One Of These Days

Chapter Three: Face to Face

Lizzie stood in front of her full-length mirror three days later. It had been three days since she'd spoken to Gordo that day on the telephone, even though they both claimed they wouldn't let this event make things awkward between them. Both quickly discovered that this wouldn't be easy.

Lizzie looked at her unchanged stomach and couldn't help but wonder if she was pregnant. She had three days to think about it and three days to imagine what would happen if she were pregnant. As unlikely as it logically seemed to become pregnant after the first time, it was hard not to think about it. She was making a big deal out of it and she was fully aware of what she was doing. She knew people in high school who had sex every weekend and they were probably not concerned about getting pregnant or getting AIDS or anything. She should be tied up with leaving for college in three months and saying goodbye to everyone, especially Miranda and Gordo.

No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't let go of this experience and she couldn't help but feel like this was the beginning of the end or something like that. She had days until her period was due, however, and all she could think about was waiting for it to come. Never in her life did she look forward to menstrual cramps and depending on Midol to help her make it through the day.

It was a novelty, though. This idea of Lizzie being sexually active was a novelty for Lizzie. She didn't know what the odds were against her nor did she know how to react to everything, especially since she wasn't in love with Gordo or anything.

She wondered if Gordo thought about half the things Lizzie did in the past three days. She wished she could talk to someone about it, and since he was the only one who actually knew about it and would most likely have similar thoughts, he seemed like the most logical person to talk to about this. But that was her biggest challenge. She knew she was making a big deal out of this, but within her reaction, she somehow felt more comfortable worrying about it than trying to move on to something else.

Then there was Miranda...unsuspecting as Miranda was about the ongoings in Lizzie's mind, Miranda kept wanting to talk to Lizzie about memories and moving on. Every time Miranda talked to Lizzie, which was about five times a day, she seemed to have some sort of new quote. That morning, Miranda said the ever popular, "These are the times to remember because they will not last forever; these are the days to hold onto because you won't although you'll want to," by Billy Joel. She even went as far as to making a CD with what she liked to call, "Music That Changes Your Life." She gave her friends the CD and Lizzie tried listening to it, but it made her situation seem even more depressing and she had to turn it off.

So there she stood in front of the mirror. Four days ago, she graduated from high school and today she was thinking about the possibility of her being pregnant. It didn't seem fair, she thought. Practically all the people she knew had been sexually active for at least a year by now and it didn't seem to really effect them as it was effecting her. Why was she worrying so much about something that most likely isn't happening?

What made things worse was that she had to get out of the house that day. She told her mom she hadn't been feeling well so she could stay home, but she knew that act had to end soon because she had things to do. Like, today, she had to go to Target to get a DVD for her brother, Matt's upcoming birthday. Her mom had been asking her about it ever since she graduated, and since his birthday was the next day, Lizzie figured it was now or never. She already forgot to give him a birthday present the year before and didn't think she gave him anything for the past Christmas, either. She put on a shirt and grabbed her purse and went downstairs to get her keys. She headed out the door and drove to Target.

-

"Gordo," Miranda whined when she called him that morning on his cell phone, "Will you please do me this one favor and get this CD for Larry? Our three year anniversary is in a week and I have everything except this CD."

"Can't you get it for him when you get back?" he asked. Miranda was leaving for New Mexico for the next week.

"No, I really can't. As soon as I get back, I have a billion other things to do. Besides, I'll pay you back double when I get back and clean your car or something."

Gordo sighed. He did need to get out of the house. He stayed there to avoid confrontation but now, he was going house crazy. He sighed, "Okay, where is the CD?"

"It should be at the mall and at Target."

"Fine."

"Thank you. Are you feeling okay?" Miranda asked, concerned. She noticed that she always seemed to be home when she called.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Maybe you caught whatever Lizzie has."

Gordo swallowed. Was it too early for morning sickness? "Lizzie hasn't been feeling well?"

"Nope. She seemed to feel better this morning when I talked to her, though."

"Did you see her?" he asked.

"Nope. I haven't seen her since yesterday. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. I haven't seen her either. I didn't know she was sick, though."

"Take good care of her while I'm gone, okay? I'm a little worried about her. She's been acting a little paranoid these past few days."

