The ding echoed off the walls of the elevator as the doors slid back. Lizzie stared down the long hallway. She could feel her heart pulsating angry blood throughout her veins. She took a deep breath and started forward.

The closer she came to the doorway, the more she recognized music she heard was coming from her boyfriend's apartment. She took a deep breath, trying to remember restraint. Her heels clicked on the tiled floor.

Staring at the door, her hand raised to knock, she hesitated, a small fraction of her mind still demanded that she return home, but she knew she'd already come past the point of no return.

Her fingers curled into a fist and her knuckles rapt on the hard door.

Inside she could hear shuffling, someone moving around, the music was turned down, then after what seemed to be several minutes, the door finally swung open.

David "Gordo" Gordon leaned against the doorframe. His raven curls were flatter than usual, owing to the fact that his hair was damp. Her eyes danced over his broad shoulders and toned arms revealed by the tank top he was wearing. Her eyes went on down his old "broken-in" Levis that she'd tried many times to throw out. His feet were bare. She knew from the outfit he'd had no intention of going anywhere tonight. In fact his ensemble was what he wore to lounge around the house.

"Hey Lizzie," he greeted.

She stared at his face searching for a clue he realized what he'd done wrong, but he gave no inclination. Finally, her temper won. "Don't you 'hey Lizzie' me," she snapped.

His blue eyes widened in surprise as he stared fondly at her. He said nothing but tilted his head in a way that showed she had his full attention.

"Did you forget? Or did you plan to leave me standing outside all night?" she demanded, pushing past him and strolling into small kitchen. The kitchen had only a counter that divided it from the living room and sitting on the couch she saw another friend, Miranda Snachez digging through her purse for her keys.

David raised his eyebrows in an almost amused sort of way as he leaned against the counter across from her. "Forget about what?"

Lizzie's hazel eyes narrowed into small slits. "Forget about what?" she echoed. "Did you happen to forget that tonight was the dinner party? Did you not happen to hear me ever single time I mentioned it?"

Miranda gave a short wave and headed quickly for the door. "I'll see you guys later."

Lizzie ignored her departure and kept her eyes locked on her boyfriend.

He was across the room gathering the glasses he and Miranda had been drinking from and didn't turn to her until he'd laid them in the sink. "I heard you."

Lizzie's jaw dropped as she stared at him. "Okay," she snapped. "So why weren't you there?"

David tilted his head to the side, she couldn't see his expression, but she knew that cock of his head, he was irritated. Well if he thought that he could out temper her, he had another thing coming.

But when he turned around, his expression wasn't angry, instead it was mildly calm, tolerant. "You never invited me?"

Lizzie squinted her eyes at him trying to make sense. "You just said you heard me talking about it, but then you go and you tell me that you weren't invited? Ever heard of making sense?"

He met her glare, his eyebrows raised high on his forehead. "You never once stopped to ask me if I wanted to go."

Lizzie threw her hands up and shook her head. "Oh, my bad, David. My damn bad." The small clutch for a purse she'd been holding flew across the room but she was too angry to even notice, but David's eyes followed the bag to its landing space right at his feet. "It's not as if you didn't know how important this night was to me. It's not like you could have easily figured out that I wanted you there."

"If you wanted me there, why didn't you ever ask if I was going?"

"Because you know, I was pretty sure we were past that point in our relationship. We're twenty four, not fifteen anymore."

"You take things for granted, Lizzie," he stated, finally dropping his gaze to the floor. "You take things, and people for granted. And I'm sick of it. You're not going to take me for granted anymore." He shook his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. "We're through."