Night one – over

Night one – over.

Betty had tons of thoughts invading her mind and tap dancing around it at once after the day that she had, but, despite all of those, her eyes faced a blank screen. After an hour of trying to type something to describe her potpourri of thoughts, she surrendered.

She slammed her laptop shut.

How could she BS her way through her honest assessment of this pathetic excuse for an experiment?

She hastily opened her laptop again and her fingers furiously moved across the keys, typing:

"This experiment is pure crap. I've participated in it for one day. Men ignore me and stare straight at my chest, women hate me even more than they did before, and my boss finds me so disgusting he won't even look at me."

She stopped there.

She reread the last sentence again.

That's what was really bothering her.

She knew it.

That's what had her distracted through each mundane, pointless chore Daniel assigned for her. He thought that her choice to bear some skin was so utterly repulsive a sight that he couldn't bear to endure it.

It wasn't as though he ever particularly enjoyed looking at her, nor would she expect him to. But he never avoided her in such a way, as though she were some sort of fungus that he wished would be scrubbed away.

He never addressed her like that.

Like she didn't exist.

Like everybody else treated her in the entire office.

And, at that point, she needed him.

After Jo had essentially forced her into dwelling on every ego-bursting memory she had, she felt unusually small. It wasn't like her to get so silly and weepy over another person's words. She'd endured nasty comments all the time; how could she have gotten so weak all of a sudden?

All she wanted after the entire ordeal of her first shoot was normalcy. She had hoped she could vent a bit to Daniel about how ridiculous the entire thing was and wait for him to tell her she was overreacting, and that she should go back to her desk and check out one of her new favorite cute websites of the week. He'd have a list of things that he knew would cheer her up because, unlike the Daniel she encountered during her assignment, everyday Daniel saw her. He noticed. He cared.

She did not expect him to avoid her gaze like that, or to send her out on a wild goose chase just to get her out of his sight.

She was dwelling again.

Okay, Betty…

…pull yourself together.

Grow.

Up.

You are a worthwhile human being and an aspiring writer. You will just calm down and stop letting other people get to you.

Bad...ass.

Yes. I just said ass. Because I AM bad ass.

Be bad ass.

Betty's inner pep talk was interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

She softly groaned, attempting to convince herself that she had made some progress with the article that was now being interrupted. She turned her knob and saw the same cocky grin she saw yesterday. Only this time, it had a tint of an apologetic curve. Relieved that she'd changed into a baggy T-shirt and sweatpants, she looked at Jesse curiously.

"Hi," she cautiously greeted.

"I know what you're thinking," Jesse said in lieu of a greeting. "You think I'm some kind of crazy, perverted stalker, right?"

"I don't know about stalker, but, yeah, the rest seems right," Betty replied, managing to return his bit of a sarcastic grin.

"It's okay. I deserve it," Jesse replied, still smiling. "I wasn't very respectful yesterday, so I was kind of hoping you'd forgive me and save us both some awkwardness here."

"Are you apologizing?" Betty asked, smugly looking back at him.

"Kind of, yeah. You accept?"

"Well, that depends." Jesse raised his eyebrows.

"On?"

"On what you're apologizing for." Betty crossed her arms, feeling in complete control of this situation. It was a bit of a relief after being sunken into the abyss of uncontrollable feelings the remainder of the day. She loved the idea of prolonging this; if he was going to apologize, she had to be certain he'd do it right.

His smile faded a bit as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on. You know."

"Actually, no," Betty teased. "I have no idea." Defeated, Jesse sighed.

"Fine. I'm sorry I was staring at your…at you. And entering your territory here without properly knocking first, accident or no accident. Better?"

"Yes," Betty said with a smile. "As long as it doesn't happen again, you're forgiven." He gave her a mischievous look, as though he couldn't really promise anything, and then nodded.

"Cool. So, let's try this again." He extended his hand for her to take, and she did. "I'm Jesse, your new neighbor."

"Hi, Jesse. I'm Betty, your new neighbor."

"Nice to meet you! You know, you're the first person under forty I've seen in this building. Would you like to get coffee sometime?" Betty laughed, assuming this invitation was an extension of his new forced politeness.

"No, seriously," Jesse said.

"Really? Everyone's over forty here?"

