Davis The Daddy
Chapter 5:
Mimi slowly picked up the phone at her apartment and dialed the familiar number. "Hello?" Mark asked.
"Hey, it's me."
"Hi."
"Um did Roger stop by there?" She asked.
"Yeah he's still here we're watching the game." Mimi smiled.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"That's great. I just wanted to see how things went."
"Things went very well Meems, you wanna talk to him?"
"Um yeah I guess." Mark gestured to Roger and handed him the phone.
"Mimi?"
"Hey, um I guess congrats? Ha I'm glad things worked out." Mimi said nervously.
"Yeah so am I."
"Kay, well um talk to you later."
"Yeah, bye." When Mimi hung up the phone she jumped up and down, clapping and squealed excitedly, thinking about how things were really going to work out, before picking up the phone and dialing another familiar number.
"Johnson- Jefferson's!" Maureen greeted cheerfully.
"Hey Mo it's Mimi."
"Hey! What's up!?"
"I was wondering if you and Joanne could come over."
"Oh, going out with your special friend again!?"
"No, I just wanted to talk to you guys about something."
"Ah I see, you mean talk about someone. So things are getting pretty serious aren't they?"
"Um well yeah, so could you guys come?"
"Sure Meems, we'll be there soon."
"Kay bye." Mimi peaked into Sophie's room. She was happily sitting on the floor, coloring a picture singing softly to herself. Mimi smiled and closed the door again.
Knock! Knock! Mimi stepped away from the stove and swung open the door. "Hey girl!" Maureen sung, stepping inside.
"Hey Meems." Joanne said, shutting the door behind her.
"Hey, sit down." Mimi said, the 3 headed over to the couches.
"Where's Soph?" Maureen asked.
"In her room, so um I'd like to keep this conversation as quiet as possible." Mimi said in a soft tone. Joanne and Mo both nodded.
"So she doesn't know?" Joanne asked.
"No, okay I don't really know how to come out and say this." Mimi replied.
"You can tell us anything Meems, we'll understand. As long as it's not Benny of course." Maureen said giggling nervously. Mimi laughed tensely.
"Oh he might be worse than Benny."
"Who is it Meems?" Joanne asked with a sincere kindness.
"Look, okay I've just got to come out with this. Roger's back." Mimi said quickly and timidly. Both Maureen and Joanne's jaws dropped and their eyes widened in total disbelief.
"Wh, wh, what!?" Maureen asked.
"A little over 2 weeks ago he came here."
"Why?" Maureen asked very angrily.
"To um apologize." Mimi gulped. "He uh came over here for dinner, that night when you watched her."
"He's your 'old friend'?" Mo asked making quote marks with her fingers. Mimi nodded.
"What does he want?" Joanne asked.
"To meet Sophie, be her Dad, make up for it." Maureen sighed with relief.
"Oh, so you want Pookie's legal help to keep him away." She said, with a look of happiness on her face.
"Um no. I uh I wanted to tell you guys about it."
"About what?" Joanne asked skeptically.
"About him meeting Sophie Saturday."
"WHAT!?" they both cried in unison.
"Shh." Mimi said pointing to Sophie's room.
"Mimi I can't believe you. After all he's done…"
"He's changed!"
"The hell he has…"
"Mark and Collins have forgiven him!"
"They what?" Joanne asked.
"He's upstairs now watching the game with them." Mimi said.
"Mimi I just don't believe this. I love Roger to death, but you're just going to let him back into both of your lives after a little over 2 weeks?" Joanne asked.
"Can you guys please try to understand why I'm doing this? For her?"
"So you and Roger aren't getting back together?" Maureen asked.
"Well, um, I don't know okay, I'm not worried about that now. She's gone 4 years without a father. And he's gone 4 years of making himself good enough to be one. And this is what I want and I wanted to tell you guys." They were all silent for a few moments.
"You know what? I think this might be a good thing." Joanne said "You're right he may be an ass but everyone deserves a father." She added. "Why don't all of us get together at our place tomorrow night, have a little reunion?" Joanne added.
"Really?" Mimi asked. Joanne nodded and Maureen gave a small smile, Mimi's smile stretched from ear to ear "Thanks guys!" She exclaimed as the 3 shared a group hug.
