Chapter 7.

Enjoy!

"I'm pretty sure these fireworks are for me because I won the race again," Betty declared, giggling. As Daniel didn't react to her silly joke, she began to turn her head to him, "Did you hear—"

She was cut short by Daniel planting his lips on hers.

She was frozen on spot, eyes wide open, and simply unable to breathe for a moment.

But when Daniel's lips started to move against hers, Betty's eyes fluttered closed on their own.

All of sudden, she was incredibly aware of everything that was happening. Of the way his warm and wet hand was cradling her wet cheek. Of the pleasant tepid temperature of the ocean-fed pool they were standing in. Of the way his fingers slowly slid onto her wet hair. Of the subtle but nice smell of the salty ocean. Of the way his thumb pressed gently on her cheek as his lips closed around her bottom lip. Of the music that echoed, slightly covering the noise of the fireworks exploding in the sky. Of the drenched-wet fabric of his shirt clinging to his biceps, causing her to realize that she had unconsciously lifted her hand to hold onto his arm.

And now… Now, she was kissing him back.

This caused Daniel to wrap his free arm around her waist to bring her closer to him as he deepened the kiss.

It only took two seconds for that action to trigger an alarm in Betty's brain, ringing about how she was making a terrible mistake with her best friend and boss. The brunette abruptly broke the kiss by pulling away, which caused his hand to slip off her cheek while the other one remained at her waist.

Her own hand was still holding onto his arm as they stared at each other. A thousand emotions were written all over their faces illuminated by the fireworks, but neither of them could truly read them.

"I-I gotta…go back to my room," Betty announced, sounding slightly confused and unsure as she took her hand away from his arm and stepped away.

Daniel remained quiet as he watched Betty making her way to one of the pool's ladder.

He wanted to say something, anything that would make her turn around and stay instead of running away, but he found himself unable to make a sound.

When she was out of sight, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

What if he had just ruined the most important friendship he ever had?

But then, why had the kiss felt so right?

After a few drinks, Marc and Cliff decided to leave the bar and go for a walk, away from the MODE crew and the models who were way too excited and kept on interrupting them for silly reasons.

Despite Marc's comment about the lack of awkwardness between them, there was a bit of awkwardness when they started to truly share what their lives had become after their breakup. While Cliff recounted crushing on a guy who went to the gym, causing him to hit the gym religiously until he grew more interested in working out than in the guy, Marc had kept his stories clean of any kind of crush or hook-up. This hadn't been too difficult for the blue-eyed man since he actually didn't meet anyone after Cliff. But when Cliff asked him if he hadn't wanted at least one fling, Marc hadn't been able to lie and he even said that he had actually hoped for a Bahamas fling.

Surprisingly, from that moment, there wasn't any awkwardness between them anymore.

Marc told Cliff all the details about all the drama that had happened at MODE in the past year, from the kidnapping of Wilhelmina's baby that turned out to be Christina's to Wilhelmina's relationship with Connor who ended up stealing all the money from Meade Publications to Daniel entering a cult and bringing it to the workplace, and he even told him about all the mess with Wilhelmina's daughter trying to steal money from her own mother.

As for Cliff, he recounted all the various trips he went on for his photography and all the inspiring people he met, among whom the talented photographer Vincent Bianchi, with whom he had become good friends after they realized that they both had worked for MODE at some point in their lives.

"It's a shame MODE hasn't worked with him much. He's really talented. And he's really cool," Cliff said as they got closer to a small bar by the ocean and an ocean-fed pool with a waterslide.

"And he's straight!" Marc sing-sang with a fake grin, not particularly liking how Cliff was going on and on about that photographer.

"I know that," Cliff chuckled. "But that doesn't make him less cool. Especially since he gave me his invitation for the Cannes film festival of last May—" Cliff was cut short when Marc slapped his arm on his torso to make them stop walking.

"You're saying that you were at the Cannes festival back in May?"

"Yeah," Cliff smiled.

"Jake Gyllenhaal was nominated for an award at the Cannes film festival this year," Marc stated, not blinking once as he stared at Cliff.

"Yeah, I know," Cliff replied and Marc gaped at him. "Wait, why are they having a countdown over there—"

"Oh my God! Did you meet him? How was he? Did he smell good? Did he say my name?"

Cliff laughed, "W-why would he say your name?" And Marc shrugged, still smiling as his sparkling blue eyes never broke the eye contact. "But, no. Sadly, I only saw him from a distance."

"Back or front?" Marc inquired.

"Um, both."

"You lucky bitch," Marc sighed with a smile, causing Cliff to laugh.

Then, fireworks exploded in the sky, surprising them both. They both looked up and smiled as they watched with fascination the colorful lights bursting in the starry sky. It was an unexpected, spectacular show, and even if they didn't say a word, they were both profoundly happy to share that moment together.

