Chapter Twenty-Three: Till Death Do Us Part
A/N: Okay, second to last chapter! It's okay, don't worry, because I've got a whole NEW story on the line called Love and Life. (I know, I think of ideas every five minutes.) I first was going to do Matchmaker, then The Love Riot but then I wanted to do My Boyfriend Gordo and then I wanted to do Leaving Faith and then I wanted to do The True Matchmaker... but I decided those can wait.
Love and Life needs to be written now, and I might start Leaving Faith while doing that. If anyone, ANYONE, needs an idea for a romance story, just e-mail me, I'll be happy to give you some... a lot. I mean, if I don't have the time to write 'em, someone else will.
Oh, and a million sorries for not posting earlier. I've got good excuses, though. One... a six letter word called school. And autobiography... but that's like 12. Two... I've been to, like, three weddings aside from my cultural ones which are totally different. I have no idea how people plan one. All of this is a recollection of bits and pieces I picked up from books, movies, TV shows, and of course, real life. I rewrote this chappie several times before actually liking it enough to post it. And last, I was having writer's block and was completely lazy. Forgive me??? This chappie is so cute... Lizzie with pre-marital syndrome (aka the anxiety attack)!!!
Dakota Sunshine is going really well... I might be able to publish it! Like, for real!!!! This chappie is dedicated to Hennis. We all'll (lol) miss you! Have a great summer.... I mean... life! This chappie is also dedicated to Mark, the oddest oddball in the universe. We have so much in common! You better not tell about the ahem! And the ahem. And the ahem, ahem. You always get what I'm trying to say... (Samiha... levels!) so much philosophy going around. We may have different religions, but still he same philosophies. God makes you forget so you don't remember the red shirt!!! Love ya! =D
Peace to my "homies". (Toucan Sam!!!) Nancy, we love fop!
Gordo's POV
"Ooh, the pink! Choose the pink!" She exclaimed, pulling the tuxedo off the rack. "You'll love the pink."
"Um... is it time for the 'Gordo's a guy' speech again?" I asked. "I'm not Miranda. I don't wear pink."
Two months later I was back in Hillridge, ready to plan our wedding. That meant picking out everything from silverware to a church to tuxedos. Lizzie was psyched and seemed really excited about the whole thing, so I really wanted to please her. But a pink tux? I'd rather die.
"But you'll look so... hot."
"In pink?" I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what gay guys wear?"
She made a face. "No necessarily... but you're right. Pink is so not... you. How about salmon?"
"Salmon?" I exclaimed, wondering what moron thought of these awful colors. "That's just a fancy name for pink!"
"Nuh-uh... it's a mix of cream, pink, vanilla, light red, light orange, and white." She said, pulling the salmon one forward.
I rolled my eyes. "Which makes pink."
"Salmon!"
"I'm not wearing that."
Lizzie wrapped her arms around my neck. "Please?" She whispered. "Pretty please?"
"How about just black and white?" I said, kissing her cheek.
"Salmon is better." She said, inching closer. "Like, almost sexy."
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, really?"
"Oh, yeah." She giggled, pulling herself even closer to me. "Really, really, really sexy."
"Sweetie, this is a public place."
"I love it when you call me sweetie." She said as she kissed me on the lips. I couldn't resist and started making it deeper.
And there we were, in the tuxedo store, making out passionately.
"Lizzie, stop. There are children in the premises." I said, pulling away. "We don't want to look like two lovesick fools."
"But we are!" She smiled. "But yeah, we're here to shop, not to kiss."
"But then again, kissing is much more fun." I said, and kissed her.
"Not as fun as shopping!" She grinned. "Or doing your nails or trying on clothes or..."
"Okay, Elle Woods, calm down."
"Can I help it if I'm a girl?"
I snickered. "Lizzie, let's get back to the point. I'm not wearing a 'salmon' tuxedo to our wedding!" I frowned. "I'm getting the black one."
"But there are so many!" She exclaimed. "How can you choose one?"
"You don't." I said, flinging one off the rack. "Look, this is great. Let's go."
"Why are you in such a rush to get out of here, anyway? Don't you want to marry me?" She made a sad face.
"Lizzie, of course I do. It's just that I want to spend more time with you... I'm marrying you, not our wedding. I want to commit myself to you, not the wedding. I mean, I don't even care if we have a wedding or not. Just as long as I can spend my entire life with you."
"Awww, that is so sweet!" She smiled. "But you know what? Ever since I was little, I've wanted to have this huge wedding bash with everything perfect. And now, I have a chance to make all those dreams come true."
I nodded. "I know."
"And besides, do you really think I would make you wear a salmon suit?"
I shrugged. "I don't know... you are kind of..."
"Flaky?" She suggested. "Odd?"
"No... just kind of... girly."
Lizzie blinked. "Is that bad?"
I shook my head. "Now, come on, we've got to charge this thing." I looked at the tuxedo in disgust. Not that I hadn't worn one before, because I had... plenty of times. It was just that it was almost a thousand dollars. You could get a plethora of wedding supplies in that much money. But there weren't any cheaper ones in the store, and Lizzie insisted that I shouldn't wear one of the ones I already had, so it was pretty much my only choice.
