Valentine Masquerade
Hi friends! Hope you're enjoying the story! 3 Lots of love!
Chapter 7: Stumblin' in Love
The draining evening made Daniel beyond exhausted so he made his way to bed but found himself unable to stop picturing Bella and her breathtaking smile.
That smile was something special.
He felt he'd seen that smile before somewhere. He felt drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Something about her, her energy, her smile, her laugh, made him want to be next to her.
Every time he closed his eyes he could see her warm chocolate eyes and that perfect smile. And that blushing of hers was so damn adorable. It made him want to find out what else could make her blush.
He felt flustered at the train his thoughts were taking and shook himself from them.
How the hell could he be so hung up on a girl he barely got to know?
Despite 'barely knowing her', he told her things he never talked to anyone about; he felt it was so easy to talk to her about anything. One minute they were joking about her drink and the next they were talking about his brother and her mom.
He let out a deep sigh as he stared up at the ceiling, wishing he could turn his mind off for the night.
Betty laid in her bed unable to stop thinking about Daniel and the amazing time she had with him. She tried to close her eyes and fall asleep, but all that did was have her see those incredible blue eyes of his, that were even more charming with his mask off.
A tear slid down her face thinking to how he took his mask off so she would know who he was. Part of her wanted to take her mask off and tell him she knew exactly who he was and that she would never forget him due to how he treated her, but how kind and sweet he was to her the whole night made her decide it was best to just leave and forget this night, no matter how amazing and wonderful it was.
She needed to just shut her eyes and try to erase this evening from her memory.
The next morning, Daniel groaned as his phone rang several times. He barely got a wink of sleep. He only just got himself to relax a couple of hours ago and now this annoying ringing grumpily woke him up.
He placed the pillow over his head wanting to drown the noise and the pounding he felt in his head. He perhaps drank a bit too much in the course of the night trying to get to sleep. No matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened to him in this past week.
What a whirlwind of events!
First he proposes to Sofia at his parents house, then she dumps him on national television as her publicity stunt for her trashy magazine, then he is forced to go to the Valentine's party reminding him of how miserable and pathetic he truly was, and then when he finally meets this amazing girl she leaves.
He sighed as he reluctantly got out of bed to make some coffee. He put on his robe and trudged through his apartment, the emptiness of it making him feel even more lonely and crappy.
He should have gotten on a plane last night. He wasn't sure where he would have gone, but anywhere was better than here at the moment. Everything just reminded him of how terrible he felt.
He barely made it to the kitchen before he tripped over his haphazardly placed shoes. He let out a deep sigh as he sat on the floor, feeling more than annoyed.
After he took a breath, a smile started to cross his face as his thoughts went to Bella and how she bumped into not only him at the party, but his mom too, and then how she tripped at the gazebo.
She was really very cute!
His smile grew as he remembered how sweet and beautiful she was and how refreshing she was to be around. He enjoyed his night with her and truly hated to see her go.
He groaned as he got up from the floor, feeling annoyed again that he thought about her again. He needed to get his mind off her no matter how much fun he had with her. Especially when it was clear she didn't want anything to do with him.
Betty groaned softly when she heard knocking on her door, and then heard it open. "Mija?"
"Mhmh" she grumbled, feeling more than tired.
"It is nearly noon and you're still in bed? Was the party that good?" he teased playfully.
It wasn't normal for Betty to sleep so late, but she had the worst night. She couldn't sleep a wink; she tossed and turned for hours thinking about her night with Daniel, and then decided to write to clear her mind, but that only proved to further confuse her. By the time she went to bed it was nearly five in the morning.
Her dad sat at the edge of her bed "Hilda said you had the best time of your life? Is that true?" he asked curiously. Betty sighed as she sat up "I don't really wanna talk about the party, papi. I feel awful"
"Betty ran into her hunky ex boss and had the best time with him" Hilda informed as she walked into Betty's room.
"Is that the one who treated you so bad when you were at the Mode?" he asked, his tone becoming protective.
Betty rolled her eyes at how nosy her family could be sometimes. "Papi, it's Mode, and yes, I ran into Daniel Meade" she sighed, feeling her heart constrict just saying his name.
"If I ever see that man, I will give him a piece of my mind!" he stated threateningly.
Betty sighed "Can you guys please leave my alone? I really don't want to talk about him"
Her father looked at her in confusion "I don't understand. If you had such a good time with him, why are you looking so miserable?"
Betty frowned. Hilda sat next to her father on Betty's bed and told him "Well, for one thing he had no idea who she was because of her mask and appearance, and Betty didn't tell him. They pretty much ditched the main party and spent the whole rest of the time together talking and dancing, right Betty? Then Betty decides to leave because she's too scared she's having such a great time with him, and Daniel stops her and gives her this gorgeous rose and takes off his mask to tell her who he was, but she runs away"
"OMG AB! Are you crazy?!" Justin stated as he overheard and came into Betty's room. Betty sighed.
"I know! It's totally romantic! It's just like those books you love to read, Betty." Hilda added.
"Guys, please, I really don't want to think about him. It was just one night. He will probably forget all about me in a couple of days and be right back to his normal life."
"Mija, why didn't you tell him who you were?" he asked in wonder.
Betty blushed "Uh...I don't know"
Hilda smirked "Yeah right! It's because she wanted to see how it was to be with him. She told him her name was Bella" she said with a grin.
