One of These Days
Chapter Two: Awkward Tomorrows
Lizzie woke up early that afternoon to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She checked to see who was calling and saw that it was Miranda. "Dammit," she thought and even whispered to herself as she sat up and answered it, "Hey," she said, in no particular tone.
"Don't hey, me! Where were you last night? I tried to look for you when I was leaving but I couldn't find either you or Gordo." Miranda's tone wasn't upset as much as it was curious.
This was the exact reason Lizzie didn't want to answer her phone, "Oh?" she asked, gulping and feeling nervous, "Are you sure?"
"Positive. I saw your cars and I spent a good fifteen minutes looking for you before I left."
"Did you check the bathroom?"
"What bathroom?"
"The bathroom upstairs."
"No…were you both in there?"
"Yeah," Lizzie lied, relieved to find some excuse.
"What were you guys doing?" Miranda asked, because this was a little weird.
Lizzie had to think quick. Why would she and Gordo be in the upstairs bathroom together? "I had a headache and wanted to get away from the noise downstairs and Gordo joined me."
"Ohh," Miranda said, as if she bought it, "Well, I didn't think to look there."
"Yeah, well, we were," Lizzie said. What else was she supposed to say?
She didn't want to tell Miranda the truth, but she almost felt guilty lying to her best friend like that. After all, this would be the type of thing to tell your best friend. "What are your plans for the day?"
Lizzie sighed, "I don't know. I just woke up."
"Oh. The headache was that bad, huh?"
"What?" Lizzie asked, a little confused.
"Oh, I saw you and Gordo drinking last night. You got drunk, didn't you?"
Lizzie yawned, "Maybe. Yeah, I did."
"How do you feel."
"Like crap."
"Well, get some rest and try to feel better. I was thinking you, Larry, Gordo, and me could do something together tonight."
Gordo? Was she ready for that? "Uh, well, I'll see. I might have to do something with the family."
"Well, I'll call you later. Feel better. Bye."
"Bye."
Lizzie hung up the phone and dropped back to her pillow. She was going to try and go back to sleep, but then it occurred to her of something. She shot up. Gordo…she thought…Miranda is probably going to call Gordo now. She reached for her phone and dialed Gordo's number, hoping to beat Miranda. He picked up. Her heart beat faster and faster as she anticipated what was about to happen.
The phone call woke Gordo up and when he saw it was Lizzie, he didn't know what to think. He didn't expect that she'd want to talk this soon. He picked it up, trying to sound as calm as possible, "Hey," he said.
"Hi," Lizzie said back, she almost didn't expect him to pick up. She cleared her throat, "Gordo, Miranda just called and asked where we were last night. Did she call you?"
Gordo yawned, "Nope. What'd you tell her?"
"I told her that we were in the upstairs bathroom because I had a headache."
"Good thinking. I don't know if she could handle the truth."
"I don't know if I'm ready to handle the truth," Lizzie mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Lizzie said, "Anyway, I just called in case Miranda called and wanted to check both sides of the story."
"Oh, okay," Gordo said. He didn't know if he should say anything else. He almost felt like they should talk, just for clarity. Two best friends should be able to talk about this, right?
"Well, I'll see you, Gordo."
"Lizzie, wait!" he said.
"Yeah?" she said. Her voice started shaking.
"Do we need to talk about last night?"
There was a moment of silence, "What about it?"
Yeah, what about it? He thought. "What is the last thing you remember about last night?"
"Um," Lizzie started, trying to think back, "I think I remember a kiss."
"Yeah, me too," Gordo said, sounding a little disappointed. He was hoping that was his memory playing tricks on him because a kiss could have led to more while anything else might have given a different explanation of what happened…or not. But he did remember a kiss. He remembered looking into her eyes and reaching for her arms and kissing her. That's where the memory stopped, though. "So you don't remember anything else?"
"No, I don't. I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't be sorry. I don't really remember anything else, either. Life goes on," he said, and then he felt sort of stupid, "Life will go on, right?"
Lizzie paused. She wasn't ready for this conversation. They were having this conversation too soon, "Right," she said, but only to fill the silence. She wasn't sure if it was true.