She giggled. "You're a multi-millionaire! Why does it matter so much, just a thousand dollars?"
"Just a thousand?"
"You are such a guy."
I rolled my eyes and paid for the suit while the cashier put it in a plastic bag for me. Why did I love her so much? Why? I spent a almost ten thousand dollars on that ring, and now one thousand for a suit I was going to wear for three hours maximum. Plus the cost of the wedding; food, decorations, setting and all.
"Loving you has made me poor." I said as I signed on the mini-computer.
She kissed my cheek and headed for my car. "Loving you has made me rich. By accident, of course." She added so I wouldn't think she loved me for my money, which many girls did.
I scoffed.
Lizzie's POV
"I can't believe I'm getting married!" I exclaimed to Miranda, who was fixing my hair. "I am getting married!"
It was the day of our wedding, July 17th, 2015. Gordo and I had been engaged for a whole year. At first we were planning to have the wedding only two months after the engagement, but then decided it was best if we waited a year. It gave us more time to plan. Or, actually, me to plan. Gordo, after shopping for tuxedos and wedding dresses, said he really didn't want to have any part in planning the wedding. I thought of this as sort of insensitive, but the guy had a point.. What does a man want to do with a wedding? So that left it up to me, my mom, and Miranda to plan anything and everything that had even the slightest bit to do with the wedding, while Gordo shot more movies and watched TV. Gordo and I decided we didn't want the wedding to be a big Hollywood film festival, with famous people walking here and there and TV and camera crews stalking the place like animals. We were inviting a bunch of our friends and family, and keeping it top secret... away from the info-hungry media.
Miranda smiled, spraying more hairspray in. "It's not that hard to believe. You and Gordo were soul mates. Everybody knew that. It was sort of obvious, too. You spent all of your time together. Everywhere. You guys belong together."
"But what if I'm not ready?" I said, redoing my lipgloss. "I mean, I'm just a kid."
She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "Do you love him?"
I looked at in her in disbelief, for this was not a question she had to ask. "Duh!"
"Then you're ready."
I smiled, and we worked on beautifying me for a few minutes. It was heaven on earth... me, a bride? With a frilly dress and a diamond ring and a groom waiting for me... an entire future just waiting to be discovered? My whole life was yet to be lived, and now... now I had to imagine it with Gordo by my side, guiding me through obstacles that came in the way.
But...
What about the bills, the taxes, the this and that? I had depended on my parents for all of that support. And what about children? That was my main concern. I was practically still a child; how was I supposed to raise my own kids? And all of that responsibility! Doing everybody's laundry, cleaning the house, making meals, and still having time to go to work and bond with my family. It was too much to take on? How come so many people could go through this?
"I'm scared, Miranda." I whispered. "I can't be a wife. A fiancé... that's easy. But a wife... that's is a whole different story. I can't do this."
She looks at me as if I had spouted wings and a tail. "You can't ditch your own wedding!" She exclaimed as she fixed my veil for the nine hundredth time that day.
I thought about it for a second, and decided that marrying Gordo could wait. I was in no big rush of having sex or having kids or buying my own house. I was fine being Gordo's girlfriend for another few years. Just until I finished college, anyway.
I stood up from the lighted mirror. "I'm not ditching." I said, admiring my gorgeous reflection. "I'm telling Gordo to call the thing off."
(A/N: You know what happened here? I wrote about a page and stupid me forgot to save and then my computer clammed up and I lost all of it!!!! And I worked so hard and it was so clean and clear and perfect...! Grrr... I HATE technology...)
"You can't do that!" Miranda exclaimed. "Everyone's already here and ready for the wedding!"
I hesitated for a second and rethought the idea one last time. My final verdict:
Who cares?
"I don't care, Miranda! I'm not ready to get married. I can't. He can't. We can't. Bye." I dashed toward the door of the women's dressing room, and was hastily stopped my mother who was just entering.
"Oh, look at my baby!" She cried, stroking my cheek. "All ready and dressed up for her wedding..." A tear slid down her cheek.
"But it's bad luck for the bride to see the groom on wedding day!" Miranda called as I departed.
"I'm not that superstitious." I yelled over my shoulder. "Anyway, we were making out this morning!"
I ran down the hotel hallway, practically tripping in my five inch heels and fancy wedding dress and stopped at room 643 to burst in.
There were about twenty men in the dressing room. Some were changing, some were grooming, and most were talking. Most of the activity buzzed around poor little stressed out Gordo, who was standing in a corner, listening to some guy blab to him, probably about his "past achievements" and "filming dreams". I rolled my eyes. What a suck-up!
When I flooded into the room, all of the chit-chat stopped and all eyes became focused on me. No one said a word for a few seconds, and I just stood there, trying to catch my breath (It's hard to run in a twenty pound dress, you know.)
