Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty! As I mentioned before, this story was inspired by the Korean film, "Seducing Mr. Perfect". And as usual, this is for entertainment purposes only.
After promising Bobby that she would clean his apartment, and help out with some of the bookkeeping in his uncle's auto repair shop, Betty sighed a relief that he was willing not to mention to Hilda that she had in fact, hit Daniel Meade's Mercedes on her way to the interview.
"Yeah, well, listen, Chipmunk, we're still not square until we get the estimate from his insurance company and for sure see how much this is going to raise my premiums!"
He laughed, "Geez, I woulda loved to see the look on your face when you saw he was the one you were interviewing with to work for! I still can't believe he still hired you on the spot! You must've really impressed the guy!"
Betty nodded, still a little concerned about the things that curly-headed assistant had said to her in the elevator. But Mr. Meade had certainly seemed professional enough to Betty.
She decided to walk home from the garage and once she was inside, she smiled to see her family had decorated the house, and made an impromptu celebration for her getting the job. She was sure her nephew, Justin had had a hand in it.
She thanked them all for their efforts and was about to enjoy some of her father's flan, when her phone rang, "Hello?"
"Yeah, hey, Betty. It's Daniel Meade, your new boss. Listen, there's actually a big party tonight, sort of kicking off my taking over for Fay Sommers. You should be there.
I need you to find out some things for me, sort of be my ears. I'll text you the address. Oh, by the way, do you have a nice dress? Cocktail length is fine. Just come as soon as you can after eight. I'll see you later."
He hung up as she held the phone out somewhat in shock, "Okay, Daniel. Sure. I'll be there." She said to the phone.
Her family looked at her as she tried to think what she possibly had that she could wear. "I…well, that was my new boss, Daniel Meade. He said there is a party tonight that he needs me to come to. It sounds fancy. I have no idea what to wear."
Justin beamed, jumping up and walking around his aunt, then turning to his mother, "Mom, remember that dress you got last winter, when you put on a little weight?"
She hit his arm, "Excuse me?"
"Let's not pretend. Come on, AB, this is my Project Runway moment, and I'm going to make you beautiful! Mom, you're on hair and make-up, but don't go overboard! This has to be tasteful. I'll supervise you."
"Justin!"
"I only tell the truth, Mom."
Two hours later, Hilda smiled, and started to spray Betty's hair again, but her son grabbed the can, "That's enough holes in the ozone layer for now. I do like her hair swept to the side like that, though. Good work."
Hilda smiled at her precocious son and gave him a high five, "Thanks, we make a good team, kid!" He flinched slightly at her hand, but beamed at his aunt, "AB, you look…stunning! But…don't you have any other glasses? And well, try to keep your mouth closed as much as possible."
Betty adjusted her trusty red glasses, "These are fine, Justin. Thanks, you two. Now, this Cinderella had better run to catch the next pumkin…."
Bobby was in the living room, "Hilda said you might need a ride? I got carriage duty tonight, Miss Chipmunk Cinderella. We wouldn't want you to have an accident, wearing those shoes!" He winked at her.
Betty hurried out to Bobby's car, grateful that it was dark, so Hilda wouldn't notice the slightly dented front bumper as they sped off.
She arrived, and was amazed at all the press and people who she knew must be celebrities in the fashion world. She wished her nephew were here to enjoy it. She knew he would likely know them all and be very excited to be in her shoes right now. Unfortunately, fashion-related "celebrities" and designers weren't well-known to her and she was totally lost as to who was who in that world!
She did see a few familiar faces from earlier, however. Finally, she spotted Daniel across the room. That annoying Amanda girl that had been so rude to her appeared to be getting drunk, talking loudly and laughing with the curly-headed assistant who she had spoken to in the elevator. Great, she thought, they were friends? That made sense, they were both so…well, catty, was the only word Betty could think of that wasn't a profanity.
Daniel smiled when he saw her across the room and rose to come greet her. He appeared to be appreciating her dress and how nice she looked, "You look…great, Betty. Come and sit next to me.
I'll give you a quick scoop on who is our enemy here, and who we need to be our ally. Basically, don't be fooled by anybody who pretends to be nice. Mode is a huge shark tank and we're in the cage together now."
She sat down next to him at a large table as he nodded discreetly towards Wilhelmina Slater, who was talking to Bradford Meade, a drink in her hand,
"See that somewhat attractive woman in white, over there, talking to my father, a bit too closely and baring her shark smile at him? That's Wilhelmina Slater. She's the devil herself. Whatever you do, NEVER trust that woman! She's out to get my job. She was Fay Sommers' assistant for almost twenty years.
