Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.
Still Unexpected
Chapter Three: Popular Under the Influence
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Gordo, Lizzie, and Tudgeman drove up to Kimberly-Rose Kutcher's house around nine thirty. The street was filled with cars and they had to park a good block away, which put Gordo in a worse mood, seeing as how he didn't want to be here at all, much less carpooling his friends and having to trek to the house.
Kids were spilling out onto the front lawn, a techno beat blasting from an unknown source. The three went inside, and were met with the typical high school party stereotype. 'Young adults' piled on furniture, semi-circled around a keg, laughing, talking, yelling, dancing, making out.
"See that?" Gordo said to Lizzie. "Fleeting love."
"Not like us," she agreed, squeezing his hand.
He smiled at her. "No, not like us."
"Lizzie, Gordo, if you two are all done with your gushy love-love moment, I'm going to go find some ladies, okay?" Tudgeman said, tapping their shoulders.
"Right. Are you gonna need a ride home later?" Gordo asked. "I don't feel up to staying long."
"I'm pretty sure I can swing one from someone," he said. "Ciao."
"You see anyone you know?" Gordo asked.
"I see tons of people I know, but no one I'm friends with."
"You wanna leave?"
"Kinda, yeah, but we have to stay a little bit. I say we find Kate, say hi, and get the hell out, okay?"
"You sure you don't wanna go have sex in the Kutcher parent bedroom?" Gordo said with a grin.
Lizzie giggled and hit his shoulder. "Ew! No offense, but I don't want to be naked anywhere near where Kimberly-Rose was conceived, thanks."
Gordo nodded in understanding. He'd only been joking anyway. He loved to kiss Lizzie, but their relationship wasn't entirely about that. He imagined they'd have sex someday, but not for awhile. They weren't quite ready, honestly. And he was in no hurry, really. He just loved being around her. Besides, if they took that step now, it would eliminate all the fun out of screwing like rabbits in college. Besides, he firmly believed that they'd have the rest of their lives to worry about that sort of thing. Right now they just had to worry about fitting in the social circuit.
"Ooh! I see her, I see Kate. Wanna come with?"
Gordo peered at where she was pointing, and saw Kate conversing with Kimberly-Rose and more of the cheerleaders. "I think I'll pass."
"Fair enough. Wait here for me?"
"I'd wait anywhere for you," he said, not having meant to sound so serious, but she didn't seem to mind. She graced him with a special, private smile and a quick kiss. "Back in a sec."
He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and tapped his foot to the beat of whatever song was playing. He didn't recognize it, but it didn't sound like the usual brainless teen music that generally played at these soirees. It actually sounded halfway decent. Maybe someone was finally getting some taste. Before long, someone touched his shoulder, and he grinned. "Ready to scram?" he asked.
"Well that was easy. I thought I was gonna have to get you drunk before you suggested anything like that," a sultry voice said.
Gordo's eyes flew open. Definitely *not* Lizzie. It was a tall girl (well, really, everyone was tall compared to him), with long, curly brown hair.
"Sorry. I...uh...thought you were someone else."
"No duh," she said with a giggle, flipping the hair over one shoulder. She gave him a once-over. "God, Gordo, you sure grew up."
That wasn't entirely true. He had grown, sure, but he was still the shortest guy in the senior class, maybe the shortest person altogether. He had developed some muscle, though, and while he wasn't exactly football player material, he was a far cry from the scrawny eighth grader he used to be. So maybe she was a little right.
Still, he was unnerved. "Do I...know you?"
She giggled again like he was the next Steve Martin. Obviously flirting, although Gordo couldn't figure out for the life of him why. "Silly boy. It's Andie."
Andie? *Andie*?
Wait, not...
"Andie Robinson? From junior high?"
"You remember!" she crowed, delighted.
He remembered, all right. How she'd followed Lizzie around for weeks, fawning over her to the point where she was emulating her. Gordo had become obsessed with the idea of two Lizzies, and hung out with Andie enough that he had ended up ignoring the real Lizzie. At the time, he'd decided that having two Lizzies meant he could have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with Lizzie, and not ruin his friendship with her.
Which, of course, was stupid. Because Andie wasn't Lizzie, plain and simple.
Thank God, it had all worked out in the end. He had Lizzie the best friend *and* Lizzie the girlfriend, all wrapped up in one beautiful, fun package, and he couldn't be happier.
"So, Gordo, are you still making your films? I haven't heard about Hillridge's own private Spielberg in awhile, but I bet you're still just as brilliant as you were."
Gordo had to blush at that. People gushed about his films often enough, but it was usually a teacher, or his parents, or his friends. The rest of the student body pretty much ignored him, which was okay with him. Still, to get recognition was something pretty cool.
