Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay posting this new chapter! But here you have it! :)
This is for the June B&B Community Challenge, the second part will be posted this Sunday!
Guys! Thank you so much for your comments! I really hope to know your thought about this new one!.
Enjoy :)
Tito's Pizza Friday Night, 19:00.
"I don't know, Hilda," said Betty, trying to smooth her clothes in front of one of the mirrors in the Tito's Pizza restrooms. "This is too much. I should go home."
Hilda, who was powdering her nose, gave her a harsh look. "Hey, mamita, don't even think about it. You need this and you know it!"
"Come on, I surely don't need this. I'm very happy with my life at the moment."
"What? Oh, no, you don't" A hand pushed Betty down onto one of the sofas in the adjoining lounge. "Betty! You aren't living your life! Since my wedding, I barely see you. You are always working, you are always tired and you are always with Daniel!"
"Yeah. OK, but that doesn't mean that you had to set me up on a blind date!"
Betty was upset—this was Hilda's craziness at its highest level. Two nights ago, after a date with Daniel, her sister turned up to surprise her at her apartment because she wanted a girls' night—"Mami, I missed you. Let's have pizza night!" What was she supposed to say? That at that moment Daniel was as naked as the day Claire brought him to the world, hiding under Betty's bed? Oh, God, that was a very long hour.
But what made her this mad was that, out of nowhere, Hilda thought that her baby sister needed to get laid! "Mami, when was the last time that you got it?" She had ask. God, if she only knew that at that precise moment, a man was under her bed.
It took her an entire hour to convince Hilda that she wasn't in need, and it still took Hilda just five minutes to convince Betty to go on a blind date set up by her.
Later, with Hilda out of her apartment and a clearly mad Daniel under her covers, Betty only said, "At least she isn't here anymore. Right?"
And now, in the ladies' room at the pizzeria, Betty and Hilda awaited the arrival of Bobby and Betty's blind date.
"Betty, Antonio is a great guy!" Hilda said. "Young, handsome, an athlete and, I have heard, very, very good for a one night stand!"
"But I don't need a one night stand, Hilda!"
"Yes, you do! Come on, look at you, all stressed out. Nope, tonight you are gonna get it. Even if I have to pay for it."
"Argh—you are impossible."
"Yeah, well, I just care for you, Betty," said Hilda, her tone shrill and annoying. "Let's go! Antonio should be already with Bobby!"
This was going to be a very, very long night.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Previous Thursday, 14:30.
"Did I thank you already for your help, man?"
"What?" Daniel heard Bobby's voice, dulled by the noise of working tools under his car. "Ah, yeah, of course, man. No problem. But with your car? Absolutely another story."
"What?" asked Daniel, seated on his BMW hood, beer in hand.
"This is a mess. Why didn't you take it to the repair shop?"
"Those bastards. I always feel like they try harder to destroy my car than fix it."
"Yeah. Damn rats. I know what you mean. But you did right! I'm the master of this place."
Daniel chuckled a little with his beer. He already knew about Bobby's reputation in Queens. Betty had been good enough to update him on all her family background. "Yeah, Betty already told me about your fame around here." He said in a casual tone "And besides, I felt like trying this time with the family, don't you think?"
Maybe this was too risky, he thought. What was he doing? After a few minutes of silence, Bobby said, "Just stories, man. Hey, pass me one of those beers. I'm dying under here."
"Dark or light?"
"Uff, don't tell anyone, but I like the light one more. Any cold ones in there?"
"Yep. So big Bobby has a soft side? I never would have guessed." This was fun, thought Daniel. Hanging like this with Bobby. It just felt right and comfortable. And, in some twisted way, it reminded him of his times with Alex when they were kids.
"Shut up! Like you don't like girly drinks." Well, apparently Betty had been good enough to update his information with her family, too.
"Yeah, I'll keep your secret if you keep mine." Daniel smiled at him.
Bobby took a sip of his beer. "What secret?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"So. Betty told me about her blind date." Daniel tried to maintain a relaxed tone.
"Oh, God. My damn wife," said Boby, a new beer in hand. "Don't get me wrong. I love Hilda, but that woman? When she gets something in her head, she can't stop it until it's done. And damn, yeah, I'm happy not to be her target this time."
This was interesting . . .
"What do you mean?" Daniel laughed.
"The Suarez women, that's what I mean. And after all these years hanging out with Betty, you should know better."
"Yeah. But a blind date?"
"Don't look at me, I'm just the one in charge to select a good man that can fulfill all the expectations." Bobby shivered.
"You're kidding!"
"No! With the Suarez sisters? Nothing but the best for Betty." There wasn't any argument for that.
"You are absolutely right. She needs the best," Whispered Daniel, playing with a screwdriver. "So, Who is this guy?"
"Toño!"
Daniel's face was incredulous, because a name like that was the most hilarious thing he had ever heard.
"You know! Antonio's nickname," said Bobby.
No change in Daniel's expression. "I'm sorry, but you have to admit that it's a very funny name."
"Yeah. It is. But he is anything but funny."
"Really..."
"Absolutely. 31 years old, my hight, dark eyes, athletic guy, hot body, karate teacher, and how about this for a Betty kind of guy? The man loves to read."