The next night at the "Reunion":
"What are we supposed to say to him?" Maureen asked Joanne as they set out chips and pretzels in the living room.
"I don't know, but I do know that you're not happy about this, but just be civil for Mimi and Sophie." Joanne said as the doorbell rang.
"Fine." Maureen said walking to answer the door. She swung it open to find Mark and Collins.
"Hey MoMo." Collins said hugging her.
"Hi, hey Marky." He high fived her. Maureen could see on both of their faces that they were happy about their friend being back, and it did make her lighten up a bit. They all walked on in and settled down on the couch eating.
"Mark did you bring the film stuff?" Joanne asked. Mark nodded
"Right here." He said lifting up his messenger bag.
"Hm?" Maureen asked.
"Oh well I asked Mark to bring some of the old films he made way back when." Joanne replied.
"Oh." Maureen said.
"Are you alright Mo?" Collins asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh, I get it. Look I know you might be kind of upset about him being back and all. But out of all of us who has hated Roger the most for leaving?" He asked.
"Mimi, which is why I don't understand this!"
"No, me. And I've managed to forgive him. We all know Roger, he's a good guy who's just made some mistakes in his life. Shouldn't we be thankful and accepting of the fact that he's man enough to face those mistakes instead of being angry at him for making them?"
"Stupid philosophy crap." Maureen mumbled.
"Maureen." Joanne said warningly.
"I'll be nice to him. Well I'll try." They all chuckled as Maureen smiled and the door bell rang again.
"I've got it." Joanne said. She headed to the door and swung it open to find Mimi. "Hey Meems."
"Hey." They quickly hugged and Mimi shuffled inside. "Thanks for doing this Joanne."
"No problem sweetie." Mimi walked into the living room and greeted everyone.
"Who's watching Sophie?" Mark asked.
"Jenny, the girl down the hall from me."
"Oh yeah, I've seen her the blonde?" Mark asked. Mimi nodded. "She's hot." He responded.
"She's 17." Mimi said.
"Oooh." Everybody said teasingly as Mark's face turned red.
"Doesn't she live by herself, and isn't she a bartender at the Cat Scratch?"
"Yeah."
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Yeah." Joanne said.
"So if somebody knows about it they could send the cops over right now while she's babysitting and take her away, leaving Sophie alone." Mark said half jokingly.
"Oh my god you're right I should…" Mimi said looking worried and turning to head out the door.
"Mimi he's joking, they'll be fine." Joanne said grabbing her shoulder. Mimi nodded and sat down. DING DONG!
"Mo why don't you go answer it?" Collins asked. Maureen gave him a dirty look and headed for the door.
"Somebody's excited." Mimi said sarcastically. "I guess I'll have to talk to her later." She added.
"No, after she's spent some time with Rog I'm sure she'll be fine." Joanne told her.
"I hope so." Mimi said. Maureen swung open the door to see exactly who she expected, Roger Davis. He was wearing jeans and an old red and black band t-shirt. His hands were in his pockets. His hair was short but he still pretty much looked the same.
"Hey Mo." Roger said, flashing her a sweet smile. She didn't say anything back but just looked at the ground and opened the door wider, letting him in and shutting it. "You look nice." He said.
"Thanks."
"How are you?"
"Good." Roger sighed.
"Are things really going to be like this Mo? Please, look I know what I did and I know who I hurt and I know okay? I get it. Was it so wrong of me to come back? Was it so wrong of me to work for 4 years to make myself worthy of coming back here? Should I have stayed in Santa Fe and continued to make them think I didn't care?" Maureen shrugged. "I'm sorry." He said. Maureen nodded and led him to the living room.
"Hey Rog." Joanne said, running up to him and giving him a hug.
"Hey!" Roger said happily, squeezing her around the waist.
"You doing good?" She asked him, pulling away.
"Yeah, yeah you?" Joanne gave him a thumbs up.
"Sit." She said gesturing to the couch Mimi and Maureen were sitting on. Roger bumped knuckles with Collins and Marks who were on the loveseat and sat down in between Maureen and Mimi, who smiled at him and put a hand on his leg. He smiled back at her broadly and the whole gang started talking. About 15 minutes later Mark pulled out his digital camera from his bag.