"Sure thing," he said, feeling a little tense. He thought he was going crazy these past few days, but he figured that it was just him feeling nervous over possible consequences. He was so busy trying to avoid Lizzie in the process that he never thought she might be a good person to talk about this with. But he didn't feel ready to confront her and had a feeling she wasn't ready to fully act normal yet, either.

He went to his room to get his wallet before heading to Target. Not only did he need a CD, but he also needed a new toothbrush...something he couldn't get in a mall. Besides, he liked to avoid the mall whenever possible, anyway.

When he arrived at Target, which had two floors, he went in and went up the escalator, where the entertainment section was that had games, TVs, DVD's, as well as music divided up. He found the CD for Miranda, and then decided to take a look at the DVDs that were always there for less than ten dollars.

When he reached the DVD aisle, however, he found what he least expected and what he was least prepared for...He found Lizzie McGuire standing there with a few DVDs in her hand. He froze. She turned and noticed him and did a double take, developing a similar, frozen expression on her face.

Neither said anything, as they weren't sure what to say. Lizzie finally spoke up, "Gordo..." she said. She tried to get rid of the frozen expression so she looked down and then back up, this time with a confused expression, "How...are you?"

Gordo looked around with his eyes and started to turn away, "Actually, I was just leaving."

"Oh," Lizzie nodded. She was thankful that he was leaving was leaving, "Well, I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he said, then he started to turn around. He'd walked about ten feet before he stopped and turned around to head back towards Lizzie. He felt wrong for walking away. Miranda asking for him to look after her made her turn back.

"So," he said, as soon as he reached the aisle again. He stuck his hands in his pocket and noticed Lizzie as she face him once again. He nodded towards her, "How are you feeling?"

"Um," she said. They were the only two people there, "I'm fine." She wanted him to leave her alone. She wanted to go back home and pretend to be sick again.

"Really?" he asked, taking one step closer to her.

Lizzie nodded her head, trying to remain calm, "I feel fine."

"Oh," he said, not knowing what to say from there, "Miranda told me you've been sick these past few days. She asked me to look out for you."

"Oh," Lizzie said, feeling a little relieved inside, "Well I was feeling a little sick, but I feel fine now."

"Oh," he said, then he looked down, "Lizzie?" he laughed nervously. Not because anything was funny, but because it was a chance for him to breath a little.

"Yeah?" she said, gulping. Was she ready to hear the next words that would come out of his mouth? Was Target really the appropriate place to talk about this?

"Do you think there's a chance that, well because of what happened the other night, that you might be..." he said, daring to make eye contact as Lizzie's eyes widened and she almost dropped the DVDs. Gordo lowered his voice to a whisper, "You know, pregnant?"

There, he said it. The word was officially out there. Lizzie blinked, trying to think of how to answer this. "I don't know," she said, "I guess there is a small possibility that it could happen," she said, trying to say what she was trying to think.

"And if you are..."

Lizzie scratched the back of her neck and looked around. Someone was coming to the aisle, "Gordo, do you think we could talk about this somewhere else? I'm not sure I want to talk to you at Target."

"Yeah," he said, "You're right. Maybe we should wait to talk about it until it becomes an issue anyway, right?" he said, trying to convince himself that he could wait.

Lizzie shrugged, "I'm not saying that, but maybe after we're done here, we can go talk in your car or something." It was tempting to wait to talk about it, but she knew that if she didn't talk to someone about all of this soon she would probably go crazy. She was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one feeling paranoid about all of this.

Gordo nodded, "Okay," he said, "well, I'm going to go buy this downstairs and I'll wait for you outside on the bench."

Lizzie nodded, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

Gordo left and he felt so awkward. What he said was so lame and he knew it. "I'll wait for you outside on the bench"?? This was so stupid.

Gordo did what he said he'd do, however, and bought the CD, forgetting the toothbrush and went outside and sat down putting his bag beside him. Now, all he had to do was wait for his best friend to come out. He didn't know what this talk would accomplish, but maybe it would help make them become more comfortable as friends.

