After a long afternoon at the pool, Parker went home and relaxed. She
changed into a flowing white peasant blouse and worn-out jeans and pulled
her hair into a sloppy pony tail. She camped out on the couch and argued
with her sister about what to watch. Her parents, of course, weren't home.
They had been at seaside resort for the past few weeks, leaving Parker to
tend to Madison, her least favorite person in the world. The evening wore
on, and Parker kept glancing at the clock, hoping that Gordo would show up.
The doorbell rang. Parker jumped off the couch and practically flew to the door. Her face fell, however, as she was greeted by a man in a red hat holding a pizza box.
"Wrong address, dude," she said in a dull voice. "No one ordered a pizza."
"That's mine!" squealed Madison from the couch.
Parker glared at her little sister. "What? You ordered a freaking pizza? I can't believe you!"
Madison apparently felt no remorse. "I was hungry!"
Parker sighed and rolled her eyes, turning back to the pizza guy. "Well, I guess we'll take it then. How much?"
"Thirteen-twenty," the pizza guy replied, tucking a dread lock behind his ear. "Hey... don't I know you? Didn't I get high with you at Richard's party that one time?"
Parker fished a few bills out of her pocket and handed them to the pizza guy. She gave him a condescending look as she took the pizza from his hands. "I was probably there, sure, but I wasn't getting high, thank you. That's not my thing, daddio. Keep the change." She promptly slammed the door in his face.
She peered into the pizza box: extra cheese. Well, at least Maddy had done one thing right and ordered the right kind. She took out a steaming slice and carried the rest of it over to the couch. Madison grinned happily as she placed the over-sized pizza box on her lap and helped herself. Only moments later, the doorbell rang again and Parker leapt up once more.
"Gordo," she said with a relieved smile as she opened the door.
"Hey Parker," said Gordo less-than-happily. He stepped inside the house and waved to Madison, who's face was already covered in sauce and gooey cheese.
"Hi, Gordo!" she said. She held out the cardboard box. "Want some pizza?"
He grinned at the younger girl. "Sure. Why not?" He moved to the couch and reach into the box. Parker casually slid in beside him. He suddenly felt uncomfortable as to how close she was to him. She was beautiful in her comfy clothes, and with her hair out of her face so that it radiated a pleasant warmth to him. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to curl up with her on that couch and stay there all night, eating cheese pizza and talking about things like jazz music and unusual shoes. But he prevented himself from touching her, because he was trying to stay true to his decision to break it off with her that night. The only obstacle was finding the words.
"Don't you want to know what the surprise is?" Parker asked, mildly shocked that that hadn't been the first thing he mentioned.
"What?" Gordo said. "Oh. Yeah." He had been so busy practicing his break-up speech that he had forgotten all about Parker's surprise.
That same mischievious but beautiful grin spread across her face as she fished out a folded-up piece of paper from her pocket and placed it in Gordo's hand.
"What's this?" he asked, unfolding it.
"Those are directions."
Gordo stared at her. "Directions to what?"
"To our house up at the lake. I found someone to watch Maddy this weekend. You and I get to spend our last weekend of the summer together at the lake. Isn't it great?"
"No," interrupted Madison with a mouth full of pizza. "I'm not going to one of your weird friends' house, Parker. I want to come."
Parker shot an icy glare at her sister. "Shut the hell up, Maddy."
"I'm telling Mom you said hell!"
"No you're not, stupid, because you said it, too." Madison shoved another piece of pizza in her mouth and said nothing more.
Gordo stared at the piece of paper, battling his thoughts. The immediate thought that popped into his mind was, Great! But then he remembered why he had shown up at Parker's in the first place. He had to end it. He had to make a clean break with Parker and put it all behind him. He had to let it go.
But then again, she looked so pretty when the lights hit her face just right. He watched with loving amusement as she fought with her sister. Parker had gone through all the trouble to set this weekend up, and to find a babysitter for Madison... it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Surely it wouldn't hurt to spend just one more weekend with her. Yeah, he told himself, that would work. They could have one more good time together, and then they could simply go their seperate ways.