"Well," he said, trying to figure out a way to make a change in subject, "Are you doing anything tonight? Do you want to try and do something with Miranda?"
"I don't know," Lizzie said, "In fact, I'm just really confused right now," she said as she leaned against her head board.
Gordo couldn't contest to those feelings, as he felt the same. There were so many unanswered questions and both of them seemed to be avoiding the obvious…What if Lizzie were pregnant? It was a possibility, but both of them were wrapped up in what happened the night before that neither of them was focusing on that. Honestly, Lizzie was trying to evaluate everything that happened in her head and was trying to see if this meant something. Gordo wasn't searching for meaning…he was trying not to read too much into this and trying to focus on dealing with the future of their friendship. Gordo sighed. "Lizzie?" he said, "Whatever happened last night, I don't want it to ruin our friendship. I don't want to leave and go across the country with this hanging over our heads, all right?"
"Right," Lizzie said, somewhat distantly, "Neither do I."
He knew there was something up with Lizzie still, "Lizzie, I don't know about you, but for me, last night was my first time and for that as well as our friendship is concerned, you will always mean something to me. I don't think this means anything about us."
"It was my first time too," Lizzie said, somewhat apologetically, "I'm sorry for acting a little weird…maybe the fact that this was my first time just makes it a little weird for me to talk about."
"No, I understand. I just don't want something like this to change us because it is just the type of thing that would for any other friends. We were drunk. We lost control of our judgement and morals. It's something that won't happen again."
In his head, Gordo thought he was lucky. He always wanted his first time to be special and with someone he loved. Maybe Lizzie wasn't the love of his life, but it could have been a lot worse. Lizzie was his best friend and they'd known each other their whole lives, so at least it was someone special. He knew Lizzie inside and out and she wasn't full of diseases and he knew that she probably felt the same way, or would once her head cleared up.
"No, I'm not even touching alcohol from now on…or going to anymore stupid parties…great, do you think Ethan knows what happened? If so, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Well, if Ethan knows, Jessica knows because her car was still there when we left."
"Oh," Lizzie said, not knowing what else to say. She knew she would never be able to like Ethan again, but knew what it felt like to watch an ex go out with someone else, "well, they probably don't know. We left early and there were other cars out there, right?"
"Right," Gordo said, but it was his turn to say it distantly, "Well, I should go now. If we do something tonight, I'll talk to you then. If not, I'll see you around."
"Yeah," Lizzie said, a little surprised at the change of subject, "I think everything will be okay, Gordo. I really do."
"Yeah," he said, "But Lizzie? If there is something still bothering you, you can talk to me, okay? It may be a little awkward, but at least then it will be out in the open."
"Okay. Bye, Gordo."
"Bye."
Lizzie and Gordo hung up and started their day by getting ready for it.
They left that conversation friends and a few things resolved, but was everything resolved?
After Lizzie got ready for the day, she tried to put the past behind her for her own sake, but it was hard. She had a weird feeling that things, whether didn't seem like it right now, were about to change. She lay on her bed, not feeling like doing anything. Her brother, Matt, came in at some point and asked, "are you ever going to get up? I mean, I know you're a loser, but you just graduated. Aren't you supposed to be celebrating or doing something?"
Lizzie put her face against her pillow, "Shut up, Matt."
"Yeesh, it was just a question," he defended, then he examined his sister thoughtfully. Maybe there was something wrong with her, "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, Matt!" she said.
Matt smirked, "You have a hangover don't you?" He crossed his arms. He was fifteen now, and even after four more years, they still didn't get along.
"Argghhh!" Lizzie said, "No, Matt! I said I was fine," she said, harshly, "now, can you please go away?" She didn't even look at him.
Matt turned around and said, "Must be PMS,' to himself, but purposely loud enough so she could hear.
She threw a pillow at him, "No, I'm just really tired."
Matt picked up the pillow, "Hmm…let's see…moody, tired…if it was anyone else, I'd say you were pregnant," he said, and with this Lizzie's eyes shot open wide. He continued, "however, since I happen to know that you are most likely sexually deprived, I'd have to go with sexual frustration…unless you were lying about the PMS or the hangover."
