UPDATED Michelle-Note (5.15.08): Tawny is hella weird in this chapter. fyi...also, it appears that most of the chapters beyond this point do not have the awkward, fubarred formatting issues, but (!) I'm going to look over them anyway, and omg update the sequel to this piece of rubbish.

Chapter 7: Their First Meeting, And Some Secrets

Lizzie: Stevens' house, living room, Sacramento: 12:49pm: June 9

After spending most of the first morning of my vacation rearranging everything of mine in Ren's room, I was very much ready for a break, and we all sat down in the living room. She was nice and all, but nothing like Gordo, except she was freakishly smart. She was like a freaking obsessive-compulsive dictator, while Gordo was rather messy, and unorganized, and normal for the most part. They got along very well despite their blatantly obvious difference, and they never stopped talking about books, and weird smart-people things. I couldn't follow them after a while, and was stuck with Miranda and her ever-present negative attitude, which had worsened. Ren thought that since I was friends with Gordo I was some kind of genius too. She soon figured out that she had assumed wrongly. I was just an average, not very interesting girl.

"Louis should have been back by now…" Ren groaned, as she brought out some lemonade for everyone, "I told Ruby we'd be over by 1:30, and I hate being late."

"I can't wait to meet Tawny. I hope she's as awesome as you make her sound." Gordo said, very happily. Too happily. He had been overly cheerful since we got here, the complete opposite of Miranda, who wasn't even talking to anyone.

If Gordo and Ren weren't related, they'd make a cute couple. That's sick to even think about, their being first cousins and all. They would have malformed children or something. Ren didn't seem interested in a relationship at all, and Gordo was pretty amused being single. He was over me, and had been for years. I felt so bad. I wanted to like him, I really did, but I couldn't see him as more than a friend no matter what I did. He was a good guy, and I kissed him, and that was it. I knew it wouldn't work, and I pulled out the stupid excuse that it would mess up our friendship. Maybe I didn't try hard enough. I always felt bad for not liking him, even though he seemed fine now, and I wondered what could've happened if I had liked him.

Why didn't I like him? It was so stupid. He was perfect for me. Too perfect maybe.

I wondered how Kate was, but didn't dare say it out loud because Miranda would jump down my throat for it. She wasn't so bad. She was just kind of weird. She got jealous when I went out with one of her exes, but he turned out to be a jerk, so I got over it. She always told me to give Gordo more of a chance, and I think I maybe should have listened, but I couldn't. He just wasn't what I wanted. I don't know what I wanted. I think it was something I could never have.

Miranda was sitting next to me, and I poked her, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." She crossed her arms, and wouldn't make eye-contact.

Ren and Gordo looked at me accusingly, and I shrugged. She was fine before we got here, a little cranky before we went to sleep, and wouldn't talk to anyone when we got up. It made no sense.

Just then, then front door swung open and my brother, Louis, two other boys, and a girl walked in. Twitty, Louis' friend, was quite attractive. He was muscular, and Ren told me that he played baseball. I saw Miranda eyeing him too. Then there was an oddly proportioned boy, about the same height as Matt, who was not attractive. His name was something weird, and everyone called him Beans, as if that was less weird. People from Sacramento are not normal, any of them.

Tawny seemed really happy, for a goth girl, but that was probably me stereotyping. Tawny was an odd name for a goth girl too. She came in and pointed at Miranda, "Miranda, yeah?"

She nodded, but said nothing.

"You remind me of Twitty's ex-girlfriend, Allison, except she was Asian, and you're not Asian, you just kinda look the same…sorta, but I might be making that up in my head." The girl then moved to me, "Lizzie?"

"Tawny?"

"Ren told me you want to be a new client. Instead of you paying, how about you hook me up with your brother? He's a cutie."

"Uh…" That was weird. What would she want with Matt? I looked at him, and he shrugged his shoulders like he didn't really care.

"What's with you and immature boys, Tawny?" Ren asked her.

"They make me feel superior." She sneered, and looked Gordo over before saying, "Well…you're a bit more puny that most boys related to the Stevens. I suppose it's Eileen's side of the family. Ren turned out puny too."

He laughed, "Yeah. I'm not much into physical activity."

"Me neither!" She said and started to play with his curls. I did that, and he always liked it, but I wasn't in the least bit jealous. If I liked him, I'd be jealous that this odd girl was touching him.

Ren looked confused, "Why are you so…happy?"

"I'll tell you later," She turned back to me, "Right now, I must take my lovely new client into the closet for meeting number one."

"Tawny. No." Louis said forcefully between his teeth, and everyone's attention turned to him.

"What?" She seemed hurt.

"Not her," He answered, "At least not yet."

"Fine, Louis. Spoil my fun." What they were talking about seemed to baffle everyone else, and not just me.

She grabbed both of my wrists and then pulled me into the hall closet. She turned on the light, and shut the door. I was infinitely confused, and slightly scared. This was even more evidence that there was something in the water in Sacramento. Everyone here had at least one completely huge noticeable quirk.

"I was completely kidding about your brother. I'd like to get to know the Gordo fellow though, but I hear he has a history with you."

That had gotten around fast, "Yeah…"

"So…free of charge, talk to me, and all will be completely confidential. I will only advise."

"I…just…" I began, "This is weird."

"What?"

"Talking to a girl I just met in the closet about my problems…"

"Oh…I usually don't do this in the closet, but there's a lot of people here, and all. If you'd like, we can go out there in the middle of them and talk about your problems." She said sarcastically.

