A/N:Thank you guys for the reviews. I was hoping for more, but oh well. Thanks ali. you have always been a faithful reader. Dario: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE TEENAGE YEARS! Just kidding, but come on man...soon...please! lol. Anyway, these next couple of chapters arnt my fav, but they all lead up to a big point. Please R/R! Enjoy.
Chapter 10
Gordo was dressed to impress. He was wearing his dark Express for Men jeans, a deep blue button up shirt and his Doc's. He was about a block away from Ethan's parent's house. He had been feeling depressed about the whole Lizzie thing. He knew he messed up, but now he was determined to have fun. He knew he was going to be seeing a lot of guys that he hadn't seen since high school. He was getting nervous about seeing some of the guys as he pulled his car onto Ethan's street and pulled up in front of his house. There were a bunch of cars already there. As he walked up to the front door and rang the door bell, he could hear music playing and loud talking and laughing. He had butterflies in his stomach as the door opened, and Ethan greeted him.
"Gor-don!" Ethan yelled. Gordo could smell the alcohol on his breath. Gordo knew he was in for a fun night. He walked in the doorway, and saw the room full of guys, some of them had beer bottles, while others had plastic cups, which no doubt had some kind of alcoholic drink in it. The room smelled of various types of cologne and alcohol.
"GORDO!" A lot of the guys yelled.
"SUP BOYS!" He walked over to Tudgman and gave him a "man" hug. "Congrats man."
"Thanks. It's great to see you, Gordo." They shared a smile and someone handed Gordo a bottle of beer. He looked at it for a second. When Gordo was in high school he drank a lot; too much. When he went to Denver he knew he needed to stop his drinking, and he hadn't had a drink in almost 4 years.
"If you don't want beer, we got some other stuff in there." Ethan interrupted his thoughts. Gordo looked at the bottle and smiled. He handed it back to Ethan.
"I'm good man. Just want to hang out tonight." Gordo was proud of himself inside. It was something he had got control of, he only wished Lizzie and Miranda were there to see him
"That cool GOR-DON!" Ethan said slapping him on the back. "There is some pop in the fridge."
"CAPPY!" Gordo heard his old basketball nickname. It was given to him his junior year when he became the only junior to be named captain of the basketball team. He turned to see 3 guys that he had played with. "Hey guys." Gordo had a smile from ear to ear. "Buzz, how you doin man?" Adrian Buzzard graduated with Gordo. He was slightly shorter than Gordo, but probably weighed about two times as much as him. Buzz was his nickname in high school and Gordo loved saying it. He had played center on the basketball team, but football was his true passion.
"Good. You're lookin good." He said jokingly.
"Well I try." Gordo joked shaking his hand. "Taylor. Been a long time." He shook the very shot kid's hand. Brad Taylor played guard with Gordo, but was never as good. He and Gordo were bitter rivals at first but it soon blossomed into a great friendship.
"Man it has. What have you been up to?"
"Livin in Denver right now. Almost done with school." He turned to the next guy. About the same height and build as Gordo. "Tucker, what's up man?" Tucker Miller was Clair's younger brother and had graduated a year after Gordo's class, but he was involved in the older class's circles, and he was one of Gordo's favorite teammates.
"Nothin man. Ready to have some fun." He said with a smile while shaking Gordo's hand. The four talk awhile about what each other had been doing since Gordo had last seen them. He found out that Adrian had played football in college, and is now an insurance agent. Brad went to work for his dad's construction business after high school and was now the assistant manager. Tucker was still in college at a small college across town. He got a scholarship to play basketball there and this was his last year.
They also reminisced about their old playing days, and even joked about playing ball right then. Gordo always got an excited feeling when he talked about playing basketball. He had loved the game, and he wasn't too bad at it. It was the one thing that he proud about in his life.
After a lot of basketball talk, a couple of more beers, and talking to other high school friends, Tudgman introduced Gordo to a few people he didn't know. He met a few of Tudgman's cousins, some he had never met and some that he had met before. Tudgman also introduced him to friends he had made in college.
