EPISODE 115
Written by : Bre L. Drew
January 18, 2021
Last Time On Town and Country
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Jordan's doctor confirmed her pregnancy.
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Elijah and his parents were disappointed to find out his grades were below par, causing him ineligibility to be on the Dean's List.
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Aaliyah and Lorenzo both overheard Tricia informing Jordan she must notify the baby's father.
WHEELER BUILDING : APT # 424
Sean Lockhart would admit in the past; his actions as a father have been questionable. He is the guy who was involved in a longtime affair that resulted in the breakdown of his family, although; he believes he is somewhat more aware of his actions. Nonetheless, when it came out that his brilliant daughter, her friend, and her boyfriend were being honored by their university for their outstanding academic achievement this evening. He arranged a little celebration before the ceremony at the apartment.
Sean skims at the counter in the galley kitchen where appetizer trays and drinks were on top of,
The clicking of high-heels makes him turn around to see his wife in a black asymmetrical dress, which graciously shows off her curves.
"You look good," he compliments
Tricia Lockhart nods. "I'll take it; you sure Tanner won't mind me coming?"
It's no secret either one of Sean's daughters like their stepmother.
"I think we all can put aside our differences for one evening," Sean says
Tricia shrugs her shoulders, choosing not to verbalize her disagreement.
A few seconds later, the pang of rapping on the door has Sean opening the barrier. He is elated to see his twin daughters, in addition to their boyfriends, Aaliyah Gupta and Lorenzo Vidal, all enter the apartment.
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"Dad, you didn't have to do this," Tanner says modestly.
Sean wraps his arms around his daughter. "It's not every day where my little girl gets honored by the dean; nothing is too much as a reward for your hard work after the year you've had."
"Hello, Mr. Lockhart," Tommy Covington says respectfully.
He knows his girlfriend's father doesn't like him due to what happened with him between and Jordan regarding their kiss. He is doing his best to stay courteous with him.
Sean shakes the young man's hand. "Congratulations; on your hard work too, Tommy,"
"Thank you, sir,"
He then walks past him to congratulate Aaliyah as well.
Tanner takes a bite of black olive from the tray. "That went better than I thought,"
Elijah Barker is standing by himself in the corner as he is still down on himself for getting such low grades his first semester as a freshman. He has soon torn away from his thoughts when Lynn Lockhart tries to get his attention.
"You don't want to be here, do you; trust me every time I come here. I feel the same thing," Lynn says half-jokingly
Looking at his girlfriend, he heavily sighs.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You wouldn't understand,"
Before Lynn can say anything else, Sean calls for everyone around to the kitchen.
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Sean then opens the refrigerator to take out a bottle of champagne from New Year's.
"Anyone wants a glass?" he inquiries.
The younger adults begin to glance around at each other in various states of excitement as Tricia gets the glasses out of the cabinet.
"Are you sure we should be serving minors champagne?" Tricia asks
"Oh, come on, it's only one glass," Sean winks.
Glasses of the sparkling liquid our obtained by everyone in the room,
"I don't know why the drinking age is still 21 in this country? It is 18 in the U.K., and in Belgium, the age limit is 16." Aaliyah points out.
"Brains and beauty," Lorenzo says impressively.
Elijah holds onto his glass, he had a few beers at house parties, but he hadn't had champagne.
"To the three smartest Freshmen at Sampson University." Lorenzo, proclaims.
"Cheers," everyone says in unison.
All of them take a drink of the bubbly wine.
THE WATERFALL BAR
Alicia Keys and Khalid's 'So Done' is on the sound system at the moment while customers were enjoying their food and spirits this evening.
Concurrently, Mae Jackson called her staff on shift tonight together, including her son, Antoine, and Martha, to the back of the bar for a brief meeting.
"I'm putting someone in a managerial role," Mae informs the group.
"What brought this on, Momma?" Will Jackson asks. Since his parents first opened the bar thirty-one years ago, the two ran the place together until his daddy died. And since then, his mother has been running this place on her own.