"Um, David, I think your bride wants you." The guy next to him commented, and he made his way to the front of the room.
"God, you look beautiful." He stared at me and I fell in love all over again. He started to kiss me, but I forced him to stop.
"Look, we really, and I mean really need to talk." I begged, giving him my best sad-eyes. "Privately?"
"Uh, why not?"
I led him down the hall and to the courtyard outside, where we sat down on a loveseat swing together and stared at the sun shine brightly in the sky.
"Well..." He prompted. "Talk away."
"We... well... you and me... I, actually..." I sighed and gathered myself. "We can't get married."
"What!?" His eyes grew large. "Why?"
I pressed my lips together as an attempt to stop myself from crying and ruining Miranda and my mother's wonderful makeup job. "I just can't."
He blinked.
"Can we just postpone it, please?" I pleaded as he took my hand in his.
He kissed my cheek. "Not unless you have a good reason."
"I have a plenty good reason." I said, hesitating to think for a while. "Like, for instance... um..."
"You don't love me." He whispered.
I looked at him strangely. How dare he say something like that? He knew I loved him. I loved him to death. "Of course I do." I insisted as a tear tumbled down my cheek, blurring my vision and streaking mascara all over. "I love you, Gordo. I always will."
He sighed. "Then how come... I want to get married! I can't live another minute being just your fiancé. I want to be known as Mr. Lizzie."
I smiled through my tears. "And I want to be known as Mrs. Gordon, but... what about... you know... the marital stuff?"
"Marital stuff?"
"Yeah... like all those bills and rents and... and... all those other payments!"
"Lizzie, we have enough money. Don't worry about that." Gordo wiped the makeup-streaked tears from my face.
"Okay, but what about children?"
That was a sensitive subject. Children to me seemed like so far away... like something my mother would handle. Just the thought of having a child, carrying around a thing for nine months and then raising it until it was 18... it was insane! I mean, I'd have to be it's counselor, it's idol, it's transportation to soccer practice. I'd cook and clean and do laundry and run errands. I'd be a... mother. A mom. I'd have to shop for back-to-school clothes and groceries and prom dresses. I'd have to yell and forbid it from going here or there. The responsibility load was just too much for me to handle!
The thought of somebody calling me 'mom' made me shudder.
"What about them?"
"I can't have a child, Gordo." I said softly. "I am still a child! How am I supposed to raise one?"
He closed his eyes and smiled. "So that's what this is about." He said, licking his lips. "You aren't ready for motherhood. But you're ready to get married."
I didn't answer.
He chuckled and ran a hand through his mousse-ified hair. "Honey, we don't have to have a child if you don't want to. Heck, I don't care if we don't have a kid until I'm fifty. Whenever you're ready... you know I'd never make you do that."
"Really?" I asked.
"I just want to marry you, Lizzie. How hard can it be? I mean, we've been together for our whole lives."
"But what about your movies?" I bit my lip. "You're going to have to go direct movies here or there and you'll never be with me or the family!"
He smiled slyly. "So now we're having a family?" He asked, looking at me knowingly. "Ooooh."
"Gord-O!" I groaned and playfully pushed him to one side.
"Okay, now really, I'll take you and the kids with me. It's no big deal, We'll work something out. I mean, we've lived apart since college started, right?"
"Barely."
"But we have."
I nodded, giving in.
"No more worries now?"
I shrugged.
"Do you want to get married?"
"Sure." I said, smiling. "Let's try it out, and if we don't like it, there's always divorce."
He pushed me away playfully and I giggled.
Now I knew why I loved Gordo so much. He always made you feel so much better, even about the crummiest things. And he never made you feel stupid or inferior. And he was a really good kisser, not to mention so totally hot and a famous director. (I know, I'm so shallow.)
We were about to kiss but then I started laughing. "Don't!" I pushed him away. "I'll mess up my lipgloss."
He burst out laughing.
I loved Gordo.
Gordo's POV
Lizzie and I were officially married.
The "I do's" were over, and we had already kissed, which had made us formally man and wife, and I had never been happier in my life. It seemed to me, though, as if Lizzie and I had been married since we were born. Always together, always by each other's side, we didn't need to have a wedding. We were pretty much married even before the wedding.
The reception was boring, if you ask me. It was cheerful, I admit, with merriment wafting throughout, and the various aromas of the foods mixing into the air, but boring. There was dancing to every type of music from waltz to rap, speeches that droned on forever, endless toasts, everything. You'd think it was the most fun in centuries, but honestly, I just wanted to be with Lizzie, preferably alone. At least the honeymoon was coming up, thank goodness for that. Lizzie seemed to be enjoying herself, happy to her fullest extent, but it didn't really have much of an effect on me. I wanted to go on with our lives, to stop celebrating now.