Lizzie turned to face him, "MOM!" she screamed.
Matt grinned, "Mom AND dad aren't here. It's just you and me, babe."
Lizzie looked at her brother in disgust and rolled her eyes, "What do you want, anyway?"
Matt laughed, "What makes you think I actually want something from you?"
Lizzie squinted her eyes, "then why are you here?"
"Well, seeing as mom and dad aren't here and I only have a permit, you need to drive me to baseball practice," he threw back the pillow and it hit Lizzie's face. He turned to leave, "I'll be in your car waiting."
Lizzie huffed as Matt disappeared. She knew she had this obligation, but she wanted to avoid the outside of her house for as long as possible. She got up and slipped some sandals on and grabbed her purse and keys and went downstairs and out the back door. Sure enough, Matt was in her Jeep waiting. She opened the door and he said, "You know, you might want to lock the door when you come in for the night."
Lizzie started the ignition and said nothing. She didn't feel like talking. Even when Matt put his feet up on the dashboard as she pulled out, she said nothing. In fact, as they reached the stop sign to get onto the main road, Matt said, "When I get a car, it will be so much cooler than yours. In fact, mom and dad said that it will probably be a lot newer than yours was," and Lizzie still wasn't saying anything. She wasn't paying attention to him. In fact, when Matt jokingly suggested that she was pregnant, that was the first time it clicked that it was completely possible. She knew she had no way of telling for another few weeks and that it was highly unlikely since it was their first time and the probability of that happening is, like, one in a million, but she couldn't bring herself to convince herself that there was no way that was true.
Ten minutes later, Matt was dropped off and Lizzie drove back home, still thinking about it. The more she thought about it, the more possible it became. Not only was her next period due in two weeks, but they didn't use any protection.
If this were true, what would she do? She immediately thought of abortion, but she then thought of her aunt, who had an abortion and now had no kids and always wished she did. She didn't want to end up like that. She thought about the morning after pill, but thought that it would be completely embarrassing asking for one, and so it came to adoption and keeping the child. She sighed. She probably wasn't even pregnant and she was getting ahead of herself. She had college to attend and a life to lead. She was probably making a big deal out of nothing and decided to keep an eye out for her period when it was due and take a test if it didn't come. It would come, she told herself by the end of the day, All she had to do was wait.
In the meantime, after Gordo got ready, he went to the book store. Now school was over, he finally had the chance to read the books that were topping the New York Times Best Sellers list. The thought of Lizzie being pregnant was as foreign as Finland to him at the time and hadn't even crossed his mind. He was still taking in the fact that he was no longer a virgin, and had Lizzie to thank for that. In other words, his brain was too overloaded to think about pregnancy.
He was comparing the number seven fiction book with the number two non-fiction book and when he took the number seven fiction book out, the number eight fiction book stuck to it for some reason and when he pulled them apart, he looked at the third book, "Abandoned," with a picture of a baby on the front. Curious, Gordo read the plot on the flap. It was about two teenagers in love and when the girl gets pregnant, the boy eventually abandons her and the girl gives birth to this baby and can't handle it.
After reading this, Gordo shook his head. Books seemed to be filled with more and more drama these days, he thought. Why would these people even have sex if they knew the girl might wind up pregnant.
Whoa. Gordo thought. Pregnant. All of the sudden, Gordo felt very uncomfortable with that word. It never dawned on him that after last night, there was a chance that Lizzie could be pregnant. It took him reading the back of a stupid novel to realize this.
Gordo's books dropped to the ground and he couldn't think clearly. What if, he thought, Lizzie was pregnant? The demonic male in him wanted to say that this was Lizzie's problem, but the realistic nice guy in him knew that this would be both of their problems.
Being the guy in this situation, he didn't know what to think. Maybe Lizzie was on birth control. No…what logical reason would she be on birth control for? All he knew was that there was a chance that he impregnated his best friend and that there was probably a greater chance that nothing happened. He didn't want to think too much about it until he absolutely had to…and hopefully, that wouldn't be anytime soon.
