SF Chapter 71: Back to LA II
Charlie ended up not being able to say no and went to his nephew's soccer game with a massive hangover, still wearing his tuxedo.
Daniel, on the other hand, said he had to go to his sister's house.
"Hello, family, I'm back!" Daniel announced excitedly as soon as Alex opened the front door.
Alex just gave a small smile, while Haley, who was sitting on the couch texting on her phone, turned and smiled. "Hi, Dani."
"I brought presents," he revealed, making her jump off the couch in delight and run straight toward him.
"What is it, Dani?" Haley was already snooping through the multiple bags he was holding.
Alex remarked with her usual sarcasm. "It's so great to see my sister care so deeply about our beloved uncle."
Then Luke and Phil came running from the other side of the living room. Apparently, they had been playing with toy guns.
"Wow, Dani, D-Hit," Phil pulled him into a hug. "Congrats. Mean Girls is exploding!"
"Yeah, P-Dad. I request a high-five," Daniel said, raising his hand, and his brother-in-law quickly slapped it.
"Pleeease, don't start getting lame again," Haley groaned from the side. "You're a celebrity now, Dani."
"Wooow, cool, Uncle Dan," Luke exclaimed, already grabbing one of the boxes from a bag.
"It's yours, Luke. Have fun."
The last one to approach was Claire, who had been doing something in the kitchen.
"This is for you, sis," he handed her a Tiffany box.
"Thanks," Claire smiled.
Haley had already taken hers and was putting it around her neck.
"Look at this, Mom," Haley showed off the necklace she had received from Dani. "It's a Return to Tiffany, and it already has a tag with my name on it."
She immediately hugged him. "Thanks, Dani. I love it!"
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Later, Cam and Mitchell showed up as well. They, along with Daniel and Claire, were talking in the kitchen.
"So Ross is going to be a father?" Mitch asked, surprised by the news.
Dani nodded. "Yep, and Carol is already in a relationship with an old friend of hers, named Susan."
"And what about that friend of Monica's, the one she said is living with her?" Claire asked, digging for gossip while serving some cookies.
"I miss Monica's food," Daniel muttered, looking at what he had been served.
"What?" His sister narrowed her eyes, while Cam hid a slight smile.
"Her name is Rachel," he replied, ignoring her stare. "I swear, it was like in a TV show. Ross was talking about getting married, and voilà, a beautiful blonde in a wedding dress."
"Running from a wedding and then gaining independence," Cam remarked enthusiastically. "She would totally be our friend."
[Mitchell, Claire and Daniel Commentary]
The three siblings were sitting in the kitchen. "You see, this is something that bonds us," Mitchell gestured with his hands toward himself and the other two.
"Talking with each other," Claire agreed.
"We are gossipers and busybodies sometimes," Daniel said bluntly. "One of the reasons I was able to write part of Mean Girls."
Claire shot him a glare, while Mitchell looked slightly embarrassed and pointed at him. "He is. I just like to know... or talk... a little bit," he tried to justify himself.
[Commentary ends]
"Hey Mitch, Cam, I'm going to need help from both of you with the script I'm writing, Juno." Daniel looked at them.
"The one about the teenage girl who gets pregnant?" Mitchell asked rhetorically. Claire had probably already told him about it.
"Yes. I was thinking, if a smart sixteen-year-old girl got pregnant, what options would she have?"
He listed them. "Basically three: abortion, keeping the baby and raising it - either herself or with her family - or putting the baby up for adoption."
He went on, "The first option would be too dramatic for me to write. The second, I couldn't see how to make it interesting."
"But the third - what if during the pregnancy she met the couple who were going to adopt her baby?"
"Wow, that is... something," Claire said thoughtfully.
"Oh my God, that would be amazing. Like an Oscar movie-" Cam got emotional, but was quickly cut off by his boyfriend.
"Cam!" Mitchell warned. He knew his brother could be a little too carefree, but there was no need to put pressure on him or start daydreaming.
"Well, that would be really interesting," he added. "If it were me..." He trailed off thoughtfully.
"You would freak out," Cam said, placing a hand on his arm. "I-" He was interrupted again.
"We can talk later," Dani said. "Now, bro, let's buy some suits."
"What?" his brother exclaimed.
"My present for you two. Besides, Mitch, you're the only brother I can count on. Charlie basically wears shorts and a shirt - no suits. And Alan... I don't even want to be near wherever he buys his clothes."
Cam and Mitchell winced, nodding in agreement.
"And," Daniel finished, "you're a lawyer, Mitchell. Fifty percent is a great suit, and the other fifty percent is knowing how to lie."
"That is offensive," his brother scolded. "A lawyer is the legal guardian of justice and due process."
Daniel completely ignored him and gestured with his hand. "If I ever write about this, I would name the movie Suits."
"A badass lawyer, with a hot secretary."
And the trio went shopping. Haley ended up tagging along as well.
But Daniel only bought one suit and then headed back to Malibu, since tagging along with two gay men and a teenage girl on a shopping spree would take the entire day.
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Daniel was grabbing some juice from the fridge when they arrived.
"Jake, for the last time, nobody got 'creamed.' No one won, no one lost," Alan lectured his son, trying to ease his mood.
But his son replied sulkily, "Yeah. Except for us. 12–2."
"Hey buddy, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's whether or not you beat the spread," Charlie commented to his nephew.
Then Daniel joined the conversation. "Yeah, if you don't play, you can hit on the cheerleaders during the game."
But he added, "But you also need to be on good terms with the team captain - and with the big guys. I managed it by being their wingman."
Alan glared at his two brothers. "Jake, go take a shower," he gestured to his son.
"Can you two not teach your immoral values to my son?" Alan snapped. "And Charlie, we're trying to teach the kids not to keep score."
"You should've thought of that before you taught them how to count," he scoffed. Then he added, "By the way, Alan, what are you doing with Jake tomorrow?"
"I don't know. Why?"
"I set up a playdate for him with one of the kids from the game."
"You're hitting on the mother, aren't you?" Alan shot him a glare.
"Ha," Daniel chuckled. "The kids play, you get a date - now 'playdate' makes more sense."
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