"Uh... sounds great," said Gordo at last, after battling in his mind. He stood up. "I... uh, I guess I better go."
Parker stood up, too. "You don't have to go, you know." She mentally scolded herself for sounding too urgent. "I mean, you could hang out for awhile; we've got plenty of pizza."
"When she says 'hang-out' she means 'make-out'!" Madison said with a giggle.
Parker rolled her eyes. "Shut up, damn it. You don't even know what make- out means."
Gordo laughed softly. "Gee, Parker. You'll make a great parent someday," he said with sarcasm.
Parker couldn't help but laugh. "Me? No way. I'm not going to be anybody's mommy, thank you. The whole married-with-kids thing just isn't my scene, daddio. Who could ever live their life tied down like that?"
Gordo frowned slightly in confusion. "You really mean that? You don't ever want to get married or have a family or anything."
She wrinkled her nose. "No way. Every day I look at my parents, and I see that happy, free person hiding somewhere in there eyes. I can see how they used to be happy, but they just got so deep in this whole 'happy family' scene that they've lost it. It's not cool at all, man."
Gordo shrugged. "I guess I just can't really see things from that paradigm. Everyone needs someone." There was an awkward pause. It was one of few conversations that they had where they didn't agree on the topic. "I'll see you later." He waved and walked out the door.
Parker went back and sat on the couch, getting comfortable for another boring night alone with TV, junk food, and the hellacious little sister.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is boring! I wanna go to the toy store!" Madison screeched. Parker had brought her with her to the mall the next day, but it was nearly impossible to stop at all the stores she wanted with Madison's constant complaining.
"Madison Denise McKenzie!" Parker growled, placing her hands on her hips in exasperation. "Stop acting like a total neanderthal." She fished into her pocket and handed her sister a five dollar bill. "Take this next door to the arcade and get quarters. But don't go anywhere else!" Madison grinned at the bill in her hands and wasted no time in scampering off.
Parker sighed with relief and continued walking through the CD store. After browsing through the first few rows of rock albums, she moved to the next aisle to look for some good jazz. As she shuffled through the CDs, she heard two familiar female voices on the opposite side of the aisle. She would have continued about her business and ignored them, but when she heard her own name, she was forced to stop and listen
"I hung out with her middle school, and she seemed almost normal then," said one of the girls; Parker recognized it to be Carol Flint. "But now she hangs out with all those older people, going to hippie festivals and whatnot. It's so weird. I guess I have to give her props for her fashion sense, though. And she does seem to know how to work the guys..."
"Oh, but doesn't she?" a catty voice jumped in. It was immediately identifiable as Veruca Ruark. "And you'll never guess who she's fooling around with now."
"Who?" Carol's voice was eager for a juicy slice of gossip.
"David Gordon."
Carol gasped. On the other side, Parker gasped a little, too. How could anyone possibly know about that? "No way!" Carol seemed offended and disbelieving. "Sure, that sounds like something she would do, but that doesn't seem like Gordo at all. He's way too smart to do something like that."
"He may be smart, but that doesn't make him any less of a guy. Even the smartest guys are known to stop thinking with their brains and start thinking with their pants."
Carol giggled and gasped at the same time. "Veruca! What an awful thing to say! Besides, I know Gordo would NEVER EVER cheat on Lizzie!"
"Whatcha up to, girlie?" said a voice. Parker dropped her shopping bag from shock. She had focused so much on eavesdropping that she hadn't noticed Miranda walk right up to her.
"Oh... Um... Nothing," Parker replied, slightly disappointed that she couldn't listen to the rest of the conversation. "Just looking for some CDs."
"Ah." Miranda peered over to the row Parker was looking through, and pulled out a CD. "Charles Mingus, eh? Gordo's favorite."
Parker blushed. "Is it?" she lied rather unconvincingly. "What a coincidence."
"I'm sure. This wouldn't happen to be a little mood music for this weekend, would it?"
Parker's eyes grew wide. "What?"
