SF Chapter 123: After the Premiere II
A few days had passed since the premiere in Los Angeles.
It was Sunday night, and the Dunphy and Pritchett families were gathered at Jay's house.
Jay was sitting comfortably in his armchair, enjoying a glass of wine. Gloria was by his side, watching Claire like a hawk.
[Daniel commentary]
Daniel was sitting on the couch in his father's house.
"Monica and the others left Sunday night, last week. Mitchell and Cam ended up going together, and Mitchell represented us there at the smaller premiere in New York."
"So I still had a day to show my new house to Penny."
He smirked. "And we made the most of it. We had another day of the fantastic four!"
[Commentary ends]
On the couch, Luke was sitting next to Manny, with Alex nearby.
She groaned. "It froze again!" She was using a laptop that she shared with her siblings.
"Mom, I can't do my homework like this!" Alex complained. "It's all because of those childish games Luke downloaded onto the computer!"
Claire, who was holding Lily in her lap, completely ignored her daughter. She was on the phone. "Relax, Mitchell. Lily is perfectly fine. I know how to take care of kids. I raised five of them."
"You should enjoy these last few days in New York," she said to her brother.
[Claire commentary]
"I did Mitchell this favor, since he traveled to New York for some time off," Claire commented about taking care of Lily.
"But I had to get shared custody of her, since Gloria also got involved," she finished, making a face that showed she wasn't too happy with the arrangement.
[Commentary ends]
Luke responded to his sister's accusation as she complained again. "Those weren't my games, Alex. Dad downloaded them."
"Sweetheart, those are awesome games," Phil commented. "You should play one and relax."
Alex stared at her father, took a deep breath, shook her head, and went back to trying to do her homework project on the notebook.
On the other couch in the living room, Haley was smiling. "Mischa is so funny," she said. She was lying down with her head resting against her uncle.
"Are you talking to her about the latest episode of The O.C.?" Dani asked.
"Yes. She texted something funny that happened on set," his niece replied, showing him her phone with the message.
Then what everyone had been waiting for happened - the house phone started ringing. Jay answered it and put it on speaker.
"Good evening, Mr. Pritchett," the voice of a Paramount executive came through the phone.
He quickly gave the report. "Superbad is tracking toward $42.1 million for the opening weekend. We have a hit!"
Everyone celebrated, even those who didn't understand the numbers - which was most of them.
Phil even grabbed the champagne from the ice bucket and popped it open.
The executive continued his analysis. "Based on our estimates, we're projecting around $120 million in the domestic box office."
"There's a chance it could surpass the $200 million mark worldwide!"
Dani quickly stood up and patted Jay on the shoulder. "Yes, we did it again, Dad!" He struck a victory pose.
Soon, he received congratulations from the whole family.
"Okay, now I'm inaugurating a new family tradition," Dani announced, getting everyone's attention. "I'm starting a 'make a wish', to share this moment with the people I love."
"What is it?" Alex was the first to ask.
"We're American!" he replied. "Since I've got a crapload of money, what's more obvious than using it for consumerism!"
Alex stared at him flatly, then asked, "Can I have a new notebook just for myself?"
"Done!" Dani pointed at her.
Luke was the next to speak. "New video games?"
"A new cologne, and a new suit," Manny added.
"Done! And done!"
Phil also got excited. "There's this new camcorder with a base that makes it rotate!"
"Phil!" Claire stared at him incredulously.
"Totally done!"
"Maybe a car?!"
"Done!"
"Oh my God!" Haley jumped onto Dani after hearing his answer. She had tried her luck.
"No, no, no!" Claire quickly handed Lily to Gloria and moved to separate her daughter from her uncle.
"You are not buying Haley a car, Dani!" she admonished.
"Why not?" they both asked, Haley already getting annoyed.
"Mom, that is not fair!" she whined. "You didn't let me move in with Dani, and now you won't let him buy me a car!"
"Yeah, just like she didn't let you marry Dani when you were kids," Alex chimed in. "And now she won't let you live in a house without supervision or let him buy you a car."
"Wow, what a terrible mom we have," she added, dripping with sarcasm.
"Shut up, Alex!" Haley snapped at her.
"Come on, sis. We can find a car with a 25 mph speed limiter to ensure everyone's safety, especially pedestrians," Dani remarked.
"That's not the problem," Claire started to say, but paused, "well, not the only problem."
Haley gasped, offended. "I'm getting better, okay?!" She glared at her mother and at Dani.
"Okay, okay, people," Phil stepped in.
Claire and Haley stopped for a moment.
"I just found a place where we can buy the camcorder today!" he said to his brother-in-law.
Claire slowly turned her head toward her husband, making a face like, 'Really, Phil?' while Daniel just exclaimed, "Cool! Let's go there!"
Haley started complaining again, reigniting the argument.
Jay was sipping the champagne that had been opened, completely acting like he had nothing to do with the chaos.
"Enough!" Gloria said loudly, stepping into the middle of the argument. "Ay, you are all making Lily cry!" she admonished them.
She paused for a moment, then added, "And I want a new dress!" making her wish.
Claire made a judgmental face at Gloria, until Daniel suddenly had a eureka moment.
"Sis, how about we make a horror movie as your wish?" he proposed. "I can write a script, and we can use Phil's new camcorder to film it."
"And it also makes up for the simpler Halloween we had this year because of the premiere."
"N-" Claire started to refuse, opened and closed her mouth, but ended up just staring at her brother.
[Phil commentary]
"That was checkmate," Phil chuckled about Dani's proposal to his wife.
"Claire just loves horror movies too much! And having the chance to make one herself is way too tempting."
"And the best part, my camcorder wish is safe."
[Commentary ends]
[Jay commentary]
Jay was still sipping the champagne. "I don't need to make a wish. I already have mine - seeing my whole family together."
"And next week, Mitchell and Cam come back, and they'll join the chaos too." He smiled.
But he paused for a moment. "Yeah... I'm not going to say this wish out loud. Ever." He tried to look tough again.
[Commentary ends]
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