After a while of walking along the beach, Betty mustered up the courage to say, “I am sorry for the way Dave behaved with you. He had no right to do so.”
She was still not looking up at him and Rick felt a stab of disappointment for not being able to read those baby blues.
He raised the hand he was holding and kissed it once again and smilingly said “You don’t need to feel sorry for that slum-bag.”
She raised her eyes to see if he truly was not affected by Dave’s words. The warmth in his grey eyes made her heart feel lighter and she returned his smile with one of her own.
“So should we go to the fair where you want to purchase some souvenirs for friends back home?” asked Rick nonchalantly.
“Umm… I was just making that up to…” Betty stopped her sentence mid-way.
Rick very well understood that she had said that so that Dave and Sam didn’t feel the abruptness with which Rick was talking to them. She was a softie at heart. Rick looked down at her once more and to stop her from feeling bad once more said, “But what will your friends back home say if you do not bring them back those knick knacks?”
He was giving one of his mischievous smiles once more and Betty blushed and looked down once more.
“Yeah. Well… I already bought some baubles yesterday before I came down for dinner. They are not that many, but well my friends are also not that many. But in case you want to buy some for your friends I do not mind going to the fair once more. They have some nice souvenirs over there in the third shop on the left lane. And down the same lane, in the last shop are some nice t-shirts you can get. And…” Betty went on and on and Rick didn’t have the heart to stop her tirade. He just smiled at her and led her to the fair.
They spent the day just roaming arm in arm through the lanes of the fair. He didn’t end up buying something for his friends back home. But then if he had, they would have thought he had gone crazy. He just enjoyed the day with Betty next to him.
He played one of those “Throw a Ring” games and won a small stuffed teddy bear for her, which she now carried tucked under her arm. He also had a snow cone along with her, when she insisted for one. He just couldn’t remember the last time he had a snow cone. He also couldn’t remember the last time he had so much fun doing nothing at all. He suspected it was because of the company he had today.
Betty seemed tired by evening so he took her back to their hotel. After collecting their keys, they used the elevator to get to her floor. But this time he walked her to her door.
Outside her door, he paused and stopped her from turning the key in the lock and said, “I had great fun today, Betty Cooper.”
Betty gave him a genuine smile and replied, “So did I, Rick Sanders.”
“Would you like to meet for dinner in a couple of hours?” asked Rick glancing at his watch which indicated it was six o’ clock but still not leaving her hand which held the room keys.
Betty fumbled, fidgeted with the teddy under her other arm, blushed and said, “Hmm.”
“Okay then. See you upstairs at The Roof Top at 8,” said Rick straightening himself.
“Umm. Isn’t that a ‘by reservation only’ restaurant in this hotel?” asked Betty.
“Consider it reserved for you, mi lady,” answered Rick gallantly.
“Oh,” was the only thing Betty could think of saying.
“See you then,” said Rick as he bent his head to give her a kiss on her cheek and then went close to her ear and whispered, “Wear something nice.”
With that he turned on his heel and entered the elevators and left her gaping behind him once again.
Nice? How ‘nice’ is nice? This is becoming a habit with this guy. What’s with him and my mouth remaining open as soon as he leaves me alone?
Betty turned her key in and entered her apartment. She placed the stuffed teddy bear on the dressing table and stared at the toy for a while making faces. Then she opened her suitcase trying to look for ‘something nice’ to wear for her date tonight.
It was a date, wasn’t it?
It was Valentine’s Day eve tonight. She hadn’t spent a Valentine Day’s with someone since… Was there a chance her date would last into the wee hours of morning? Would Rick be her Valentine for tomorrow?
She had just got one cocktail dress in anticipation of the conference dinner, which she ended up not attending because of one of the meetings she had to go to in another part of the town.
It was the quintessential little black dress, which can be found in any girl’s closet. It hugged her curves to a T and was off-shoulders showing a little bit of skin on the top. She had four inch high black pumps she would wear with this. She took out the black pearls her only friend and boss, Sarah had gifted her last birthday. She decided to let down her hair in waves and so went for a shower.
At quarter to eight, Betty was all ready in her LBD, pumps, pearls and a dash of make-up so as to not overdo it. She took the elevators up for The Roof Top, the terrace restaurant of The Armada. She wondered if Rick had been able to secure a table for them.
When she reached the restaurant door at exactly eight, the maitre d hotel asked for her name.
“Umm… Betty,” said Betty hesitatingly.
“Ms. Cooper?” asked the man looking up with a smile on his face.
