I just got a laptop, so suddenly I can do my original composing on the computer, instead of in longhand, so chapters may appear more quickly now. The last chapter may also appear quickly after this one because I am very anxious to begin writing my next story, and I promised myself not to put down a single word of it until this first story is complete. Which it will be very soon!

Again I have to say many thanks for all the comments. I got the biggest kick out of ali oldman's "oh my god! oh my god! oh my god!" Also thanks to rice for finally reading my story and having so many nice things to say. Please keep reading!

And now on with the story of poor Gordo…

-

Gordo was sick.

Not the sickest he'd ever been, but sick enough that every movement and every breath was tinged with discomfort. The moment he and Adam walked into the house Friday night, Gordo's mom could see that something was not right with her boy. She took his temperature, gave him medicine and sent him directly to bed.

Adam sat up with Gordo and gently tried to persuade him to talk about what had happened at the movie theatre. Adam knew a broken heart could not cause a fever of 100 degrees, but he wondered how much of Davey's misery was psychological. Davey, however, absolutely refused to talk about anything, and Adam was not about to badger a sick man.

Gordo found he couldn't sleep when he wanted to sleep, yet he couldn't keep from falling asleep when he wanted to stay awake. At three o'clock in the morning he was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to Adam's snoring, and thinking about Nicole.

There were so many questions. How could he have been so wrong about her? Why did she write her phone number on his hand and then go out with some other guy? He thought he knew her better than that. Had she gotten his messages and decided not to call him?

What was so great about that other guy, anyway? So he was tall. Big deal. Nicole had never struck him as the kind of girl who would be impressed by Tall. Maybe Adam was right. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked. Maybe he needed to find out exactly what was happening with Nicole.

But what if he found out that she had changed her mind and wasn't interested in him anymore? What if Tall Boy turned out to be much more appealing than Short Smart Guy? Gordo almost preferred not knowing the answers to these questions.

All of Saturday was spent drifting in and out of sleep, pondering these questions as he lay in bed, breathing through his mouth because his nose was too stuffy, which only made his throat hurt more. By nighttime he finally got out of bed and had some turkey soup at the kitchen table. Aunt Suzie had perfected a chicken soup that was guaranteed to cure any cold, and had cooked up a batch of it for her favorite nephew, substituting turkey for chicken, since turkey was more readily available at the moment. It tasted just as good and made him feel a little better.

That night, Gordo and Adam sat in the living room and watched TV for a while, then Adam tried again to get him to talk about what had happened at the movie theatre, but that still was not happening. Gordo spent another restless night reviewing the long list of questions in his head, a list he was too embarrassed to share with anyone, even Adam.

By the next afternoon, though, he would have the answers to all his questions. Miranda got into the picture, and as usual, whenever Miranda got involved, information was forthcoming.

-

"Honey, it's Miranda on the phone!" Mrs. Gordon sang.

From his place on the living room couch, propped up with pillows and blankets, surrounded by crumpled tissues and half full glasses of ginger ale, Gordo continued playing his video game, completely ignoring his mother.

"David," she said, well remembering their last conversation about how his phone calls should be handled. "What would you like me to tell her?"

Gordo made a face. "Tell her I moved to Siberia."

Adam stretched on the other couch and stood up. "Want more soda?" he asked.

Gordo shook his head.

"Well, I do. Be right back."

Adam made a show of going into the kitchen, but as soon as he was around the corner, he motioned to his aunt, saying, "Let me talk to her."

Gordo's mom was confused, but handed over the phone, figuring the boys must have worked up a better story than Siberia.

"Hi," Adam said into the phone. "Is this Miranda?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is Davey's cousin, Adam. I know you don't know me, but I want to ask you a favor. I want to ask if you would come over and talk to him. The sooner the better."

"What for? His mom says he's sick. What good is it going to do for me to talk to him?"

Adam made sure that his aunt was well out of earshot, then said into the phone, "It's true he's sick, but I think he's also suffering a broken heart. Do you know a girl named Nicole?"

"Yes, but…?"

"Does this girl Nicole still like him?"

"I…I….I don't get this!" Miranda said. "Who are you again?"

"Don't you live like right down the block? Not far away? Please, Miranda. I don't know what else to do for him. But I think you might be able to tell him something to help him feel better. I know he doesn't want to see anyone, but I think he really needs to talk with you right now."

