(5:45 p.m. - Black penthouse)
Chloe stood outside the door to the penthouse and rang the bell. The door opened and she was face to face with Brady.
She nervously stammered, "Brady... hi..."
"Come on in, Jan... Mimi's already here."
Chloe smiled and stepped inside as Brady shut the door behind her. Mimi was on the couch absentmindedly examining her fingernails as she waited for things to begin. Brady smiled at her and spoke in a low tone, to keep Mimi from hearing their conversation.
"So... I tried to call you last night, but you weren't home all night."
Chloe nodded and stammered out the best excuse she could think of, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I had physical therapy right after school, and then I had a study group for this government class project. I didn't get home until late or I would have called you."
"Oh well, that's good... I was afraid you were avoiding me on purpose."
Chloe shook her head and lied through her teeth, "No, not at all. I was just busy, that's all. As a matter of fact... are you busy on Friday?"
Brady paused for a moment to think. "Uhmmm... no, I don't think so. What's up?"
"I just wanted to do something for you. To thank you for being a good friend..." Chloe smiled at him widely.
Brady looked confused. "You don't have to do anything to thank me, it's not a problem."
"Well, I still want to, so just go with it. I think it'll be... therapeutic."
Brady raised both eyebrows curiously. "Hmm, now I'm curious."
Chloe clapped her hands together proudly. "Good. Just be at my house at 7:00 on Friday."
"It's a date, then." Brady paused and shook his head, laughing as he did so. "No wait, it's not a date... I know how you are about that."
Chloe laughed and started walking towards the couch. "Yeah, don't say that word around me."
Chloe sat next to Mimi who looked up at her and smiled. "Hey Jan..."
"Heya Meems..."
"So, how does this work again?" Mimi inquired.
"Well, we basically sit Phillip down and tell him he can't leave the room until we've all had our say. And, if he does, then we won't speak to him any longer. Then we each take a turn telling him exactly how we feel, and that if he doesn't start behaving better towards people he's going to end up alone. It's a tough ultimatum, but it may be the only thing that snaps him out of this funk. It's either act like a human being or lose all the people you care about."
Mimi nodded, obviously impressed. "Wow, so that's how an intervention works?"
Chloe shrugged, only half-sure. "Well, I guess so... I'm not an expert. I did see it on an episode of Party of Five once though."
Brady laughed and rolled his eyes as he sat down on Chloe's other side. "I feel so much more reassured now that I know you've learned all your psychology from Jennifer Love Hewitt."
Chloe grinned at Brady and shook her head. "No, more like Neve Campbell..."
"Oh, well... excuse me... that's SO much better."
Chloe waved her hand in a calming way. "Just have faith... it will work. Phillip needs some sense knocked in to him, and this is the only way to do it."
Mimi sighed sadly, "I hope you're right. Phillip can be so sweet when he's not being a jerk. I miss the old Phillip."
Chloe nodded in agreement as they all heard the knob on the door turn. Belle, Shawn and Phillip entered together and Phillip surveyed the room in confusion.
"Ooookay... was somebody planning a party without my knowledge? What's going on here?"
Belle turned to him and squeezed his hand for reassurance. "Just have a seat, please, Phillip. We need to talk to you."
Phillip gave her a strange look. "Is everything okay?"
"Just sit... please."
Phillip still looked uneasy but took a seat in a chair by himself across from the three people on the couch. Shawn and Belle sat together on the smaller couch and there was an awkward moment of silence in the room.
Phillip tried to break the silence with a chuckle. "Is this like one of those, 'Phillip Kiriakis, this is your life!' kind of things?"
Shawn shook his head solemnly. "Not exactly. This is an intervention."
"An intervention? Why? I'm not an alcoholic, or a drug addict and my gambling problem is so far in the past... well, it's almost like it happened to someone else. What the hell is going on?"