"Smile." He said, pointing the camera towards Maureen, Roger and Mimi. Mimi leaned in towards Roger who put his arms around her and Maureen and smiled like Mimi. But Maureen just gave a bland smile and Roger noticed so he wrapped his arm all the way around her and reached into her nose "grabbing" it and saying
"I've got your nose." Mark snapped the picture just in time to catch Roger doing it and Maureen's face. Everybody chuckled. "You want it?" Roger asked holding his fist in the air. Maureen smiled slightly and tried to reach for it. "Here you go." Roger said twisting his fist back onto her nose.
"That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life." She said, and Roger got a slightly worried look on his face. "But Sophie will probably like it." Maureen added, smiling a little bit. Roger smiled back.
"So Mark why don't you get out your films?" Joanne asked. Mark nodded and dug
around in his bag. He pulled out a tape and slipped it into the VCR and turned on the TV and they shut off the lights and watched. "Today 4 U: Proof Positive. A Mark Cohen Film." Flashed across the screen. The old gang sat together, like they all did 4 years ago watching Mark's film with mixed emotions. When clips of Angel showed up Roger looked to Collins as he smiled sadly and looked at Mimi whose eyes filled with tears. He reached for her hand and she smiled at him and squeezed his hand and they both turned back to the screen. Neither of them blinked when shots of them hugging, and kissing came on. Everybody laughed at shots from Maureen's protest and the funny faces everybody made at the camera. At the end of the movie they had all laughed and cried, and some still had tears in their eyes and everyone was silent until Roger finally spoke.
"I know I've said I'm sorry so many times that it's probably gotten pretty annoying. But I really am sorry. We had the best times together and the closest bond friends could have and I broke it, I changed it. I'm sorry for leaving you guys and letting you down. I really do love you guys." He said looking at Maureen. She looked back at him.
"We love you." She said, hugging him tightly he smiled and hugged her back while everybody "Awwed." The doorbell rung.
"Pizza." Joanne said standing up and walking to the door.
"No letters from my Mom yet?" Roger asked Mimi.
"No, it's only been a day, you think she'd write so soon?"
"Roger's Mom? She's almost as bad as Mr. Cohen over here's Mom when it comes to her precious little son." Collins said.
"Well I'll check the mail when I get home." Mimi said as Joanne carried a few pizza pies in and set them down on the kitchen counter.
"Okay people come get it." She said. Everybody got up and got themselves pizza and drinks and headed into the dining room. "So Rog, are you excited about tomorrow?" Joanne asked.
"Well uh yeah I guess." He said. Mimi got a slightly worried expression on her face and looked at Roger
"What does he not want to meet her or something? Does he not want this?" She thought, similar things were running through everybody else's minds. Roger looked up and saw the look in Mimi's eyes.
"I'm just nervous." He said, and everyone relaxed.
"Roger Davis, scared of a 4 year old girl?" Maureen asked jokingly. He shrugged.
"Well as long as you get her the right gift…." Collins began.
"What!? Mimi you told me…." Roger interrupted nervously.
"To not get her a gift." Mimi finished. "Don't, she's spoiled enough." She said.
"Oh okay. Are you sure?"
"I'm positive Rog."
"Roger you need to relax about this." Collins said.
"How?" Roger asked.
"You're her Dad, she'll love you just for that." Mark said.
"But a new Barbie couldn't hurt." Collins muttered.
"Yeah it will, it'll hurt me because for every Barbie she needs a Ken and if she makes me take them on one more date to the movie theater I just might rip the dolls' heads off." Mimi said while everybody laughed at Sophie's adorable antics. "But really Rog please don't bring any gifts." Mimi said.
"Okay." They all kept talking, about the past and Sophie, and everything else about their lives.
"Alright guys dessert is served." Joanne said bringing out a plate with cookies and cupcakes and brownies and candy.
"Uh oh brownies, good thing Soph isn't here." Mark said and Mimi shot him a look and then looked nervously at Roger, who smiled at her puzzled.
"What?" He asked.
"Sophie, she hates brownies. Like despises." Collins said, shoving one into his mouth. Mimi bit her lip.
