Disclaimer: I don't own Ugly Betty!
As long as Betty Suarez could remember she had told herself things were going to get better. She considered herself a very positive, optimistic person, Growing up with crooked teeth, glasses, hair that was thick and unruly, and bushy eyebrows didn't help her can-do, upbeat attitude, however. At school, she had always tried to think the best of people until they too often proved her absolutely wrong, time and again. Even then, she usually still gave them at least one more chance.
When she took the position as Daniel Meade's assistant, working in a magazine where the models were basically the size of her shoes, and she felt more out of place than ever, she tried to keep that sunny outlook, in spite of having only met a handful of people (like Christina) that weren't completely nasty to her.
People like Amanda, who obviously wanted to work for Daniel, and was willing to do whatever it took to get rid of her, including holding her stuffed bunny for ransom!
And Marc, Wilhelmina's assistant. Daniel had warned her to specifically not trust him, because he had a huge mouth and everything that was said around Marc, got repeated, specifically to Wilhelmina, of course.
That first meeting, when Betty wore her red poncho, she found out that Marc had started a blog about her, called Betty's Daily Disasters. He seemed extremely disappointed when he had out his cell phone camera, apparently ready to take another picture he could ridicule, and saw she had on the dress Christina had found for her.
As she stood in front of the mirror, with her now metal-free smile, and wearing the dark blue Marc Jacobs dress she had chosen, Betty felt somewhat exposed, so she found a jacket to wear over it, thinking it more appropriate. Walking on the heels was just going to take some time.
This was the fashion world she now found herself in, and although she knew this job certainly had its advantages, it was still a foreign place for Betty and she honestly wanted nothing better than to perhaps look for a job somewhere that her skills were put to better use.
If Daniel and everyone at Mode were going to make her feel so out of place, maybe they all were right, maybe she just simply didn't belong there.
"Betty? Oh my God, you look…incredible!"
"Thanks, Hilda. Sorry for accidentally hitting you while you were tweezing my eyebrows earlier!"
"Accidentally?"
"Well…hey, that hurt!"
"Well, it sure helped! Your hair and make-up looks great, too, if I do say so myself. I love that dress! How much of your boss's money did you spend?"
"Two thousand dollars. For everything. That's what Daniel told me. I found this dress at a little boutique that has great deals and since my insurance paid for most of my dental, really the shoes were the most expensive thing I got. I made sure to get receipts for everything. I assume I'll need to explain all my expenses to that guy I met today, Henry, the accountant."
Hilda eyed her sister, shaking her head, "Wow, Betty, you are going to knock that Vincent's socks off! You look great, mami! Good luck, sweetie!"
Betty smiled shyly, "Thanks, Hilda. You really think so? I actually have the financial projections for him, too. I had time to get a lot of work done while those people were altering this dress. I feel…weird, though."
"Well, you need to take advantage of the fact that you're a hot woman now. You're going to have both Vincent and that snooty, annoying boss of yours eating out of your hands now, I'm telling you, Betty!"
Betty shrugged, "I don't know about him. Besides, Daniel is…so smug, I doubt me dressing up and getting the metal braces off will make any difference to him. He'll probably still find a way to make me feel…dumb."
"You, dumb? Is he that smart?"
"No. Not really. He's just…I don't know. Annoying! He thinks he's Mr. Perfect. He told me it was my fault that Walter cheated on me because I was too nice or something!
You should see how he and that Amanda carry on. He flirts with every pretty girl he sees, in fact. Justin was right about him. He's kind of a…playboy, I think. I don't know how he expects to ever get any actual work done! Or if he hired me to do all the work while he sleeps around!"
Hilda eyed her sister, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you sounded jealous of your new boss!"
Betty made a face, "Him? Hardly! He's so rude! Somebody needs to teach him some manners! I actually do sort of like that Henry I met today, though. He seems really sweet. I sort of freaked out when I saw him."
Hilda made a face, "Henry? An accountant? Hmm…sounds kind of boring, Betty. You got rid of stupid Walter for cheating on you. Do you really want to go from one dorky guy to another?
You look so hot now, you don't have to settle for guys like that. I'd say maybe see what this Vincent guy's like when you meet him. You said you two got along great on the phone."
When Betty arrived at Masa's, she saw that Vincent Biancchi was already seated at the table. She didn't see Daniel yet. She walked carefully over to the tall photographer and he rose when he saw her.
