A/N: For once, I'm not going to give you the 'set up' for this very A/U somewhat sci-fi story. You'll figure things out as we go.
"Hurry up, will you? Remember that girl I told you I spotted on the train? She's nineteen and said her little sister was having a pool party and she couldn't come out tonight, but I could come there, and hang out."
"In Queens, though? Seriously, Alex? This is nuts! First of all, you're too old for a nineteen-year-old. You're almost twenty-seven!"
"Hey, she's legal. I'm not too old. Shut up! You're just jealous."
"Plus, you know we're going to get caught and then Dad will make me write a damn essay on why I need to be more responsible or some shit! Or threaten to send me to military school!" he shuddered at the thought.
Alex looked at his brother, "Danny! Come on, you're almost twenty-two now, you're a Harvard graduate. You've got to start standing up to Dad sometime! Stop trying to please him all the time. That's why he doesn't respect you."
"That's easy for you to say. You can do no wrong, as far as Dad's concerned and you know it."
"Not always. You'd be surprised."
The young man continued, "You always come up with these hare-brained ideas of yours, and I'm always the one who gets in trouble! It's not fair!
Just because you're his 'golden boy', you can do no wrong. Just go yourself! I'm not going to be your scapegoat tonight. Count me out!"
Alex shook his head, and grinned, "Whatever, Danny! Did I tell you this chick Sarah is so hot…and she likes younger guys! She told me she saw you with me and would be willing to do us both!"
Daniel made a face, "Gross! At the same time? That's nasty, Alex, even for you! I'm not sleeping with some chick WITH my brother! Just how twisted do you think I am?"
Alex laughed, shaking his head, and ruffling his younger brother's hair, "Don't be stupid, dumbass! I told her she could mess around with you first. You can warm her up for me."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "You don't mind sloppy seconds?"
"Whatever. She's got some pretty hot dresses I'd like to see. I mean…you know, see her in. Plus, she's got booze. Her folks have a great liquor stash. She's also got a nice set of boobs. I know you're into big ones."
Daniel shrugged, "Says you. I know things about you, too."
Alex looked surprised and a bit concerned, "What things? You don't know shit. You're bluffing."
Daniel played it cool, "Things. I saw something you wrote and threw in the trash. Who's Alexis Meade? Some girl you screwed? Or want to screw? You're going to marry her? You're such a pig, Alex. I hope you didn't knock up some poor girl and now you have to marry her. I can't believe you get so many women. You know it's just for the money that they pretend to like you."
"Like it isn't that for you? You think you're so hot?"
Daniel shrugged, "I didn't say that. But, I do alright. Better than alright. What's your number now, huh? I bet I'm getting close to yours. I bagged six girls just last week, a different one for each day."
His older brother narrowed his eyes, "There are seven days in a week, asshole. Or did you forget how to count that high?"
Daniel shrugged, smirking, "Hey, even God takes off Sundays! I had to rest."
Alex rolled his eyes, and shook the keys to his new Porsche, looking over his shoulder, "I'll let you drive the Porsche on the way home. I might…get a ride with her. If you catch my drift."
"Subtle. You're such a gentleman!" Daniel laughed, as he ran behind his brother, trying to grab the keys from him.
As they sped through traffic towards Queens, Daniel tried to figure out what he was going to do with his summer, now that he was (finally) done with college.
He thought maybe Europe might be fun. He could check out the fashion shows in Milan or even Paris this year, hang around, see what he could pick up. Or who?
He thought of calling his new friend he met at school. Becks. What a weird name! But the guy made him up his game, and he never shied away from a little competition. Especially when it came to scoring with the ladies.
Except for that one guy, Connor. He had been insane! Daniel didn't even try to compete with him. The guy was smart, funny, and that damn Australian accent. There was just no competing with that! He was more than a little envious of the guy.
He had actually seemed kind of cool, Daniel had to admit. He was running a kind of homework help for sale business he had told Daniel to put himself through Harvard and making a profit!
All Daniel knew was, he was willing to pay the guy so he didn't have to really study for his financial marketing classes! That teacher was brutal, giving them weekly quizzes all the time.
"We're here. Care to park the car for me? I want to go make sure Sarah's here. I don't want to just show up at the front door unless I'm sure her folks are gone.
