First, I have to say thanks for all the great comments! You are all blowing me away and really boosting my self-confidence! I am having such fun with this, and just to let you know, there will indeed by two more chapters after this one, then I have another story fully noted and ready to be written. So I hope you will enjoy that one as much as this one. Now on with the story:

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Adam wanted to see the new Matrix movie, but Gordo said no, he was saving that for Nicole, for their first date. They decided instead on Scary Movie III.

The Regal Multi-plex was a little further out of town, so Gordo thought he would be safe going there. By "safe," he was thinking he would be less likely to run into anyone he knew. He was still feeling a little shaky after everything he'd been through the last few days, and frankly, he was starting to feel funky, like maybe he was getting sick. It was probably just too much food, and not enough sleep, but all in all he preferred not to see anyone. Especially Lizzie.

Of course, that was the first person he did see.

Waiting in the lobby, he and Adam played a few video games, then got in line for sodas. Everything was fine, then all of the sudden Gordo's face went white. He turned around and ducked behind the fat lady in line ahead of him.

"Dude! What's wrong?" Adam asked.

"It's her," Gordo said.

"It's who?"

"Lizzie."

"Where?"

"Coming down the hall on the left. With two friends."

Adam looked. "I see them. Nice looking girls, all of them. Which one is Lizzie?"

Gordo was still hiding, not looking, but he didn't have to look to be able to describe her. "The blonde, with her hair kind of up, but not really. In the blue sweater. And the silver necklace. And the shiny lips…" He shivered a little, remembering the brief glimpse he'd had of her.

Adam kept watching, a smile beginning to play upon his lips. "So…" he said, now fully grinning. "So…" he repeated. "I can see why you like her so much…"

Gordo said nothing. He could sense Lizzie passing by, and he felt frozen to the spot, hoping she wouldn't see him. What he couldn't see and didn't sense was that Lizzie had caught sight of Adam and didn't know why she couldn't take her eyes off him. Sure, he was a good-looking guy, but there was something else going on here. He looked like…he reminded her of…

Lizzie passed by, still staring at Adam, and he was grinning back at her, until finally it was a little silly and one of them had to say hi.

"Hi," Adam said.

"Hi," Lizzie said.

Gordo cringed behind the fat lady, recognizing both their voices. Why the hell were they talking to each other?

Kate stepped up, looked at the guy Lizzie was talking to and decided to get in on the action. "Hi," she said. "Friend of yours, Lizzie?"

"No, I…Sorry," she said to Adam. "You kind of look like someone."

Adam nodded. "I get that all the time."

"Well…bye…" Lizzie said.

"Bye," Adam said.

Gordo held his breath. In a moment, Adam said, "It's okay to come out now."

Gordo turned around, still cautiously hiding, and watched Lizzie, Kate and Claire walking towards the front doors. Lizzie turned around to look back at Adam, and Gordo ducked again.

"Cute girl," Adam said. "And very friendly."

"I think she may have seen a picture of you once or twice," Gordo said.

"Even if she hasn't, or doesn't remember," Adam said, "I'm sure she saw the family resemblance. I think she was looking for you, dude. I think she was hoping to see you."

"Don't even say that," Adam snapped. "Don't get me started again with Lizzie McGuire. I'm trying so hard to get her out of my system. What you're saying isn't helping."

"Sorry," Adam said. "But she is a cute girl."

By the time they were walking into the theatre with their drinks, Gordo had chosen a new theme. Why was Lizzie still hanging out with Kate and Claire? She didn't really like them, she had said she didn't know who she was when she was with them, so why was she still with them? Was she so obsessed with being popular that no matter what happened, she would continue choosing friends based on what they could do for her, and not on whether or not she actually liked them?

"Give her a break," Adam said, taking her side. "She just lost her boyfriend. And one of her lifelong friends."

"She didn't look too broken up about any of it," Gordo said. "In fact, she looked pretty damn good, pretty damn happy, like she was having a great time with Kate and Claire. I don't think she misses me at all. I don't think she cares at all. I think she's a mindless popularity drone."

Adam recognized that Davey had to say things like this to stay angry at Lizzie, otherwise he would be overcome by sadness. He also recognized that laughter was one of the best ways to overcome both anger and sadness, so he said, "Never mind that now. Let's get in to the movie."

The movie was hysterical, and while Gordo was laughing, he wasn't thinking at all about Lizzie, and that felt good. Too bad the movie was so quickly over, and when it was, another surprise awaited Gordo in the theatre lobby.

-

The multi-plex consisted of two long hallways, each containing eight theatres. Gordo and his cousin were emerging from Theatre Four on the left side just as Theatre Ten was letting out on the right side. Amused and contented moviegoers met in the lobby in the middle before approaching the long wall of glass doors which led out into the night.

As they approached the lobby, laughing about something in the movie, Gordo looked up, and feeling so much better, said to Adam, "Hey, look! There's Miranda. You've met Lizzie----well, sort of. You ought to come and meet Miranda too."

"Sure," Adam agreed, as they continued walking towards the lobby.

Suddenly, Gordo turned again and hid.

"What is it this time?" Adam wondered. "You don't see Lizzie again, do you?"

"No," Gordo said, feeling icy cold and hot all over, both at the same time. "It's…it's…" But he couldn't say it.

Adam looked across the lobby and easily picked out the problem. There was the girl Gordo had indicated was Miranda, with a boy on her arm. And directly behind them, a girl who, based on Gordo's detailed description two nights ago, could only be Nicole.

Also with a boy on her arm.

"Oh, God…" Adam moaned. This wasn't fair. How could one guy have so much bad luck with girls? Poor Davey. He stood in front of his cousin, shielding him from possible detection, knowing any confrontation at this point would be entirely too painful.

Gordo leaned against the wall, feeling dizzy and wondering how he could be so hot and so cold at the same time. Didn't that mean he had a fever? Maybe it was only a fever, and he was hallucinating. Maybe he had not actually seen Nicole, his Nicole, walking out of the movies--- and not only that, but apparently out of The Matrix movie, the movie they were supposed to see together--- leaning against a very tall boy. That was it . It was a hallucination. A nightmare. It couldn't possibly really be real.

In a few minutes, Adam turned to him and said, "I don't think she's really with that guy."

"What do you mean? Didn't you see them?"

"Yeah, I saw them, but then you didn't see what happened next. She had something in her shoe. She took off her shoe, she was leaning on him to shake out her shoe. Afterwards, she wasn't leaning on him. She wasn't holding hands with him or anything. They were just walking together."

"'Together' being the operative word," Gordo said heavily.

"I don't think you should jump to conclusions," Adam said. "It might not be as bad as it looks. I think you need to find out what's really happening before you jump to conclusions."

But it was too late. Gordo had already jumped, and he was falling, falling, right back down into the pit. To make matters worse, his throat was starting to feel really scratchy, and that hot and cold feeling would not go away.

"Let's go home," Gordo said miserably. "I just want to go home."