"No…I mean, yes, but I was talking about the coffee."

Wow.

Nobody had ever asked her on a date that she was actually able to go on drama free. No prospective trips to Europe. No worrying that anyone would find out she was going because her suitor had impregnated another woman. Nope.

Just coffee.

That was it.

Even weirder – strangers didn't ask Betty on dates, either.

"Um, okay," Betty agreed, trying not to sound too surprised.

"Cool," Jesse replied. "Would tomorrow afternoon be okay? I've got a band and, while this week's been kinda dead, we usually practice in the evenings."

"Sure. I'll meet you during my lunch break!" Betty agreed. The two made meeting arrangements and then Jesse grinned.

"Nice to meet you properly, Helen."

"It's…"

"I know," Jesse teased. "I'm sorry. It's just…too easy."

"Okay, okay," Betty said, managing to smile. "Tomorrow, then?"

"Tomorrow."

And then he looked at her.

Excited.

Curiously.

He was flirting.

As he walked up the staircase, Betty slowly eased her way back into her apartment.

What a day it had been.

One day of showing a little more skin and she had alienated her boss, affected men and women around her and gotten her first normal date invitation ever.

Was this wrong?

She couldn't help feeling that she was selling out.

She needed something familiar, and picked up the phone to dial home.

"Hello?" came Hilda's voice from the other end.

"Hilda, thank God!" Betty said, sinking into her chair.

"Betty?" Hilda nervously asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just kind of been a crazy day."

"Oh, trust me, you haven't seen crazy unless you've seen the woman that came into the salon today. Dios mio, the girl came in with her parakeet! I thought Papi would flip!"

"Did he?" Betty asked, glad to change the subject to something lighter.

"Oh, he would have, but I smoothed it over. He's been so cranky lately. He misses you, Betty."

Guilt surged through Betty as she felt herself sinking deeper into her chair cushion.

"I'm sorry," she practically whispered. She heard Hilda's disapproving big sister sigh from the other end.

"Betty, how many times do I have to tell you not to be sorry?"

"I know, I know, but I just hate that he gets upset."

"He's not upset. It's just the whole bird leaving the next or whatever. He'll deal. Besides, it's not like you don't talk to him on the phone three times a day anyway."

Hilda was wrong.

Today it was six.

Hilda must have noticed, for she continued with…

"By the way, what's going on at work?"

"Nothing," Betty quickly replied.

"Oh, no, don't even try it. You've never been a good liar, Betty."

So she spilled.

She told Hilda about Jesse and his date offer ("Damn, girl, can you go a day without a boy?"), her assignment ("Good for you, Betty! Let those jerks at Player see what they're missing out on!"), about, and, last but not least, Daniel's reaction to her.

Then there was a long pause.

"So? Hilda, say something."

"Wow, Betty. You know, I always thought that you were the smarter Suarez sister."

"What?"

Betty heard what sounded like a deep sigh.

"Betty, he's not disgusted. He's protective."

"What? That's crazy! If he's so protective, than why would he send me off to ever y other place on Earth where anyone could have looked at me?"

"Maybe he's not just worried about anyone, Betty."

"That makes a lot of sense, Hilda. Then who…"

"Maybe he's worried about himself," Hilda interrupted. "He doesn't want to see you himself because he doesn't want to look at you that way." Betty rolled her eyes as though Hilda could actually see her.

"That's not being protective, Hilda. That's being afraid of how I look, just like I said.

"No – maybe he knows you'll look good and that's why he won't look."

It was odd.

It was silly.

It made no sense.

It was giving herself too much credit.

"I just don't know, Hilda."

"Just make sure he sees you tomorrow. Then we'll see."

Daniel was ready to be a big boy.

Or that's how Jo phrased it.

The night before, Jo had invited Daniel to her place for drinks, which turned into another night of Daniel enjoying her and cursing himself inwardly for never giving girls like her a second chance before. Or a first chance, for that matter. Her confidence and sexuality were so attractive, he didn't know how he could ever simply get used to them – she could probably wow him forever if she wanted.

Not like someone like Jo would want something like that; she was far too independent and free.

After their bedroom escapades, Jo invited Daniel to have a drink with her. As usual, she was a captivating, intelligent conversationalist.

Until the subject of Betty came up.