When Betty nodded in agreement, he said, “This way, Ma’am. Mr. Sanders is waiting for you.”
He led her to a secluded corner table overlooking the sea. Violins were playing in the background. The table was set for two. It had a basket of a bed of red roses lying in the center of the table. There was a trolley containing wine in between an ice bucket and two wine glasses. This seemed to be the best table of the restaurant overlooking the view around. A tall dark man dressed in a black suit was standing next to the table looking at the rolling sea waves and the dark clouds beyond.
Betty could bet that the man’s eyes were darker than those clouds he looked at.
“Sir. Ma’am has arrived,” said the maitre d’ hotel and Rick turned with a genuine smile and took in the sight of Betty. His smile faltered a bit to see her dressed like that.
I knew she was beautiful, but tonight she is gorgeous. How could I ever think that she is a sweet girl next door type? She is surely a siren sent to drive me to my knees. She is the prettiest woman I have ever seen in my life.
Betty got conscious looking at Rick’s reaction and started playing with her hair trying to see if they were alright.
The maitre d’ hotel cleared his throat and pulling out a chair for Betty said, ‘Ma’am?’
Betty sat on her chair, followed by Rick who looked more like his original self.
The maitre d’ hotel was saying something and Betty tried to concentrate, “Your server will be here shortly. Enjoy your meal, Ma’am. Sir.” He nodded at both and left to acquire his earlier post at the entrance.
Rick opened the bottle of wine and poured two glasses out of it. He placed one in front of her and raised the one for himself and said, “To the most beautiful woman around.” He tilted the glass in her direction.
Betty got self-conscious and covered her reactions by taking a large sip. She started coughing out loud.
Rick got up and patted her back and said softly in her ears, “Slowly, my dear. Imbibing wine too much or too soon can be detrimental to your health.”
His whispered words sent shivers down her as she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck. As her coughing stopped, Rick resumed his position and said, “I have already taken the liberty of ordering the menu for us both. I did not want to get distracted from this evening ahead.”
Betty raised an eyebrow at his presumptuousness. But then she saw the waiters silently arriving and placing tray after tray on a collapsible table near them.
“I ordered almost everything I found delectable as I was not sure of your preferences,” said Rick and Betty wondered just how much had he ordered. “To extend us some privacy I also dismissed the servers from helping us. I will be your server for today,” continued Rick as he got up to serve Betty the food.
She took a slice of chicken and a small portion of fish and he did the same for him. They talked about nothing in particular and the night was progressing pleasantly.
“Would you care for a dance?” asked Rick chivalrously offering his hand to Betty.
“I don’t know how to dance” fumbled Betty.
“You don’t need to know how to dance. It is all about leading,” insisted Rick, but Betty ignored the topic.
They talked some more, had some more wine and the dinner progressed to dessert. He had ordered vanilla icecream with walnut brownie and chocolate sauce on top of it. Betty’s favorite. She was simply enjoying the dessert and licked her spoon.
Rick watched her mesmerized as his eyes darkened further. The small sounds Betty was making while eating the dessert, made it seem like such an erotic experience that it left him wondering about the sounds she would make in bed.
Now where did that come from?
To divert himself from those kind of thoughts, Rick again asked Betty, “Would you now dance with me?”
“I told you I do not know how to dance,” replied Betty again.
“And I told you that you don’t need to know how to dance. It is all about leading,” again said Rick.
Betty looked out at the sea again and wondered why Rick was so insistent on dancing.
If he knows how bad I am, he will regret asking me. She gulped down some more wine trying to distract herself.
“Why won’t you agree for a dance with me?” persisted Rick.
“I can’t dance. I have told you so many times before!” answered Betty raising her voice a bit.
“You don’t need to know how to dance. It’s all about leading. I have told you so many times before!” insisted Rick once more.
He was being irritating with his insistence. And so Betty drank some more wine.
The music changed tempo and a waltz started playing. Betty just loved the waltz. Now only if I could dance to this tune.
Rick did not know why Betty was refusing for the dance. But he so wanted to dance with her tonight. She was looking so pretty. He would do anything to have her in his arms right now, and a dance seemed the safest way to do it.
“Would you please care for a dance, Ms. Cooper?” said Rick once more pleadingly.
“Why not, Mr. Sanders!” answered Betty feeling light headed by the wine, the dinner, the romance of it all. She placed her hand in Rick’s and got up along with him as Rick led her to the dance floor.
It actually turned out to be all about leading. Funny, how Dave always blamed me for not being able to dance, thought Betty.