"Oh, I see." Daniel felt the blood cross his body. His stomach burned. "That's cool. But you think Betty will go for all that?"
"My chipmunk? Yeah, probably. I guess. I don't know."
"I just don't get it, man"
"Well, Hilda said that it's because Betty need some distractions from work. You should know, right? Since our wedding, you guys have being working even on weekends!"
Daniel didn't know what to say to that. Bobby was right—sort of. Since Hilda's wedding, they had been over each other's apartments almost constantly. Was Daniel complaining? No. Actually, he loved it and if it were up to him, they would already be an item. An official one. And if he thought about it, maybe Hilda was right. He and Betty could both use some vacation time with no family around. Nobody chasing them on weekends, nosing around in their business.
"Maybe Hilda is right," he said. "In a few weeks, my mom is going to have a photo shoot in the south of Chile—you ever heard of General Carrera Lake? Is one of the most amazing place in Latin America, where under the water you can find these amazing ancient marble cathedrals where you can actually get married there just one time a year, because only then the water is its lowest level, exposing the underground caves where you can go into."
"Wow, really! Isn't that the place with the giant glaciers?"
"Yep."
"Wow, You should totally do it. But wouldn't that be like work?"
Ok, thought Daniel, now or never.
"Yes, if you just look at the writing part. I know that Betty would love to write about this place. The ecological war and the fight of the people to maintain this natural landmark. Actually, the shoot is about that war, but with a fashion focus."
"Great, but it's still work."
"Well, it wouldn't be if I ordered the Meade jet two days early and scheduled our return for two days later." For Daniel, it would be so easy to let his imagination fly. Betty and him, alone there with nobody else and not a care in the world. "She could take those four days as vacation time."
"That would be amazing for her! Yeah! Daniel, do it! I know my chipmunk would love it."
"I know, right? I'm even thinking about hiring a massage therapist for us."
"For us? Wha . . .?"
Perhaps Daniel could have made his intentions even clearer, but Bobby's silence and his "oh, shit" expression made it clear that, yes, Bobby had caught on.
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Tito's Pizza Friday Night, 20:00.
"So Toño, Boby told me that you are pretty popular with your Karate lesson" Said Hilda, pouring more wine in Toño's glass.
For the past twenty minutes Hilda had been more flirting with Betty's blind date than focussing in her own husband. Not that Betty would cared about this, but wasn't this date more for her than for her sister?
Toño was definitly a terrific guy, tall and amazingly dip dark-eyes. Dressed casually in a sport black shirt with matching jeans that -yeah Betty must accept, fitted very well with his butt. His black hair was not too short but neither too long letting him to put some of it behind his ears.
And with just one look Betty knew that, if it wasn't for Daniel, she wouldn't have problem to follow her sister blind date charade. The issue here was that even remembering -she was with Daniel, she couldn't avoid to fall -just a little bit, in toño's charm.
With his perfect smile and glancing at her Toño said. "Well I try to do my best with that, I love karate and my students helps me a lot."
"Sinces when you give karate lessons?" Betty asked.
"I started at 18 to make some money. You know how is it at that age. I wanted to buy a car, to travel, get independent and hang out with the buddies. And for that I needed funds." He patted Boby's arm. "But four years ago I started to teach it free for kids in the neighborhood. I want them to stay out of trouble."
Yep, she thought. All a charming guy.
"That's very thoughtfull of you." He focussed on her.
"You think? Well maybe that's because me and boby were one of those kids." Toño gave Boby's a malicious glance. "My friend here doesn't have his reputations for nothing."
"Come on, man!" Said Boby. "What are you doing? My wife is here!" His arm tight around Hilda's shoulder.
"Please! As if that wasn't old news." Hilda laughed "A few month ago our house got burned and I thought it was his fault. What should I have thought, uh? He is the one with the family in the Mafia."
"Back again with that woman? That was Betty's fault!" He gave her a distressed look. "Sorry Chipmunk."
Maybe it was Toño's laught, is arm around her shoulders, his perfect moisturized skin, and those deep dark-eyes making fun of Boby that made Betty got to relax against his blind date and enjoy the burning house joke. -Or maybe it was just the cool and relaxed pizzeria atmosphere, the almost finished glass of wine and the idea of a hot, family size pizza -extra cheese and garlic, before heading home with Daniel after a good date night with her sister, boby and Toño.
Maybe, Hilda was right, she needed to get out more with her friends and family. And even if she wasn't interested in Toño -at least no more than the usual first look effect, this date was actually great.
"This must be a joke!" Hilda's whisper got Betty out of her dreams.
"Betty?" She heard a surprised and happy voice at her back. Boby, who in just one second was ready and looking for more chairs, gave the other man a hug.
"What are you doing here, man? It's been a while since the last time we saw you!" And there he was, dark jeans, white shirt, black leather jacket. Eager and seductive Meade smile. "Come on! sit with us! Hilda." Boby sent her a nervous look. "Move. Lets make some space."
"Oh. Don't worry, We wouldn't want to interrupt your dinner. Chris and I just came to grab some slices." Said Daniel, His gaze never leaving Toño's arm around Betty's shoulder.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Thoughts?
Fer ;)
