You Don't Know Me (As much as you think you do)
A/N: This is just a short story, perhaps brought on by too much Halloween candy (and listening to Ray Charles, Eddy Arnold, Michael Buble-and Demi, of course!) Hope you enjoy it!
watch?v=8NQanKhR5XA
"She won't do it, you know! I'm telling you. There is no way!" Marc fussed with his collar and twisted the curl in his hair to try to get it exactly right, but finally gave up in frustration, "She's too...scared, shy, whatever! It's not going to happen! I worked beside the woman for four years! Your aunt will NOT ask Daniel Meade out on a date! She's still pretending to be carrying some torch for Fartley or something, I guess!"
"Yeah, well, I'm telling YOU that I know AB a lot better than you THINK you do! And she's got sass now! She's so over Matt Hartley! I mean, first with him being so mean to her and pretending to work at Mode just to torture her for kissing Henry goodbye, then those hideous paintings of her, and finally running off to Africa to be some do-gooder without even properly ending it! Did he expect her to wait by the phone for him? Please!
She's smart! And she's definitely ready to move on. She even let me take her shopping last weekend! For decent clothes! Why not Daniel? You wanna tell me she can't see what's right in front of her? They've been besties all this time. He's free. She's FINALLY free! They're both available...at the same time. And their chemistry is off the charts! You can cut the sexual tension between those two with a knife! That's WHY you call them lovahs! It's their time.
Hilda overheard their conversation, "Excuse me, mister know-it-all! I think I know my own sister better than either one of you two! I was there when she was born, for God's sake! Justin, baby, I love you, but I have to go with Marc on this one. There is no way in hell your aunt is ever going to ask her boss out on a date! She's way too much of a goody-two-shoes! She'd have a nose bleed or something if she ever did anything "wrong"! My little sister plays it safe. Period. Daniel may be a lot tamer than he used to be when she first met him, but he is still a "bad boy". And Betty likes "nice guys".
"Nice guys like Henry? The one who knocked up his ex?"
"MARC! Please! There are children present!"
"Children? Where? Oh, you mean ME? Mom! Come on! I'm sixteen! I'm hardly a child!"
She rolled her eyes, as she started to mess up his hair, but he covered it quickly with his hand, "MOM! Stop! Don't touch!"
"Sorry! Excuse me! You've just got that one little stray piece that is sticking up again."
He panicked slightly, glancing in the hall mirror, "Well, fix it, please!"
Hilda rushed back to her salon in the back of the house and came back out almost immediately with a pair of scissors to trim her son's errant hair, then handed him a hand mirror, "There you go!"
"Thanks, Mom!"
Marc rolled his eyes, watching the two wistfully, "Listen to your mother, Justin. She's a very smart woman."
"You're only saying that because she agreed with you! Plus, you're scared of her! You're both wrong, though. I'm telling you. DETTY WILL happen! Sooner or later. It has to. They're soulmates! Perfect for each other. They just haven't figured it out yet."
"Hey, youngling, first of all, fine, you're right about one thing. Your mother does scare me a little! Okay, maybe a lot! But you're talking to the OG here. I was calling them out for being 'lovahs' ages ago! But I got tired of waiting for Santa to come when I was a kid. Tired of waiting for my mother to accept me for who I am my whole life. Tired of waiting for Daniel to stop being an idiot when it comes to admitting his feelings for your aunt! Even to himself!
And while it may or may not be true that your aunt is ordinarily not totally stupid at her job, she IS...as much of an idiot as he is when it comes to her "love life"! Those two are both too slow-witted when it comes to admitting their own feelings to ever get together! Maybe she should face the fact that she is going to be a cat lady! Just like her two or three hundred cat-loving weirdos that follow her silly blog!"
"Marc, first of all, you know very well, she has over five thousand subscribers now! Plus I happen to know you follow Betty's blog! AND you secretly love cats! Even if you pretend not to just to piss your mom off!"
"Hey, Betty! Thanks so much for this! I can't believe my mom roped you into this! You know you don't have to fill in for Amanda. I appreciate it, but you have your own job!"
She smiled, handing him a small medicine cup, then gesturing to the pile of mail on her old desk and picking up a piece, and opening it with a flourish, "It's fine, Daniel! I can still do my job from here. Try this stuff. They say it's great for your immune system."
He glanced at the liquid warily, then slugged it down like a shot glass, making a face, "Yuck! That tastes like dirty feet! What is that stuff? Does it really work?"
She giggled, and shrugged, "I have no idea! I never tried it!"
