Chapter 10: Dinner and a Movie
Roger was pondering what the heck he was going to cook tonight for dinner, but the problem is he didn't how to cook anything. Mark knew how to cook a little bit, but the probability of any of Mark's dishes turning out good was a toss up. "What the heck am I going to cook tonight?" It was the only thought that Roger can think about. Mark planned to take Courtney out for a few hours to give Roger and Mimi some alone time in the loft and he provided Roger a recipe to cook chicken casserole. He came in the loft hoping that Mark will aid him in preparing dinner but instead he found Mark getting ready to leave.
"Wait a minute Mark…where the heck are you going?" Roger asked as he set the groceries down on the table, "I thought…you were going to help me cook before you and Courtney leave."
"Well Roger…there's been a change of plans," Mark sighed, "Alexi called and there's been an emergency at the studio. Someone in the editing department messed up on the editing on one of segments to air next week. I…got to head down to the studio to fix up."
"Hey! You can't leave Courtney here…you promise to take her out!" Roger complained, "Can't you at least take her to work with you for awhile? Mimi's coming over in a little while and I told her it was just me and her here!"
"Are you out of your freaking mind?" Mark replied, "I can't take Courtney to Buzzline! Children are prohibited from entering the studios! I'm sorry Roger but she has to stay…even if it means you got to juggle both your little dinner and babysitting your daughter."
"And you're going to bail out on helping me prepare this chicken casserole?" Roger added, "I am sorry for taking long at the market but there's was so much bloody traffic! I don't know how to cook a chicken casserole!"
"Exactly who was the one to agree to cook dinner for their girlfriend?" Mark said as he was heading out the door, "I informed Courtney of the situation and she fully understands so unless you can try to get a hold of the others to look after your kid…you're stuck with her. I got to head out to do some damage control. The instructions are on the fridge just follow them it's not hard…as long as you bought the proper ingredients. Have a fun night…take your AZT."
"Mark wait…I don't even know how to decipher it," Roger sighed as he started dialing his friends to baby sit Courtney.
"Daddy what's going on?" Courtney came into the living room dressed up.
"I'm just going to see if any one of these guys is available to look after you tonight since Uncle Mark had to be a jerk and bail out," Roger said as he first dialed Joanne and Maureen's number, "Hey Maureen, it's Roger…what's up?"
"Okay so you're calling us to say what's up unless you need a favor?" Maureen replied, "If you're looking for a babysitter for Courtney we can't do it tonight."
"How the heck did you know?" Roger asked.
"Oh c'mon Roger we know Mimi's coming over and judging that Mark might have bailed out on you…make that three," Joanne said on the other end, "Maureen's leaving for an acting workshop tonight and I have dinner with some clients. I guess…she's staying in with you and Mimi tonight for your little dinner date. Sorry Roger we got to go now bye."
"Aunt Maureen and Aunt Joanne can't babysit me?" Courtney asked, "Are you going to call Uncle Collins and Aunt Angel?"
"That's worth another shot," Roger said as he was dialing and trying to prepare the chicken casserole, "Shit how much of this stuff do I have to add in…dammit this is harder than…oh Collins it' Roger."
"If you're asking us to babysit the answer is no," Collins replied on the other end, "I am late for an open house at NYU and Angel is out at Life Support and if you're going to try reaching her cell, batteries dead ."
"You didn't give me the chance to ask you," Roger complained, "How come you guys don't give me the chance to ask first."
"Because we know you too well Roger and besides she's your daughter for Christ's sake so you have to take some responsibility," Collins replied on the other end, "Look you can't dump her on us half the time and you got to deal with trying to accommodate looking after your kid even if it means it will put a damper on your date…but that's what responsibility is all about Roger. Anyways I'm behind schedule and I got to leave. Bye."
"Ungrateful bastards…leaving me alone to fend for myself," Roger complained as suddenly he realized that he forgot to turn down the heat on the stove as the water boiled and overflow.
"Daddy…the stove is steaming!" Courtney replied.
"Oh crap dammit I must have left the water boiling too high!" Roger panic as he tried to clean up the stove, "Dammit…I must have left the chicken in there too long! Listen I'm sorry…but I guess you're staying in with me tonight."
"It's okay…I know Mimi is coming over," Courtney said, "I can be quiet if you want…I'm sorry for ruining your plans daddy."
"Hey c'mon here it's not your fault," Roger sighed as he gave his daughter a hug, "I know that all this stuff going on right now is new to you and I understand it will take some time to adjust. But no matter what happens…you will always be my first priority in life okay? I promise you that you and me right?"