And so we did. I told Clay no more movies for two months, and he agreed. I spent the time swooning over our newborn relationship and getting ready for the rocky path ahead. We rented an apartment on the agreement that we'd buy a house when we had our first child. When we had finally gotten settled into the apartment (about 4 months into the marriage), Lizzie became pregnant, as an unknown, unplanned surprise. She wasn't horrified, though (neither was I), and we agreed we would've decided to have a child in a month anyway. I automatically bought some land and together, with the help of Lizzie and some contractors, sketched a nice blueprint for our house, which she and I argued about obsessively. We settled at last on a not-too- large mansion, with some luxuries thanks to my salary.
When the blueprint had been finalized, Lizzie was two months pregnant. They started building our mansion right away, and this is where the trouble began. I got summoned by Clay to direct a movie called Kirk's Round, which was supposed to be a major hit. I couldn't turn the job down and had to work, leaving poor pregnant Lizzie to handle everything, including the construction of our house. We shot the movie mostly in a small town two hours outside of LA, and Lizzie complained about me not being home when I had the chance. I said I'd be home soon, but right after the filming for Kirk's Round was done, I was asked to do another movie. I asked Lizzie what she thought, and she told me to go do it. I did, but we never saw each other, and that's when our marriage hit a rocky road. We had several fights then, and a few times I could've sworn she was thinking of divorce.
It was almost June of the next year, and Lizzie was 7 and a half months pregnant when I finally came home to stay. I felt terribly guilty and apologized endlessly, and soon enough Lizzie forgave me (we then moved into the mansion) but frowning at all of the money I had made. She said she wanted to make money too, so she could feel as if she were giving to our marriage also. She graduated in May of that year (I almost couldn't attend) with a teaching degree (she still seemed a bit jealous of how fast I had gotten a PhD two years before she graduated), and got a job starting in August as a full-time first grade teacher. We hoped she had the baby by then.
It was on our first anniversary dinner when Lizzie felt as if the baby were coming. I rushed her to the hospital and before we knew it, Ethan Gordon (named after the guy who Lizzie used to melt over) was born on July 17th, 2016 at 10:36 P.M. I think having a child brought us even closer together, if that's possible. I quit work for a while so I could take care of Ethan while Lizzie worked her butt off on her job, trying to lose weight, moaning about how terrible her body was, and grumbling on how this was such a terrible time to start working. She loved her job, though, it was obvious.
That was also a tough time, trying to balance both our careers with the added pressure of taking care Ethan, so Lizzie resigned after two years of teaching and became a full-time stay-at-home mom. I knew she loved Ethan more than anything, even teaching. When Ethan was two, we (we preferred the term 'we' over 'Lizzie' because it seemed more couple-generated) became pregnant again. Nine and a half months later, Dylan (soon to be nicknamed Percy by his friends who all had P-names at age four, and the name stuck), a name Mr. McGuire always liked was born. After that, we became baby-making machines. We had Kyle (named after the hero in a movie I directed) and Camille (Clay's wife's name), fraternal twins, two years after Dylan, and then two years after them we had Lorraine (the name my parents would've chosen for me if I were a girl). Then in consecutive years, we had Brianna (soon to be known as Brie), a name Lizzie absolutely adored, Kacey (who changed the 'ey' to and 'i'), named after the girl I secretly liked in third grade (made Lizzie absolutely jealous back then), and Brad (we considered Bradley, but that seemed too old-fashioned), unmistakably after Brad Pitt.
We took a three-year break then, and I concentrated on both helping Lizzie as much as possible on the many children we now had (eight!)... and directing about three or four movies a year. We very seriously considered stopping in the child department right there, for we were both 40 then, and we knew we would soon lose the ability to have children. Nevertheless, Miranda (who I thought we should call Brooke or Nicole, my past crushes and girlfriends, but Lizzie refused to have children with the name of the women whom I could've married instead of herself, so we named the child after our soulful friend) was born. We decided to stop right there, but four years later, Cory (whom we were actually trying to name Cody, after Miranda's husband (A/N: Cody Pierson or not, you decide...), but the nurse misunderstood Gordo's illegible handwriting) was born on accident. It happens.
So we settled down in our cozy little home with ten children (Lizzie worked up endlessly to look fit again), at age 45, and soon became many magazines' favorite celebrity couple and/or family. We couldn't blame them; I mean we were the perfect family. Ten kids, two parents, one who was a big-shot director, four cars (one for me, one for Lizzie, one for Ethan, who was now 17, and one family SUV), and one spotless mansion (on the outside, anyway). Perfect. On the outer surface.
Little did they know about the inside of our lives, the continuous times I had to leave the country or the state or even the city to shoot a movie, the many fights Lizzie and I endured, the somewhat rebellious children we had, and the everlasting havoc that stayed forever over our family.
But I think that's why I loved it so much.
A/N: So that where it pretty much ends. Like it? Yes? No? Well, I did, and writing this ending part with Gordo's POV was so much fun, creating their future like that...! I loved it!!! Keep your eye out for the epilogue, for this story's not completely over without a last reminder of how much Lizzie and Gordo love each other... it should be here in about two weeks, maybe less, maybe more. Well, now I better go to bed... it's sooo late... remember I love LONG reviews!!!! Love you all! =)
xoxo,
PersonY2K
A/N: Okay, second to last chapter! It's okay, don't worry, because I've got a whole NEW story on the line called Love and Life. (I know, I think of ideas every five minutes.) I first was going to do Matchmaker, then The Love Riot but then I wanted to do My Boyfriend Gordo and then I wanted to do Leaving Faith and then I wanted to do The True Matchmaker... but I decided those can wait.