Belle tried to calm him down. "Phillip, please just be calm. Everyone here cares about you and we're afraid that you've changed, and it hasn't been for the better. You're hurting a lot of people, and I don't think that you know that you're doing it. So, we want to help you... but you have to listen."
"And if I don't? I could just get up from this chair, walk out and go home, right?"
"You could... but then you're running the risk of losing everyone who loves you. IF you keep this up, you'll end up alone. I know it sounds harsh, but it's so important that you listen."
Phillip sighed and sunk into his chair. "Why don't I just give you all a baseball bat so you can beat me with it?"
Mimi interjected her own thoughts, "Because we're not here to beat you up for what you're going through, we're here to help you through it. You just have to listen, and not get angry for 30 minutes Phillip... maybe an hour at the most."
Phillip noticed the pleading look in Mimi's eyes and gave in. "Fine, I'll listen. If it's important to all of you, then I'll do it."
Belle sighed sadly and laid a comforting hand on Phillip's clasped hands. "I guess I get to go first... Let me preface this by saying, this is being done out of love and that's it. That's our motivation. Even Jan is here to help, although you've given her absolutely no reason to care about what happens to you, she still does. I love ya, Phillip... you're one of my best friends, and you have been since we were little kids. I hate seeing you like this. I know that it hurts to lose someone you love, but you can't dwell on that forever, you have to move on. You have to keep on living your life, because God gave you another chance. He could have taken you, just like he took Chloe and Jason, but He didn't. There's a reason why you're still here, Phillip, and you have to use your life and live it to the fullest or else you're wasting that second chance."
Phillip just sat in silence, unable to look Belle in the eyes, letting the words sink in deeper. Shawn put his arm around Belle and kissed her on the top of her head.
Shawn looked towards Phillip and spoke, "She's right, Phil. You are a good person, but you don't act like it anymore. I know that you care about your friends, but none of us are seeing that lately. You're not the same Phillip that we grew up with, and we miss that Phillip. Nobody expects everything to be perfect or for you to be jumping from cloud to cloud happily, we just want to see you return to something that resembles a human being. We're all tired of getting treated like we don't exist to you, and we're tired of seeing you so miserable. I haven't seen you smile in 2 weeks, Phillip... and you can't tell me that there's nothing left in this world to smile about, because there is."
Brady nodded and jumped in, "Let me tell you from experience, living in the past is NEVER going to change things. The majority of my own problems, and my bad attitude, came from living for things that happened years ago. Once I learned to let them go, I can't even tell you how much better I felt about everything. I've learned to let the past go, all except for this one thing..."
Chloe briefly made eye contact with him, knowing that Brady was having a hard time letting go of his love for her. Something she soon hoped to remedy. She saw a brief glimpse of pain flicker in his eyes before he shook it off and continued, "But, I'll work on that... I'll move on, because dwelling on it is never going to fix it. You need to do the same thing. Walking around in constant misery, treating your friends and family like dirt, getting angry with people for stupid selfish reasons... NONE of this is going to bring Chloe back. She's gone forever, and nothing that any of us can do will change that. We all miss her, Phillip... but she wouldn't want this from you. She'd want you to move on, she'd want you to be happy, she'd want the same thing from all of us."
Brady's words had hit hard, Chloe could see it in Phillip's blue eyes which were now on the verge of tears. Phillip nodded, acknowledging that he understood what they were trying to get through to him.
"How can I be happy when I don't have Chloe?"
Brady groaned in frustration. "You have no choice. You were happy before you had her, you can be happy without her. I'm not saying that you have to forget she existed or anything, but geez, Phillip, you have to move on. I'm not saying you didn't love her, because I know you did and still do. But there are other loves to be had in the future, but you'll never know that if you go off the deep end. Don't turn this into a Shakespeare tragedy by impaling yourself on your sword or something. Be stronger than that, prove to Chloe and the rest of us that you're as strong as she always thought you were. Don't disappoint us. Use your grief as a catalyst to life your life as fully as possible."
