"I can't wait to tell Danny my plan worked!"
Ok, in retrospect, that was an odd thing to pop into my mind the minute my lips were disengaged from Cliffs. I mean, it's probably not a good sign when I'm more excited about a successful man-trap than the actual man in my arms, but I was riding a whirlwind of emotions and I hadn't stopped to sort them out yet. Cliff noticed my attention was now on the door leading back to the practice and cupped my chin to turn my face back to his. That was the moment I realized this was all wrong, wrong, wrong.
"Babe. Let's get outta here." Cliff murmured, his voice low. I gently pulled my face out of his grasp. Why did it seem rude of him to touch me like that when just a few minutes before, a gentle chin stroke from Danny had churned my insides like butter? What the hell!
I smiled at Cliff even though I was suddenly not feeling it. Taking his hand, I started up the stairs. "Yeah, let's go back to the party!" Cliff didn't move.
"You really wanna go back in there? I was thinking of somewhere... quieter. Like my place."
"Cliff, it's my party! I did it all for... the building." Of course I wasn't going to tell him the truth. It was bad enough that Danny knew... DAMN it! Why was Danny constantly appearing in my thoughts? I was just trying to enjoy a romantic moment!
"Aw come on..." Cliff pulled me back and wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling my neck. I could smell his cologne, something expensive and tangy that bit my nose and I instantly recoiled. I thought of the scent I had my nose buried in earlier, something like Old Spice and surprisingly little sweat considering that Danny had been exerting himself... dancing... for me.
Cliff thought the smile that spread across my face was my response to his suggestion and he grinned back at me. "That's what I thought. Oh babe, you and I are gonna be fantastic." And with that his hand slid alarmingly low on my rear and squeezed.
"Cliff! What the hell! That's so rude!"
He just laughed. "C'mon, time's a'wasting"
"Cliff, I'm going back to the party. Do you want to join me or not?" Frankly, I was starting to lose interest in the answer. He cocked his head and said "Really? For how long?"
"I don't know. Why did you come back if you don't even want to be here?"
He grinned again, and if I didn't know what a leer was before, I did then. "You know why. We're adults, Mindy. We don't have to play games. You want me, and I want you, so let's go! Let's dooooo this!" He grabbed at me again and I backed away. I most decidedly didn't want him. The image of Danny smiling at me as he danced flashed in my mind, unbidden. That kind, sincere smile, trying so hard to make me happy... and yet the man before me had no sincerity in his expression, just hunger.
"Cliff, I think you have the wrong idea. No, I know you have the wrong idea, and I did too. This was a mistake."
"Damn it. Mindy!" Cliff called after me as I walked up the stairs.
"Goodbye, Cliff."
I got upstairs without even turning dramatically to look back, which was very hard for me to resist. I was ready to breeze back into the party and find Danny so we could talk because suddenly I really needed to talk to him - but the place was empty.
"Danny? Jeremy? Where is everyone!?"
"Hey, Dr. L, I thought you were gone already." Morgan popped his head out from behind the front desk as the Christmas lights went dark.
"I was outside... What is going on?!"
Morgan made a face and told me Danny had shut the party down. "He just yelled EVERYONE OUT! The party's over! And started pulling down decorations. Now I'm just cleaning up."
"Why did he do that, Morgan? That's so not cool!"
"You're telling me. Tamra was just about to open her secret Santa present. I don't even know why they call it secret, when I picked her on purpose, like Dr. C did."
I was so confused. "We drew names, Morgan."
"Well you did, but that's just because no one wanted Peter. He seems a little hard to shop..."
"Morgan, I have to stop talking to you. Where is Danny?"
Morgan told me Danny left right after his rampage. My stomach was in knots. Not only had this night gone completed wrong in every way possible, but I was dealing with two lunatic men, one of whom seemed only interested in my hot body, and the other... Well, I was blindsided for a minute in my office by the way he looked at me, but then he basically shut me down. Granted, I was a little buzzed on boob wine, but it seemed an awful lot like he was about to kiss me for a moment. Then that got all awkward and here I was with nothing.
Nothing except the burning desire to yell at Danny. How dare he shut my fantastic party down!? This was going to be a holiday tradition that would become legendary. People would fight to occupy vacant offices just for the chance to go to my party! I couldn't just let him get away with ruining it.