Love and Life needs to be written now, and I might start Leaving Faith while doing that. If anyone, ANYONE, needs an idea for a romance story, just e-mail me, I'll be happy to give you some... a lot. I mean, if I don't have the time to write 'em, someone else will.
Oh, and a million sorries for not posting earlier. I've got good excuses, though. One... a six letter word called school. And autobiography... but that's like 12. Two... I've been to, like, three weddings aside from my cultural ones which are totally different. I have no idea how people plan one. All of this is a recollection of bits and pieces I picked up from books, movies, TV shows, and of course, real life. I rewrote this chappie several times before actually liking it enough to post it. And last, I was having writer's block and was completely lazy. Forgive me??? This chappie is so cute... Lizzie with pre-marital syndrome (aka the anxiety attack)!!!
Dakota Sunshine is going really well... I might be able to publish it! Like, for real!!!! This chappie is dedicated to Hennis. We all'll (lol) miss you! Have a great summer.... I mean... life! This chappie is also dedicated to Mark, the oddest oddball in the universe. We have so much in common! You better not tell about the ahem! And the ahem. And the ahem, ahem. You always get what I'm trying to say... (Samiha... levels!) so much philosophy going around. We may have different religions, but still he same philosophies. God makes you forget so you don't remember the red shirt!!! Love ya! =D
Peace to my "homies". (Toucan Sam!!!) Nancy, we love fop!
Gordo's POV
"Ooh, the pink! Choose the pink!" She exclaimed, pulling the tuxedo off the rack. "You'll love the pink."
"Um... is it time for the 'Gordo's a guy' speech again?" I asked. "I'm not Miranda. I don't wear pink."
Two months later I was back in Hillridge, ready to plan our wedding. That meant picking out everything from silverware to a church to tuxedos. Lizzie was psyched and seemed really excited about the whole thing, so I really wanted to please her. But a pink tux? I'd rather die.
"But you'll look so... hot."
"In pink?" I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what gay guys wear?"
She made a face. "No necessarily... but you're right. Pink is so not... you. How about salmon?"
"Salmon?" I exclaimed, wondering what moron thought of these awful colors. "That's just a fancy name for pink!"
"Nuh-uh... it's a mix of cream, pink, vanilla, light red, light orange, and white." She said, pulling the salmon one forward.
I rolled my eyes. "Which makes pink."
"Salmon!"
"I'm not wearing that."
Lizzie wrapped her arms around my neck. "Please?" She whispered. "Pretty please?"
"How about just black and white?" I said, kissing her cheek.
"Salmon is better." She said, inching closer. "Like, almost sexy."
I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, really?"
"Oh, yeah." She giggled, pulling herself even closer to me. "Really, really, really sexy."
"Sweetie, this is a public place."
"I love it when you call me sweetie." She said as she kissed me on the lips. I couldn't resist and started making it deeper.
And there we were, in the tuxedo store, making out passionately.
"Lizzie, stop. There are children in the premises." I said, pulling away. "We don't want to look like two lovesick fools."
"But we are!" She smiled. "But yeah, we're here to shop, not to kiss."
"But then again, kissing is much more fun." I said, and kissed her.
"Not as fun as shopping!" She grinned. "Or doing your nails or trying on clothes or..."
"Okay, Elle Woods, calm down."
"Can I help it if I'm a girl?"
I snickered. "Lizzie, let's get back to the point. I'm not wearing a 'salmon' tuxedo to our wedding!" I frowned. "I'm getting the black one."
"But there are so many!" She exclaimed. "How can you choose one?"
"You don't." I said, flinging one off the rack. "Look, this is great. Let's go."
"Why are you in such a rush to get out of here, anyway? Don't you want to marry me?" She made a sad face.
"Lizzie, of course I do. It's just that I want to spend more time with you... I'm marrying you, not our wedding. I want to commit myself to you, not the wedding. I mean, I don't even care if we have a wedding or not. Just as long as I can spend my entire life with you."
"Awww, that is so sweet!" She smiled. "But you know what? Ever since I was little, I've wanted to have this huge wedding bash with everything perfect. And now, I have a chance to make all those dreams come true."
I nodded. "I know."
"And besides, do you really think I would make you wear a salmon suit?"
I shrugged. "I don't know... you are kind of..."
"Flaky?" She suggested. "Odd?"
"No... just kind of... girly."
Lizzie blinked. "Is that bad?"
I shook my head. "Now, come on, we've got to charge this thing." I looked at the tuxedo in disgust. Not that I hadn't worn one before, because I had... plenty of times. It was just that it was almost a thousand dollars. You could get a plethora of wedding supplies in that much money. But there weren't any cheaper ones in the store, and Lizzie insisted that I shouldn't wear one of the ones I already had, so it was pretty much my only choice.