"So, what do you think of your assistant now?" she asked. Daniel tried his luck at lying, although a voice inside his head told him he'd never convince Jo of anything.

"Betty? Oh, she looked great. You know, I think she'll do a really good job on this article."

"Alexis warned me about the thumbs up thing," Jo cut in, looking pointedly at Daniel's upturned thumb.

"Crap," Daniel said, not even realizing he had done that.

"You didn't even look, did you?"

"Well, it's just that I was…"

"Spare me, Daniel," Jo interrupted, looking put out. "I don't like things sweetened up for me or anyone else. I tell it like it is and I want the same in return. I don't care how insensitive you think I'll consider you."

"Will you?" Daniel asked, half worried that she would and half eager to change the subject.

"Depends. Why didn't you look?"

"What does it matter?" Daniel challenged. Jo wasn't his girlfriend. She made that fact perfectly clear every time she stressed that they were having fun and she couldn't be tied down. Why, then, should he fill her in on his feelings? That was the sort of thing couples did.

"As a woman, and the photographer on this assignment, it helps me to know what the closest man to the subject thinks and why he's so turned off to looking."

Wow.

He hadn't thought of it that way before.

He was the closest to Betty, besides her family of course. Nobody ever came out and said that, but it was likely true.

Well…

Why did it bother him?

"It's just…I don't know, it's Betty. She's not someone I picture walking around and reeling guys in."

"She's had a marriage proposal and a guy ask her to run away with her to Rome in the past year."

"How did you…"

"Alexis."

"Why would Alexis share Betty's personal information with you?" Daniel asked, feeling suddenly eager to have a long, irate chat with his sister.

"I asked. I like to know if the models I shoot are dating anyone. It affects how provocatively I shoot."

"Wh…really?"

"Sure. Look more closely at the hands on my girls. Married women are always a little more modest. It's respectful."

"Okay, wait," Daniel interrupted, feeling overwhelmed and disturbed as he realized that Betty was single and could then pose provocatively. "What's going on here? Why are we discussing my assistant…now?"

"Because you won't be straight with me and just tell me why you refuse to look at a girl like Betty dressed like she was."

"Well, what if I settle this problem and I do look at her? Tomorrow." Jo grinned maliciously at him. "What?"

"I'll bet you a Snickers bar that you'll freak out if you do."

"A Snickers bar?" Daniel asked, not able to hold back his grinned.

"I only go for the best," Jo replied, grinning back.

"Alright, you're on. I'd better get ready to put in another half an hour or so at the gym to work all of those calories off."

"What a waste of calories," Jo joked, extending her pinky for Daniel to take with his. "Bet?"

Daniel intertwined his pinky with hers and grinned back. "Bet.

A bet Daniel now wished he never made.

He came to the office early, hoping he'd get lucky and he'd be inundated with calls from advertisers.

No such luck.

Betty was due in at any moment and he didn't know which outcome was worse – her still being upset with him or her happily strolling in so he'd be forced to see how she looked – how she'd been appearing to the other pigs at Player yesterday and how she would for the next two.

Luckily, the guys in the office knew better than to discuss Betty with Daniel. He didn't hear any of the chatter, but he did catch a few of the guys talking in hushed tones.

But that could be about anything.

Couldn't it?

Well, he had to put everything plaguing him out of him mind. Before…

Daniel saw pink.

From within the confines of his peripheral vision he saw a pink-clad figure in Betty's desk area.

Be a big boy, Daniel.

Just look.

It can't be so bad.

Look.

One…

Two…

Three…

Three and a half…

Okay. Three and three quarters.

He lifted his eyes up.

There she was.

He focused on her face first. It was the same face; the same innocent smile, the same red glasses, the same giddy brown eyes, the same thick eyebrows – that was Betty. Whatever lay underneath wasn't changing that and he was relieved.

Then he looked down a little lower.

Betty had…a shape.

Quite a shape.

Wow.

Underneath the layers of clothing she usually wore to the office, nobody would ever notice it before – Daniel included. He just sort of saw her shape as nonexistent underneath a sea of fabric. But she had curves – curves comparable to Jo's, and which looked very accentuated and appealing in the outfit she was wearing.

It was a simple outfit, too. Nothing crazy; no lingerie piece or crazy black leather costume.

It was just a little more skin, just as Jo had said.