"No…I just…I dunno…"

She rolled her eyes, "That's what I'm here for. Tell me about the Gordo. You like him, don't you?"

I shook my head, "You can have him."

"I didn't say I wanted him, and if I did, I could have him and would not need your permission, dear. He just seems interesting. I like smart people, they think a lot."

"Well…I don't like him…I never did, but I think I was stupid to not give him a chance…"

Tawny leaned her shoulder against the wall, and looked puzzled, "Ok, you don't like him, never did, and you're just now regretting that you didn't lead him on? Did I hear that right?"

"No…I just…think that I didn't give him enough of a chance as more than a friend."

"My poor silly Lizzie," She put her hands on my shoulders, "If you didn't like him, then no matter what you did, you couldn't have made yourself like him…and if you have to try that hard to like someone, then you just didn't like them and that's the end of it. Why are you just now regretting not dating him?"

"I don't know…" I lied.

"You're lying."

"I-"

She put her hands on both sides of my face, and stared straight at me. I thought she'd kiss me, but she didn't. Why would she kiss me? That's weird. She just looked at me. Her eyes were a senselessly light blue, and didn't go with her hair at all.

I attempted to continue, "I should have liked him. He's perfect for me, and we probably would have worked, and we'd be together now, and happy and we'd get married after college, and everything would be…nice. I don't know why I didn't like him."

"There's someone else, isn't there?" She asked, and began to rub my cheek with her thumb.

This made me rather uncomfortable to say the least, and I felt like she knew everything already and would know if I were lying, but that wasn't possible. I never told anyone these things, not even Miranda. I also felt like she was trying to seduce me, and I didn't know why. I finally answered, "No."

"Is it your very gloomy friend Miranda?"

"No." I said firmly. If I were to like a girl, it would not be Miranda. I don't know why, just because.

"Ever kissed her?"

"No." I backed away as far from her as I could in the closet.

"Good because I wouldn't kiss her either. She's too angry, even for me, and that says a whole lot." She crossed her arms, "There's someone else…someone you don't think you can have…Gordo seemed safe, and you want to like him so not to like that other person because that person isn't so safe at all. Perfect isn't what you really want because perfect comes differently to you." She said it all very calmly, and slowly without a smile and without an attitude. "Feel free to talk to me whenever. I must end this meeting because Ren will go all dictator on us if we're late to Ruby's." She opened the door and slinked out. I started to follow, and she stopped and looked over her shoulder, "If you wonder how I know…it's just because I've been doing this for a while, and your type is always the same. Patterns, they're everywhere."

She did know, and that scared me. She scared me, but at the same time seemed completely harmless, and she thought Ren was dictator-like as well.

"Alright, everyone going to Ruby's head to the garage." Ren commanded.

I reentered the room, finding Miranda curled up next to Twitty on the couch, drawing little circles on his chest with her finger. Tawny had stopped and was staring at the same sight as me. He looked very tense and thankful that Ren had made the announcement. Louis, Beans, and Matt where trying to stifle their laughter as they went up the stairs.

Tawny raised an eyebrow at Twitty, seeming concerned as he moved quickly after the others like a scared little animal, having wiggled away from my friend, "Miranda…Miranda…" She put her arm around her shoulders as she passed by, following Ren, "Why so amused by Mr. Alan Twitty? He's really not that interesting."

"Jealous?" I heard Miranda mutter, as I walked behind them. Ren and Gordo had already hurried out. Gordo had never seemed so cheerful. I suppose it was because he'd found someone to intellectually identify with after being stuck with Miranda and I for years.

"Me? Tawny? Jealous of you and that one-dimensional walking penis? No. I merely wonder why you are being so friendly to someone you will probably never see again. He's not that type of boy…though a one-dimensional walking penis he may be…perhaps trying to make someone else jealous? Lizzie, maybe?"

Miranda got quickly out from underneath her arm, and then stood in front of her, "How about, I'm not a lesbian, and it's Louis. Does that bother you?"

Tawny laugh spitefully, "Not in the least. It all makes sense now though. All of it."

Miranda turned away from her and went out into the garage in a huff.

"What makes sense?" I asked Tawny.

"I'll tell you later. I'll tell everyone everything later. I know it all."

Ren gave us a glare when we made it out, and looked at her watch impatiently. She was already sitting in the driver's seat, "When we get to Ruby's, we'll all divide up and she can drive her car because I can't fit more than five in that thing I drive."

"It's a Jeep, Ren." Tawny said with a smile, as she walked by Ren's open door and patted her on the cheek.

"I'm sitting in the front!" Gordo announced. He was holding his camera and smiling, waiting until after all of us were in before he got in.

"Peachy…I have to sit all squished next to the angry girl…" Tawny mumbled under her breath before latching onto my arm and saying, "You sit in the middle."

I don't argue with pale girls who know my secrets by talking to me for two minutes in a closet. I got in on the passenger's side, and sat next to Miranda. Tawny tapped me on the butt as I climbed in, and then smiled innocently when I turned around. She was so confident that it seemed like she was trying to cover something up. It reminded me of Kate. I pushed Kate to the back of my mind in a hurry. There was no need to think of a girl that hated me on my vacation. Maybe Tawny was really just like that. Why would someone who figured out everyone else's secrets have secrets of her own? It seemed like she'd be all open and honest with everyone.