A/N – "Thoughts"
Chapter 13 – Things Start To Unravel
It had been two weeks since the party and so far, with the exception of Brooke, they had been able to keep their relationship a secret. On the outside, everything was normal. Gordo worked on his movies and hung out with his friends. Kate did cheerleading and continued to battle with Gretchen. When they did hang out together, it was usually late afternoon, after Kate's practices. But the longer the secret went on, the harder it was to create plausible excuses to explain where they had been.
Late Thursday afternoon, Gordo pulled into the Saunders' driveway. After shutting off his car, he got out and walked to the door. Knocking, he tapped his foot on the porch as he waited for Kate to answer.
As the door opened, he came face to face with a scowling Kate. Realizing who was standing in front of her, Kate relaxed. "Hey."
"This is for you," he said with a lopsided grin as he handed her a few violets. "You ok?" he asked as she stepped aside and he walked in.
Tossing the door shut, "Just the usual crap with Gretchen." She smiled a little as she looked at the flowers in her hand and inhaled their scent. "But I'm feeling much better now that you here."
"Your mom around?" Gordo asked as he stood a few feet away from her.
"No," Kate said with a slight edge. "Her and her new husband are at work."
Gordo watched as Kate walked a few steps away from the door, then grimaced and grabbed her thigh. Noticing Gordo's concerned expression, "I'm ok, I just over did it at practice. Gretchen tried to show me up."
Taking another step, Kate grimaced again. "You're not ok. Come here," Gordo said walking over to her.
"Gordo, I'm fine. Whoa!" As she tried to protest, Gordo scooped her up and cradled her in his arms. "Wow. He's stronger than I thought."
Gordo carried her into the living room and put her down on the couch. Kneeling next to the couch, "Your thigh just sore?"
"Yea. I pushed it too far." She then felt Gordo's hands slip under the leg of her shorts and gently start to rub her thigh.
Feeling her tense up under his touch, he smirked. "Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm not doing that." As she smiled embarrassedly, Gordo looked down at her leg. "At least not yet," he added sarcastically. Kate laughed and reached out to swat Gordo's shoulder. After laughing at each other for a few minutes, they fell into a comfortable silence.
At the same time, Miranda and Lizzie were walking to the Gordon's. They were going to see if Gordo wanted to go out to Burger Buddy for dinner and hang out afterwards.
After ringing the doorbell, Miranda turned to Lizzie. "Have you noticed how much more relaxed Gordo's been since he got back from San Francisco?"
"Yea," Lizzie answered with a laugh. "That Kat must be a miracle worker to get Gordo to unwind this much."
The girls turned towards the door when they heard it open. "Hello girls," Mrs. Gordon greeted them.
"Hi Mrs. Gordon," they both responded.
"Is Gordo home?" Lizzie asked.
"Sorry Lizzie, but David is at Katherine's."
"Katherine?" Miranda asked a little confused.
"Yes, they've been spending a lot of time together since they bumped into each other in San Francisco."
Lizzie titled her head slightly, "You mean Kat?"
"Yes."
"Gordo didn't mention she was visiting him," Miranda said out loud.
Mrs. Gordon looked at them confused this time. "Visiting? She lives in Hill Ridge."
Miranda and Lizzie wore identical confused expressions.
"You two have known Katherine just as long as David has," Mrs. Gordon said to them, herself a little confused that they weren't understanding her.
Lizzie opened her mouth to say something but her mouth just hung there as something suddenly came to her. She felt like an idiot for not realizing it before.
"How would we know Kat, we've never met her," Miranda told Mrs. Gordon.
Before Mrs. Gordon could answer, Lizzie beat her to it. "Yes we have," she said turning to Miranda. Miranda looked at her surprised. "Think, what's another nickname for Katherine."
Miranda rolled her eyes and thought about it. "Katherine….Kat….Ka," Miranda's eyes went wide with realization and she was quiet for a few moments as she let it sink in. "Nah," she said with a sarcastic smile.
"Known her just as long and named Katherine. Who else could it be?" Lizzie told Miranda. "Mrs. Gordon, is David at Kate Sanders'?"
"Yes," she answered looking at the girls like they should know this. Mrs. Gordon had just assumed that David would have told his best friends about Kate and him.
"Thanks Mrs. Gordon. Can you tell Gordo we stopped by?" Lizzie asked.
"Sure girls."
"Thanks." After saying goodbye to Mrs. Gordon, Lizzie and Miranda walked away trying to wrap their minds around the fact that Kat was Kate and much bigger, they appeared to still be together.
A couple of hours later, Kate and Gordo were standing on the Sanders' front porch, kissing. After a few minutes, they broke apart and Kate frowned. "I wish you were staying and my mom and her new fling were leaving."
Gordo smiled and gently brushed her cheek. "You have the worst luck with stepfamily don't you?"
Kate snorted, "Some of them. Julie is alright; a spoiled brat, but I can relate."
Stepping down a few steps and onto the sidewalks, Gordo looked back at her. "We still on for this weekend?"
Kate's face lit up, "Of course. My mom is leaving like noon and we'll have the whole house to ourselves this weekend. Your rents believe we're visiting USC?"
"Yea. Just come by and pick me up when you're ready," he said as he jumped back up to the porch. Stealing a small kiss, Gordo walked back down to the sidewalk and headed for his car.
"Cool. So I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Gordo."
"Bye Kate," he called over his shoulder as he got into his car.
As Kate stood on the porch, watching Gordo get in his car and drive away, neither knew that they had been seen and were being watched for the past few minutes.
Amber Graham, one of Gretchen's drones, had been walking by and saw Kate and Gordo kissing. As she watched Gordo leave, she pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Gretchen's number. "Hey Gretch, I got some gossip about your favorite person."