Chapter Two: Awkward Tomorrows
Lizzie woke up early that afternoon to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She checked to see who was calling and saw that it was Miranda. "Dammit," she thought and even whispered to herself as she sat up and answered it, "Hey," she said, in no particular tone.
"Don't hey, me! Where were you last night? I tried to look for you when I was leaving but I couldn't find either you or Gordo." Miranda's tone wasn't upset as much as it was curious.
This was the exact reason Lizzie didn't want to answer her phone, "Oh?" she asked, gulping and feeling nervous, "Are you sure?"
"Positive. I saw your cars and I spent a good fifteen minutes looking for you before I left."
"Did you check the bathroom?"
"What bathroom?"
"The bathroom upstairs."
"No…were you both in there?"
"Yeah," Lizzie lied, relieved to find some excuse.
"What were you guys doing?" Miranda asked, because this was a little weird.
Lizzie had to think quick. Why would she and Gordo be in the upstairs bathroom together? "I had a headache and wanted to get away from the noise downstairs and Gordo joined me."
"Ohh," Miranda said, as if she bought it, "Well, I didn't think to look there."
"Yeah, well, we were," Lizzie said. What else was she supposed to say?
She didn't want to tell Miranda the truth, but she almost felt guilty lying to her best friend like that. After all, this would be the type of thing to tell your best friend. "What are your plans for the day?"
Lizzie sighed, "I don't know. I just woke up."
"Oh. The headache was that bad, huh?"
"What?" Lizzie asked, a little confused.
"Oh, I saw you and Gordo drinking last night. You got drunk, didn't you?"
Lizzie yawned, "Maybe. Yeah, I did."
"How do you feel."
"Like crap."
"Well, get some rest and try to feel better. I was thinking you, Larry, Gordo, and me could do something together tonight."
Gordo? Was she ready for that? "Uh, well, I'll see. I might have to do something with the family."
"Well, I'll call you later. Feel better. Bye."
"Bye."
Lizzie hung up the phone and dropped back to her pillow. She was going to try and go back to sleep, but then it occurred to her of something. She shot up. Gordo…she thought…Miranda is probably going to call Gordo now. She reached for her phone and dialed Gordo's number, hoping to beat Miranda. He picked up. Her heart beat faster and faster as she anticipated what was about to happen.
The phone call woke Gordo up and when he saw it was Lizzie, he didn't know what to think. He didn't expect that she'd want to talk this soon. He picked it up, trying to sound as calm as possible, "Hey," he said.
"Hi," Lizzie said back, she almost didn't expect him to pick up. She cleared her throat, "Gordo, Miranda just called and asked where we were last night. Did she call you?"
Gordo yawned, "Nope. What'd you tell her?"
"I told her that we were in the upstairs bathroom because I had a headache."
"Good thinking. I don't know if she could handle the truth."
"I don't know if I'm ready to handle the truth," Lizzie mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Lizzie said, "Anyway, I just called in case Miranda called and wanted to check both sides of the story."
"Oh, okay," Gordo said. He didn't know if he should say anything else. He almost felt like they should talk, just for clarity. Two best friends should be able to talk about this, right?
"Well, I'll see you, Gordo."
"Lizzie, wait!" he said.
"Yeah?" she said. Her voice started shaking.
"Do we need to talk about last night?"
There was a moment of silence, "What about it?"
Yeah, what about it? He thought. "What is the last thing you remember about last night?"
"Um," Lizzie started, trying to think back, "I think I remember a kiss."
"Yeah, me too," Gordo said, sounding a little disappointed. He was hoping that was his memory playing tricks on him because a kiss could have led to more while anything else might have given a different explanation of what happened…or not. But he did remember a kiss. He remembered looking into her eyes and reaching for her arms and kissing her. That's where the memory stopped, though. "So you don't remember anything else?"
"No, I don't. I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't be sorry. I don't really remember anything else, either. Life goes on," he said, and then he felt sort of stupid, "Life will go on, right?"
Lizzie paused. She wasn't ready for this conversation. They were having this conversation too soon, "Right," she said, but only to fill the silence. She wasn't sure if it was true.
