Daniel paced back and forth in his apartment. It was half past eleven and he still hadn't heard from Betty. He knew she was having dinner at eight, she should be done by now. He started to worry, what if the date went well and she decided not to come over. Tonight was the night he planned on trying to take things to the next level. Just as he was going to call her, he heard the key turn at the door. He finally relaxed, she came, she was the only person who had a key. He sat down on the couch and tried to act cool.
"Hey Daniel." She said walking in throwing her handbag on a chair.
"How was the date?" He asked managing to sound detached.
"It was OK, he was nice, we just didn't have chemistry." she told him.
"To Bad." No it wasn't he thought to himself.
"It's alright. What are you watching?" she asked sitting down next to him, removing her shoes and laying her legs over his lap.
"No idea, been surfing the channels looking for something." he said looking at her.
"Well, why don't we watch TV in the bedroom. I feel like laying down." She said rubbing her legs against his crotch.
"Sounds good to me." He said, he was going to control himself tonight, no matter what.
They walked to his bedroom, Daniel plopped down on the bed and turned on the TV. Betty looked at him oddly, she didn't know what was wrong with him. By now they were fumbling around naked. She stripped down to her bra and underwear and layed down beside him.
"Is something wrong, Daniel?" She asked leaning into his side.
"No, why?" He asked.
"Well, your acting weird."
"How so?"
"Lets see, I've been here five minutes and you haven't even kissed me. You seem totally uninterested." she said.
"Oh I'm interested, trust me. Move you leg a bit higher and you'll see how much. I'm just exhausted, I think I need like a thirty minute nap, before I can perform." He told her, hoping she wouldn't see through the lie.
"OK, well I can go. I'll come by tomorrow." She said and tried to get up, Daniel stopped her from moving.
"Wait, the night is still young. Stay take a quick nap with me, I know your tired too. When we wake up we'll be full of energy." he said.
"If we wake up, if we fall asleep now I doubt we'll get up. And you know I cant spend the night." She said
"I'll set the alarm, that way we wake up for sure." He said, looking at her earnestly.
"Fine, but I wanna see you set it." She told him.
He grabbed the alarm off his night stand, set it to twelve thirty, in front of her. When he placed it back on the table, he switched it from A.M to P.M. Betty didn't notice.
He took off his sweat pants and T-shirt and got under the covers with her. Before they both knew it, they fell asleep.
Sunlight creeped through the windows, hitting Betty's face. Slowly she started to wake up, at first not realizing where she was. When she looked around and saw she was still at Daniel's she tensed up. She just noticed the arm around her waist, she broke her rule, she spent the night. The alarm never went off, she wondered if he planned this. She started to slip away from him, but his arm pressed tighter around her waist.
"So you finally woke up." He said to her groggily.
"I gotta go." she said.
"Nope, your not going anywhere." He told her.
"Stop playing games, this was a mistake. I got to go home now." She snapped at him.
"Too bad, your not going home until we figure things out."
"Figure what out?" she asked annoyed.
"Us."
"That's simple, we're friends, that's it." she told him.
"No we're more than that, you know it. We're talking about this today, if you want your clothes back. I mean your welcome to go home naked." He told her laughing.
"What did you do to my stuff?" She asked him getting angry.
"I hid it, you'll get it back when your reasonable."
"So you expect me to sit here naked, while we talk. I'm going to freeze."
"Nope, not naked. I have a shirt for you to wear, it's long, it'll keep you warm. But you wont go out in it." He told her
"Consider yourself my hostage for the weekend." He said to her. He knew she was getting angry, her eyes were thin slits and she had a frown in her forehead.
"My dad is expecting me for dinner tonight." she told him, crossing her arms.
He threw the shirt he picked out for her to wear, at her. She caught it and put it on.
"Well I guess you better call him and tell him something came up, you'll make it up to him tomorrow night." He informed her.
"No, I promised I'd be there." She said.