"Yeah, I still shoot stuff," he said, trying to be as vague as possible. Andie was standing way too close to him, and he was beginning to get uncomfortable. "So, Andie, are you still copying other people's personalities?" he asked suddenly, surprising himself with his biting tone.
Andie's eyes widened slightly, but she smiled. "Ooh, kitten's got a whip."
He chose to ignore that.
She ignored his ignoring. "No, I've chosen to forge my own path, thanks."
"Wise move," was all Gordo could say.
"So tell me about yourself," she said with an enigmatic smile.
Explaining his nuances to this unwelcome blast from the past was about as inviting as a root canal. "Listen, I've gotta go. It was...interesting...seeing you again."
"Don't be a stranger," Andie said, winking.
"Riiiight," Gordo drawled, disbelieving. He couldn't believe that she'd been flirting with him. No one ever flirted with Gordo except for Lizzie, of course. Mostly girls just stayed away, sensing the 'serious' vibe that the two of them so plainly gave out.
He pushed off from the wall and wandered over to where Lizzie and the rest of the squad were congregating. He screwed up the remainder of his patience and summoned all the inner strength he could muster, and joined them. "Hey."
"It's Gordo!" Kimberly-Rose said enthusiastically. "Hey, Gordo, how's it going?"
"It's going...it's going good," Gordo said. The girl's boundless energy surpassed even Lizzie, and left him feeling dazed. He suspected she'd probably downed one beer too many. "How are all of you lovely ladies faring tonight?"
A little medieval-y, definitely pulled from the Tudgeman book of weird conversation-openers.
The gaggle giggled, clearly charmed. He didn't know if they were smiling politely because he was their fearless leader's significant other or what, but it didn't matter. He didn't care what they thought of him. He just wanted to say hey to Kate, grab his girlfriend, and get the hell out. "Lizzie, can I...talk to you? In private?"
Lizzie furrowed her brow, clearly a little confused. "Talk?" Her eyes widened. "Oh! *Talk*."
"*Talk,*" Kimberly-Rose echoed, looking around the circle and nodded emphatically.
They giggled again.
Gordo's surplus of inner strength was plummeting. "Liz?" he prompted.
"I guess that's my cue. Later, girls." She gave them an exaggerated wink. "Don't wait up."
Gordo put his arm around her waist as they walked away. "Why do you feel compelled to lead them into believing that we have some wild sex life?" he said.
Lizzie shrugged. "You don't have football buddies to have locker room convos with, so it's up to me. And besides, I never actually state anything, only imply. What they get from that is a product of their own imagination, the pervs." She giggled, then leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Hope I didn't make you wait too long."
"No, I'm good. It was...interesting." That was an understatement.
Lizzie looked at him. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. People-watching," he amended quickly, not really wanting to discuss the Andie thing with her. That little identity crisis she'd had was a major sore spot, and one he didn't particularly want to touch upon. Especially when he doubted he'd be seeing Andie Robinson again.
Once they got to the front door, he reluctantly had to let Lizzie go. Instead he settled for gallantly holding the door open for her, and taking her hand as they returned to the car. "Sorry we didn't stay," he said, although he wasn't really sorry. But he'd stay if Lizzie had asked him to, he really would've.
"Nah, it's cool. You're just not the social butterfly I am. I understand."
He chanced a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She was beautiful in profile.
"Besides, I didn't really feel like hanging about. Eventually it would've gotten to the weed and the alcohol, and I would've had to say no. I don't know what I hate more, being so straitlaced, or hating the fact that I am. It's like, at some point I'm going to hate my goody-goody image so much that I'm going to rebel against it, and I don't want to see myself as that, you know?"
"Lizzie, don't ever be ashamed of who you are. Those people back there? They're popular and all, but think about it. They're only popular in the social situations, popular because everyone's under some kind of influence or another. But people love you constantly. You're a good person, sweet and smart and considerate, and it radiates. You have an inner light that people are naturally drawn to. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Drugs aren't who you are, is all. And they'd destroy you. Not in that obnoxious PSA rant way, but they'd kill your goodness." He kissed her quickly. "That's what I love about you."
Lizzie looked at him, with an expression he couldn't read. There was primarily gratitude, and open love for him, but underneath it, there was a measure of sadness. "I'm always going to love you, Gordo," she told him in a soft, sincere voice.
He didn't know what to make of that. He knew it was true, he reciprocated the feeling, he knew she was probably feeling that love most if not all of the time. But now was a weird time to bring up so serious a proclamation.
"Me too," he said, hugging her shoulders with one arm. "Me too."
