Friday
"You're coming Suarez!" Christina yelled behind some clothings. Betty who sat by a table just made a sigh while she stared into the floor.
"Why Christina? Since when do we like Mode's parties?"
Christian came to sight and then Betty could see her shrugging shoulders. "I just thought it would be fun this year."
Betty higher her eyebrows with a smile which made Christina realize she had to tell the truth.
"Okay! There's gonna be this hot underwear models there! I've just been longing to get a taste of those hot butts!"
"Okay I get it! But why do you want to drag me there? Henry just left with his stupid baby, so the least I want now is a party."
Christina came up to her. "Maybe that's just what you need?"
Betty now shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe you're right."
"And it is your obligation as my friend to come with me. You think you could ditch me with all these scary skeletons running around with their low-fat appletinis?"
"Alright alright, I'll go", Betty answered while she waved her hand. Christina immediately gave her a hug before she returned back behind the clothes again."
"I hope to god they serve food this year", Betty said when she was on her way out and just before she left she could hear Christina laughing: "Keep dreaming sugar."
As Betty sat down by her desk she felt a big regret for saying yes to go to the party tonight. She had a feeling it would suck big time. She had been to the party last year, and she had just been standing it for ten minutes. It would suck more this year because she was depressed. She could only think about Henry with that baby in his arms. He would forget her completely. Maybe he had already.
She could feel some tears burning in her eyes but she forced them back. She couldn't sit there in front of everybody crying. Especially not in front of Daniel. He would just get all worried and give her one of his embarrassing pep-talks.
"Hey Betty, can you reschedule the meeting at twelve? I have a lunch with a big deal photographer" a voice suddenly said and Betty who had been staring at the desk for a long time almost fell off the chair. And when she realized it was Daniel who had spoken to her and now stood in front of her she immediately hided her blossomed cheeks.
"Uhm… I'm on it", she finally could answer and tried to look happy but she seemed to fail. He looked at her with a worried look.
"Betty, you're okay?"
"Yeah, sure!"
He didn't look convinced. Come on Betty, she thought. She really didn't want him to know she was sad.
"Betty, you have to tell me if something is going on…"
Daniel gave her a serious look. She just shook her head. "It's nothing, I promise."
To her relief he finally looked convinced and just gave her a smile before he turned around to go back into his office.
"Hey, you're coming to the party tonight?" Betty asked him. When he turned around she could see he still had a smile on his face. "Of course I am. Are you?"
Betty just nodded. Then he looked confused again. "Really?"
"Yeeeaah, There's something weird with that?"
Daniel just shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing I guess. It's just that you always say you hate those parties."
"Well, a person can change right?"
Daniel gave it a smile before he turned around again and went into the office.
Betty made a sigh before going back to her work on the computer but suddenly she realized she hadn't eaten lunch yet and the whole morning had gone by without any planning in her head about what she would have to lunch. Not a single time. It was very unlike her. But now she could feel her stomach aching for food and that made her unconcentrated. She just had to eat something. She rested her chin in her palms when she started to wonder what she would have for lunch. She awfully wanted a sandwich from Gios Deli but that was totally eliminated. She hadn't talked to Gio since the night of her birthday. She didn't know why really. They had been so good friends. Maybe because she felt guilty. She had promised Henry not to see him. But now when he was gone she could. It was just that she didn't have the guts to face him now. He would ask her why she hadn't come down to say hello in a whole week. She really didn't feel like to have a fight with him, which she predicted would happen. Gio was such a smartass. That night at her birthday she had gotten kind of surprised when he suddenly showed a gentle and caring side of himself. Not a single time that night he made a nasty joke or said something to annoy her.
That made her kind of more guilty for the way she had acted the past time. She hadn't been really nice to him. And on top of that, she had ignored him because Henry felt threatened to him. That was really just his own problem to deal with. Gio didn't deserve it. Now she regret she had done it to satisfy Henry. She didn't really get why he was threatened to Gio in the first place. Gio was just a friend to her and she knew for sure he only saw her as a friend too.
