Allie sets her sights on Franky after Bea leaves the building.
"What did you say to her? Why did she look so upset?"
"I told her the truth."
"I told you to wait."
"I was going to, but she came at me, asking what my problem is. So I told her what he did."
"Did she say anything?"
"She mostly listened, then off she went."
"All right, I'll be back."
"Where are you going?"
"To make sure everything's okay out there."
Allie heads outside, the first person she runs into is Adam, smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Amy needed me to pick a few things up for her, so here I am."
"And the cigarette? I thought you were supposed to quit."
"I'm working on it. Maybe don't, uh, tell the wife you saw me smoking?"
"We'll see about that."
"I'd appreciate it. Anyways, I take it you're looking for Bea?"
"Yeah, have you seen her?"
Adam points to his left, Allie sees Bea and Alex standing further out in the parking lot next to his truck. Bea has her arms crossed, a serious look on her face. She doesn't look happy.
"Is that her boyfriend? Husband?"
"Neither, but they're supposed to be going on a date. Don't think that'll happen now though."
"They're having a pretty intense conversation."
"Looks like it. Did you hear anything?"
"Something about someone named Debbie. Let me guess, he has another woman on the side and Bea found out?"
"I promise you that's not the case."
"Do I want to know?"
"If I say no, are you going to make me tell you anyway?"
"Yup. You know I'm all about the drama."
"Fine. First off, Debbie isn't some other woman, she's Bea's daughter. A few weeks ago, she went to a concert. Some guy started harassing her while she was there, asking her questions that made her uncomfortable.
He put his hands on her when she tried to walk away from him. Franky was there too that night, she saw it and helped Deb out."
"He's the guy?"
"He's the guy."
"Wow. How does Bea know him?"
"He's a client of hers. She's a hairdresser."
"That's a pretty big coincidence."
"It sure is."
"And how old is Debbie?"
"Seventeen."
"What a scumbag. No wonder Bea looked so mad."
Allie focuses back on Bea and Alex after hearing her raised voice. She's able to catch what sounds like the end of their conversation.
"Don't contact me or come near me again. You better lose my number and I better not see you at the salon anymore. I mean it."
"That's it?"
"That's it, I don't know what else you expected."
"Come on, you're not at least going to give me a chance?"
"Are you kidding me? That's the last thing I'm going to do. If you thought I'd go out with you after something like this, you're a fucking idiot," Bea throws over her shoulder as she walks away.
Feeling that things out here are handled, Allie turns to make her way back inside. She's just about to the door when she hears it.
"You know, you should probably stop letting your daughter go out dressed like a slut. The next guy who approaches her might not be as nice as I was. Could be bad for her."
Allie's jaw drops. She takes a step back from the door, turning to face Adam, whose eyes have gone wide.
"Allie, did I hear that right? Did he really just say that?"
"He did. He's a dead man."
"Uh-oh."
Adam nods his head towards Bea, now stopped in her tracks. Her face changes from disbelief at what she just heard to an expression Allie's never seen on it before, intense anger. She can't help but notice how unbelievably hot Bea looks when she's mad, it's equally sexy as it is scary.
Bea turns on her heel and storms towards Alex at a frighteningly quick pace. Allie follows behind her, hoping to defuse the situation, knowing the alcohol Bea had is probably clouding her judgement and can't cause this to go well.
She manages to catch up, grabbing Bea by the arm in an attempt to hold her back. It proves to be more difficult than expected, Bea is surprisingly strong. She barely breaks her stride.
"Bea, leave it alone. Let's go back inside."
"No, are you serious?"
Bea pulls her arm from Allie's grasp. She continues on her path, coming to a stop in front of Alex.
"What did you just say?"
He makes a mistake by thinking it's a good idea to repeat that.
"You heard me. If she wasn't dressed like a slut-"
Bea sees red, and the slap that she gives him echoes through the parking lot. Alex puts a hand up to his cheek, she shoves him, his back hitting the side of his truck.
"Don't you dare talk about her like that, what's wrong with you?"
She gets in his face and shoves him a second time when he steps away from the truck. After seeing that, Adam snuffs out his cigarette, deciding to walk that way as well. This situation was entertaining at first, but now that Bea's escalating it by getting physical, he feels he should step in.