Still Unexpected
Chapter Three: Popular Under the Influence
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Gordo, Lizzie, and Tudgeman drove up to Kimberly-Rose Kutcher's house around nine thirty. The street was filled with cars and they had to park a good block away, which put Gordo in a worse mood, seeing as how he didn't want to be here at all, much less carpooling his friends and having to trek to the house.
Kids were spilling out onto the front lawn, a techno beat blasting from an unknown source. The three went inside, and were met with the typical high school party stereotype. 'Young adults' piled on furniture, semi-circled around a keg, laughing, talking, yelling, dancing, making out.
"See that?" Gordo said to Lizzie. "Fleeting love."
"Not like us," she agreed, squeezing his hand.
He smiled at her. "No, not like us."
"Lizzie, Gordo, if you two are all done with your gushy love-love moment, I'm going to go find some ladies, okay?" Tudgeman said, tapping their shoulders.
"Right. Are you gonna need a ride home later?" Gordo asked. "I don't feel up to staying long."
"I'm pretty sure I can swing one from someone," he said. "Ciao."
"You see anyone you know?" Gordo asked.
"I see tons of people I know, but no one I'm friends with."
"You wanna leave?"
"Kinda, yeah, but we have to stay a little bit. I say we find Kate, say hi, and get the hell out, okay?"
"You sure you don't wanna go have sex in the Kutcher parent bedroom?" Gordo said with a grin.
Lizzie giggled and hit his shoulder. "Ew! No offense, but I don't want to be naked anywhere near where Kimberly-Rose was conceived, thanks."
Gordo nodded in understanding. He'd only been joking anyway. He loved to kiss Lizzie, but their relationship wasn't entirely about that. He imagined they'd have sex someday, but not for awhile. They weren't quite ready, honestly. And he was in no hurry, really. He just loved being around her. Besides, if they took that step now, it would eliminate all the fun out of screwing like rabbits in college. Besides, he firmly believed that they'd have the rest of their lives to worry about that sort of thing. Right now they just had to worry about fitting in the social circuit.
"Ooh! I see her, I see Kate. Wanna come with?"
Gordo peered at where she was pointing, and saw Kate conversing with Kimberly-Rose and more of the cheerleaders. "I think I'll pass."
"Fair enough. Wait here for me?"
"I'd wait anywhere for you," he said, not having meant to sound so serious, but she didn't seem to mind. She graced him with a special, private smile and a quick kiss. "Back in a sec."
He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and tapped his foot to the beat of whatever song was playing. He didn't recognize it, but it didn't sound like the usual brainless teen music that generally played at these soirees. It actually sounded halfway decent. Maybe someone was finally getting some taste. Before long, someone touched his shoulder, and he grinned. "Ready to scram?" he asked.
"Well that was easy. I thought I was gonna have to get you drunk before you suggested anything like that," a sultry voice said.
Gordo's eyes flew open. Definitely *not* Lizzie. It was a tall girl (well, really, everyone was tall compared to him), with long, curly brown hair.
"Sorry. I...uh...thought you were someone else."
"No duh," she said with a giggle, flipping the hair over one shoulder. She gave him a once-over. "God, Gordo, you sure grew up."
That wasn't entirely true. He had grown, sure, but he was still the shortest guy in the senior class, maybe the shortest person altogether. He had developed some muscle, though, and while he wasn't exactly football player material, he was a far cry from the scrawny eighth grader he used to be. So maybe she was a little right.
Still, he was unnerved. "Do I...know you?"
She giggled again like he was the next Steve Martin. Obviously flirting, although Gordo couldn't figure out for the life of him why. "Silly boy. It's Andie."
Andie? *Andie*?
Wait, not...
"Andie Robinson? From junior high?"
"You remember!" she crowed, delighted.
He remembered, all right. How she'd followed Lizzie around for weeks, fawning over her to the point where she was emulating her. Gordo had become obsessed with the idea of two Lizzies, and hung out with Andie enough that he had ended up ignoring the real Lizzie. At the time, he'd decided that having two Lizzies meant he could have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with Lizzie, and not ruin his friendship with her.
Which, of course, was stupid. Because Andie wasn't Lizzie, plain and simple.
Thank God, it had all worked out in the end. He had Lizzie the best friend *and* Lizzie the girlfriend, all wrapped up in one beautiful, fun package, and he couldn't be happier.
"So, Gordo, are you still making your films? I haven't heard about Hillridge's own private Spielberg in awhile, but I bet you're still just as brilliant as you were."
Gordo had to blush at that. People gushed about his films often enough, but it was usually a teacher, or his parents, or his friends. The rest of the student body pretty much ignored him, which was okay with him. Still, to get recognition was something pretty cool.