"Oh man, I regret this!" Betty bursted out when she got out of the elevator with Christina by her arm. She was on her way to get back into the elevator when Christina stopped her.
"No way woman, you're staying by my side all night!"
Betty sighed when Christina dragged her away between some skinny models who danced so carefully as if they were scared to broke a bone.
The whole floor was full of people dancing and mingling around with drinks. Betty didn't feel comfortable at all. She just wanted to go home. She also found herself silly she had dressed up to this stupid party. She had taken her favorite dress. The purple one with sparkling dots on the edges with a matching purse.
"We got to find those models!" Christina yelled to overvoice the loud music when they threw themselves over the bar. Betty poured up some coke and rum. It wasn't often she was so thirsty for alcohol. The past years she had realized she only got drunk when she was depressed. It was defiantly time for it now.
By the time she had almost swallowed all of it she realized Christina was gone. That bitch!
"You're staying by my side all night, bullshit", Betty said with a growth before pouring up more rum. She guessed Christina had found those models. Man, she would get so drunk tonight. It was the only thing to make this party better.
"Hey Betty, you came!" a voice suddenly said by her side when she started to swallow her second drink. It was Daniel. He looked really surprised to see her.
"Yeah?"
She didn't bother to be nice to people this night. She was too angry and moody to give other people happiness.
Daniel still looked surprised.
"You're okay?"
Betty couldn't help to sigh.
"I'm getting sick of people asking me that. I'm fine! Okay!?"
She could hear herself almost yelling. Daniel looked like he was about to get shot. Like she held a gun to his head.
"I'm just asking Betty." He held up a hand.
"I just need to get drunk alone, okay?"
By her surprise Daniel just nodded before he walked away but still with that surprised look on his face. She saw him walk up to a tall good looking woman. Probably a model he would screw later. Betty sighed to that too. She felt she could sigh at everything around her. She didn't like anything anymore except the liquor.
It didn't take long before she was in another world, the world when she was suddenly happy and dancing around. She was the only one at the party who wasn't aware of that she looked like a moron. But soon there was another person who wasn't either, who on the other hand was only surprised to see her acting like that. For a person who knew her good knew it wasn't like her at all to dance like it was a rave party. The person was Gio who had just arrived.
He knew something wasn't right. Betty wasn't herself. It was like the time when she had poisoned herself with that toxic perfume. By the time she hugged him so tight that day he knew something was wrong. It was the same thing this time. But it couldn't be the perfume now. Why would she ever take that again?
One explanation was that she maybe only danced like that because the new Madonna record was on and he knew she loved Madonna. But soon he found himself stupid to think she was that into Madonna. Maybe she was just drunk. By the time he had made the conclusion he walked up to her in the middle of the dance floor.
"Hey B, you're alright?"
Betty danced hysterically. He almost laughed by the sight.
"GIO!" she screamed and took his hands and tried to get him into the dance. But he was too worried about her to be dancing.
"Betty, are you okay?" he tried once again when she had given up making him dance and let go of his hands.
Betty was too drunk to even be surprised to see Gio. The only thing she could think of was that she wanted to dance until she puked. It had also gotten her to forget about her concern of Gio maybe being angry at her.
"Yeah! I'm great!" she screamed. Gio just shook his head before taking her by the arms. "Come on Betty, you need to sit down."
Betty tried to get his hands off her by he was way too strong for her.
"Sit down? Are you crazy? Sitting down is for losers! It's boring!" she screamed when he dragged her away from the dance floor which was filled with people giving them strange looks.
The only place which had anywhere to sit down was Daniels office which was empty. By the time he dragged her in she started to laugh really hard and in the same time he let go of her she fell to the floor. He looked down on her with surprise when she started to roll around laughing like a hyena.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's just that I'm so happy to see you! I never thought any normal people would be at this party!"
Gio didn't get the funny in that and he didn't know if he would take it as a comment.
