Disclaimer: I don't own Lizzie McGuire or the characters. Disney does.
"You want a slurpie, Lizzie?"
"Yeah-" Before she could finish, Gordo was off toward the vendor, wallet in hand.
"Gordo! Hey! What did I say about buying me stuff?!" Lizzie marched after him, grabbing his wallet holding arm.
"C'mon Lizzie. What's one little slurpie gonna harm?"
"Well…What if I want a giant slurpie!?" Lizzie tried.
Gordo widened his eyes at her, smirking playfully, "Oh, well, I'd say that you'd be taking advantage of me."
"No! I meant- Oh Gordo, just let me buy my own slurpie," Lizzie grumped.
Gordo snickered at her, but shrugged in surrender.
Lizzie watched him carefully, warily letting go of his arm and making her own way to the vendor.
They successfully bought their own drinks and continued walking along the beachside.
Gordo finished first, and stayed quiet and tense for a short while, before making little jerky movements and then pulling away. Finally, he did what he must have been gathering the nerve to do the whole time, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Lizzie faltered a little in surprise, glancing at him quickly. She gave him a nervous, yet kind smile and focused back on her drink.
After a while, Lizzie finished hers. Gordo pointed to a trash can on the pavement, "Here, we can toss them."
The level ground of the pavement was becoming quite a problem. Add to that, her platform sandals, and Gordo's height. And it was becoming quite uncomfortable to keep herself low enough for Gordo's arm to stay on her shoulders. She blushed, thinking about how silly they must look, especially as she walked with bent knees and a slouch.
To Gordo's credit, he only took another couple of minutes to notice, and subtly steered them back onto the sand. His hand moved to a supportive, gentle touch at the small of her back.
She was still burning with awkwardness when a beach ball came flying at her and hit her in the head.
She glared at Gordo, so much for the protective boyfriend.
A tall, tanned, guy came running up to them, muttering a short 'sorry' before picking up the ball and hitting it back to his friends.
"Kevin, you jerk! Did you even apologise?!" A girl stood from where she was sun bathing with a group of girls close by.
"Yes! I did!"
"He did," Lizzie reassured.
"Oh, yeah, and it looked so sincere," she said sarcastically, walking right up to them.
"No, really, I…I'm fine," Lizzie said, not wanting to cause a fuss.
The girl cocked her head at them, "You guys here on vacation?"
"Yeah, with my family," Lizzie replied.
The girl smiled. She looked a couple years older than Lizzie herself. "Oh fun times. At least you have your friend…"
"Gordo, and I'm Lizzie," Lizzie said, and in the back of her brain, she knew that she had purposefully misinterpreted what the girl was trying to find out.
The girl paused to glance again between Gordo and Lizzie and then held out her hand, "I'm Marie. And that guy who nearly knocked you out was Kevin. We're all here on vacation too."
"Oh cool."
The girl tilted her head to look at her, and then said, "Look, on Saturday, we're having a little pool party. You seem pretty cool, why don't you come- about lunchtime? You can bring your…friend if you want."
"Really?! I mean, yeah, sure, I'll see if I can make it." Lizzie smiled, waiting there until Marie returned with a spare piece of paper with the address.
They walked away in silence. Finally, Gordo said, "You're not thinking of going, are you?"
"What? Why not?" Lizzie slid the paper into her pocket.
"Well, you just met them, for one. Also, they looked like they were seniors or something!"
"So?"
"So, there'll probably be drinking, and drugs, and…"
"And what would you know about it?"
"Lizzie, c'mon-"
"Look, can you just stop. You don't understand. It's got nothing to do with you," Lizzie blurted out.
Gordo stared at her, jaw clenched, "Right, cause I'm just your friend, right?"
Lizzie blinked, stunned, watching Gordo's back as he stalked away. She tried a useless, "Gordo!"
Gordo felt so mad, but not at Lizzie. He felt mad at himself. He'd been so caught up in his fairytale come true that he forgot something he'd always known. Lizzie was forever striving to be popular. And it was clear to anyone, that having Gordo as a boyfriend would never ensure that…at least in high school.
He made it back to the holiday house, and was standing in front of the living room windows. He heard the door open and close, and then Lizzie's cautious footsteps into the room.
She finally spoke into the silence, her voice cautious and timid, "Gordo?"
Gordo sighed. He couldn't take this out on her. It was just Lizzie, and he liked her just the way she was. Even if…-No."
