Barclay Davis - Cocktails, Part Two

Art by Scopedog

Next Saturday arrives. And Max, Frida, and Victor show up at Al and Gloria's house. Max is wearing a black open collared shirt and jeans, while Frida had her long, blonde hair tied up, and was decked out in a short black frilly pinafore dress, a white light turtle neck shirt underneath it, and black low heel shoes. When they arrive they're greeted at the door by Al, who high fives Victor.

When they enter, they see Mitch and Paul, Pete and Carol, Bob and his ex Shontel, and Sam, his brother Mo, and his sister in law Jasmine. And a few other people they've never met before.

But then Max and Frida hear a familiar voice behind them. They turned to see their fellow Danforth teacher Martha Wong, standing right behind them. After Max and Frida each gave Martha a hug, Max says to her, "I didn't know you knew Gloria, Martha."

"Oh, no." Martha said. "We just met for the first time tonight. I'm here because my husband Clyde is good friends with her husband."

"Oh really?" Max says to Martha. "And where exactly is your husband, anyways?"

"Right behind you!" A voice said from behind in a menacing voice, which caused Max to startle scream again. Max and Frida turn to see a bespectacled Asian American, who continued, "Haunting you in nightmares!" Max and Frida were a bit freaked out about it.

"I'm just kidding ya!" he said, and continues. "Hi, my name is Clyde. I'm good friends with Al." After exchanging handshakes, Max says to him. "Well, that's interesting. Frida and I are good friends with Martha. We're teachers, like her."

"I know." Clyde tells him, his voice turns menacingly again. "Martha's told me EVERYTHING about you two!" 

"Uhhhh..." Max says, as he and Frida are freaking out again.

"She says you're great friends, and that you're both the perfect couple." Clyde says going back to his friendly mood. Max and Frida smile a little nervously at that.

Al comes up to them and tells Max and Frida, "You'll have to excuse Clyde, guys. He's our coroner, and the job comes with a morbid sense of humor."

Another familiar voice says to Max, "THERE YOU ARE!" Max turns to see Gloria bouncing in, wearing a Mumu dress, and going up to Max to give him a hug. "You are looking so hot in that getup, Maxie!"

"Thanks Gloria." Max says to her, and continues "And you're lookin' fine in that dress of yours."

"Awww, you flatter me, boy toy!" Gloria says to him. "And what about this girlfriend of yours? You did bring that lucky woman that got her hooks into you, huh?"

"And what kind of a friend would I be if I hadn't?" Max tells Gloria, who then turns to Frida, saying "I would like for you to meet her now." He goes behind Frida, puts his hands on her shoulders and tells Gloria "This is Frida Olsen. A fellow teacher at Danforth, and the love of my life!"

Frida, with a big smile on her face, waves at Gloria, and tells her "Hello Gloria, it's so nice to finally meet you, I've heard so many wonderful things about you!"

Gloria, with her mouth dropping to the ground and her eyes bugged out, puts her hands on her face and starts gasping at Frida, saying "Ohhhh...Emmmm...GEEEEE-zus Christ!!!" She turns to Al, and swats him on the arm, saying to him "Al, you lying dog!" Al was a bit confused by that, as Gloria continued. "You told me she was beautiful, but she actually drop dead gorgeous!"

Frida was surprised by that remark, but she quite liked it.

Gloria walked up to Frida, and continued. "Perfect height, not too tall, not too short, thin and fit with a flawless face and perfect cheekbones, soft puffy lips with the mouth slightly open, bedroom blue eyes, long blonde hair, all tied up...the carpet matches the drapes, right?" Gloria asks Frida, who seemed a bit embarrassed by that question, but said yes to her. "HA, of course!" Gloria said, as she put her hand around Frida's arm and continued talking. "A perfect cover girl ten that has all the guys drooling for her and wanting her. And she's ALL Maxie's!" Gloria says as she pulls Max close to her. "You two make the most adorable couple!"

"Ha! Thanks, Gloria." Max told her. "You definitely have a unique way with words."

Gloria then turned to Frida and told her, "Hey listen, girl. I heard you have a child, and that she was taken from you by her father."

Frida then got sad, and nodded her head at Gloria, who told her "...yeah".

"Are you going to try and have that contested in court?" Gloria asked Frida.

"I want to, yes." Frida told her. "But I don't know where to turn to for a lawyer, and I have..."

"Well, SAY NO MORE, GAL PAL!!!" Gloria tells Frida. "Because I've got one just for you! He just passed the bar after graduating the top of his class in law school, and specializes in family law. Meet my little cousin, Isadore Feinberg!"

Up strolled a smallish man with wavy hair parted down the middle, saying "Hey everybody, how's it goin', how's everyone? And please, call me Izzy! Everyone else does." After shaking Max and Frida's hands, Izzy says "Now I know what you're thinking. 'What, a Jewish lawyer? What are the odds of that?' Ha-Ha!" Max and Frida just looked at Izzy a bit odd, but Izzy then told them, "Eh, that was a joke, you understand!"😁 Max and Frida smiled nervously at him.

