LOVE NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE/CH 3
"Betty?" She opened her eyes fully, and bit her lip, wondering nervously exactly what Daniel had seen and heard when she had been dreaming.
She started grabbing her papers and frantically shoving them into her bag.
Daniel smiled to himself as he began helping her. "What's wrong, Betty?"
She shook her head, not daring to look him in the eye, "Nothing, what makes you think anything's wrong?"
"I don't know. You're acting kind of weird. Plus you looked like you were going to kiss me just now."
Her eyes practically popped out, "What?! No, I didn't! You're the one who's acting weird, Daniel. I'm fine."
She continued to ignore him, and finished putting her work back in her bag, her face turning bright red. Daniel followed her into the kitchen.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Betty? You really look uh...red."
He noticed she had gone into her 'hyperdrive talking a mile a minute', "I told you, I'm fine, Daniel.
I just dozed off for a minute because somebody came knocking on my door at five thirty in the morning on a Saturday morning, waking me up, 'Betty, I have to pee, Betty, I'm drunk, Betty...I need to talk!"
This time, he didn't argue with her, just grinned slightly, nodding, "Okay, Betty. Whatever you say, Betty. Uh, listen since I did wake you up so early, why don't I order us some lunch while you shower and change?
Like you said, we can hang out today, maybe watch movies and talk, and catch up with each other. If you're not too busy?"
"That sounds good, Daniel. I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Sure, take your time. Any preference, pizza, sandwiches, Italian, Greek, uh ...Thai?" he smiled at her.
She shrugged, "Surprise me."
"Thai it is. I know what you like, baby." he whispered in his low and sexy voice as she walked past him towards her bedroom. She just rolled her eyes at him.
"Very funny. Just don't eat all the coconut shrimp this time! And save some of the glass noodles from the top of my pad thai. You always eat all mine."
"You're the one who told me they were good for me."
"So get your own, then!"
"Yes, miss bossy pants."
"Please don't call me that. You sound like Hilda. I'm not bossy..."
He scoffed, making a face, as she hit his arm and walked past him to the bedroom,
"I'm NOT! I'm just... determined. Thank you for getting lunch, Daniel. I'll be right out."
"Take your time. I think I'll finish watching the game. I'll be here waiting. Let me know if you need any help, Miss Bossy." He called after her.
"Shut up! You're so not funny!"
"Yes, dear." He teased.
She threw a balled up paper at him and closed the door behind her, as he grinned and called for the takeout.
After he sat back down and switched on the television, his phone rang, and he started to let it go to voicemail yet again, just as he had been doing for the past week and a half, ever since he learned of the latest member of the family she had failed to mention to him.
He looked at the bedroom door and rolled his eyes, knowing what Betty would tell him to do, and sighed. He hated it when she made him feel guilty about not doing the 'right thing'!
Hell, he thought, he might as well get this over with and deal with their detente, "Hello, mother. What can I do for you?"
"Hello, son."
"Yeah, in case you forgot, I'm Daniel. The son you lied to practically my whole life. At least for the last thirty years. How are you today, mother?
Oh, by the way, your younger son is now dating Amanda, in case you didn't already know. I don't really know what kind of relationship you have with him.
Oh, yeah, that's right, you take him with you to Paris to meet your son who became a woman, after he pretended to be dead for two whole years, and put us all through hell.
I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in being able to lie to your 'loved ones', does it, mommy dearest?"
"You know, sarcasm is not one of your better traits, Daniel. Sadly, I know you get it from me, so I suppose I hate hearing you use it against me all the more because it reminds me of one of my own many bad habits.
As you're well aware, my darling child, I did invite you to come with us, too. In fact, as I recall, I practically begged you to come, so you could get to know Tyler better and see your sister and nephew again.
In fact, that's one reason I'm calling. I wanted to invite you over for brunch tomorrow. You tend to isolate yourself from people, Daniel. It's not a good thing to do. Especially when you do have a family who cares about you.
Look at how you hid out in your apartment after that mess with the Reyes woman! You didn't even tell Betty where you were. Is that where you are now, by the way, with Betty? I know you're not home at the moment, because I'm in your loft and you're clearly not here.
I was worried, because I saw evidence of lots of drinking last night. Are you doing okay? I assume Betty's taking care of you."
"Am I really that predictable? Yes, okay? Are you happy? You know me so well. I'm here at Betty's.
I came over here early this morning after getting drunk when Amanda dumped me for your younger son, and woke Betty up and now of course, I've been messing up her life, just like I do with everybody."
"How have you been messing up Betty's life? That girl would do anything for you."
"Yeah, I know. But...stupid Marc and Amanda came over here and, well, they're probably going to be spreading some rumors about Betty and me that aren't true now at work."
He thought he heard his mother stifle a chuckle, "Rumors? What rumors would those be?"
"Let's just say they got the wrong idea about what I was doing here and I didn't do anything to stop them from jumping to conclusions. In fact, I lied and said that we were "more than friends" and I think I even said something about us trying to "keep it down"! Shit! No wonder Betty's pissed at me!"
"I see. And why didn't you simply tell them that nothing was going on?"
