When I was writing Love Finds David Gordon, Black Knight 03 at one point suggested Parker McKenzie could appear to complicate things. She didn't fit into my vision of that story, but I realized she would be perfect for causing trouble for Gordo at some point, so I put her into this tale. So thanks, Black Knight, for the suggestion! I'm also thinking if I continue writing stories in "my" Gordo's timeline , I may work up the incident described in this chapter into a whole more detailed story in itself, probably called "Parker's Revenge." Maybe that will be next!

(I also wonder what adventures Gordo and Adam may have had with their grand old grandma, traveling all around the country. Hmmm…did they meet anyone interesting on that trip?)

Anyway, I have gotten a lot of nice comments, and I'm happy to see so many supporting this storyline, tho some do find it weird, as I suspected. As for any suggestion that I might be discouraged by "flak" or negative comments---not going to happen! I write for myself FIRST, then happy to share it. Even if nobody else digs it, I do, and that's what matters most to me. I think that's got to be the first rule of writing. As Shakespeare once said, "To thine own self be true…" So, no matter what you do…be true! And write from the heart.

Now on with the story, from David Gordon's POV:

When I got out of work the next evening at six o'clock and saw Jo McGuire's silver SUV in front of the store, I got a really strange feeling inside. In a way, this was kind of creepy. Was she stalking me? I hadn't had anything to do with the McGuires in over two years, and now this was the third time I was going to be seeing her in less than a week. The other part of the feeling was actually pretty good, though, because I knew this meant I would be getting a ride home, and to tell the truth, the company was not all that bad.

"Hey, you!" she smiled, as I opened the passenger door.

I got in the car and quipped, "We've got to stop meeting like this!" wondering what she would do with that comment.

"Listen, mister," she said. "I've asked you two times now to come in and have ice cream, and I'm not taking no a third time. Besides, you can't refuse. I've got Cherry Vanilla, and it's nowhere near your bedtime."

I couldn't help smiling. "Okay, you got me." I figured she wanted to ask me some more stuff about Lizzie, thinking she could break down my resistance to revealing secrets. I was getting the impression that she and Lizzie were not getting along so well these days. She probably just needed somebody to talk to, someone she thought could give her some insight into her daughter. Five years ago that would have been me, but not anymore. But I didn't want to come right out and say that to Jo McGuire, if I could at all help it.

Our conversation started out much lighter, however, with her asking me how work had been and if we had any good laptop computers on sale, because despite what I may have heard her saying to Matt the other day, she actually was considering buying him a new computer for school, possibly for Christmas. I had all kinds of suggestions, and as I delivered my information, talking about megabites and RAM and video card capacity, she kept nodding her head and saying "Uh-hu…uh-hu…" until finally I had to laugh and ask, "Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

"Not much," she admitted, also laughing.

"Okay then, listen. You just come in the store someday and I'll hook you up with something good. You know you can trust me."

"Oh, Gordo, if there's one thing that I do know, it's that I can trust you."

Yep, that was me, good old reliable Gordo. I thought this might be a good time to request a name change, but before I could say anything, she had changed the topic again. I don't even remember what it was, but I do remember that as we were walking into her house she was joking about how upset my mother would be if she knew my appetite for dinner was being spoiled with a big bowl of Cherry Vanilla ice cream.

"Oh, my mom doesn't cook dinner much anymore," I explained. "She and my dad are pretty involved down at the community center, almost every night. They're doing these self-help classes."

"Teaching at the community center?" Jo said. "How wonderful! Though I'm sure there can't be very much money in that."

"There's not," I admitted. "They're doing it precisely because it is wonderful, because they want to give back to their community. They're both so into it."

"And what about their poor son, left at home alone with no dinner?"

"I'm a big boy," I said. "I can fend for myself."

"What does that mean?" Jo wondered with a smile. "Do you cook?" She seemed amused at the idea of me cooking.

"Not much," I admitted. "Mostly what I can do is pick up the phone and order a pizza. Or Chinese."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Jo cried.

"Not really," I said. "I get along just fine."

We were in the kitchen now, and I sat down on a stool at the island while Jo pulled two bowls out of the cabinet. She kept giving me a funny look, like she didn't believe I was getting along just fine without a homecooked meal.

"What about tonight?" she asked. "They're not teaching class on a Friday night, are they?"

"No. Tonight is their 'date night.' They're probably going out to dinner somewhere."

"'Date night'?" Jo asked. Her voice sounded a little funny, like it was about to crack.