Cliff moved his gaze away from the fireworks so that he could look at Marc. The latter had a soft smile as his blue eyes admired the fireworks. Despite having already spent a good moment with Marc, Cliff still couldn't believe that he was standing there with him. The last time they shared a nice moment was over fourteen months ago.

Ever since that last nice moment over fourteen months ago, every moment felt painful and sad for Cliff, until they became lacking something… lacking someone.

And as he watched Marc now, he no longer saw the man who had broken his heart in a thousand pieces, but rather the man who he had loved so deeply and so truly. The man who made him feel like nothing was missing anymore.

His conversation with Betty on the plane came back to him, especially his own words…

"I know… This is crazy. He cheated on me and we've broken up more than a year ago, and yet, I can't help but think what a waste. We were the lucky ones…"

Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, Cliff saw a woman getting out of the ocean-fed pool while still dressed in what looked like a red short dress or romper. His brow furrowed as he noticed how much the woman looked like Betty. He then realized that the woman was Betty. He followed her with his gaze as she quickly made her way through the small crowd of people staring up at the fireworks and went on one of the pathways that led to the hotel.

"Is there something more spectacular to watch than the fireworks?" Marc asked, pulling Cliff's attention back to him.

"Huh?"

"What are you looking at?" Marc said, looking around, trying to spot what had captivated Cliff for a moment.

"Oh, um, nothing. Hey, you wanna grab a drink at this bar? We could even sit on the beach over there to watch what's left from the fireworks."

"Well, you do owe me a drink for making me believe for a second that you actually met Jake Gyllenhaal."

Cliff shook his head, a corner smile on his lips as he and Marc headed to the bar. He was once again stopped by Marc's arm landing on his torso.

"Oh. My. God."

"W-what?" Cliff looked at him with a frown.

"Mr. Freaking. Darcy," Marc said, distinctly articulating each word.

Cliff followed Marc's gaze and saw Daniel Meade stepping out of a swimming pool, just as soaking wet from head to toe as Betty had been a few seconds ago.

It only took a second for Cliff to put two and two together.

"I think my tiny teeny crush for Danny boy may have just come back in full force," Marc admitted before he squinted his eyes, tilting his head to the side. "Why is he in such a hurry? Oh, I know! We should go and find out what he's chasing after!"

"I'm pretty sure he's chasing after a lady," Cliff declared.

"As long as it's not another cult," Marc snorted. "Oh my God, did I tell you that I myself almost got into a sort of fan club that was actually a cult? That was mostly due to my pre-traumatic-stress-order because of Willie leaving MODE soon and leaving me behind. But, I gotta say the leader was pretty cute, too."

Marc went on about his own secret membership to a cult, forgetting all about stalking Daniel to see what or who he was going after, but Cliff told himself that the next day he would have to ask Betty about her first night in the Bahamas.

Betty had never walked away so fast from a place. She was a bit dazed, and she would have liked to blame it on all the drinking she had had throughout the night, but she knew that it was something else…

The kiss…

The kiss she had with Daniel…

Daniel, her friend and boss, kissed her…

Daniel kissed her…

And she kissed him back…

Daniel and she kissed…

Her mind kept replaying that kiss as she pushed through the excited crowd, leaving the beach-side bar and making her way to the corridor that led to her room. When she finally reached her room's door, she fished her room card out of her romper's pocket. She slid it into the electronic slot, but the door remained locked. She sighed and did it a second time, and a third time, in vain. She groaned in frustration when a familiar voice startled her.

"Let me try."

She knew it was Daniel, but she didn't turn around to acknowledge his presence. She stood there, looking down at the electronic slot and her hand staying still, right over it. His hand approached hers and slowly took the card from between her fingers.

He turned it around and then slid it into the slot, unlocking the door as easily as he had done hours earlier.

"Thanks," she half-mumbled as she pushed the door and stepped in. She turned around, her hands on the door as she was ready to close it. She avoided eye contact with him as she said, "Um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Betty," he said, putting one hand on the door to stop her from closing it.

Betty instantly looked up at him, her brown gaze meeting his blue one. The way he was looking back at her made her heart skip a beat. And she suddenly felt like she was drunk and sober at the same time.

Without ever breaking eye contact, Daniel eventually lifted up her room card.

"Your key," he said, his voice sounding deeper than usual.

"Oh." Betty let out, breaking eye contact as she looked at the card in his fingers. She blinked a few times and then gave a small smile, "Thanks." She took the card, and added in a little voice, "See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," he almost whispered before turning around.

Betty closed the door and let out a long breath she didn't even know she was holding until then.

She brought one hand up to her cheeks and noticed how warm they had suddenly become. She unconsciously moved her fingers to touch her lips. It was as though she could still feel his lips on hers. A flashback of the kiss came back to her mind, only to be interrupted by another knocking on the door.