She giggled. "You're a multi-millionaire! Why does it matter so much, just a thousand dollars?"
"Just a thousand?"
"You are such a guy."
I rolled my eyes and paid for the suit while the cashier put it in a plastic bag for me. Why did I love her so much? Why? I spent a almost ten thousand dollars on that ring, and now one thousand for a suit I was going to wear for three hours maximum. Plus the cost of the wedding; food, decorations, setting and all.
"Loving you has made me poor." I said as I signed on the mini-computer.
She kissed my cheek and headed for my car. "Loving you has made me rich. By accident, of course." She added so I wouldn't think she loved me for my money, which many girls did.
I scoffed.
Lizzie's POV
"I can't believe I'm getting married!" I exclaimed to Miranda, who was fixing my hair. "I am getting married!"
It was the day of our wedding, July 17th, 2015. Gordo and I had been engaged for a whole year. At first we were planning to have the wedding only two months after the engagement, but then decided it was best if we waited a year. It gave us more time to plan. Or, actually, me to plan. Gordo, after shopping for tuxedos and wedding dresses, said he really didn't want to have any part in planning the wedding. I thought of this as sort of insensitive, but the guy had a point.. What does a man want to do with a wedding? So that left it up to me, my mom, and Miranda to plan anything and everything that had even the slightest bit to do with the wedding, while Gordo shot more movies and watched TV. Gordo and I decided we didn't want the wedding to be a big Hollywood film festival, with famous people walking here and there and TV and camera crews stalking the place like animals. We were inviting a bunch of our friends and family, and keeping it top secret... away from the info-hungry media.
Miranda smiled, spraying more hairspray in. "It's not that hard to believe. You and Gordo were soul mates. Everybody knew that. It was sort of obvious, too. You spent all of your time together. Everywhere. You guys belong together."
"But what if I'm not ready?" I said, redoing my lipgloss. "I mean, I'm just a kid."
She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "Do you love him?"
I looked at in her in disbelief, for this was not a question she had to ask. "Duh!"
"Then you're ready."
I smiled, and we worked on beautifying me for a few minutes. It was heaven on earth... me, a bride? With a frilly dress and a diamond ring and a groom waiting for me... an entire future just waiting to be discovered? My whole life was yet to be lived, and now... now I had to imagine it with Gordo by my side, guiding me through obstacles that came in the way.
But...
What about the bills, the taxes, the this and that? I had depended on my parents for all of that support. And what about children? That was my main concern. I was practically still a child; how was I supposed to raise my own kids? And all of that responsibility! Doing everybody's laundry, cleaning the house, making meals, and still having time to go to work and bond with my family. It was too much to take on? How come so many people could go through this?
"I'm scared, Miranda." I whispered. "I can't be a wife. A fiancé... that's easy. But a wife... that's is a whole different story. I can't do this."
She looks at me as if I had spouted wings and a tail. "You can't ditch your own wedding!" She exclaimed as she fixed my veil for the nine hundredth time that day.
I thought about it for a second, and decided that marrying Gordo could wait. I was in no big rush of having sex or having kids or buying my own house. I was fine being Gordo's girlfriend for another few years. Just until I finished college, anyway.
I stood up from the lighted mirror. "I'm not ditching." I said, admiring my gorgeous reflection. "I'm telling Gordo to call the thing off."
(A/N: You know what happened here? I wrote about a page and stupid me forgot to save and then my computer clammed up and I lost all of it!!!! And I worked so hard and it was so clean and clear and perfect...! Grrr... I HATE technology...)
"You can't do that!" Miranda exclaimed. "Everyone's already here and ready for the wedding!"
I hesitated for a second and rethought the idea one last time. My final verdict:
Who cares?
"I don't care, Miranda! I'm not ready to get married. I can't. He can't. We can't. Bye." I dashed toward the door of the women's dressing room, and was hastily stopped my mother who was just entering.
"Oh, look at my baby!" She cried, stroking my cheek. "All ready and dressed up for her wedding..." A tear slid down her cheek.
"But it's bad luck for the bride to see the groom on wedding day!" Miranda called as I departed.
"I'm not that superstitious." I yelled over my shoulder. "Anyway, we were making out this morning!"
I ran down the hotel hallway, practically tripping in my five inch heels and fancy wedding dress and stopped at room 643 to burst in.
There were about twenty men in the dressing room. Some were changing, some were grooming, and most were talking. Most of the activity buzzed around poor little stressed out Gordo, who was standing in a corner, listening to some guy blab to him, probably about his "past achievements" and "filming dreams". I rolled my eyes. What a suck-up!
When I flooded into the room, all of the chit-chat stopped and all eyes became focused on me. No one said a word for a few seconds, and I just stood there, trying to catch my breath (It's hard to run in a twenty pound dress, you know.)
"Um, David, I think your bride wants you." The guy next to him commented, and he made his way to the front of the room.