Phillip was soaking in Brady's words, definitely the most powerful words that any of them would have to say. Mimi was nodding in agreement as Brady spoke, and she piped up with her own thoughts, "Listen, I don't know what I'm going to say that will be more powerful or meaningful than that. But, he's totally right, Phillip. Life has so much to offer you, and you take it all for granted. You have so much going for you, and you don't even notice it. You WILL love again, and though it doesn't seem like it, maybe you will love her more than you loved Chloe. And someone will fall in love with you too, Phillip... I mean, when you're normal Phillip, and not bad-attitude Phillip, you're a pretty lovable person. There's so much out there waiting for you to take advantage of it, but you can't do it when you're walking around like the world is ending and judgment day is nigh."
Chloe observed Mimi's passionate words towards Phillip and the look she had in her eyes as she gazed at him. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Mimi had developed a tiny crush on Phillip, especially with the way she was looking at him. In the old days, Chloe would have been jealous, but that feeling didn't hit her anymore. She wanted Phillip to move on, and if it meant being with Mimi, then she would be nothing but happy for them. When Chloe weighed the options in her head, she now knew that she belonged with Brady and not Phillip. She quietly prayed that Brady would be able to figure that out too. She would find out on Friday for sure.
Chloe put those thoughts out of her mind for the time being and focused on the matter at hand. Phillip had taken a pause, and looked deep in thought. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and sighed loudly.
"Okay... I get it. You're all right so far... I don't even know what to say, really. Part of me wants to argue about it, but I can't think of a way to disagree. I just want to know one thing." Phillip pursed his lips together and looked towards Chloe. "I want to know why YOU'RE here. Did you pay them so you could come be witness to my pain? Well, I hope you're enjoying it."
Chloe furrowed her eyebrows together, her face filled with pain. "No, Phillip... Listen to what you just said, THAT is why I'm here. I want to be friends with you, but you have so much hatred in your heart for me. I know that I've done a lot of bad things, but it's different now. I'm not the same person that I used to be, and I've been trying to make things up to everyone. But, you won't even look me in the eye, so how I'm supposed to do that? You may not believe it, but this whole thing... it was MY idea. I care about you. Don't you remember when used to be friends? We all used to hang out together in junior high, and I screwed things up. I'm sorry for that and I want to fix things. Don't you remember the way things used to be? It CAN be like that again."
Phillip shrugged, finally making eye contact with her. "I don't know... things can never be the same again."
"I'm not saying they have to be exactly the same. Lord knows, that's not possible. We're all different people now. I just think that there has to be some part of you that is willing to forgive me. If all of them can be my friends, then I know that all hope is not lost with you. It goes with what Brady was saying about putting the past where it belongs and moving on. This is part of it. I'm also here to give you your reality check."
Phillip raised both eyebrows curiously. "My reality check?"
Chloe nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm here to open your eyes. You've been acting like you're the only one who hurts. Look around, Phillip, everybody is hurting. Have you even bothered once to comfort one of your friends? They need you, just as much as you need them. And the fact that you have been too wrapped up in yourself to notice is really sad. Everyone in this room has lost someone, and in a time like this, we all need people to rely on. I find it really sad that your friends have always been there for you, through everything, and you haven't been there for them."
Phillip cringed and sunk further into his seat in shame. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this... but, Jan, you're right. I'm so sorry all of you... And there's no excuse for the way I've acted. I promise that I will try to get better, that's all I can really do."
Belle smiled happily. "That's all we want. We just want you to try, and we just want you to be okay. I'm so glad you said that."
Chloe bit her lip nervously and looked at Phillip. "And what about me? Can you try not to avoid me like the plague?"
Phillip nodded solemnly. "I will. I can't say that you and are I going to be the best of friends, because I don't know if we will... But, I will try. If all of them can be friends with you, than... you really must have changed."