Izzy continued. "But seriously, I'd love to represent you in your fight for your child. And because it can be my first case, and you're both friends of cousin Gloria, I can give you a discount for my fees. Are you OK with that?"

"Sure, I would love it!" Frida enthusiastically tells him. "I would love to have you represent me here!"

"Great!" Izzy tells her. "I can't wait to take him on! That guy's gotta be a real dirtbag for trying to take your child!"

"Dirtbag is one of the nicer things said about Archie Sanders!" Max tells Izzy.

"Wait, wait, WHAT?" Izzy asks Max. "Archie Sanders? From the Sanders family?" Izzy starts getting nervous. So much that he had to pull out his inhaler, because he was having difficulty breathing upon hearing that!

"Are you alright?" Frida asks Izzy.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Izzy assures her. "It's just...going up against one of the most prominent and wealthiest families in the state is just...NOT what I hoped would be my first case. But that's ok! After all, I did pass the bar after finishing tops in my class at law school. Ok, it was a mid level law school, but STILL...it's a good school. And you're in good hands, with me." Frida smiled at Izzy, feeling relieved upon hearing that.

Then, Gloria showed up with a tray of drinks for everyone, and said, "Alrighty, peoples, drink up time! It's a simple but unique tasting drink I came up with. There's a third of Admiral Tom's Black Spiced Rum mixed in with Dr. Jerry's Old Fashioned Root Beer in each glass. It goes down real smooth, but gives you a kick in the ass!"

Frida had approached Jasmine with the drinks, but paused herself, saying "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you drink alcohol?"

"Well alcohol IS considered taboo in many Islamic circles." Jasmine told her.

Gloria felt bad, and told Jasmine "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Did I say no?" Jasmine told her, as she grabbed a glass and started drinking it.

Soon, everyone was in small groups conversing with each other. Victor had parked himself on one of the living room tables and kept to himself, most of the time so as to be on his best behavior for Frida. Max was talking with Clyde, while Al was looking on.

"Forgive me if I sound rude here," Max told Clyde. "But, Clyde doesn't sound like a typical name many Asian American families give to their sons."

"Blame my father for that." Clyde told Max. "I was born in Houston in the early eighties, where he worked at the University of Houston's Medical School as a professor during the Phi Slamma Jamma era of its basketball program. He named me after his favorite player on that team, Clyde Drexler. He had high hopes for me becoming the first Asian American to play in the NBA. But instead, I became a doctor in forensic pathology trained in law enforcement investigation, and considered the best in the state, and one of the best in the nation.

"I'm something of a disappointment to him."

"Well, we all have our own paths in life to follow." Max joked with Clyde.

Soon, Izzy gets everyone's attention. "Can everyone look this way, please? I'd like to liven this party up a bit with a little...BRUUUUUUUCE!!!" He then cues up his device with Gloria's audio system to play:

And soon, Frida hauls Max out into the open to start dancing with him. Everyone was fixated on Frida, as she was wildly dancing up a storm with Max. But Max, not as athletic and coordinated as Frida, could only go with the motions.

Paul then steps in. "Pardon monsieur, but if you don't mind, may I have this dance with your lady?"

Max looks at Frida, then says to Paul "Well I don't see why not! Knock yourselves out!" Max then lets Paul cut in with Frida, while he sits down on the couch next to Mitch. Both of them are looking at their significant others dancing with each other and are quite amused by it.

"Hey, Paul's a pretty good dancer, Mitch." Max tells him, as they're both watching Frida and Paul move like they've been dance partners forever.

"Yeah, and Frida looks like she's enjoying herself." Mitch tells Max. "They really seem to be having fun dancing together."

Then, Paul made a move, where he grabbed Frida by the waist near her bottom and pulled her in tight to him. Frida reacted by putting her arms on Paul's shoulders, sliding her leg up his side and touching forehead to forehead.

"A little too much, it would seem!" Max notices, as he and Mitch are both surprised by the two of them.

Then, Paul unties Frida's hair, and it collapses into a hot, beautiful mess that Frida shakes out. Frida responds by ripping open Paul's shirt, which exposes a chiseled chest covered in hair, and a tattoo on his upper left chest of a Quebec fleur de lys with Pride colors inside it.

And it was then, both Max and Mitch responded to that, like so:

At that point, Frida and Paul were basically dirty dancing, with their hips gyrating to the music and their hands sliding all over the others bodies. They both looked like they were foreplaying to the beat, and everyone in the living room was watching that and enjoying their dancing.

Everyone except Max and Mitch, who were both growing green with jealousy at their respective lovers having fun together. After they both turned to look at each other, without saying a word, they both knew what to do.

Just as the song finished, and Frida and Paul were in an embrace, Max and Mitch grabbed their respective partners and pulled them off of each other. With Max at Frida's side, holding his left hand on Frida's hand and his right hand on her shoulder, leading her to the couch, while Mitch pushes Paul from behind.

Coming up: Barclay Davis - Cocktails; Part Three