're 'such a nice girl.' And I'm quoting him on that," she added, almost as an afterthought.
I sighed. As much as I hated this idea, I had agreed to it. Miranda had bailed me out of many situations in our high school career, so I figured I at least owed that to her. "All right," I agreed finally. "I'll behave myself."
Miranda beamed. "That's a good Lizzie!" she exclaimed, flashing me a bright smile before turning back and beginning to dig in her closet again. Then, suddenly, she stopped and turned back toward me, a worried look on her face. "Lizzie?"
I stopped looking through Miranda's CD case to look up at her. "Yeah?"
"What about Gordo?"
Her question struck me as odd and I started laughing. Through my giggles, I managed to ask, "What about Gordo?" Why in the world was Miranda worrying about Gordo when she had a date with Dustin later that night? Usually when she had dates, they were the only thing on her mind for weeks prior to it.
She gave me an urgent look. "What's he doing tonight? Weren't you supposed to rehearse together?"
I gave Miranda a look and placed her CD case back onto her desk, where I'd picked it up from, and then walked to her bookshelf to look at the little odds and ends she had collected over the years. Though I had been in her room millions of time during the course of our friendship, the little knick-knacks she had never failed to catch my attention. "We were supposed to," I said, a little unsure of where she was going with this, "but I called to tell him that something came up." I had; I hadn't told him that I was going on a date with Miranda's boyfriend's cousin, though, for some unexplainable reason. I just hadn't been able to convince myself to say the words, "I have a date". It was weird, and a little unsettling.
"And what did he say?" Miranda prodded, still looking worried.
"I don't know why it's such a big deal, but he said 'okay' and that he would make other plans." I paused. "If you're worried about him feeling left out, he does have other friends he could do something with. Shawn Dotson is Toulouse, so they'll probably get together and run their lines . . ." Shawn Dotson was a guy who had moved from Tucson, Arizona, to Hill Ridge when we were sophomores. He and Gordo, both of them being smart guys, had Chemistry together and they had been friends ever since. Gordo still spent most of his time with Miranda and me, obviously, but he and Shawn were okay friends, too.
That worried look never left Miranda's face, however. "All right," she said with a sigh, satisfied with my answer.
When she turned her back, I muttered under my breath, "Okay," and then went back to looking through her things.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Four hours, lots of junkfood, and several Cokes later, it was seven o'clock. Miranda had picked out my outfit - a simple light rose-colored off the shoulder peasant blouse and knee-length denim skirt - and we'd done our make-up to our liking. Dustin and Andrew weren't supposed to pick us up until seven-thirty, and since we had known that, we had taken our time with getting ready.
"So, what's Andrew like?" I asked, interested. Asking her that question was my way of not-so-subtly checking up on him to make sure he wasn't a total jerk.
For a moment, Miranda looked a bit guilty. "Actually--"
I cut her off and stared at her. "You've never met him or talked to him, have you?" I demanded, knowing Miranda all too well. "So he could be a psychopathic killer guy who is wanted for rape in 49 states!"
"I think Dustin would have told me about that if it were true," Miranda said, not doing well to conceal a grin. "Lizzie, calm down. I wouldn't let you go out with a murderer/rapist."
I sighed. "Somehow that doesn't comfort me . . ." I was about to ask her another question, but the ringing doorbell interrupted me, and Miranda grinned before standing up and straightening out her skirt.
"Are you ready?" she asked, looking behind her in the mirror and fixing her hair. Without waiting for a response, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her to the front door.
A/N: Sorry for the slight delay in this chapter . . . I have been kind of busy. We changed our weapons work and I've been working my arse off outside of practice so I could get this behind the back toss in the sabre work--I've got it now, so that's a good thing! I have a competition this Saturday (March 1) so we've all been putting forth a lot of effort to be ready for it. Since I got out of school at 10 because of snow, I thought I'd do a little catching up on this fic.
Please check out my newest LM fic, Old, New, Borrowed, Blue and don't forget to leave a review!
The next chapter will have the actual date in it, and we should be getting back to some play and Lizzie/Gordo action in the ninth chapter!
Disclaimer: Lizzie McGuire doesn't belong to me; "Things I'll Never Say" belongs to Avril Lavigne; Moulin Rouge belongs to Baz Luhrmann.
The next day, which was a Friday, passed by rather uneventfully. Before I knew it, I was driving Miranda and myself - Dad had returned to town a few days earlier, giving me my car back - to the Sanchezes' house to start getting ready for our dates. I was still being a little uncooperative with Miranda, but she was just glad I'd agreed to go with Dustin's cousin - I'd found out his name was Andrew.
