A/N: I'm so sorry to everyone who liked this story. I had a little time away from the writing world, but I'm back to finish off this story, which has actually been sitting on my computer almost done for a while. Hope that everyone enjoys the last chapter!
She would have felt a little more embarrassed if she wasn't so angry. As she ran home, hoping to catch Matt before he told her mom that he had caught her and Gordo kissing in the park, she cursed herself for having such a nosy, inquisitive family. Gordo had always been jealous of her family, as his parents rarely even paid attention to him, but it was things like this that really ticked her off. First her mom making things completely weird and embarrassing the other night while they were watching the movie-- now this.
She knew that Gordo wouldn't care, but she was still really upset about it. It felt strange that her and Gordo would even be caught kissing in the first place and she wasn't sure she felt ready for everyone to know yet. At the same time, it felt so right to be lying there with him in the sand… Despite the anger now coursing through her veins, she felt a prickle of excitement course through her center, remembering the feel of Gordo's hands on her bare stomach and back as he kissed her.
By the time she showed up at her house she was breathing hard. She burst through her door and saw Matt coming out of the kitchen about the head up the stairs. "Matt!" she exclaimed, "I'm going to kill you!"
He took one look at her wild expression before deciding to stop in his tracks his hands up in the air defensively. "Actually I think you'll be the one that is dead after I tell Mom" he taunted her.
She growled and ran towards him on the stairs, tackling him to the ground as he had started to run up them again. She was about to give him the biggest wedgie of his life when her Mom showed up at the top of the stairs looking inquisitive. "Tell Mom what?" she asked.
Lizzie and Matt both stopped mid-motion and sprung away from each other. There was a pause as Lizzie tried to think of what to say. Matt beat her to the punch, "I saw Gordo and Lizzie kissing in the park!"
Lizzie tried to make a swing at him while she yelled, "Matt!" but he ducked underneath her and ran up the stairs to her mom.
"Lizzie!" Her mom reprimanded, "Leave your brother alone." Matt looked gleeful and stuck his tongue out at her. "I want you to go downstairs to the living room."
Lizzie looked at her apprehensively, "What for?"
"We need to talk" was all she said. Lizzie felt her stomach drop, as she could feel the 'you're not ready for this kind of step' talk coming. Matt, on the other hand, looked like Christmas had come early. "And Matt--" she paused for a moment as he looked up at her with a hopeful look on his face, "I want you to go to your room for the rest of the afternoon."
His face fell as he jumped up in indignation. "What for!?" he cried.
"For spying on your sister" she said, crossing her arms in front of her.
His mouth dropped open in surprise as he sputtered, "But--…I--" Mrs. McGuire raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head to the side a bit before he finally stomped upstairs.
Lizzie sat on the couch, staring down at the floor, knowing that this was going to be terrible. Her mom quietly came in and sat down on the couch next to her. Lizzie could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"Is what your brother said true?" her mother asked quietly.
Lizzie sat for a moment, debating on if it was worse to lie or to actually tell her mother she had been kissing her childhood friend. After a moment though, she felt herself nodding slowly.
There was a long silence in which Lizzie braced herself for the blow.
"Oh Lizzie!" her mother finally exclaimed, "I'm so happy, I've been waiting for this moment for so long."
Lizzie's jaw dropped and looked up in surprise. "What?" she squeaked.
"You and Gordo! When was it? Sometime this summer? Oh, or was it in Rome?! Lizzie, he's liked you for so long, I was wondering when you'd finally notice him." Her mother gushed on, grasping Lizzie's hand and smiling as if she had won the million dollar jackpot.
"But—" Lizzie gaped at her, "I thought I was in trouble…"
"Oh no, honey, what would you be in trouble for? It was a perfectly natural thing to have happened. In fact, I couldn't be happier than if you had picked any other guy." Her mother beamed at her.
Lizzie still sat in shock, trying to process everything her mother was saying. "So—" her mother hesitated, "How long have you guys been going steady? Did he make the first move?"
Lizzie rolled her eyes, "Mom, they don't call it 'going steady' anymore.."
Her mother looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, How long have you been…um…going out?"
Lizzie narrowed her eyes at her, "I don't know if I want to talk about it with you."
Her mother's face dropped. "Oh. I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe, I don't know, I could give you some advice or something if you needed it."
Lizzie looked back down at her hands, "Well, I don't need your help."
There was a pause and she felt her mom gathering herself to stand up. "Okay, well, that's fine…I'll just…leave you be then." She heard the hurt in her mother's voice.
Lizzie's insides seemed to drop and she had an internal battle with herself. She didn't want her mom to butt in, but at the same time she really did need some advice on what to do.
"Mom—wait" she said quickly. Mrs. McGuire quickly turned around with a hopeful smile. "Actually…I think I could use some advice."
"I'm all ears" her mother said excitedly, sitting down next to her on the couch.
"Well…" Lizzie said, unsure of where to start, "Things kind of started last year, back at my murder mystery party…see Kate Sanders told me that Gordo had…has a crush on me."
"You never realized it before?" her mother asked, surprised.
Lizzie shook her head, "Well, it took me a while to realize I liked him too, and…well, I kissed him…in Rome."
Her mother let out a sigh, "Oh how romantic!" Lizzie's cheeks burned, her mother could get quite overdramatic sometimes. "And then what?"
