Disclaimer: I don't own "Lizzie McGuire" or any of the characters you recognize from the show.
Ocean Front
Chapter 5: Preparations
"Maaaattttttttt!"
Matt turned at the sound of his name being screeched.
"Lizzie, please stop damaging my eardrums," he said, spotting his sister through the crowd and pretending to clean out his ears. She smacked him on the head, but hugged him all the same.
"It's so great that you're moving to New York!" she said as they waited at the baggage claim.
"For you maybe. But I am unfortunate enough to have to see your face every day," Matt grinned. Lizzie gave him a look.
"Still the joker, I see," Lizzie said wryly, but she couldn't resist smiling.
"Having a sense of humor is good in the advertising world!" Matt protested. "Have you seen those commercials for those spice packets?"
Lizzie laughed. "Yeah! They're hilarious!"
"Yeah! That was me behind it all!" Matt exclaimed, spotting his luggage. Lizzie helped him heave it onto the cart.
"Is that it?"
"Well, the rest is coming by van. Hopefully by then, it can be delivered to my own house, when I find one," Matt said.
The siblings decided to take a cab and drop off the suitcases before doing anything else. As they entered the small lobby, Lizzie waved to the doorman, then stopped at her mailbox before they went into the elevator.
"So, this is your apartment," Matt said speculatively when they stepped onto the fourth floor and Lizzie got out her keys.
"This is my apartment," Lizzie replied, finally getting the door open and gesturing grandly inside.
"Pretty nice," Matt said. "Where do I sleep?"
"On the floor or on the couch, take your pick," Lizzie said, rifling through her pile of mail.
"Can't I sleep on the bed? I'm the guest!" Matt complained. Lizzie was in the kitchen, digging in one of the drawers.
"You can on Monday night," she replied. "Aha! Found it!" She triumphantly held up a stack of papers clipped together. "Would you like Chinese takeout, Italian, Thai, or something else that's stuck in here?" Lizzie tossed Matt the papers.
After deciding on Thai food, Matt returned back to their previous topic of discussion.
"Why after Monday?"
"Um, yeah, I'm going to LA on Monday," Lizzie answered, flipping through a catalog.
"Why?"
Lizzie paused and mumbled something Matt couldn't understand.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."
"I have to interview David Gordon," she repeated, rubbing her head like she had a headache.
***
Lizzie popped an aspirin in her mouth and downed some water.
"I'm going into my room to do some work, yell if you need anything," she called to Matt, who was watching TV in the living room.
Lizzie plopped down in front of her computer and opened up her notebook, waiting for her internet to connect.
"David Gordon," she muttered to herself, typing it into the search engine. Dozens of websites popped up. Clicking on a random one, she immersed herself in reading about his accomplishments.
"Film Critics Circle, Golden Globes, Academy Awards…" Lizzie scribbled the information down in her notebook. She heard the phone ring.
"Matt, can you get that?" she shouted. Matt's voice could be heard from the other room.
"Hello? Excuse me, who are you looking for?"
Lizzie stopped writing and listened.
"No, I'm sorry, there's no Brooke here."
Lizzie jumped up and skidded into the living room.
"Give it to me!" she hissed at Matt, snatching the phone away from him. "Hi, this is Brooke. I'm sorry, my brother is a little delusional today."
When she hung up, Lizzie turned to Matt.
"Ok, all calls that ask for Brooke McIntire, that's me," she said, rubbing her temples, her headache steadily worsening.
"Brooke McIntire?" Matt snorted. "Who are you, Reba's sister?"
"For your information, almost everybody here knows me as Brooke, because that is my professional name and the name that I write under," Lizzie explained with irritation. "Brooke, as you should know, is my middle name, and McIntire- well it sounds a little like McGuire."
"Then why don't you just write under Lizzie McGuire?" Matt asked.
"Because- just because I wanted to have a penname! So it didn't constantly remind me of…" Lizzie sighed. "Ok, when I was in college, some person dug up that I used to be with David Gordon. He was already pretty famous then, and apparently somebody thought that they were digging up old skeletons and that this would be a juicy story."
"Hey, I knew that was you on the cover! It was only the back of your head, but I saw that! It was a while ago!" Matt laughed.
"I know. So people always made fun of me, so when I was looking for work, it was still pretty recent, so I didn't want people to discriminate against me because of it. Well, it eventually all blew over, so it doesn't really matter anymore, but Brooke just kinda stuck with me."
Matt was still laughing. "Brooke McIntire!"
Lizzie ignored him and stalked back into her room.
********
Matt sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes. A glance at his watch told him that it was eight o'clock. Matt bolted upright, thinking he was late for work. It took him a while to realize that he was in New York, not Chicago, and that he didn't need to get to his new office until 9:30. He spotted a note on the coffee table in front of him.
Matt- Went to work early.. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, just don't burn the place down!!! - Your darling big sister
Matt reluctantly got up from the couch to wash up. Stepping into the shower, Matt sighed contentedly as the spray of hot water hit him, waking him up completely. He dried himself off, not bothering to put on his suit yet. He didn't want it to get messed up while he ate breakfast. Matt grinned as he realized that it would be the first in a long time that he had a fully-stocked refrigerator at his disposal.
"Wow, she has milk, eggs, bread, and yogurt, all at once?" Matt said, sighing contentedly again. He had just put the bread in the toaster when the door to the apartment opened.
"Liz-" The dark-haired woman that had burst in gasped audibly. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I just came to drop something off." Matt realized he was dressed in only his boxers, and quickly jumped behind the counter.
"Um, er," Matt stammered. He was surprised to see a mischievous smile come across the girl's face.
