"I really appreciate your help." Daniel told Justin.
They were sitting at a coffee shop in midtown.
"Just don't forget me, when you clean out the Mode closet."
"Don't worry, you'll be top of the list." Daniel said
" OK, first tell me what did you have planed?"
"Dinner st STK, dessert at Payard, and a private booth at Plumm."
"How can someone so rich, be so clueless. Don't get me wrong, I love it. If you were taking me out, or even Amanda, you'd have it right. But come on, Aunt Betty isn't into the trendy high end stuff. Your so lucky I read her diary earlier this week, when I visited her."
"You read her Diary, isn't that kinda messed up? Was I in it did she mention me?" He sounded like a teenager.
"I'm not gonna tell you what was in there, that would be wrong. However, she did write about wanting to do some things, but not having the time. So here is what your gonna do. "You gonna take her to dinner at Esca, she's been dying to go there."
"Esca? In hells kitchen? Really?" Daniel asked
"Yes, that's the only one isn't it. It's not STK, but its pretty posh, for her usual taste. After dinner, take her to see the Frick collection, they close at 8. Use your star power and have them open especially for you. There is some sexuality through out the years exhibit. Yuck, don't even want to know why, she wants to see that. The rest of the night is up to you." Justin was excited for Daniel, he really hoped he could make his aunt realize she loved him.
"What if for after I hire a yacht to take us around Manhattan, I know Betty loves the skyline at night. Oh, I'll even have Payard cater dessert." Daniel felt like it was coming together, his mind was finally rolling.
"Oh my god, she'll love it, I love it, its great. OK, now you need to tell her to get a new outfit for Saturday." Just said seriously
"I'm not gonna tell her that, she always looks great. I don't want her to change, you should have seen her today though. You would have been proud, she looked so different."
"Why, what did she do, who did she wear?" Just asked
"She didn't do anything, but she was wearing this strapless purple top, that was cut way too low, a tight black skirt and a black cardigan. She was almost naked, I don't know why she bought that top. She did look good though. Sorry, I forgot, she's your aunt. This isn't weird for you is it?" He was concerned, he didn't want to over step his bounds.
"I bought her that top, she finally wore it. Oh she is so getting a new dress for Saturday, don't even tell her anything. I'm going over to her place right now, stores are open till 9, I have 2 hours. Good luck Daniel." Justin ran out, planning his extreme make over Betty edition.
Well at least Daniel didn't have to worry about Becks and Betty tonight.
Justin pounded on Betty's door.
"Aunt Betty , its me, open up."
Betty swung the door open "Justin, what are you doing here?"
"We are going shopping, now!" Justin walked in went straight to her room, pulled out jeans and top. "Now get dressed and be quick."
Betty was so shocked she just did as she was told.
"Why are we going shopping? Did something happen? What aren't you telling me?"
"Well... I know you wore the outfit I bought you today, it was a hit. So we are going to get you something new to wear. Come on don't give me that look, you'll enjoy it. Plus wouldn't you like to spend some time with me?" He knew how to get what he wanted, right now he knew she felt guilty.
"OK, lets go. I would love to spend time with you, your mom knows your here right."
"Oh yeah, of course. Shes with Bobby tonight."
"Hey, how did you know what I wore today?" She was getting suspicious.
"I saw it." He said totally unfazed.
Frustrated she asked "How did you see it?"
"Online. You know Betty's daily disaster's." Betty looked at him with her mouth open.
"You knew about that? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"You didn't know? Marc has been running it for four years. I'm sorry, I just figured you knew."
"It OK, I guess the outfit today was hit. Everyone was surprised, even Marc. The only person that didn't like it was Daniel, he said I looked naked. Sometimes I feel like... he thinks im 12. So where are we off to?"
He doesn't think your twelve, he just wants you bad, he thought to himself.
"Anthropologie, in Soho, of course. Don't worry I'll keep it Betty with a big side of Justin." He grinned at her
They got to the store one hour before they were closing. Justin started looking around, he felt a bit frantic. They were low on dresses, and what they had, was for spring. He ran to the back to take a quick look at the sale items. Looking through the racks he found two perfect dresses He scanned the store for Betty, she was looking at the shoes.