"Oh, Gordo mentioned it to me the other day." That was a stretch on the truth; Miranda had actually dragged it out of him. "Oh, and what's this?" Miranda snatched the other shopping bag from Parker and searched through it. She found a few scented candles, and then pulled out a black lace bra and panties. She smiled innocently. "Wow, Parker. This would be an interesting look for you, wouldn't it?"
Parker promptly snatched the undergarments and bag from Miranda and put them away. "What's it to you what I wear under my clothes?"
"Nothing. It's just... Well, candles, music, expensive lingerie? You seem to be going out of your way to make this into a romantic weekend. Why bother with romance if it's 'just for fun'?"
"What are you implying?"
"Oh, come on, Parker. Don't lie to yourself. Even I can see it: Parker the Heartless has actually fallen for someone. Normally I'd say more power to you, but this is a way different situation."
Parker averted Miranda's gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't fallen for anyone. Love and romance aren't my scene."
Miranda reached out and placed a sympathetic hand on Parker's shoulder. "Parker, you're not stupid. So don't act like you are. You've got it bad for Gordo, I know you do. But you know it would never work out, don't you? He might have a thing for you now, but that's going to wear off sooner or later. He's never going to give up on Lizzie. Don't you think he would have dumped her by now? But he didn't." Parker looked up again, and Miranda caught her eye. "You're an awesome person, Parker. I don't want to see you get hurt. Let it go now, before you get so far into this that it just destroys you. If you end it first, it won't hurt so bad." She changed her tone, and grinned slyly. "Why don't you and I go up to the lake this weekend, instead? It'll be the perfect thing to get Gordo off your mind."
"I... uh... I gotta go. My little sister is waiting on me in the arcade." Parker moved past Miranda and hurried out of the CD store. She entered the arcade and wrenched Madison from one of the games.
"Hey!" Madison whined. "I'm not ready to go yet!"
"I don't care, dork, we're going home right now!" Parker had to fight hard to prevent herself from crying as they rushed to the parking lot.
Miranda was right. Parker had actually grown to love Gordo in the past few months, and she hated it. She didn't want to be in love, especially not with Gordo. It shattered everything she believed. And now random girls at the mall were gossiping about her, too. It was too much, and it just wasn't worth the pain. She had to end her relationship with Gordo before she got in over her head.
Then again... what could one more weekend hurt? Yeah, that'll work, she told herself. After this weekend, it's over.
The doorbell rang. Parker jumped off the couch and practically flew to the door. Her face fell, however, as she was greeted by a man in a red hat holding a pizza box.
"Wrong address, dude," she said in a dull voice. "No one ordered a pizza."
"That's mine!" squealed Madison from the couch.
Parker glared at her little sister. "What? You ordered a freaking pizza? I can't believe you!"
Madison apparently felt no remorse. "I was hungry!"
Parker sighed and rolled her eyes, turning back to the pizza guy. "Well, I guess we'll take it then. How much?"
"Thirteen-twenty," the pizza guy replied, tucking a dread lock behind his ear. "Hey... don't I know you? Didn't I get high with you at Richard's party that one time?"
Parker fished a few bills out of her pocket and handed them to the pizza guy. She gave him a condescending look as she took the pizza from his hands. "I was probably there, sure, but I wasn't getting high, thank you. That's not my thing, daddio. Keep the change." She promptly slammed the door in his face.
She peered into the pizza box: extra cheese. Well, at least Maddy had done one thing right and ordered the right kind. She took out a steaming slice and carried the rest of it over to the couch. Madison grinned happily as she placed the over-sized pizza box on her lap and helped herself. Only moments later, the doorbell rang again and Parker leapt up once more.
"Gordo," she said with a relieved smile as she opened the door.
"Hey Parker," said Gordo less-than-happily. He stepped inside the house and waved to Madison, who's face was already covered in sauce and gooey cheese.
"Hi, Gordo!" she said. She held out the cardboard box. "Want some pizza?"
He grinned at the younger girl. "Sure. Why not?" He moved to the couch and reach into the box. Parker casually slid in beside him. He suddenly felt uncomfortable as to how close she was to him. She was beautiful in her comfy clothes, and with her hair out of her face so that it radiated a pleasant warmth to him. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to curl up with her on that couch and stay there all night, eating cheese pizza and talking about things like jazz music and unusual shoes. But he prevented himself from touching her, because he was trying to stay true to his decision to break it off with her that night. The only obstacle was finding the words.