"Well," he said, trying to figure out a way to make a change in subject, "Are you doing anything tonight? Do you want to try and do something with Miranda?"
"I don't know," Lizzie said, "In fact, I'm just really confused right now," she said as she leaned against her head board.
Gordo couldn't contest to those feelings, as he felt the same. There were so many unanswered questions and both of them seemed to be avoiding the obvious…What if Lizzie were pregnant? It was a possibility, but both of them were wrapped up in what happened the night before that neither of them was focusing on that. Honestly, Lizzie was trying to evaluate everything that happened in her head and was trying to see if this meant something. Gordo wasn't searching for meaning…he was trying not to read too much into this and trying to focus on dealing with the future of their friendship. Gordo sighed. "Lizzie?" he said, "Whatever happened last night, I don't want it to ruin our friendship. I don't want to leave and go across the country with this hanging over our heads, all right?"
"Right," Lizzie said, somewhat distantly, "Neither do I."
He knew there was something up with Lizzie still, "Lizzie, I don't know about you, but for me, last night was my first time and for that as well as our friendship is concerned, you will always mean something to me. I don't think this means anything about us."
"It was my first time too," Lizzie said, somewhat apologetically, "I'm sorry for acting a little weird…maybe the fact that this was my first time just makes it a little weird for me to talk about."
"No, I understand. I just don't want something like this to change us because it is just the type of thing that would for any other friends. We were drunk. We lost control of our judgement and morals. It's something that won't happen again."
In his head, Gordo thought he was lucky. He always wanted his first time to be special and with someone he loved. Maybe Lizzie wasn't the love of his life, but it could have been a lot worse. Lizzie was his best friend and they'd known each other their whole lives, so at least it was someone special. He knew Lizzie inside and out and she wasn't full of diseases and he knew that she probably felt the same way, or would once her head cleared up.
"No, I'm not even touching alcohol from now on…or going to anymore stupid parties…great, do you think Ethan knows what happened? If so, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Well, if Ethan knows, Jessica knows because her car was still there when we left."
"Oh," Lizzie said, not knowing what else to say. She knew she would never be able to like Ethan again, but knew what it felt like to watch an ex go out with someone else, "well, they probably don't know. We left early and there were other cars out there, right?"
"Right," Gordo said, but it was his turn to say it distantly, "Well, I should go now. If we do something tonight, I'll talk to you then. If not, I'll see you around."
"Yeah," Lizzie said, a little surprised at the change of subject, "I think everything will be okay, Gordo. I really do."
"Yeah," he said, "But Lizzie? If there is something still bothering you, you can talk to me, okay? It may be a little awkward, but at least then it will be out in the open."
"Okay. Bye, Gordo."
"Bye."
Lizzie and Gordo hung up and started their day by getting ready for it.
They left that conversation friends and a few things resolved, but was everything resolved?
After Lizzie got ready for the day, she tried to put the past behind her for her own sake, but it was hard. She had a weird feeling that things, whether didn't seem like it right now, were about to change. She lay on her bed, not feeling like doing anything. Her brother, Matt, came in at some point and asked, "are you ever going to get up? I mean, I know you're a loser, but you just graduated. Aren't you supposed to be celebrating or doing something?"
Lizzie put her face against her pillow, "Shut up, Matt."
"Yeesh, it was just a question," he defended, then he examined his sister thoughtfully. Maybe there was something wrong with her, "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, Matt!" she said.
Matt smirked, "You have a hangover don't you?" He crossed his arms. He was fifteen now, and even after four more years, they still didn't get along.
"Argghhh!" Lizzie said, "No, Matt! I said I was fine," she said, harshly, "now, can you please go away?" She didn't even look at him.
Matt turned around and said, "Must be PMS,' to himself, but purposely loud enough so she could hear.
She threw a pillow at him, "No, I'm just really tired."
Matt picked up the pillow, "Hmm…let's see…moody, tired…if it was anyone else, I'd say you were pregnant," he said, and with this Lizzie's eyes shot open wide. He continued, "however, since I happen to know that you are most likely sexually deprived, I'd have to go with sexual frustration…unless you were lying about the PMS or the hangover."
