Never Too Late for Love/CH 2
"You're…actually…here! Wow! Betty! Um…oh, yeah, hi, yourself! Sorry! I guess you just took my breath awa…I mean…you know, you really took me by surprise, girl. Here, have a seat!" he pulled out a chair and sat next to her, clearly still in shock, as he continued to stare at her, smiling.
She blushed, looking down, trying to get the courage to actually look into his eyes directly. The man himself and those intense blue eyes of his, were seriously making her pulse race. She started to get up, grabbing Claire's scarf, "Oh, I really should take this to your mom! She said she was cold!"
He took a deep breath, glaring up at Claire, as he ran after Betty, "Okay, Mom! You win!" he mumbled under his breath.
Betty was already up and out of her seat, rushing towards the Courtyard. But Daniel had the advantage of longer legs, and he placed his hand on her arm, pulling her around the corner and away from the crowd around the guest of honor. as he leaned forward after a quick nod of his head, for her to see his mother talking animatedly with several people, appearing quite comfortable,
"Betty, don't worry about that, okay? I'm telling you, we've both been set up by the best. Claire Meade, matchmaker extraordinaire, trust me. My mother is doing her best imitation of a Jewish Yenta! She doesn't really need that! Besides, look at it! That thing is so flimsy it wouldn't make a bit of difference! Anyway, it's July in New York! Are you cold?"
"Well, no, but…" she watched as Claire glanced down toward her and Daniel and blew them a kiss, winking, then turned back toward her conversations, laughing. Betty smiled, and turned her attention toward Claire's son, pulling him towards a gazebo, "Okay, I think you're right. Not that we wouldn't have run into each other anyway!"
He shrugged, smirking, "I know. She really likes to think she has some control, that's all. I've learned to just…roll with it usually. And pretend like she's always right. You know how mothers like being able to say I told you so! Sorry, Betty!"
Betty smiled rather sadly, knowing that he felt bad for reminding her that she had lost her own mother, "It's okay, Daniel! Claire has always been like a second mom to me! I appreciate you sharing her with me! And I definitely never mind her 'butting into' my life! She's been such a comfort to me. I love her! I'm so happy she's finally going to retire and get to travel with Tom! She deserves it!"
"Yeah. I agree. Of course I love her, too! And well, Tom is…not perfect, but…He's a really good guy. My mother definitely deserves to be able to kick her feet up and cruise around the world.
Oh, hey, have you seen DJ yet? He's here! The kid is six feet two! You won't recognize him. Well, he's not a kid anymore. And he just finished his MBA. Alexis and I are going to give him some on the job training. I can't believe he's such a grownup now! I haven't seen him in almost a year! But you, you probably haven't seen him since he shot silly string in your eyes while you were on that motorcycle!"
She finally looked into his eyes, "I know. I did see him earlier, actually. I ran into him and your sister before I came into the hall and she reintroduced us. I think….we need to talk, Daniel. About us. Don't you? Isn't it about time we stopped…I don't know, running away from each other?"
"Is that what we've been doing all this time?"
He avoided her gaze until she put her hand on his chin, forcing him to face her, "Yes! What would you call it, Daniel? You got your feelings hurt back in London. So you ran off with your tail between your legs to Paris, then started dating that stupid little French girl, and moved in with her after two weeks, just like you always do! And then I met Niall, and we were together for four years…"
He leaned back, and rolled his eyes, "You think you hurt my feelings? Please! Just because you were too busy for me with your new job? I understood that about you. I accepted it. I didn't push anything with us. I even offered to help, remember? But you're always too damn stubborn to ever ask for or accept anybody's help, Bossy Betty!
Don't even get me started with that STUPID British moron you were with, that…four year booty call! I'm not going to dignify what you called Monique! Sounds like jealousy to me. She wasn't French, anyway! She was from Brussels. I mean, okay, I admit, she was a big mistake.
Maybe I was slightly upset about you when I met her and rushed into a relationship. And yes, I know she was a little young. To be honest, she sort of reminded me of you back at Mode when we first met. But at least she got me to Belgium."
"You sound a little jealous of Niall, too!"
"I was a lot jealous of him! You pushed me away then the minute I left, you hooked up with that guy? He was a big jerk! He didn't deserve you! Just like all those other losers at Mode! Every time I turned around, you had another stupid boyfriend! Don't I have the right to try and protect you from idiots who are just going to break your heart?"
"Daniel, don't start that again!"
He realized he was raising his voice and calmed himself down, putting his arm around her and talking more softly, "I mean…I guess not, since we're not even friends anymore. You put me so far into the friend zone to keep me from doing to you what you saw me doing with all those other girls back at Mode.
Then, when I finally took my shot and noticed what was going on with us, you got scared and ran away from me! Across an ocean! I not only crossed the East river in January, I crossed the Atlantic for you, Betty, then I poured out my heart for the whole world to see in Mode's final letter. I was in love with you!"