Chloe smiled and gazed around the room. "Well, they're all pretty amazing people. And, thank you, Phillip... Just stick to what you're saying and nobody will have to get that baseball bat that you mentioned."
Phillip was silent, but the meaning on his face was clear. He really had heard what they said and was taking it seriously. The room was quiet, until Mimi piped up happily. "Hey... Do you know what we need now?"
Everyone paused to think, and Chloe answered uneasily, "Uhm... aspirin?"
Mimi shook her head and smiled widely. "Noooo, we need FUN. Everybody's been so down in the dumps lately, we need to do something fun. Take our minds off of everything for like 2 hours."
Shawn leaned forward curiously. "Okay, I'll bite. Does anybody have any suggestions?"
Brady stood from the couch and rubbed his hands together. "I say... Bowling."
The three girls groaned in unison, but Brady quieted them all. "No, no, no... hear me out. It's fun, it's something we can do in the winter, and it's a really good bonding experience. Plus, ladies, you get to wear those cute shoes..."
Belle cringed and shook her head. "Yeah, those cute shoes that five thousand other foot fungus people have worn before you."
"Belle, they disinfect them."
Belle stood and threw her hands up in mock excitement. "OH! Well, let's go then... that makes all the difference."
The rest of the group laughed and stood from their seats. Chloe shrugged and nudged Brady with her elbow. "Eh, I'm up for it. Maybe he's got a good idea."
Shawn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, at least it's something different from the same crap that we do all the time."
Mimi nodded too, "Well, I really really SUCK at bowling, but it could be fun... let's do it."
Phillip jumped in, "Good idea, Brady. I'm always up for a little friendly competition. Especially when I know I can take all of you down."
Brady looked at his sister and mockingly pouted. "Beeeellllleee... whaddya say? Stop being such a girly girl."
Belle sighed, defeated by a majority vote. "Okay, let's go."
Everyone in the group smiled, happy to be doing something besides arguing, crying or moping. They gathered their things together and made their way downstairs.
Chloe stood outside the door to the penthouse and rang the bell. The door opened and she was face to face with Brady.
She nervously stammered, "Brady... hi..."
"Come on in, Jan... Mimi's already here."
Chloe smiled and stepped inside as Brady shut the door behind her. Mimi was on the couch absentmindedly examining her fingernails as she waited for things to begin. Brady smiled at her and spoke in a low tone, to keep Mimi from hearing their conversation.
"So... I tried to call you last night, but you weren't home all night."
Chloe nodded and stammered out the best excuse she could think of, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I had physical therapy right after school, and then I had a study group for this government class project. I didn't get home until late or I would have called you."
"Oh well, that's good... I was afraid you were avoiding me on purpose."
Chloe shook her head and lied through her teeth, "No, not at all. I was just busy, that's all. As a matter of fact... are you busy on Friday?"
Brady paused for a moment to think. "Uhmmm... no, I don't think so. What's up?"
"I just wanted to do something for you. To thank you for being a good friend..." Chloe smiled at him widely.
Brady looked confused. "You don't have to do anything to thank me, it's not a problem."
"Well, I still want to, so just go with it. I think it'll be... therapeutic."
Brady raised both eyebrows curiously. "Hmm, now I'm curious."
Chloe clapped her hands together proudly. "Good. Just be at my house at 7:00 on Friday."
"It's a date, then." Brady paused and shook his head, laughing as he did so. "No wait, it's not a date... I know how you are about that."
Chloe laughed and started walking towards the couch. "Yeah, don't say that word around me."
Chloe sat next to Mimi who looked up at her and smiled. "Hey Jan..."
"Heya Meems..."
"So, how does this work again?" Mimi inquired.
"Well, we basically sit Phillip down and tell him he can't leave the room until we've all had our say. And, if he does, then we won't speak to him any longer. Then we each take a turn telling him exactly how we feel, and that if he doesn't start behaving better towards people he's going to end up alone. It's a tough ultimatum, but it may be the only thing that snaps him out of this funk. It's either act like a human being or lose all the people you care about."
