Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.
Author's note: Thanks so much for your great reviews, encouragement is always appreciated. :)
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Must I always take a back seat?
Must I always be your clown?
Did you ever really love me?
Were you always coming down?
-'coming down', starsailor
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The Sweetness: Don't Let Me Down
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The mighty McGuire station wagon pulled up in front of Mount Rushmore Mini Golf, and Jo smiled fondly at the two in the backseat. "First date, huh?" she said.
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Please, Mom."
"Well, it is."
"Gordo and I are just going mini-golfing, Mom, we've done this a million times before."
"Actually, I don't think we've ever done this before," Gordo interjected, but Lizzie silenced him with a quick punch to the arm. "I mean, thanks for the ride, Mrs. McGuire."
"Anytime," Jo said. "Have fun."
Gordo clamored out of the car, and Lizzie lingered long enough to say, "Could you please try not to embarrass me anymore, Mom?"
"Sorry, honey, but it's just Gordo, and I embarrass you all the time in front of Gordo."
"Yeah, well, this is different."
On the sidewalk, Gordo was shifting his weight back and forth. "Looks like your boyfriend is waiting," Jo pointed out.
Lizzie exhaled sharply. "Mom!" But she climbed out, and Jo smiled amusedly.
"Sorry," Lizzie said to Gordo, keeping her head down.
"It's okay," Gordo said. "She's right, I guess, this *is* kind of our first date."
"So far it's turning out okay," Lizzie said. "My first date with Ronny was rollerblading --which was mostly me just falling over-- and my first date with Frankie was getting mobbed at the Digital Bean."
"And making me play decoy," Gordo said sourly. Lizzie realized too late that talking about her other boyfriends was a bad idea.
"Your first date with Brooke wasn't bad, you went to a real restaurant," Lizzie blurted, then mentally kicked herself. When was she going to start *using* her brain?
"It was going great until you and Miranda showed up and made total fools out of all of us," Gordo said.
"More us than you two," Lizzie said. "Well, um, I just wanted to see what was going on...I was...I was jealous," she admitted, blushing a little, as she remembered how hard she'd tried to deny her feelings of jealousy. And how hard she had tried to deny any feelings for Gordo that might have been more than friendship. Gordo was the perfect guy! And she'd been too stupid to ever realize it. At least things had worked out okay.
"You never said that."
"There were a lot of things you never said," Lizzie defended herself.
"Can we just not talk about this?" Gordo said. "I mean, it all worked out okay, didn't it? So we shouldn't have to go and psychoanalyze everything a million times." With that, he took her hand slightly, and they went up to the front desk to rent clubs and balls.
~~~~~
"Two games," Gordo said, too preoccupied with conducting a one-handed search for his wallet to look up. He knew that in a few seconds he and Lizzie would have a variety of mini-golf supplies to carry, so he wanted to relish every second possible that he got to hold her hand.
"Whoa," a familiar voice said, and Gordo, head still down, wished fervently that it didn't belong to who it did. "Lizzie, Lizzie, *Lizzie*! And Gor-don! What're you guys doing here?"
Gordo looked up. Of course it was him, it couldn't have been anyone else. Ethan Craft. "We're here to play mini-golf, Ethan," Gordo said, unable to keep the distaste out of his voice.
"That is so cool," Ethan enthused.
"What are you doing here, Ethan?" Lizzie said, instantly flashing him the flirty grin, and flipping her hair over her shoulder. Gordo tried to ignore the knot building in his stomach.
"I *work* here!" Ethan said, grinning widely and moving so the sunlight caught his hair in a more flattering light, a gesture that Gordo wasn't sure was intentional or not. Ethan didn't have the brains for any move to be intentional.
"That is so cool," Lizzie said. "A summer job, or a more permanent thing?" She was being giggly Lizzie, the giggly Lizzie that only someone like Ethan Craft --or Ronny Jacobs or Frankie Muniz or Aaron Carter-- brought out. The knot grew tighter. How come being around Gordo never made Lizzie giggly? He found the giggling obnoxious, but that didn't mean he didn't want to be special enough to warrant it.
Just relax, he told himself. Yeah, she's giggly, big deal. She's holding *your* hand.
Lizzie let go of Gordo's hand.
She used the newly free hand not to pick up something, or write anything, or do anything important enough that it would preside over letting go of Gordo's hand. She used it to help her lean against the counter and smile at Ethan.
Gordo's body turned against him. His vision grew red, his heart leapt into his throat, his voice failed, his lungs failed, his stomach twisted itself into a full-on lanyard. This wasn't happening. One day, not even a full day, more like half a day, and that wasn't counting the time when they were asleep, so it was really only like a few hours. A few measly hours, and suddenly he was nothing again. He went from being Gordo the boyfriend to Gordo the meaningless sidekick. He went from someone that she called up her best friend in Mexico to talk about, to someone whose hand she dropped so it would be easier to flirt with Ethan Craft.
"Ethan, could we just have our clubs, please?" Gordo found himself choking out. What he really wanted to do, more than anything, was go home. But he lived too far away to walk, and he didn't want to have to call up Mrs. McGuire and ask for a ride and explain everything.
Ethan looked over at Gordo, and grinned as he regained his common sense. "Yeah! Your clubs! On it!" And he disappeared into the back to pick them out.