She extended her hand, "Mr. Biancchi? I'm so glad to meet you in person. I'm Betty Suarez, Daniel Meade's assistant. We spoke on the phone yesterday."
His eyes widened and he had a huge smile, "You're Betty Suarez? Man, they sure didn't have girls like you at Queensboro High back when I went there! Nice to meet you in person, Betty. So, where's your boss? This guy you seem to think is so much better than his smart ass brother. By the way, thanks for the sandwich. It was just as good as I remembered!"
She blushed as he pulled out the chair for her and leaned to talk softly in her ear. "You're more than welcome, Mr. Biancchi."
"Just call me Vince. Please."
"Okay. Vince." He sat back down across from her and took her hand, "So…tell me, gorgeous. What brought you to work for those dopes at Mode?"
"Yeah, I'm anxious to hear that myself, Betty? Betty? That is you, isn't it? Wow…you look…great." Daniel hurried to the table and sat down between Vincent and Betty. He quickly extended his hand to Vincent.
"Mr. Biancchi, I'm Daniel Meade. I'm so sorry I got caught up in a meeting with another client and couldn't get away sooner. I'm glad to see you've met my star assistant here. Have we ordered yet?"
"No, I've only been here a few minutes and Betty just got here. But if I'd known your assistant was not only my home girl, but funny, easy to talk to, plus this hot, I think I would have told you to take your time, and let me get to know her a little better."
Daniel smiled, somewhat uncomfortably, "Right. I…uh, don't blame you. She's…something alright, isn't she? Quite a girl. Full of surprises, too. I've got to warn you though, Mr. Biancchi.
I do believe our girl here already has a bit of a crush on one of Mode's accountants. I saw her giving him the eye back at the office yesterday, blushing and stammering around him. It was quite unusual for a girl who normally is full of witty comebacks."
Betty wanted to break the expensive bottle of wine Daniel was ordering over his head right now. How dare he embarrass her like that! It was like he couldn't stand for her to be getting so much positive attention from another man.
What did he care if Biancchi liked her? Wasn't that the whole idea behind this big transformation he had insisted she do? Now he wanted to make her seem unavailable? She suddenly figured it out. She knew why Daniel had done that.
He was protecting her from Vincent actually pursuing her, implying she had a crush on Henry (which she in fact, did), so that he would now concentrate more on business and less on her.
After they ordered, Vincent excused himself to use the restroom, and she took out the file with the information she had gathered, along with the contract she had printed and handed them to Daniel.
"I did a financial profile for him, showing him how much exposure he could hope to get from doing the Fabia shoot, and here, in the contract, I put a clause in that you might want to highlight to him, giving him creative control over which photos we use…"
He took her hand suddenly and smiled in a way she wasn't used to seeing, "You look absolutely beautiful, Betty."
She reddened at his touch and his gaze. She felt like she was going to pass out, so she pulled gently away from his touch and took off her jacket. When she did, Daniel's eyes widened and he licked at his lips, "What are you doing? Keep that on!"
She looked at him, angrily, "Why? This is less revealing than what Amanda had on at work today and we're in a nice restaurant. It's not inappropriate here.
Look around, there are women wearing a lot more low cut dresses than I am, Daniel. What, now you're suddenly a prude? You should see what my sister wears to the bank!"
He looked around, somewhat nervously, trying to get her to put the jacket back on, "I don't care what your sister or Amanda or anybody here wears, you're exposing yourself too much, Betty. You don't know how guys are with girls like you. They get the wrong idea. Will you listen to me, for once, please? I do know what I'm talking about here, believe me.
I'm telling you, if you leave your jacket off, you're never going to get rid of Biancchi. He's going to think you're coming on to him, giving him the green light to ask you out."
Although annoyed, and feeling rather silly, she put the jacket back on quickly. "Fine, ad! You're being ridiculous. But, here, are you happy, now? I took the jacket off in front of you, I hope you didn't think I was 'coming on' to you, for goodness sakes! I was just hot."
"Yeah, you are. I mean…" He got up and pulled her hair out from the back of herjacket, and when he did, their eyes locked. Betty caught her breath, suddenly having a hard time swallowing.
She never noticed how blue Daniel's eyes were. Well, okay, that's not exactly true. She had noticed. She just tried to overlook it, since he was such a douche.
He, too, seemed mesmerized by her eyes. "You…got contacts, huh?"
