A/N: Thanks everybody for your reviews! It is greatly appreciated. Here comes the second installment. Enjoy!
Second: Make him your special Valentine
Betty glanced once more at Daniel through the big oval windows separating their offices. She caught herself almost immediately this time, and with a movement of exasperation, went back to work.
She could hardly believe that her boss came to her rescue in the middle of the night last Friday. She barely remembered anything, only what Hilda had told her, shrilly and with a great amount of words and arms movements, over the pounding of her poor head the next morning.
It looked like her little moment of revolt has degenerated into nothing else than a drinking bilge, the worst one of her life too. She remembered closing off her cell phone and smiling encouragingly at a man at her side, making toasts to anything that came to mind at the time…after that, only bits and pieces, mixed with bits and pieces of dreams. In one of those, Daniel was shouting at her and kissing her. That dream made no sense, but every time she remembered it, a shiver of pleasure coursed through her. That made no sense either. Daniel was her boss and at some time, before Alexis materialized, he had been a friend, she had never thought of him or looked at him in a romantic way. Only now, at least that was what Hilda said, Daniel had come to her rescue, dragged her out of a potentially dangerous situation, brought her home sick as a dog and putted her to bed himself.
Then, this week, he has come to work earlier than usual and took a moment alone with her in his office every morning, to look at the work day ahead of them and make small talk with her. She was not sure what to make of it. He was gallant and charming, smiled a lot and didn't utter a single word about the disastrous previous Friday night incident. No comments, no smirk or knowing smile, no sly jokes, no nothing, not even in a roundabout way. If Hilda has not assured her over an over that she owes Daniel a debt of eternal gratitude, she would have been sure that Daniel had no knowledge of it, that he was never there at all. She was uncomfortable with that. She wanted to thank him for getting her out of that bar, but since he never brought it out and because she was so horrified about her behavior that night, she was reluctant, to say the least, about broaching the subject.
At least, work, this week, was somewhat easier on her than last week, just because he took time to ask her about how she was, what she was thinking about some of the projects and overall made her feel like she was part of the team again. Of course she was not as involved as she used to be, but at least she was involved. Alexis was still everywhere of course and just as overwhelming, but knowing that Daniel cared and counted on her made it easier to bear.
For the rest, she avoided Henry as much as was possible and refused any calls or any form of communication with Walter. The good part was that Hilda believed that the second break up with Walter and the hurt of being cheated on once again was responsible for her little drinking party, which was partly true. The tongue lashing he got from her sister was soon becoming the stuff of legend in the neighborhood. The story going around was that she scalded him so raw that not a girl in Queens would accept to go out with him now. That's what she'd heard anyway, many times, since she actually heard none of it, being still out cold when the little drama unfolded on the front step of the house. This, of course meant that the whole of Queens knew of her little mishap and of the supposed reason for it. That had gotten her a lot of sympathetic glances all around, three free cup of coffee, one free geranium to cheer up her room and two invitations for a date on Valentine's Day. At least it also got Walter off her back as he didn't dare follow her around as he had done on their previous break-up.
The other good news was that her little bit of nonsense on Friday night actually did what it was supposed to do. She was feeling better…well at least, she did, after the hangover was over. The dark mood that was on her last week was gone, and she was ready again to dream, to trust and to live life on her own account. She was not changing or downgrading her expectations just for a few minor drawbacks. The future still looked good and life worth taking risks for. She was back at being the self-assured Betty, and she was not letting anyone take that from her again. Not even on Valentine's Day.
Her heart still missed a beat when she heard Daniel's voice calling for her on the intercom at the end of her workday "Betty, would you come over here for a minute, please?"
Daniel looked at Betty closely as she was getting up from behind her workstation. He has been doing that a lot in the last three days. He was carefully watching for any signs that she remembered what happened between them on that fateful Friday night. As of now, there was not enough evidence to signify one way or another. There was a little bit of awkwardness, some reluctance to talk that could be read in the way she twisted her mouth and a strange look that crossed her eyes, twice, when she thought he wasn't looking her way. That look, he could not start to fathom what it meant, but it made his breath hitch in his throat, twice.