Gordo was nervously tapping his foot when Lizzie came out with her own bag. She smiled at him, although she wasn't very happy. In fact if anything, she was uncomfortable and felt awkward. "Hi," she said, stopping and looking around. The more they could avoid eye contact, the better.

"Hey," he said, standing up, "Um, do you want to go to the car?"

Lizzie nodded her head and sighed, "sure," and Gordo nodded and started walking and Lizzie followed. When they reached his car, he unlocked it so the two of them could get in.

Lizzie got in on the passenger side and put her bag on the floor and pulled her hair behind her face. She looked forward, waiting for him to speak.

Gordo, on the other hand, didn't know what it was that he could say. He tapped his fingers on the wheel and waited for her to begin. This went on for a moment before Lizzie started laughing.

Gordo looked over and raised his eye brow, "What's so funny?" he asked.

"This," she said, "It's just like...we are making this out to be some huge dramatic encounter when its probably nothing."

Gordo nodded his head, "Yeah, but what if it isn't?" he dared to ask.

Lizzie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She had asked herself that question many times, but it never seemed so easy. Finally she said only what she thought, "I don't know what will happen," she looked at him with tears developing, "Gordo, to tell you the truth, I'm not scarred about being pregnant as much as I am about all of this seems to be happening on our friendship. We made a huge mistake the other night that might not have any physical effects, but this is tearing me up emotionally."

Gordo sat there, listening, not knowing what to say. She was right. He was so caught up in the idea that she could be pregnant that he didn't even stop and thing about the long term effects. He nodded his head and tears started developing in his eyes. He dared to look at Lizzie and he reached over to wipe a tear that was falling from her cheek.

"Gordo, a few days ago, we had never had sex in our whole entire life. I don't know about you, but I was always brought up that one's body is something to give to someone they can imagine spending the rest of their life with. You probably feel the same way, and the other night, I wasn't prepared for anything that happened. I have never felt so confused in my life. For the rest of our lives, I'm going to remember you as my first time. Gordo, we don't like each other like that. We never dated and here I am, three days later and yes, I'm scared as hell. Gordo, I can't be pregnant. Not with your baby, not with anyone's baby. I'm not on birth control. My period is not due for another week. While nothing is probably having, there's always the possibility that it might. Part of me is thankful that I ended up with you instead of some stranger, but on the other hand, we are best friends. I can't let this go and pretend like nothing happened."

Gordo let a tear roll down his cheek. Every word that Lizzie said was something he, too, felt. He looked down, feeling so helpless. He was crying. He looked up and laughed through his tears, "You know, when I was sixteen and I first started dating Jessica, my father sat me down and said, "Son, let me tell you one thing: sex is something sacred, something only to be shared between two people who are in love," Gordo took a breath and another tear rolled down his cheek, "If you ever get a girl in trouble, you have to take responsibility for your actions. Whether it is marriage, abortion, or adoption, I expect you to o whatever it is necessary," he said, then he looked at Lizzie, "and I listened to my father. I didn't have sex, even though there were times I was tempted. I wanted to be the role model son and make them proud of me and my actions. You know, Lizzie—If you're pregnant...I just can't let my dad down on this one. I can't let you down, my parents down, and most of all myself."

"Gordo," Lizzie frowned, "Don't worry about that right now. What we need to try and do is make sure we don't loose our friendship this summer over this. This situation has happened before to other people and I know that we can keep our friendship. It obviously bothers both of us, and I don't want you to be all the way in New York and me in LA not talking to each other. We can't let the awkwardness get the best of us. It'll be hard and I'm not sure if I could ever pretend like that never happened, but we have to move forward. We're going to college and we can't let this get in the way of all the upcoming festivities of the summer. We have three months, and I think in the next three months, we should try to celebrate our friendship as much as possible and so when we leave, we'll be sick of each other but the next day, we'll miss each other. Got it?" Lizzie wasn't even sure that she got what she just said.

Gordo nodded his head and smiled, "Yeah, thanks," he said and Lizzie pulled him into a hug and they hugged for several moments before they leg go. Lizzie opened the passenger door and started to get out, "I'll call you tonight and maybe we can catch a movie or something."

Gordo nodded his head as Lizzie closed the door. He watched as she walked away. He needed that conversation. They might not have accomplished anything, but they both felt a little better.