"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked when she suddenly had stopped laughing and sat up looking up at him.
"Daniel invited me."
Betty looked surpised. "Really? Why?"
Now it was Gio who laughed and he showed Betty his right palm. "It is so hard for you to see Daniel maybe likes me?"
"He likes your sandwiches", Betty said before she started laughing again. Gio sighed.
"No, honestly. He asked me to come and keep an eye on you."
Betty stopped laughing that sudden again and looked a bit angry. "I'm not a child you have to babysit!"
"He just said you were sad about Henry and maybe needed someone to keep you from drinking too much. But obviously it's too late for that now."
Betty started to laugh again by no reason. Gio couldn't help to be amused by it. She looked so happy. But of course he knew it wasn't real. But what the hell, she was depressed, she had just gotten her heart broken – she had her right to get drunk. Nobody could stop her from that.
Suddenly something came up to him. Maybe he could get really wasted too. Just for kicks. He didn't get drunk often, so it was certainly time for it now. He was a bit sad himself. By the fact that he had been hopelessly in love with Betty for a long time. She didn't had a boyfriend anymore, but that didn't mean he could make a move on her just like that. Just look at her, he thought, she's drunk. If he would make a move on her now it would just be like he was taking advantage of her. And she wouldn't remember it the next morning. If he would ever make a move on her it would be when she was sober and aware of her feelings, the feelings he wanted her to reveal. He had planned to make a move on her for a long time. He had planned to do it when Henry was gone. But then he hadn't realized she would be so sad.
"I guess you've emptied the bar and left nothing for me?" he said with a smile when Betty had calmed herself down and just lied there on the floor in front of him. A part of him just wanted to lie down over her. They stared at each other for a long time before Betty suddenly jumped to her feet.
"Daniel keeps a bottle of scotch in his drawer!" she screamed really happy and rushed over to the desk. She took out a full bottle of scotch and held it up for Gio to see which made him smile really wide.
The party went on, the clock turned midnight. Some people left, amongst them Daniel and one of the models. The music was too loud for anymore to notice there were people in Daniels office laughing really hard. Betty and Gio sat down in Daniels ugly armchairs and couch, Gio with the bottle in his hand and they laughed like teenagers. Gio was just as drunk as Betty by this time. He was happy he was. He wasn't sad anymore. He didn't worry about anything. He just had a really good time with Betty.
He told her dirty stories she laughed at really hard, stories that the sober-Betty would found disgusting. Gio couldn't help to find the drunk-Betty more fun.
"Hey, you remember the time we saw Wicked?" Betty laughed after a short pause of silence when Gio was out of jokes. And then they started laughing again. Their stomachs were hurting really bad by this time.
"I really hated you back then!" Betty laughed. Gio wasn't insulted, he just found it hilarious.
"Of course you did, I was a pain in the ass!"
They laughed so hard they thought their stomachs would burst in any second.
"You laid your arm around me just to annoy me!"
This time Gio didn't laugh, he just stayed quiet for a while before he got out of the chair and went up to Betty who sat a couple of meters away in the couch still laughing. But she stopped when he sat down besides her and she saw his serious face.
"I didn't."
She looked questioning on him.
"It wasn't my only intension to annoy you."
She still looked questioning.
"I took the shot to be near you, because I liked you."
Now she looked confused instead.
"I still like you Betty."
"Like like me?"
He nodded.
"You mean, really like me?"
He nodded again.
"As in like me as a woman?"
"No, as a man!" Gio joked but with no smile on his face.
"I mean, you like me as in wanting-to-kiss-me-like-me?"
He nodded.
"As in wanting-me-in-bed-like-me?"
Gio nodded for the last time.
Betty was speechless. Gio just stared at her with his serious eyes. And soon they seemed to get closer to her. She was too drunk to even be thinking about what she would do, she just did the same and got closer to him too. They closed their eyes. Just by an inch away from each their strength seemed to fail on them. And soon they both passed out. Their heads fell to the back support of the couch and they both started to snore. They were asleep.