Her overbearing swirl of colors was gone. She had on a simple pink halter top and a pair of black dress pants; that was it. The clothing fit her curves beautifully.

He skin looked soft and smooth; he'd never really seen that before, either. Her arms were a naturally tan shade, and they flowed smoothly down to her waist in an elegant way he wasn't used to seeing on her. Her entire neckline was exposed, which also made her look a lot more ladylike than he had ever seen.

He tried avoiding the obvious, but it was far too difficult.

Underneath her neckline.

Where – where – did those come from, and how on Earth could she have kept them a secret for so long? How could he not have noticed them? They were shapely and round and…

No.

He wasn't going to look at Betty's…finer assets anymore.

Not when she was right there and he knew that he owed her an apology. He also knew that she'd still be annoyed until he marched right out and did it in person.

The closer he'd get, the harder it would be not to look…there.

Not that he didn't want to.

Upset by this sudden, unexpected urge in him, he tried thinking of the most unappealing things he could imagine simply to avoid being one of those disgusting Player men.

"Betty," he cautiously said as he walked through his doorway. "Hey. Look, I owe you an apology."

Betty, in the process of checking her messages, gave him that, "I'm-going-to-pretend-I'm-not-mad-but-I-really-am" look.

Why did she have to stay seated while he was standing above her and had no chair available to sit in? He had enough to apologize for.

"Oh?" Betty asked, not looking at him.

"Okay, I get it, you're not looking at me – I know how it feels. I was a jerk, okay? I'm sorry I acted like that – it was really rude."

"No, Daniel, you don't know how it feels," Betty cut in. She gave him a vulnerable look that broke his heart to see, and for a minute his temptation to look…there again passed. "This isn't an easy assignment for me. I thought you of all people would do what you could to make me a little more comfortable."

"I know. I'm sorry. I was just…being overprotective and stupid. I was afraid to see what you were wearing because I didn't want the guys here giving you a hard time."

Uh oh.

He said something stupid.

The vulnerable look turned to hurt.

"Am I so horrible, Daniel, that my decision to try dressing differently would make all the guys here give me a hard time?"

"No!" Daniel replied, startled at being misunderstood and still avoiding the urge to look where she wouldn't want him to.

"Look, I know I can't pull this look off exactly like, say, Amanda would, but that's not the point. This is to empower women, and they picked me because guys don't look at me like that. This is just to make me feel good about myself to help sell skin cream that will help make other gawky women feel good about themselves. But, you know what, if I'm so terrible that the minute you hear that my attempt to dress in more skin bearing clothing is a total joke in this office, maybe I should just drop the assignment because I'm incredibly hopeless."

For a moment, Daniel didn't care about what Betty was wearing.

He didn't care what any of the other guys thought.

He didn't care about anything else except for one thing –

Betty was discouraged.

He had discouraged her.

After all of the encouragement that she gave him, one stupid action of his completely discouraged her.

He had to stop this.

"No! Betty – don't drop the assignment! It's a great opportunity!" Daniel insisted.

"Why? Other girls can look at me and feel better about themselves? Insecure girls can have a token ugly role model for everyone to laugh at?"

"Because people aren't looking at you in disgust, Betty. Not at all. I mean, really…you look great."

And he meant it.

He knew she knew that, too, because her eyes shone in that touched, flattered way they did whenever he surprised her by doing something right.

"I do?"

"Oh, come on, Betty, you're a smart girl – you knew that."

"Well…I don't know, I guess, but I thought you just thought I was disgusting yesterday!"

"Are you serious?" Daniel asked, feeling more ashamed of himself than ever. "Betty, do you honestly think that I'd ever find you disgusting?"

"I didn't, but you were acting so weird…"

"Because, like I said, I'm a jerk. And I didn't want to see what the guys here were seeing because they're not the kind of guys you want looking at a girl you respect."

She blushed and smiled now.

He redeemed himself.

He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Thank you, Daniel. But I handled myself pretty okay yesterday. I mean, yeah, there were a few awkward looks here and there, but everything was fine. No perverted remarks."

"Good," Daniel replied, feeling relieved. "Are we good now?"

"We're good," Betty said, and Daniel felt another urge. He bent lower and wrapped his arms around her, noticing that her frame felt much smaller when it wasn't padded with layers of clothing.

