Now we get into the MG.
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The best thing about summer, as far as most teenagers were concerned, was that there was no school. Gordo wasn't sure he agreed with this. He liked school. It gave him something to do with his brain, and provided ample opportunity for showing off his best skills.
The worst thing about summer, as far as most teenagers were concerned, was that it had to come to an end, sending them back to school.
Gordo could not wait for this summer to end. Sure, he was making a little money bagging groceries at Food Giant, but the worst thing about this summer was the women. He was trying so hard not to be distracted, but it seemed every female who came into the store, in order to stave off the summer heat, dressed in little more than a bathing suit, or short shorts with a tank top.
Gordo saw tank tops, halter tops, and midriffs, and more often than not it was painfully obvious that bras were not considered a summer fashion necessity. He tried so hard not to notice, but it was a losing battle. He noticed, and he hated himself for it afterwards.
Eventually he decided to stop looking at the customers altogether. This was the only way. He kept his head down and concentrated on the groceries, thinking, cold stuff with cold stuff…meat in one bag, produce in another…Hey! These cherries look good. And they're on sale. I think I'll---
"Hey, boy!" he heard a familiar voice teasing him. "Be careful you don't pop my cherries!"
Gordo felt himself turning as red as the cherries he was handling. He looked up and saw Miranda, his lifelong friend, giving him the biggest, silliest grin.
"Hey, Randa…" he smiled. She had been away for a month, visiting relatives in Mexico, and Gordo couldn't believe how glad he felt to see her now.
"So how long have you been working here at Food Giant?" Miranda wondered.
"Oh…just a little longer than you've been making jokes about me popping your cherry," Gordo could not resist saying with a crooked grin.
Miranda returned the smile, her brown eyes shining. "Sorry," she said. "I couldn't resist."
"Neither could I," Gordo smirked.
Miranda was okay. He could joke like this with Miranda, as easily as she could joke with him. Miranda was his oldest friend, if you didn't count Lizzie--- and you really couldn't count Lizzie anymore--- so she did indeed step into this position of honor.
Sure, she was a girl, and he was studiously avoiding girls these days, but somehow with Miranda that didn't matter. So what if she was wearing demin short shorts with what looked like a little boy's undershirt? (At least she was wearing a bra, Gordo gratefully noted.) This was Miranda, who had been with him through every elementary and middle school crisis, a true buddy if ever there was one.
They stood for a moment, looking at each other, then Miranda said, "Wow! Gordo at Food Giant."
Gordo blushed again. "Please," he said. "It's hardly a career."
"How you doin', bud?" Miranda asked with sudden concern. " I mean, after Lizzie and all?"
"You heard about that?"
"Everybody's heard about that," Miranda said. "I got off the plane and they were talking about it at the airport."
"Way to spread the sunshine, Randa," Gordo said sarcastically.
"Oh, Miranda! Look who it is!"
Miranda's mother came forward, having unloaded the last of the groceries. She fussed over her bagboy, saying, "Gordo, sweetie! Haven't seen you in ages. You're getting so tall!"
"Thanks, Mrs. Sanchez," Gordo said politely.
"And a working man!"
"Please, Mom," Miranda said, dryly. "It's hardly a career."
As the cashier informed Mrs. Sanchez of the total bill, her attention was temporarily diverted, and in that moment Gordo and Miranda shared a glance.
"My mom's a trip, isn't she?" Miranda whispered.
"No more than my mom," Gordo said.
"How've you been, Gordo? Really? You look…"
"I look…what?" he asked, almost in alarm.
"I don't know," Miranda said. "Are you okay?"
Gordo continued bagging. He didn't really want to answer that question, but he knew that if Miranda had her mind set on getting an answer (and it appeared she did, having now asked twice in the last five minutes), then there would be no way to escape the inevitable.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, as Gordo escorted Mrs. And Ms. Sanchez to their car in the parking lot, filling it with bags of groceries, Miranda suggested, "Hey, Mom, would it be alright if Gordo came over for dinner one night?"
"Oh, certainly!" Mrs. Sanchez agreed. "If fact, why not tomorrow night? I'm making a brisket. Do you like brisket, Gordo honey?"
"I love brisket!" Gordo exclaimed.
"Then you must come," Mrs. Sanchez said. "It will be nice, like old times. And you and Miranda can console each other."
"Console?" Gordo asked.
Miranda looked down. "Jeremy and I broke up," she said quietly. "Fourth of July."
"Oh…" Gordo said, also quietly. So. He hadn't been the only one having a miserable Fourth. In fact, in this moment, Miranda looked just as heartbroken as he had felt immediately after breaking up with Lizzie. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to console her.
"I'm not working tomorrow," Gordo said. "I'd really like to come for dinner."
Miranda smiled at him weakly. "Good," she said. "We can console each other."
Gordo nodded.
"Lovely!" Mrs. Sanchez exclaimed. "How about six thirty?"
-
Gordo was a bit surprised at how excited he felt to be visiting Miranda again. It wasn't the kind of excited he got when going out on a date with a girl he really liked, but it was definitely more than he felt when he talked with Tudge or Danny.
He imagined it mostly had to do with the fact that he knew he would have a sympathetic ear. Lately it seemed that all his guy friends were so busy with their own girlfriends they didn't have much time to listen to his problems. And even if they did, he knew the best he could hope for was, "Get over it, dude! Pick yourself up and start again. It's not the end of the world."
But with Miranda, he knew he could expect so much more.
And Miranda did not disappoint. After a fabulous dinner with the family, Miranda offered to take out the garbage, insisting Gordo go with her to the side of the house.
