AN: I realized I forgot to add a disclaimer in the first chapter… so here is it is now…
I do not own Lizzie McGuire or any of its characters, Disney does. I can say I own Astrid from the first chapter.
I only got5 reviews for the previous chapter --..well I kinda expected it. I'm hoping for some more reviews in the future…but hey, can't expect everything. Please drop a review, even if it is only a few words because it is VERY much appreciated --
Anyway… on with the story…
Chapter Two- Surprise!
It had been almost a week since Elizabeth moved in to her apartment and she had seen Miranda almost everyday after she came home from work, yet today was a Sunday and Miranda went back to Mexico for the weekend, so Elizabeth was left with nothing to do. She had done all she could with her unpacking, and decided to move it all into her room.
That night she didn't have anything to do, and was gladly interrupted by her worried mom on the phone.
"No, mom, I'm fine!" Elizabeth said distressingly into the receiver, wrapping her finger around the phone chord.
"Liz, I'm not sure about you living in New York on your own." Jo spoke back.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, the way she and her brother Matt did whenever they thought their mom was being overprotective, especially now that they were both over twenty.
"Mom, I'm fine." She repeated. " Look, I'm twenty-five. There's no need to worry. I mean you were fine about letting me go."
"That's only because you were with Danny, Liz."
Danny.
That was one name she hoped she wouldn't hear for a while.
Elizabeth didn't want her mom to go any further, so she tried to wrap up the conversation as quickly as possible. "Mom I've got to go, ok? I've got lots of unpacking to do, and I have to be at work first thing tomorrow." She said quickly.
"Ok, baby, I love you." Her mom said in a disappointed voice. Elizabeth smiled into the phone, knowing how hard it was for her mom to have her only daughter thousands of miles away.
"I love you too mom." Elizabeth said, hanging up the phone. Instantly, she almost regretted ending the call so quickly. She really did miss her mom, since she was really the only person she felt like she could talk to.
Desperate for something to hold on to, she grabbed the phone off the table and held it in her arms, as if waiting for another call from her mom.
She looked around the big, wide apartment and felt so lonely. It was if the room wasn't big enough to contain her emptiness. She sank to the floor, and closed her eyes, just absorbing her own emotions and thoughts into her dreams, wrapping her arms around the phone, just for something to hold on to.
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"I told you to settle it, Eddie." David yelled into the phone. His rage seemed to have passed on to the cab driver who swerved around the streets hastily.
David placed his cell phone against his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the driver. "Hey! Slow down! No need to get me killed, here."
The driver started yelling at him in a foreign language, but David ignored him and went back to his phone call.
"Look, Eddie, I don't care what the damn producers say. They made a deal, and you tell them they're expected to stick by it." He said, angrily hanging up the phone as the cab pulled over to the curb.
Recognizing this wasn't his street, David shot the driver another look. "Hey, my apartment isn't for another block." The driver returned his look.
"You walk." He commanded in his thick accent.
David was just too frustrated and tired to argue, so he unwillingly handed the driver some cash and got out of the cab, just relieved to get home.
All he did was focus on getting home, on relaxing and just taking a break.
Though unbeknownst to him, something was not going to let him.
Once he had reached the apartment, he automatically realized that something was different. And this was confirmed the moment he opened the door. Although everything was right were he'd left it, there was something he was not quite used to having around.
An unfamiliar petite blonde woman sleeping peacefully on the rug.
Suddenly, he remembered the small detail he seemed to have forgotten while on vacation. "Oh crap!" he thought, having completely forgotten he'd put his house up for lease.
As quietly as possible, he tiptoed to the blonde currently snoozing on his polished floorboards. He studied her carefully. He watched the way she used one hand as a cushion support for her head, and the other was wrapped protectively around the phone.
This was probably the first thing he noticed about her. The second might have been how pretty she was. He acknowledged that it might not have been a time where she was looking her best, but with her blond hair curving around her cheeks, she looked so adorable.
Clearly amused, David reached in his bag and brought out his camera. He pressed the button and the bright light of the flash instantly awoke the woman.
Startled, she stood up and instinctively backed up against the wall, away from the strange man.
"How the hell did you get in?" she asked intrusively.
David chuckled at the woman's apparent vulnerability.
"Relax, relax." He soothed. "I'm not some kind of stalker."
"How the hell did you get in?" she repeated, this time, more forcefully.
"I have a key." David explained, waving his key around for proof.
She did not seem convinced. "Where did you steal that from?" After no verbal response, but a cheeky grin from the strange man, Elizabeth picked up the phone she had left on the floor.
"You know what?" she asked, clutching the phone and thrusting it in front of him. "I'm going to call the police and have you taken out of my house, or I'll strangle you with this phone chord."
Once again, David chuckled at the seemingly despaired woman. "Well, I don't really think the police can help you much here." He said. "This is my place."
Elizabeth was beside herself with rage. She didn't even bother to listen to his clarification. "And what the hell were you doing taking my photograph? Are you some kind of pervert?"
"I'm sorry, but I walked in, and saw you sleeping on the floor like that. It was quite adorable. So I took a photo."
