Daily Drama (In American TV Shows)

I thought this would be the last chapter, but I was able to split it into two so I can upload the next one within this week.

So I'll see you in a few days.

Enjoy.

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Smiling broadly. "Bob" repeated, Dave McShitface, "tell me what you do for a living?" he asked, when their hands were separated, crossing his arms with interest.

"I'm an exterminator," Bob replied immediately, as it should be, there wasn't a single trace of shame for his profession.

Possibly anyone else wouldn't have noticed, but I saw how for a fraction of a second, Mr. McShitface's pupils dilated and his smile turned into a more mocking one, clearly it amused him.

"Really?" asked the man, with fake interest, "how's the business?"

Keeping a fake smile on his face. "The business is doing very well thank you" Bob replied, "in fact I found a very good bubble and right now I have the biggest extermination company in Medford and neighboring towns" Bob declared proudly.

"Great, now I know who to call if one day I happen to have a pest problem at my house" McShitface said, keeping his smile, "on the contrary I'm just a criminal lawyer, so if one day you get into really serious trouble, you can call me and I'll give you a discount" he added with exaggerated humility.

Bob, still with his knuckles completely white from pressing his hands so hard on his legs, just nodded silently keeping the painfully fake smile on his face.

The silence was quite uncomfortable, at least it seemed so from my seat at the table a few steps away from the two adults, mom and Mrs. McShitface on the contrary, surprisingly were chatting cheerfully while mom rocked Charlie in her arms. And Teddy and McShitface Jr. were talking along with Meredith who for some reason had been forced to be there by my sister.

"Are they all yours?" Mr. McShitface suddenly asked, making me turn my attention back to the two adult men.

Keeping at all times the 'cordial smile.' "Yes" Bob replied, slightly turning his body, "except Diane, my eldest's girlfriend, PJ" he added pointing to Diane and then to me.

Hearing my name, the man paused for a moment, apparently he had heard it before. "PJ Duncan!" the man said opening his eyes, "I read about you in the newspaper some time ago, you're some kind of genius, right?" the man added, strangely as if the idea was funny.

"Oh PJ is a genius all right" Bob said immediately, a bit defensively, "we are really proud of him."

Pressing his jaw slightly while keeping his fake smile, the man just nodded slowly for a couple of seconds. "I imagine so, a book genius" he said snorting slightly, a moment later, snapping his fingers, he called his son to come closer.

As Ryan approached, his father smiled smugly at Bob.

"This one has good grades" Mr. McCarthy said when his son was close, "but where he really shines is in sports, a natural athlete" he added, patting his son's shoulder hard enough that the teenager had to adjust his feet not to lose balance, "just name it and I bet Ryan masters it."

Also pressing his jaw in a fake smile. "Really?" Bob asked, raising his eyebrows, "do you play football Ryan?" he asked.

Even from my seat just a few steps from where Bob was, I could see the idea, for his strange one up, forming in his head, silently I stood up, walking towards where they were.

"Yes sir, I'm a wide receiver" Ryan replied with a smug smile.

Bob, who noticed I was approaching, raised his arm, resting it gently on my shoulder, in fact quite gently, as if he were showing the other father how it should be done.

"That's excellent, maybe when you enter Medford High you can play on the team" Bob declared 'kindly,' "PJ is the quarterback and captain" he added, with his forehead exaggeratedly high.

"Really" asked Mr. McCarthy, falsely surprised, "I wasn't paying much attention to the school season, how did Medford end up, did they win?" he added, smiling sardonically.

There was no way the man didn't know we had been eliminated before the playoffs, it was clear even to anyone other than me.

Losing his smile for a second. "Ah, unfortunately a large part of the offensive team moved out of town, leaving the team with no way to win" Bob replied, a second later.

Only Alan and Brock had left the team, the rest of us were still there, but it was quite true that when they left, the team began to fall apart.

Nodding. "Oh I see" murmured Mr. McCarthy, "well, let's hope that when Ryan joins, he can save the team" he said, squeezing his son's shoulder in a gesture that was more mockery than praise, a direct response to Bob's attempt to boast.

"Let's hope so" Bob replied, widening his fake smile, "because PJ needs a good wide receiver… at least one capable of catching the passes from his cannon arm" he added, squeezing my bicep with a smug smile, in a clumsy attempt to disguise his contempt for the other man's son's skill.

"Oh, I assure you Ryan will be able to catch any pass" Mr. McCarthy said, "because if we're talking about cannon arms, Ryan has two and very useful ones" the man declared, making his son, with whom I was still in a staring contest, smile smugly. "He's an excellent fighter, he actually won an amateur boxing tournament a few months ago, knocked out his opponent in the first round" he added, raising one of his fingers.

