CHAPTER 10: LIZZIE AND MIRANDA

Lizzie and Miranda were no longer the best of friends as they had once been, though they still saw each other on occasion. When the new semester began the Monday after the Winter Break, they found themselves in the same Humanities class, and at the end of class, which was also the end of the day, they walked together towards the courtyard to meet their boyfriends, and began to talk, once again, like old friends.

"So how's Brock?" Miranda began, more as a way of making conversation than anything else. Miranda couldn't have possibly cared any less about the lug that held the position of honor as Lizzie McGuire's current beau, but she thought Lizzie would appreciate her asking.

"It's Brad," Lizzie corrected. "And he's fine. How's Chris?"

"Good, good," Miranda answered, nodding.

"So…is it getting serious?" Lizzie wondered.

"Oh…yeah!" Miranda exclaimed, infusing her words with more enthusiasm than she actually felt.

"Sounds like you're feeling pretty confident about Prom."

Mirandap'shawed. "Prom is in the bag," she assured.

Then, for a moment, she was quiet, not because she was thinking about Chris taking her to the prom, but because she was recalling another image that had recently crept into her head and would not let go. This was the image of her good friend Gordo, his hair wild as usual, but otherwise looking so handsome and proper in a black tux with a forest green cummerbund that matched….her dress. Because she saw herself in that dress, the one that had been in the window at Clarissa's since just before Thanksgiving. She knew she would look fabulous in that dress, and that Gordo would look fabulous all tuxed up to match, his arm intertwined with hers. This was the prom picture she imagined, not herself with Chris.

"So…" Lizzie's quiet word interrupted Miranda's thoughts. "How is Gordo these days anyway?"

Miranda started, feeling a little alarmed, slightly transparent. "Why would you ask about Gordo?" she demanded.

"No reason," Lizzie said. "I'm just wondering, on account of he's our friend and all. Is there anything wrong with asking about a friend?"

"No, no!" Miranda agreed heartily, taking a deep breath. "Of course not. Of course he's our friend. And you should ask about him. To wonder if he's okay and all."

"On account of Nicole," Lizzie added. "I just want to make sure he's doing okay after Nicole leaving like that. He is doing okay, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, he's…he's…" Miranda began, then changed her tone somewhat to say, "Well, it's hard, you know? He's a little depressed. It's only been a few weeks. They were together a long time. It's going to take him a while to bounce back."

As they walked, Lizzie was quiet, taking this all in. Miranda heard herself continuing to provide very private information about Gordo. She almost felt she shouldn't say anything, but this was Lizzie. It was okay if Lizzie knew, wasn't it?

"Actually," Miranda suddenly heard herself say, almost against her better judgement, "Gordo had a kind of a…a letdown last weekend."

"Oh?" Lizzie asked, keenly interested.

"Yeah. Of course he and Nicole have been keeping in touch by phone and email quite a bit, but the last few days he's been telling me that Nicole is talking a lot about this new family that just moved into the neighborhood, only days after she did. And it's seems this new family has a teenage son, his name is Tom, and it turns out they're walking back and forth to school every day…"

"Oh…" Lizzie commiserated. "Poor Gordo!"

"I know," Miranda agreed. "It doesn't look good."

"So have Gordo and Nicole…I mean, have they officially…?"

Miranda sighed. "If it's not official yet, I'm sure it will be soon. Very soon."

"Oh! Poor Gordo!" Lizzie repeated.

"Yeah," Miranda said simply.

They walked on a bit in silence, then Lizzie suddenly burst out with, "I heard he went out with Parker McKenzie." She looked across at Miranda, checking for her reaction.

"Oh,that!" Miranda exclaimed. "Yeah, that was pretty much a disaster."

"It was?" Lizzie asked.

"Gordo told me all about it. The concert was great, they went to see Smash Mouth, you know. But afterwards somehow Parker got the strange idea in her head that this made them a couple, and she kept calling him and bugging him for days and days to take her out again. I guess she kind of got to be a pain. Gordo had to tell her off eventually. The girl does will not take no for an answer."

Lizzie huffed. "Gordo and Parker! As if!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Miranda agreed. "Somehow I just don't see it."

"You're right," Lizzie said. "Parker is not the girl for our Gordo."

"You're right," Miranda said. "Definitely not the girl for Gordo."

They walked a while longer in silence, each silently thinking who might in fact be the girl for Gordo. They reached the courtyard, but neither Brad not Chris were anywhere to be seen, so they sat down together on a bench.

"You know," Lizzie philosophized, "I think it's good that you've kept in such close touch with Gordo. I think he really needs that. I'm glad you're there to be his friend, Miranda."

"Well, you're his friend too," Miranda says. "Even though you don't see him much nowadays. The way you feel about him hasn't changed, has it?"

"You mean my feelings for him as a friend?"