When Fay was in a car accident, Wilhelmina just assumed she'd take over, but my dad is giving me the chance to prove myself at Mode. If I do well there, he'll give me more responsibility, and maybe even hand over the keys to the kingdom. He doesn't trust me much, because I've sort of been the 'spare heir' for a long time, and well, I've been running around a lot to be honest. My brother Alex was Dad's golden boy for as long as I can remember, but when he died, my dad is finally giving me a shot. I can't afford to blow this!
I had some…trouble with assistants in the past. But I expect you to hit the ground running. I mean, you somehow managed to not only get out of me calling the cops when you hit me, but convinced me to hire you even though you lied to me, so…I figure you must be pretty good thinking on your feet and frankly, in this business, that means a hell of a lot more than my Harvard business degree. So, I'm hoping you and I make a good team, Betty.
With your common sense and quick thinking, and my knowledge of fashion and charm, we might just stand a chance against the evil queen and her little minion, Marc. He's not to be trusted, either, by the way. And Amanda…well, you met her. She wants YOUR job. Just so you know."
"Yeah, I...got that. Thanks!" Betty was a little surprised that Daniel was being so frank with her, but she figured he probably felt like he needed her support and the only way to make sure she was really on his 'team' was to be totally straight about what was going on behind the fake smiles and plastic…everything else.
She leaned in and asked, "So…what's my first assignment, Mr. Meade? Who do I need to kill?" She looked to see if either that snooty Amanda or Marc guy were nearby. "I'm from Queens. I can mix it up!"
He smirked, "Nobody. Yet. Maybe Wilhelmina later. We'll see. I'd say, first off, um…can you see without your glasses at all?" He took them off and raised his eyebrows, seeing that she looked much prettier without them.
She nodded, vaguely. In fact, she was rather near-sighted, and couldn't see well at all without her glasses. But…if he needed her to try, she would. "Um, not really well, but…what do you need?"
He smiled at her willingness to cooperate with whatever he asked of her. He found he really liked this girl's spirit and friendly, yet smart attitude. For once, he was hopeful he had made the right choice in hiring her.
There was definitely something about her he instantly liked. Besides, he had to admit, that lipstick smeared across her face when he first saw her was pretty cute.
And she started acting like she didn't speak English, but when she saw it was him she still had the guts to continue the interview and be so ballsy, he had been well, impressed.
Somehow, her take-charge attitude reminded him of Alex. It was just the kind of thing he would have done, Daniel knew. Betty seemed to be exactly what he needed, somebody smart and sassy. And right now, filling his dead brother's shoes was something he could use all the help he could get in doing!
She followed his eyes to some of the other people in the room, "That woman over there is Fabia" he told her.
"You mean the one with the lips that sort of look like...a duck?"
He laughed, "Yeah. That's her. She is one of our biggest advertisers. I just found out from my old man that she has to sign off on our next sales pitch for her make-up. See what you can overhear from her, talking to her people."
She seemed a little uncomfortable, "You mean, you want me to spy on her?"
"Hell yeah, spy, steal, whatever it takes, Betty. This is war! Try and blend in, maybe do that thing where you pretend you don't speak English and listen in on their conversation if you have to, but do whatever it takes to find out anything that you think will help us know what direction to go in our pitch."
He grinned slyly as she bit her lip, at his mention of her little fiasco earlier. As he hoped, making her feel guilty had the desired effect. She squared her shoulders, "Okay, Daniel. I'm ready." She put her glasses into her purse and tried not to squint.
He tried not to laugh at her, and prayed she was as smart as he hoped she was, "Good luck, Betty. I've got to go do a photo op with my dad. We'll meet back at the bar later and you can tell me what you find out."
Betty took a gulp of the champagne that was sitting in front of her, slugging it down quickly, "Okay, Mr. Meade…I mean, Daniel!"
He smiled, shaking his head, thinking she certainly made an interesting Mata Hari. With her glasses off, she looked mildly cute, though and that leopard dress although certainly not designer, was admittedly, sort of…well, sexy on her.
He just hoped she wouldn't screw up too badly. He hoped HE wouldn't, either. Daniel was well aware that he was already a joke to Wilhelmina (and his dad, for that matter), not to mention the press and a lot of the fashion community.
So hiring a girl with Betty's…well, interesting look was a risk, for sure. But he could also see she had… something. Besides, he needed her for her brains, more than her um….other assets. Hell, he was actually a lot smarter than people gave him credit for, so maybe together…he and Betty would show everyone a thing or two.
