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Betty Ingrid
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TOTAL SILENCE. FOR a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity, Betty said nothing at all. It sounded to her as if the rest of the world around her had frozen as well. From outside of her window, she heard none of the normal street traffic and petty crime that was part of the daily soundtrack of city life. The only sounds that broke through the quiet were those of Gus Gus' faint purring and a very faint humming sound coming over the line of her telephone. If it hadn't been for those two things, she might have believed that the world had stopped and gone utterly quiet. Then Zach cleared his throat and broke the illusion. She pulled the phone away from her ear briefly and stared at it as if she might be able to catch a glimpse of his face and see if he was serious about this nutty proposal or if he was just looking for a new way to mess with her. When she heard him speak again, his voice sounding far away with the phone pulled down like it was, she returned it to her ear.
“Betty? Are you still there?” His voice was all nerves.
“I’m here.”
“Good. That’s a start. I thought you might have hung up on me and I have a feeling that if you do that, you’re going to block my number.”
“Would you blame me?”
“No,” he sighed, “not at all.”
“Are you serious? Are you actually asking me to do this?”
“I’m dead serious. I never joke about business propositions.”
“You’re asking me to be your fake girlfriend?”
“As a means to an end, yes.”
“Um, okay. Wow.”
“What are your thoughts? Walk me through them. Let’s see if we can’t come up with an arrangement that we’re both comfortable with.”
Again, Betty was rendered momentarily mute. In many ways, she had lived a difficult life, with very few unexpected opportunities coming her way. Even when she dreamed of one, back when that kind of dream had still felt possible for her, never in her wildest imagination had she expected to come up against something like this. She was pretty sure a movie had been made based on a premise like this once, and that was fine. Movies could be built on insane notions. It was one of the reasons people went to see them in the first place. But for it to happen in real life? For it to happen to her? That was another story entirely.
“Betty?”
“I heard you. If you want me to be comfortable with it, stop pushing me. Give me time to think.” She sounded shrill and maybe on the verge of a little panic attack to boot.
“Sure,” he answered quickly, “that’s only fair. But tell me one thing.”
“What? What is it?”
“Does that mean you’re considering it?”
"I guess it does." She stopped, considering if she really meant it. It was nuts. It was totally insane to even consider doing what he was asking, and yet she couldn't think of a reason not to. The most important thing to her was getting through school. She had been going, off and on, since she was eighteen years old, and at twenty-six she was finally close to the finish line. The fact that she hadn't been able to finish faster, to go at a faster pace, was one of the great regrets of her life. It hadn't been due to lack of desire or intellect on her part but had come down to money. Betty was of the opinion that, in the end, almost everything did. The thought of walking across the stage and maybe even carving out a better place of the world for herself was what had kept her trudging through the years of hard work and little thanks she had endured. Now, she was out of a job, and something told her she wouldn't be getting a good referral from The Bellevue. If she wanted to get through with school, she needed money. Zach was offering her an opportunity to get that money. It was a conventional arrangement but so what? Convention wasn't going to keep her electricity on.
"I may wind up really regretting this, but I'm in." Her heart leaped into her throat. Even after coming to the firm decision in her head, she couldn't quite believe she had said those words out loud.
“Awesome!” he crowed so loudly that she had to pull the phone away from her ear yet again, “Seriously, that’s really great to hear. You aren’t going to regret this, Betty. I know you think that’s a crock of shit but I promise you, you won’t.”
“Hang on, Zach. Before you get too excited–”
“Too late,” he inserted, his voice on the verge of manic at this point.
“Before you get too excited, I’m going to need some things set out first for this to be a go.”
“Name them. I’ll give you anything you want.”
“Okay, for starters, I’m going to want all of the details about our arrangement in writing.”
“Definitely. I wouldn’t enter into any agreement without the proper documentation.”
“Secondly, we need to go over some ground rules.”
“You know, for somebody who wasn’t ever going to talk to me a second ago, you are surprisingly adept at this.” His voice was playful and warm now that the tension of waiting for her decision had worn off some. She felt herself softening to him and shook her head violently. If he could have seen her he probably would have thought she was insane; Gus Gus surely thought so judging by the look he was giving her. But she needed to keep her head if she was really going to do this thing. She needed to keep her head or else she would get swallowed up by something too big for her to understand.
“I’m not going to set a certain dollar amount, but I expect to be paid accordingly. Don’t think I’m going to settle for next to nothing just because I’m desperate. I’ve done that before. It’s what I was doing at The Bellevue. I’m never doing that again.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t dream of it. I think you will find your compensation more than satisfactory.”
“Okay, good. The next thing is if I’m going to do this, it’s a business thing. That’s it. It’s only a transaction. That means no feelings, no love, and no commitment. You understanding that part is a big deal. It’s the whole deal, actually. If you can’t agree to this, I’m out.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“I do, and I agree. But if we’re making demands, I’d like to lay out a few of my own conditions. Just to keep things even, you know?”
“Sure,” she answered sarcastically, “wouldn’t want things to be unfair, would we?”
"Right. If you are going to be acting like my girlfriend, and one serious enough to warrant spurning an engagement for, I'll need you to give an excellent performance. I'm talking superb."
“I think I can do that.” She was slightly taken aback by the no-nonsense, authoritative way he was talking now. She had to remind herself that she was the one who had started things down this road. She had wanted to talk terms. That was exactly what they were doing. Negotiating.