Lizzie turned to face him, "MOM!" she screamed.
Matt grinned, "Mom AND dad aren't here. It's just you and me, babe."
Lizzie looked at her brother in disgust and rolled her eyes, "What do you want, anyway?"
Matt laughed, "What makes you think I actually want something from you?"
Lizzie squinted her eyes, "then why are you here?"
"Well, seeing as mom and dad aren't here and I only have a permit, you need to drive me to baseball practice," he threw back the pillow and it hit Lizzie's face. He turned to leave, "I'll be in your car waiting."
Lizzie huffed as Matt disappeared. She knew she had this obligation, but she wanted to avoid the outside of her house for as long as possible. She got up and slipped some sandals on and grabbed her purse and keys and went downstairs and out the back door. Sure enough, Matt was in her Jeep waiting. She opened the door and he said, "You know, you might want to lock the door when you come in for the night."
Lizzie started the ignition and said nothing. She didn't feel like talking. Even when Matt put his feet up on the dashboard as she pulled out, she said nothing. In fact, as they reached the stop sign to get onto the main road, Matt said, "When I get a car, it will be so much cooler than yours. In fact, mom and dad said that it will probably be a lot newer than yours was," and Lizzie still wasn't saying anything. She wasn't paying attention to him. In fact, when Matt jokingly suggested that she was pregnant, that was the first time it clicked that it was completely possible. She knew she had no way of telling for another few weeks and that it was highly unlikely since it was their first time and the probability of that happening is, like, one in a million, but she couldn't bring herself to convince herself that there was no way that was true.
Ten minutes later, Matt was dropped off and Lizzie drove back home, still thinking about it. The more she thought about it, the more possible it became. Not only was her next period due in two weeks, but they didn't use any protection.
If this were true, what would she do? She immediately thought of abortion, but she then thought of her aunt, who had an abortion and now had no kids and always wished she did. She didn't want to end up like that. She thought about the morning after pill, but thought that it would be completely embarrassing asking for one, and so it came to adoption and keeping the child. She sighed. She probably wasn't even pregnant and she was getting ahead of herself. She had college to attend and a life to lead. She was probably making a big deal out of nothing and decided to keep an eye out for her period when it was due and take a test if it didn't come. It would come, she told herself by the end of the day, All she had to do was wait.
In the meantime, after Gordo got ready, he went to the book store. Now school was over, he finally had the chance to read the books that were topping the New York Times Best Sellers list. The thought of Lizzie being pregnant was as foreign as Finland to him at the time and hadn't even crossed his mind. He was still taking in the fact that he was no longer a virgin, and had Lizzie to thank for that. In other words, his brain was too overloaded to think about pregnancy.
He was comparing the number seven fiction book with the number two non-fiction book and when he took the number seven fiction book out, the number eight fiction book stuck to it for some reason and when he pulled them apart, he looked at the third book, "Abandoned," with a picture of a baby on the front. Curious, Gordo read the plot on the flap. It was about two teenagers in love and when the girl gets pregnant, the boy eventually abandons her and the girl gives birth to this baby and can't handle it.
After reading this, Gordo shook his head. Books seemed to be filled with more and more drama these days, he thought. Why would these people even have sex if they knew the girl might wind up pregnant.
Whoa. Gordo thought. Pregnant. All of the sudden, Gordo felt very uncomfortable with that word. It never dawned on him that after last night, there was a chance that Lizzie could be pregnant. It took him reading the back of a stupid novel to realize this.
Gordo's books dropped to the ground and he couldn't think clearly. What if, he thought, Lizzie was pregnant? The demonic male in him wanted to say that this was Lizzie's problem, but the realistic nice guy in him knew that this would be both of their problems.
Being the guy in this situation, he didn't know what to think. Maybe Lizzie was on birth control. No…what logical reason would she be on birth control for? All he knew was that there was a chance that he impregnated his best friend and that there was probably a greater chance that nothing happened. He didn't want to think too much about it until he absolutely had to…and hopefully, that wouldn't be anytime soon.