"So, this is what Lizzie doing last night," she said slyly. "And I must say, she heeded my advice well." Matt could tell that she was looking at his bare chest.
"Um, ok," Matt said uneasily, stepping even farther away from her.
"So, what's your name?" she asked him, her long black eyelashes fluttering.
"Matt," he replied awkwardly.
"Nice to meet you Matt, I'm Mir- oh, lord, Matt!" the girl exclaimed, realization dawning on her. "Matt!"
Matt suddenly realized that she looked very familiar.
"Miranda?" he said hesitantly. She blushed.
"Uh, yeah, hey Matt, nice to see you again," she said meekly. "I didn't recognize you."
"I could see that," he retorted, "seeing as you thought that I was dating Lizzie?"
Miranda smiled sheepishly. "Well, I haven't seen you forever! Whenever we visited, you were always at school or work or something."
"Yeah. Well, now that you're here in front of me, you know you want me," Matt said teasingly. "I saw the way you were flirting."
"I was not!" Miranda protested.
"Yes you were," Matt said, laughing at how Miranda was turning redder by the second. "You were looking at my buff arms, my firm abs-"
"Speaking of which…" she mentioned. Matt realized again that he wasn't dressed yet. Now it was his turn to blush.
"Right," he said, backing into the other room.
********
Brooke read over the schedule that was sitting before her on the desk.
Monday, March 8
New York to Los Angeles
Flight: US 7339
Depart: New York JFK International Apt
Departure Time: 1:55 AM, Monday 8 March
Arrive: Los Angeles International Apt
Arrival Time: 5:00 AM, Tuesday 9 March
Tuesday, March 9
11:30 AM: Meet David Gordon- call to confirm!
Thursday, March 11
Interview #2 with David Gordon
Friday, March 12
Premiere of Ocean Front
Saturday, March 13
Los Angeles to New York
Flight: US 7830
Depart: Los Angeles International Apt
Departure Time: 8:30 AM, Saturday 13 March
Arrive: New York JFK International Apt
Arrival Time: 4:35 PM, Saturday 13 March
"What a fun filled week," she said dryly. It was only ten in the morning, but Brooke was sick of work. She had only planned on stopping by the office to pick up her papers.
"Michelle, I'm going home now, ok? So I can, um, prepare for the trip tonight," she said, stopping by at her boss's office. Michelle relented and Brooke left.
Lizzie whipped out her cellphone and dialed Miranda's number.
"'Randa, can you meet me at the Starbucks next to Bloomingdale's? It's important."
"Uh, Lizzie, I'm kind of in the middle of something, call you back," Miranda whispered.
"Can you just meet me there?" Lizzie said impatiently, waiting at the bus stop.
"Sure, in about thirty minutes," Miranda replied. "Can't talk right now, see you later." There was a beep and she hung up. Lizzie groaned. She checked her watch. Still ten minutes before the bus came. More to escape from the creepy guy eyeing her than anything else, Lizzie backed away, dialing Matt's new number at work.
"Matt McGuire," Matt answered the phone, sounding harried.
"It's me," Lizzie said. "Are you busy or something?"
"No, believe it or not, this is the first time today where I'm not rushing to do something. I mean, the people are nice enough, very creative, but this office is totally disorganized!" Matt exclaimed.
"Well, then it's good that you're there right? You can put the office back into order!" Lizzie pointed out.
"I guess," Matt replied wearily. "I need to get an assistant. I've been answering calls all day. I'm not even quite sure how to work the phone!"
An idea popped into Lizzie's head. "Oh, hey, Matt, I know somebody who's looking for a job! I can send her over."
"Oh, that's great," Matt said distractedly, and Lizzie could tell that he was preoccupied by something else. "Ok, I gotta go now, see you later."
For the second time that day, Lizzie was met with a click and the sound of nothing.
***
"So, what do you think?"
Miranda looked at Lizzie's hopeful expression.
"Honestly? I think it's crazy," Miranda answered. Lizzie's face fell. She toyed with her straw.
"Ugh, Miranda, why did I even take this job?" Lizzie said despairingly. "Why couldn't I just have quit? I'm sure I could have somehow gotten work at another place."
"Hey, it's harder than it looks," Miranda said defensively. "I just came from an job interview."
"You didn't tell me that!" Lizzie said.
"Maybe because you were focusing completely on yourself and your brilliant idea," Miranda said sharply, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She couldn't help but feel annoyed. Here was Lizzie, complaining about her perfect job, while Miranda didn't even have a job to complain about!
Lizzie was dumbfounded by Miranda's sudden outburst. When Miranda saw the hurt look in Lizzie's eyes, she softened.
"Liz, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just a little frustrated right now."
"It's ok, I understand," Lizzie said, relieved that Miranda wasn't angry. "So, spill. What's wrong? How was the interview?"
"The worst. I think I could have gotten the job, but I left. Because the guy was sick," Miranda explained, answering the question Lizzie was about to ask. Lizzie closed her mouth. "He tried to come on to me. And he was just sick, staring at me like that."
"Oh, hey, I know somebody who's looking for an assistant. You could apply there!" Lizzie suggested.
"Thanks, but I think I'm going to lay off the whole job hunting thing for a few days. I just don't want to worry about it."
"Aha, found it!" Lizzie said, pulling out a business card.
"Thanks," Miranda said halfheartedly, dropping it into her bag without looking at it. "So, anyways, about your plan…"
************************************************************
A/N: Wow, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you're all enjoying it, and I'll try to crank out another chapter ASAP- probably not until way after Saturday though, since I have piano auditions! Eeeep! Wish me luck!! So yeah, I'll stop rambling now so you, the greatest reader ever, can please review!!!