Chapter 5

Gordo was just about finished his first college semester, and he found himself becoming more and more nervous as the break drew nearer. His parents sent him a voucher to fly home for Christmas, or in his family, Hanukkah. He looked forward to seeing his parents and family, but he was anxious about seeing Lizzie. He had emailed her a couple times throughout the semester, but nothing of substance or truly heartfelt. She had left numerous voicemails on his cell phone, most of which he hadn't even listened to. He dialed her number a few times, but would always hang up before anyone answered. It was just too awkward, and the longer he waited, the harder it became to think about talking to Lizzie. They always had such an easy friendship, why was this so difficult now?

It was the night before Gordo's Intro to Film class's final exam, but he couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in bed, trying to block out the memories that kept flooding back to him.

It was after the graduation ceremony, only six months ago. Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda had just finished taking all their cap and gown photos, and each were telling their parents about the graduation party they were going to that night. After all the cards, gifts and money were received, they were on their way to the graduation party on the beach.

Gordo smiled to himself in his dorm, remembering how self-conscious Lizzie was about her after-grad party outfit. He never understood why she would get so worried about her wardrobe when she looked stunning in absolutely anything.

He remembered the rest of that night as well as he could, as there had been a lot of drinking. It was a clear night; the stars were visible from the beach, even among the bonfire. Everyone was around the fire, either sitting, standing, dancing, making out, laughing and having a good time. The waves crashed in the background, and Gordo remembered sitting with Lizzie's back to his chest around the fire. It was the perfect moment, up until the point Gordo was holding Lizzie's hair back as she vomited behind a bench on the beach. She couldn't handle her liquor well, but even he felt the effects of the few drinks he had.

The original plan for that night had been to tell Lizzie's parents that she was staying at Miranda's, when really Lizzie and Gordo were going to sneak into his house late at night and finally give themselves to each other. At the sight of Lizzie getting sick on the beach, Gordo knew it wasn't going to happen that night. He wanted the both of them to be completely sober, to have their first time be completely right. He cared about Lizzie too much; it would have felt like he was taking advantage of her.

When Gordo told Lizzie that he was going to drop her off at Miranda's instead as per the fake plan, she became distraught. This was supposed to be the night, it had been their plan for weeks, months even. Her hazel eyes rimmed with tears as she tried to convince Gordo that she was fine, she was in the right state of mind and really wanted this to happen that night. He kept telling her she should go to Miranda's, but Lizzie never took no for an answer. She was so beautiful when she was stubborn. Reluctantly, Gordo gave up and they started walking towards his house.

Crashing through the front door, they had to try extremely hard to be quite while ascending the stairs towards Gordo's room. Once they were at his room, Gordo shut and locked the door as Lizzie fell onto his bed. Her blonde hair fanned out on his pillow as she looked at him and motioned him forward. He crawled over top of her and kissed her neck lightly, she giggled in response. They were used to this, they had gone pretty much as far as possible before actual sex, but had always managed to stop themselves. Gordo continued to kiss down her neck, to her chest, her sides, her stomach. He was at her jean shorts, and kissed just above her zipper.

"I love you, Gordo" Lizzie half mumbled, half sighed. She reached down and was fumbling with her own jean shorts zipper. Finally, she just wiggled out of them and cast them on the floor, revealing cute blue boy short type underwear. Gordo kissed them, where the band met her stomach, making her shiver.

"I love you more than anything, McGuire" Gordo responded, as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"Wait, wait do you have the stuff, the things?" The alcohol was clearly affecting Lizzie's speech as she stumbled across the words.

"Right, I'll be right back" Gordo whispered, getting off the bed and out the door.

He headed to the downstairs bathroom. His parents completely trusted him, and knew he was a responsible young man. However no matter how many times he tried to tell them that he and Lizzie weren't having sex, they didn't care. They believed in prevention, so they had bought him a pack of condoms about a year earlier, the day his mother walked in on he and Lizzie during some serious action in his room. Embarrassed, he threw the pack under the sink in the bathroom, determined to show them he was telling the truth. He grabbed the whole box and headed back upstairs, two stairs at a time.

When he got to his room and shut the door, he turned to see Lizzie had gotten under the covers and was on her side, breathing deeply. As Gordo slid in next to her, he saw she was completely asleep. He put the box of condoms on his side table, turned off the lamp, and cuddled in behind to her, falling asleep holding her.

It was still a perfect graduation night.