"OK, I'll call Hilda for you. Or better yet, I'll speak directly to Ignacio. I'm sure he'll understand why we need this time to talk. After all , we've been sleeping together for over three years."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me. I'm a desperate man, Betty. Right now a father's wrath doesn't scare me, especially when I know he loves me."
Betty couldn't believe it, he planned all this. She was tempted to call his bluff, but she could tell he wasn't joking. He was right she couldn't go out in what she was wearing, she could steal sweat pants.
"Where is my purse, I need my glasses. My contacts are bugging me."
Daniel disappeared to living room and brought her, her handbag.
"All your stuff is there, except your money, credit cards, and keys." He said cheerfully.
"What? You went through my purse." she said shocked.
"Like I said, desperate man, desperate measures. Ready to talk yet." He asked.
She glared at him, she was not amused.
" I guess not, you may as well come to the kitchen and eat breakfast with me. We're having Bagels and fruit." He walked out the door leaving her sitting on the bed.
Betty sat there, still shocked by what just happened. Daniel really planned on keeping her here. What could she do? She was stuck, she picked up her cell out of her bag and called home. She could ask one of her family members to come get her, but how would she explain this to them. No she was better off just letting Daniel play his little game. By tomorrow, she'd be home, let him have his little moment. It wouldn't change anything.
Daniel prepared the coffee smiling at himself, he knew she was pissed off. He felt a little guilty, but he pushed that aside, he didn't know what else to do. He had run out of ideas, kidnapping her seemed to be the next best thing. He didn't plan on letting her leave till late tomorrow night. That gave him enough time to work on her. He knew they could work this out, they could be more than just lovers, they had to be. He didn't want anyone else in his life, he just had to prove it to her. Even thought kidnapping was kinda archaic, he didn't care.
Betty walked into the kitchen and sat at the table across Daniel. He had prepared her bagel and coffee, the way she liked it. She looked over at Daniel, while she ate. He seemed calm and unfazed by his behavior.
"You realize this is crazy, right?" Betty asked
"Which part? The part that I've been sleeping with a woman for three years, yet I can't talk to her about it. Or the part that after three years, I spent my first whole night with her. Oh, better yet, how about the part that, I'm good enough to have sex with but nothing more." He said nonchalantly.
"This was our deal, you did agree to it." she said.
"Yeah, I sure did and now, I'm breaking the deal. I want a new agreement, I want to renegotiate the terms." he told her.
"This isn't an employment contract or a business merger." She said.
"Oh, but you treat it that way, so will I. Consider this a hostile take over, till you meet my demands."
"How can I meet anything, if you haven't stated them?" She was getting testy, she felt like throwing her coffee in his face.
"OK, lets talk then. I want us to go public."
"Excuse me."
"You heard me, lets take our relationship to the next level. You know like a date, a real one, in a place where there are people. There are these places now, called restaurants. We can try one of those, then maybe a show."
"One, we don't have a relationship other than friendship. Two, being a smart ass will get you nowhere."
"Yeah, well being nice has got me no where either. So I'm trying a new tactic."
"Daniel, this is crazy. We cant go public, it would kill my credibility if people found out. They would think I got where I am, cause of our situation."
"Who gives a shit, what people think. You and I both know, you deserved your promotion. Anyhow, they wouldn't know about the last three years. It would look like we just started dating."
"You know as well as I do, there will be speculation." she said
"Who cares, let them speculate till they explode. Since when do you care what people think? You don't, so stop giving me excuses. I know you feel something for me, whether you admit it or not. Your as transparent to me as I am to you."
"Your crazy." she told him.
"By the way, if your rested, so am I. If you want to pick up where we left off, last night, feel free. The balls in your court, I'm not doing anything. You want me, come get me, just know you wont be leaving anytime soon." He winked at her and left the table to watch TV on the couch.
Betty wanted to kill him, he was acting like a child. It was OK, she had no intention of making her time as his hostage pleasant, he wanted to play games, she'd play too.