He had not wanted to talk about her misadventure, he was very careful to stay off that topic,. He was still recovering from the reeling effect of that kiss, to tell the truth. Before talking to Betty, he wanted to be back in control, to know where he stood. Right now, he felt like God had taken a sledgehammer to the world and flung everything sideways. He was having problems getting back his bearings and his footing. He was not sure he liked what this…thing had done to him. If there was one part of his life where he exactly knew how things worked and how to play the game, it was the sex and seduction part. Everything else was not really up to him: the feelings his parents have for each other and for him, his feeling of inferiority to his older brother, the reappearance of Alexis, even the job of editor in chief at Mode was not something he was truly in control of. Now the one part of his life that he used to feel he could never get wrong, now felt…different…not so nice, clean cut and simple anymore.
Even his nights has taken a definitive turn for the worst. He could not stand to have company theses days, he was too troubled to get interested in the intricate dance of flirting and wooing. So he had been going to bed alone for the last couple of days. He had problems falling asleep and when he finally did, it was to dream of that kiss and of the body that he had felt vibrating so close to his. He always woke up sweating, with a hard on and cursing Betty Suarez with a vengeance, several times a night. Last night he had resorted to the help of sleep pills just so he could get a few hours of real, untroubled rest. He was thinking of not doing that tonight however. He didn't want to start having to rely on drugs for sleep. And nope, he definitely did not miss having the dream, no, he hated what it was doing to him…absolutely hated it. In an act of near desperation he had gone back this morning to that spot, by the wall near her home, as a way to try and exorcise his obsession with that stupid kiss. He had half expected to find it still sizzling from the heat of their embrace, but no, there was nothing to indicate that there, on that very spot, life had gone weird on him all of a sudden. Well, weirder than it already was anyway…
He had to find another way to solve this, to get it out of his system. Maybe he had gone about this the wrong way. Instead of trying not to talk about it, maybe it was better to confront it…Maybe talking to Betty would show him there was nothing real there, just his imagination going crazy. Maybe even kissing her again might prove that the other night was just a fluke, a one in a million moment that could never happened twice. Yeah, he liked that idea…! That way he could get rid of this tonight and never be afraid of his dreams again. He felt a pang of regret at the thought, and a wave of fear immediately following it…what if he already was addicted? What if the dream never stopped even confronted with the reality of its impossibility? What if he kissed her and IT happened again? Worse still, what if it happened for him but not for her? Oh God! What if she feels it too, liked it too much ? What then? In his sudden panic, he back pedaled as fast as possible on this very slippery slope….okay, okay…not a good idea. No kissing Betty…he was not ready for that, not yet, maybe not ever!
He passed a trembling hand in his hair and looked up at Betty who was closing on his desk, surrounding him with the smell of her apricot shampoo. He gulped. There really was only one way out of this, it was necessary to find a way to break the spell without kissing her…
"Hum, Betty…" he stopped, his throat suddenly dry.
"Yes Daniel?", she looked at him, serious and attentive as always.
" I was wondering…. are you doing anything special tonight?" he asked, trying his best to look nonchalant.
"Tonight?" Betty reacted, looking at him with surprise. "You mean tonight as in…tonight February the 14th?!! " She looked at him, expecting him to remember what day it actually was and whatever hot date he had in store to celebrate it.
"Betty, I know what day it is! And no, I'm not going out with a date tonight." Seeing her raised eyebrows, he felt the need to explain, "Valentine's day is for that special person in your life, not for a one night stand." He hesitated a moment, "I had something organized for Sophia but…"
"Oh, yeah…I understand. I'm sorry." She gave it a few seconds before adding, "What I don't understand, is what it has to do with me."
"Right." He got up to sit on the corner of his desk, a little closer to her, "From our…ah…discussion the other night, I understood that you too don't have anybody special to treat you tonight, and since I don't really want to wallow in self-pity on the couch with a beer …I thought that I could maybe bring my friend Betty to a pizza and a movie." He let that sink for a few moments before adding fast, "Well, if you don't have anything already planned, of course!"
She grabbed a strand of her hair and started to twirl it nervously, "Gee, I don't know Daniel… I refused two invitations tonight because I want some time off before going into another relationship. Going out with you on Valentine's Day…it could look like…you know… a…a date…"
"Oh come on, Betty! We were seen dinning together at a chic restaurant, it even ended up as a big picture in the society pages and nobody thought anything at all was going on! You and I are the last two person on earth anyone would think are dating." He gave her his best puppy eyes, "Besides, we haven't really talked in ages and I had a lot of fun that time with the pizza, the karaoke and the walk on the bridge. I kind of miss it…Please?" After all, if there was something he knew how to do, it was which buttons to push on a girl to get her to accept a date!!