"Don't you want to know what the surprise is?" Parker asked, mildly shocked that that hadn't been the first thing he mentioned.
"What?" Gordo said. "Oh. Yeah." He had been so busy practicing his break-up speech that he had forgotten all about Parker's surprise.
That same mischievious but beautiful grin spread across her face as she fished out a folded-up piece of paper from her pocket and placed it in Gordo's hand.
"What's this?" he asked, unfolding it.
"Those are directions."
Gordo stared at her. "Directions to what?"
"To our house up at the lake. I found someone to watch Maddy this weekend. You and I get to spend our last weekend of the summer together at the lake. Isn't it great?"
"No," interrupted Madison with a mouth full of pizza. "I'm not going to one of your weird friends' house, Parker. I want to come."
Parker shot an icy glare at her sister. "Shut the hell up, Maddy."
"I'm telling Mom you said hell!"
"No you're not, stupid, because you said it, too." Madison shoved another piece of pizza in her mouth and said nothing more.
Gordo stared at the piece of paper, battling his thoughts. The immediate thought that popped into his mind was, Great! But then he remembered why he had shown up at Parker's in the first place. He had to end it. He had to make a clean break with Parker and put it all behind him. He had to let it go.
But then again, she looked so pretty when the lights hit her face just right. He watched with loving amusement as she fought with her sister. Parker had gone through all the trouble to set this weekend up, and to find a babysitter for Madison... it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Surely it wouldn't hurt to spend just one more weekend with her. Yeah, he told himself, that would work. They could have one more good time together, and then they could simply go their seperate ways.
"Uh... sounds great," said Gordo at last, after battling in his mind. He stood up. "I... uh, I guess I better go."
Parker stood up, too. "You don't have to go, you know." She mentally scolded herself for sounding too urgent. "I mean, you could hang out for awhile; we've got plenty of pizza."
"When she says 'hang-out' she means 'make-out'!" Madison said with a giggle.
Parker rolled her eyes. "Shut up, damn it. You don't even know what make- out means."
Gordo laughed softly. "Gee, Parker. You'll make a great parent someday," he said with sarcasm.
Parker couldn't help but laugh. "Me? No way. I'm not going to be anybody's mommy, thank you. The whole married-with-kids thing just isn't my scene, daddio. Who could ever live their life tied down like that?"
Gordo frowned slightly in confusion. "You really mean that? You don't ever want to get married or have a family or anything."
She wrinkled her nose. "No way. Every day I look at my parents, and I see that happy, free person hiding somewhere in there eyes. I can see how they used to be happy, but they just got so deep in this whole 'happy family' scene that they've lost it. It's not cool at all, man."
Gordo shrugged. "I guess I just can't really see things from that paradigm. Everyone needs someone." There was an awkward pause. It was one of few conversations that they had where they didn't agree on the topic. "I'll see you later." He waved and walked out the door.
Parker went back and sat on the couch, getting comfortable for another boring night alone with TV, junk food, and the hellacious little sister.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This is boring! I wanna go to the toy store!" Madison screeched. Parker had brought her with her to the mall the next day, but it was nearly impossible to stop at all the stores she wanted with Madison's constant complaining.
"Madison Denise McKenzie!" Parker growled, placing her hands on her hips in exasperation. "Stop acting like a total neanderthal." She fished into her pocket and handed her sister a five dollar bill. "Take this next door to the arcade and get quarters. But don't go anywhere else!" Madison grinned at the bill in her hands and wasted no time in scampering off.
Parker sighed with relief and continued walking through the CD store. After browsing through the first few rows of rock albums, she moved to the next aisle to look for some good jazz. As she shuffled through the CDs, she heard two familiar female voices on the opposite side of the aisle. She would have continued about her business and ignored them, but when she heard her own name, she was forced to stop and listen
"I hung out with her middle school, and she seemed almost normal then," said one of the girls; Parker recognized it to be Carol Flint. "But now she hangs out with all those older people, going to hippie festivals and whatnot. It's so weird. I guess I have to give her props for her fashion sense, though. And she does seem to know how to work the guys..."
