Chapter 82: Daily Life III
Daniel explained his movie idea to Gloria.
"Ay, you're going to make your dad work hard again," Gloria scolded him.
He replied, "Come on, he already handled two movies. Now it's two again - Juno and Easy A - and it's even easier since both will probably have much smaller budgets than the first two."
"Hello, Mrs. Pritchett, right?" Lindsay waved as soon as the Latina sat down beside her.
"Yes, hi, Lindsay," Gloria nodded with a slightly forced smile, not exactly friendly.
"Oh, come on, Gloria," Dani said, looking at her.
"Sorry," Gloria ended up apologizing.
Lindsay looked confused. "What?"
Daniel explained, "My little brother, Manny - Gloria's son - hasn't stopped talking about you. Gloria just got a little jealous."
"Oh, I remember. The one we took photos with at the premiere. He even handed me a love letter after the movie..." Lindsay muttered a bit awkwardly in the last part.
"Classic Manny," Daniel laughed.
"Hey," Phil joined the conversation. "That reminds me of you, Dani, when we went to the Mars Attacks! premiere!"
"Uhhh, that was a great story. My first premiere - tell them, Phil."
Then Phil Dunphy started telling the story.
(Flashback - 1996, Premiere)
The red carpet was chaos - flashes going off, people shouting names, security trying to keep things under control.
Mars Attacks! was a big-budget movie, with an estimated $100 million budget and several stars.
"This is so cool," Phil said, completely excited as he looked around at all the celebrities. "We were so lucky to get these tickets from the buyer I sold the house to."
Claire, on the other hand, was more concerned about the little boy beside her.
She was holding tightly onto her little brother's hand, trying to keep Daniel from getting lost in the crowd.
"Stay close, Dani. I swear I'm going to make you clean the whole house if you get into any mischief."
"Relax, sis," Dani dismissed.
"And if the movie gets too inappropriate, we're leaving the theater," Claire continued.
"Oh, come on, sis, we already talked about it. It's rated 12. I'm almost there. And this is my first premiere!"
Phil and Dani managed to convince Claire it would be okay. But Haley was denied, since she was even younger.
Then Phil stopped and pointed. "Claire, that's James Bond! I just need one picture," he said. "One! With Pierce Brosnan. Or Jack Nicholson."
"Phil, those two are going to be the hardest," Claire tried to tone down her husband's excitement a bit.
Daniel, meanwhile, was looking toward the other side, where a girl had just finished signing an autograph. There was basically no one else asking anymore.
He slipped out of his sister's grip and run straight up to her.
Claire's eyes widened. "Daniel!" She yelled, and quickly went after him.
Daniel stopped right in front of the girl and looked up at her.
"Hello," she smiled, "do you want an autograph-"
"Marry me," he blurted out. "Marry me!"
She blinked. "What?" The girl was completely caught off guard.
Claire, who had already caught up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his suit.
"Daniel!" she snapped, then quickly looked at the girl. "Sorry about that, my little brother can be a little troublesome."
"But I'm serious!" Dani made a face, turning back to the girl again. "I would totally marry you!"
Then he asked nonchalantly, "What's your name, by the way? I'm Dani."
The girl was still a bit incredulous, but she ended up laughing. "Natalie. Natalie Portman."
"And I'm sorry, you're too young for me," she replied gently.
"Alright," Dani muttered, looking a bit down. "I'll take the autograph then..." He handed her a piece of paper he had in his pocket.
Natalie took it and signed the folded paper. But she found it a bit strange and unfolded it. "Wait, this is-"
"Ha, no take-backs," Daniel quickly pulled the paper back. But Claire immediately grabbed it from his hand.
"Marriage certificate," she read at the top. "Daniel!" She groaned."Where did you get this and these ideas?"
"Ouch, sis," Dani complained as she pulled his ear. "You're ruining my performance!"
He turned again to the girl. "Are you sure you don't want to marry me? 'Dani and Natalie' sounds great together!"
"I'm sure. We're still too young," Natalie replied, amused.
"Fine. But one day, I'm going to grow up tall and awesome, and then you'll totally regret not saying yes. Mark my words - awesome!"
"Yes, Dani." She nodded, entertained by the little boy's bold confidence.
"Like six feet tall."
"I'm sure."
"Rich, famous, handsome, and still very funny."
"Hm, that does sound appealing."
"And do you know the best part of it?"
"No, what?"
"When I ask you out when I'm older, you'll definitely say yes!"
Natalie laughed aloud at that.
(Flashback end)
"So you asked Natalie Portman to marry you when you were 10 years old?" Lindsay laughed at the story.
"Cool, right?" Dani smirked.
"Whoa, so you were a menace from a young age..." Lexi said dryly.
"How did you have a marriage certificate in your pocket?" Alex asked, focusing on the strangest part for her.
"Oh, I made it. It was either to use with Haley, just to annoy sis, or to use it like I did," he explained. "I was young. I figured I'd find a pretty girl and propose."
Daniel went on, "I still have the photo of Natalie and me holding the certificate." He chuckled.
Penny joined the conversation as well. "And your sister? Did she make you clean the whole house?"
"Yes, she did," he said, making a face. "But she would've done that anyway. That day I had drawn on the ceiling in the living room and the kitchen. She just hadn't seen it yet."
"Oh, I remember Claire would go crazy whenever she saw that," Phil commented, chuckling a bit.
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