A/N: Just to clarify, the finding out thing isn't going to happen for a while, so they are going to be left in the dark for a little while longer. I was very interested in the varied thoughts and I appreciate every single one of them. I hope I continue this roll I seem to he having, but I have a feeling I might be getting sick. I hope its just allergies or something.

Chapter Twenty-Three

They didn't have time to look very hard for the cameras, as Gracie showed up and asked for Gordo to do some interviews. Gordo waved at Lizzie sort of awkwardly as he left and said, "We'll continue talking about everything as soon as I get back, Tori," he said, pretty sure that since their were Hidden cameras, someone in the production team had to know what was going on, but just in case, he still wanted to be careful with what he said.

Lizzie nodded and watched as he left and waited for the door to close before heaving a big sigh. This was hopeless. She had no idea what to think about anything anymore. She looked around the kitchen for some obvious sign of a hidden camera, but gave up quickly, as she didn't feel like doing this. She definitely didn't know about to think about Gordo and what he said. It was sort of ridiculous and a huge coincidence that they were there together, but she really never thought that it was more than a coincidence. It never crossed her mind that it was something more...she never had a reason to believe something like that. Sure, she felt misinformed about the concept of the whole show, but coincidence? Who would do this to her? Nah, she thought, Gordo's crazy. These people have know clue that we know each other. And the hidden cameras...they were probably there in case the real cameras missed something.

She walked to the bedroom and sighed again. She felt so...perplexed about everything. She'd already discovered so much...like Gordo wasn't the creep she thought he was and that maybe the things that happened to both of them were forgivable. Maybe...maybe, she would find true love with Gordo...again. She didn't know. She thought she'd have years to get over Gordo and years after that to date other guys. She'd really never forgotten about Gordo, though. She was discovering, whether she liked it or not, that she still loved Gordo, after all these years. Her feelings never changed...they were just in denial for a while.

She wanted desperately to call someone so she could share what she was thinking with someone, but she didn't know whom to call. Her cousin wouldn't care...Miranda would make too much of a deal about it when she still wasn't sure how much of a deal this was to her.... her parents didn't need to know anything about the trials and tribulations Lizzie was going through at the moment...and Matt, well, he was just Matt. He was the college going brother who would have even more reasons to think his crazy sister belonged in an asylum. Sure, they got along, but she knew that he felt that she should have a boyfriend at this point.

Lizzie fell onto her bed, as she though about what to do and suddenly, it was as if the past five years of her life flashed in front of her. First, she remembered going off to college and being miserable, especially when she say Gordo two days earlier at the Digital Bean, seeming very cozy with another girl. She thought she hated him and she thought she wanted him to be miserable, but seeing her there with another girl was too much. She remembered the first few months and how miserable she was and how bad she felt for her roommate for putting up with her. She was angry and she wasn't ready to date quite yet. She remembered when she tried to date different people for two years and ending every single change because the guy reminded her too much of Gordo, she didn't see them having a future, and she wasn't interested in something serious. When she constantly reminded herself that the only guy she'd ever slept with was Gordo, she decided to try and pull off the whole one night stand thing, but she never pulled it off. She didn't feel like she was anti-men, or anything, yet she felt the need to stop trying because the act of trying involved thinking and the act of thinking involved reminding her that she hated Gordo, which was the logic of her becoming celibate. When she was going through all of this at the time, she didn't really realize now much Gordo effected her, but looking back, as she did just then, made her realize that If she didn't do anything by the time the taping was over, she might never know what could have been. She might never know what it was like to be truly happy and comfortable with her. This was her second chance, whether she still was up in the air about everything or not, so she finally felt some motivation to say something about this to him. She bit her lip as she thought more about this, and the more she thought about it, the more chicken she became. "Ugh," she said as she buried her head into a pillow, "I don't know what I want to do!" she yelled aloud, releasing some tension.

She heard the door close and turned around to see Gordo standing there and staring at her. "Shit," Lizzie thought to herself as she smiled for Gordo, but was creaming inside.

"Are you okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow?

"I'm fine," Lizzie said, as she stood up, "In fact I've never been better. How was the interview?"

Still with the same confused face, he said, "It was fine, he looked around, as if he's find answers to his questions around the room, "What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing," Lizzie said, "I just lay down for a while to get some rest before the day gets really intense. What time is it by the way?"

"It's eleven-thirty. We have about fifteen minutes until lunch."

Lizzie nodded, "Great! Awesome!" Could this be any stranger? Lizzie thought to herself. Then she though about what he just said. Wait...was Gordo really gone for forty-five minutes? She didn't feel like he was gone that long...she must have really been in lala land, "Well," Lizzie said, I'm going to wash my face and get ready, then."

"Okay," Gordo said, sitting down on the bed. He waited for the door to be fully closed before he closed his eyes and muttered, "Thank you, God."

The interview was all-good and everything, as he read from the sheet and nothing spectacular happened while he was there for fifteen or twenty minutes. He was glad that everything was running so well, because he thought the more time he could spend with Lizzie, even if it was only a matter of moments, the more they could be together and things might start happening.

As he was leaving the mansion, however, he ran into the one person that had a good chance of ruining his day. He ran into the host, Ryan. He thought he could get away with acknowledging him with a polite nod or something, however, he had no such luck. Ryan stopped him.

"Dan! Compadre! How are you?" Ryan asked, stopping and shaking hands with Gordo.

"I'm fine," Gordo said, "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said, then continued, "Listen, how's everything with that chick, Tory?"