"I know daddy…but I hope you're happy too," Courtney said as pointed to the stove, "Huh daddy…the stove…"
"Oh c'mon give me a break," Roger sighed as he turned to Courtney, "Hey honey why don't you go play for a little while daddy tries to attempt to salvage what is left of his poor attempt of chicken casserole."
Unfortunately, Roger was having a terrible time trying to cook a chicken casserole. He literally dirtied up the recipe sheet making it difficult to read the instructions. Roger made a complete mess in the kitchen. First, his vegetables were chopped up like shredded pieces of paper, he completely burnt the onion and garlic when he was frying it and then the fire alarm started going off in the loft. Smoke started filling the kitchen as he realized he overcooked his chicken and from then on out, everything went chaotic. Soon he found himself covered with stains and vegetables and ingredients scattered all over the place.
"Daddy is the loft smoking up?" Courtney asked, "What's going on daddy? Is the loft on fire?"
"I got it under control…huh there's no worries," Roger sighed as he started opening all the windows to let the smoke out, "Courtney open your bedroom window just in case and close your door okay? Daddy has it under control. Fuck the chicken is overcooked! Oh no the onions and garlic are burnt! Damn this is harder than usual how do women do this?" Soon he turned on the fan on the stove as he was trying to clear out the smoke and turn off everything that he didn't notice Mimi come in.
"Hello? Roger are you here?" Mimi called, "Roger are you…oh my gosh Roger?" She was surprised to find her newly boyfriend trying to salvage some control in the kitchen.
"Hey huh…Mimi I didn't see huh…you coming in early…" Roger replied embarrassed, "Oh crap I look like shit…this wasn't suppose to happen…I'm sorry."
"I guess…you been busy I see," Mimi smiled, "I can tell from the work that has been done to your kitchen."
"Everything is not going as I planned for the both of us tonight," Roger sighed, "It was just suppose to be you and me alone in the loft, but I couldn't find someone to take care of Courtney for the night…I'm terribly sorry."
"Roger you have a daughter and as your obligations as a father you have to look after Courtney," Mimi added, "I understand that and your priorities as a father comes first I know that for a fact and our friends are trying to teach you a lesson in responsibility. Besides I don't mind it at all and I am fine with it."
"Look I'm sorry…I'm horrible at stuff like this and everything hasn't been going right the whole entire night," Roger sighed trying to clean up, "I can't even follow simple instructions to cook a chicken casserole. I wanted…to make a good impression to show you I tried cooking but look at what I created…chaos and disorder in my own kitchen. I told you I'm not much of a cook. I look like a complete mess and this is not how I wanted our first night together to turn out."
"Roger you don't need to impress me that much. I don't care if you can't cook or not what I admire is the effort and the attempt you made. I know you wanted to show me that you can cook although you don't have one clue what you're doing…but no one is perfect. I like you for who you are that is why I'm here tonight."
"But I didn't want to screw up things the second time around Mimi…I wanted to make sure that the second time around I don't repeat the same mistakes twice. I guess…I'm not the idealistic boyfriend you're with or your idea of a second first date."
"No…you're not my idealistic boyfriend who is flawless," Mimi said as she started bushing off the leftover scraps of chopped vegetables off of him, "You're not perfect and you got baggage that goes with mine…but you're perfect for me. C'mon the least I can do is help you clean up and we'll discuss what we'll do about dinner then."
"Thanks Mimi," Roger smiled, "I really appreciate that…I don't know how women managed to find cooking easy."
"Well it's in our nature," Mimi replied as she observed what Roger tried to cook, "I see it was chicken casserole you were attempting to make? It would be terrible to waste all of these groceries you bought…but somehow I think we can salvage and make something else. The chicken still looks okay to cook and you still have plenty of vegetables. Here…you can still provide a home cook meal with all this stuff you got."
"Mimi the kitchen is in utter chaos," Roger sighed, "I couldn't follow a simple sheet of paper."
"We're not going to waste perfectly good ingredients…we'll cook together," Mimi smiled, "This way you can still give a meal cooked by you. I think you might need some more salt since you're out…I got some in my apartment. Why don't you go and fetch it Roger? I'll straighten up here and keep an eye out on Courtney okay?"
"So where do I find the salt?" Roger asked, "Whereabouts is it?"