Betty blushed, hating how well her sister knew her.
"I just don't want to be with someone who is that shallow" she said, though felt bad for saying it, because he didn't sound so shallow when she talked to him. "He only treated me nice because I looked prettier and he had no idea who I was"
Hilda rolled her eyes "Betty, you know that if he knew who you were he'd feel even shittier for how he treated you and probably do anything to get you to forgive him. Kinda hot if you ask me!"
Betty sighed and her father shook his head at Hilda's remark.
"I side with you, Betty. You don't want to be with someone who doesn't know how special you really are"
"But maybe he does know how special AB is, if he had such a great time with her even though he had no idea who she really was and gave her that rose" Justin commented.
"And don't forget he took off his mask when he gave her the rose so she knew who he was! How amazing is that?!" Hilda informed, and Justin's eyes grew "I know! AB, that is like so cool!"
"And romantic!" Hilda added. Justin nodded in agreement "Totally"
Betty felt her heart constrict because deep down she wondered if it was because they had the masks they could be themselves without the worry of the other judging them. And when he took his mask off it was his way of telling her he wanted her to know him.
Her eyes became glossy, wondering if she made a terrible mistake leaving him without telling her who she was. "Can I just please get dressed now?" she said as she got up from her bed and walked over to her dresser picking out clothes, trying to distract herself from the terrible feeling that washed over her.
Her father got up and walked to her door "Listen to your heart, mija and you will never go wrong" he said with a gentle smile before he left.
Betty bit her lip, trying to stop it from trembling, not quite sure if she believed that.
"I think you should find that Daniel guy and show him what he was missing treating you so bad all that time ago. People make mistakes, Betty, but maybe if we give them a chance they might surprise us" Hilda said and Betty looked at her thoughtfully "Hilda, are you seeing Santos?"
Hilda's eyes grew in surprise, but she said "How did you know?!"
Betty laughed "You're my sister! You are the worst at hiding things from me! Besides, there were some cute guys at the party and you didn't even get any of their numbers. And I heard you on the phone two nights ago talking to him."
Hilda bit her lip and looked to Justin who had been listening. "Fine, look, yes, Santos and I have been...dating, I guess and…" she smiled "Things are going really... good, and" she looked to Justin "he wants to spend time with you. Would you like that, Justin?" she asked nervously.
Justin shrugged "Sure mom, it'd be cool to see him. Do you think he will like me?"
Hilda smiled and hugged him tight "He'd be crazy not to love you!"
Justin smiled, and Betty looked to her sister with a small smile, but said "Just be careful Hilda, I know how much he broke your heart. I don't want to see you get hurt"
Hilda hugged her sister "thanks Betty, but he's really trying to be a better man. That's why I'm saying you should give this Daniel guy a chance. He just might be your prince charming!" she teased with a smile.
Betty bit her lip, her face warming at the thought of Daniel and how charming he truly was. She sighed, feeling conflicted again.
Daniel let out an annoyed breath as he looked at the coffee table with several take out containers scattered about, wondering what the hell he was doing with his life. He tried to take his mind off things, and spent much of the day hiding out in his apartment, wanting to forget about the world, but no matter how much he tried everything just seemed to filter it's way back to him.
He'd missed nearly six calls from his mom, two from his dad, a few texts from his mom asking him if he was ok and then asking if he died, so he'd texted her he just needed space so she wouldn't worry; he even received a text from Becks checking in on him after hearing about his televised break up from halfway around the world, thus making him feel worse and think about how stupid he was to even get caught up in Sofia's trap.
Thinking about Sofia only made him think about Bella more, and how different she made him feel. He felt so close to her even in just the short time he spent with her. He had such a great time with her and wished he could have spent more time with her.
He almost wished he could have spent the whole night with her, but that would have probably make him feel even worse than he already felt.
He'd felt really pathetic when the delivery guy who dropped off his food told him he looked like hell before he left. Daniel looked to the clock and saw that it was nearly six in the evening. He sighed as he got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, made him see just how terrible he looked.
It'd only been one day and he already looked scruffy, his hair was sticking up in some places, his robe suddenly made him feel filthy. He took it off and splashed his face with water; he needed to snap himself out of this terrible funk he was in.
Maybe he needed some fresh air, and a walk to clear his mind. He grabbed some clothes and hopped in the shower. Once he was out he wrapped the towel around his waist and looked in the mirror again. He not only looked fresher, he felt so much better already.
He got dressed and when he walked into the living room, he saw the terrible mess he made with all the take out containers and empty soda bottles, a couple of empty beer bottles thrown about. Damn, it looked like he'd been cooped up for days. He threw away all of the containers and trash and when he got to the door to leave, he smiled when he thought about Bella and how she kissed him before she left.
That had to mean something, right?
The chemistry he felt with her couldn't have been one sided, could it? Was he nuts to be this crazy about her?
She was so cute!
He wanted to be holding her and seeing that adorable blushing of hers again, and that incredible smile. She was really beautiful.
Hell, even his mom liked her enough to give her that butterfly pin.
He smiled as he walked outside for a minute thinking about Bella and how much he enjoyed seeing her smile and having her close to him. He let out a small laugh thinking he must be completely nuts to be falling in love with her just from this one night.
He wished there was some way he could find her. He really wished he knew her whole name. His eyes grew bright as he realized there just might be a way to find out!