"Oh, but doesn't she?" a catty voice jumped in. It was immediately identifiable as Veruca Ruark. "And you'll never guess who she's fooling around with now."
"Who?" Carol's voice was eager for a juicy slice of gossip.
"David Gordon."
Carol gasped. On the other side, Parker gasped a little, too. How could anyone possibly know about that? "No way!" Carol seemed offended and disbelieving. "Sure, that sounds like something she would do, but that doesn't seem like Gordo at all. He's way too smart to do something like that."
"He may be smart, but that doesn't make him any less of a guy. Even the smartest guys are known to stop thinking with their brains and start thinking with their pants."
Carol giggled and gasped at the same time. "Veruca! What an awful thing to say! Besides, I know Gordo would NEVER EVER cheat on Lizzie!"
"Whatcha up to, girlie?" said a voice. Parker dropped her shopping bag from shock. She had focused so much on eavesdropping that she hadn't noticed Miranda walk right up to her.
"Oh... Um... Nothing," Parker replied, slightly disappointed that she couldn't listen to the rest of the conversation. "Just looking for some CDs."
"Ah." Miranda peered over to the row Parker was looking through, and pulled out a CD. "Charles Mingus, eh? Gordo's favorite."
Parker blushed. "Is it?" she lied rather unconvincingly. "What a coincidence."
"I'm sure. This wouldn't happen to be a little mood music for this weekend, would it?"
Parker's eyes grew wide. "What?"
"Oh, Gordo mentioned it to me the other day." That was a stretch on the truth; Miranda had actually dragged it out of him. "Oh, and what's this?" Miranda snatched the other shopping bag from Parker and searched through it. She found a few scented candles, and then pulled out a black lace bra and panties. She smiled innocently. "Wow, Parker. This would be an interesting look for you, wouldn't it?"
Parker promptly snatched the undergarments and bag from Miranda and put them away. "What's it to you what I wear under my clothes?"
"Nothing. It's just... Well, candles, music, expensive lingerie? You seem to be going out of your way to make this into a romantic weekend. Why bother with romance if it's 'just for fun'?"
"What are you implying?"
"Oh, come on, Parker. Don't lie to yourself. Even I can see it: Parker the Heartless has actually fallen for someone. Normally I'd say more power to you, but this is a way different situation."
Parker averted Miranda's gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't fallen for anyone. Love and romance aren't my scene."
Miranda reached out and placed a sympathetic hand on Parker's shoulder. "Parker, you're not stupid. So don't act like you are. You've got it bad for Gordo, I know you do. But you know it would never work out, don't you? He might have a thing for you now, but that's going to wear off sooner or later. He's never going to give up on Lizzie. Don't you think he would have dumped her by now? But he didn't." Parker looked up again, and Miranda caught her eye. "You're an awesome person, Parker. I don't want to see you get hurt. Let it go now, before you get so far into this that it just destroys you. If you end it first, it won't hurt so bad." She changed her tone, and grinned slyly. "Why don't you and I go up to the lake this weekend, instead? It'll be the perfect thing to get Gordo off your mind."
"I... uh... I gotta go. My little sister is waiting on me in the arcade." Parker moved past Miranda and hurried out of the CD store. She entered the arcade and wrenched Madison from one of the games.
"Hey!" Madison whined. "I'm not ready to go yet!"
"I don't care, dork, we're going home right now!" Parker had to fight hard to prevent herself from crying as they rushed to the parking lot.
Miranda was right. Parker had actually grown to love Gordo in the past few months, and she hated it. She didn't want to be in love, especially not with Gordo. It shattered everything she believed. And now random girls at the mall were gossiping about her, too. It was too much, and it just wasn't worth the pain. She had to end her relationship with Gordo before she got in over her head.
Then again... what could one more weekend hurt? Yeah, that'll work, she told herself. After this weekend, it's over.