"In the kitchen in the upper cupboard near to the stove," Mimi answered, "I'll finish straighten up and I'll keep an eye on Courtney okay? Don't worry I got everything under control. Here's the key to my place. You can go fetch the salt." Mimi tossed the key to Roger as he left.
"Daddy the loft is not smoking anymore can I…oh hi Mimi!" Courtney smiled as she was in her pajamas, "Where's daddy? Did he go somewhere?"
"Yeah your daddy had to go get some salt for a minute," Mimi replied as she finished straighten up the kitchen and continued cooking, "So how's it going little one? I'm sorry that you couldn't go out to the movies tonight."
"It's okay I'm not mad," Courtney replied as she took a seat at the table, "I like it when I'm with daddy because it's so much fun."
"Your dad is a fun person to hang out with," Mimi smiled, "So how was your day cutie?"
"I was playing at Dawn Miller's house today and she showed me her new piano," Courtney replied, "Dawn plays piano and she was teaching me how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…but Dawn likes to play piano music that is very hard to play. She told me about this guy named Mozart who wrote Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when he was three years old. Mozart was a musician."
"He was a musician…they called him a child prodigy," Mimi replied, "Mozart was musically cline when he was small."
"What is a prodigy?" Courtney asked, "Is that you call someone who is born like a super kid?"
"You could say that he was actually…" Before Mimi could finish Courtney suddenly fell out of her chair as she literally fainted, "Courtney! Oh my gosh are you okay?" Mimi ran to the little girl as Roger came back with the salt and saw his daughter on the floor.
"Oh shit Courtney!" Roger came in running towards his daughter, "Hey sweetie c'mon it's daddy…are you okay? Answer me tiny c'mon."
"I just…feel tired daddy…I feel dizzy," Courtney sighed, "Daddy…I need my insulin."
"Mimi there's a black pouch on the counter get me that please!" Roger replied as Mimi fetched the black pouch with Courtney's insulin. He injected his daughter with her insulin as she suddenly fell asleep as Roger carried her into her bedroom, "There…she's asleep for now. This happens most of the time whenever her sugar level is low. I have to check her sugar level on a regular basis and give her a daily injection of insulin."
"It must be hard for Courtney being born diabetic. I know you car about the wellbeing of your daughter a lot and you are excellent of handling injecting a needle into her," Mimi said as the food was ready, "Well everything is ready now. So let's eat then and then we can watch."
"You brought the movie…I can't believe I'm going to watch A Walk to Remember," Roger said as the two began to eat their dinner, "Roger Davis doesn't watch chick flicks but I know Mimi Marquez does."
"Oh quit being sarcastic you big baby," Mimi teased, "A Walk to Remember is based on a book by Nicholas Sparks and it tells a story about finding true love at the age of seventeen. If you have a sensitive side to you Roger it's worth picking up the book and reading it. I tell you when I first read the book…it made me cry a lot because it was both romantic and sad."
"C'mon a book like that can't be all sappy," Roger complained, "It's just another paperback."
"Maybe you can read this book to Courtney…I know she's only six years old but if she's a bit older then read it to her," Mimi suggested, "Hey…you agreed to let her watch A Walk to Remember since it is rated PG. So what interest her into watching it?"
"We were renting movies a few weeks back at the video store," Roger replied, "The video store was playing A Walk to Remember and then she told me that the movie was so romantic that she wanted to watch it. I obviously told her she was too young to watch it…but then when she found out about our little booty calls then she used that as blackmail against us. Hey it's not my fault she picked up on some of her dad's tricky habits."
"Like father, like daughter I would say," Mimi replied, "C'mon let's finish eating and then we'll watch okay?"
After Mimi and Roger had dinner, the two of them went to relax in the living room as they were watching A Walk to Remember. The first hour he found the movie a bit dull because it he thought it was just another movie about a boy meeting a shy girl, falling in love and they live happily ever after. Roger had his arm around Mimi as he saw Mimi tearing up at certain parts of the movie. "Talk about being sappy," Roger thought, "Whoever this actor is playing this guy is pretty pathetic and the girl is not much of a work of art too." However, the movie was beginning to get to Roger at one point. There was a particular scene where the girl was performing a song called "Only Hope" in the play scene.
"This is my favorite part it's coming up now," Mimi whispered, "I love how Jamie sings that song Only Hope as Landon watches her. Like she dresses up terribly but when Landon saw her with the makeup on and the blue dress…he fell in love with her. It was like he saw a different side of Jamie that night of the play."