"Yeah, every Friday night they go out on a date. They say 'date night' is the foundation for a strong marriage."

Oops. Now I knew I had said something wrong. Jo got very quiet as she took the ice cream from the freezer and opened the container. She almost looked like she was going to cry.

Where the hell is Sam, anyway? I finallythought to wonder. This was the second time I'd been in the house now, and there was no sign of him, not even his sneakers shoved under the dining room table, like they always used to be. Something was wrong here. Suddenly I realized that the whole house felt kind of sad and quiet and empty. If the house hadn't told me, the look on Jo's face, biting her bottom lip as she tried a small smile, was a dead giveaway.

"Mrs. McGuire---" I began, not really sure what I was going to say, but wanting to say something to make her feel better.

"Listen, Gordo---" she interrupted me, but then she was interrupted as the front door flew open and Lizzie flew in, running into the living room and turning on the TV. Lizzie glanced up at me and made a face.

"You again?"

"Lizzie!" her mother scolded.

"Sorry. Oh, hi, Gordo. How are you? What are you doing here, anyway?"

I didn't answer, because she obviously wasn't really interested. She was watching the TV Channel scroll, until she suddenly exclaimed, "Yes! It is on tonight! Mom, I'm staying over Jenny's house tonight. Heather will be there too and we're going to watch scary movies and stay up till dawn, so don't call me in the morning. I'll call you. I gotta run! Heather is waiting outside."

Lizzie ran up the stairs, presumably to pack for her sleepover. We could hear her above, slamming doors and drawers.

"Where's Matt?" I asked Jo.

"Sleepover. Also."

"And Sam?" I tried.

"Business trip," she said, but there was no emotion in her words.

"So is he still…." I felt stupid, because I couldn't remember what my childhood friend's father did for a living.

"No, he's got a new job," Jo said, almost coldly. "A new new job. He's been at it only about six months. It's Sales. The commissions are supposed to be very good, very lucrative. Of course we haven't seen 'lucrative' yet."

"What is he selling?"

Jo rolled her eyes. "You don't even want to know."

Now I was intrigued. "No, tell me."

"It's this…stupid stuff. This…plastic stuff, this see-thru---"

"Like plexiglass?"

"Yes, like that, but it's supposed to be better. And they make all these office supply products out of it, so he goes around to all these businesses and----Aaargh!"

The ice cream was very hard, and she had broken the spoon in it, throwing the broken stem of it on the counter.

I got up. "Here, let me try," I said, taking over. I threw the broken spoon pieces in the trash, then got a knife from the silverware drawer, almost surprised that I remembered where the silverware drawer was. With the knife I cut a cone shape into the top of the ice cream, then turned the contained over the bowl. The cone slipped out with no problem.

Jo was sitting down now, watching me. "Gordo, you're so smart," she marveled.

I smiled at her, proud of myself, but also a little embarrassed to have her fussing over me again. I cut another geometric shape from the ice cream container and plopped that piece in the other bowl. "Which do you want?" I asked. "The cone or the polygon?"

"The cone," she said. "It looks smoother."

I put the ice cream container back in the freezer and just as I was about to sit down again, we heard Lizzie bounding down the stairs.

"Okay, I'm going!" she called. Then suddenly she appeared in the kitchen again, and looked directly at me for a long moment. Actually, it was not so much a "look" as a "death stare." We may have been out of touch for quite a while, but I knew Lizzie McGuire like the back of my hand, and I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking: What the HELL are you doing in my house, Gordon?

"Lizzie, don't forget that tomorrow night we're going to Gammy McGuire's for dinner, " Jo said. "Don't be late. Try to be home by four o'clock tomorrow, okay, honey?"

"Is Dad going?"

"Lizzie, you know your father is on a business trip."

"If Dad isn't going I don't see why I have to."

"Lizzie, I'm not going to talk to you about this now. Your friend is waiting outside, and besides, we have company."

"Gordo isn't 'company,'" Lizzie said with an almost-disgusted look on her face. "He's just Gordo."

"Lizzie!"

"You're right, Mom. Heather is waiting. Bye!"

Lizzie ran out, and I saw Jo put her hand over her forehead.

Wow, I thought. This family is having some real issues… No wonder I had gotten the impression that Jo wanted to talk with me. But I really didn't know what I could say about Lizzie that would be of any help. Lizzie had changed quite a bit. She seemed to be holding onto quite a bit of resentment. She couldn't possibly still be angry about…?