“Betsy-girl! There you are!” exclaimed Dave.
Think of the devil and the devil… thought Betty with a roll of her eyes. She also felt a slight stiffening of Rick’s body as if he didn’t like hearing to that voice.
Again Betsy-girl! How I wish I could throw a punch at his face and wipe off that smile!
Sam and Dave were standing in front of them. Dave was in a navy blue suit. Sam was wearing a red cocktail tube-dress, her curves bursting out. All eyes were trained on her in the restaurant.
Except Rick who seemed to have eyes for no-one but... me? Betty blushed a bit with that thought.
“We had booked this restaurant last week. It is difficult to get in here. Very famous.” Said Dave.
“Yea. Daddy had to pull a few strings to get us in,” replied Sam and then continued with, “How many days ago did you book it?”
“A while,” answered Rick non-committing.
“Oh well. We are celebrating a special day – Valentine’s eve. It’s the day Sam decided to be my girlfriend,” said Dave grinning. He didn’t notice how Betty paled hearing this. February 14. But we were together till 17th April. Was he cheating me behind my back then?
Rick who had Betty in his arms on the dance floor, noticed her stiffening. Dave and Sam were oblivious to her plight. This irritated Rick to no end.
Dave continued without looking at Betty, “Special date, huh? So is this the place where you will finally ask Betty to marry you, huh?”
Rick had planned no such thing so as to propose Betty, but then he hadn’t planned to come face to face with Dave and Sam as well for this dinner. He just wished them off the face of the earth.
But Rick could not deny that those barbs at Betty were too much for her to handle. He could see these words were affecting Betty, as if her heart was broken all over again. He would have done anything to shut Dave’s mouth.
Why not? I can still do it!
Betty looked paler by the second. She was thinking of the proposal she had received on that Valentine’s Day while she was with Dave. She had never celebrated a Valentine’s Day after that day. All her other relationships didn’t last long enough to include that special day. And Steve was always away to ever celebrate the day with him. And now it turned out that even that Valentine’s Day, Dave was two-timing her.
Betty was flummoxed at Dave’s appearance, his words and assertion on the proposal. The taunting was too much for her to handle. But to know that she was being led on and cheated while she still thought of Dave as her boyfriend, it was too much for her to take. But she had to take a grip of herself. Being a stranger, Rick had been a good friend and to land Rick in a fix each time, was just not done. She straightened her shoulders and planned to just right that very thing when…
“Now that you mention it…” said Rick and bent down on one knee on the dance floor and took one of Betty’s hands.
“I love you from the bottom of my heart. I was lost and alone till you came into my life. My life is complete because of your presence in it. Will you do me the honor of making a perfect life with me, Betty Cooper?” said Rick to an astonished looking Betty as he brought out his other hand and opened a small dark blue box to reveal a diamond ring. Betty just gaped at him not knowing what to say.
Dave was stunned for a moment which shut his mouth and actually did wipe the smirk off his face.
Sam was exclaiming about the ring, “Oh my! What a solitaire! It’s bigger than mine!” She kept staring at the ring on her finger and the ring in the box in Rick’s hand.
Even the rest of the people on the dance floor, around the restaurant paused what they were doing to see Betty’s reaction.
Suddenly the clock struck twelve and the restaurant erupted into cheers of “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Betty still seemed stunned as she looked around at the balloons bursting and streamers dropping.
Rick squeezed Betty’s hand to bring her back to the present and looked at her with imploring eyes. He said, “It’s Valentine’s Day, Betty. I need a ‘yes’ from you!”
There was sheen of tears in Betty’s eyes, ready to spill over before she blinked them back and look resolutely at Rick and said, “Yes.”
She knew Rick had proposed just to save face.
The ‘solitaire’ Sam was exclaiming on, was probably a pawn shop bauble bought from one of the numerous shops set up in the carnival. After all he had spent time at the shops at the fair, but not bought anything. Or did he?
But just the thought that Rick was being considerate enough for her feelings brought tears to her eyes. The “Yes” may be just hogwash, but she felt so happy to say it…
Rick gave a breathtaking smile and got up on his feet. He pulled Betty into his embrace and brought his lips closer to hers. He tentatively kissed her, just a touching of the mouths, but as soon as he heard her moan he lost control. He swiped his tongue over her bottom lip and then her upper lip as if requesting entry. When she opened her mouth a bit, his tongue swept in and tangled with hers and he proceeded to kiss her senseless. When they broke apart, he pulled out the ring from its casing and slid it on to Betty’s hand.