She ripped her hand away from her face and immediately opened the door. She was nearly surprised to see that it was Daniel again, even though it hadn't been more than half a minute since they bid goodnight.

"I forgot something," he simply declared, his voice sounding huskier than when he usually spoke to her.

This time around, his blue gaze was looking over her shoulder. Confused, she followed his gaze to the round table and then returned it to his face. As he was still not looking at her, she stole a glance down at his wet shirt that clung to his skin. She gulped down at the increase of the fluttery sensation in her stomach and snapped her gaze back up to his face despite the fact that he was still not looking at her.

"I left my phone in here earlier," he clarified, his voice still low.

Betty turned her head and right away spotted his cellphone on the round table, next to the photo book.

"Oh. Yeah! Right!" She exclaimed higher than usual as she went over to the table and grabbed the cellphone.

She then spun around and held his cellphone aloft, showing it to him as though it was the baby lion in The Lion King movie. Her brain had completely forgotten how to act normally as it was still trying to register what had happened in the pool…and why it had felt so good and so right for her…

"Here is the phone!" Right when the words had left her lips, Betty knew they had been filled with way too much enthusiasm. "Now, you can make calls!"

She was only trying to seem like nothing had happened, but she knew that she wasn't doing a good job at it, so she decided to say no more words.

She gave Daniel a closed-lip smile as she handed him his cellphone.

He looked down at the cellphone in her hand, took it from her, and let his eyes travel up to her face. When their gazes met, Betty felt like her lips were suddenly dry. She unconsciously licked them, causing his gaze to drop to her lips, which, of course, she noticed.

"Good night, Daniel," she managed to breathe out and his gaze moved back to hers.

He maintained the eye contact for a second or two, and then he indiscernibly nodded at himself, as though agreeing with a thought that crossed his mind.

"Good night," he murmured and turned around while Betty watched him.

In the two steps Daniel took, Betty's brain reviewed their entire friendship, from the first day she was his assistant and he did everything to get her to quit, to their race down the waterslide.

Every single moment they had lived together, every high and low, every tear shed together and every smile shared, every argument and every laughter, every struggle and every pep-talk, every fighting for each other and every sacrificing for each other, every time passing by one another with no time to really acknowledge each other and every look made at each other from across the room.

And every hug.

All formed reasons that her brain was reminding her of so that she would just close the door and forget that anything happened after sliding down the waterslide.

But, Betty was someone who listened to her heart.

Always had been.

Always would be.

In the two steps that Daniel took, Betty's heart reviewed their entire friendship, too. From the first day she was his assistant and he did everything to get her to quit, to the kiss down the waterslide.

"Daniel!"

The blue-eyed man turned around, his eyebrows slightly raised in surprise that she was calling him. But he was even more taken by surprise as she decidedly walked up to him and put her hands around his neck to pull him down for an intense kiss.

Daniel instantaneously kissed her back with just as much fervor, his eyes closing and his arms wrapping around her body to bring her closer to his body.

Betty felt one of his hands going up to stay on the space between her shoulder blades while the other hand was holding onto her lower back, right below where he would usually rest his hand to guide her when they walked together.

She responded by clutching the wet hair at the back of his neck, her nails scraping his skin in a way that made him groan and break the kiss.

His lips were just an inch from hers as he huskily murmured, "Betty—"

"I'm sure of what we're doing, and I'm okay with what we're doing, and I want what we're doing," she cut him off before he even had to ask her any question. She went to press her lips back onto his but he slightly moved his head back.

"And what is it we're doing?" He whispered, his lips brushing hers.

"Making tonight memorable," she whispered back and returned her lips on his before he had anything more to say.

The kiss was even more passionate and remained as such as Betty stepped back to her room, pulling Daniel with her.

When he felt one of her hands leaving his neck to close the door, he advanced, causing her to take another step back as their lips were still locked together and his arms were around her body, holding her as close to his as possible. Daniel then used the heel of his foot to smoothly slam the door closed.

By doing so, Daniel silenced his brain so that his heart could finish reviewing their entire friendship, from the first day she was his assistant and he did everything to get her to quit, to the kiss down the waterslide…To this kiss now… To now... To right now.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter!

I can't tell you how many songs I listened to while writing the first section of this chapter. I was trying so hard to find the right song to fit their first kiss. I wanted it to be a song that could be played at a beachside bar during a fireworks show + I wanted a song that was released before 2010 because I really wanted to respect the fact that the episode was aired in December 2009. I almost went for "No one" by Alicia Keys (even though it has already been used in the episode Burning Questions (2x15), but in the end, I thought it would be better to avoid subjecting the first kissing scene to a specific song of my choice. But please, if you want/can, let me know what song you would have chosen (pre or post 2010)!

Hopefully, the next chapter will be posted by next weekend!

Thank you so much for reading me and for the reviews!

Take care,

X.