Judging by the way Bob's arm, which was still on my shoulders, tensed, I knew McCarthy's words hadn't even come close to their intended effect.

"Oh he fights?" he asked, you could practically hear the now genuine smile on his face. "Well, PJ on his own is a fighting prodigy, in fact on his own he is co-owner of a mixed martial arts gym, the other owner, and his coach, is a world champion in a bunch of martial arts who teaches PJ" he boasted triumphantly.

And judging by the slight change in Mr. McCarthy's expression and his body language, Bob had won the measuring of… sons?

After Bob's words, the atmosphere between the four was quite tense and silent, even though inside the restaurant, the noise of the rest of the people could still be heard completely filling the place.

Bob and Mr. McCarthy kept smiling at each other with a considerably lower amount of effort to look genuine, while Ryan and I forgot about the fake expression staring silently at each other with mutual disdain.

The seconds passed and apparently no one was willing to take the first step to get out of the tense moment, until, out of nowhere. "Babe, I invited Amy to the club tomorrow, for brunch" Mrs. McCarthy said, catching everyone's attention.

The woman who, looking closely, was much younger than the man and in fact without a ring on her finger, unpleasantly shameless hugged Mr. McCarthy's torso, leaning, sticking her butt out looking up at Mr. McCarthy, using the same expression Georgie used to try to get girls' attention at school, the 'puppy eyes.'

Forgetting for a fraction of a second that he was fake smiling, Mr. McCarthy frowned, but in the next instant, judging by his facial expression, he got an idea.

Hugging the woman's waist, passing his hand dangerously close to her butt in the process, Mr. McCarthy slowly returned his attention to Bob, on his face once again plastered the fake smile with which he had introduced himself.

"You know Bob, I'm a member of Whispering Pines country club which has a beautiful nine-hole golf course" he explained arrogantly, "we should go tomorrow, it's a beautiful place, very exclusive" he added, his eyes shining with presumption, "we could play a friendly game, maybe bet a little money to make it more interesting."

I had never played golf, and I wasn't sure if Bob had, so reading the man's intention, who surely wanted to humiliate us somehow, playing a sport we had never touched and betting on our chances of victory, was not a good idea.

Before Bob could refuse, as his body language screamed.

Mr. McCarthy snapped his fingers as if at that very moment he had remembered something interesting. "In fact, I think at the club's gym there's a professional ring, maybe PJ can show us a little of all those martial arts" he added, making Ryan snort silently.

The man's idea, now couldn't be more obvious, because otherwise he would have just said it directly. In an egomaniacal and narcissistic way he was trying to arrange a fight between his son and me.

Staring at Ryan, something he imitated with me, again with a defiant smile on his face. "Playing golf sounds fun" I said monotonously.

I had wished for an opportunity, and unfortunately for him, his father had handed it to me on a silver platter.

Separating from Mr. McCarthy, excited. "So yes?" asked the woman... really a girl in her late twenties.

"Anything for you, beautiful" Mr. McCarthy replied, kissing with unpleasant possessiveness who now seemed to be his girlfriend, judging by Ryan's reaction, his father's actions were something common.

Separating from the grotesque kiss. "Great, Amy has so much knowledge about babies, she's like an expert" said the... woman? wiping her lips, "she has lots of advice for when we have our own children."

Thanks to an immediate reaction, it was clear that the idea of having a baby was in no way appealing to Mr. McCarthy, maybe for the clearly not very intelligent woman this wasn't clear, but for me, it was as clear as daylight.

Nodding slowly. "Yeah" Mr. McCarthy said, dragging the word awkwardly, causing the woman to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping away, walking back to where mom was, to excitedly tell her the good news. "Girlfriends, am I right?"

Bob didn't respond, which quickly became awkward.

Explaining the place where we would meet the next day, Mr. McCarthy along with his girlfriend and Ryan, who said goodbye to Teddy, returned to their table.

When I sat back down in my chair. "Everything all right?" Diane asked me, taking my hand under the table, surprisingly worried.

It was genuinely surprising that Diane could discern that something had happened. Maybe, thanks to all her effort in getting along with Meredith.

"Yeah" I replied, smiling softly.

Bob visibly, at least to me, took a few more seconds to calm down, I was sure his fingers were tense from pressing them so much.

Mom, apparently completely oblivious to Bob's feelings, happily told about Mr. McCarthy's 'innocent' girlfriend.

Meredith and Teddy, on the other hand, were talking quietly with their heads leaning close together.

And Gabe... was completely unaware of anything that had happened, while playing with his video game console.

No more than a couple of minutes passed since the McCarthys, and girlfriend, returned to their table, when Bob asked for the check, shortly after, we left the restaurant quickly.