"Why didn't you say something?" Roger asked Mimi in a friendly tone, giving her a small smile.
"It wasn't important." Mimi said simply, and Roger got a really nervous look on his face.
"What else does she hate?" He asked very worriedly.
"Chill Rog." Maureen said.
"No, I can't! What else does she hate!? I need to know, what if she hates like soda and I offer her some, or if she hates clowns and I show her one at the carnival tomorrow, or if she hates heights and I ask her if she wants to go on the ferris wheel! God, you said she hates dogs well what if I forget and I take her to a pet store!? I'm gonna screw this up so bad I'm gonna end up on her list of things she hates!" Roger exclaimed panicky, putting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.
"Whoa Roger relax man, she's gonna love you." Collins said.
"Yeah." Everyone agreed.
"What if she doesn't?" Roger asked.
"She will Roger, I know she will." Mimi said gently, looking at Roger with her soft eyes. He let their eyes stay locked for a few seconds before saying and gesturing to Mimi
"And what about those eyes?" Roger said in a much gentler, softer, much more relaxed tone. "You're telling me not to bring her a gift so I don't spoil her, but what if she asks me for something? How am I supposed to say no to those eyes?" He asked softly, looking directly at Mimi. Everyone let them have their "moment".
"You'll be fine Roger, I promise." Mimi finally said. "I have to go, make sure my babysitter didn't get taken away by cops." She said, looking sarcastically at Mark who chuckled lightly. "Thanks guys, bye." She said walking out, running her hand along the back of Roger's neck as she walked by. As soon as he heard the front door close Mark wasted no time saying
"Are you two like together again or not because it's really been bugging me." Everyone chuckled, agreed, and looked at Roger.
"I don't know." He said, shrugging.
"Well do you want to be?" Maureen asked.
"I dunno, well, uh, of COURSE I wanna be with her again. Of course I do, I've never loved anybody like I love Mimi."
"I like that word." Maureen said. "LOVE and not Love-ED." Everyone smiled and nodded.
"So why don't you ask her out?" Collins asked.
"It's complicated. Ya know? I mean, do I need to ask her out, and if I did would we like, uh, I just don't know where we stand."
"So why don't you ASK her?" Maureen whined.
"I don't know, I just wanna take things one step at a time."
"You'll have to talk about it eventually or things will get even more awkward." Mark said.
"What do you mean even more things aren't awkward. Or well they're not for me, did she say anything?" Roger asked nervously.
"No Rog, relax it just kind of seems like it would be."
"Well it's not, it feels like no time has gone by at all."
"But you guys should probably find out where you stand, because Sophie's totally hung up about her Mommy's "old friend" that she had dinner with and talks to on the phone, and about how he's her boyfriend." Maureen said.
"Good luck with that." Collins said.
"Roger doesn't need luck because he is going to be a wonderful father." Joanne said putting a hand on Roger's head. He smiled.
"But can he be a wonderful boyfriend at the same time?" Collins asked in a very announcer-like voice.
"Is he ANY kind of boyfriend at all?" Mark added in the same tone.
"Dun-dun-dun-dun." Maureen added teasingly. Roger rolled his eyes and stood up.
"We'll just have to find out next time on…." Collins begun
"Davis The Daddy!" Mark joined him in saying in their moviephone voices.
"You guys made up a TV series about me?" Roger asked. They both nodded and high fived. "Why don't you write one about a single filmmaker, and his philosopher roommate on their life journeys to….. get lives?" Roger said, making Joanne and Maureen giggle.
"We also wrote a song, you wanna hear it?" Mark asked.
"No." Roger said shaking his head.
"I've gotta run, thanks for everything." Roger said waving to the table.
"Oh wait." Maureen said.
"You know you shouldn't pick on Mark for being single Mr. 'I don't know where I stand'" Maureen said in a baby tone. Everyone laughed and Roger just shook his head and stuck his tongue out at her.
"Bye Rog." Joanne said as he walked out the door.
Next up: ROGER MEETS HIS DAUGHTER AND FINDS OUT "WHERE HE STANDS"!!!! Keep reading and reviewing guys I really appreciate it!