"Well, not too much until this past week when we held hands during the movie and just today when we kissed in the park" Lizzie said.
"So when did he ask you out?" Mrs. McGuire inquired.
"See, that's the thing…" Lizzie explained, "He hasn't. That's part of the problem."
"Well, when did you say that you liked him back?" Her mother asked.
"I thought I made that pretty apparent when I kissed him!" Lizzie exclaimed, now frustrated.
"Oh Lizzie," her mother said in a sad voice, "Men are so clueless about that sometimes. I had to knock your father over the head with the truth before he finally asked me out."
Lizzie held her hands up, "Spare me the gushy details Mom."
Her mother smiled, "I think you two need to talk. It might just take walking up to him and just saying out loud that you like him."
Lizzie's insides squirmed at the thought, "That sounds scary though."
Mrs. McGuire held one of Lizzie's hands and looked at her thoughtfully, "But it is totally worth it honey, trust me."
Gordo was lying on his bed, running over the details of the morning over and over in his mind. He remembered her smile and laughter as he tickled her on the swing, the rush of falling and being tangled together in the sand. He felt his pulse begin to beat harder as he remembered staring into her eyes, trying to gather the courage to kiss her. Her shirt had ridden up when they had fallen, and he couldn't help but run his hand up her soft stomach to her ribcage, his other hand softly caressing her back.
He couldn't forget how she shivered slightly under his touch and inched closer to him, almost as if she herself couldn't get close enough either. Was it his imagination?
He definitely didn't imagine that kiss though. He had only given her a small peck to begin with before Matt interrupted them. He ached to have been able to continue it. He imagined her soft lips caressing his own.
"Gordo?" a small timid voice forced Gordo's eyes to pop open and him to sit up suddenly.
Lizzie was standing in his doorway, looking timid. Gordo felt his stomach tighten. What if she came to say it was a mistake? That she didn't want that kiss in the park?
"How did you get in?" Gordo asked, "I thought my mom left to go to a doctor's appointment."
"She met me at the door on her way out. She told me to come on up." Lizzie said.
"Oh….Is everything okay?" Gordo asked quietly, "Did you… get in trouble with your mom?"
She gave a half smile, "No, she…wasn't mad."
"Really?" Gordo asked hopefully.
"Yup." She nodded. There was a silence in which Lizzie looked down awkwardly at the floor.
"You can…come in and sit down if you want." Gordo said, gesturing next to him on the bed.
She bit her lip and looked as if she was contemplating running away, but slowly walked over to him on the bed and sat down next to him. Gordo gulped.
"I need to say something Gordo…" Lizzie said after there was a moments silence. Gordo felt his stomach drop, this was it. She was going to tell him that they couldn't continue this…this, whatever it was, anymore. "I…" she paused, looking at him with large round eyes.
Gordo felt a wave of sadness wash over him at the thought. He couldn't go back to them just being friends, he just couldn't. Didn't she feel the chemistry between them too? Maybe they just hadn't kissed long enough, maybe she couldn't tell yet.
As he stared into her deep brown eyes and felt his heart drop down to his knees. He remembered what happened at the playground that day, and back at Lizzie's before Miranda came over. 'She must just be scared' he thought, 'It's the only explanation. I can't let her stop something before it even has a chance.'
Filled with a sudden urge to stop her from saying what she was about to say Gordo lunged at Lizzie, grabbing both sides of her face and bringing his lips down forcefully upon hers.
Gordo let his instincts take over as he took her bottom lip between his own and pulling his hands into her hair. She didn't respond for a moment, almost confirming Gordo's suspicions, but after a moment he felt her arms slide up his back and begin massaging his scalp. Gordo felt his heart soar at the feeling and instantly began to wonder why he had never done this before.
She responded to his kiss with equal vigor as she inched closer to where he was sitting on the bed. Gordo let one of his hands, acting almost on its own, trail down her back slowly, where he was rewarded with a small inch of skin exposed between the back of her shirt and the top of her jeans.
Gordo softly trailed his fingers on the soft skin all the way around to her stomach. He felt her shudder slightly and inch even closer to him on the bed. Again acting on instinct, Gordo ran his tongue along her bottom lip, his heart pounding in his ears. She responded by opening her mouth slightly and he deepened the kiss. He could hardly believe what was happening.
Lizzie pulled away after a few moments of bliss, and Gordo thought she was going to slap him or run away. Instead she smiled bashfully, her cheeks flushed and breathing hard.
"So I'm…." he hesitated, his newfound confidence he had right before he kissed her almost gone, "I'm guessing that…was…okay?"
She didn't say anything for a moment, but looked down at his bed and Gordo felt his stomach drop. "I mean, it's okay if it wasn't. I—I…" he stopped, unable to think what he would do if she wasn't okay with it.
Lizzie looked up suddenly in the middle of his speech, "No, Gordo, that was… that was great…"
He looked up hopefully, "Yeah?"
She smiled and bit her lip, "In fact, the reason I came here today…was to tell you that I really like you Gordo…as more than a friend."
Gordo felt his stomach do a funny swooping motion in his chest. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say that."
If possible, her smile widened even more, "So does that mean…" she trailed off, looking bashful again. He looked at her encouragingly. She started again, "Does that mean I can kiss you some more?" Gordo laughed and pulled her close in again, their lips meeting softly together.
El Fin