A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 3 – Foolish Pride

Gordo paced around his room as he stared at his cell phone in his hand, almost trying to will it to ring. It had been two antagonizing days since the kiss and Gordo was a mess. There were black circles under his eyes from lack of a sleep, he had barely eaten anything in the past two days, and his patience was fried. Miranda refused to even look at him since Saturday night.

After Miranda left the party, she had gone straight to the dorm room and after calling her mom to pick her up, she changed and quickly packed all of her stuff. She was gone by the time Gordo finally got to the dorm room.

The next day Gordo tried calling her almost twenty times using both her home phone and cell numbers, but she wouldn't answer. Then back at school on Monday, Miranda walked past Gordo like he wasn't even there.

It was obvious she was upset with him, but the problem was he didn't really know why. Even though he didn't understand what he did to piss her off, he'd willingly apologize to her to get her to stop ignoring and avoiding him. He just wanted his girlfriend back.

Sighing, he quickly typed in the numbers to her cell phone. "Come on, pick up." Gordo frowned as he got transferred to Miranda's voice mail.

"Look if you're gonna be mad at me, will you at least tell me what I did? Is this about that stupid kiss? She kissed me; I never wanted her to do it. Come on Rand, you're the only girl I wanna kiss. Please Mir, I just wanna talk." As he finished leaving his message he hung up.

Flipping the cell phone onto his desk, he let out a tired sigh as he flopped backwards onto his bed. Draping an arm over his eyes, he tried to fall asleep. Gordo hadn't slept much in the past seventy-two hours and it was starting to catch up to him.

Just as he started to fall into a restless sleep, someone knocked on his bedroom door. Groaning as he removed his arm, he slowly sat up, "What?" he barked.

The door opened and Lizzie walked in. "Hey," she said softly as she studied his face.

"Hey."

Lizzie let out a breath as she sat down, "How are you?"

Gordo gave her an irritated glare, "How the hell do you think I am?" Standing up, he started storming around the room, rubbing his fist. "Some strange girl kisses me, my girlfriend punches her and then slaps me, and now she won't even talk to me! So other than that I feel great," Gordo yelled.

"Gordo," Lizzie said softly.

Sitting down defeated on the end of the bed, he just put his head in his hands. Lizzie wheeled the desk chair over to him. Sitting in front of him, she reached out and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

Gordo slowly looked up at her and Lizzie cringed a little as she saw the sad look in his eyes.

"I don't even know what I did Liz," Gordo said softly, the pain coming out in his voice. "I didn't want her to kiss me. I didn't even know she was going to kiss me." Rubbing his face, he looked down at the ground. "I just want Miranda back."

"I know Gordo." Lizzie had made up her mind. She had hoped the Miranda would've cooled off by now and realized what really happened. But she hadn't and Miranda was only making it worse by ignoring Gordo.

Getting up, she sat down next to Gordo and hugged him. "Don't give up on her," she whispered to him as she let go. "I have to take care of something, I'll call you later. Don't give up," Lizzie told him before walking out.

Gordo just nodded and watched her leave. After a few minutes of just blankly staring at the floor, he pushed himself off his bed and decided to take a hot shower, hoping atleast it would soothe is tired body.

Lizzie quickly made her way from Gordo's house to Miranda's. After Mrs. Sanchez let her in, Lizzie jogged up the stairs. Reaching Miranda's room, she didn't even bother to knock but just threw the door open and walked in.

Miranda, who was sitting on her bed listening to her cd player, quickly looked up. Lizzie glared at her, "We need to talk."

Miranda pulled the headphones off her head, "About what?"

"What the hell do you think?" Lizzie's voice rose in anger. There was one sure fire way to piss Lizzie off and that was to hurt Gordo. Even though they weren't together anymore, she cared deeply for her best friend and considered him like family.

Standing up, "I'm not talking about him," she growled.

"Too bad!" Lizzie snarled as she walked around the bed so she was standing in front of her. "You're killing him."

"I'm killing him? What about what he did to me?" Miranda yelled at her. "He kissed another girl! What, all a girl has to do is show him a little leg and some breast and he'll make out with them!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "He didn't do anything to you! She kissed him!" she yelled back at Miranda. "If you hadn't flown into a blind rage, you would've realized that Gordo pushed her away. But no, you had to try and take his head off!"

"Still doesn't change the fact that he kissed another girl," Miranda tried to rationalize.

Lizzie looked her dead in the eyes, "Miranda, get over your stupid, foolish pride. He didn't kiss her; when she kissed him, he immediately pushed her away. You've known him almost as long as I have. He would never intentionally hurt you like this. Gordo doesn't want someone else, for some god unknown reason, he wants you. The longer you throw this stupid tantrum, the more you're gonna push him away and eventually, there's gonna be no going back. Now, do you want to lose him for good?"

Miranda looked away and walked over to the window. As she looked outside, she stayed quiet for a few minutes. Lizzie watched her, unsure of what she'd say or do next. "A quiet Miranda is a dangerous Miranda."

Miranda eventually looked over at Lizzie with a pained expression that was almost identical to the one she'd seen on Gordo's face.

"I royally screwed up, didn't I?" Miranda asked softly and Lizzie nodded to her. Miranda sniffled and wiped away some tears that were starting to fall. Looking back out the window, "Do you think he'll talk to me?" Miranda asked.

"She almost sounds scared. I've never known Miranda to be scared, she's the daredevil of the group. I didn't realize her feelings for him were this deep. I've never seen anything shake her like this," Lizzie thought to herself. "He really doesn't care anymore, he just wants you back." Lizzie watched as a sad smile spread across her face.

"I need to change," Miranda said as she walked over to her closet.

Lizzie grinned a little; Miranda was finally seeing what she was really doing. As Lizzie was about to walk out, Miranda called to her, "Liz." Lizzie stopped in the doorway and looked over at the closet where Miranda was standing. "Thanks," Miranda told her with a small smile.

Lizzie smiled back, "Anytime."