In the car, leaving the restaurant parking lot. "I don't understand, why do we have to go back so quickly?" mom asked, puzzled.

"PJ and I have a project to work on" Bob replied, really without explaining anything.

"A project?" mom repeated, without receiving any response.

At first, Bob didn't drive towards the cabin, instead he drove through the town until we reached a sporting goods store, there he got out and was inside, coming out a minute later, carrying a small paper bag with something inside, by the shape, it was a box or a book.

Back at the cabin, everyone except Bob and me went inside the house.

Walking to the cabin's garage. "I've never touched a golf club in my life" Bob said, while opening the door, "you haven't either, so we have to fix that" he declared entering the garage.

Searching for a few seconds, Bob and I found a bunch of golf clubs organized in three separate specialized bags.

Leaving the paper bag, which he still had in his possession, on a work table in the garage, and took out its contents, as I had guessed, a book,

Bob with the book open in his hand, constantly shifted his attention from the book to the clubs we placed next to the table. "All right" he said a few seconds later, "these are drives, big heads for distance, woods for when the ball is on the 'farway'... that is, in the short grass, drivers are only used on the tee..." he read aloud, frowning, clearly not fully understanding the terminology.

I was the same.

After Bob gave a quick read to the book, at least to 'the most important parts,' according to him, I took my turn, and finally several minutes after entering the garage, we went out with a bunch of golf balls and the clubs, which the house owner and Bob's client had allowed him to take, since apparently they were old.

We spent the rest of the day hitting and retrieving balls. The first attempts, focusing on doing it as the book described, had been relatively complicated, it was hard to control the hip movement at the same time as doing the 'swing' but at some point, and dozens, if not hundreds of balls later, I was finally able to do it every time I wanted.

We rotated clubs and worked on hypothetical situations the book described, at least as best as we could, until night came in full and the darkness didn't allow us to continue.

With our arms incredibly tired, we returned to the cabin, where everyone, including Gabe, was in a heated Monopoly competition... at least between Teddy and mom, but with all the money in front of Diane and the number of property cards, it was obvious she was dominating the game.

The next day, early in the morning, as soon as there was enough daylight, Bob and I continued practicing golf shots.

To be honest, if McCarthy really had the experience he claimed to have, there was no way we could win, but just for the sake of our ego, there was also no way he would humiliate us.

If they won, it would be a relatively close game, not a walk in the park.

Wearing shorts, polo shirts and caps, Bob and I got into my car leaving with the rest of the family in Bob's truck, towards the place McCarthy had told us the day before.

Bob and I went in complete silence, both entirely focused on the golf game that was about to come.

Arriving several minutes from the cabin, another house, as big as Bob's client's, was by the lake, with a luxury truck parked outside and a couple of motorcycles arranged next to each other.

When the car engines were turned off, the cabin door swung open, on the other side, McCarthy's girlfriend came out waving excitedly, she looked like a girl who had been waiting for her friend right by the door.

McCarthy and Ryan didn't take long to come out of the house, immediately amused by Bob's yellow truck, with the giant bug on it.

Usually I'd understand someone finding the car funny or strange, but this time, seeing them amused, only served to make me angrier.

After some tense greetings, only between Bob, McCarthy, Ryan and me, we left following the luxury truck quickly away from the property.

A long trip, after several minutes, we arrived at the country club.

When Bob handed the keys to the valet parking worker, he looked impressed by the truck for a couple of seconds before deciding and getting into the car.

Mom and the girls followed McCarthy's girlfriend, while Bob, and I, along with Gabe who preferred to watch us play golf rather than go to 'brunch' with the women in my family.

The fake cordiality between Bob and McCarthy lasted just long enough until we got to where the golf carts were, from there, each father and son group, along with a 'caddie' approached one of the carts.

Daniel, our caddie, a boy of about nineteen years old with calloused hands and a worn club cap, adjusted his cap after we introduced ourselves, apparently surprised by our politeness.

Surely not many of the club's guests treated him like a person.

"All right, so..." Daniel whispered while driving, pointing without taking his eyes off the road to a paper card, where the points were written. "This course is Par thirty-five, you, being beginners, have a handicap of 36 strokes... that is, the maximum. But that's not bad."

Bob frowned, confused. "Sounds pretty bad, handicap?"

Daniel cut the air with a hand, quickly shaking his head. "With the handicap, you're getting two extra strokes on each hole. If on a Par four you make six strokes, with the handicap it counts as four. It's only fair."

I fixed my gaze on the card. The numbers danced in my mind. "Double the tries" I murmured, but apparently Daniel heard me, smiling satisfied.

Bob ran his tongue over his teeth, a slow smile spreading on his face.