"Aunt Betty, I found it, come on." Betty made her way to him.
He walked to her to the dressing room.
"the dresses are in the dressing room, I want to see them on, both of them."
"Justin, I don't think you can be in here. This is a ladies fitting room."
"It's OK, I told him he could stay, there isn't anyone else here." The fitting room attendant said.
Betty went into the fitting room and gasped when she saw the dresses.
"Are you crazy?" she yelled "Those will never fit me."
"Try them on, they are both your size. Now stop arguing, or ill find a hundred things for you to try."
Betty gave up, she figured she'd be proven right, when they don't zip up. She started with the worse one. It was a silky dress, filled with ruching & pleats at the bust, it had stripes galore. It was purple with navy stripes, the bodice was strapless and had some boning, the stripes ran vertical on the top. The skirt was fitted, but it had a slit in the back so it was easy to move in, the stripes ran horizontally on the skirt. When Betty was about to zip it up, she was sure it wouldn't close, to her surprise it zipped right up. She looked in the mirror and surprisingly enough, she liked what she saw. She thought it was a bit revealing but it looked good and color complimented her. She walked out to show Justin.
"Oh my god! That's it! Don't even bother with the other one. Aunt Betty you look so fab and sexy." Justin was so excited, he couldn't wait for Daniel to see her.
"Oh shoes, let hurry up. There is a shoe store a few doors down." Justin pushed her back into the dressing room. Waited for her to hand him the dress and ran to the register, to speed up the process. Betty came shortly after, paid and they walked out to the next store. At the shoe store, they found a pair of dark smokey gray, metallic, pointed pumps, that had about a 4 inch heel. They bought them and left.
"Well, thank you, I actually needed that." Betty said.
"Oh, I know you did. You need so much more, but we'll take it a day at a time."
"I meant the retail therapy, not the shoes, but the dress is great."
"Now we'll just go back home so mom can cut your hair." he said casually.
"Justin, for the last time, I'm not cutting my hair."
"Well, what about the wad of gum stuck in it?"
"What wad-" Justin quickly took his gum out and stuck it toward the bottom of her hair.
"Justin! How could you, shit, its not coming out."
"I'll get a cab to take us to queens."
Justin called his mom on the way, told her Betty was cutting her hair. Hilda screamed from excitement on the other end and agreed to meet them there.
"Oh my god, Betty. How the hell did you get all this gum in your hair?" Hilda was trying to untangle the gum.
"Justin, wanted me to cut my hair so bad, he stuck gum in it."
"What! Justin your in big trouble." she yelled "Smart move though, you do need a cut, badly. Relax I'm gonna leave the length, but I have to layer it, to get all the gum out. At least he knew where to stick the gum. I can still give you a great cut."
She spent the next hour cutting, washing and blowing out her hair.
"Wow, Hilda your so good. I really like it." she said to her through the mirror.
"your welcome, in the future if you listened to me I won't have to be so drastic." Justin said from behind her.
"Justin, go watch TV." Hilda waited till Justin left.
"I've been wanting to talk to you since you and Daniel came for dinner. What is going on with you guys, huh? You were all tense and he was all googly eyes over you. Now dish, or your paying for your haircut."
"Fine, but you better not say anything. Daniel and I kissed the other night."
"What? You kissed him? Was it good?" Hilda asked
"Hilda, it was an accident, we're just friends."
"An accident, OK, I can see that. Was there tongue?"
"I'm not going there." Betty didn't want to remember that night. She couldn't stop thinking about it as it was.
"OK, it'll be $75 plus tip."
"Yes, there was tongue, happy now."
"I knew he wanted you, so are you guys dating?"
"No, of course not. We're going out tomorrow night, but its not a date."
"Right. OK." Hilda knew it was a date, at least for Daniel. He wanted Betty, that was pretty obvious.