"Nothing, it's just The Waterfall is seeing good business, which means it could also use someone else in charge of the day to day operations. She replies. "But make no mistake. I'm still in charge of everything around here,"
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Mae folds her hands. "So with all that said, the person I'm putting in charge is Antoine."
"Mae, are you sure about this?" Antoine asks his boss and surrogate mother figure.
"I'm one-hundred percent sure, you've been with me for a long time now, and your idea to have the under 21 crowd in here who can act responsibly at the party helped made this bar; extra money," Mae says meaningfully.
Antoine came up with the under 21 crowd to come to the annual New Year's Eve party contributing to the overall success of the party socially and financially as well,
"Congrats, Toine," Martha commends to her good friend.
Antoine had never thought of being in charge of anything in his life other than his life. So he knows it is going to take a while for him to see why Mae picked him.
"Better get back to work," Will utters in a clipping manner.
He rises from the booth heading back to the bar.
"What's his problem?" Martha surveys both her boss and Antoine
"Whatever it is, I'm about to nip it in the bud," Mae says determinedly.
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SAMPSON UNIVERSITY: CONVOCATION HALL AND AUDITORIUM
The families of the students being honored this evening as well members of faculty all our taking their designated spots inside the remodeled auditorium on the campus of Sampson University. Where the Dean's List Ceremony is going to be held, among those parents were Louise Saunders Lockhart, who places her carryall bag onto the seat in the fourth row, then she sees her ex-husband and his new wife walking into the row too. By now, it is still awkward to see him moving on with the woman with who he been involved when they were still married. It also makes her think about how desperate she was to hold onto him, so she came up with the idea of an open marriage, which she has regretted for a long time now.
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"Hey, Louise," Sean greets her. The two exchange an embrace that Tricia notices.
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Louise and he exit from their hug. "How are you, Tricia?" Louise says in the friendliest way possible
"I'm doing great; nice outfit, by the way, is it new?" Tricia retorts
The first Mrs. Lockhart is wearing an evergreen satin top with black pants.
"It is, actually," Louise says pleasantly.
Sean hears Louise mumbling something when she sees Daniel and Mala decide to take seats in the same row as them too.
"Hello," Mala Gupta acknowledges everyone in her British accent.
The Lockhart's greets the two of them, all realizing how awkward this set-up is.
"Can you believe our children already freshmen being honored by the Dean?" Daniel says
"I'm not surprised, despite Aaliyah's desire to be a fashion designer, I'm proud she is taking her studies seriously and has centered herself with at least others who have done the same."
Louise and Sean both trade looks at the woman who puts pressure on their children to do well.
Tricia decides to change the subject. "Is Samuel coming?"
She and Samuel have become close friends since Samuel has put away his crush on her. He has given her some advice regarding her marriage.
"He was leaving the hospital the last time I spoke with him," Mala informs.
Outside in the hall where light refreshments are held. Elijah is trying to capture peace before going into the auditorium. He knows he should be one of the ones to be given an award by the dean tonight. Instead, he has to watch his best friends getting something his parents have been waiting for him to receive since he was a little kid.
"Hey, there are you; the ceremony is about to start," Lynn reminds him.
Elijah rolls his eyes. "Yippee,"
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"All right enough of this -- she stops herself from cursing when last-minute guests begin heading into the auditorium. "What's up?"
Elijah exhales heavily. "It's just that I should be in there on stage having my name called, but I'm not because I screwed up last semester."
Lynn places her hand on his shoulder to support him. "Elijah, you're talking crazy, so what if you don't have Straight A's; you didn't fail, "
"It isn't enough. I go to do better," Elijah states.
"And you will," she tells him. "Now let's go in," She then plants a kiss on his lips.
Elijah stares at the entrance of the auditorium before he lands upon his girlfriend.
THE WATERFALL BAR
SWV's 'Right Here' plays as Will serves two customers their cocktails from behind the bar. He is still pissed about being passed over of managing The Waterfall to Antoine.
"Will, I need to speak with you," his mother says
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"In a minute," he replies nonchalantly.
