Once Upon a Graveyard/Ch 3
As Betty held Daniel's hand in the back seat of his town car, and he asked her numerous questions about her family, at first she began to wonder if he was too emotionally drained to subject him to her often overwhelming family. But he continued to seem extremely curious about how "the other half lived", and to be genuinely impressed with how much they all knew about one another and were so involved with each other's lives. Maybe he really just needed to feel like a part of a "real family" as he kept referring to the Suarez clan from her descriptions of some of their family traditions.
He smiled as they entered the front yard and doorway, with fake gravestones and spider webs, a mechanical cackling witch and recordings of screams. "I see your family really goes all out for Halloween, huh?"
She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "You have no idea! Papi is SO into it! And Justin just likes any excuse to decorate! Hilda…well, she likes all of it, too! I can't decide if she enjoys getting candy more than her son or dressing up in some slutty…Hi! Hilda!"
She stopped as her sister came bursting out of the door wearing an extremely low-cut nurse's uniform, grabbing Betty's hand, "Get in here, mami! What are you doing home so late? Justin and Papi are both driving me loco with all these crazy ideas!"
Hilda's eyes widened and she grinned seeing Daniel, "I thought you just said you were helping a friend in the city? Ooh, hello, there, hot stuff! Who might you be? Is he why you're so late, Betty? THIS guy is your new FRIEND? The one who you picked up at the graveyard? I guess I need to start trolling cemeteries myself! Is that your car, Mr. Wonderful? You're rich, too?"
"HILDA! Shut up, will you?" Betty turned beet red as Daniel merely chuckled at the two sisters. He held out his hand to Hilda, "Daniel Meade. And to be fair, I'd say it was more like I picked Betty up! She was so cute, up on the hill, having a full-on conversation with your mom's headstone and her smile was just like… sunshine! After the day I've had, it was really nice to see someone so happy!"
Hilda snorted, "Like sunshine, huh? On a cloudy day! Sure, sure, sounds good, Mister fancy pants! Both of you get inside and help me hold up MORE of these stupid spiderwebs for Justin and Papi, will you please? Actually, I've got a date, so… maybe you two could take over? Justin, sweetie, come and meet your Aunt Betty's new boyfriend and mama's going to go out for a bit. You be good, okay? Don't drive everyone nuts with being so particular!"
Daniel smiled slyly, seeing that Betty seemed relieved that her older sister was going to be leaving. He saw the young boy come out to greet them as they entered the humble dwelling, replete with numerous religious paintings as well as more Halloween decorations throughout the home.
Justin's eyes grew wide with recognition, "YOU! You're DANIEL MEADE! AB! You didn't tell me you were bringing home a MEADE! I thought you were bringing home another stray! I mean…WOW! SO NIce to meet you Mister Meade! OHMYGOSH! Do you really know Wilhelmina Slater and Fey Sommers?" He blushed as he held out his hand hesitantly, practically bowing to Daniel.
Daniel laughed, "Well, actually, yes, I do! And they are both extremely …fashionable. That's about the only NICE thing I can say about them, though! My mom taught me if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, so…"
He didn't dare tell the poor young man that one of his "idols" at Mode, the EIC herself, ice queen Fey Sommers also happened to be his mother's worst enemy and an evil woman who had made his whole family's lives miserable with her claws in his father, trying to break up his mom and dad's once happy marriage with her ambitions for Mode, somehow "bewitching" his father.
He leaned down to Justin and whispered, "Do you want to know a secret that NOBODY knows about Wilhelmina? It's something my…brother told me about a year ago. But you have to swear you won't tell ANYBODY! Deal?"
Justin nodded, his eyes wide with anticipation, as Daniel tried not to laugh, "Her real name isn't Wilhelmina. It's Wanda! She was a real 'plain Jane' when she first started out as Fey's assistant years ago, then one day, "Wanda" disappeared and within a few months this "new fashion Supermodel named Wilhelmina Slater" appeared in the Big Four at Fashion Week um…I think '84? Before my time really, so I couldn't say for sure.
But it's her. She had all the old issues with her old name as Fey's assistant destroyed in the archives. But some people who recognized the nose job and other changes called her out. She just changed the subject or denied it. And she paid off paparazzi to never bring it up if they figured it out."
Betty smiled, as did Ignacio Suarez, who came out of the kitchen, holding a huge knife, along with fake blood on his apron, "Mija! There you are! Do I look like 'Sweeney Todd?" he asked Betty. "Who is that, anyway? Justin said it's like Pirate's of the Caribbean. But they were all out of Captain Jack costume's at Sal's."
Betty made a face, that's because Sal's is a Gyro shop, Papi! I told you that! They were selling this costume?"
"No, Justin made this for me. Oh! Well, why didn't they just say they weren't a costume shop?"
"They were probably afraid you might give them a scary shave!" Daniel looked slightly intimidated at Ignacio's knife. But Betty's father laughed and bent back the fake blade, and licked some of the fake blood from it, "Also fake!" He extended his hand, which was also fake, and fell on the floor, oozing with fake blood. Daniel jumped back, "SHIT! I mean…okay! That… you really got me! Is this a…test to see if I'm worthy to date your daughter?"
"Of course!"
"Papi!" Betty hurried to pick up the wreckage of her father's juvenile Halloween tricks as Justin chuckled slightly but rolled his eyes, pretending to find it silly, too, "Yeah, come on, Grandpa! This stuff is so silly! Nobody would fall for your tricks!"