“A perfect fit,” smiled Rick, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Betty looked down at her hand and the ring on it. She touched it with her other hand unable to say anything.
There were cheers all around as the other patrons of the restaurant applauded them. Dave and Sam too congratulated them. Rick graciously accepted everyone’s wishes while Betty stood dumbfounded going with the flow.
Rick noticed her reactions or rather the lack of it and decided to call it a day.
“I think me and my fiancé need to celebrate this personally. Its Valentine’s Day after all!” said Rick with a laugh. “If you people will excuse us,” he smiled for the benefit of all and pulling Betty by her hand dragged her out of the restaurant.
“Charge the bill to my room,” said Rick to the maitre d’ hotel while exiting the restaurant. The maitre d’ hotel got out the bill for Rick to sign. As Rick was completing the formalities, Betty rushed out and vanished.
Rick surely felt the need of luck to handle this situation. He followed Betty out of the hotel, but she was nowhere to be seen. He thought he saw a lone figure near the beach and walked in that direction. Betty was sitting at the beach looking forlornly at the sea. Her heels thrown carelessly next to her.
“Why are you so sad?” asked Rick. He could not bear to see Betty so sad.
“I always dreamt it would be the real thing. I never thought I would wear a fake pawn shop ring for a fake engagement,” replied Betty still looking lost.
Rick thought about the ring. He did not know why he had impromptu decided to bring the ring along with him today when he got down for dinner. He had planned to give the ring to Ronnie today as the clock struck twelve. He ended up placing the ring on another girl’s finger. But he didn’t regret doing so if the girl was Betty. He could not pinpoint the reason for this contentment he felt after Betty had said yes and he had made her wear the ring. He didn’t want to think about it as well.
He looked down at Betty’s hand and saw that the ring was missing.
“Where is the ring?” asked Rick softly. Rick felt hurt that she wouldn’t wear his ring.
“I didn’t feel right to wear it as a fake commitment from you,” answered Betty still looking out at the waves.
“But where is it?” insisted Rick. What she said was true. It was a fake engagement. But still there was no explaining his hurt feelings for Betty’s refusal to wear his ring.
Betty looked up at him and raised her hand and opened her fist. The ring lay inside it. Rick lifted his hand to pick the ring from her outstretched one, but right then Betty looked down once again and said softly, “I thought if I could have it for keepsake, as a remembrance.” She looked up again at Rick and he didn’t have the heart to refuse her.
“Sure. It’s yours. I gave it to you, didn’t I? Besides it’s not worth much,” said Rick. Somehow he knew that if Betty knew the true worth of the ring, she would never have taken it.
It was a 3 carat princess cut solitaire encased in platinum. He knew it was the real thing because he had been carrying it on person since he bought it himself a week ago when he had thought of presenting it to Ronnie. But then he realized that Ronnie did not value his love or feelings as much. He was walking back from having his heart broken when he had met a pixie faced girl asking for help, imploring him with her innocent baby blue eyes. And he had fallen head long in this.
“Thanks,” said Betty fisting the ring in her hand, “You won’t have to continue this charade anymore. I doubt Dave will harass us anymore. He just wanted to see if my dreams were fulfilled or not.”
“Sometimes dreams get side-tracked. Real life intervenes. But sometimes real life turns out to be so much better than those dreams,” said Rick sitting down next to her.
Betty looked at him and he gave her a small smile. Betty returned it with one of her own and then both of them looked out at the sea sitting comfortably in the other’s presence, neither wanting to leave or for this evening to end.
“I think we should go back inside,” said Betty after some time had elapsed. It was already one in the morning. She got up and dusted herself, held the ring in one hand and picked her heels with the other.
Rick held on to her hand with the ring while still seated, so that she turned to look at him. “Spend the day with me? Just because you want to? Not to show to anyone?” asked Rick entreating.
Betty looked at him for a moment and after being assured with whatever she saw said, “Meet you at ten at The Patio, Mr. Sanders.”
Rick grinned up at her and then got up saying, “You have got a deal, Ms. Cooper!”
They both walked hand in hand to their hotel where Rick kissed her goodnight, “Sweet dreams, Betty Cooper! Dream some of me.” And with a wink he pushed the elevator button to a close leaving a gaping Betty once again.
The nerve of him. She let out a sigh. Oh well! Anyways I have been able to dream of little else since I saw those stormy grey eyes!
She entered her rooms and after a quick shower went to sleep. The ring left on her dressing table.
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