Mimi nodded, obviously impressed. "Wow, so that's how an intervention works?"
Chloe shrugged, only half-sure. "Well, I guess so... I'm not an expert. I did see it on an episode of Party of Five once though."
Brady laughed and rolled his eyes as he sat down on Chloe's other side. "I feel so much more reassured now that I know you've learned all your psychology from Jennifer Love Hewitt."
Chloe grinned at Brady and shook her head. "No, more like Neve Campbell..."
"Oh, well... excuse me... that's SO much better."
Chloe waved her hand in a calming way. "Just have faith... it will work. Phillip needs some sense knocked in to him, and this is the only way to do it."
Mimi sighed sadly, "I hope you're right. Phillip can be so sweet when he's not being a jerk. I miss the old Phillip."
Chloe nodded in agreement as they all heard the knob on the door turn. Belle, Shawn and Phillip entered together and Phillip surveyed the room in confusion.
"Ooookay... was somebody planning a party without my knowledge? What's going on here?"
Belle turned to him and squeezed his hand for reassurance. "Just have a seat, please, Phillip. We need to talk to you."
Phillip gave her a strange look. "Is everything okay?"
"Just sit... please."
Phillip still looked uneasy but took a seat in a chair by himself across from the three people on the couch. Shawn and Belle sat together on the smaller couch and there was an awkward moment of silence in the room.
Phillip tried to break the silence with a chuckle. "Is this like one of those, 'Phillip Kiriakis, this is your life!' kind of things?"
Shawn shook his head solemnly. "Not exactly. This is an intervention."
"An intervention? Why? I'm not an alcoholic, or a drug addict and my gambling problem is so far in the past... well, it's almost like it happened to someone else. What the hell is going on?"
Belle tried to calm him down. "Phillip, please just be calm. Everyone here cares about you and we're afraid that you've changed, and it hasn't been for the better. You're hurting a lot of people, and I don't think that you know that you're doing it. So, we want to help you... but you have to listen."
"And if I don't? I could just get up from this chair, walk out and go home, right?"
"You could... but then you're running the risk of losing everyone who loves you. IF you keep this up, you'll end up alone. I know it sounds harsh, but it's so important that you listen."
Phillip sighed and sunk into his chair. "Why don't I just give you all a baseball bat so you can beat me with it?"
Mimi interjected her own thoughts, "Because we're not here to beat you up for what you're going through, we're here to help you through it. You just have to listen, and not get angry for 30 minutes Phillip... maybe an hour at the most."
Phillip noticed the pleading look in Mimi's eyes and gave in. "Fine, I'll listen. If it's important to all of you, then I'll do it."
Belle sighed sadly and laid a comforting hand on Phillip's clasped hands. "I guess I get to go first... Let me preface this by saying, this is being done out of love and that's it. That's our motivation. Even Jan is here to help, although you've given her absolutely no reason to care about what happens to you, she still does. I love ya, Phillip... you're one of my best friends, and you have been since we were little kids. I hate seeing you like this. I know that it hurts to lose someone you love, but you can't dwell on that forever, you have to move on. You have to keep on living your life, because God gave you another chance. He could have taken you, just like he took Chloe and Jason, but He didn't. There's a reason why you're still here, Phillip, and you have to use your life and live it to the fullest or else you're wasting that second chance."
Phillip just sat in silence, unable to look Belle in the eyes, letting the words sink in deeper. Shawn put his arm around Belle and kissed her on the top of her head.
Shawn looked towards Phillip and spoke, "She's right, Phil. You are a good person, but you don't act like it anymore. I know that you care about your friends, but none of us are seeing that lately. You're not the same Phillip that we grew up with, and we miss that Phillip. Nobody expects everything to be perfect or for you to be jumping from cloud to cloud happily, we just want to see you return to something that resembles a human being. We're all tired of getting treated like we don't exist to you, and we're tired of seeing you so miserable. I haven't seen you smile in 2 weeks, Phillip... and you can't tell me that there's nothing left in this world to smile about, because there is."