"Okay let's just watch the movie right now," Roger smiled, "I haven't watch A Walk to Remember so yeah…I like to watch it."
"I like Shane West in this movie," Mimi added, "Mandy Moore is also good too."
"So that's the actors in this chick flick?" Roger asked.
"Your face... you looked so familiar. Like this dame I knew once, only... It wasn't real, it was a dream," Mimi said imitating the lines from the movie, "Tell me about this dream girl. Well, I don't... remember. All I know…Is you're beautiful. The dream... Help me to remember. Will you sing for me?" Mimi started tearing up when she heard the song and then suddenly Roger was getting into the movie as he was captivated by the emotion.
"That…was so sweet when he kissed her at the end of the performance," Roger slowly whispered, "I…think that wasn't part of the play was it?"
"Are you crying?" Mimi asked leaning against Roger, "You're crying…Roger Davis is actually crying for the first time during a chick flick. I thought you were all Mr. Tough Guy and moody. I knew that if I showed you this movie you would actually show some emotion for once."
"Huh…I got something caught in my eye. I wasn't crying…I swear to God Mimi I wasn't crying…it's just my eye is bugging me. Alright I thought it was sweet because all of a sudden Landon is falling in love with Jamie. For a guy who's a delinquent the last person he expected to fall in love with is the reverend's daughter who wants to witness a miracle."
"It's okay I won't tell anyone that Mr. Tough Guy cried during a chick flick. It is a sweet story because it's a story about love and innocence that happened at the age of seventeen. In a way Landon rediscovers the meaning of love through Jamie Sullivan, the reverend's daughter. It was like he didn't know where his life was going until he met her. She was the one person who forever changed his life. She comes off as like a born again Christian who believes that everything happens because it is the will of God but there is so much to the story than you'll imagine. Most people who read this book can relate to it."
"Is the movie and the book different?" Roger asked, "I know that this movie is based on a book but the movie is an adaptation of the book. Hollywood likes to regenerate money on movies based on books."
"It's the same idea but the book is true," Mimi added, "Maybe one day I'll ensure that you read the book and then you can compare the two." They paused the movie as Courtney was calling for Roger.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Courtney was calling from her bedroom, "Daddy!"
"I guess…duty calls then," Roger replied as him and Mimi got up from the couch and headed to Courtney's bedroom, "Hey tiny you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay daddy…but I can't sleep," Courtney sighed, "Can you tell me a story…the both of you please?"
"I'm not…really good at story telling," Roger said, "You want to help me on this one?"
"Okay let me think," Mimi smiled as the two of them sat on the bed, "There was once a young man who lived life being born to be bad. He was a wild child living life on the edge until one day he found himself in big trouble. The young man didn't know where his life was going until he meant the minister's daughter. The minister's daughter was about the same age as this boy but she was kind of an odd ball. Roger I believe you can take it from here." Roger exactly knew the story Mimi was telling Courtney was her children's version of A Walk to Remember.
"The girl was an outsider, the guy was the most popular guy in school," Roger said, "He knew this girl since they were little but never paid attention to her. The girl was hoping for one day to witness a miracle. The two of them winded up in a school play together with the leading roles. The night of the play, the guy began to fall in love with the girl and after the last scene…he kissed her."
"So what happens next?" Courtney asked as she started falling asleep, "Did the guy and girl live happily ever after?"
"That is for another night," Roger smiled as he gave his daughter a kiss, "C'mon tiny it's off to bed. Goodnight Courtney…sleep tight."
"Goodnight daddy," Courtney smiled, "Goodnight…Mimi thanks for the story."
"Hey no problem," Mimi replied as they exited the room, "Well I guess…this is a good way to end off the night. I didn't expect to tell the children's version of A Walk to Remember to Courtney tonight. Usually the novel is for young adults."
"I'm not good with story telling usually the stories we end up telling her is gossip," Roger laughed, "Any dirt that Mark or the others can find on me turns into one of Courtney's bedtime stories for the night. But I'm glad that was a nice story to tell her. That is not how the story ends right?"
"In reality…the story will make you cry more than you imagine," Mimi added, "It is a romantic novel…but also one that deals with some heartbreak and tragedy. However I'm not going to give away the rest of the story. If you want to know how the story goes…I suggest you pick up the book and read it."
"I'll take that into consideration," Roger smiled as the two began kissing, "Does it have a happy ending?"
"It all depends on how you interpret the story," Mimi smiled kissing back, "You can say…that as of this moment you're living the story and how the ending goes is entirely up to you."