Chapter 3- "Time Before Bed"

The group didn't talk much after that incident. They eat without much subterfuge and caroused the many mall sanctions while not saying a word.

Miranda was still deciding on how to react to dealing with Lizzie and Gordo as a couple (perhaps the situation with Ethan escalated events), Lizzie was thinking about Ethan and if she truly does still like him, and Gordo was upset that he is still second-in-command when it comes down to the pretty boys.

Their silence only lasted a few hours when the Sanchez's found them and took them home. They asked if Lizzie and Gordo wanted to stay the night but both came up with horribly weak explanations for why they couldn't. And somehow, Miranda took this well. She knew they needed time to figure things out and knew in the end she'd be thanked for it.

Arriving home, Lizzie skipped the 'family entourage' and went straight to her room to think. During that time she looked over photos of her with Gordo and Miranda, realizing how much she loves them in her life. She particularly reminisced about her pictures with Gordo; that spanned her entire lifetime.

Then she became sad. Not because of the pictorial events presented to her, but that she knew dead on that she'd be having an enormously more fun time if Gordo were here to share the photography with. Lizzie thought to herself of how the many ways Gordo would act to each picture, his sarcastic remarks and his sweet and naturalistic undertone.

And for a moment she almost cried but realized something incredibly important:

(Animated Lizzie: "He's not dead, you goof! Talk to him! Call him! Do something, this is boring!")

Lizzie snapped out of it. She got up, picked up her phone, and dialed his number. Almost conveniently, it rang just as she was dialing the digits.

It was Gordo. Lizzie smiled and for an instant almost giggled. Answering the phone, her introduction was admirably dull ("Hello?") but her tone was overly boisterous- like she was waiting all day.

The response was neutral. All it took was Gordo to say, "Hey, it's me", and it just lit up Lizzie's mood. She sat at the edge of her seat, and replied back.

"I'm so sorry about before, you know-"Lizzie began but Gordo quickly cut her off.

"Forget about it. It doesn't matter."

And with that, the entire day that would've been wasted on pretend mourning was changed. The issue at hand was thrown out of the window, dissed like a piece of garbage, and for the entire afternoon, from 1:00PM to 6:00PM, when dinner was served and they both had to leave, all they did was talk.

They discussed the pictures, as clearly Gordo had some too that he kept dear. They would log onto AOL when their parents became anxious and swap photographs, reminisce about old times and how fun it was. Lizzie let Gordo ramble on about his filmmaking, and Gordo let Lizzie do the same for her make-up and girl troubles.

They talked about school, gossiped about rumors and kids, named their favorite and least favored teachers, and just basically talked about anything that seemed prudent at the moment. But it wasn't the context of the discussion. It was the concept. These two entirely different people got along so well for reasons not even they could probably understand.

When it was bedtime, and they both had to stop wasting 'valuable minutes' according to Sam, it was something they both didn't want to do. Snuggling under the covers, both Lizzie and Gordo spent every lasting second chatting it up, not wanting to leave the phone or each other's voice.

After Gordo hung up (Lizzie told him desperately that she didn't want to be the first one), she glimmered and smiled like someone who just spent the best day of their life and did it well. Putting her phone back on the host, Lizzie cuddled up in her blankets and fell asleep one very happy girl.

Meanwhile, Gordo couldn't even close his eyes. He was too anxious, far too nervously excited about how his day transpired. For him, his relationship with Lizzie was nothing sort of complicated.

He knew from his most dated memory that he saw Lizzie as more than just a 'friend', but it wasn't until 7th Grade, when he consoled her at a library, that he smoothly told her his real feelings. And even those weren't blatantly honest. Back then he didn't see her as a girlfriend, but as someone he always liked to spend time with. He couldn't even explain it to himself, but what he liked most is that when he did see Lizzie; he didn't have to.

It wasn't until the year later when he saw her dating, kissing another boy, that those feelings multiplied. If he didn't understand his longing for Lizzie before, he sure enough didn't then. For him it was ever-so confusing, but when he talked to her at the library, how ironic, he felt the urge to tell her how he felt. Nothing happened only because Gordo knew he didn't know anything about everything. He was still confused. Did he like Lizzie as more than a friend?

Either way, telling this to her, while he wasn't even sure, wasn't a good thing to due in her mental state. So he waited. And boy did he wait. Every day since then it gradually became evident that Gordo was beginning to 'like, like' his best friend.

And if he thought that was the end, he was dead wrong. It just begun at that stage, and for months on afterward he would have to deal with the awkwardness that came after the realization. He felt differently around her, more aware of himself and his hygiene, and how he was acting. He wanted to impress Lizzie, and for a while he thought he was.

When the stress became too much, he decided it was time, with all those years and sensations building up to a defining halt. He decided that, as the school year ended in which he would soon enough begin entering high school, it was the right time to tell. He was far too shy to do it with actual communication, so he wrote a long passage, which he eventually erased and intended to fix when Lizzie read his rough cut.

He didn't know she found out and actually saw it. He kind of realized when Lizzie kissed him on the cheek one time, at a photograph session, but he just brushed it off, saying he had to go to the bathroom. When he arrived back to see Lizzie, he just changed the topic when she began to start it. He hated himself for it, but his reluctance to step away from the shadows was too great.

And in a way, he's still at the point. Some time has passed since then, where he tried to remain oblivious, even to the people that most certainly knew, and he thought it worked, even though he hated himself greatly for it. It wasn't until Lizzie gave him that kiss, in Rome, at the hotel roof, that he knew he couldn't hide any longer.

But, like many times before, his plan failed. He was still incredibly nervous about the situation, and afterwards, even in Rome, he tried to avoid it. It wasn't until Lizzie made him face his demons just days ago that he knew all this time him hiding was pathetic. He should have told her a long time ago.

With that, he knew he was tired. He shut off his lights, crept into bed, and realized that his uneasiness and feelings of loneliness would be forever gone.

He had a chance to start anew, and spend that time with the person he cared so much about.

Drifting asleep himself, finally, he smiled and couldn't wait to start a new day.