Miranda hesitated, but only for a moment. She had only a vague idea who Adam was, now remembering Gordo talking about him on several occasions. Mostly, she could hear the concern in his voice. If Gordo needed her, she would be there.

"Twenty minutes," she said. "I have to get dressed first.."

At the Gordon house, the next twenty minutes were hectic, as Adam's parents packed up the trunk of Howard's car, getting ready for a ride to the airport. Goodbyes were said all around. Gordo hugged his aunt and uncle, but no kisses were exchanged, due to his condition.

Aunt Suzie cried as she hugged Adam, distraught over having to leave her son, who she had only gotten to see for a few days. "Ma!" he exclaimed. "Winter Break is right around the corner. Calm down! I'll see you for Hanukah, right?" Geez, mothers! he thought. But he was also already looking forward to being back home for the next holiday.

-

Now all the parents were gone, and here was Miranda, knocking on the front door. Adam answered it, immediately recognizing Miranda from the movie theatre the night before.

Miranda looked at Adam and said "Wow." She was, of course, struck by the family resemblance, but even moreso by his good looks. Was this what Gordo was going to look like in a few years? Maybe she ought to reconsider her position on her dear old pal …

Adam smiled, amused by Miranda's greeting. "Hi," he said. "I'm Adam. Davey's right here in the living room. Don't get too close. He might be contagious. Hey, Davey! Someone's here to see you."

Gordo looked up from his game and frowned. "Didn't my mother tell you I was sick?"

Miranda sat down on the opposite couch. "So?"

"So why doesn't everyone just leave me alone already?"

Okay….Miranda thought. Definitely a problem here. She glanced up at Adam, who shrugged as if to say, "What did I tell you?" Then Adam went into the kitchen, this time for real, leaving the two friends to talk.

For a few moments, Gordo finished up his game and Miranda watched quietly, wondering how to start. Adam said this had something to do with Nicole. She would start there.

"So, Gordo. Nicole tells me you never did call her this weekend. Why didn't you call her?"

"I did!" Gordo exclaimed. "I called her twice! Why didn't she call me?"

"You called her?" Miranda asked, now confused. She had seen Nicole Friday night and talked to her by phone on Saturday, and she was still asking the same question: Why hasn't Dave called me?

"Yes," Gordo said. "I called, but I didn't talk to her. I left messages."

"You did?"

"Yes, two messages. One with some annoying little kid I'm guessing was her brother and the other with her mom."

"Her mom's been away," Miranda said. "After Thanksgiving she went on to visit her friend in Oregon. Grandma came back to stay with them a few days. You must have talked with her grandmother. She's half senile. She can't remember anything."

"And what's the little brother's excuse?"

Miranda made a "Duh…" face at him. "He's a little brother. What more need be said? You and I have never been blessed with a little brother, but you remember Lizzie's brother Matt…"

Miranda's voice trailed off. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned Lizzie. Gordo showed no response, though. He just continued playing his game, his face hard and expressionless.

After a while Miranda said, "Nicole is home today. Maybe you should call her again."

Gordo laughed derisively. "What for?" he said. "Why would she want to talk to me? From what I can tell, it looks like she's already found someone new."

"WHAT are you talking about?" Miranda demanded.

"I'm talking about who she was with at the movies the other night. What movie did you guys see, anyway? Did you see the Matrix movie?"

From the kitchen, where he was listening, Adam breathed a sigh of relief. Davey sounded angry, but at least he was talking again.

"You saw us at the movies?" Miranda asked in astonishment. "Why didn't you come over and say hello?"

Gordo suddenly threw down his controller and turned off his game. "Why didn't I say hello? Hello! Miranda! There's the girl I like, the girl I'm thinking about asking out, but who hasn't returned my phone calls, and I see her out with some other guy, leaning on his arm, talking, smiling, having a good time…"

What had started as an exclamation of anger ended in a coughing fit. Miranda stared at her friend, shaking her head. "You bozo," she said finally, getting up to hand him a half empty glass of ginger ale.

"Yuk, this is horrible," Gordo said when he could speak again. His throat felt exceptionally sore.

"I'll get you something fresh to drink," Miranda said, standing up.