Author's note: Thanks so much for your great reviews, encouragement is always appreciated. :)
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Must I always take a back seat?
Must I always be your clown?
Did you ever really love me?
Were you always coming down?
-'coming down', starsailor
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The Sweetness: Don't Let Me Down
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The mighty McGuire station wagon pulled up in front of Mount Rushmore Mini Golf, and Jo smiled fondly at the two in the backseat. "First date, huh?" she said.
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Please, Mom."
"Well, it is."
"Gordo and I are just going mini-golfing, Mom, we've done this a million times before."
"Actually, I don't think we've ever done this before," Gordo interjected, but Lizzie silenced him with a quick punch to the arm. "I mean, thanks for the ride, Mrs. McGuire."
"Anytime," Jo said. "Have fun."
Gordo clamored out of the car, and Lizzie lingered long enough to say, "Could you please try not to embarrass me anymore, Mom?"
"Sorry, honey, but it's just Gordo, and I embarrass you all the time in front of Gordo."
"Yeah, well, this is different."
On the sidewalk, Gordo was shifting his weight back and forth. "Looks like your boyfriend is waiting," Jo pointed out.
Lizzie exhaled sharply. "Mom!" But she climbed out, and Jo smiled amusedly.
"Sorry," Lizzie said to Gordo, keeping her head down.
"It's okay," Gordo said. "She's right, I guess, this *is* kind of our first date."
"So far it's turning out okay," Lizzie said. "My first date with Ronny was rollerblading --which was mostly me just falling over-- and my first date with Frankie was getting mobbed at the Digital Bean."
"And making me play decoy," Gordo said sourly. Lizzie realized too late that talking about her other boyfriends was a bad idea.
"Your first date with Brooke wasn't bad, you went to a real restaurant," Lizzie blurted, then mentally kicked herself. When was she going to start *using* her brain?
"It was going great until you and Miranda showed up and made total fools out of all of us," Gordo said.
"More us than you two," Lizzie said. "Well, um, I just wanted to see what was going on...I was...I was jealous," she admitted, blushing a little, as she remembered how hard she'd tried to deny her feelings of jealousy. And how hard she had tried to deny any feelings for Gordo that might have been more than friendship. Gordo was the perfect guy! And she'd been too stupid to ever realize it. At least things had worked out okay.
"You never said that."
"There were a lot of things you never said," Lizzie defended herself.
"Can we just not talk about this?" Gordo said. "I mean, it all worked out okay, didn't it? So we shouldn't have to go and psychoanalyze everything a million times." With that, he took her hand slightly, and they went up to the front desk to rent clubs and balls.
~~~~~
"Two games," Gordo said, too preoccupied with conducting a one-handed search for his wallet to look up. He knew that in a few seconds he and Lizzie would have a variety of mini-golf supplies to carry, so he wanted to relish every second possible that he got to hold her hand.
"Whoa," a familiar voice said, and Gordo, head still down, wished fervently that it didn't belong to who it did. "Lizzie, Lizzie, *Lizzie*! And Gor-don! What're you guys doing here?"
Gordo looked up. Of course it was him, it couldn't have been anyone else. Ethan Craft. "We're here to play mini-golf, Ethan," Gordo said, unable to keep the distaste out of his voice.
"That is so cool," Ethan enthused.
"What are you doing here, Ethan?" Lizzie said, instantly flashing him the flirty grin, and flipping her hair over her shoulder. Gordo tried to ignore the knot building in his stomach.
"I *work* here!" Ethan said, grinning widely and moving so the sunlight caught his hair in a more flattering light, a gesture that Gordo wasn't sure was intentional or not. Ethan didn't have the brains for any move to be intentional.
"That is so cool," Lizzie said. "A summer job, or a more permanent thing?" She was being giggly Lizzie, the giggly Lizzie that only someone like Ethan Craft --or Ronny Jacobs or Frankie Muniz or Aaron Carter-- brought out. The knot grew tighter. How come being around Gordo never made Lizzie giggly? He found the giggling obnoxious, but that didn't mean he didn't want to be special enough to warrant it.
Just relax, he told himself. Yeah, she's giggly, big deal. She's holding *your* hand.
Lizzie let go of Gordo's hand.
She used the newly free hand not to pick up something, or write anything, or do anything important enough that it would preside over letting go of Gordo's hand. She used it to help her lean against the counter and smile at Ethan.
Gordo's body turned against him. His vision grew red, his heart leapt into his throat, his voice failed, his lungs failed, his stomach twisted itself into a full-on lanyard. This wasn't happening. One day, not even a full day, more like half a day, and that wasn't counting the time when they were asleep, so it was really only like a few hours. A few measly hours, and suddenly he was nothing again. He went from being Gordo the boyfriend to Gordo the meaningless sidekick. He went from someone that she called up her best friend in Mexico to talk about, to someone whose hand she dropped so it would be easier to flirt with Ethan Craft.
"Ethan, could we just have our clubs, please?" Gordo found himself choking out. What he really wanted to do, more than anything, was go home. But he lived too far away to walk, and he didn't want to have to call up Mrs. McGuire and ask for a ride and explain everything.
Ethan looked over at Gordo, and grinned as he regained his common sense. "Yeah! Your clubs! On it!" And he disappeared into the back to pick them out.