Gleeboot (Season 1)

15. Strip That Down

On the first Saturday of winter break, and the day of Dominic's 17th birthday, the Davenports sat together at one of the finest restaurants in the area, just outside of town, in a private room.

It was brunch hour and Dominic watched as his mother, Dawn, gulped down her third mimosa. They'd only been sitting down for fifteen minutes.

The food wasn't coming fast enough and to make matters worse, Dominic's father, Coleman, had not stopped talking. 

"You need to start thinking seriously about your future now," he was saying. "What colleges are you going to apply to? In what programs? What are the requirements to get into said programs and what are you already out of the running for? These are important things, Dominic."

"I know," Dominic sighed. "I'm prepared. That's why I'm in student council and glee club. I know that I'll have to be well-rounded."

"You're not well-rounded enough," said Coleman. "Student government is okay. If you're president. But the singing thing's a waste. You should've gone into football or... basketball... You're six-foot-four, Dominic, you won the DNA jackpot. But instead, you did what with that? Wasted three years of training with the singing thing already. It's too late to show a sudden interest in sports, let alone to get good at one. Now you're stuck. So you better win that presidential campaign. It's all you've got going for you now."

"I have almost a year until then," Dominic said, making eye contact with Mona across the table. His sister was watching him with pity, probably thanking her stars that their parents mostly ignored her.

"No, it starts now," said Coleman. And as he kept talking about the importance of getting ahead, Dominic began to tune him out.

[🎶"17" by The Greeting Committee.🎶]

Dominic: I know something you don't. You think you know it all, but you won't. 

Coleman continued ranting on and Dominic stood up, not seen or heard by anyone as he circled around the table.

Dominic: We don't speak these days like I thought we would. I wanna go back to being the top of your world.

Then he jumped on an empty chair, frustrated by his father's lack of affection or any kind of fatherly love. When he was a kid, it was a lot better than this. What on earth had happened?

Dominic: My God, there it goes. Another fight I couldn't let go. My God, there it is. He's saying I'm too young for this. Do my thoughts mean a thing. If I never know what I mean? He says, "my God, you're only seventeen."

Dominic jumped off the chair.

Dominic: Seventeen!

But he had nowhere else to go, with that tiny private room, closed off from the world and from each other.

Dominic: And I'm off running fast as I can... You'll never catch me, I'll never let you in... 'Cause I know something you don't!

So Dominic walked up to Coleman, singing right up to his face as the man continued to berate him about things that he claimed to know better about.

Dominic: My God, there it goes. Another fight I couldn't let go. My God, there it is. He's saying I'm too young for this. Do my thoughts mean a thing. If I never know what I mean? 

And then he was back in his seat, nodding away and pretending to even care what his dad had to say anymore.

Dominic: He says, "my God, you're only seventeen."

***

Deep in the suburbs of Lima, sitting atop his bed in the second nicest bedroom of the best house in the city, Ricky was still staring at the three messages on his phone. Not knowing what to do, he'd left Kat, Elizabeth, and Lola all on read. His head was scrambled.