My mind was slipping into the past, but I was pulled back up by Jo's gentle question. "Maybe now would be a good time for you to tell me that story?"

"What story?" I questioned.

"The one you mentioned last night. About what happened between you and Lizzie."

I sighed. I really didn't want to go there, but I was starting to feel it was inevitable.

"There's obviously a lot of hard feelings between you two."

"Not between," I said. "I have no hard feelings. I've said my 'I'm sorry's.' I'm past it. It would be good for Lizzie if she could get past it too."

We ate our ice cream in silence. The TV was still on in the next room, and we could hear the advertisements of what movies were going to be on TV tonight. I wasn't really listening, though, because I found that I couldn't keep my mind out of the past. Jo had no idea why Lizzie was so mad at me. Maybe she deserved to hear the story. Then she could stop being so annoyed with Lizzie, and start being annoyed with me, where the blame really lay. Sort of. It was a complicated situation.

"Okay," I said finally as I finished my ice cream. "I'm going to give you the Reader's Digest Condensed Version. Then maybe you'll stop saying you wish Lizzie was still going out with me."

Jo looked at me, and I guess she could tell this was going to be difficult, because she said, "Would you like to sit in the living room? It will be more comfortable."

I nodded and we went into the living room. It was still daylight outside, but here the blinds were drawn against the heat of the day, so the room was a little darker, which was good. I sat down in the overstuffed chair. Jo spread out on the couch, pulling her feet up underneath her. She muted the TV but did not turn it off.

I took a deep breath and said, "Almost the whole time Lizzie and I were dating," I began right away, "there was this other girl who was always…bothering me, flirting with me, in my face. You might have heard of Parker McKenzie."

Jo nodded. "I've heard of her."

"Well, I guess she's always had this thing for me. I liked her for a little bit, way back in middle school, but that was long over by the time Lizzie and I started dating in tenth grade. But Parker wouldn't give up. And I guess it really bothered her when she saw how happy Lizzie and I were together, and basically, I think it became her mission in life to break us up."

"I've heard of her," Jo repeated. "Lizzie told me Parker was after you. Are you telling me that you cheated on Lizzie with Parker McKenzie?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Absolutely not! That never happened. Well, that's not exactly what happened."

"Gordo," Jo said flatly. "What exactly happened?"

I looked at her and saw the mother lioness, intent on protecting her cubs. As much as it seemed she was delighted with my company these last few days, that's how perturbed she looked at the idea that I may have done something to break Lizzie's heart. Best to have it out, and quickly. I would tell the truth, the way I had always perceived it, and let her draw her own conclusions.

"The first thing you have to understand." I clarified, " is that when I say I wasn't interested in Parker, I'm telling the absolute truth. There was no appeal whatsoever. The girl is weird, obnoxious…and a royal pain in the ass. There was no more chance that I was going to drop Lizzie to go out with Parker McKenzie than there was that I would drop Lizzie to go out with Ethan Craft. It just wasn't happening. I explained this to Lizzie, I don't know how many times, and I thought she understood, but now when I look back, I guess she really didn't.

"Every time Parker would do something, send me a card or a gift, or say something really suggestive, or brush up against me, Lizzie always got more mad at me than she did at Parker. I didn't understand it! What was I supposed to do?"

"I'm sure Lizzie wanted you to tell the bitch off," Jo suggested. "She wanted to hear you let Parker know in no uncertain terms that her shenanigans weren't going to fly."

"But I did tell her! Several times! But it never got through. Talking to that girl was like talking to a brick wall. She was in her own little world, all fantasy, no reality. So after a while I just stopped talking to her altogether.

"Now most normal people would take the hint," I continued. "But Parker was not normal. And she was not very nice, either. She did something really horrible to me, something I can never forgive. She really screwed up me and Lizzie."

"So then you're saying it was all her fault?" Jo asked.

I bit my lip, and to be completely honest, I had to say, "Not all her fault. I wasn't blameless. And neither was Lizzie. I mean, Lizzie should have been a little more forgiving. She should have been a little more understanding…"

"Gordo," Jo said, seeing that my thoughts were wandering. "What happened?"

"It was June 14," I said. "You know, Flag Day. A bunch of us went down to the beach. It was a good day, lots of fun. It was getting late, but all of the sudden, there's Parker and some of her friends, they just show up. I'm in the water, I don't even know she's there, until all of the sudden she's right behind me, I feel someone behind me, touching me, and I think it's Lizzie, so I---"

"Oh, Gordo! No!"