"As a friend…and as a brother," Miranda said, reminding Lizzie of a devastating comment she had made to Gordo at the beginning of high school. Of course Lizzie couldn't help the way she felt about Gordo, but Miranda had always been secretly annoyed at Lizzie for breaking his heart so harshly. Even now when she thought about it, it still bothered her.

"Oh yes," Lizzie said, hesitantly. "My feelings for him as…a brother. Wait! He told you about that?"

"Gordo tells me everything," Miranda replied, matter-of-factly.

"Huh. He does. Well, you know…sure, I remember saying that, and …well, you know, Miranda…it's actually kind of…complicated…"

"I'll say!" Miranda exploded. "How can you just sit there and say, 'Oh, it's complicated'? He was head over heels for you, and you knew it, and you pull out the 'Like a Brother' Card? You devastated him, Lizzie! You tore his world apart. And then he had Nicole, and that helped, but now she's gone, and he's a mess all over again. And fuckin' Parker McKenzie is all over him again! So, yeah, I'd say it's complicated. It's all complicated, but you started it, Lizzie, you were the first one to complicate the hell out of his life!"

Miranda eyed Lizzie closely, but Lizzie didn't answer—she simply pressed her lips close together, so close they almost turned white.

The two girls sat there, a palatable attention tension between them, until finally Lizzie said, very weakly, "I'm so…so sorry about that, Miranda. I never meant…I never expected…and now I'm thinking…maybe I should—"

"Oh no, Lizzie!" Miranda exclaimed. "No, you don't. Not again. Don't you dare get near Gordo! He's so conflicted right now. He has a lot of mixed-up feelings inside him about so many things. Now would be the worst time for…for…"

"For what?"

"Well, just in case you were thinking of trying to…you know…"

Lizzie pulled herself up and asked outright, "What do you think I would be trying to do?"

"Well, you know, it's…it's just better if there were no further complications…"

"How would I complicate things?" Lizzie asked, feeling the hair on the back of her neck begin to stand up. "I mean NOW, after all this time?"

"Oh, believe me," Miranda said, rolling her eyes. "You could totally complicate things for Gordo right about now."

Lizzie sat up even straighter. "What does that mean, Miranda? Does that mean what I think it means? Are you saying Gordo still thinks…still wants…?"

"Look, Lizzie," Miranda said outright. "Gordo doesn't know what he thinks, he doesn't know what he wants. I told you, he's a mess. So just leave him alone, okay?"

Lizzie huffed again. "Miranda! What do you take me for?"

"I see. I know," Miranda revealed. "I'm the friend that's still there for him, remember? And he's in a very vulnerable state right now. He isn't really thinking straight. He had a thing for you once, and—"

"Once?" Lizzie questioned.

"Yes, once. But you had your chance. And you blew it. And now it's best if you just leave him alone and let him have a chance to—"

"Oh my God!" Lizzie cried suddenly. "I get it now! I see it! Suddenly I see it! Oh my God!"

Miranda crunched up her brow in confusion and annoyance. "What do you see?"

"You. Like. Gordo!" Lizzie exclaimed. "Oh my God, Miranda—!"

Miranda finished up her exaggerated gasp with "I donot like Gordo! Oh my God, Lizzie! You are wrong! So wrong!"

"Miranda Sanchez. What makes you think you can lie to me? Especially about boys! Ever since second grade when Kenny Christianson offered you a bite of his Twinkie—"

"It wasn't a Twinkie!" Miranda objected. "It was a Ho Ho—"

"Whatever!" Lizzie waved. "The point is you liked him and—"

"And I have no idea what any of this has to do with Gordo," Miranda stated.

"It's that look in your eye. It's the blush on your cheek—"

"Stop it!" Miranda insisted. "Besides, it isn't me, McGuire, it'syouthat's got a blush on your cheek—"

"Miranda! What in the world are you thinking? This is Gordo we're talking about. I mean, really! Mr. 'I Can't Believe I Got a B-Plus!' Mr. 'Do You Want to Watch the Alfred Hitchcock Festival on Channel Nine?' Mr. 'I Washed My Hair, You Mean I Have to Comb it Too?'"

"Lizzie. Lizzie. Stop and listen to yourself," Miranda said. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Lizzie frowned, huffed, looked perplexed and said, "What?"

"Shakespeare," Miranda replied simply, hoping the reference might sidetrack this conversation, which was growing altogether too uncomfortable.

But then a sudden stroke of good fortune. Brad approached from the left and Chris from the right, and at almost the same moment Lizzie and Miranda stood up to give their respective boyfriends hearty kisses in hopes of proving, to themselves and to everyone watching, that they were excessively happy with their current pairing and had no stray romantic thoughts whatsoever.

The two couples chatted briefly, said their goodbyes, then walked off in opposite directions. As they departed, Lizzie and Miranda each turned back once, at the same moment, to look at each other. They hoped to convince themselves that they had convinced each other of their absolute disinterest in dear old Gordo.

And they were almost convinced. About each other. And about themselves.

But not quite.