Daniel winced slightly, "I think I just did!" But then he laughed, just noticing Justin's very stylish Prince costume, "I see you're a real rocker there yourself, huh, Justin? Very cool! I was in a band once in junior…I mean middle school."
As the night wore on, Daniel found himself feeling far more comfortable with Betty's family, helping them all carve the jack-o-lantern, then eating leftovers with Betty in the kitchen and talking to her dad, watching a scary movie in the living room with them all until Justin went to bed reluctantly, arguing that one of the victims wasn't really dead, "Number one rule of movies! If they don't show the body, they aren't really dead! Sometimes even if they do!"
Then Betty insisted on teaching him how to Salsa dance. He didn't really catch on, but it didn't matter. Just being with her, seeing her like this, relaxed with her family did something to his soul. Something beautiful and healing that he didn't honestly realize how much he needed.
As they transitioned to a slower dance, he used his slight height advantage and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, as he whispered, "Thank you for this, Betty!"
"For what? Trying to teach you to Salsa? I'm sorry, Gringo, but I think I'd have to say that was sort of a fail! At least for now! You do have some rhythm. You've just got to stop doing the white man's overbite!"
He chuckled, "Si, Senorita Suarez! Didn't you tell me you don't even speak Spanish, Missy? Give me a break, will you? The Gringo here is pretty wiped out!"
"I know. I'm sorry, 'Danny" she smiled.
He smirked, as she looked up at him, "Are you always so 'feisty?"
"Pretty much."
"Good! I need that. I need…you, Betty." he sighed, "I really wish you weren't leaving! Especially so soon! Are you really going to…break my heart?"
She rolled her eyes, "Your heart? We just met today, Daniel! Are you really that much of a Romeo?"
"Romeo?"
"I mean…you know, how one minute he's spouting poetry about this Rosalind girl, then all of a sudden he's sneaking off to marry the daughter of his sworn enemy, then you know, all the silly stuff where they should have waited till next week when they both stopped being such whiny teenagers! You meet someone, you think you're in love, then they break your heart and you move on! Life goes on! Or it SHOULD! They were so dramatic!"
He laughed, "And you think I'm dramatic?"
She shrugged, "A little. Well, okay, yes, a LOT! I'm sorry, but you told me a lot of pretty crazy stuff about your family and it all sounds like the plot lines on my papi's telenovelas to be honest! Your life is very dramatic! I'm sorry, Daniel! I mean, you've been living this fast-paced life for so long, do you…want it to be that crazy? Or do you want to slow down a little?"
He took a deep breath, and smiled, "I don't know. Maybe a little, yeah. I should pay you two hundred dollars an hour as my new psychologist! Very insightful stuff, Miss Suarez! Is psychology one of your minors, too?"
"I see that my bragging about my degree really bothered you. I didn't mean to brag!"
"Yes, you did! But that's okay. I would too if I were you. Honestly, something Alex always did was to let me think I was winning at a race or something and then, right as I could smell that finish line, he would pull ahead, just to prove he would always beat me! Is it bad that I thought today, well, at least I can finally get out from his shadow a little? Does that make me a monster?"
"Of course not! It makes you human." She hugged him again. These hugs were quickly becoming an addiction he really didn't want to break. He gratefully breathed in her scent and held the back of her head, feeling the silky locks of her raven hair. He started to lose his footing and she helped him steady himself, "Come on, you need to go to bed! Did you get any sleep this week?"
He shook his head, "I don't think so. I don't really remember sleeping. At least…not…alone! Are you really taking me up to your bed and then deserting me while you go sleep in your sister's room, Betty? That is SO not how I planned this night going! I must be losing my touch! Are you trying not to get attached to anybody before you leave, is that it? Do I just have terrible timing?"
"YES! You do!" She cried out in exasperation. She was too tired not to blurt out the truth of how she was feeling right now.
He gave her that ridiculously sexy lopsided grin of his as they entered her room. He saw the picture of her with her cap and gown, with her teeth obviously pre-braces.
"Aw! Look how cute you were! This was…"
She made a face, "Four years ago! That's my high school graduation picture. The day I got my first job at the cat hospital to help pay for braces was hard, but then the orthodontist kept trying to make me come back until last summer after we finally got the insurance check and I had enough money to get a second opinion.
This nice lady ortho told me I could get them off right away and removed them for me, six months sooner than I expected. It's been so nice! I'm still getting used to running my tongue over my teeth! They feel really weird, so smooth and…naked!"
His eyes widened but he simply nodded. She stepped back to look into his gorgeous blue eyes. He brushed back a strand of hair, placing it behind her ear, "I need you, Betty. Stay in here with me tonight? You said you understood that I don't want to be alone. That includes sleeping. Even if we actually do only sleep! I promise we don't have to…do anything. Just hold me, please?"
"Okay, Daniel."
He smiled sleepily before kissing her sweetly, then started unbuttoning his shirt, then pulled off his undershirt. She left to go in the bathroom while he continued to undress, placing his pants in a heap on a chair by her bed.
When she returned to her room a few minutes later after having brushed her teeth and put on a pair of yoga pants and a cami, she found him already fast asleep, so she slid next to him, leaning over to kiss his forehead, "Goodnight, Romeo!"
At three thirty-three the next morning, Daniel sat up in bed, shouting, "He's not really dead! We didn't see the body!"