Allie again unsuccessfully tries to calm her down. This is a side of Bea she's never seen.
To get Bea out of his personal space, Alex returns a shove of his own. It's more forceful than necessary and causes her to stumble backwards, though she keeps her footing. He takes a step towards her but she stands her ground, she's not the slightest bit scared.
She's lived with a violent man for nearly half her life, Alex is nothing compared to him. He takes another step, she prepares to throw a punch when he gets too close.
Before he moves any further, Allie protectively steps in front of Bea. Alex towers over her, but she doesn't flinch.
"What are you going to do, hit her? Lay a single finger on her, I'll beat your ass all over this parking lot."
Realistically, she can't physically do that, but she'll damn sure make an effort of it if she has to.
"What, are you her bodyguard or something?"
"You're damn right. Now, I'd say it's time for you to leave."
Still not ready to let it go, Bea tries to get around Allie's right side, Allie blocks her. She tries from the left, Allie blocks her yet again, not taking her eyes off of Alex in case he tries to do something stupid.
"Allie, move," Bea says, her voice full of frustration.
"No, Bea. Sorry, but I think you need to walk away."
Adam arrives on the scene just in time to get in front of Bea before she forces her way past Allie. He puts his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place when she tries to get around him as well. Bea may be strong, but he's much stronger.
"Bea. As much as he deserves it, I can't have you fighting people at my place of business."
"Did you hear what he said about my daughter?"
"I heard him. But Allie's right, you need to walk away. Let me deal with him, go back inside with her."
"But-"
"No buts. Go with Allie."
He gently redirects her back towards the bar. She walks away no matter how much she doesn't want to, sending one last icy glare at Alex. Allie follows closely behind. Adam then turns his attention to Alex, who hasn't moved from his spot.
"Why are you still here? Did you not hear Allie? She said you should leave."
"I need to leave? Bullshit. You saw Bea hit me. She assaulted me."
"Oh grow some balls, she barely even touched you. Now get the fuck out of here before I let her do it again. I'm sure she'd love nothing more."
With nothing else to say, Alex gets into his truck and drives off. Adam goes back inside the bar, leaving Allie to tend to a furious Bea. She's so mad she's shaking, tears flowing freely.
"What happened out here?"
Bea takes a moment to compose herself before speaking, "He tried to deny it at first, he sat there and lied to my face. When I threatened to get Franky out here, he broke. He said he didn't know she was my daughter, he didn't know she was underaged.
Like that makes how he treated her any better? Then… you heard what he said. I can't believe this shit, I felt like I could trust him, and this is what I get? I feel so stupid right now. I thought he was nice, I thought he was a good guy."
It breaks Allie's heart to see her so upset. She closes the distance between them to pull Bea into a hug. Without thinking, she kisses her on the cheek. It's innocent enough, friendly affection. But Bea feels her knees go weak.
"Please don't cry, you know I hate seeing you do it. You couldn't have known it would play out like this. It's not your fault at all."
Bea relaxes at the embrace, "I know it's not, and you're right. I'm just angry. Could you imagine how Deb would feel if I let her meet him? She would hate me."
"She wouldn't hate you. You didn't know."
Bea steps away from Allie, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, "I really do have bad taste in men, huh?"
"Bea…"
"Just a joke. Can we go back inside now?"
"Sure we can. Let's go."
Once they're back inside, they head right back to their table. Bea ignores the stares she receives from Alex's group of friends along the way. She sits back down, noting Franky and Bridget eyeing her curiously.
"You good, Red?"
Bea puts her finger up and grabs her beer, taking a long swig. It's gone warm, but that's the last thing she's concerned with. She ends up drinking the rest before explaining what happened in the parking lot.
"And that's when I slapped him."
"He said that?" Franky slams her hand down on the table, "Fucker is so lucky I wasn't out there. He would've gotten worse than a slap from me."
"I'm sure he would have."
Adam stops by the table a few minutes after grabbing what he came for, to check on Bea and also give Franky congratulations. After he resists Franky's flirting, and attempts to exploit his soft spot for her, Bea sets about apologizing to him.
"Sorry for causing a scene tonight, Adam."