"You told me to, remember? I don't really like sticking my finger in my eyes, though. So, I also got some more 'fashionable glasses'. But I bought those with my own money. I still kept everything under two thousand. Do you want your receipt, or should I give it to my new boyfriend, Henry?"
Her words seemed to bring Daniel out of his spell, and he smiled slightly, sitting back down, "Two thousand. For everything? I meant just on the dress. Wow, good job! As far as the Henry thing goes, I was trying to save you from this guy, Betty. I mean, I know I said for you to look good and flirt, but you've got to save something.
Get the guy interested, but keep yourself unattainable, you know? I mean, at least clients like this and guys you don't really want to date. You really do have to learn not to be so…trusting and open. I'm telling you, that's why guys leave you for other women."
"Really? I thought it was just because I was so ugly before."
He shook his head, "I never said you were ugly, Betty."
"Ugly? This girl? Hell, no! In fact, I should take your picture sometime, girl. Maybe do something back in the old neighborhood, show those goombahs how far we've come, huh, Betty? My old man is always bragging about me, but I think some of my uncles still think I'm a bum, taking pictures for a living!"
She laughed and as she and Vincent talked about their neighborhood, she tried to give Daniel a look pushing the paperwork she had given him towards him, to make him stop staring at her. Finally, he got the hint and pitched Vincent Betty's idea and presented him with the contract.
Vincent nodded, reading over the proposal as he listened to Daniel. He looked back and forth between Betty and Daniel, "You two are a good team. And Betty here was right about you, Daniel.
You are nothing like your old man or your brother. I'll do it. On one condition. I'm only working with you and her. Nobody else at that place with their little attitudes.
And well, it's not a condition, but …this is for you, Betty. I know Daniel said you had some other guy you've got the hots for, but…if things don't work out with him, would you go out with me?" He grabbed Betty's hand and smiled at her.
For some reason, Daniel seemed to be turning almost as red as she was, right now. She was so warm, she couldn't wait to get out of that jacket.
She managed a weak smile, "Sure, Vincent. I think Daniel was going to help me get a date with Henry, since he's such a dating expert. And I do really have my heart set on him, I'm afraid. But, you know, I just met the guy, so we'll see how things work out.
If he and I don't work out, believe me, you're the first guy I'm going to call! It's been so nice to have a man I'm comfortable talking to about something other than fashion!"
Once they were in the town car, Betty sighed, and peeled off her jacket, and kicked off her heels, "Whew! Wow! I can't believe we did it!" She went to high five Daniel, but he grabbed her hand, and looked at her, somewhat sadly,
"You did it, Betty. You came up with the idea, you charmed him, not only because you look great, but more importantly, with how nice you were to the guy.
In fact, I think he would have been just as likely to sign with us if you still had your braces and glasses and no matter what you were wearing. I'm sorry I made you change yourself. You didn't really need to. You looked beautiful before you did all…this."
He waved his hand over her. "I don't want to change you. I'm sorry. I was wrong. The reason I was a little late was I was arguing with my father. He told me I was stupid for even trying to sign Vincent. He said if Alex couldn't work with the guy what made me think I could? He also told me I should fire you before I ended up sleeping with you and...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that."
Betty bit her lip, not sure which part of his little revelation she should react to first. Finally, she smiled, and folded her jacket, placing it front of her, and looking out through the window, "It's fine, Daniel. I think...I'm not too crazy about the contacts, anyway. Obviously, I'm not going to be wearing dresses this...scandalous all the time, either. So...are you alright? I mean, I could tell at dinner you were kind of distracted. Was it because of what your father said?
I heard how you were with Vincent tonight. You did your homework, too, Daniel. You were great! I don't care what your father said. He's wrong about you. That wasn't all my research that got you the deal. You are a great businessman. And I do appreciate you trying to protect me from Vincent, or other guys. I think I may have misjudged you, too. So...do you really think you could help me with Henry? I was a little shy trying to talk to him."
He laughed, "Yeah you were. I've never seen you that shy before. It's like you forgot how to talk! You've sure never been that shy around me! And you seemed confidant enough around Vincent tonight."
She blushed, hitting his arm, then moving her hand quickly as she felt his biceps, "Shut up! I was nervous around Henry for some reason. So, you'll help me?"
He nodded, "Sure, Betty. I can...do that. I hope you can forget how rude I was before and start over. I'd like it if you'd consider me not just your boss, but your friend. Vincent was right. We do make a good team." He smiled and looked down at her hand.