Gordo was baked.
He realized this was exactly what he had been planning on not doing during his mini vacation.
Lizzie was somewhere inside. He hoped because otherwise Lizzie could see him with the bong in his hands and his eyes red.
That wasn't his best look. If he could drink a few more beers he could explain it that way. But he stank of weed.
Gordo conveniently forgot that as he went searching for Chris. It was logical, he didn't think he'd ever been stoned with out her so then it made sense to find her. Maybe they could talk like out on the fire escape. Only this was different.
Hiding from his father was one thing.
A peaceful toke with Chris on the fire escape, even after his dad smacked him across the face was different.
This wasn't right. That was all David could think as he searched blindly for Chris. Here it wasn't fun. Here there wasn't a hazy world where Lizzie wasn't a part of the shit.
Here Lizzie could see him. He dropped the bong and it clanged on the soft carpeting. He realized how stupid he'd been very quickly. This high wasn't going to help him no matter what.
He saw Chris, she was laughing at something Ethan had said. His head was tipped down against her hair, his lips against her ears speaking. Chris' hair was still only half up. Apparently Ethan had succeeded at his task of keeping Chris' long blonde hair down.
David gulped; he was confused if he should pull her away. Chris turned and saw him though.
"David!" She hissed she could tell in a glance that he was baked. Ethan turned, his eyebrow quirked.
"Gordon!" He hissed, looking around quickly for Lizzie, Seeing her gulping back tears for some unknown reason. "Come on". He muttered taking Gordo by one hand; Chris glared at Gordo her eyes livid with fury.
"You told me you weren't gunna be doing this here!" She said steering him away from the party. Ethan was looking murderous.
"I didn't mean to, we got into a fight"
Chris turned to him, her mouth open wide. "What did you do!" she yelled.
Ethan rolled his eyes. "I'll get rid of the party," He said. Then he turned away. "DUDE! SOMEONE CALLED THE COPS! EVERYONE CLEAR OUT!"
Again Chris was reminded of a movie, as it seemed that within ten minutes everyone was gone. Lizzie hadn't left. She knew that Ethan got sick of the parties he threw; He would pretend someone called the cops and then clean up. Even if he were dead drunk he would maniacally clean the house.
Chris turned to Ethan who raised an eyebrow, raising his hands up to ask, "What do you want me to do?" she gestured to Gordo and the stairs. Ethan dragged the boy up none to kindly.
Chris gulped walking over to Lizzie. "Hey what's wrong? David said you had a fight," She said sitting down awkwardly next to Lizzie. Chris wasn't a fan of dealing with girl issues. She had been able to avoid many of the things that would normally be constituted as dealing with issues by not having female friends, and not getting emotionally attached to the guys she hung with.
Lizzie turned to her. "Are you sleeping with him?" She asked softly. "Gordo, David, The boy who we both know" She gulped, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
"No" Chris said softly. "We've never slept together."
"Then why is he like this?" She gulped. "I mean; if he was sleeping with you I could get it!" She said. "But he's so different. I mean I hardly know him now. He comes here and he acts so the same. But I can see that he isn't the same. He looks at you differently then he ever did Miranda. Even before we found out she was gay." Lizzie gulped again.
Chris bit her lip awkwardly. "David is different. His parents divorce" She started. "Well he doesn't get a lot of what happened." Chris swallowed lightly. "I mean, the apartment building we live in is nothing like this" She motioned to the room around them. "No one has furs for example. And if they did they would never screw around on them" She laughed.
"Well my family isn't like super rich either!" Lizzie said. "Ethan's dad is super rich, and it doesn't make life any easier."
"I didn't say that" Chris gulped, unsure what to do.
"He won't give Ethan a chance! He acts like I'm stupid and…" She gulped desperately.
"He's going through a hard time," Chris said. Right now, she hated David. He should be down here calmly talking with Lizzie, not stoned. And he shouldn't have been lying to her. Chris sighed; she wanted to talk with Lizzie. "He's different. LA is really different."
"But why can't he tell me?" Lizzie whispered. "I know the divorce was hard for him, and it was so sudden, his mom was living with them one minute and the next she was filing for divorce. I was with him every minute I could be with him. He told me everything."
"His dad was really shocked by the divorce." Chris said, not sure what else she could say to the girl. "And LA isn't Hillridge." Chris smiled slightly, "Our school isn't like yours. David's dad couldn't afford much. The city is expensive."
"So?" Lizzie asked. "That doesn't mean that he has to change."