"It's okay," Gordo asked, but then he got curious. Maybe Ryan had something to say, "Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering because she seemed a little testy yesterday when I was talking to her. Is she in a better mood today?"

Gordo nodded, "Yeah, she seems to be fine." Internally, Gordo smiled, not because Lizzie seemed moody the day before, but because she didn't seem interested in Ryan. He didn't think she was anymore, but it was always good to hear that maybe someone was on his side this time/

A few minutes later, Lizzie came out refreshed and said, "Ready?"

Gordo stood up and smiled, "Always."

It was silent as they walked to the mansion. Lizzie wondered if the past five years for Gordo were as bad as hers. She hoped she had the rest of her life to find out, but at the same time, she really wanted to know. Gordo, on the other hand, was thinking about whether he should try and talk to her about some of the feelings he had about her. It was almost like Ryan gave him the extra push to do something about the feelings. He was anxious to talk to her about it. But both were silent.

Lunch was uneventful. They had a sandwich and salad buffet set up. Gordo and Lizzie sat together and while they tried to engage in the group conversation, they didn't seem to talk much. They hardly looked at each other while they ate.

After lunch, they met on the lawn for the competition. Ryan explained that the game was called, "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!" Ryan explained that the men, Daniel, James, and George, were supposed to pretend that while they were in the wilderness, they'd fallen and were hurt and can't talk. The women had to find, with the help of the guy's hand gestures, five things that the guy needed. The first person with five things would get the mansion.

Since James and Elizabeth were supposed to win, it was almost like there was no pressure. They started and the first thing that they all gestured (it was all on a sheet of paper given to them beforehand) was water. All of the stuff was supposed to be around somewhere. Lizzie jogged to their room to get him some water. The next thing was a band-aid, which took a while for Lizzie to understand, but it didn't really matter. After that, there was a banana, a knife, and a shirt. Because Mary and Lizzie were instructed to go slower than normal, Elizabeth had everything done in half the time. They were required to finish, however, and Lizzie and Mary finished at about the same time. The winners, James and Elizabeth, were announced and since their things were already in the mansion, it was time for interviews and "animosity" time. While a few people had gone off to do their own thing, the cameras followed as Elizabeth walked over to Tory and said, "Hey. How's it going?"

Since they'd been briefed beforehand about how the producers wanted this to work out, Lizzie said, "It's fine. Congratulations on getting the mansion. I'm jealous."

"Yeah?" Elizabeth asked, supposedly surprised, "But didn't you grow up in a house bigger than that growing up?"

"Well, yeah, but believe me, I'd take a mansion any day before I'd take what we're in now."

"Well, I grew up with nine brothers and sisters, so I am very protective of the space that I have."

"Wow. I don't have any brothers and sisters. I'm so glad I never had to share anything."

"Yeah, well," Elizabeth said, starting to show her abilities to act out getting defensive, "Maybe you should try sharing one day."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Elizabeth said, "You obviously have very little appreciation for anything and maybe its time for you to get over yourself."

"What?"

"Oh, don't play dumb! You are just a little whiney, rich girl and you have no consideration for anyone."

"Oh yeah?" Tory shot back, "well at least I'm not a bitch and I have friends." With that, Tory stormed off into the hut. Lizzie personally thought that the argument was pretty weak to begin with, but the producers and editors assured her that it would seem more realistic in their version.

About ten minutes after Lizzie was back, it started raining and the rain slowly got a little heavier. Gordo was on the bed taking a nap...or so Lizzie thought. As if there was some strange occurrence, Gordo was thinking about the past five years of his life and how he handled it all.

He first thought of it when he was changing his shirt and saw a college t-shirt with a stain. He then remembered where the stain came from and it brought him back.

It was a Saturday, a game day, his freshman year. Gordo, who wasn't a big sports fan, actually was planning on going to this game. In an attempt to move on with his life after a harsh summer, someone set him up on a blind date. He was at the game and eating some French fries. He was sort of having fun when all the sudden his cell phone rang. He wasn't going to get it, but the girl he was with, Laurie, told him that he should, so he reached for his cell phone in his back pocket as the fries on his lap fell and ketchup landed on the shirt Laurie just bought at the concession stand for him. By the time he got his phone out, it has stopped ringing, but when he went to look up the missed calls, he recognized the new number as the McGuire residence. He never found out who was calling why that person was calling. He made a mental note to ask her about it if there was ever a good time.

Gordo handled college a little differently than Lizzie did. He went to a very studious school and became active in many areas, even though he didn't really know what he wanted to do for a living. He dated some people during his freshman and sophomore year, but it was never really anything serious. He thought he was completely over Lizzie by his junior year, when he met Rachel, a sophomore. They went out until the end of his senior year, when she told him that she wasn't ready for a large commitment. He found out later that she was seeing someone else. When he started his new job, he decided to wait a while to start dating again. It had been over a year since he and Rachel split up when his roommate told him about this show, and he hadn't dated a girl since. Despite this story seeming so average, it really wasn't. Gordo thought about Lizzie a lot and thought about calling her to see how she was doing when he was a sophomore, but never did. He wanted so badly to move on with his life, which was why Rachel was so great. Rachel didn't put up with any of his crap and seemed so real. She was the only other girl Gordo had been with and he also thought that that meant something. He realized just then that he and Rachel would have never worked out. Rachel wasn't good enough for him. No one was good enough for him. No one was as good as Lizzie. No one could even come close to Lizzie.

A/N: I'll try and update as soon as possible.

The next question is: Which couple should leave next?