"So... technically we could crush that idiot without being good" he declared with excitement on his face, causing Gabe to lift his head from a comic book he was reading, surprised to hear his father insult someone.

Daniel laughed, covering his mouth with his fist. "I won't lie, it's hard at least for you being beginners, but knowing how McCarthy plays, it's not entirely impossible."

"You know him?" asked Bob, surprised.

Mr. McCarthy had made it evident that he had been a member of the club for quite some time, but judging by how everyone reacted to his greetings, including the receptionists, it was clear they didn't recognize him.

Moving his head slightly, Daniel hesitated to answer, then looking at Bob he decided. "I wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't because it seems you don't like the man."

"I can't stand him" replied Bob.

Snorting lightly. "I can see that now" replied Daniel, "I've been his caddie on a couple of occasions, he has a very bad attitude and that affects his swings, but it's never his fault" he added, his face carrying the memory of something that bothered him, "fortunately he doesn't have a good memory either or I would have probably lost my job a long time ago" he said, looking at the cart in front of us with disdain.

"Asshole" spat Bob, with contempt.

Gabe in the back seat next to me, looked at me completely incredulous with his eyes comically wide open.

Laughing softly I lowered the visor of his cap,

A few seconds later we stopped, getting off the carts, Gabe was the only one of all of us who stayed in his seat, not at all interested in playing golf.

Mr. McCarthy, upon getting off his cart, began to stretch exaggeratedly, even doing leg raises.

Snorting with disdain, Bob walked to the back of the vehicle, immediately lifting the bag of clubs onto his shoulder.

Stopping Bob and asking for the golf bag. "I'll carry the bag for you sir" explained Daniel, amused.

"Oh sorry" said Bob, handing over the bag embarrassed, before starting to walk behind the other group.

Snorting, Daniel shook his head walking at our side while checking the contents of the bag. "Is this really the first time you play golf?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes" replied Bob, smiling calmly.

"These are really good clubs for beginners" murmured Daniel, impressed and with a bit of jealousy in his voice.

I could guess what was going through Daniel's mind, rich people spending much more money than they should on their first time playing.

Reality couldn't have been more different.

Several steps ahead of us. "All right, Duncans" exclaimed Mr. McCarthy arrogantly, causing Bob's smile, Daniel's, and mine to disappear immediately, "first hole, par three, meaning the ball has to go in-" he explained slowly, with condescension in his voice.

"We know McCarthy" interrupted Bob, falsely grateful, "are we going to play or what?" he asked.

Losing his fake smile for a fraction of a second. "Let's play" replied McCarthy, nodding.

Ryan and his father were the first to take their shots, as expected the shots were strong and went far.

Watching Ryan's ball fly. "Oh look at that" exclaimed Mr. McCarthy, excited, hitting his son's abdomen 'playfully'.

"He always starts like that" whispered Daniel, stepping a few paces to the 'tee'.

The first was Bob, with Daniel's help he placed his golf ball on the piece of plastic buried in the ground and got ready to hit with the driver, chosen by Daniel.

Swinging the club a couple of times, Bob took a breath and hit the ball hard, connecting, but sending it far from where it was supposed to go.

"Good try" declared Daniel, "you have to close the swing a bit by closing the wrist" he added, showing the movement to Bob, who nodded seriously.

Making Bob frown. "Yeah, good try" said Mr. McCarthy, letting a hint of mockery slip into his tone.

Bob put a fake smile on his face, stepping aside, handing me the driver.

Pulling a bit of grass, to check the wind's direction. "You have to aim that way" Daniel told me, his jaw clenched.

Apparently McCarthy's voice bothered him too.

Nodding seriously, I focused, fully remembering all the tips from the book as well as the diagrams.

Breathing deeply, I stepped forward, spreading my feet shoulder-width apart and got ready, looking at my target I took a deep breath and made my swing.

The driver cut through the air with an almost metallic sound, and the impact with the ball was almost immediate. Keeping my feet fixed on the ground, I finished the movement following through with my hips, watching the tiny speck that was my golf ball fly in the right direction.

"That's my son" declared Bob with excitement, pulling me under his arm.

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I've never played golf and other than Adam Sandler playing with a hockey stick (now on two separate occasions) I've never seen anything golf-related... at least until a few weeks ago when I watched Owen Willson's Apple TV series, "Stick." It's okay, 7/10.

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Author Thoughts:

As always, I'm not American, not a doctor, not a fighter, not Magnus Carlsen, not Michael Phelps, not Arsene Lupin, not McLovin, not Elliot, not Capone and not Tiger Woods.

Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:

11332223

RandomPasserby96

Victor_Venegas

I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

Thank you for reading! :D

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