"Just like that? And who gave you permission to do that?" She was about to continue her fit of rage when she remembered something he had mentioned that had slipped her mind momentarily.
"Wait, you're the owner?" she said suddenly. "Aren't you supposed to be on holiday?"
David sighed, not wanting to get into this. "Well, I'm supposed to be, just a change of plan." He explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."
Elizabeth couldn't believe this guy. First he comes barging in without any warning, wakes her up by flashing a camera in her face, and then intrudes her personal space.
"Wait, hold on, you're not going anywhere." She yelled. David stopped from his way to the bedroom and turned to face Elizabeth.
"And why the hell not? " he asked, now annoyed.
"Because, bud, I'm entitled by contract to stay in this apartment for six months, which means, owner or not, that legally, you shouldn't be here. You're not allowed to stay here." She reminded him.
"Listen," he said angrily. "Like it or not, miss, I'm sleeping here because this is my apartment."
She walked over to him and pinned him against a wall, making sure he didn't move an inch.
"Look, I'm sorry that your trip in Bora Bora or wherever it was didn't work out. However that doesn't mean that you can come on in here whenever you like, especially when you had this apartment leased out."
Noticing that her reasoning wasn't getting her anywhere, she took the phone off the hook.
David smirked at the childishness he was able to see through the blonde woman. "Boy, you really do love that phone, don't you?" he muttered sarcastically.
Ignoring his remark, she started dialing a phone number, but was interrupted mid-way when David grabbed the phone from her and hung it up promptly.
"Who are you calling?" he asked calmly.
"I'mcalling my realtor, to let her know of my kind visitor." she grinned sarcastically at him, and reached for the phone, only to have the phone pulled from her hands.
"Only if you can reach this first," he teased. He hoisted the phone high up in the air, right where he knew she couldn't reach and stood there laughing at her pathetic jumps. She scowled furiously at him.
"Who the hell do you think you are? If you had enough decency, you would have at least gotten a hotel room."
"Sorry, babe, this is my apartment." He remarked condescendingly.
"Which, may I remind you, is rented out! To me, in fact. And I would really appreciate it if you would leave and never come back during these six months." She said, poking him sharply in the chest.
David sighed, defeated. "I can't, alright."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm broke."
She may have been extremely mad at this strange man, but when he uttered those three words, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. That was just the way she was. Still, she wouldn't let give in that easily.
"Nice try, pal, but you're going to have to do better than that."
David looked at her with pleading eyes. "Look, can we just make a compromise?"
She glared at him. "That's just fancy talk for a deal"
"We're on the right page then" he said with a smirk before continuing.
"Well, look, I have nowhere else to go, even though clearly you want me out of here. And you're right. I don't have any right to be here, but I had a hard week. I lost a good deal I was working on and all I want right now is to just spend some time in my apartment."
"So? That doesn't mean I'm just going to let you move back in." Elizabeth retorted.
"Well, you seem to be nice enough to help. Look here's the deal. You let me stay in my apartment and I'll let you stay in this apartment for as long as you want."
Elizabeth glared at him, and folded her arms impatiently. "You have terrible negotiating skills, you know that?"
He simply smirked. "Look, obviously we don't know each other that well, so we're gunna start from the top. I'm David Gordon." He said, outstretching his hand.
Elizabeth looked at it his hand like it was some vile creature and didn't accept it.
"Elizabeth McGuire." She said with hostility.
"Look Elizabeth, I'm sorry for barging in on you like this. I know that I seem like this bastard who gets what he wants but I've had a really tough couple of months and I would really appreciate it if you'd just help me out a bit here."
She nodded hesitantly, interested at where this was going.
"If you let me stay here, we could live here together. I mean, we would hardly be in each other's way. You just say the word and I'll be gone for half the day."
Elizabeth simply smirked. "Well you were right about one thing."
"What's that?"
"You do seem like a bastard. What makes you think I'll agree with that? You walked in about five minutes ago and already your asking to move in with me? How do I know you're not some kind of psychopath?"
"You don't. But I know I'm not. Look, please give it a chance. One month. That's all it'll take." David looked at Elizabeth with pleading eyes, ones that Elizabeth just somehow couldn't resist.
"I'll agree if I'm allowed to set the rules around here." She said firmly, ashamed she let herself give in to him.
He agreed and she continued. "One. We may talk, if I initiate it. Two. We may never use each others belongings unless entirely necessary, and Three…" She pondered for her answer, but couldn't think of anything.
She frowned in frustration. "I can't think of number three at the moment. Is that clear?"
David forced a smile. "Crystal Clear. May I please go to bed now?"
Elizabeth nodded and watched him enter his bedroom. Thankfully, it wasn't the one she had picked for herself. She stared back at the phone wondering to herself just what had she gotten herself into.
A/N: I guess I should've explained it in the 1st chapter, but I may as well explain it now (hopefully you guys will be expert enough of LM to know) I guess its been a common story that Lizzie and Gordo gave each other their nicknames when they were kids, seeing as they've never met each other in this one, they're Elizabeth and David. Hope you liked the introduction of "David"…
R&R…u no the drill!
