The Bridge/CH 6
"You can't resist me…can you? You know I'm going to wear you down, Betty. You might as well give in now."
"You talk the talk, Meade. But you forget, I'm a tough chick from Queens. I don't give in as easily as those little toothpick models you're used to hanging around!"
He laughed, "Toothpick models? I don't recall ever dating any toothpick models. I think you've had doo much to trink, Breasty! I mean…Betty."
"First of all, I think 'date' is stretching it a bit, don't you? And besides, I could drink you under the table, rich boy! Listen to you, you can't even talk!"
"Rich boy, huh? Is that my new nickname?" He let out a yell as he pinned her arm on the table, "HA! See, I told you you were going down, Suarez!" He rather drunkenly pointed to her, laughing.
The buzzer went off and Daniel reluctantly got off the ground, from sitting at the coffee table, arm wrestling Betty. She drank a shot quickly. "Okay, okay…you won that round. But you cheated before, tickling me like that!"
Daniel swore as he went to the door, and picked up the intercom to the doorman "Yeah, this is Daniel Meade. Who's there, Norman?"
He heard a familiar voice, "LET ME IN, DANNY BOY! I've got to take a piss! NOW! I'm coming up! I've been on a plane non-stop from Shanghai for the past million or so hours…so hurry up!"
"Let him up, Norman. It's okay. I know him."
Betty looked curious, "Who or what was THAT?"
Daniel sighed, thinking his night was about to get a lot louder, and wishing Becks would have waited at least a few more nights before showing up at his door. But he also knew he and Betty were both exhausted and likely to fall asleep at any time now anyway.
She had seemed hesitant to call and talk to her sister and had instead opted to relay edited messages through her nephew to her family to let them know she was safe.
He could tell there was some serious tension between Betty and her sister, Hilda, but she had just started to open up about it when he talked her into arm wrestling in order to loosen things up, rather than press her for details.
The drinking game had also been his idea. And one he had honestly been shocked he was able to talk Betty into.
As soon as he opened the door, Becks tackled Daniel to the ground. Betty's eyes widened and she stood quickly, making the blood rush to her head suddenly, and she fell back to the ground, "OH!"
Becks turned and saw an eyeful of Betty, on the ground, with her dress pulled up quite a bit further than her usual modesty would have dictated. His eyes lit up, and he turned to Daniel, hitting his arm and jumping up immediately, "Holding out on me, huh, bro?
Aren't you going to introduce me to your lovely guest?" Daniel brushed himself off and got up quickly, trying to beat Becks over to help Betty back to her feet, or at least to the sofa.
Becks reached down with his hand, joyfully leering at Betty's cleavage, "Hello, there, sweetie! What's your name?"
She blushed, taking his hand and pulling up the strap of her dress before it gave Becks even more of an eyeful. "I'm Betty. We uh…spoke on the phone, I think.
You're Beckett Scott, the photo journalist, right? I think you were in Africa. I heard growling in the background."
He grinned, helping Betty sit down on the sofa, and sitting close to her, "Yeah, but I broke up with her. I'm single and free as a bird now. Betty. So…wait, you don't work for this turkey, do you?"
Daniel glared at Becks, "Yeah, she does, and back off, Becks. Betty's my…"
Both Betty and Becks looked at him intently, seemingly anxious to see how Daniel finished that sentence. "my…uh…assistant. And my friend.
She's just coming out of a relationship. She doesn't need you hitting on her. Sorry, Betty. It's like a disease with him. He's taking shock therapy and shots for it. He can't help himself. Seriously, Becks, leave Betty alone, will you?"
Becks gave Daniel a dirty look, "What are you, her big brother? If you two are 'just friends' why is she here all alone with you on a school night, huh? Don't you guys need a chaperone?"
Betty giggled, finding all the attention rather exciting and fun. Was Becks actually interested in her or did he just act flirty with everyone, she wondered?
She remembered him talking flirtatiously on the phone to her before he had even met her, so perhaps that was just his personality, she thought. Daniel had told her some interesting stories about his past exploits with Becks.
He surprised her by putting his arm around her and whispering loud enough for Daniel to hear, but still sending chills down her spine, "If Danny boy here doesn't treat you right, you let me know, Betty and I'll be sure to teach him some manners, okay, darling?"
She smiled, biting her lip and got up, "Daniel… I need you to take me to bed, please."
Daniel and Becks both raised their eyebrows, and Becks laughed, "Wow, feisty, and right up front! I like her! But what do you need him for, Betty? I'll show you what you really need in that department. Why go to an amateur when you've got a master right here?"
Daniel got up and put his arm around Betty to steady her. She hiccupped slightly and giggled, "That didn't come out right, did it?
I meant…I'm really tired because of our 'all night date' last night. Can I go to bed with you? I mean can I sleep in your bed?
Like you know, just sleep. Not with you. And not with him. And definitely not with both of you!
Oh, wow…I'm feeling a little ditzy. I mean dizzy. I really need to sleep. Sorry, Bucket. I mean what was your name again?" She giggled, "Bucket! That's funny."
"Becks. You can just call me Becks, sweetie. Goodnight." He kissed her hand and she giggled again. "You're cute. I like the dimple."