Brady nodded and jumped in, "Let me tell you from experience, living in the past is NEVER going to change things. The majority of my own problems, and my bad attitude, came from living for things that happened years ago. Once I learned to let them go, I can't even tell you how much better I felt about everything. I've learned to let the past go, all except for this one thing..."
Chloe briefly made eye contact with him, knowing that Brady was having a hard time letting go of his love for her. Something she soon hoped to remedy. She saw a brief glimpse of pain flicker in his eyes before he shook it off and continued, "But, I'll work on that... I'll move on, because dwelling on it is never going to fix it. You need to do the same thing. Walking around in constant misery, treating your friends and family like dirt, getting angry with people for stupid selfish reasons... NONE of this is going to bring Chloe back. She's gone forever, and nothing that any of us can do will change that. We all miss her, Phillip... but she wouldn't want this from you. She'd want you to move on, she'd want you to be happy, she'd want the same thing from all of us."
Brady's words had hit hard, Chloe could see it in Phillip's blue eyes which were now on the verge of tears. Phillip nodded, acknowledging that he understood what they were trying to get through to him.
"How can I be happy when I don't have Chloe?"
Brady groaned in frustration. "You have no choice. You were happy before you had her, you can be happy without her. I'm not saying that you have to forget she existed or anything, but geez, Phillip, you have to move on. I'm not saying you didn't love her, because I know you did and still do. But there are other loves to be had in the future, but you'll never know that if you go off the deep end. Don't turn this into a Shakespeare tragedy by impaling yourself on your sword or something. Be stronger than that, prove to Chloe and the rest of us that you're as strong as she always thought you were. Don't disappoint us. Use your grief as a catalyst to life your life as fully as possible."
Phillip was soaking in Brady's words, definitely the most powerful words that any of them would have to say. Mimi was nodding in agreement as Brady spoke, and she piped up with her own thoughts, "Listen, I don't know what I'm going to say that will be more powerful or meaningful than that. But, he's totally right, Phillip. Life has so much to offer you, and you take it all for granted. You have so much going for you, and you don't even notice it. You WILL love again, and though it doesn't seem like it, maybe you will love her more than you loved Chloe. And someone will fall in love with you too, Phillip... I mean, when you're normal Phillip, and not bad-attitude Phillip, you're a pretty lovable person. There's so much out there waiting for you to take advantage of it, but you can't do it when you're walking around like the world is ending and judgment day is nigh."
Chloe observed Mimi's passionate words towards Phillip and the look she had in her eyes as she gazed at him. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Mimi had developed a tiny crush on Phillip, especially with the way she was looking at him. In the old days, Chloe would have been jealous, but that feeling didn't hit her anymore. She wanted Phillip to move on, and if it meant being with Mimi, then she would be nothing but happy for them. When Chloe weighed the options in her head, she now knew that she belonged with Brady and not Phillip. She quietly prayed that Brady would be able to figure that out too. She would find out on Friday for sure.
Chloe put those thoughts out of her mind for the time being and focused on the matter at hand. Phillip had taken a pause, and looked deep in thought. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and sighed loudly.
"Okay... I get it. You're all right so far... I don't even know what to say, really. Part of me wants to argue about it, but I can't think of a way to disagree. I just want to know one thing." Phillip pursed his lips together and looked towards Chloe. "I want to know why YOU'RE here. Did you pay them so you could come be witness to my pain? Well, I hope you're enjoying it."