"I'm so sorry, Betty."

"Apology accepted, Daniel," Betty replied. "I'm sorry I didn't have more faith in you."

"So," Daniel said, pulling away and walking towards a neighboring desk where he pulled a chair over, because this urge to keep looking from overhead would not go away. "How did it go? Your first day on the assignment. Have you written anything yet?"

"Well, yeah," Betty said reluctantly. "I started. It's hard to tell where this is going to go."

"How about you? How are you doing with it?"

"Well, I'm doing pretty well. It's hard seeing the women treat me crappier than they did before."

"Well, Jo was telling me you look great."

"Oh, yeah?" Betty dryly replied, sounding not too fond of Jo. "How's that going?"

"Fine. We're just having fun; nothing too serious," Daniel replied, grateful to be back to a normal conversation again.

"Well, as long as you're both on the same page."

"She's more on this page than I am," Daniel replied, feeling slightly disappointed to report this. As lightly as Jo took their relationship, she was growing on him, but he felt almost afraid to admit that – even to Betty.

"Well, maybe that's for the best, Daniel. I mean, you never know what'll happen. Speaking of relationships, a guy in my building asked me on a date yesterday."

"Really?" Daniel asked, genuinely excited for her until something hit him.

She was wearing one of her more revealing outfits yesterday.

Damn it.

Daniel was her boss and her friend and he was finding it hard not to stare. Some random guy she didn't know who lived in her building asked her on a date…when she was dressed for the article?

"Yeah," Betty said. "Actually, it's weird. I met him a few days ago and we didn't hit it off right away; he was playing loud music in the wee hours of the night and I went to tell him to stop…"

A musician.

Great.

Just what Daniel needed to hear.

"…and then I left my door open so he came to let me know, and at that point I had changed into the outfit I was wearing yesterday, so he kind of, well…"

"He what?" Daniel pressed, his tone becoming more serious.

"He kind of…looked. Well, you know."

An adrenaline rush surged through Daniel, and he forgot for a moment that he, himself had done the same thing a few minutes ago.

He didn't like the idea of some strange musician looking at Betty – at his Betty – like that.

"And you're going out with this guy? Are you insane?"

"Well, no, Daniel, I'm not done! He came by yesterday to apologize and then asked – very respectfully, by the way – if I could get coffee today."

"Well, of course he was respectful!" Daniel said, holding in the desire to find this guy and tear his eyes out. "He was trying to get in your good graces to get you out."

"And, gee, Daniel," Betty teased, grinning and apparently enjoying this reaction a hell of a lot more than he did. "You'd know nothing about using mildly manipulative strategies to get a woman out, would you?"

Ouch.

She killed his entire point.

He could say nothing about this; it would make him a hypocrite.

That didn't mean he had to like him.

"Fine," Daniel said, eager to be on good terms with Betty again. "Just…be careful, okay? You don't know this guy."

"I will, Daniel. We'll only go to very well lit places – I promise."

"Good," Daniel replied. "And if anything happens, you'll let me know right away, right?"

"Um…sure," Betty squeaked.

"Betty…"

"Look, Daniel, I'll be fine. If he's a jerk, I think I can handle myself. I've had a lifetime of experience with jerks these days."

Another thing that made Daniel furious.

Why did Betty have such poor luck with men? She was such a sweet, kind, giving girl. And now – seeing her dressed in these more flattering clothes – well, there was a beauty to her he never really saw. It was still unconventional and she was, by no means, ready for the cover of Mode.

But it was so unique and wonderful.

There was a sense of life and wonder and innocence about it.

If this musician did anything to shake that, Daniel would find him, tear him apart and make certain that he never went anywhere within a hundred yard radius of Betty again.

But he couldn't say that now.

He had to trust her.

He had to trust him.

In two more days, he'd feel better about the whole thing.

"Okay, then. Just…keep going with this article, Betty. It's going to be great." She smiled her bright, metallic smile at him.

"Thanks!"

Daniel nodded and walked towards his office. "Lots to do today – we'd better get started."

And they did. The morning went quick – quicker than Daniel would have hoped, because, at about 12:30, he showed up…

The musician showed up.

Daniel saw the way he looked at Betty – he was ready if she needed him. He always was.