"Thanks. I like your...a…eyes, Betty. You have really pretty eyes. And a great smile. Nice to meet you. Sleep well. Maybe we'll have breakfast together. If I get lucky."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Seriously? Right in front of me? Just…wait here, Becks. And knock it off before I throw you out the window, okay? Give it a rest for once! Let me get her to bed."
"Well, don't take all night. I'll get jealous."
"Shut up, bucket!" Daniel threw a pillow at him and followed Betty up his stairs quickly.
Daniel helped Betty up the stairs to his bedroom and handed her a tee shirt and shorts. "Are you okay? Sorry. He always comes in town for Fashion Week.
I tried to reach him to let him know I would be too busy to hang out with him this year but he's really hard to get a hold of when he's out in the middle of nowhere. He always acts like that around girls, I'm afraid. Sorry if he bothered you. I know he can be really annoying."
She shrugged, sitting on the edge of Daniel's bed, "He didn't annoy me, Daniel. He's kind of…cute."
Daniel furrowed his brow, "Cute? Yeah, well, whatever. I don't see it. I'll let you get some rest, Betty. Hopefully we'll both feel better tomorrow once we actually get some sleep. We only have two more days till Fashion Week, so we both need to make sure we're at our best.
If I were you, I'd stay as far away from Becks as possible. He's kind of crazy. He's a little...well you'll see. Just don't let him fool you. He's a huge player."
She raised her eyebrow, "Says the man who is his best friend and fellow 'player', right?"
He rolled his eyes, holding up his hands, "Okay, okay…I give. I USED to be just like him. I admit it freely. I'm getting better, though. I'm a changed man.
Like you said, I was ready to swim the East River in January, right? I just chose to do it for the wrong girl, that's all. I shouldn't have settled for a cold-hearted…well, whatever she is!"
"Be-itch!" Betty said as she took his clothes and headed to the bathroom to change. "That's what she is! I can't believe she did that to you, Daniel. She's an idiot. She didn't know how lucky she was to have you."
He laughed, "Well, gee, Betty, you're going to give me a big head, now. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"
She shrugged, and stood in the doorway, looking back at him, "Yeah, well, she was really stupid. I'm glad Amanda beat the crap out of her! I'd like to get a piece of her, too."
He walked over to her and hugged her, kissing her cheek, whispering, "Thanks, Betty. That's sweet of you to say."
"I meant it."
He held her for a second, looking down at her, and acting like he wanted to say something. He took a deep breath, "Well…goodnight. I hope you sleep well."
She looked up at him and smiled, "Goodnight, Daniel. Thanks for a fun night. The past two nights have been the most fun I've ever had with a guy."
He smiled, putting his hands in his pockets as he turned to leave, "Really? I don't think I've ever been anybody's most fun time before."
"I find that hard to believe, Mister Most Eligible Bachelor!"
He laughed, "Well…okay, with my clothes on."
"Right. Well, I'm really tired. And I drank too much. I don't normally drink. I'm sorry if I was too…much trouble tonight.
You were really sweet to take me to Mode this morning and hire TJ, and…buy me those clothes today. I really appreciate you worrying about me after what Miloweena said, too. She's a real…"
"Yeah. She is. Don't let her get to you, Betty. She's just jealous. She's got no life other than Mode. You're much better than her, than any of those girls at Mode, in fact."
"I know. You told me. Better than any model, right?"
He nodded, "I said that, right?"
"You did."
"I meant it."
"I know. Thank you. That means a lot to me. You don't know how it feels to always be the one…never mind."
"The one who what?"
She put her head down, "It's silly. It's just a girl thing."
"Tell me, Betty. Is this about your sister? The thing you told me before about her not thinking you deserve better than that guy that cheated on you?"
"You wouldn't understand. It's okay."
"I understand what it's like to feel like you're always going to be second best to your sibling. Is that what you're talking about?"
She nodded, tears forming, "It's just…Hilda has always been the 'pretty one' the 'sexy sister', the one everyone fussed over. It's hard to always be the 'ugly sister'. It hurts sometimes."
"I think I understand more than you might think, Betty. I was always the screw up. Alex did everything perfect, he was the golden child, the one my dad groomed to be his successor. I was just the one who partied and slept around.
Mainly because nobody expected anything more from me. You're the only person other than my mom that I've ever met who held me to a higher standard. The only one who expected me to do anything right."
"You have so much potential, Daniel. You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for."
He laughed, "Thanks! I think."
"You know what I mean."
"Well, on that note. Goodnight, Miss Suarez. Sleep well."
"Goodnight, Mr. Meade. Thanks. For everything."
"My pleasure, Betty."
She smiled as he closed the door behind him.
He went downstairs and took off his shirt and pants, throwing a blanket and another pillow at Becks, who was dozing on the sofa. "I guess I'll take the recliner chair." Daniel threw him a beer and took one himself.
Becks took a drink, "Thanks. Aww...you don't want to spoon with me on the couch, bro? I'm hurt!"
Daniel took a sip himself, "You'll live. Hey, lay off Betty, okay? I'm serious. She's off limits. She's special. No bets, no competition. Just…lay off. Are we clear?"