"Wait, it gets worse than that," I explained. "What happens is all of the sudden I feel someone pulling down my swimming shorts, and I can't believe Lizzie would do something like that----Lizzie would never do something like that, Mrs. McGuire, at least not the Lizzie I know…I knew---and when I turn around, there's Parker, laughing her head off, and she pushes me down in the water, and while I'm down, she gets my shorts down by my ankles and that's it, they're gone, I'm stark naked in the water.

"So of course I'm flipping out, saying 'Give me my shorts back! Give me my shorts back!' but she just keeps laughing hysterically, and I go after her, but she throws them to her friend, who throws them to the other friend, who takes them out of the water, and I'm yelling to my friend Danny, 'Hey, go get my shorts back from Kitty' the girl who had them, but Danny has no idea what I'm talking about, and by the time I'm able to explain it to him and he takes off looking for Kitty, it's too late, everybody's looking in the water, knowing that something is going on.

"I so much did not want to draw attention to myself. There were some people there, some guys, who were not really my friends, and I was afraid if they knew I was naked in the water they would think it was the biggest joke in the world to drag me out in front of everybody, and obviously I did not want that. All I wanted was to get back in my shorts and beat the living crap out of Parker. Sorry. She was that annoying."

"No, no," Jo said, curling up on the couch. "I'm just hearing about this now and I want to beat the crap out of her."

At least I knew Jo was on my side. At least this far along in the story. But the worst was yet to come.

"Anyway," I said. "All I could think about at this point was how to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. So I say to Parker 'What do you want from me?' And she says, 'I want you to kiss me. Right here. Right now. You give me one good kiss, and I'll wave to Kitty and have her bring your shorts back.'"

"Oh, Gordo…" Jo commiserated.

I took a deep breath. "So I said okay. One kiss, really quick, under the water, way out here where nobody would see us, and then this thing would be over. I didn't have time to argue with her. When I looked to the shore, I could see some people watching us, but thankfully Lizzie was not there. I didn't even know if Lizzie knew yet that Parker was here. I just wanted to get this thing over with. So I told Parker okay, and I made her come far out in the ocean, so only our heads were above the water, and I let her kiss me.

"Only she didn't just kiss me. She was touching me, with her hands, under the water, and she grabbed on to…well, you can imagine what she grabbed on to, and she wouldn't let go, she just kept holding it and pumping it and I thought I was going to die, I thought I was going to drown, all my strength went right out of me, and there was nothing I could do, I couldn't get away from her, and I couldn't throw her off me, even if I wanted to, which I didn't want to, because as scary as this was, it also felt so incredible…"

I looked down, afraid to catch Jo's eyes. What she must think of me at this point!

"And then it got even worse," I had to admit. "Because with her free hand she took one of my hands and put it…somewhere it should never have been…and she held it there, pressing into her, until it was absolutely impossible for me to take it away. Then it was like I had no choice, I couldn't help myself. I didn't even like this girl, I more or less despised her, and still I…I…"

God! I felt miserable just about now. I hadn't talked about any of this in so long, but seeing Lizzie again in her house had made me feel really bad all over again about what had happened that summer. Yet as miserable as I felt, it also felt good to be getting it off my chest.

I continued the story. "And then." I said, "I guess we were drifting into more shallow water and after a while I was aware that we were chest high in the water again, and then practically only waist high, and we were still kissing, and we were still touching each other down there and I guess that's when Lizzie saw us…"

I dared to glance up and saw that Jo had one hand over her face, so I couldn't see her expression. I could only imagine what she must be thinking, and I didn't imagine it was anything good.

"By the time I came to my senses," I said quietly, "and managed to get my swimming shorts back on, I ran to look for Lizzie, but she had already left, one of the older kids gave her a ride home. I came over here that night, but Lizzie wouldn't see me, and she screamed at me through the door of her room, saying that she hated me and never wanted to see me again."

"I remember that night," Jo said., nodding. "I knew something must have happened, but Lizzie would never tell me what it was. Now I see why. It's much too embarrassing. For her. And for you. And I can't believe you just told me all that, Gordo."

I sighed, starting to stand up. "Yeah, well….It's been nice knowing you, Mrs. McGuire. I think I'll just go now…"

"Don't you dare!" Jo said suddenly. "You sit right there."

I sat down again, startled by her tone. She looked at me and sighed and shook her head, but still I could not read her expression.

In my guilty, miserable state, all I could think was Oh, brother! Now I'm going to get an earful!