He rolled his eyes, and shoved her arm playfully, "What? Thanks a lot! What the hell did you give me?"
"It's good for you! How do you know what feet taste like? Never mind! Anyway...speaking of what a good friend I am…"
"Where we?"
"We are now."
"Okay." He laughed, thinking how much he missed this. Seeing Betty and talking to her every day was something he had taken for granted when she was his assistant. And now...well, now he found himself coming up with insanely idiotic ways to see her, or at least talk to her. He didn't think he had gone an entire day without reaching out to her in some form or another.
Even if it was only a quick text or call. He often went out of his way to use the men's room closest to the Feature's department, on the off chance that he would at least catch a glimpse of her or perhaps run into her. And their Wednesday lunches had expanded to Tuesday nights frequently stopping by the Suarez's for Tamale Night.
She winced, "Um...are you busy...on the twenty-first? It's a Saturday."
He thought a minute, "The twenty-first? Wait, I think I got an invitation to something on that date. Didn't I? I thought that was Hilda's wedding?" He started looking through the mail on the desk, making a mess, but she pushed his hand away and slapped it lightly, then quickly re-organized her piles of envelopes, and started sorting through them again.
She looked down, seeming obviously extremely embarrassed, "Yeah, it is. I thought, you know, if you're not busy, I was wondering if you would...come WITH me, maybe?"
"As your...date?" his smile spread.
She looked down, blushing furiously, "Sort of. I mean, it's fine, you're probably already doing something. With that TRISTA! Never mind."
He grinned, thinking how utterly adorable she was at this moment, "Why do you hate Trista so much?"
"I don't!"
"Well, you made your face that says you do! I thought you said she was nice?"
"She is! She just...sort of makes you seem...dumb!"
"WHAT?" he lowered his voice again. "I don't see that!"
"It's fine! Just forget it!" She stood up and headed towards the elevator.
Daniel followed her and put his hand up, cornering her against the wall, "Where the hell are you going? You're just...leaving? You didn't even give me a chance to answer you, Betty! I'd love to go to your sister's wedding with you, okay? I'd be honored! I mean, if you think you want to dance with such a dumb guy!" he smiled that crazy grin he had that she both loved and hated.
She rolled her eyes at him and bit her bottom lip, trying to remind herself to breathe again. She had done it! She had actually asked Daniel out on a date! A wedding, in fact! This was insane! She felt like she might seriously pass out. Especially since he had moved so close to her. He moved even closer, and took off her glasses, then cleaned them for her with his tie, and started to put them back on her.
He answered her questioning look by softly explaining, as he stared into her eyes, "You had a...little bit of dust on your lenses." His face lit up as he touched the side of her temples, "There you go. Beautiful!"
She blushed again, and this time, so did Daniel. They both stood there, staring at one another like a couple of teenagers with a crush, neither willing to move, until he whispered softly, "Where are you running off to, anyway?"
"I...um...forgot something at my desk! I'll be right back."
"Oh! It seemed like you were trying to get away from me because you were mad or something."
She looked down, scrunching up her face, and nodded, "Or something. I wasn't mad! Just...embarrassed!"
He moved her hair behind her shoulders and grinned, "Betty! After all the things we've been through together all these years? You don't ever have to be embarrassed with me!"
"Okay." She let out a breath, just as the elevator doors swished open and Marc came rushing through with Amanda, almost running into Daniel and Betty, "Watch out! OHGOODLORDINHEAVEN! It's the freaking apocalypse Now! Justin put you up to this, didn't he, Chimichanga? Be honest! I hope he knows I'm not paying a nickel if he cheated on our bet!"
Daniel helped Betty up and moved her inside the elevator, following her, and giving Amanda and Marc both dirty looks, "What the hell is wrong with you, Marc? Watch where you're going, will you? And Amanda? What are you even doing here? I thought you quit?"
"I came to get my Betty pic! I left in such a hurry I forgot it! I can't sleep without my Betty pic! Oh, hey, Betty!" Amanda quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Betty and Daniel, then turned to Marc as the doors closed, "Ooh, now it's a Daniel and Betty pic! Byee!"
As soon as the doors closed, Marc shook his head, and stared at his friend in puzzlement for a moment, "What are you doing? Oh, wait, send that to me, will you? I'm going to call Justin and yell at him for interfering with the natural course of...well, nothing! I guess it is really a good thing! But he HAD to have pushed her into that!"
"Into what?" She was staring at the picture she had taken, then showed it to Marc before she forwarded it to him.
