After awhile, Chris and Ren left Elizabeth's house to go God knows where. Currently, Elizabeth was making Gordie mad by being complacent.

"So," he said, trying to take her mind off of the whole Chris and Ren matter. "How did you do on your English test?"

"I told you so!"

"Are we still doing the 'I told you so' thing?"

"Apparently. I told you so."

He grumbled. "It's really annoying."

"I'm sure it is. I told you so."

"Let's talk about something else, okay?"

"Not a chance. I told you so."

Gordie sighed, and flicked her arm. "Stop that!"

"Not until you admit that I told you so!"

"You told me so, dammit!"

"Mwahahahahahaha, I so told you."

Even after all the years he'd known her, her immaturity still amazed him. He didn't usually mind, but he could only stand so much. "Guess what!" he said enthusiastically to alter her attention.

"What?"

"No, you have to guess!"

"You can't make me."

"Please? It's part of the game."

"What game?"

"The guessing game!"

"When did we start a game?" she asked, picking at some lint on her sweater.

"We started when I said guess what. You annoy me. Guess what?"

"Are we starting a new game?"

"No, it's the same game. Guess what?"

"What?"

"You're supposed to guess remember?"

"You are secretly in love with my brother."

"No, eww!"

"I guessed. Can you tell me now?"

"That wasn't a real guess."

"It was too. I've seen the way Zeke looks at you."

"New game!" Gordie exclaimed.

Elizabeth groaned.

"20 questions!" He thought for a second. "Okay I got one."

"Who said I wanted to guess?"

"Me."

She shrugged. "Reasonable. Umm okay, animal, mineral or vegetable?"

"It's supposed to be person place or thing."

"No, it's animal, mineral or vegetable once you pass your sixth birthday."

"It has to be a yes or no question."

"Not the first one."

"Okay. Well…okay, none of them."

"What do you mean none of them?"

"It's not an animal, mineral or a vegetable. That's two questions already. Jeez, you suck at this."

"That wasn't two questions and how can it not be one of those three?"

"There are many things that aren't animals, minerals or vegetables."

"Like what?" she shrilled.

"Like your shirt. It may have been made from a vegetable, if you consider cotton a vegetable, which you probably do because you think marijuana's a vegetable…it's a plant. So is cotton. But anyway, it's not a vegetable now either. And it's also not a mineral or an animal. That's four."

"Four what?"

"Questions. Now it's five."

"There is no way in hell that I've asked five questions. I asked one."

"You asked, 'animal, mineral or vegetable' and 'what do you mean it's none of them' and 'how can it not be one of them' and 'like what' and 'four what' which adds up to five questions. Unless you are numberly challenged."

"What the hell are you smoking?"

"Vegetables, Elizabeth, vegetables," he said, smiling. "That's six."

"Do you want me to--" Elizabeth started angrily and stopped herself. "I'm going to hurt you if you don't play fair."

"Six and a half."

"There's no such thing as a half a question!"

"You didn't finish your question so therefore it's half a question."

"There was no question mark, and the question mark makes it a question, that's not six and a half!"

"It's still six and a half."

"I don't believe that, it should only be one."

"You cheat so badly, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth pounced at him. He didn't fall over; he barely moved. He just giggled and flipped her on to the floor.

"I'll take off the half. But it's still six." Gordie grinned more.

She sighed. "So it's not an animal, mineral or a vegetable."

"Was that a question?" Gordie asked eagerly.

"It was a statement. Did my voice go high at the end? No. It wasn't a question."

"Seven."

"What?"

"Eight."

Elizabeth growled and realized her mistake. "Is it liquid or solid?"

"What happened to yes or no?"

"It's staying at eight, you answered my question with a question so that takes off a question for me."

"Dammit. That was sneaky."

"Is it a liquid?"

"It could be classified as a liquid."

"Could it be classified as a solid too?"

"Yes."

"Is it ice?"

"It has ice in it."

"Is it a Slurpee?"

"No."

"Can it come in different flavors?"

Gordie laughed. "Well that's pretty disgusting, but I guess so."

"It's edible then?"

"I didn't say that it was edible."

"Well is it?"

"Um…" Gordie said uncertainly. "Not exactly. People have been known to eat it."

"Gordie, your answers suck."

"Well okay, let's just put it this way, you wouldn't die if you ate it, but it's not a recommended food source."

"How many questions have I asked?"

He giggled and she looked confused at first but then caught on and looked angry. "Yeah Elizabeth, that was a stupid question. You're now at 16."

"Shit. Umm…is it dead?"

"It can't be dead if it was never living. I told you, it's not a vegetable and it's not an animal."

"There's other living things besides animals or vegetables…Like fruit! Is it a fruit?"

Gordie just laughed again, "No it's not a fruit!"

"What is a fruitcake made of anyway?" she asked and then hit his shoulder. "That sucks! I'm so stupid!"

"One question!" he howled, laughing hysterically.

Elizabeth glared at him. "So people have eaten it and you won't die from it, but you wouldn't recommend it."

"That was sneaky, there should have been a question mark!"

"But there wasn't because it was a statement, I was just recalling stuff out loud."

"Okay."

She thought for a few minutes. Gordie came to the conclusion that she was cute when she tried to think because she got all intense looking. Her eyes widened and she yelled, "Is it a dog from China?"

"No!" Gordie yelled back. "It has ice and it's not an animal, you dumbass!"

Elizabeth pounded her head against the floor repeatedly as Gordie ruptured his spleen laughing. When they were both done, she asked, "What is it?"

"I can't tell you that, you lost."

"You evil little bastard," she growled. "I hate that game, when I grew up and I played it, the answer was always light shade or table or something."

He just grinned. "Your turn."

"I am not playing that game with you again, asshole."

He slid off the couch so that he was sitting next to her on the floor. "You should look mad more often, it's really cute."

She growled.

"How much longer till your birthday?"

"Eighteen weeks," she replied immediately.

Gordie laughed. "You've started the countdown already?"

A pink blush coloured the apples of her cheeks. "Well, I'm kinda looking forward to it since you're going to be one of my birthday presents."

"Ooh, happy birthday to me!" he giggled.

She looked up at him. "Gordie, you do know that once I'm sixteen, my dad's going to move it up another year, right?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, confusion apparent on his face.

"He'll decide that I'm still not mature enough to date, so he'll say I have to be seventeen until I'm old enough."

"Well, screw him, he doesn't have to know." He grinned. "Hey, how would he ever find out if I did this?" He leaned over and gently kissed her for the first time. He decided in that moment that after five years of wanting to kiss her and finally getting to, it was pretty worth it.

Elizabeth cackled. "He wouldn't! Continue!"

So he did.