Daniel knew that hiring another girl like Charmaine just because she took good…dictation or Amanda, who would do nothing but distract him from his goal was the last thing he needed right now.
He had to show his dad his head really was in the game and he was more than just his screw up son.
As he walked over to his father, nodding to Wilhelmina with his own equally fake smile and taking a drink of his Scotch, "So, I've got the meeting set up with Fabia for next Monday. My first company meeting at Mode is tomorrow, to officially introduce me to the staff as Editor-in-chief. Will you be there, Dad?"
"No, I've got to go to Europe for a few days. I'll be back to see that you've hopefully nailed down the pitch to her, though. Wilhelmina here was just telling me if you need any guidance, just to let her know. She's got a lot of experience. You should use her as much as you need to as your Creative Director, son."
The wicked witch gave him another of her fake smiles, "Don't worry, Danny, Willi here will be there for you, if you have any questions at all, I'm always here for you. Oh,I have a little welcome aboard present for you, tomorrow. We're all so excited to have you take over for Fay!"
Daniel eyed the woman, who he knew damn well wanted to see him fall flat on his face, and returned her fake smile, then slammed down the rest of his Scotch, "Of course. I'll be sure to take your advice…under advisement, 'Willi'. But, it's Daniel, remember?"
He turned to his father, "Like you said, she's had years of experience with Fay. Just like you, Dad. Well, maybe not JUST like you, huh? Excuse me, maybe I'd better go circulate." He started to leave, but Wilhelmina put her hand on his arm, although she spoke to Bradford.
"Bradford, do you remember when Alex put himself on the cover of Hudson, in his polka-dot briefs?" she laughed.
Bradford nursed his own Brandy, smiling fondly, "Yeah, that's the kind of publicity you just can't buy!"
A photographer asked for a picture, so Bradford put his arm around Daniel as Wilhelmina stepped aside, smiling slyly as she could sense the disappointment Bradford felt in Daniel.
As soon as the picture had been taken, Daniel stared at his empty glass and narrowed his eyes at his father, "You should have said something, Dad. I would have gladly dropped my pants for you. I think I need another drink."
He stepped away to leave again, feeling like he wanted to jump on the nearest bus anywhere but here, but his father walked to him, "Daniel, I was happy to see you did actually hire that girl I told HR to send up to you. It's about time you started thinking with the right head!
At least this girl should actually help you keep your pants on for a change. She's smart and actually has a degree, unlike most of those pretty little air heads you've been playing around with so far."
"You mean you hand-picked Betty for me to hire?"
He nodded, but looked around, "Where is she? I saw you put her name on the guest list as your assistant, but…wait, who is that over there, bumping into furniture? Is that the same girl I picked? They told me she was ugly.
Why is she dressed like that? And where are her glasses? The one I wanted you to hire was ugly. I didn't want you to choose that girl!"
Daniel shook his head, going over to rescue Betty from a ficus tree. He handed his father his empty glass, "Well, I guess neither of us is what you expected, huh, Dad?"
Once he reached Betty, bending down to grab her hand, he wondered if he had made a huge mistake. She was hardly…well, graceful. He asked, "Well, double oh seven, what did you find out for me?
I sincerely hope you got something, because Wilhelmina and my dad both seem to think I'm a complete idiot!"
She smiled, and he winced slightly, seeing her bright shiny…teeth. She seemed excited, "I overheard Fabio"
"Fabi-a" he corrected her, as he escorted her to a waiting town car and slid in next to her.
She nodded, "Oh, right, sorry. Well, I overheard her talking to one of her people about her sales being down a lot and how she's really worried about her public image since her…accident? Do you know what she's talking about? Is that what happened to her face?"
He laughed, thinking this girl was a bit naïve for the fashion world, "No. Botox happened to her face.I'm not sure what she's talking about, but you said you're a great researcher, so…here's your chance to prove that. That's your next assignment, should you choose to accept it, Betty. Find out exactly what accident she's talking about and I want your input on some ideas you think might appeal to a woman like her."
Betty looked back at the strange woman, kissing her dog, with those huge, mis-shapen lips, and made a face, "Okay, but…I don't know if there are too many women…like her!"
Just then, Betty got a call from Walter, but couldn't get to her phone in time before he hung up. She tried calling him back, but it went straight to voice mail.
She sighed, and blushed, seeing Daniel watching her carefully, "Boyfriend?" he asked.
She nodded, "Mmhmm…tomorrow's his birthday."
He made a face of understanding, narrowing his eyes, after looking out the window, then turned to her, "You do know he's cheating on you, right?"