She threw her hands in the air in defeat, "Fine, fine, whatever!" Seeing his big victorious smile, she added for good measure, " At one condition… no romantic movie!"
Sitting at the rear of an almost empty theater, with a huge pop-corn half hiding the old James Bond movie going on on the screen, they both felt like kids pretending to be running away, hiding in the dark.
"You know", Daniel whispered to Betty, "I saw that movie with one of my first girlfriend on our very first date." He smile ruefully, "I tried to make that slick move, you know…pretending to have a cramp in my arm and carelessly putting it behind her back in order to get closer…?" he demonstrated the move while talking, putting his arm over the back of her seat.
She raised her eyebrows, "Yeah, even I know that move….What happened?"
He grin, "I miscalculated and slapped her soft drink all over her. It took a lot of hard work to get her to accept a second date."
She giggled softly, "So even a play-boy has to learn his trade the hard way!"
"Yeah." He moved a bit on the hard seat in order to be facing her. "Listen, Betty…I wanted to say…I heard what happened with your boyfriend…Wilbur…, and I wanted to tell you I'm sorry it happened to you too. I mean, I kind of know how it feels, so if there is anything I can do…."
She looked down, partially obscuring her face with her long hair, "Thanks Daniel. I'm okay, really. I was thinking about breaking up with Walter anyway."
"Walter, right. Hum, was that the reason for your…ah…" he tried to find a word that was as delicate as possible.
"My drinking last Friday? Some of it, yes." She looked up and searched his eyes, a little bit anxious.
" I wanted to thank you for coming for me like that. I'm so sorry that you had to do that. I hope my behavior was not too…huh…bad. Hilda said I was a wreck." She bit her lower lip, showing her braces.
"What do you remember?", he fidgeted a little, getting nervous.
"After the four margaritas…not much. I don't remember you being there at all…at least I don't think that I do…It's kind of fuzzy, like trying to remember a dream. Did you shout at me?" She looked at him, accusingly.
"Ah…just a little bit. I was worried about you. You didn't want to get out of that bar, so I had to… you know…encourage you to do it…forcibly. I'm sorry."
She sighed, "It's okay. It was my own fault for going there in the first place."
He started to loosely play with her hair with the hand resting behind her on the back of her chair, "Betty, why did you go there at all? I mean, there are plenty of people who care for you. You could have gone home to cry on your sister or your father's shoulders, you could have talked to Cristina…or even me. Why a bar, of all places?!"
She rested her head on the back of her chair, closed her eyes, enjoying the slight feeling of his hand in her hair, "I'm not sure, Daniel. I wasn't just sad, I was angry I guess. Hurt too. I didn't want to cry, I didn't want to talk. I just wanted to stop being Betty the sensible for a few hours and be Betty the women. I thought that with a few drinks, I could loosen up a little and be that, the kind of women that man like. The kind of women that guys don't cheat on. I don't know. I guess I did not like who I was and the way my life was going, so I tried to do things differently." She shrugged, "I guess I proved that I don't know how to do things differently, so I'm back at being the good old, sensible Betty." She slightly wince at the edge of bitterness that she heard in her voice.
She opened her eyes, only to drown in Daniel's very own blue ones. His face was intent over hers,. His right hand was still caressing her hair. She froze, captured by the intensity of his eyes.
His voice was a gentle whisper, getting closer, slowly, "Well, I'm personally very glad because I kind of like the good old, sensible Betty."
Mesmerized, she whispered back, "She's boring…and ugly."
He smiled that slow predatory smile she have seen him give to so many girls, "Not true, she's special and fascinating."
He was so closed now that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face, so close that she felt rather than heard the slight hitch in his breathing when she licked her suddenly parched lips. So close that she could almost feel him already, her every nerve waiting, hoping for the moment of contact…she started to close her eyes…
Only to gasp with shock when the lights suddenly came on and people started to talk and move around them. The movie was finished...and so was the moment.
Daniel sat back in his chair, cursing under his uneven breath. It had been close, too close.
He got up and offered her his hand. "Let's go, let's get you back home."
Helping her into her coat, Daniel could only think: "I need a very, very cold shower…and at least 6 sleeping pills. God, if it doesn't work, dreaming of her is going to kill me!!"