"God, you look beautiful." He stared at me and I fell in love all over again. He started to kiss me, but I forced him to stop.
"Look, we really, and I mean really need to talk." I begged, giving him my best sad-eyes. "Privately?"
"Uh, why not?"
I led him down the hall and to the courtyard outside, where we sat down on a loveseat swing together and stared at the sun shine brightly in the sky.
"Well..." He prompted. "Talk away."
"We... well... you and me... I, actually..." I sighed and gathered myself. "We can't get married."
"What!?" His eyes grew large. "Why?"
I pressed my lips together as an attempt to stop myself from crying and ruining Miranda and my mother's wonderful makeup job. "I just can't."
He blinked.
"Can we just postpone it, please?" I pleaded as he took my hand in his.
He kissed my cheek. "Not unless you have a good reason."
"I have a plenty good reason." I said, hesitating to think for a while. "Like, for instance... um..."
"You don't love me." He whispered.
I looked at him strangely. How dare he say something like that? He knew I loved him. I loved him to death. "Of course I do." I insisted as a tear tumbled down my cheek, blurring my vision and streaking mascara all over. "I love you, Gordo. I always will."
He sighed. "Then how come... I want to get married! I can't live another minute being just your fiancé. I want to be known as Mr. Lizzie."
I smiled through my tears. "And I want to be known as Mrs. Gordon, but... what about... you know... the marital stuff?"
"Marital stuff?"
"Yeah... like all those bills and rents and... and... all those other payments!"
"Lizzie, we have enough money. Don't worry about that." Gordo wiped the makeup-streaked tears from my face.
"Okay, but what about children?"
That was a sensitive subject. Children to me seemed like so far away... like something my mother would handle. Just the thought of having a child, carrying around a thing for nine months and then raising it until it was 18... it was insane! I mean, I'd have to be it's counselor, it's idol, it's transportation to soccer practice. I'd cook and clean and do laundry and run errands. I'd be a... mother. A mom. I'd have to shop for back-to-school clothes and groceries and prom dresses. I'd have to yell and forbid it from going here or there. The responsibility load was just too much for me to handle!
The thought of somebody calling me 'mom' made me shudder.
"What about them?"
"I can't have a child, Gordo." I said softly. "I am still a child! How am I supposed to raise one?"
He closed his eyes and smiled. "So that's what this is about." He said, licking his lips. "You aren't ready for motherhood. But you're ready to get married."
I didn't answer.
He chuckled and ran a hand through his mousse-ified hair. "Honey, we don't have to have a child if you don't want to. Heck, I don't care if we don't have a kid until I'm fifty. Whenever you're ready... you know I'd never make you do that."
"Really?" I asked.
"I just want to marry you, Lizzie. How hard can it be? I mean, we've been together for our whole lives."
"But what about your movies?" I bit my lip. "You're going to have to go direct movies here or there and you'll never be with me or the family!"
He smiled slyly. "So now we're having a family?" He asked, looking at me knowingly. "Ooooh."
"Gord-O!" I groaned and playfully pushed him to one side.
"Okay, now really, I'll take you and the kids with me. It's no big deal, We'll work something out. I mean, we've lived apart since college started, right?"
"Barely."
"But we have."
I nodded, giving in.
"No more worries now?"
I shrugged.
"Do you want to get married?"
"Sure." I said, smiling. "Let's try it out, and if we don't like it, there's always divorce."
He pushed me away playfully and I giggled.
Now I knew why I loved Gordo so much. He always made you feel so much better, even about the crummiest things. And he never made you feel stupid or inferior. And he was a really good kisser, not to mention so totally hot and a famous director. (I know, I'm so shallow.)
We were about to kiss but then I started laughing. "Don't!" I pushed him away. "I'll mess up my lipgloss."
He burst out laughing.
I loved Gordo.
Gordo's POV
Lizzie and I were officially married.
The "I do's" were over, and we had already kissed, which had made us formally man and wife, and I had never been happier in my life. It seemed to me, though, as if Lizzie and I had been married since we were born. Always together, always by each other's side, we didn't need to have a wedding. We were pretty much married even before the wedding.
The reception was boring, if you ask me. It was cheerful, I admit, with merriment wafting throughout, and the various aromas of the foods mixing into the air, but boring. There was dancing to every type of music from waltz to rap, speeches that droned on forever, endless toasts, everything. You'd think it was the most fun in centuries, but honestly, I just wanted to be with Lizzie, preferably alone. At least the honeymoon was coming up, thank goodness for that. Lizzie seemed to be enjoying herself, happy to her fullest extent, but it didn't really have much of an effect on me. I wanted to go on with our lives, to stop celebrating now.