Saturday flew by, before Betty knew it, it was time to get ready. She wore the dress and heels Justin picked out. Her hair was straight and layered around her face, she decided against makeup and just applied mascara and lip gloss. She looked at herself and she liked what she saw. She was going to freeze, Justin told her, in no way was she to wear tights. Instead he told her to wear her ankle length coat. Betty was putting her items into her clutch, when she heard a knock at her door, nervously she answered it.
"Betty? Wow... you look... wow. You look amazing." He stared at her, wide eyed.
"Thanks." Betty was blushing, she threw on her coat and they walked out.
"Daniel, I've been dying to try this restaurant." she exclaimed
"Really? Wow, so have I." He tried not to feel bad about lying.
They enjoyed dinner, the food was excellent. Not once, did Becks come up in conversation. While they waited for the bill, Daniel noticed the two men in the next table staring at Betty.
"Hey, do you know those guys?" He asked inclining his head towards them.
"No, why?" She looked over again and they waved at her. Betty started to feel uncomfortable.
Daniel was getting pissed, he was ready to leave. He couldn't believe those guy were flirting with her, with him there. While he was signing the receipt one of the men came to the table.
"Excuse me, I'm so sorry to interrupt but are you Betty?" The man asked, he seemed to be Italian in his late thirties.
"Yes, I'm sorry, have we met?" She looked over at Daniel, he was giving the man and evil look.
"No, but I've seen you. Many time actually, your hanging in my brothers apartment. I wasn't sure at first if it was you, but now I'm sure."
Betty had a look of both surprise and guilt. Daniel finally decided to speak up.
"Excuse me, whose your brother? And what do you mean hanging in his apartment?"
"My brother is Vincent Bianci, and he has a photo of her. Its very beautiful and serene. I've offered to buy it but he wont sell, he said you have the negative and the only other print."
Daniel look over at Betty, he didn't like where this was going. What kind of photo had she taken and why did she agree to it?
"Well we must be going, give Vincent our best, tell him Meade says hi."
The man shook their hands and went back to his table.
Once in the car, Daniel couldn't hold it in anymore, he had to know.
"What kinda of photo did you take?" He tried to keep his voice steady but he was getting angry.
"Oh, its black and white." Please don't make me got there, she knew he was already mad.
"Betty, what kind of photo? Was it a naked picture? Did you know he was hanging it in his house for everyone to see?" He was at the point of yelling.
"It's not a nude shot, relax. I had underwear on, and the shot was taken of me looking back. So all you see is part of my face and my back. Not a big deal."
"But why did you take it? Did he make you do it? Is that why he was willing to work with Mode?" Daniel was thinking all sorts of things, the more his mind conjured up the more he felt like killing Vincent.
"I wanted to do it, he was doing a series on beauty, he had all types of different woman and he was showing them at their most natural state. Most of the women did more provocative shots, but I just wanted something simple that I wouldn't regret later. When I saw the photo, I loved it, but I didn't want the world to see it. It was to personal, so he agreed to give me the negatives as long as he could keep one photo for himself. He said it was his favorite shot, so I agreed."
Daniel thought for a minute, he should have known Betty wouldn't take a nude photo. Anything she did would be tasteful. He really wanted to see it but he knew, she'd freak out if he asked her now.
They arrived at the Frick Museum, Daniel smiled at Betty's shocked face.
"What are we doing here?"
"Well I wanted to see the new exhibit, but if you don't want to..."
"No, I mean yes, I want to see it. But the museum is closed now, they close at 8."
"Not tonight, I don't like crowds so I asked them to open it up for an hour, for me, for us."
"Daniel, that's so sweet." She gave him a hug.
"I've been dying to come here, but I never make it in time."
They made it through most of the museum by the time hey had to leave. Daniel told Betty he had one last thing in store for her. She was having such a good time, but she couldn't help but think of how romantic everything has been. When they were walking, Daniel had his arm around her. She tried to ignore it, but those feelings from the other night, when they kissed resurfaced. All of a sudden she was warm, she felt her face flush, goosebumps were evident on her arms. By the time they got to the last stop, it was almost midnight.