The next morning, Gordo was the first to wake to find himself holding Lizzie in his arms as she slept quietly. It was the perfect moment, but then his stomach gave a leap; how was he going to sneak Lizzie past his parents?! Mind racing, he squeezed Lizzie closer to him. The window? Should he pretend she just came over from her house and they didn't hear her? Or maybe… wait, it was Saturday. Both his parents had appointments on Saturday mornings. Sighing, he relaxed and buried his face into Lizzie's strawberry scented hair.

Lizzie sighed in her sleep, and rolled over facing Gordo. Her face was angelic, peaceful. Her eyelashes fluttered open for a couple seconds, and she smiled seeing Gordo. She pulled herself closer to him so that their hipbones were touching, then laid her head on his chest.

After that night, Lizzie and Gordo decided they were going to wait until the moment was perfect. That moment didn't come until a couple of weeks later, when Lizzie's parents were out for the night and Matt was staying at Lanny's.

The summer was just flying by, and Lizzie and Gordo still hadn't talked about what was going to happen to their relationship when he went to NYU. They filled their time with going to the pool, the beach, the mall, movies, dinners out, hanging out with Miranda and shopping for their dorm things. Before Gordo knew it, it was the week before he was leaving for his drive for NYU, and he and Lizzie were in her room. Lizzie's parents had gone out for the night and Matt was staying over at Lanny's, so they had the whole house to themselves. Now would probably be their last chance to have sex before they went off to different colleges.

Gordo had never been so nervous, he constantly whipped his palms on his jeans as he sat next to Lizzie on her bed.

"So, did you bring the stuff from your house?" Lizzie asked innocently, pulling her legs to her chest.

"Mhm, I didn't bring the whole box though, I figured we probably wouldn't be doing it 24 times." Gordo laughed nervously, turning more towards Lizzie.

Lizzie smiled and bit her lip, "Hah, yeah I guess so," Lizzie batted her eyelashes, "but you never know. We could be here all night."

Lizzie's attempt at being sexy made Gordo feel a lot more comfortable, as well as incredibly excited. She probably didn't even realize the effect she had on him. They had explored each other's bodies pretty thoroughly, but it was always under the clothes since their parents were almost always home.

Lizzie leaned over and kissed Gordo passionately, putting one hand on his face and the other on his thigh. The knots in Gordo's stomach started to loosen as he deepened the kiss, putting his hands all over Lizzie's body with enthusiasm. She was so soft, so smooth, and so perfect. Lizzie started unbuttoning Gordo's shirt, and he gently lifted her t-shirt over her head. This wasn't the first time he had seen Lizzie in a bra, she changed in front of him quite a few times, but this was the first time in this context.

Gordo stood up and Lizzie followed, both undoing the others jeans and hopping out of them. They took a moment to look at the other one, but then came back together, kissing in an embrace.

Back in his dorm at NYU, Gordo smiled at the memory. It wasn't perfect, they definitely messed up a couple times. Gordo was a little nervous putting the condom on in front of Lizzie, and ended up trying to roll it on backwards. They threw that one away and tried again, this time Lizzie put it on and she did it right. Gordo got a little too enthusiastic while on top of Lizzie, and completely missed when trying to first enter her. After Lizzie's first initial pain of Gordo being inside her, she tried to adjust and accidentally slipped the condom off with her, forcing them to get a new one. Once they were more comfortable, they both started to laugh at themselves and the mistakes they were making. It became easier, and started to become more serious. Gordo watched as Lizzie leaned her head back and gave out a small moan, putting her hands on his hips and moving with the motion. All Gordo could think about was how amazing it felt, mainly focusing on the physical part. Nothing else could enter his brain as he reached his climax while holding onto Lizzie with his arms wrapped around her back.

Once all was said and done, they laid side by side held each other. They talked about the classes they had signed up for, how excited they were to leave home and live in a dorm, how much they'd miss each other, but they never spoke about whether or not they would still be boyfriend and girlfriend once they moved.

During the last week before Gordo was supposed to leave for NYU, he and Lizzie became like rabbits. They couldn't not have each others bodies every time they were around one another. They were constantly sneaking around their houses, finding small amounts of time and places in which to have sex; the bathroom, their bedrooms, their living rooms, they were obsessed! Once they gave themselves to each other, they couldn't get enough of it. It was getting easier and more pleasurable, for Lizzie in particular. Gordo now realized that they were using this as a coping mechanism to avoid talking about what was going to happen once he went to NYU. Whenever the conversation seemed to be steering that way, they would sneak away and go at it. It was a great arrangement, until the night before Gordo was leaving. Lizzie's parents were home, so they weren't able to have sex to avoid talking about it.

Gordo told her he'd miss her. He told her he loved her more than anything, and they'd be back together before she knew it. He told her that they'd speak at least once a week.

Then he promised her he'd call her the moment he got to his dorm.

But then he didn't.