There's going to be a bunch of little kids here for her sister's birthday. They might think I'm a freak if I show up at a kid's party. Sarah can let us in the back or something, through the pool house."
"You are a freak."
"Shut up, dumbass. Don't call me that. Do you want to park my car or not?"
"Fine. I'll park it. Give me the keys."
"Don't go getting any ideas and take off. You get a scratch on this and I'll take it out of your trust fund, dumbass!" Alex gave him a warning look as he slowly handed over the keys.
Daniel narrowed his eyes, "Whatever, stop calling me that, will you? You're a real jerk sometimes, you know that, Alex? Drop dead!"
"Screw you. Here. Be careful. I'll call you and tell you where to go in a few minutes."
"Fine. Don't worry, I'll be careful with your precious car. I have my eyes on my own Ferrari or Lamborghini, anyway. Besides, who the hell drives in New York? You can't ever get any speed with so much traffic. I'm going to get a car of my own and drive around Europe. Maybe on the Autobahn, where you can actually get up some real speed!"
Alex rolled his eyes and left, getting on his phone as Daniel started trying to parallel park his brother's car. There were lots of cars, honking and driving past as he went back and forth.
Finally, after several minutes, he got it in the spot, and got out, jingling the keys, leaning against the car, as he watched several little girls, he assumed to be pre-teens, maybe about twelve or thirteen, going inside, a few at a time.
He laughed, seeing one little girl, with glasses, and somewhat messed up teeth, wearing a tee shirt way too big for her, over her swimsuit, and carrying a towel. She glanced at him, and smiled. He grinned at her, thinking she was kind of sweet.
He felt sorry for her, considering most of the other girls he had seen going in looked like they were all trying to look older, wearing bikinis and rather revealing cover-ups.
"Hello." The little girl said, looking at Alex's car, "You have a pretty car."
"Thanks. Didn't your mommy ever tell you you shouldn't talk to strangers, though, little girl? I might be some pervert, here to kidnap little girls…with glasses."
The girl narrowed her eyes, "Don't be so…mean! I know Leslie's parents are here. And her sister Sarah got grounded for drinking, so she's home, too."
"She did? They are? But I thought…uh…wait, who's Leslie? Oh, is she the one whose birthday it is?"
The girl started to walk away, "I'm not answering you. I think you're right. If you said you're a pervert, you probably are. Goodbye, you weirdo."
Daniel started to go after her, but she looked scared and started to run. "Wait, stop! I swear, I'm not a weirdo. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, honey. I'm just waiting for my brother. It's his car. I was just parking it for him. He knows…um Sarah Levine. Is that…uh Leslie's older sister, maybe?"
She nodded looking as if she was ready to run inside any moment if he said anything that didn't sound right. Wow, he was scaring funny little kids, he thought! What a hot Friday night! That's what he got for following along with Alex.
"Do you know Leslie?"
The girl shook her head, "Not that much. I just wanted to be polite when I got her invitation. But…my sister said not to get my hopes up, that she probably just sent invitations out to all the kids in her class. Still, you never know.
I like to give everyone a chance. Everybody deserves a chance to be your friend. You shouldn't decide what people are like before you get to know them. Like you, I think you're probably not really a weirdo. I'm sorry I said that, mister."
He smiled, thinking this kid was pretty smart for her age. "It's okay. It's Daniel, by the way." He put out his hand, "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Betty. Betty Suarez."
He laughed, "Nice to make your acquaintance, Betty Suarez. I'm Daniel Meade. So, you've got an older sister, huh? Yeah, being the youngest can be kind of a pain sometimes, huh?"
Betty nodded, and he saw she looked like she was about ready to cry, "Hey, I'm sorry, what did I say? I promise I'm not trying to…scare you. Look, if I'm making you nervous, you don't have to talk to me.
Sorry I called you sweetie. I swear, I'm not some kind of pervert. I mean, well, I do get around, but only with girls my own age! I would never. I mean, you don't have to be scared of me. You just looked…sad. I felt sorry for you, that's all."
She nodded, "I just found out my sister is going to have a baby! She hasn't told our parents yet. Mommy's…sick. And Hilda doesn't want to upset her and Daddy. She's really scared. I…I don't know what to do to help her!"
