The Bridge/CH 5

Betty seemed at a loss for words, as she took her purse from Daniel's hands. She looked down at their hands, touching.

He smiled at her and seemed reluctant to let go. He finally looked over at Justin, who had his eyebrows raised and had a very curious look on his face as he joined them.

"Hey, Justin."

"Daniel. Good to see you. Aunt Betty tells me you think I have good taste. Good enough to help out at Fashion Week?"

Daniel seemed put on the spot, "Sure, Justin. But…uh, aren't you in school during the day?"

Justin shrugged, "A technicality. If I get my mom to sign off on taking a few days off from the public waste of time, can I come the last two days, at least? To see all the top designers?

Aunt Betty said Christina will probably need my help. I could even help you with names and faces in case you forget. No offense, but I know the designers way better than AB! And I know all the juicy gossip about each of them, too.

Plus, I can definitely help make sure the models are hydrating and not over-accessorizing or putting on too much make-up because they're nervous."

Daniel smiled, "It sounds like you've got this Fashion Week thing down cold, Justin! You sound way more knowledgeable about it than I am!"

He shrugged, "It's my life. I live for Fashion Week! And to actually get to attend! I can honestly say, it would be the highlight of my young life so far. Of course, I know it's just the beginning. Especially now that I can really ride my aunt's coattails. Instead of her poncho!"

Daniel laughed, but Betty rolled her eyes, embarrassed, hitting Justin, "Justin! Thanks a lot! I've told you a million times, I thought they were 'in', okay? That model was wearing them!"

"Model? Oh, you mean…what was her name again? The girl I hired at first before you. She was…okay, I guess. Seriously didn't know how to answer the phone, though. I'm really glad my dad made me hire you, instead, though, Betty."

Betty narrowed her eyes at him, and took her purse, then stepped away from him, "Right, Charmaine, you mean. I heard she had 'other skills' that you liked, Daniel. Things I've never actually done, even though I've been accused of doing them numerous times!"

Daniel bit his lip and looked somewhat embarrassed. "I uh…" he suddenly seemed very interested in the clothes Justin was looking at, "That looks nice. You know, I promised your aunt a raise.

But even with the discount, she might not have…why don't you let me get that for you, Betty? My treat. Consider it an advance bonus for all the hard work I know you've already done and will continue to do for Fashion Week. Believe me, you've earned it! Then, maybe I could take you and Justin out to lunch…or dinner, I guess now. I mean, we're so close to my place here anyway."

"Oh, that's okay, guys. I think I might have Stan take me back home. My work is done, here. I told AB what to get. I have uh…homework to do. I'm sure you can see that my aunt gets home safely, right, Daniel? See you at Fashion Week! Only two more days. I'm so excited; I have so much to do, so little time!"

Daniel seemed still in a daze, clearly thrown by Betty's altered appearance, "Huh? Oh yeah, Fashion Week. Right…bye, Justin. So, Betty? Do you want to get those outfits checked out and get some lunch?"

"It's a little late for lunch, Daniel. It's almost five-thirty."

"Well, dinner then. Sorry, I didn't really have lunch. I was worried about you. The way you just took off from Mode like that. Leaving your purse. I wanted to make sure Wilhelmina didn't upset you."

Betty shrugged, taking the clothes to the checkout. There was no way she was going to let Daniel see how much Miss Slater had actually gotten under her skin.

She started to take out her wallet, but Daniel put his hand on hers, and shook his head, "I told you, I've got this, Betty. It's the least I can do for you pulling me out of my robe and dragging my ass back to work, then rescuing me from the bad press of getting stood up." He handed the cashier his credit card and looked again at his hand on hers.

Why was there suddenly this tension between them, he wondered? Or was it just him? He seemed to get his answer when Betty pulled away, and looked down nervously, "You don't owe me anything, Daniel. It's sweet of you. But…you don't have to do that."

"I want to."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." After the clerk looked at them for a moment both just staring at each other, she finally cleared her throat and handed Betty her bags, "Miss? Your clothes."

Betty started to take the bags, but Daniel helped her with them, and nodded outside, "Come on, I'll take you to this little local place I found just down the street from my place. They have great Italian food. Their pizza isn't quite as good as Grimaldi's and they uh…don't have karaoke, or escargot, but they've got great lasagna and spaghetti."

She laughed, "You and your spaghetti, Daniel!"