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"Now," his mother says in the same stern voice she used before she would punish him when he was a child.
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He follows his mother into the storage room.
"Mind telling me the hell is your problem?" Mae states
"Momma, why you let that boy become a manager. You know I should be running this place."
The Jackson matriarch shakes her head in disbelief. "I still remember when years ago you didn't want anything to do with this bar when your father first got ill, but now you feel you should be entitled to get it."
"That was a long time ago anyway I've been busting my behind doing the work no one else does," he says defensively.
"I thought we were getting back to a good place again at Christmas," Mae says
"You know, what, Momma, you still feel sorry for Antoine because you took him in because his own momma didn't want him anymore."
Mae's anger was becoming apparent on her face. "Get back out there right now."
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Slowly, Will walks back out, knowing he crossed the line, but part of him didn't care since it had to be said.
SAMPSON UNIVERSITY: CONVOCATION HALL AND AUDITORIUM
The ceremony is over as everyone is out in the hallway socializing.
"I'm so proud of you," Louise tells Tanner.
The two hug each other.
"Thanks, Mom,"
In Tanner's hands is a certificate and around her neck was a medal presented to her on stage,
Louise lowers her voice. "So, how are things going between Tommy and yourself?"
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She knew the two had decided to move past the kiss he shared with Jordan McKnight when Tanner was out of town in Boston nearly two summers ago.
"Things are going good," Tanner says joyously.
"Good to hear,"
"I don't think dad is too happy, though,"
Louise takes strands of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Don't worry about him; it's your life, your happiness, Tanner."
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Not too far away, Aaliyah, Lorenzo, Mala, Daniel, Tommy, and Samuel huddled together.
"You did it!" Lorenzo congratulates his girlfriend.
Aaliyah's brown eyes sparkle, listening to her first steady boyfriend praising her for her academic accomplishments.
"So, Lorenzo, was there any reason why you weren't on that stage this evening?" Mala says
"Mom!" both the Gupta children said in unison.
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The two are used to their mother criticizing others whom she feels are below academic and career success.
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Lorenzo chuckles nervously. "There is room for improvement in terms of my grades, but I believe a person is more than the grades they get. College should be a well-rounded experience, Mrs. Gupta ."
"Sounds reasonable enough to me," Samuel confesses.
Daniel stretches his arm around his girlfriend to escort her away. "We're going to be taking off, so you all enjoy the rest of the night, be safe,"
"See you later, Dad,"
Daniel shakes his youngest son's hand as Tommy pats his father on the back. "Keep up the good work, son,"
"I will," he says
Tommy detects the context between his words regarding not only his grades but not to fuck up his relationship again. A reason why he is never telling Tanner about his one night with Jordan.
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The offspring watch their parents and Samuel exiting from the doors outside on campus.
By now, Elijah, Tanner, and Lynn came to join their friends and lovers.
"Anyone want to go out to eat somewhere, my treat," Tommy insists.
Various nods and agreements were made by the group as they begin heading towards the exit of the facility,
"You, never going to believe this, Aaliyah says in a way some juicy gossip is about to be discussed.
Lorenzo, who knows where this topic is heading, helps fill in the story. "The hostess was taking us to our table at The Chateau last week where we saw Jordan --
"So?" Lynn says exasperatedly
"So? We overheard your stepmother telling Jordan she should tell the guy who got her pregnant he is going to be a father." Aaliyah divulges
Tommy's heart begins to pound excessively at the news he just heard. He is about to deny it to himself about Jordan's pregnancy. Then he recalls her wanting to talk to him alone at The Waterfall. Guessing this is what she wanted to tell him about the nearly loses his balance. And it seems Elijah and Lenny who knows about him having sex with Jordan were thinking the same thing because they have similar expressions upon their face. He is sure of one thing he has to get to the bottom of this situation; his life depends on it.
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END OF EPISODE
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ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
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Jordan's situation goes from bad to worse.
Will and Antoine's feud intensifies.
The Gupta's get a surprise of their own.
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