And so we did. I told Clay no more movies for two months, and he agreed. I spent the time swooning over our newborn relationship and getting ready for the rocky path ahead. We rented an apartment on the agreement that we'd buy a house when we had our first child. When we had finally gotten settled into the apartment (about 4 months into the marriage), Lizzie became pregnant, as an unknown, unplanned surprise. She wasn't horrified, though (neither was I), and we agreed we would've decided to have a child in a month anyway. I automatically bought some land and together, with the help of Lizzie and some contractors, sketched a nice blueprint for our house, which she and I argued about obsessively. We settled at last on a not-too- large mansion, with some luxuries thanks to my salary.
When the blueprint had been finalized, Lizzie was two months pregnant. They started building our mansion right away, and this is where the trouble began. I got summoned by Clay to direct a movie called Kirk's Round, which was supposed to be a major hit. I couldn't turn the job down and had to work, leaving poor pregnant Lizzie to handle everything, including the construction of our house. We shot the movie mostly in a small town two hours outside of LA, and Lizzie complained about me not being home when I had the chance. I said I'd be home soon, but right after the filming for Kirk's Round was done, I was asked to do another movie. I asked Lizzie what she thought, and she told me to go do it. I did, but we never saw each other, and that's when our marriage hit a rocky road. We had several fights then, and a few times I could've sworn she was thinking of divorce.
It was almost June of the next year, and Lizzie was 7 and a half months pregnant when I finally came home to stay. I felt terribly guilty and apologized endlessly, and soon enough Lizzie forgave me (we then moved into the mansion) but frowning at all of the money I had made. She said she wanted to make money too, so she could feel as if she were giving to our marriage also. She graduated in May of that year (I almost couldn't attend) with a teaching degree (she still seemed a bit jealous of how fast I had gotten a PhD two years before she graduated), and got a job starting in August as a full-time first grade teacher. We hoped she had the baby by then.
It was on our first anniversary dinner when Lizzie felt as if the baby were coming. I rushed her to the hospital and before we knew it, Ethan Gordon (named after the guy who Lizzie used to melt over) was born on July 17th, 2016 at 10:36 P.M. I think having a child brought us even closer together, if that's possible. I quit work for a while so I could take care of Ethan while Lizzie worked her butt off on her job, trying to lose weight, moaning about how terrible her body was, and grumbling on how this was such a terrible time to start working. She loved her job, though, it was obvious.
That was also a tough time, trying to balance both our careers with the added pressure of taking care Ethan, so Lizzie resigned after two years of teaching and became a full-time stay-at-home mom. I knew she loved Ethan more than anything, even teaching. When Ethan was two, we (we preferred the term 'we' over 'Lizzie' because it seemed more couple-generated) became pregnant again. Nine and a half months later, Dylan (soon to be nicknamed Percy by his friends who all had P-names at age four, and the name stuck), a name Mr. McGuire always liked was born. After that, we became baby-making machines. We had Kyle (named after the hero in a movie I directed) and Camille (Clay's wife's name), fraternal twins, two years after Dylan, and then two years after them we had Lorraine (the name my parents would've chosen for me if I were a girl). Then in consecutive years, we had Brianna (soon to be known as Brie), a name Lizzie absolutely adored, Kacey (who changed the 'ey' to and 'i'), named after the girl I secretly liked in third grade (made Lizzie absolutely jealous back then), and Brad (we considered Bradley, but that seemed too old-fashioned), unmistakably after Brad Pitt.
We took a three-year break then, and I concentrated on both helping Lizzie as much as possible on the many children we now had (eight!)... and directing about three or four movies a year. We very seriously considered stopping in the child department right there, for we were both 40 then, and we knew we would soon lose the ability to have children. Nevertheless, Miranda (who I thought we should call Brooke or Nicole, my past crushes and girlfriends, but Lizzie refused to have children with the name of the women whom I could've married instead of herself, so we named the child after our soulful friend) was born. We decided to stop right there, but four years later, Cory (whom we were actually trying to name Cody, after Miranda's husband (A/N: Cody Pierson or not, you decide...), but the nurse misunderstood Gordo's illegible handwriting) was born on accident. It happens.
So we settled down in our cozy little home with ten children (Lizzie worked up endlessly to look fit again), at age 45, and soon became many magazines' favorite celebrity couple and/or family. We couldn't blame them; I mean we were the perfect family. Ten kids, two parents, one who was a big-shot director, four cars (one for me, one for Lizzie, one for Ethan, who was now 17, and one family SUV), and one spotless mansion (on the outside, anyway). Perfect. On the outer surface.
Little did they know about the inside of our lives, the continuous times I had to leave the country or the state or even the city to shoot a movie, the many fights Lizzie and I endured, the somewhat rebellious children we had, and the everlasting havoc that stayed forever over our family.
But I think that's why I loved it so much.
A/N: So that where it pretty much ends. Like it? Yes? No? Well, I did, and writing this ending part with Gordo's POV was so much fun, creating their future like that...! I loved it!!! Keep your eye out for the epilogue, for this story's not completely over without a last reminder of how much Lizzie and Gordo love each other... it should be here in about two weeks, maybe less, maybe more. Well, now I better go to bed... it's sooo late... remember I love LONG reviews!!!! Love you all! =)
xoxo,
PersonY2K