"I don't know. I...guess after what Amanda said, making me sound like such a sad, pathetic loser, I didn't want to admit how much it hurt to be dumped.
It was my male ego, maybe. But now, I feel bad that Betty's reputation is going to suffer because, as usual, I was selfish and didn't think about how it would affect her."
"I see. Well, I'm sure you and Betty will work it out. You always do. Of course, it helps that you are in love with each other. Then again, perhaps it's time you both stopped being such idiots about it and owned up to that fact to yourselves, and I don't know, maybe did something about it finally!"
Daniel sounded incredulous as his mother's words sunk in, "What? What the hell are you talking about? We don't...I mean, yeah, sure, as friends. Of course I love Betty.
But, Mom...I don't know exactly what you're implying. Wait, you think she...uh, cares about me that way, too? What would make you believe that?" he whispered, conspiratorially, sounding somewhat excited at the idea.
She laughed throatily, "You know you sound like an adolescent asking his friends about some little girl he has a crush on. You're joking, right, Daniel? Every time Betty meets another man, you go into crazy jealous mode.
You do the most devious thing without even realizing you're doing it. You play the part of 'older, wiser friend', and get her to tell you all about some new guy she is dating, and even pretend to be friendly with the poor schlub, just so you can keep your enemies close.
Meanwhile, you start having some insane crisis, real or imagined, and call for poor Betty to come 'help you because you NEED her' constantly, interrupting her time with the other man and thereby sending him the clear message as to just who's really the man she prefers to spend her time with.
That way, you let him know that when it comes down to him or you, Betty will choose you every time. And of course, she always does.
Because, darling, she is just as in love with you as you are with her, but she is scared to death to admit it, afraid that you'll tell her you don't feel the same and break her heart. And she couldn't stand for her hero to break her heart. She'd rather stay the faithful friend forever than risk "putting herself out there" or admitting she really wants you, too.
It's interesting how well you think you know each other in so many aspects of your "friendship", and yet when it comes to the most basic fact about your true feelings for one another, you've created some strange alternate reality where you're both stuck in the friend zone, terrified to change it. And yet, everyone who spends longer than five minutes around you, always assumes that you are surely "a couple".
Daniel was dumbfounded at his mother's insights. "Uh, listen, Mom. I've got to go. I think Betty's coming out of the shower."
"Oh, I see. Well, I'm sorry, I stand corrected! It's about 's wonderful news, dear! Congratulations to both of you, Daniel."
"No, Mom. It's not like that. She...just let me sleep here while she was in the living room. Nothing happened. But..well, actually..."
"Let me guess, something ALMOST HAPPENED? Funny, dear, you corrected my mistake quickly enough, but let Marc and Amanda think you were with Betty? Marc and Amanda, the two biggest gossips at Mode. Very interesting, Daniel."
"I gotta go, Mom. I'll...uh, call you later and let you know about tomorrow."
"Goodbye, dear. I love you. Tell Betty I said thank you for taking care of my son."
"Okay. Me, too. Bye." he hung up quickly as Betty came back in, toweling off her hair.
Claire smiled as she hung up the phone, she looked at it, her eyes moist, "I hope you finally figure things out, dear. Both of you deserve to be happy."
Betty came and sat across from Daniel, on a chair, "Who was that? Did you already order the food?"
"Oh, yeah, I did that a while ago. It should be here in about fifteen minutes or so. That...was my mom. She invited me for Sunday brunch tomorrow. With her and the new kid on the block.
Sounds like loads of fun. I wonder if Amanda will be there, too. That should be a real riot a minute! Hey, do you want to come with me? Please?!"
"Daniel...I don't know. It sounds like you have some issues you need to work out with your mom and Tyler. You have to learn to deal with your own family."
"Yeah, but...what if she's there? I don't want to feel like last year's old shoes."
"Clever, Daniel. So, what am I supposed to do, come as your...assistant? Take notes? Or be your protector or something? No, thanks. You seemed to do alright in your little verbal repartee with Amanda earlier, and I'm sure you're able to hold your own against poor Tyler. I almost feel sorry for him, walking into a shooting match between you and your mother."
He scowled, "Why are you defending HIM, Betty? Conspiring with the enemy? You, of all people? I thought at least I could count on you as being on Team Daniel."
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not on team…anything! Daniel, I swear, you really do act like you're five years old sometimes. Suck it up! You're a grown man-ISH. Stop being such a baby!"
"I am not! You're five!"
"Very mature!"
He was clearly desperate, looking at her imploringly, pleading in his oh-so-dreamy blue eyes, "Look, all I'm asking is for you to come there as my friend, okay? My mom loves you. You'll keep us from verbally bashing each other so much and you can ogle Tyler, too, since he seems to be so irresistible to women, including you, apparently! I mean, what the hell is so great about that stupid cowboy, anyway, huh? Talk about feeling like chopped liver!"
"Oh my God, Daniel! Are you really that upset about him 'stealing' Amanda from you, or is this about no longer being your mom's little baby boy? It seems to me as if you're acting like the older brother who resents the hell out of the new baby brother."
"Enough with the Freud, Betty. Funny you should accuse me of being in love with my mom or whatever, when she just accused us of being in love with each other!"
"She...what?"