"I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean to hurt you! But I was really freaked out at first at Dunne. And the idea of you and me…scared me to death!"
"I know you were scared. I know I'm not the safest bet, either. I was a big player for a long time. You saw me treat all those women like crap. So you ran. Then you used your job to push me away when I followed you to London. But that damn guy? It was what, a month when you started up with him? And you moved in with him a month later."
"As opposed to after two weeks with you and little Miss Belgian Waffle?"
He laughed, seeing how worked up she was getting, then put up his hands to signal time out, "Okay, okay! Truce! Fine, I will concede that I may have…run off from London when you rejected me, Betty. But only if you admit that you took off in the first place, partially because you were afraid of a relationship with me! I mean, after your sister's wedding…"
She blushed, "After Hilda's wedding, what?"
"I thought we were finally getting somewhere then, that's what! That things were just starting with us. Come on, don't pretend you didn't feel something too! We didn't dance with anybody else all night! But I know you always got all squirelly whenever I tried to flirt with you."
"When did you EVER flirt with me? I mean, unless you were drunk!"
"I flirted with you a lot! That's why I invited you over to "help me" with my picture for the anniversary issue the next weekend. I was going to ask you out! But I could tell you were acting nervous about something. I thought you were just shy. I realized later that was because you were too scared to tell me about London!"
"Yes, I was. I've apologized a dozen times about not telling you sooner that I was leaving, Daniel. I"m sorry! I just couldn't tell you. You gave me…"
"I gave you your start! Betty, don't you see, that crap doesn't matter. It's how we met, yes. But none of it defines us anymore! You're not that same little girl you were, wide-eyed and innocent, with your braces and interesting wardrobe and I'm hopefully not the same jerk you met either!
We're finally just us, Daniel and Betty, a man and woman. Who missed out on love because we were both in very different places when we worked together and became friends."
"I don't know, Daniel. Mode was a long time ago!"
"I know it was. But now…I realize how idiotic I've been all this time by not turning right back around and punching that British loser like I did Matt Hartley. Because just seeing you again and hearing you call me out on my shit like you always did at Mode, I mean I'm STILL in love with you…Betty, can we PLEASE finally put the past misunderstandings and hurt feelings aside and start over?"
She nodded, sniffing back a tear, as she held out her hand, "Of course, Daniel! Friends?"
He looked down at her hand and snorted, "FRIENDS? Still? Are you kidding me? Didn't you heard what I said?"
She sighed, and went to put up her hands to high five him, and he looked up, then chuckled, "NO! I'm sorry but that's not enough anymore. FUCK being just FRIENDS, Betty!" He intertwined his fingers with hers and brought them both down to her waist as he leaned forward and kissed her passionately.
After a few minutes, she somewhat reluctantly pulled away, looking around the room nervously, "Daniel! Not here! I mean…thank you! That was… um …intense! But we're in public!"
He grinned, obviously affected by their kiss, "Thank me? Okay, you're welcome, I guess. So? What's your point, Betty? You did my press releases back in the day, you TRIED to clean up my messes when I was…whatever they called me then. Bad boy, playboy, Bachelor-of-the -year."
"Wasn't it Manwhore?" she raised her eyebrows.
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah! Gotta love THAT one! Okay, sure I WAS all those things, but a little harmless PDA in the form of KISSING the love of my life who I let get away after all these years is pretty tame in comparison, wouldn't you say?"
She sniffed again, wiping at tears, and honestly, trying to remember her own name after that kiss, "I guess so. You really think of me that way, Daniel? That I was…I am the love of your life?"
He raised his eyebrows, teasigly, "That depends. How do you see me, Miss Suarez? AM I the 'one who got away' for you, too? I mean, I know you love my mom, but…well, you are here, finally! Does that mean something? How long are you staying? Or do I need to renew my passport and fuel up the Meade Jet?"
"Yes, Daniel. Of course I'm here for you, too! Claire asked me when she invited me how I felt about you after all these years."
"Leave it to my mom not to beat around the bush, huh? Actually, she's sort of like you in that respect. Can I ask what you told her?"
She bit her bottom lip and reached up on her toes, looking around, then smiled, as she brushed a strand of his hair out of his eyes, "I told her that I missed you, and that I wish I could rewind the past decade and tell you how much you mean to me. How much you've always meant to me, Daniel! I…oh, the hell with it!" She pulled him down by his lapels to kiss him.
He slid his arms around her back and sat them down on the bench inside the Gazebo, moaning as he continued to deepen the kiss, then touched her cheek softly, and began kissing her neck, "Umm…Betty. Where are you staying?"
She looked at him in surprise, "You think you're getting lucky tonight? Just like that?" she teased.
He grinned, trying his puppy dog eyes, "First of all, what the hell are you talking about, 'just like that'? What you mean after knowing you for SIXTEEN YEARS? Besides, do you honestly think we could do anything more to make my mom happy than for her to know we hooked up because of her meddling?"