"Dustin said that Andrew's really nervous about the date, too," Miranda was saying as she looked through the clothes in her closet. I had just shown her what I had planned on wearing, and she'd instantly said it wasn't dressy enough.
"I'm not nervous," I replied, catching a black skirt that Miranda tossed to me. I held it up to my body and wrinkled my nose before tossing it back to her. "I'm just not jumping for joy that I finally have the chance to go on a blind date. So sue me."
Miranda stopped rifling through her clothes long enough to stare at me in a reprimanding manner. "Lizzie, if you act like that around poor Andrew, he'll probably be scared to death!"
I could just feel my nastier side coming out with each "oh, pity Andrew" word that Miranda was speaking. Normally, I'm not a nasty person, but Miranda could always bring my unpleasant characteristics out. "Sounds like a pansy to me, Miranda," I replied pointedly.
"Lizzie, I'm serious - please be nice to him," Miranda begged. "When I told Dustin that you were going to be Andrew's date, he was so relieved because he knows that you're 'such a nice girl.' And I'm quoting him on that," she added, almost as an afterthought.
I sighed. As much as I hated this idea, I had agreed to it. Miranda had bailed me out of many situations in our high school career, so I figured I at least owed that to her. "All right," I agreed finally. "I'll behave myself."
Miranda beamed. "That's a good Lizzie!" she exclaimed, flashing me a bright smile before turning back and beginning to dig in her closet again. Then, suddenly, she stopped and turned back toward me, a worried look on her face. "Lizzie?"
I stopped looking through Miranda's CD case to look up at her. "Yeah?"
"What about Gordo?"
Her question struck me as odd and I started laughing. Through my giggles, I managed to ask, "What about Gordo?" Why in the world was Miranda worrying about Gordo when she had a date with Dustin later that night? Usually when she had dates, they were the only thing on her mind for weeks prior to it.
She gave me an urgent look. "What's he doing tonight? Weren't you supposed to rehearse together?"
I gave Miranda a look and placed her CD case back onto her desk, where I'd picked it up from, and then walked to her bookshelf to look at the little odds and ends she had collected over the years. Though I had been in her room millions of time during the course of our friendship, the little knick-knacks she had never failed to catch my attention. "We were supposed to," I said, a little unsure of where she was going with this, "but I called to tell him that something came up." I had; I hadn't told him that I was going on a date with Miranda's boyfriend's cousin, though, for some unexplainable reason. I just hadn't been able to convince myself to say the words, "I have a date". It was weird, and a little unsettling.
"And what did he say?" Miranda prodded, still looking worried.
"I don't know why it's such a big deal, but he said 'okay' and that he would make other plans." I paused. "If you're worried about him feeling left out, he does have other friends he could do something with. Shawn Dotson is Toulouse, so they'll probably get together and run their lines . . ." Shawn Dotson was a guy who had moved from Tucson, Arizona, to Hill Ridge when we were sophomores. He and Gordo, both of them being smart guys, had Chemistry together and they had been friends ever since. Gordo still spent most of his time with Miranda and me, obviously, but he and Shawn were okay friends, too.
That worried look never left Miranda's face, however. "All right," she said with a sigh, satisfied with my answer.
When she turned her back, I muttered under my breath, "Okay," and then went back to looking through her things.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Four hours, lots of junkfood, and several Cokes later, it was seven o'clock. Miranda had picked out my outfit - a simple light rose-colored off the shoulder peasant blouse and knee-length denim skirt - and we'd done our make-up to our liking. Dustin and Andrew weren't supposed to pick us up until seven-thirty, and since we had known that, we had taken our time with getting ready.
"So, what's Andrew like?" I asked, interested. Asking her that question was my way of not-so-subtly checking up on him to make sure he wasn't a total jerk.
For a moment, Miranda looked a bit guilty. "Actually--"
I cut her off and stared at her. "You've never met him or talked to him, have you?" I demanded, knowing Miranda all too well. "So he could be a psychopathic killer guy who is wanted for rape in 49 states!"
"I think Dustin would have told me about that if it were true," Miranda said, not doing well to conceal a grin. "Lizzie, calm down. I wouldn't let you go out with a murderer/rapist."
I sighed. "Somehow that doesn't comfort me . . ." I was about to ask her another question, but the ringing doorbell interrupted me, and Miranda grinned before standing up and straightening out her skirt.
"Are you ready?" she asked, looking behind her in the mirror and fixing her hair. Without waiting for a response, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her to the front door.
Please check out my newest LM fic, Old, New, Borrowed, Blue and don't forget to leave a review!
The next chapter will have the actual date in it, and we should be getting back to some play and Lizzie/Gordo action in the ninth chapter!