"Gordo, if this is about how I gave Marie the impression that we were just friends, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, It happened so quick and I wasn't sure what she was asking, I-"
"Lizzie," Gordo turned around, interrupting, "It's okay. It was a simple mistake. I accept your apology."
"Oh," Lizzie exhaled in relief and smiled shyly, "Thanks Gordo."
Gordo shrugged.
Lizzie strode toward him and threw her arms around his neck impulsively.
Gordo stumbled a bit, grabbing hold of her to steady them. Then, when she kept holding on, and squeezing him tighter, he allowed himself to enjoy it also. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her body in, holding her in a warm hug. He turned his head and breathed in the fresh, rich smell of her hair and skin.
When finally she pulled back, she was smiling sheepishly, and blushing lightly.
Gordo reluctantly let her go and stepped back, "You use scented soap, don't you?"
"Coconut," Lizzie blushed.
Gordo then blushed as well as he processed what he had just said, "Oh. It- um…you smell nice."
"Thanks."
Gordo cleared his throat, "So, um…you going to go to this party?"
Lizzie looked at him warily, but she looked pretty determined, "Yeah. We'll have to fake sick though. Dad was telling me something about an aquarium petting pool museum thing, I think they're going tomorrow."
"We? We can't both be sick."
Lizzie smiled at him coyly, "Mm, but being the wonderful boyfriend that you are, you'll insist on staying home to take care of me."
"You think that'll work?" Gordo rose an eyebrow screptically.
Lizzie sidled close to him again, sliding her hand into his and looking deep into his eyes, "Please Gordo?"
Gordo sighed, completely unable to say no to her, "Fine. But I just want to put it on the record that I think this is a bad idea, and something will go wrong."
"Duly noted, now can we go to the mall? I need something to wear to the party."
"You brought you're entire wardrobe!" Gordo called after her.
"So!? These are seniors Gordo! Do you think they'll be impressed by last season's outfit!?"
Gordo rolled his eyes and sighed.
Luckily, when the time came, Mr and Mrs McGuire fell for the sick routine. And then Mrs McG was able to convince her husband that Gordo and Lizzie would be fine alone for the afternoon.
She only gave Lizzie a stern, glance before they left.
"Lizzie, are you sure-?" Gordo tried one more time.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go get changed, won't be long."
Gordo flopped back into the couch, settling in for a while, "Right."
They walked into the beach house. Gordo was immediately overwhelmed by the music, and the people. For one, there were a lot of people, but they were also very rowdy and looked very old.
Lizzie edged back toward him, bumping into his side. Gordo felt a little relieved, glad that she was still the same Lizzie. She was enticed by the glamour of popularity and rebellion, but mostly put off by the actuality of it. He was tempted to say an 'I told you so'.
But Lizzie grabbed his hand firmly and headed into the party. Gordo patiently followed.
They found Marie outside by the pool.
After being introduced to everyone and watching Lizzie having a great time making new friends, Gordo excused himself to the bathroom.
He slowly made his way back to the pool, only to find no Lizzie, and no Marie. He searched and searched, and finally found her in the kitchen.
The first thing he noticed was that the tall guy he knew as Kevin was leaning over close to her. He was offering her a drink of punch.
The anger rising inside of him did not mean he didn't notice how uncomfortable Lizzie looked.
Lizzie politely refused a few more times.
"C'mon, what are you? Some goodie-two-shoes- what's it gonna hurt."
Lizzie looked quite stricken as she finally allowed the drink to be pressed into her hand. She lifted it up to her face, sniffing at it, expressing shock, and then cautiously and reluctantly put it to her lips.
"Lizzie," Gordo interrupted, stepping into the room.
Lizzie looked frantically relieved to see him, her eyes pleading with him.
Gordo glanced at the guy, who shrugged carelessly and walked away. Gordo frowned at Lizzie, "Lizzie-"
She walked up to him hastily, grabbing him and burying her face in his shoulder.
Gordo sighed, patting her back, "Let's go."
"Take me home," Lizzie's voice was muffled in his shirt.
They walked home pressed together, mostly in silence.
When they got home, they walked in to find some very angry looking parents.
"Lizzie! Gordo! Where on earth have you been!? We ring and you don't answer, and we come here to find you gone! We trusted you!"
"I-" Lizzie started miserably.
Gordo stepped forward, "It was my idea…"