Chapter Thirty-Six

A/N: Hey. I don't want to rush this story, but I kind of want it to end at chapter 40. Anyways...here's the next chapter. It starts a few days after what happened in the last chapter.

And, unlike the musician(s) for the lyrics from the chapter before, I LOVE ASHLEE SIMPSON. Just wanted to make that clear. If you don't get why I chose these lyrics, they are kind of the feelings of a character from this fic. No, it's not Gordo or Lizzie. You just have to guess.

Chapter Thirty-Six

You had me crawlin so bad
Had me heels over head
You had me easy, you had me easy
Too late to go back
To realize what we had
We were already beautiful

So dont make me cry
Cuz this love dont feel so right
You cant push a river
You cant make me fall
but you can make me unreachable

Sometimes love is addiction
Sometimes it hurts like hell
And sometimes you just cannot get enough
You can't make me love you,
Any more than i do
But you can make me unreachable

-Ashlee Simpson "Unreachable"

Weeks later...

Lizzie sat on the edge of the bathtub, her mouth hung open in shock.

Oh no, oh no, oh no...this is not good... She thought in a panic. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow. I can't go for a road trip in my condition.

Suddenly, a knock came at the door.

Lizzie jumped up and tossed the stick into the trash can. "Who is it?" she called out.

"Natalie," her daughter's voice came from the other side of the door.

"C-come in," Lizzie croaked.

Natalie opened the door and stepped inside.

"I was just finished," Lizzie told her, "You can-you can use the room now."

She pushed past Natalie and headed down the hall. She walked over to the staircase and turned her head towards the kitchen. She heard Brooke washing the dishes. Gordo had left to return some movie rentals about ten minutes before. Lizzie turned around and ran into the room she had been sleeping in.

She picked up the cordless phone that was sitting on her bed. She got the operator on, and told them the phone number she was trying to reach. Finally, Miranda picked up. "Hello?" she asked.

"Randa!" Lizzie exclaimed, "I'm so sorry I haven't called."

"Hey, Liz! What's up?' Miranda asked, "Anything going on with Gordo?"

Lizzie turned around and realized the bedroom door was open. She pushed it closed, then threw herself on the bed. "Miranda, I don't know what to do," she said.

"Why? What happened?" Miranda asked.

"Well..." Lizzie trailed off, "It's a long story."

"I've got time," Miranda told her.

It had been a week since Brooke had returned from San Francisco. She seemed the same, except she was still a bit upset about her mother. Lizzie and Gordo acted as if nothing had happened between them, but deep down, they didn't regret what they did that night. Lizzie told all of this to Miranda. Besides the part where she and Gordo slept together.

"So you're secretly in love with Gordo and he doesn't know it?" Miranda asked, having no idea what was coming her way.

Lizzie hesitated, then sighed. "No. Not exactly. He knows all right."

"What!?" Miranda shrieked.

"Well, I kind of told him, and he kind of felt the same way, and now..." Lizzie cringed. How do I say this? she asked herself.

"I'm pregnant."

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Back in Hillridge...

"WHAT!?" Miranda screeched. Her children and her husband all stared at her.

"I'm pregnant," Lizzie repeated from the other end of the phone. She sounded as if she was going to cry.

"You mean you had SEX with GORDO!?" Miranda yelled into the reciever.

"Miranda!" Larry scolded, "We have kids here!"

Miranda jumped up from her seat at the dinner table and carried the phone into the other room.

"What's sex?" Ten-year-old Kira asked.

Larry sighed and turned to six-year-old Abby. "Abbs," he said, "Leave the room."

Abby jumped up and ran into the front hallway. Larry looked at Kira. "Well, he began, "When a man and a woman love each other very much, they might want to have a little fun..."

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"Lizzie, I can't believe this," Miranda told her best friend through the phone, "Once is enough, but twice? Lizzie, Gordo's married."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Soon Lizzie said quietly, "He said he doesn't love Brooke anymore."

Miranda sighed rather loudly. She thought of something to say. Both women were silent for some time. Then, suddenly, Miranda heard something from the dining room.

"EW!" she heard Kira scream, "You did THAT to MOM!?"

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Back in Massachussets...

"Miranda, look, I'm being serious here," Lizzie whispered, "What do I do? What about Brooke? What about Natalie? What about my life back home? Oh, this is going to ruin everything."

Suddenly, Natalie popped into the room and told Lizzie it was time for dinner, then left.

"Miranda, I gotta go," Lizzie said, "I'll call you back."

She hung up, then went downstairs to join the family for dinner.

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Later that night...

Dinner wasn't bad. Brooke seemed a little mad about something, but otherwise everything was okay. Lizzie had rushed into her room right after, without even eating dessert.

Gordo walked upstairs and into his bedroom, where he found Brooke already lying in bed. He got into his pajamas and was about to get into bed when something hit his face.

It was a pillow. It landed on the bed, just as Brooke was thrusting a blanket at him.

"Brooke!" Gordo started, "What on earth are you doing?"

"Go sleep on the couch," Brooke grumbled, then rolled over so her back was facing Gordo.

"Why? What did I do?" Gordo asked dumbly.

Brooke shot up in bed as if she had been electrocuted. "What do you mean, 'What did I do'!?" she snarled. She tossed her hair over her shoulders.

"Huh!?" Gordo blurted. He ran his hand through his mass of curls.

"You're such a moron!" Brooke yelled, "I'm not as stupid as you are!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw the pregnancy test!"

Gordo froze and silence hung in the air. "What pregnancy test?" he asked her.

Brooke's face softened a little, but stayed serious. "I saw a pregnancy test in the trash can from the washroom," she told him, "It was positive."

Gordo gaped at her. "You don't think it's Natalie do you?"

Brooke gave him a disgusted look. "Creep," she hissed, then rolled over and shut her eyes.

Gordo stumbled into the hallway and saw Natalie standing in her doorway. She must have heard their argument, because she said, "It wasn't me, Dad. Ryan and I have never done anything. We don't want what happened to you and the Ashworths happen to us."

With that, she turned around into her room and closed the door.