Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire or anything pertaining to it!

ON THE WAY DOWN

Chapter 4

Lizzie waited near the entrance of the store until she saw Miranda's blue Toyota Matrix pull into a parking space. She hurried towards the car and met Miranda, then they headed up to the store. "I almost ran over one of their bag boys when I was looking for a parking spot… it was weird, he had that crazy curly hair like Gordo had," Lizzie said, grabbing a cart at the store entrance.

"Speaking of Gordo… have you talked to him lately?" Miranda asked. She tossed her purse into the cart.

"Not since the summer after freshman year at Michigan, when we were all home for summer vacation. That's the last time I went home, and I don't think I've gotten a letter or e-mail from him since right after that. I tried to call him a couple years ago, and the person who answered the phone had no clue who David Gordon was," Lizzie replied.

"Hmm… maybe he's directing big movies now, too good for us." Miranda grabbed a bottle of Pepsi off the shelf and put it in the cart. "Though, I don't think I've ever heard his name mentioned on a movie credit before. Maybe he directs those weird sci-fi movies, or horror films… those things always creeped me out. Demon kids in a corn field? Yikes."

Lizzie laughed. "I've never heard his name on a movie credit before, either. I wonder if he even wound up making a career of directing. Humans are finicky creatures, they change their minds like their underwear," she said. An employee walked by at the end of the aisle and she looked up quickly. "Hey, there went the kid with the curly hair. I should go apologize for almost killing him."

Miranda turned and started to speak, but Lizzie was already at the other end of the aisle. She turned and came back. "He disappeared. Probably got scared that I'd try to run him down with the cart," she joked.

The two women finished up their shopping and paid for their food, then headed over to Blockbuster. Lizzie, with Gordo still on the brain, decided to ask the girl at the checkout counter if she knew anything about a director named David Gordon.

"I've never heard of him, but hang on a minute, I'll check the database." The girl punched some letters on the keyboard of her computer, then squinted at the screen. "He directed a few independent films, there's four listed here, but nothing that was big. He's probably starving right now," she said.

"Okay… do you have any of the films here?"

"Yeah, one of them. It's called 'Fair Trade', it's in the Drama section. Would you like me to find it for you?"

"No, thank you. I was just curious. Thanks!" Lizzie smiled at the girl, then wandered off in search of Miranda. She found her looking at Romance movies, holding two DVD cases. "Whatcha got?"

Miranda handed her the movies and Lizzie nodded as she looked at the titles. "The girl at the counter looked up Gordo for me," she said nonchalantly.

"Well? What's the verdict?" Miranda asked, looking at her curiously.

"He directed a handful of indie films, they have one of them here. I'm going to go see if I can find it." Lizzie disappeared and Miranda just laughed.

"Alright, Gordon, it's 9:00… have a great night." Gordo looked at the manager on duty, a woman named Alyse.

"Thanks, Alyse. See you tomorrow," he said, heading for the door. As he stepped outside, he saw the BMW that had almost ran him down a little while earlier. A blonde woman stood beside it, talking to a dark-haired woman. He squinted, he could have sworn it was Lizzie and Miranda.

"Yeah, right. In Florida?" he muttered to himself. He shook his head and walked over to the beat-up black Honda he'd had since he was in high school. The car spluttered to life, smoke pouring out of the exhaust, and Gordo carefully maneuvered it out of the parking space. His apartment had never sounded so tempting in his life.