This kid looked like she was taking on the weight of the world. Why was she so worried about things that she had no control over, he thought?
"Hey, don't worry so much, kid. It's not your job to fix everything that's wrong. Leave that to the grown-ups, you know? I mean they don't know what to do a lot of times, either. But you're too young to worry about all that stuff. Just enjoy being a kid. Believe me, being an adult sucks sometimes. It's definitely not all it's cracked up to be!"
"I try to make everybody feel better. But, this time I don't know how. I'm scared for her. She said she wants to drop out of school because the kids will make fun of her.
But, I tried to tell her, you can't let stupid kids being mean stop you. If I did that, I'd never go to school. I get made fun of every day. It doesn't stop me. I'm going to own my own magazine!'
He widened his eyes, "Really? Aren't you…a little young to know that already?" He shook his head, thinking he wished he knew so certainly what he wanted.
She shrugged, "Well you know, someday. When I grow up."
He nodded, "Right. When you grow up. Like, next year?" he grinned.
Alex came out, angry and huffing, "Come on! It's a total bust!"
Daniel nodded, "Yeah, Sarah's folks are home, plus they won't let Sarah go out, right?"
Alex squinted at him, "How did you know that? Hey, kid! Who are you? Aw, did you make a little friend, Danny boy? Isn't she a little young? You could get arrested!"
Daniel hit his brother on the arm, "Don't be an asshole…sorry, Betty! Betty here's my intel into your lousy idea to hang out at a kids' party! How was Sarah supposed to watch her sister, if she was 'entertaining' us, anyway? Here are your da...keys.
This jerk is my stupid older brother, Betty. Alex, this is Betty Suarez. She's going to own her own magazine someday."
Alex looked at the little girl curiously, "Charmed, I'm sure. Good luck with that, kid. Are you ready, Daniel?"
"Listen, Alex, just wait for a second while I say goodbye to Betty, okay? I'll be right there. I think I'm going to actually see about taking some courses this summer rather than just hanging around the models.
I mean, if Betty here can aspire to own her own magazine someday, I should probably set my own goals a little higher than just being a trust fund brat, huh?
We should both take a lesson from her. She's pretty smart for a….how old are you, anyway?"
Alex walked away, shaking his head. "Stupid! Talking to a kid!"
"Twelve." She made a face at Alex and Daniel laughed.
"Right. I just got told off by and admire a twelve-year-old girl for her ambition. I think I must be doing something wrong here. Nice to meet you, Miss Betty Suarez. I look forward to meeting you again someday.
Look me up in a few years when you're ready to get your first job. I might just be able to help you with that dream of yours. My old man owns a magazine company. Here. Hang onto this." He handed her his card, squinting and trying not to grin.
"For at least six years, when you're eighteen. Well, make that ten years, maybe. After YOU finish college, young lady. Stay in school. Don't do drugs."
She made a face, "You sound like a commercial. Kind of…lam-o, Mister!"
"I told you, don't call me Mister. It's Daniel."
"Yeah, but I don't know you. You're kind of…strange."
"I'm strange? Don't call me lame-o, kid! That's not nice. Listen, I hope your mom feels better. Mine is…um sick a lot, too. I know it sucks. A kid should have their mom. Especially a girl. Tell your sister to suck it up. If you can do it, so can she. I'm sure whatever kid she has will be pretty cool, especially having you for an aunt."
Betty smiled, then saw someone she knew. "I'd better go. I see Kimmie Keegan. She said she would be here and I should come to hang out with her. She seems nice. She promised she'd pick me for sports. I always hate to be the last pick. Goodbye, Daniel.
It was nice to meet you. I'm sorry. I don't think you're a lame-o! Or weird. Don't let your brother boss you around. He doesn't seem as nice as you. Have a nice weekend!"
"Okay. You, too, Betty. Wait. Here. Take this. It looks like it's going to get cold."
He handed her his jacket.
Her eyes got huge, "But this is…leather. It's nice."
He shrugged. "It's fine. I've got a bunch more. It goes with uh…who is that, anyway?" he tried not to laugh, looking at her shirt.
"New Kids on the Block, of course! I love them!" Her eyes shone brightly.
He smiled, "Of course. I should have known. They're almost as cool as Nirvana!"
"Who?"
"Never mind. Have a nice life, Betty Suarez!"