SF Chapter 166: Cold
A day after Prudence had returned to Switzerland, Daniel was at his sister's house, together with Charlie, Lisa, Jake, and Alan.
The men and the boys had just come back from karting and were eating the food they had ordered. Manny couldn't go because he had caught a cold.
Dani, who had already eaten at the snack bar at the kart track, ate a little and then went to the couch, where Haley and Alex were sitting.
Lisa was talking to Claire on the other side of the room.
"So you and Charlie have already talked about kids?" Claire asked, sounding surprised.
"Kind of..." Lisa made a so-so gesture. "He loves having Jake around."
"After Christmas Eve, we talked more about it, but we decided to leave that for later," she revealed.
"Well, at least Charlie is good with kids," Claire observed, gesturing toward Luke and Jake, who were laughing at whatever Charlie was saying.
"Yeah, that's because he is a big one!" Lisa pointed out, making the other blonde laugh as well.
Meanwhile, at the table, Charlie offered Jake some of what he was eating with his chopsticks. "Here, try this."
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"Just try it."
"Hey, that's good."
"Of course it is. It's chicken in frumunda sauce," Charlie said.
"Frumunda sauce?"
His uncle smirked, "Yeah, from unda' the toilet."
Jake and Luke laughed, and even Phil chuckled, muttering, "Classic!"
Jake turned to Alan. "Get it, Dad?"
"Yeah, I get it. I got it 30 years ago, the first time he said it," Alan replied flatly.
Charlie retorted, "Yeah, but it's new to them," he gestured toward the two boys. "Check this out. Hey, Jake, Luke?"
"What do you call the red mushy stuff between an elephant's toes?"
"What?"
"Slow-moving natives."
The two boys laughed again, and so did Phil.
"I love these kids," Charlie grinned. "They're a comedy blank slate."
"I'm glad you do, but you might not want to share your chopsticks with him," Alan warned. "I think he's coming down with something."
He went on, "I think Cam was kind of sick at Daniel's birthday."
"Oh, no." Charlie made a mock scared face, but joked again. "He thinks it's a head cold, but it's snot."
Seeing the two boys laughing, Charlie looked surprised. "Wait a minute, you two don't know that one either?"
"Oh, I have so much to teach you, grasshoppers."
[Phil and Claire commentary]
The couple was sitting on the living room couch.
"I think Charlie is a cool guy!" Phil stated, making an approving face.
"And we're very alike. We were bad boys who gave in to a beautiful blonde woman," he chuckled.
Claire, who was sitting next to him, slowly turned her head and stared at him with a judgmental expression.
[Commentary ends]
Dani was hugging his niece. "Umu, I miss Prudence," he complained to Haley.
"I still think Mischa is a better option. Or Lexi - I like her too," Haley commented.
She had long speculated that one of the two girls was secretly involved with Dani, but then Prudence came along - and she wasn't exactly subtle about her involvement with him.
He poked her cheek. "What's our promise?"
Haley rolled her eyes. "Not to interfere in each other's relationships. And to keep secrets."
"Exactly. I didn't say anything about you and Dylan-" he started, but suddenly let out a small yell. "Ahh!"
"What?"
"You're not my pure niece anymore," Dani made a face, shooing her away. He then hugged Alex.
Haley just rolled her eyes again. "That's very hypocrite coming from you!"
Dani ignored her, and suddenly started laughing.
Now it was Alex who asked, "What?"
"I just thought about how life is funny and ironic," he said.
He went on explaining, "Haley lost her V-card in a car, and she was conceived in a car."
"WHAT?!" Haley yelled in disbelief.
Alex was also surprised, but quickly gave her usual sassy remark. "Classy start to a classy life."
Claire and Lisa approached because of the girl's shout.
"Mom, was I conceived in a car?!" Haley quickly asked her, making a face.
"How did you know that?!"
"So it's true?!"
"It was after a Duran Duran concert," Daniel added. "So it's pretty self-explanatory."
Claire snapped her head toward her brother. "How did you know that?!"
"I found out years ago, sis," he revealed, then started his story. "It was one of those days when you punished me, making me clean something."
"That time, it was the garage. I just happened to find Phil's old answering machine. Since it's boring to just clean, I decided to play the messages while I was doing it."
"One of the recordings was you revealing-"
Claire quickly covered his mouth, giving him a warning look.
Surprisingly, Alex was the one complaining. "Oh, come on, Mom. We want to hear!"
"There's nothing much to hear. Your father and I went to a Duran Duran concert, and it happened..."
[Dani and Claire commentary]
Dani pressed the machine, playing the recording.
"Hi, Phil. This is Mitchell, uh, Pritchett, Claire's brother. I just wanted to thank you for setting me up with your cousin."
The recording continued, "She was very nice. The only problem is..." Mitchell paused, "she lives kind of far, so-"
"Ha, the only problem," Dani chuckled at his brother's blatant lie.
"Mitchell was still in the closet," Claire muttered.
Then the recording reached her part. "Phil? Hey, it's Claire. Um, I need to tell you something..."
"And I don't want to do it on your machine. It's really important. Life-and-death important." Claire's hurried voice followed, "No, no, no. Not death. Um, just life."
"I mean... oh, hell, I'm pregnant!" she blurted out.
"Don't worry. You don't have to marry me or anything. Let's talk as soon as you can."
"Why weren't we more careful? Stupid Duran Duran concert.Stupid nice car!" She ended the call.
"All these years, I knew about this," Dani said, turning toward his sister. "And yet I have to hear you lecture me about morals and responsibility. When I should be the one doing it!"
"You??!" Claire scoffed, then immediately put him in a headlock. "Now, give me all the copies."
"What? How do you know I have more than one?"
"Because I'm your sister!"
"Aww, sis," he exclaimed, but soon groaned, "Okay, okay." as she kept tightening her grip.
[Commentary ends]
Alex was about to ask her mom more questions, but she suddenly sneezed.
"Ew, Alex," Dani said, pushing her to the side, "did you get a cold too?"
He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose. "Get away from me," he lightly pushed his niece with his feet.
"Dani!" Alex said, annoyed.
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