"Yeah, I still shoot stuff," he said, trying to be as vague as possible. Andie was standing way too close to him, and he was beginning to get uncomfortable. "So, Andie, are you still copying other people's personalities?" he asked suddenly, surprising himself with his biting tone.
Andie's eyes widened slightly, but she smiled. "Ooh, kitten's got a whip."
He chose to ignore that.
She ignored his ignoring. "No, I've chosen to forge my own path, thanks."
"Wise move," was all Gordo could say.
"So tell me about yourself," she said with an enigmatic smile.
Explaining his nuances to this unwelcome blast from the past was about as inviting as a root canal. "Listen, I've gotta go. It was...interesting...seeing you again."
"Don't be a stranger," Andie said, winking.
"Riiiight," Gordo drawled, disbelieving. He couldn't believe that she'd been flirting with him. No one ever flirted with Gordo except for Lizzie, of course. Mostly girls just stayed away, sensing the 'serious' vibe that the two of them so plainly gave out.
He pushed off from the wall and wandered over to where Lizzie and the rest of the squad were congregating. He screwed up the remainder of his patience and summoned all the inner strength he could muster, and joined them. "Hey."
"It's Gordo!" Kimberly-Rose said enthusiastically. "Hey, Gordo, how's it going?"
"It's going...it's going good," Gordo said. The girl's boundless energy surpassed even Lizzie, and left him feeling dazed. He suspected she'd probably downed one beer too many. "How are all of you lovely ladies faring tonight?"
A little medieval-y, definitely pulled from the Tudgeman book of weird conversation-openers.
The gaggle giggled, clearly charmed. He didn't know if they were smiling politely because he was their fearless leader's significant other or what, but it didn't matter. He didn't care what they thought of him. He just wanted to say hey to Kate, grab his girlfriend, and get the hell out. "Lizzie, can I...talk to you? In private?"
Lizzie furrowed her brow, clearly a little confused. "Talk?" Her eyes widened. "Oh! *Talk*."
"*Talk,*" Kimberly-Rose echoed, looking around the circle and nodded emphatically.
They giggled again.
Gordo's surplus of inner strength was plummeting. "Liz?" he prompted.
"I guess that's my cue. Later, girls." She gave them an exaggerated wink. "Don't wait up."
Gordo put his arm around her waist as they walked away. "Why do you feel compelled to lead them into believing that we have some wild sex life?" he said.
Lizzie shrugged. "You don't have football buddies to have locker room convos with, so it's up to me. And besides, I never actually state anything, only imply. What they get from that is a product of their own imagination, the pervs." She giggled, then leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Hope I didn't make you wait too long."
"No, I'm good. It was...interesting." That was an understatement.
Lizzie looked at him. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. People-watching," he amended quickly, not really wanting to discuss the Andie thing with her. That little identity crisis she'd had was a major sore spot, and one he didn't particularly want to touch upon. Especially when he doubted he'd be seeing Andie Robinson again.
Once they got to the front door, he reluctantly had to let Lizzie go. Instead he settled for gallantly holding the door open for her, and taking her hand as they returned to the car. "Sorry we didn't stay," he said, although he wasn't really sorry. But he'd stay if Lizzie had asked him to, he really would've.
"Nah, it's cool. You're just not the social butterfly I am. I understand."
He chanced a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She was beautiful in profile.
"Besides, I didn't really feel like hanging about. Eventually it would've gotten to the weed and the alcohol, and I would've had to say no. I don't know what I hate more, being so straitlaced, or hating the fact that I am. It's like, at some point I'm going to hate my goody-goody image so much that I'm going to rebel against it, and I don't want to see myself as that, you know?"
"Lizzie, don't ever be ashamed of who you are. Those people back there? They're popular and all, but think about it. They're only popular in the social situations, popular because everyone's under some kind of influence or another. But people love you constantly. You're a good person, sweet and smart and considerate, and it radiates. You have an inner light that people are naturally drawn to. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Drugs aren't who you are, is all. And they'd destroy you. Not in that obnoxious PSA rant way, but they'd kill your goodness." He kissed her quickly. "That's what I love about you."
Lizzie looked at him, with an expression he couldn't read. There was primarily gratitude, and open love for him, but underneath it, there was a measure of sadness. "I'm always going to love you, Gordo," she told him in a soft, sincere voice.
He didn't know what to make of that. He knew it was true, he reciprocated the feeling, he knew she was probably feeling that love most if not all of the time. But now was a weird time to bring up so serious a proclamation.
"Me too," he said, hugging her shoulders with one arm. "Me too."