He held up his phone and gestured, "Into THAT! They were practically kissing when we got here! I can smell the heterosexual heat! Disgusting!"
Betty shook her head, "What the heck was she talking about? Her "Betty pic"? I swear, half the time, I had no idea what that girl was trying to say! I mean, she lived with me, right? For almost a year!"
"I know, right?" He unconsciously reached inside his jacket to the pocket where he had stashed the picture of Betty he had found inside Amanda's drawer after she left three nights ago. He couldn't really explain taking it out and keeping it, but he wasn't going to leave it there for some temp to throw away. It was of Betty! No matter where she worked, Betty would always be his girl.
Sometimes he hated how well Betty knew him. She could always read him like a book. And she instinctively knew when he was trying to hide something from her. She put her hand on her hip and glared at him for a moment, "What's going on with you? What are you up to?"
"Nothing! I...well, I just was wondering how bad of a dancer I'm going to be at your sister's wedding, that's all! I'd hate to embarrass you or step on your feet!"
"You and I danced before. You weren't that bad."
"We did? Oh! Oh, right! Yeah, we did, didn't we?" he remembered dancing briefly with her at his own wedding to Molly that Betty herself had put together at the last minute.
She placed her hand on his arm, "Are you sure it's not...too soon? I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking!"
He shook his head, "No! It's been almost a year, Betty. I'm fine! No more temper tantrums, no more cults! I promise!"
She laughed lightly, "Well, that's good to know! I suppose I could finish those Salsa lessons I started to give you over the phone! IF you think you're up to it!"
He grinned, "I suppose I could throw you around the dance floor sometime! Sure, I'd love to!"
They somewhat awkwardly started talking about things going on at Mode, and after Daniel left to use the restroom while Betty pretended to get something out of her desk, they both went their separate ways for a short while.
Betty called her sister with the good news, "Hey, Hilda? Guess what? I just asked Daniel to come with me to your wedding. And he said yes!" She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice.
"Great! Oh, wait, REALLY? You actually did it? Oh, shit!"
"Yes, I did it! Why do you sound so shocked? And what are you cussing about? You really need to stop listening to Amanda about diets, Hilda! You've gotten mean since you started taking those diet pills she gave you and practically stopped eating! You still have three more weeks till your wedding, you know. You HAVE to eat something!"
"I do! I had a grapefruit and some coffee for breakfast already. Oh, and some toast."
"You hate grapefruit! And toast! Unless it has butter and jelly."
"Whatever! Hey, at least the coffee was good! Well, it was black. No cream, diet sugar. So...not as good as usual. But three weeks is going to fly by, trust me! This diet has me eating three eggs and some tomatoes. And then…"
"Wait a minute! What are you lying about?"
"I'm not lying! That's what my diet is! I started to tell you…"
"Yes, exactly, Hilda. You started to give me a bunch of unnecessary details about some diet you're on, like your specific menu. You and I both know that's your tell that you're lying! So spill! What's up?"
"Oh, shut up! You don't know me as much as you think you do, Miss Smarty Pants! If you must know, I made a bet that I just lost if you actually asked Daniel to my wedding. Marc and I bet against Justin that you wouldn't have the guts to do it!"
"Marc, huh? Okay, that makes sense! But why didn't you trust that I would do it? I told you I would."
"Because...it's Daniel! You have so much confidence in your professional life, honey. And even with other guys, you've gotten a lot more self-confidence and assurance. Especially since you got your braces off. And that's great! But with Daniel...it's like you've suddenly become a shy little wallflower again! You get all giggly and blushy around him! Yes, you're fine as long as you're just goofing around, being "old buddy old pal" with the guy, but sometimes, whenever anybody teases you two for hanging around so much together that it's like you're dating, you totally clam up!
Honestly, so does he! Definitely ever since you came home from that night from the Guggenheim with your braces off. I mean, considering the man used to be a total player, it's sort of cute how he seems to get almost shy when he's around you lately. Listen, sweetie. I know you THINK this is how you're life is supposed to be. And you've sort of put yourself in this little box you think everybody expects you to be inside. But I'm telling you, you have SO much to look forward to! You just have to see yourself the way the rest of us do! The way Daniel sees you. You might be surprised. I swear to God! Just...think about it!"
Betty listened to her sister quietly, wondering if anybody in her family or circle of friends thought she had the "guts" to ask out a man like Daniel. Did everyone think she was such a wimp? Apparently so! It didn't matter. She'd show everybody! She blurted out, "I told him I'd finish teaching him how to Salsa!"
"You did? Get the freak out of here!"