* Simply Betty - Moving On! - Part Five

It had taken several weeks and all of her cash - but the builders had finally finished renovating Betty's newly purchased house and had moved on to pastures new. It was time for Betty to leave her childhood home and move on with her own life... she stood staring up at her new home, surrounded by her worldly belongings (two suitcases and a bag of jellybeans) and suddenly felt very alone - a completely unfamiliar feeling... still, she'd made a few decisions whilst on her last adventure in China - and she intended to stick to them...

After she'd dragged her luggage indoors, she slipped her cell phone from her back pocket and keyed in Dallas Shallow's number. He appeared pleased to hear from her and immediately agreed to meet her at the Diner - completely oblivious to the lack of enthusiasm in Betty's own voice.

They met outside, as arranged and when Dallas moved in for a tactile greeting, Betty took a step back and held her hands up in her front of her, warding him off - though she was suddenly unsure that she'd made the right decision - because out of his party gear Dallas was still pretty damn gorgeous!

"What's wrong, Betty Boo?"

"Ugh... I'm sorry Dallas, perhaps I should have just done this on the phone."

He immediately understood why she'd held back from him. "You're dumping me?" he was astonished. "You can't dump me - I'm a Shallow! Nobody dumps a Shallow, Betty Simovitch - least of all someone like you!"

"Excuse me? Someone like me???" her voice went up an octave and Dallas, not knowing Betty as well as he thought - did not heed the warning signs.

"You come from poor stock, Betty Simovitch," he sneered. "You'll never amount to anything. I was doing you a favour even turning up today!"

Betty leaned forwards very slowly, reached a hand up equally slowly and wrapped his scarf around her fist. Dallas, thinking she was going to beg him to stay - let her. When Betty tugged him forwards until they were nose to nose, Dallas grinned - triumphant. He should have looked her in the eye. He'd have seen it coming.

Betty broke his nose. 

With her forehead.

She walked away from Dallas then, without a backward glance. She'd made the right decision - Dallas was a jerk. A good looking jerk. She sighed with regret - they'd have made beautiful babies. Never mind... she had bigger fish to fry.

Betty flipped her phone open and made the call that she'd been most nervous about... Bob almost didn't answer his phone when he saw Betty's name come up. Almost. She asked to meet him somewhere in town, and he was already at the library with his dad - so he reluctantly agreed to wait around and meet her there.

When Betty arrived it only took her a moment to spot him - mucking about on a desktop. He looked up and her heart missed a beat when his eyes met hers across the shelves of books... he'd changed whilst she'd been away. He'd grown up. He was gorgeous! When she was finally standing in front of him, all of her bravado deserted her. Everything she'd rehearsed just disappeared from her mind... he really was gorgeous... Bob was gorgeous... Gorgeous Bob... Bob the Yummy One... Gorgeous yummy Bob... Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.

"Hello?" Bob waved his hands in front of her face... "Betty? You in there?"

"Huh?"

"Betty are you okay?" he was starting to get a little alarmed - Betty didn't do vacant.

"Bob? You growed.. I mean, you're yum- ... you're gorge- " she cut herself off and bit down hard on her tongue. She took a deep breath and started again... "Bob, you're ummm... taller." Waaay to go, Betty!

He raised one eyebrow and bent to look her in the eye . "Have you been drinking?" he sniffed her breath.

"Cut it out! No. I have not been drinking, you just - you've changed is all. I suppose I expected you to still be the same. Stupid really"

"It's been months Betty. Time moves on, regardless of who's around to see it."

Betty had hoped that he wouldn't still be pissed at her for the way she'd behaved on their last meeting. Or for the fact that she'd disappeared without a word. Apparently she was out of luck. Best to start the rest of this conversation with an apology then..."Bob. I'm sorry. Sorry for the way I reacted when you told me you loved me. Sorry for thinking Dallas Shallow wasn't shallow. Sorry for possibly ruining the best friendship I've ever had. Sorry for always being a pain in the arse. Sorry for being -"

"- you?" he cut in.

Betty shrugged sheepishly and risked a quick look to see if he was softening... "Yeah - mostly for that."

Bob reached down and took her hands in his "Don't be," he said softly. "Being your best friend has always been the very best thing in my life... hardest thing too - you're no picnic Betty Simovitch."

Betty stood quietly, scanning his face with her eyes - looking for some sign of the young boy that had declared his love for her... do it now Bob... kiss me now... come on.... kiss me, kiss me, kiss me... no, no, no -  moment is passing... sod it... not again !

