AN: Sorry to leave you hanging at the end of this. A longer chapter coming!

Do you Remember?

Hiding the Truth

* * *

Lizzie sat on the stairway alone. Staring through the bars, she could see Gordo and Parker talking on the sofa in the living room. Around one o'clock, people had started to leave, the music had been turned down and the people that were stilling hanging around at 2, were helping Miranda clean or were too drunk to walk home. Parker was sitting so close to Gordo that she might as well been on his lap. Sure Lizzie and Gordo had danced once during the night but every time she tried to pry him away from one girl, a new one would pop up. And she couldn't say anything to get him back. All the girls knew this. Every time one of them asked to dance, she couldn't speak up and say 'He's MY boyfriend, and he's dancing with ME!'. Sure other guys had asked to dance but it wasn't the same as dancing with Gordo. He never stepped on her toes or ground into to her, he held her around the waist and they moved together. She missed him every moment that she couldn't tell him that they were together. Sighing she stood and walked down the stairs, grabbing empty beer cans along the way.

At the bottom of the steps she ran into a very somber looking Ethan. "Hey Ethan! What's wrong? You're usually the King of the party but it looks like someone hurt your best friend."

"Well not quite my best friend but kinda close, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Um sure, hang on to that thought," Taking a quick glance into the living room, she saw that Gordo would have nooo problem getting home. "Why don't you walk me home and we can talk on the way? I'll just grab my coat." After grabbing her jacket and telling Miranda she was off her and Ethan left.

* * *

Gordo was having his own problems. Parker had been hanging onto him all night, and if it wasn't her it was some other nameless chick. Every time he was able to get to Lizzie, it seemed that a new girl would just pull him away. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy the affection, (hey he's only male!), but he wanted it from Lizzie. Since he woke up there was a bond that he could feel coming from her. Every moment with her was pure bliss. But it seemed that she was always distancing herself from him, hiding something in her eyes. It was almost like she had put up a glass barrier and there was no way to see inside. Parker just seemed to be able to have a conversation with herself and Lizzie thrived on opinions and ideas from others. Snapping back to reality, he could feel lips pressed up against his. He could feel hands running through his hair. But they weren't Lizzie's. snapping his eye's open he pushed Parker off and back on to the couch. "This doesn't feel right."

"What are you talking about smooshie bear?" Parker cooed at him.

"Look Parker, it's been a long week, I'm really tired…I'd better find Lizzie and go." He stood and began looking around for his hat. It had gone body surfing hours earlier.

"Well your out of luck, she just left with Ethan." Parker stood and began to run her fingers though his hair. "If you want I can come over and tuck you in?"

"Um thanks, I got to go and find someone." Gordo dodged her and began to walk out of the room, "I'll see you later Parker!" he called before taking off to find Miranda.

* * *

Crunching snow was the only sound as Lizzie and Ethan made their way over to her house. Lizzie could tell that he had been beating himself up over something and waited for him to start.

"Lizzie you are going to hate me so much. Please let me talk, cuz I've been going over this so much and I just needed to tell someone. The guilt is just horrible. You have always been such a good friend, and I pretty much just ruined your life." Lizzie looked up into Ethan's down turned face. She could see tears sitting in his eyes. "What happened to Gordo was partly my fault. Me and Steve, John, Kate, Lisa and Will, all left Parker's party early. Everyone had a little too much that night except for me, I had only a beer. Well, John can get a little touchy about who drives his Civic. I tried to take the keys form him but he's a big guy, all those years of football. Anyway I thought that maybe we'd be ok, I mean it was about 2:30 in the morning. Well I let him drive. I hopped in beside him hoping that I could take over if anything happened. Well the snow got thicker and the people in the back got louder. John yelled at them to keep it down so he could drive, but as he turned around to yell again, he swerved into the other lane. I noticed the head beams of the other car and grabbed the wheel to put the car back in the right lane. I saw the head beam move around and the crash of them as the flickered out." But this time they had made it to Lizzie's. With out saying a word she opened the door and motioned for him to come in. Following her lead he took of his boot and coat and went with her into the kitchen. He watched as she turned on the kettle, grabbed two mugs and started to make hot chocolate. Sitting down she stirred milk into the chocolate powered. "Lizzie?"

"Ok Ethan, lets go over this," considering what she just heard she talked in a very normal voice, "you were in the car, that caused my boyfriend to go the road, and wipe all his memory of me, so that other girls can hit on him?"

"Well um…" Ethan stammered. With every pause, Lizzie got louder and louder.

'So your telling me that if you had just stopped John Acker from driving that night, we wouldn't have been dragged though the emotional mud since the 22nd?"

"Um I guess so…" The click of the kettle signaled that the water was ready, Lizzie turned here gaze away from Ethan, and he sunk into a chair. She filled the mugs with hot water and handed him one.

"Ok Ethan, this isn't your fault, well if you really really think about it. We could go though 'what if's' all night. 'What if you had been driving?', 'What if John hadn't turned right at that second…'" She starred into her mug. "I really think you need to tell someone like the police."

"I know." Finishing their hot chocolate, they two stood and moved towards the door. Ethan put on his jacket and shoes. Before he left she gave him a hug before he left into the snowy night.

* * *

Gordo had found Miranda, and she had confirmed that Lizzie had left with Ethan. Miranda asked if he remembered how to get back to his place and nodding yes he set out. Walking though the night sky, he remembered walking in the opposite direction earlier over to Miranda's, arms locked with Lizzie's. Changing his course he decided to stop at Lizzie's to see if she was still awake. As he got closer he could see the door opening and Ethan stood out on the porch. Lizzie joined him there and gave him a hug before he left. Gordo watched this exchange and decided to head home.

Once he had found the house and gotten upstairs into his room, he allowed his mind to process the night's events. He dropped back on to the bed, and heard a clink. Rolling over and searching he found the reason for the noise. The tape 'Lizzie and me!' was caught between the bed sheets. Fingering the case Gordo thought about what Lizzie had said about it being to heavy. Jumping up he placed the tape in and sat back on the bed while the tape flickered to life.