"This is Adam Wilson." Gordo shook his hand as Tudgman was introducing everyone to him. He didn't really know if Tudgman expected him to remember everyone's name or not. "He's in med school right now. And this Rod Coleman." Gordo shook Rod's hand. He was as tall as Gordo but a little more muscular. He had slightly curly sandy blond hair, and a goatee that matched.
"Nice to meet you." He said to Gordo.
"You too."
"Rod this is David Gordon. Gordo as he is known." Gordo notice Tudgman nod his head at Rod.
"OH! That Gordo. I've heard a lot about you." Rod said with a smile.
"Oh really. Tudgman talk about me that much?" Gordo laughed. Tudgman also laughed, though a little more nervously. He didn't know how Gordo was going to take it.
"No. Actually a lot from Lizzie. She has nothing but good to say about you." Gordo noticed he wasn't breathing, and forced himself to take a breath. He looked over at Tudgman who had his hand on Gordo's back. "So…it's nice to meet you." Rod said, not really knowing what to say.
"Ummm…yeah. You too." Gordo couldn't believe it. He had seen Lizzie go through a lot of boyfriends, but for some reason this one touched him in a different way. Gordo couldn't decide if it was because he didn't know anything about this one, or if it was because he knew he couldn't get Lizzie back if he wanted to. In high school, if Gordo wanted to go out with Lizzie all he had to do was ask, but now he couldn't and he couldn't help it, but he was jealous of this guy. "You have to be nice. It's not his fault you screwed up Gordo." He thought to himself. "So, Lizzie told me you are a baseball coach." Gordo said trying to perk up. Tudgman looked at him with surprise. He was very glad Miranda had called him and told him that Gordo was coming and he knew about Rod. He just didn't know how Gordo would react, and was very happy was being cool about it.
"Yeah. My first year as a teacher and a coach. I'm the head JV coach and assistant varsity coach."
"Awsome. Well…Lizzie is great."
"Yeah, she is. Like I said, she just had the nicest things to say about you."
"That's nice." Gordo really didn't know what to say.
"Yeah. She told me you were one hell of a basketball player."
Gordo just laughed. "Yeah. I guess I was alright."
"Alright! He was awesome." Tudgman butted in.
"That's what Lizzie said."
"How long you and Lizzie been together?" Gordo asked suddenly.
"Two months. We started dating during the school year."
"Oh! So have you met her parents yet?"
"Umm, I met her mom one day, but haven't met her dad yet. I was going to this week, but they are both out of town until tomorrow, so I guess I'll meet him then."
"Well, good luck." Gordo gave a little evil laugh.
"What does that mean?" Rod asked him curiously.
"Well…she would kill me if I told you this, but her dad is nuts. That's why I broke up with her and moved away. He told me if I didn't he was going to kill me. He even stuck a gun to my head." Gordo said.
"Are you serious!" Rod asked with a scared look.
"Yeah." Gordo said, but then not being able to keep a straight face. Tudgman also started to laugh. "I'm joking man. I'm just kidding. No, her dad is great." Gordo said in the middle of his laughing. Rod look truly relived.
"You had me worried there for a minute man." He said letting out a sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry man, I just couldn't help it." He shook Rod's hand again.
"It was a good one man."
"Wait till I tell Miranda about this one." Tudgman thought. They heard a honk out side.
"OH THAT'S IT! LET'S ROLL BOYS!" Ethan yelled over the crowd. Tudgman looked out the window and saw a black, stretch SUV limo waiting outside.
"What is this?" Tudgman asked.
"All us guys wanted to get you somthin man." Ethan said slapping Tudgman on the back. They all started out the door and to the limo. Gordo grabbed Ethan before he walked out.
"Dude, I didn't help pay for that. Do you need me to give some money or something?" Gordo asked, feeling bad for not chipping in for the limo.
"Tell you what, you buy Tudg a lap dance and will call it even." Ethan said with a big smile and a wink and walked out the door. Gordo stood there shaking his head and smiling, for he didn't know what kind of night this was going to turn into, but he knew it was going to be fun.