He made a face, "Hey! I like spaghetti! No mocking, now. Uh, since we're so close to my place, do you want to drop off these things first so we don't have to carry them around? I wouldn't want you to leave them behind, too!" he teased.

"Okay." Betty reluctantly agreed, not sure if going to Daniel's loft was the wisest thing to do.

He put his arm around her and led her around the corner and up towards the stairwell.

She looked at him, "Aren't we taking the elevator?"

"It's being fixed." he lied. Honestly, he wasn't completely comfortable riding up in an elevator alone with her right now. He was tired and…well, more than a little turned on by how great she looked. It was totally freaking him out.

She made a face, "You're kidding! So we have to take the stairs? Daniel, you're on the eleventh floor!"

He laughed, running up ahead of her, "Come on! It's not like it's the twenty-eight flights at Mode, Betty!"

After eight flights, Betty sat down, and waved for Daniel to go on without her, "Go, save yourself. I'm just going to stay right here and die. Try to keep the vultures from my corpse as long as you can."

He shook his head, and reached down to pick her up, "You are such a drama queen sometimes, woman. Come on, it's not that much further."

"Daniel! Put me down! I can walk."

"I know you CAN walk, but this is less annoying than hearing you whining about the elevator. Besides, maybe I don't want to take the elevator all the time. Anyway, they say it's good for your bones and your heart to use the stairs once in a while."

"Thank you, I get enough exercise going up and down the stairs to the subway usually, remember? Not all of us use town cars everywhere."

He grinned, looking down at her, "Touche, but I see you are finally taking me up on my offer to use Stan today, huh?"

She shrugged, "I forgot my purse, remember? No Metro card!"

He smirked, "And yet, you came all the way back to Manhattan without it. Did you plan on coming back to Mode to get your purse?"

"I uh…forgot that I left it there until I got to the store, actually."

"You forgot that you forgot?" He laughed. "Wow, I guess you really are having a hard time, huh? Did the make-over cause you to become ditzy or something? Is it the fumes from all the hair spray? Or was it just my charm that has you all flustered and forgetful suddenly?" Suddenly he found that, teasing Betty seemed even more fun than usual. He loved the way it made her blush. She was absolutely adorable!

She bit her lip and buried her head in his chest, finding having her arms around his neck while he carried her a little…distracting. "No comment."

He smiled, and put her down in front of his doorstep. Then he dug in his pockets, having a sudden look of panic on his face, "SHIT! I can't believe I did that…."

She raised an eyebrow, "Forget something, Daniel?"

"Yeah! My key! I uh…must have locked them inside. I guess I'll have to go down to get the doorman to come let us in."

"No you won't." She unzipped the inside compartment in her purse and pulled out a spare key and held it up. "Good thing you have a brilliant, always prepared assistant." She unlocked his door and he shook his head, mocking her attitude.

He shrugged, "Right! An assistant who left her own purse behind in the first place! If I weren't chasing you around all night and day, I wouldn't be so tired and I wouldn't have locked my keys…right here on the kitchen counter!" He walked over to the counter and picked them up.

"Chasing me around, huh? Sorry, Daniel. But you really didn't have to do that, you know! You could have simply called me and left a message that you had my purse…"

He pulled her cell phone out of her purse and held it up, "Yeah, maybe I could, but…I have a feeling you wouldn't have gotten my messages.

And before you ask, I did try to call your house, but I think your dad or sister must have been on the phone non-stop because I tried like a million times and it was always busy. Seriously, you guys need to get call waiting!"

"We have it. But with Justin and Hilda…it's really a lost cause. You can usually reach me by…"

"Sending out a smoke signal? Or carrier pigeon, perhaps?"

She laughed, but rolled her eyes, "No, I was going to say, IM'ing me is one way. I'm always checking my email. You know that."

"True. I'll try to remember that in the future. So…do you want something to drink?"

"I thought we were just dropping off my bags then going out for spaghetti?"

He shrugged, grabbing a beer out of the fridge and handing her a glass of wine as he flopped onto the sofa, flipping on the television. "Yeah, but now that I had to carry you halfway up the stairs, I'm even more tired from being up all night.

It's finally all catching up to me. We can have the food delivered. Now that my sweet assistant cleaned the place up for me it's nice and comfortable here. What do you say? Come on…sit. I won't bite. Much…" He smirked and patted the seat next to him on his sofa.

He pretended to watch the basketball game on television, but smiled as she held the glass of wine and studied him for a minute before sitting down on the other side of the couch and downing the glass in one gulp. "Okay."