"No worries. You know, compared to the things that have gone on here, that was pretty tame."
"He's right, stranger things have happened," Allie confirms.
"Still, I feel like I made an ass out of myself."
"We all have at some point, Bea. And I for one can't say that dickhead didn't deserve what he got. I probably would have done the same if it was my kid he messed with.
Also, I'll make sure he's blacklisted, so he won't be coming back. But if he does happen to show up and you see him, please just let one of the bouncers handle it. Is that fair?"
"That's fair. Thanks for doing that."
"Anytime. I'll leave you lovely ladies to it, stay out of trouble."
Once he leaves, Bea sets her sights back on Franky. She feels she should apologize for sounding so hostile towards her, the last thing Franky deserved.
"Hey, Franky?"
"That's the name. You need something?"
"No, I just wanted to apologize for being so confrontational earlier. I didn't mean to be, and you didn't deserve it. You really did me a favor by telling me about him."
"No sweat, my friend. I'm just sorry it turned out that way. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll get over it."
"Glad to hear it. Now, how about we get nice and drunk, and forget about this whole thing?"
"That sounds tempting, but I think I'm gonna go. Kind of just want to be home right now."
"Oh come on, just one more drink."
"I don't know…"
"I normally would give you a bunch of shit, but I'll let it slide this time. If you really want to go, that's fine."
"Well, maybe one more drink wouldn't hurt me."
"That's what I like to hear."
Twenty minutes and another round of drinks for everyone later, Franky manages to talk Bea into sticking around for a bit longer. Somehow the idea of a drinking contest comes up, and before Bea knows it, Franky's challenging her to one.
She tried her best to refuse, but Franky certainly has a way with words that makes it hard to say no. They agree on a reward, a decent sum of money the four of them pooled together.
Franky rubs her hands together excitedly, "All right, we'll go shot for shot. Allie, fetch us a bottle and two glasses."
"You know this comes out of my paycheck, right? Bottles aren't free."
"Well, the loser will get you back. So when Red loses, she'll be giving you some money."
"When I lose? How do you know you'll win?"
"Trust me, I just know."
"We'll see about that. Just remember, this contest was your idea."
Allie picks out a bottle of rum and brings it back to the table, placing it in the middle of Franky and Bea.
"If one of you throws up, I'm not cleaning it."
She pours the first shots for the duo then sits back to watch how things are going to unfold. Little known to Franky, Bea is about to drink her under the table, as she has no trouble holding her liquor.
Bea takes her turn first. The first several shots between them go down without a problem. Franky starts out strong, and puts up a good fight, but she slows down somewhere along the way.
Bea takes her next shot, then waits patiently for Franky to take hers. By the look on Franky's face, she's less than thrilled about it.
"Are you going to drink it, or just stare at it all night?"
"I'm going to, I just… need a minute. Don't rush me."
"Franky, it's pretty clear you can't drink that."
"Yes, I can."
"Then do it already."
"Pushy one, aren't you? Fuck it, here goes."
Franky throws the shot back, a grimace finding its way onto her face after she swallows. Bea refills their glasses, takes her next one, then looks at Franky expectantly. Franky shakes her head and slides her glass away, hanging her head in defeat.
"I quit. I can't do it."
To add further insult to injury, Bea drinks the shot she couldn't. Allie takes Bea's hand and raises it above her head as a mock victory salute.
"Just rub it in my face, Allie. Red, how the fuck are you still drinking?" She widens her eyes at the additional shot she takes with Allie in celebration of her win, "And how do you look like you've just been sipping water all night?"
"I can handle my alcohol."
To illustrate, Bea sticks her hand straight out. It's steady, only the slightest hint of a tremor. Even with her tolerance, she's not completely immune to the effects of alcohol.
"Shit. You hustled me."
"Sure did, now pay up."
Franky coughs up the prize money, grumbling about being cheated. She changes her tune when Bea suggests a rematch in the near future. The rest of the night passes by and winds down.
The effects of the contest and the other drinks she had hit Franky all at once on her way back from the bathroom. She trips over her own feet and takes a spill, indicating she probably shouldn't have imbibed so much. Bea rushes over to check on her, feeling responsible for her current state.
"Are you okay?"