“Good. I’m glad to hear it. Just keep in mind that this isn’t a game to me. It’s my life. I understand that it may sound ridiculous to you–”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to say it. I realize that’s how things seem to you, but you have to remember that, ridiculous or not, this is my life. I have no wish to be tied down to somebody I can’t stand for the rest of my life just to please my parents. If we’re going to do this, I need to know you’re fully invested.”
Betty stopped and considered what he was saying. Her first impression of this man hadn’t been the best. She’d considered him to be arrogant and pushy. He’d practically forced her to see him as something different, coming to see her again and again until she felt that she couldn’t resist him any longer. When she’d seen him in The Bellevue flirting away like she’d never existed at all, it had confirmed her worst fears about Zach. It had confirmed that he was just like every other man she’d had the misfortune of getting involved with, which, although not many, had let her down one hundred percent of the time. It was easier to believe that he was a creep than it was to believe that maybe his life wasn’t perfect. Believing and acknowledging that he had his own problems to contend with forced her to reevaluate her view of the way the world worked. That was a hard thing to do, especially for somebody who’s experience had so often been trying.
“Betty? Are you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“You asked me to consider things,” she answered irritably, “and that’s what I’m doing. Would you have rathered I blow it off and act like it didn’t matter?”
“No. I’m sorry. I guess I’m not used to people really taking the time to do a thing like that when I ask them to.” He sounded chastised enough for Betty to feel a little sorry for the way she was dealing with him. Not very sorry, not after everything that had gone down, but sorry enough that she adjusted her tone to sound just a little gentler when she spoke to him next.
“The answer is yes.”
“Yes? Yes to which part, exactly? I’m not sure I even know what we’re talking about at this point.”
“Yes to the part about me taking this thing seriously. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I think it’s the roughest life ever to grow up filthy rich.”
“I never said that, although I wouldn’t presume to know another person’s life just because of money.”
“And I wouldn’t presume you understand what it’s like to grow up without any.”
“Fair point.”
“That being said, I don’t want to screw you over. I’ll play my part well enough that people won’t question anything. Or at least if they do, it won’t be my authenticity. I can’t speak to what the general public opinion will be, although I doubt it will be positive.”
"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously. Despite knowing that he couldn't see her face, she felt very much like she was being peered into a little too closely. He might as well have told her to lay down on the couch so he could psychoanalyze her. If there was one thing she wasn't interested in with Zach, it was that.
“Because it’s the truth,” she said decidedly, determined that it would be the end of that line of conversation.
“If you say so. It doesn’t matter, anyway. That part is nothing you need to worry about. All you need to concern yourself with is playing your part well.”
"Good. Done." She nodded to herself, thankful that this conversation was coming to a close. After the day she'd had, she was completely wiped.
“I’m glad to hear it. There’s just one more thing.”
“Alright. Can we make it quick, though? I haven’t had the best day. I kind of just want to go to bed and pretend none of it happened.”
"Of course, I understand," he answered sympathetically. She kept her mouth shut, but it wasn't an easy task. She couldn't say for certain, but her belief was that he in no way understood, no matter what he assumed. She didn't see how he could. When you owned your own empire, you never had the distinct humiliation of being fired by a man who'd tried to feel you up not too long ago. She could have told him all of this and plenty more but really, what was the point? It would only prolong something she was sorely ready to be done with.
“Cool,” was the response she settled on. “Then tell me what you need to say.”
“Only that I would like you to agree to keep an open mind.”
“I’m sorry, come again? I don’t think I understand what you mean by that.”
"I mean exactly what I say. Try and keep an open mind. About our situation, about us. About all of it. I know that you think you know me. In your head you've already pinned down everything that makes me tick. That's fine. I'm not going to try and argue the point with you. I'm not one for impossible battles, and that's exactly what it would be."
“Okay,” she said slowly, “if you say so.”
“I do. And it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not asking for anything like love. All I want is an agreement that you stay open to other things.”
“What kind of other things might you be talking about?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel the need to specify. Why don’t you use your imagination?”
Betty’s face flushed and again she got that feeling that he could somehow see her through the phone. If he was alluding to what she thought he was alluding to, then it was a very forward suggestion indeed. She could have called him out on it but what if she was wrong? It would be just about the most humiliating thing ever, that’s what. It would be the final cherry on her crap sundae of a day. Even the idea of it was more than she could stomach and she decided to let it lie. Besides, there was a part of her that didn’t exactly want to discourage him. If he meant what she thought he meant, there was a part of her that was more than a little interested in finding out more. She would never say it out loud, didn’t think she could ever say it out loud, but that didn’t make it any less true.
“You’re kind of leaving me hanging here,” he laughed, almost nervously.
“I’m thinking.”
“Good. Are you leaning in one direction or the other? Do you agree?”
“Yes. Agreed. Can I go now?”
“You can. Please be prepared to meet one of my cars tomorrow around two, let’s say. I think it’s best we get this started right away, don’t you?”
“Um, I guess so.”
“Perfect. My driver will be around tomorrow to get you, along with my personal secretary, Jane, to get things ready. Is that something you can be amenable to?”
“I think so,” she answered, feeling kind of stunned. She couldn’t recall ever having had somebody ask her if she was amenable to anything before, let alone being picked up by a driver and a personal secretary. She half expected somebody to pop out from one of her closets and tell her she was being punk’d or something.
“Good. Jane will give you a call when they’re ready for you to come down. And that’s just about everything I have. Looks like you’re free of me for this evening, Betty. I hope you have exactly the kind of night you’re hoping for.”
Zach hung up before she was able to give him a reply. It was only after sitting dazed for a moment or two that she thought of the question she probably should have asked him. How in the world did he know the address to send his fancy car?