She took matters into her own hands, closed her eyes, leaned forwards... and pressed her lips to his... nothing happened. Bob didn't pull away from her - but neither did he return the kiss. Then just as suddenly as she'd kissed him, he was kissing her back... and it was heaven.

After a moment or two - Bob was the first to slow things down.

"Betty?" he murmered against her lips.

"Mmmm????"

"You realise we're making out in the middle of the library.. and that my dad is sitting behind me?"

"Mmmm - Oh!" she gave an embarassed grin. " Sorry!"

"I'm not." he grinned back. Unashamed.

There was an awkard silence, then they both broke into smiles again. Bob smoothed Betty's hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You wanna spend the rest of the day together? I have *goof off* time saved up."

"That'd be nice, " she smiled, suddenly a little shy.

Bob's heart melted. 

Just like that. 

Betty really was hard work, but worth every ounce of effort.

They spent the following two weeks together, whenever they got the chance. Bob was slowly building a reputation as a designer/architect and Betty finally applied for a job in the music field. When they weren't working, they spent every waking moment together and even though Betty had left her family home to give her parents some time alone - when she wasn't with Bob, she was visiting with Vad and Fatty. She missed them terribly.

All too soon, Betty's small reserve of cash dwindled - and it was time to go adventuring again. Even though she was in full time employment there just wasn't enough money to live the lifestyle she wanted and furnish her new home . Bob was understandably upset that she was leaving again so soon - but equally understanding of Betty's need for a life away from Riverview. They said their goodbyes at the airport, and Betty headed off to Champs Les Sims.

She had a yearning to make her own nectar. It would be a great way to use the produce that her father grew and earn herself a little cash on the side - so she took some advice and experimented with flavours until she finally came up with something that was drinkable. It took a few goes though, and for some reason, she was garnering a fair amount of attention from the local paparazzi - not something she wanted, but she managed to ignore them for the most part.

In between learning how to make nectar, Betty made time to go on several archeological digs and managed to find quite a few saleworthy relics.

There was - of course - the usual tomb raiding and treasure hunting...

... and the prerequisite dead body. All in a days work.

Betty had planned on staying in Champs Les Sims a little longer than she normally would - but one evening when she was supposed to be enjoying a little local flavour in the Catania Cafe - a feeling of acute loneliness overcame her. She could have been at a movie with Bob, or eating dinner with her parents... this just wasn't as much fun as it should have been... she really wasn't enjoying this trip like she normally would.

It was time to head home.

Bob was busy working on a set of blueprints for the McDermotts when Betty phoned him, having come home early - the first thing she'd done after she'd unpacked, was key in his number and hope he wasn't too busy to answer. He wasn't.

10 minutes later he was standing outside her house. Blueprints abandoned.

"Hi," Betty scuffed her feet across the path. Now that he was here, yet again she was clueless as to what to do next.

"Hi," Bob smiled inwardly. Betty may have travelled the world, seen and done things he could never possibly imagine - but she was a complete novice when it came to relationships. So was he, but her shyness brought out the man in him. "I missed you, Betty."

She looked up at him and smiled, "I came home early."

" Is that you saying that you missed me too?" he chuckled. " Shall we go inside, or would you like me to kiss the living daylights out of you on the front porch?"

"Inside is good!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him up the front steps and into the house.

After he'd kissed her senseless, Bob framed her face in his hands and asked the question that was begging to be asked, but that neither of them had ever given voice to... "Would you like to go upstairs?" he'd felt so brave a few moments ago, and suddenly wondered if perhaps it was all too fast "Of course, we don't have to - we can go out to eat or maybe we could stay in and have sandwi-"

"Let's go upstairs, " Betty cut him off and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'd like to."

They were both very nervous initially. Neither of them ever having had a relationship that had progressed this far before. There was a lot of fumbling and giggling... then they forgot to worry... forgot to think... forgot that they were two people... and became one.

It was magical... if a little... ummm... quick!

Bob swore blind he saw little red love hearts at one point... and though Betty thought she did too, she teased him mercilessly about it. They snuggled and chatted into the night, only leaving the bed to raid the fridge for a midnight feast. They'd been apart for little more than a week, and yet it had felt like forever.

Eventually, they slept and in the morning, when Betty finally left the bed to take a shower... Bob just couldn't help himself...

He made sure he could hear the shower running, then leapt from the bed and did a little joyful strut around the room... "Go B-ob, go B-ob!" he sang as swung his arms and did a little dance.

"WHAT?" Betty yelled from the bathroom. "Bob... did you say something?"

"Ummm... NO!" he sniggered a snot bubble... then continued in a whisper "Go B-ob, Go B-ob!" ... still dancing.

To Be Continued...