SF Chapter 24: Come Fly with Me V
After all the care and gossip, Alex ended up not complaining about wearing a dress.
"So, what do you think?" Mary, the attendant who had taken care of Alex, asked after finishing her hair and putting her in a dress that had been chosen for her.
Alex looked at herself in the mirror. "Wow, I think... I look cute." She finally gave herself a compliment about her looks.
"Cute?!" Daniel gave a nasal snort. He grabbed her by the shoulders and, with one hand, lightly lifted his niece's chin. "Look again, you are very cute!"
"As always say, suit up!" he remarked, standing beside her and now adjusting his own new suit. "Nothing like suiting up!" he exclaimed again.
"I need to agree, I love dresses," Gloria appeared, also wearing a new dress.
Suddenly, Alex started feeling inferior again.
"Alex, that's unfair competition. It's like you competing with Einstein, and me against Shakespeare," Daniel stated, patting her shoulders. Gloria was almost outrageously gorgeous.
His niece nodded and thanked him while looking at the delicate golden bracelet on her wrist. "Thanks for the gift, Dani. And for everything else!"
"You're welcome." He raised a finger, "here's a curiosity, my Alex: one of the twenty-four similarities between girls and fish is that they're both attracted to shiny objects."
She looked dumbfounded. "What are the others?"
Now was Gloria putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't ask, or he's gonna lose all the cool-uncle vibe he managed to build today."
"Hey, that's impossible." But Daniel moved closer to his niece again, placing both hands on her shoulders and turning her back toward the mirror.
"See that, Alex?" He pointed at the reflection. "There's no way that's not cute. So don't sell yourself short. We are Pritchetts and Dunphys - we are awesome by nature!" He even praised himself.
"Thanks, Uncle Dani," she said, a little emotional.
He made a mock-crying face near her. "Uhhh, is our potato princess gonna cry?"
"Shut up, Dani!" she snapped. "And stop with these potato things!"
[Alex commentary]
Alex was sitting on the spa bench, wearing her beautiful blue dress. "I think my uncle Dani is a scumbag sometimes..."
"Maybe playboy is a better word," she said thoughtfully. "But he is a cool uncle."
"And someone you can count on... when you really need it. Other times... not so much." She finished.
[Commentary ends]
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The three of them returned to the Dunphys' house.
"Here we are, Sis. And Alex in a dress," Daniel announced, gesturing toward his niece and making a praise me face at Claire.
"Wow, you look fantastic, Alex," Claire said as she went in to hug her daughter, who hugged her back.
"Mom, I'm going upstairs to take it off so it doesn't wrinkle before the wedding," Alex remarked, heading to her room.
Claire, who had been smiling, made a slightly conflicted face. "Thank you for all that. But didn't you spend too much, Dani?" She noticed that everything Alex had was brand new.
"Sis," he stared at her. "I don't count pennies," he dismissed, then raised an eyebrow. "But I do kiss a Penny. A very beautiful-"
Claire ignored him and went to check on the oven.
A short while later, a girl came running into the kitchen.
"Dani, Dani, I want one too," Haley pouted, acting coyly with her uncle.
"Sorry, Haley, I'm on a spending freeze," Dani lied shamelessly.
She whined, "That's not fair! I'm your favorite niece!"
"Haley, stop trying to take advantage of your uncle," Claire scolded her, making her storming back to her room.
A short while later, Phil's shout was heard from the entrance. "Claire!"
"Clear the way. Coming through," Jay grumbled, holding Phil by the shoulder. "Coming through. Easy. Easy, fella."
"I need to rest my face." Phil muttered.
"You're fine."
Gloria was the first to rush into the living room and exclaimed when she saw Phil's condition, "Oh, my God!"
Claire was right behind her. "Ah! Dad?"
"Little accident. Nothing big," Jay dismissed it, setting Phil down on the couch.
But his son-in-law had a very different opinion. He groaned, "I was in a plane crash."
"What happened?" Claire stepped closer, turning to her father.
"We were threading the needle," Jay said, spreading his arms, "and somebody moved."
"No, I didn't. You did it on purpose," Phil accused, half-dizzy.
The oldest Pritchett tried to explain. "That's the painkiller talking. He's a little loopy."
"How bad is it?" his daughter asked.
"Well, the wing is cracked, the propeller's bent, but I can-"
Claire snapped, "I mean Phil." She took another look at her husband. "Thanks, Dad," she added dryly, stone-faced.
"I didn't ask him to be there," Jay defended himself as he followed his daughter into the kitchen, his son following as well. "He insisted. He took a chance. This is what happened."
"Wasn't my fault," he finished, the three of them already in the kitchen.
Claire scoffed. "I've seen you thread the needle a million times. You never miss."
"From what I know, he did miss when Alan was with him, long time ago," Daniel finally jumped into the conversation. "And he missed by a lot, since he hit my brother right in the nuts."
Jay shot him a look.
"And Dad, don't look at me like that. This time, you're the one at fault." His son didn't back down. "Also, Phil is the perfect husband for my sister."
Daniel declared, "No one loves Claire more than I do. But I lived here for a few months, and by the end of the stay, I wanted to kill her."
Claire's head snapped toward her brother, and she groaned. "Oh yeah, that was totally my fault! For not drowning you earlier!"
But she turned back to her father and slapped his hand as he was reaching for a cookie. "Put that down. You do not get a cookie. Why don't you just admit it? You never liked Phil."
"I like Phil," he retorted. "It's just that sometimes he tries too hard, you know? And it's just kind of-" he whispered, "irritating."
Claire defended her husband. "Okay, maybe he tries too hard because you make zero effort with him."
She went on as she walked back into the living room. "You know what? In the sixteen years that we've been married, have you even once told him that you liked him?"
"Not in those exact words, no," Jay muttered. "No."
"Not in any words, Dad. How do you think that makes me feel?"
Gloria overheard the conversation and put her hands on her hips. "You've never told your son that you love him?"
"Whoa, whoa. When did we jump to love?" He pointed at Phil on the couch. "And he's technically not my son."
"Ah. So that means you don't love Manny either?"
"Sure, I do. I mean, believe me, when I was in that park, I really wished Manny was there."
"For what? So you could fly the plane into his head? Huh?" She gestured, tapping her own head.
"Wow, this is like a Discovery Channel documentary. The Lion King being attacked by the lionesses because he hit the poor zebra, while the hyena just watches from the corner," Daniel muttered.
He glanced at Manny. "And the poor little penguin lost in the middle of the savanna."
Jay sighed, took a deep breath, and walked over to the couch where Phil was sitting. "Hey, Phil."
"Jay," he groaned as his father-in-law touched his leg.
"What are you, made of china?" Jay commented. "Phil, I just want you to know I'm sorry. And whether I, uh, missed or you moved-"
"I didn't."
"Either way. I just want to say that I like you," he said sincerely.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"What do you like about me?"
"You're a nice guy. You try real hard."
"I do."
"And you're a good dad." Jay finished, and Phil ended up hugging him, much to his dismay.
Shortly after, Cam, Mitchell, and Alan showed up, and Gloria made everyone go hug Jay.
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