"Hey, come around back," she said, dropping the bag in the trash can. "We got this new swing thing."
"A swing thing?" Gordo questioned.
"Yeah, come see."
They went through the side gate and around to the back porch, where Gordo instantly saw the "swing thing." From a large, sturdy wooden frame hung a wide bench, covered by a cushion. They sat down and played on it for a while, seeing how high they could make it go, and whether or not they could gracefully jump off the seat to the grass. They were able to jump, but not gracefully. They laughed at each other as they took turns, then decided to try it together.
"Okay! One…two…three…JUMP!"
They landed together with a thud on the cool grass, doubling over with laughter. It felt so good to be laughing, Gordo reflected, as at last they began to calm down. He lie back on the grass, heaving a mighty sigh, and as he did, he looked up into the night sky. It was clear, and he could see the Big Dipper.
"Hey, look!" he said. "The Big Dipper!"
"And the Little Dipper!" Miranda noted, also pointing.
"Can you find Orion?" Gordo asked, quizzing her.
"That's the one with the brightest star, right? In the belt?"
They stared into the night sky, their eyes adjusting to the darkness, gradually seeing more and more stars. Gordo heard himself relaying all kinds of information about constellations and planets which he had picked up in countless science classes. As he listened to himself going on and on, it at last occurred to him that he was being a know-it-all, and he made himself stop.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly, looking up at Miranda, who was now leaning over him, propped up on her elbow.
"What are you sorry for?"
"For being such a goddamn know-it-all. When really…"
"Really what?" Miranda asked gently, when he did not finish his thought.
He looked up at her and sighed. God! He needed to talk to someone. He wanted to talk with Miranda. He kept looking at her, then finally said, uneasily, "Cone of Silence?"
She grinned at him, almost sadly. She knew she was pathetic about maintaining the Cone of Silence. "I promise," she said, hoping he would believe her.
"Are you sure?" Gordo asked uncertainly.
"How about some collateral?" Miranda said. "I'll tell you something about me. Also Cone of Silence. We'll keep each other's secrets. Deal?" She offered her fist, and after a moment Gordo brought up his own fist, rolling his knuckles against hers. It was now a sacred vow.
Gordo looked up into the starry sky, sighing again, and said, "The thing is, Miranda…I really don't know anything. Not about anything that really matters, anyway."
They lay on the grass then for hours, talking, revealing , confessing. Sometimes Miranda was up on her elbow, sometimes Gordo, sometimes both, facing each other. They talked about their painful breakups, their insecurities with the opposite sex, their reluctance to enter into a new relationship and risk getting hurt all over again.
Gordo told Miranda he was "swearing off women," because this was easier to say than "swearing off sex." He and Miranda were close, but not that close. She didn't need all the details of his pathetic life. Still, she seemed to understand, drawing the deepest meaning from the few words he was able to utter.
Miranda told him about Jeremy, who had apparently decided his girlfriend was not worth waiting for until she returned from her month long vacation in Mexico. During the fireworks, on their first night back together, Jeremy announced that he had been seeing a lot of this girl Heather while Miranda had been away…
"Oh, that's harsh," Gordo said, feeling so sorry for her. "What a jackass. You don't mind me saying that, do you?"
"No, of course not. He is a jackass," Miranda agreed. "What should I have expected? He's a guy. All guys are jackasses."
Having spoken quickly, Miranda suddenly realized she was now likely to get the Logic Argument from Gordo; you could not draw conclusions about the whole based on the properties of individual parts. She braced herself for the onslaught, but it never came.
Instead, she felt him sigh, then heard him say, "Yeah, all guys are jackasses. Present company included."
"Gordo! Not you! I didn't mean you!"
"I'm not a guy?"
"Not to me you aren't. I mean you are, but you aren't. Because I know you would never do anything like that to me. Mostly because I know we would never find ourselves in a situation like that. Because you're always going to be my friend, aren't you? I mean… my friend, and only my friend. Right?"
Gordo looked at her. She was staring up at him, hopefully, waiting for confirmation. She so obviously needed Gordo to say yes, he would always be her friend.
Slowly, he smiled at her. "Yeah," he said finally. "Friends for life, Randa."
She grinned at him, her eyes sparkling. "Thanks," she said. "You're the only guy I can rely on, to always be there, and never be a jackass."
"With you," he agreed. "Never a jackass. With every other girl in the world…"
"Don't worry, Gordo. There'll be somebody, someday---"
"I don't want somebody someday," Gordo said. "I really don't. I just want you to be my friend. That's all I want. Is that okay, Randa?"
Miranda nodded. "Yeah, that's okay. And I just want you to be my friend. No complications, no problems, no stupid stuff. Just friends."
Gordo looked at her. "Okay, " he said quietly.
They both lay back on the grass then, looking up at the stars, and nothing more was said. Some time passed, neither was sure how much. Finally, Mrs. Sanchez was heard at the back door, calling "Chica¿Dónde estas?"
"Here, Mom!" Miranda said, sitting up on the grass.
"Oh, there you both are! Gordo, your mother just called, looking for you. She needs you home."
"What for?"
"Well, it's after midnight."
"It is?" Gordo and Miranda exclaimed in unison. "Holy crap!"
Then they laughed together as they stood up, brushing themselves off.
"I gotta go," Gordo said.
"See you tomorrow?" Miranda asked.
"It already is tomorrow."
"Don't be a smart ass," Miranda said, dryly.
"Well," Gordo philosophized. "Is better than being a jackass."
Then they both laughed again.
Gordo went home that night, warmed by his renewed vows of friendship with Miranda, and for the first time in weeks, had no trouble whatsoever falling asleep.