A/N: Thank you for the reviews and to everyone who read this. I got some excellent title suggestions from MissCar and have decided to call the story "Just Friends?". Thank you for the title.
Disc: I don't own Ugly Betty…If I did Betty and Daniel would have gotten together by now.
Just Friends?
Chapter 3
Betty followed Daniel back out. He went by Amanda's desk. "Amanda, we need you in the conference room now." Betty was sending a text to Marc. Marc looked back into Wilhelmina's office where she was wrapped up with a phone call. He stood and made his way to the conference room. Where Betty was involved there was always entertainment. Soon Amanda and Marc were seated in the conference room. Betty was standing over by the door and Daniel was pacing up and down in front of them. He took a deep breath and turned to face them.
He cleared his throat. "Betty and I need to know what the two of you know...about last night." This elicited giggles from both Marc and Amanda. After a short game of rock, paper, scissors, Amanda cleared her throat and started.
"I saw you over by the bar drinking very heavily. You were whining something about Cruella. Then Betty staggered over to join your pity party…"
"Let me tell the next part," Marc begged. Amanda rolled her eyes.
"Fine."
"After drinking and slobbering all over each other for a while," Marc started, Betty's eyes widened, "you disappeared around the corner. Mandy and I followed you and the two of you were totally making out."
"Making out?" Daniel asked.
"If your tongue had been any more down her throat you would have been able to taste those empanadas she had for lunch," Amanda finished. Daniel wrinkled his nose.
"Then what happened?" he asked, warily. Amanda shrugged.
"You both got into a car and left. Who knows what happened to you after that." Amanda winked. Daniel looked back at Betty who shook her head.
He turned back to face Marc and Amanda. "Thank you both for your time. You can go." In a fit of giggles the two of them sped out of the conference room. Daniel and Betty faced each other. "So…" Daniel started.
"So…" Betty answered. Daniel laughed nervously.
"We got drunk and…some stuff happened. It was one night and it didn't mean anything right?" he asked somewhat desperately. Inexplicably Betty felt as though she had been slapped. With some effort she affixed a smile onto her face and nodded.
"Of course. It didn't mean anything."
"So we can move on and be friends right?"
"Absolutely. We're both adults. We really should be mature about this."
Daniel let out a sigh of relief. "That's exactly how I feel about it. Thank you Betty for being so cool."
Betty nodded. Daniel did his best to ignore the hurt that flitted through Betty's eyes. She turned on her heel and headed back for her desk. Daniel took a deep breath and passed Betty on the way back into his office. He sighed and laid his head down on his desk.
"I'd hate to interrupt your nap," his mother said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Mom…"
She settled herself on his couch. "Did you ever figure out what happened between you and Betty?" Daniel glanced back out to her desk.
"Oh, um, yeah. We had a little bit too much to drink and got a little carried away. It's in the past. We're fine now." Claire raised an eyebrow.
"You know Daniel, you're going to have to grow up sometime. You can't be a bachelor forever."
He looked at his mother quizzically. "Okay… Where did that come from?"
"All I'm saying is that I don't think that you're really looking honestly at all of your options." She shot a glance back out to Betty's desk before turning back to face her son. "I came in here to remind you that Meade Publications is having their annual meet and greet tomorrow night and I expect you to be there." Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but a severe look from Claire stopped the words before he could speak them. "Bring a date." His mother stood and patted his shoulder. "Don't give up on it Daniel." Before he could respond, she let herself out. Daniel looked back out to where Betty was sitting. He sighed again and ran his hand over his face. He hated the Meade meet and greet. In the past it had been nothing more than an excellent way for Wilhelmina to make him look like an ass. Reaching out he pulled his Rolodex to him and began thumbing through it. The last thing he really wanted to do was to bring a woman along while Wilhelmina humiliated him, but showing up alone seemed somehow worse.
He found the name of a woman he hadn't seen in a while and picked up his phone. "Betty can you get Andrea Costello on the phone?"
Betty looked up at him. "Sure thing." They hung up. He could see Betty thumbing through an identical version of his Rolodex until she found the number. His hand shot out, almost of its own volition. He picked up his phone a fraction of a second before Betty picked up hers.
"Betty, nevermind."
"Okay." She hung up. Daniel made a split decision and stood. He made his way out to stand in front of Betty's desk. Eventually she looked up. "Did you need something?" She smiled up at him and for a moment his breath caught. He ran a nervous hand through his hair.