"But he did" Chris said.
"But what is it he's not telling me" Lizzie asked softly.
"I can't tell you, David has to." Chris said standing up "Shall we start cleaning?"
"You like Ethan?" Lizzie asked wiping her tears off with the back of her hand.
Chris shrugged. "I think we get each other."
Ethan sat down; they were in one of the guest rooms. His dad's new wife had an impressive doll collection; it lined the light coloured room.
David was sitting on the delicate bed, a flora comforter on it. The room decorated like a Victorian child's dream. The dolls stared out through glassy eyes, inspecting Gordo.
"What the fuck is up with you Gordon?" Ethan asked.
David looked around. "You are the only person who calls me Gordon. Chris calls me David. And everyone else here calls me Gordo" He looked Ethan over "Why is that?"
"It doesn't matter" Ethan said. "Why are you stoned?"
"Because this is what I do Ethan. This is what Chris and me do. We get stoned and have a good time. We stand out on the fire escape and smoke weed."
"Why are you stoned here?" Ethan asked pushing Gordo. "If Lizzie found out"
"Because the use of cannabis is a popular form of escapism. It causes a pleasant feeling of carelessness."
Ethan looked at him. "Lizzie would be crushed."
"Lizzie wouldn't date me over pot?" Gordo asked, he laughed. "She wouldn't date me if she knew the first thing about me."
"What? That your dad hits you?" Ethan asked raising his eyebrow.
"How…" David blinked open mouthed.
"You've got a black eye."
"Baseball."
"You forget, I actually had gym with you" Ethan said, "You weren't half as bad as you thought. You just didn't care at all."
"So?" David blinked.
"My dad used to rough me up. I just got bigger. He thought it would toughen me up. He did it to my older brother's too."
Gordo tried to remember Ethan's father. He was a round man, not at all tall like his son and wife. Balding too. It was hard to imagine the man hitting his sons.
"My mom got it worst though" Ethan shrugged "He used to chase her around our house with a belt screaming. This was before we got rich. We used to live in that shitty house that people throw stones at now." He was frank and honest.
"Holy fuck"
"Dude, its not that big of a deal."
"Yes it is."
"Because its here?"
"No because you were a kid." David said looking up. "I mean does he hit his wife now."
"Nah, he just fucks them. He divorces them as soon as he can" Ethan laughed.
"Dude how can you talk about it so easily?"
"Because I don't care its not like it actually matters," Ethan shrugged. "So why were you smoking pot?"
"Me and Lizzie got into a fight."
"Over what?"
"Well we were fighting over you actually, and Chris."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Uh, dude. I didn't know you were so protective of her, if I knew."
"No, over how stupid you were, no offense meant"
"Dude, you totally meant to offend me!" Ethan said laughing. "Its okay. But why does that make you want to jeopardize your relationship?"
"She doesn't know, anything about me really. I mean she knew me. But she doesn't know about LA." Gordo gulped. "And we started talking and I said that Kate and you weren't more then anything."
"Kate isn't" Ethan volunteered. "But, at the same time. You don't really get to choose her. She likes being as shallow as she is."
"I dunno what happened" Gordo said. Putting his head in his hands he sighed. "We just fought. We fight so much now. She wants to know what's different. But I'm so afraid to tell her. Because what if she doesn't understand."
"Dude, she will. Lizzie gets people, she's really empathetic." He grinned. "You wanna stay here till your high comes down?"
"Yeah." David lay back, "So what's with all the dolls?"
"My dad's wife." Ethan said.
"Ahh. Dolls are creepy; I mean it's a way for people to control others. Little girls play with dolls and they organize their entire lives. They control their mood, their personalities. And then when they no longer want to play with them. The world disappears."
"Dolls scare me"
"Glad you and Chris didn't fuck in here?"
"Hell yeah."
Disclaimer: me no own
Author's note: Ethan is not jaded. He's not even fucked up because of his past. It just happened to him and he put on the stupid act when he was a little kid. He realized it was useful so he kept it. Why do I love to torture Ethan, because in the dinner murder thing his step mom was all ditzy.
Also, how much do I love all my readers! So much! Thank you all for the reviews. I'll drop you a hint. The more reviews I get the more likely I am to update. I don't promise anything because I am totally behind in school. But I love writing this. I don't know where its gunna go. But I love it. I have finals in two weeks though, so if the updates get spotty that's why. But after, I am all yours. I hope to finish this during winter break. And then maybe depending on where it ends continues with a sequel.