Chloe furrowed her eyebrows together, her face filled with pain. "No, Phillip... Listen to what you just said, THAT is why I'm here. I want to be friends with you, but you have so much hatred in your heart for me. I know that I've done a lot of bad things, but it's different now. I'm not the same person that I used to be, and I've been trying to make things up to everyone. But, you won't even look me in the eye, so how I'm supposed to do that? You may not believe it, but this whole thing... it was MY idea. I care about you. Don't you remember when used to be friends? We all used to hang out together in junior high, and I screwed things up. I'm sorry for that and I want to fix things. Don't you remember the way things used to be? It CAN be like that again."
Phillip shrugged, finally making eye contact with her. "I don't know... things can never be the same again."
"I'm not saying they have to be exactly the same. Lord knows, that's not possible. We're all different people now. I just think that there has to be some part of you that is willing to forgive me. If all of them can be my friends, then I know that all hope is not lost with you. It goes with what Brady was saying about putting the past where it belongs and moving on. This is part of it. I'm also here to give you your reality check."
Phillip raised both eyebrows curiously. "My reality check?"
Chloe nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm here to open your eyes. You've been acting like you're the only one who hurts. Look around, Phillip, everybody is hurting. Have you even bothered once to comfort one of your friends? They need you, just as much as you need them. And the fact that you have been too wrapped up in yourself to notice is really sad. Everyone in this room has lost someone, and in a time like this, we all need people to rely on. I find it really sad that your friends have always been there for you, through everything, and you haven't been there for them."
Phillip cringed and sunk further into his seat in shame. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this... but, Jan, you're right. I'm so sorry all of you... And there's no excuse for the way I've acted. I promise that I will try to get better, that's all I can really do."
Belle smiled happily. "That's all we want. We just want you to try, and we just want you to be okay. I'm so glad you said that."
Chloe bit her lip nervously and looked at Phillip. "And what about me? Can you try not to avoid me like the plague?"
Phillip nodded solemnly. "I will. I can't say that you and are I going to be the best of friends, because I don't know if we will... But, I will try. If all of them can be friends with you, than... you really must have changed."
Chloe smiled and gazed around the room. "Well, they're all pretty amazing people. And, thank you, Phillip... Just stick to what you're saying and nobody will have to get that baseball bat that you mentioned."
Phillip was silent, but the meaning on his face was clear. He really had heard what they said and was taking it seriously. The room was quiet, until Mimi piped up happily. "Hey... Do you know what we need now?"
Everyone paused to think, and Chloe answered uneasily, "Uhm... aspirin?"
Mimi shook her head and smiled widely. "Noooo, we need FUN. Everybody's been so down in the dumps lately, we need to do something fun. Take our minds off of everything for like 2 hours."
Shawn leaned forward curiously. "Okay, I'll bite. Does anybody have any suggestions?"
Brady stood from the couch and rubbed his hands together. "I say... Bowling."
The three girls groaned in unison, but Brady quieted them all. "No, no, no... hear me out. It's fun, it's something we can do in the winter, and it's a really good bonding experience. Plus, ladies, you get to wear those cute shoes..."
Belle cringed and shook her head. "Yeah, those cute shoes that five thousand other foot fungus people have worn before you."
"Belle, they disinfect them."
Belle stood and threw her hands up in mock excitement. "OH! Well, let's go then... that makes all the difference."
The rest of the group laughed and stood from their seats. Chloe shrugged and nudged Brady with her elbow. "Eh, I'm up for it. Maybe he's got a good idea."
Shawn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, at least it's something different from the same crap that we do all the time."
Mimi nodded too, "Well, I really really SUCK at bowling, but it could be fun... let's do it."
Phillip jumped in, "Good idea, Brady. I'm always up for a little friendly competition. Especially when I know I can take all of you down."
Brady looked at his sister and mockingly pouted. "Beeeellllleee... whaddya say? Stop being such a girly girl."
Belle sighed, defeated by a majority vote. "Okay, let's go."
Everyone in the group smiled, happy to be doing something besides arguing, crying or moping. They gathered their things together and made their way downstairs.