"Um tomorrow night Meade Publications has this big party where magazine editors, models, photographers, and all sorts of other people get together to meet each other…"
"You need me to get you a date?" Daniel shook his head.
"No, I don't- I was wondering if you would like to go with me." Betty's head shot up, eyes wide.
"Really?"
"I just mean…Wilhelmina is going to be there and it's a sure thing that she's going to be trying to sabotage me and…I need you… You can protect me from being humiliated."
"Oh," Betty nodded, "sure, I can do that. When should I be ready?"
"The party is downstairs so if you just meet me in my office at 6:30 we can go down there together."
Betty smiled even wider. "Alright. Thank you." Daniel smiled back. He turned to head back toward his office. Half way there he stopped and turned back.
"Oh and Betty?"
"Yes Daniel?"
"Can you rent me a tuxedo?"
"Of course." He nodded again then stepped back into his office. Betty reached for the phone.
"Oh. My. God," Amanda's shrill voice rang out. Startled, Betty looked up to see Amanda approaching her desk.
"What?"
"Did Daniel just ask you to the annual Meade party?"
"Yes."
"As his date?"
"No, I mean…sort of." Amanda suddenly grabbed Betty's arm and yanked her up out of her chair. "Amanda! What are you doing?"
"I'm doing you a favor. You're welcome." Hauling Betty down the hallway with one hand she fished out her phone and texted Marc with the other. Marc. Help. Closet. Now.
Marc was waiting for them when they got to The Closet. Betty looked around and quickly blinked tears from her eyes. Being in here reminded her that Christina wasn't. She could really use her friend right now. As Amanda hauled Betty towards the racks of clothing she pulled herself together. She couldn't afford to fall apart when she might have to defend herself against the troublesome twosome.
"What's this about Amanda?" Marc asked with his hands on his hips.
"A fashion intervention. Daniel just asked Betty to go to the Meade party with him tomorrow." Marc's jaw dropped.
"Not like that," Marc said, indicating Betty's outfit.
"Well I was going to dress up," Betty defended. Amanda rested her head on Betty's shoulder.
"Of course you are. And we're going to help." With a glint in her eye Amanda steered Betty towards the many racks of clothes.
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Daniel laid his head down on his desk and shut his eyes. Why had he asked Betty? What had possessed him to walk out there to her desk and invite her to the party? Not that he minded spending time with Betty. She was his friend, sometimes his best friend (okay, very much his best friend). Inviting her to the party as his date threatened that close friendship they had built up over the years. He had already threatened that friendship by drinking too much and losing control around her. He was trying to put that behind them and what had he done? He had asked her out. No, a small voice in the back of his brain said. You're bringing Betty to form a more solid wall against the horror that is Wilhelmina. The voice was shouting this at him over and over, but a part of his mind couldn't stop seeing this as a date.
He took a deep breath and looked down at the pages spread out in front of him. He had to stop thinking about it. He had an issue of MODE to get out and he literally couldn't afford for this one to fail as miserably as the last one. He would worry about his Betty issues tomorrow.
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Amanda rested her head on Betty's shoulder and looked at her in the full length mirror in front of them. Betty was staring down at herself in something akin to shock. Marc and Amanda had actually managed to find something in The Closet that fit Betty.
"I never thought I'd be saying this, but Betty, you look hot," Amanda said.
"Daniel is going to flip out," Marc added, joining them in the mirror. Betty smiled a little wider. Christina had told her that fashion was "good for the soul" and seeing herself in this beautiful dress she believed it.
"What next?" she asked looking from one to another.
"Hair," they said in unison.
"Take that off," Amanda said. "We wouldn't want you to get food on it before the party." Betty rolled her eyes, but let the comment roll of off her. She had worked long enough with Amanda to expect that sort of comment. She couldn't wait for Daniel to see her all dressed up. She knew that Daniel was very often taken aback by her questionable fashion sense (not that he would ever say anything). He would be floored to see that she had actually tried. She changed back into her clothes and hung the dress back up. Carried on the high of finding a pretty dress she allowed Amanda and Marc to whisk her off to the stylist.
A/N: There it is. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter is the party. I'll try to update soon. I've got four other stories going and I'm going around with updating them. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I appreciate all your comments. :D