"I got it!' Adam called from the kitchen. He could hear they were finally getting somewhere and didn't want the flow to be disturbed.

Miranda sat down again. "Are you done freaking out yet, Gordo?" she said. "Are you ready now to hear what really happened?"

"What really happened?" Gordo asked in a small, sore voice.

"Yes! What really happened! Not the crazed imaginings of your over-analytical mind. Do you want to hear the truth?"

Gordo swallowed, even though it was painful. Adam appeared with a fresh glass of ginger ale. He took a sip. "Yes," Gordo said quietly. "I want to hear the truth."

Adam sat down in the recliner. He was also interested in hearing the truth. Neither Gordo nor Miranda seemed to mind that he was there.

"Okay," Miranda said. "This is what happened. Friday afternoon Nicole and I went up to the mall with a group of friends. After a while Eddie showed up too, my new boyfriend. You know Eddie?"

"He's in tenth grade, right? I know him."

"Okay," Miranda said. "So anyway, Eddie brings along his friend Duncan, also in tenth grade. Do you know Duncan?"

"I don't know," Gordo said. "Should I?"

"Well, apparently you've seen him."

"You mean….the guy…"

"Yes," Miranda said. "That was him. What happened was that we all sort of hung out for a while, then as it got later in the afternoon Eddie said why don't we all go see a movie. He and Duncan really wanted to see the Matrix. Nicole kept saying no, she couldn't go see that, because she had more or less promised Dave that she was going to see it with him. In fact, she didn't want to go at all, she told me, because it would be too much like a double date, and she didn't want to date anybody, not even on a double, because the only guy she could possibly even think about these days was Dave."

Gordo closed his eyes, feeling calmer and better than he had for several days now. Still, he had to ask, "So then…why did she go?"

"Peer pressure," Miranda answered. "We were all trying to talk her into it. The guys were saying they had heard it was such a complicated movie, you would probably have to see it twice to understand it anyway, so this way she would be one step ahead, and she could still go see it with Dave.

"I really wanted to stay out with Eddie," Miranda went on, " but he said he wasn't going to leave Duncan flat, and Duncan said he wasn't going to be a third wheel, so if Nicole wouldn't go, he wouldn't go, he would just go home. He laid it on pretty thick. Poor Nicole. What else could she do? On top of all this, she had spent half the day obsessing about why you hadn't called her yet. I think she was starting to feel that maybe it wasn't going to work out between you two---"

"No!" Gordo said.

"Yes, that's what she was thinking."

"Does she still think it?" Gordo asked cautiously.

Miranda sighed deeply. "That poor girl is so confused right now. That's why I called before, to tell you that you need to call her. Right away. You need to keep calling her until you get her on the phone yourself, not leaving messages with any of the scatterbrains in her house. Talk to her, Gordo. Please talk to her."

Gordo sat back, slowly taking this all in through his medicated head.

"She wants you," Miranda said. "I know she does. But this guy Duncan really likes her too, Eddie's telling me now. And Duncan's in tenth grade, and he can be very charming and funny, and you saw what he looks like."

Tall, Gordo thought, smirking. What he said was, "How can I compete with that?"

"Dude!" Adam burst out, unable to keep quiet a moment longer. "I am not going to let you go on doing this to yourself." He got up and went into the hallway, coming back with the portable phone, which he thrust in his cousin's face, saying, "Call her. Now."

"Call her?" Gordo coughed. "I can barely speak."

"It doesn't have to be a long call," Adam said. "Just let her hear your voice. Just tell her you're sick and as soon as you're better you want to see her."

Gordo stared at the phone, still thinking about the tall, charming tenth grader. He didn't have enough strength to reach out and take the phone.

Suddenly Miranda was sitting beside him. Having grabbed the phone in her hands, she was now dialing. "If you don't know the number---"

Gordo grabbed the phone away from Miranda. "I know the number," he said. He hung up on Miranda's dialing, and began the number again. He looked up at both Adam and Miranda, watching him expectantly and said, "Do you mind? How about a little privacy?"

"Miranda," Adam said. "I haven't offered you anything to drink."

"Do you have a coke?"

"Let's go in the kitchen and see."

They left Gordo alone in the living room, dialing Nicole's phone number.