"I think I drank too much."
"Huh. I wonder what makes you say that," she replies dryly.
"Would you be a dear and help me up?"
"Sure. Wait. This wasn't some trick so you could just pull me over like I did to you, was it?"
"I've never been so insulted in my life. You think so little of me that I would do that to you?"
"Yes."
"You're right not to trust me, that's exactly what I was going to do. But I won't. Now will you help me up?"
Bea puts a hand out to pull her to her feet, which is more difficult than anticipated. She's not nearly as drunk as Franky, but she's still plenty far from sober.
She tries one more time before giving up and enlisting Allie for help. With an extra set of hands, they're able to pick Franky up and guide her back to the table. Allie leaves to get her a much needed glass of water.
"What are you doing after this?" Bea asks when she gets back.
"Not much, I don't think. Why?"
"Do you want to come back to my place?"
"Afterparty? I'll let Franky know, but I don't think she can handle that."
"Oh, I actually meant just you."
"Just me?"
"Just you."
"Why just me though?"
"Does there have to be a reason? What if I just want to hang out with you?"
"No, I guess there doesn't have to be. That sounds good to me. Whenever you're ready to go."
"Hey, do you two need a ride? I should probably get Franky home," Bridget points at Franky with her head in her hands, beginning to doze off.
"Can you drive?"
"I'm fine, I only had two drinks. I'll take care of the tab, can you two get her to my car?"
Bridget hands Bea her keys then gets their tab sorted. The three of them head outside, Frank leaning on Bea and Allie both for support. They make it to the car, Bea unlocks it while Allie helps Franky get in.
"I ever tell you how beautiful you are, Allie?"
"Many times, Franky, many times."
"Or how much I love you? I love you so much, if you didn't know. I don't know what I would ever do-"
Allie cuts her off by shutting the car door.
"God, she's in that stage of drunk."
"I've never seen her like this."
"It happens from time to time. Just wait, she'll be telling you she loves you next."
Allie and Bea get in the car, Bridget comes out a few minutes later and drives off. Their ride is filled with the sounds of Franky drunkenly rambling about various things. Allie listens closely, gathering ammunition to embarrass her with in the future.
After a short drive, Bridget pulls up outside of the house. Allie and Bea climb out of the car, Franky sticks her head and most of her upper body out of the open passenger window.
"Bye, Red! Love ya, girl!"
"She really is hammered, isn't she, Allie?"
"Oh yeah. She'll definitely be hating life in the morning."
"I can hear you guys, and I'm drunk that not. Wait, shit. I'm not that drunk."
"Sure you're not. I love ya too, Franky," Bea replies, chuckling.
"She said it back! Gidge, did you hear that?"
"Yes, the whole neighborhood did too. Now get back in the car."
They drive away, Franky waving goodbye like a madwoman.
"Well, it's official, Bea."
"What is?" Bea asks as she fetches her keys from her pocket.
"You're now part of the Franky drunkenly confessing her love club."
"I feel honored."
Bea turns to the front door to open it. She fumbles the key in her hand, struggling to get it in the lock. Her hand is a bit less steady than half an hour ago.
"Shit," she curses under her breath.
"Need help?"
Allie steps forward, Bea wordlessly presses the key into her hand. She successfully unlocks the door and leads them into the house, turning on some lights.
She takes a seat on the couch while Bea puts on some music. She questions the absence of her favorite teenaged girl.
"No Deb tonight?"
"Not tonight. She's staying with a friend."
"I see. So, what kind of trouble are we getting into here?"
"You want to do something with me?"
"Sure. Like what?"
"Drink with me until I forget about what happened with Alex tonight? I know it's probably not the healthiest, but it's what I feel like doing right now."
"If that's what you want, let's do it. This should be fun, I've never seen you drunk before. What are we drinking?"
"Wait here."
Bea disappears out to the garage. She comes back a minute later with a bottle of expensive tequila and two shot glasses.
"Harry was saving this for a special occasion, but he won't be needing it now, will he?"
Allie leaves the couch and joins her in the kitchen, "Is that a good idea?"
"I think it's a great idea."
"Of course you do."
"I mean, I was serious about forgetting."
"Fuck, I hope I don't regret saying this. Pour."