"Why are we at the dock?" She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she couldn't figure out why they were there.
"Oh, I thought we'd take a boat ride. Come on, lets get going." they made their way to a big white yacht, this was a boat? Well maybe to Daniel Meade.
There was a small table filled with different desserts.
"Well, I thought we'd enjoy some dessert, while we watch the skyline."
The boat started to move as they sat down, Daniel handed Betty a fork and told her to dig in.
"Daniel, this is a lot of dessert, and you don't eat sweets."
"Well, I'll try a piece or two. Eat a bite of each and leave the rest if you want. I don't expect you to eat it all, I just wanted to be sure I got something you like."
"Your the best. I cant believe it, but im hot." Betty took off her coat.
"Me too, I had them put heaters around the table so we wouldn't freeze."
"Daniel, everything was wonderful. I don't think, anyone has done something so nice for me. And we did things, I've been dying to do. Your the best, thank you."
Daniel felt so guilty, this wasn't his doing, other than the boat ride; it was all Justin. He didn't know what to do, he wanted her to see him as more than a friend. But he didn't want to pretend he was someone he's not.
"Betty, there's something I need to say." She could tell by his voice something serious was coming.
"I've had the best time tonight, truth is I always do when I'm with you. But I cant take credit for tonight, Justin helped me. I wanted to do something special, so I called him. He happened to know that you wanted to eat at Esca, and you wanted to see the Frick collection. The boat ride and desserts, were my idea. I guess... I just wanted to see, if perhaps, you could ever see us as more."
"Daniel, it doesn't matter that Justin helped you. Although that does explain why he wanted me to buy this dress and cut my hair." she laughed "You still went through the trouble of finding out, and I've had an amazing night. Can I ever see us an more? I don't know, when we kissed, I felt something. Then I saw you with Amanda, and I was hurt and confused. I know I can trust you, your my best friend. However, I don't know if that trust transfers over for a relationship. Do I think you'll ever purposely hurt me, no. But I'm not sure, that you wont take comfort in someone else when things get tough."
"Betty, I would never do that to you. That night with Amanda, regardless of what you saw, I wasn't gonna go through with it. I kept thinking of you, I didn't want to disappoint you, but I did, and I've never been more sorry about anything." He hoped she'd give him a chance.
"Daniel, I'm willing to get to know you, in a different way. But it would have to move slow. I don't want to lose my best friend. I mean, if I'm dating you, who will I talk to about you? Your the one I talk to, I guess I could talk to Becks." She smiled.
"OK, what exactly is going on with you and Becks? I need to know, do you like him? Are you dating him?"
"I do like him, as a friend. Don't get me wrong, the more time we spend together, the more he grows on me. I could really like him, but we're just friends. And I'm sure it wont be a big deal to him, if we're never more than that."
Daniel appreciated her honesty and at the same time was jealous.
"Will you stop seeing him?" he asked.
"Probably not, I already started to get to know him. I cant just ignore him now, its not who I am, you know that. I'm willing to try this, Daniel, but Becks and I remain friends, just friends." Daniel nodded, he knew better than to demand anything.
"Well, can I at least come to lunch with you guys? Not all the time, but every now and then." Or always he added, he didn't want them alone. He knew Becks wouldn't give up easily, he still had to get rid of him.
"Yeah, it would be nice. You guys can rekindle your relationship." She laughed
The boat docked , Betty and Daniel got back into the waiting town car. He remembered what Amanda said, make a move. She wanted to move slow, but he wanted her to forget Becks, completely.
"Hey, want to come back to my place? Have a glass of wine, watch TV. I'm not ready for the night to be over." He asked
She thought about it, she didn't want to rush anything. At the same time, she'd been feeling very frustrated lately.
"Sure." For once she wasn't going to think things through so much. If it happens, it happens. He may not even try to kiss her, he hasn't so far. She kinda wished he'd be more like the old playboy with her right now. She knew he felt he had to try to be perfect, but she was a big girl. She suddenly couldn't wait to get to his place, maybe it was time she be more forward. She smiled at him, he had no idea what was coming.