So that's how I found myself outside yet another man's apartment building at night. At least my hair looked good this time. But I wasn't there to make up with the man I loved, oh no, I was there for justice! By the time I arrived I was freezing yet hot with rage. I stormed up the steps and asked the doorman to let me in, but for some reason he refused. Maybe I shouldn't have used the term "strangle." He seemed close to calling the cops and I really didn't want to have to have Danny post bail, so I walked down the steps to gather my thoughts and plan a new strategy- and walked right into Danny.
"Mindy? What are you doing here?" He said, with a little crack in his voice that suddenly threw me off my game. He had hot coffee and a confused expression and I just stopped and stared. The step I was on made us exactly the same height and I was almost nose to nose to him. His breath steamed and swirled around us in the cold.
Then I remembered why I was there and it was not to gaze into his dark eyes or stare at his lips.
"How dare you, Daniel Castellano!"
Danny just stared back at me. He almost looked guilty, which he should have, but he didn't answer me.
"What happened to Cliff?" He asked softly.
Now how the hell did he know about Cliff? Danny was gone when I went back inside.
"What happened to my PARTY, Danny? Morgan told me you kicked everyone out!"
Danny flinched at my admittedly shrill tone, but still didn't reply. He shifted his weight from on foot to the other and looked past me to the doorman. He was planning his escape.
"You know how hard I worked on that party, Danny. I can't believe you did that." I was quieter, less accusatory and more hurt, which I guess was why he finally responded, albeit unwillingly.
"You got what you wanted, Mindy. What was the point of the party after that?" He sounded defeated, almost wounded. His face reflected the same, and he wouldn't look me in the eye. And for some reason, it hurt me too.
"I didn't get anything, Danny. "
He finally met my eyes. "Cliff came back for you, Mindy. Your little romantic comedy ending, just like you planned." He looked away again. "It's freezing out here. I'm going inside." He pushed past me and up the steps. I followed right behind him, catching his arm as he went through the door and smiling a dazzling smile at the doorman before hissing at Danny to stop. He kept going towards the elevator, tugging his arm free.
"Cliff is not who I thought he was, Danny. He is not a good guy." This was all it took for Danny to spin around and grab my arm.
"What did he do?" There was urgency and maybe even a little fear in his voice.
"It's no big deal, Danny. He just goosed me. All he wanted was a hookup. I... I made a mistake going outside.. with him" For some reason I put emphasis on that last word.
A tall thin blonde man cleared his throat, because we were standing in front of the open elevator doors and he wanted to exit. We both glared at him.
Danny pulled me into the elevator and we stood awkwardly quiet until we could get somewhere that we would not again be interrupted. It didn't seem at all strange that I balked at going to Cliff's place but quite quickly headed to Danny's. There were still knots on my stomach, though, and my pulse seemed erratic and my mouth was dry... I mean, I was there to finish yelling at him for ruining my night. Naturally that made me nervous.
As soon as we stepped into Danny's apartment, he darted ahead of me and hit a light switch. To my utter surprise, the living room lit up with colorful lights and a tree sparkled all in white. I walked toward it in astonishment.
"Danny... This is gorgeous! I can't believe you decorated for Christmas!" I turned to him and his face was illuminated by the lights and my damn heart skipped a beat. He had that smile, that same wondrous smile that I had seen earlier as he danced, and it dawned on me that it wasn't just him making me happy when that happened. I was making him happy too.
I put my hand on his cheek. His smile faded as he looked into my eyes, then briefly at my lips.
"Danny. Why... Why didn't you come to the courtyard with me?" I suddenly, urgently needed to know, because if he was going to break this crazy thumping thing in my chest, better he do it while I was already dealing with disappointments. I slid my hand off his face, down to his chest, where I could feel his heart was pounding too, and he looked away.
"You wanted Cliff." He said softly, in a stoic voice. "I'm not a consolation prize." That line came out a tad bitterly, and I realized that he didn't yet know what I hadn't known until just a short while ago.
"No. You aren't." I swallowed the lump in my throat and worked up my courage. He gazed back at me and I saw the expectancy, the anticipation in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Danny, but this is literally the only one know any of the words to, and it's just because Monica from Friends danced in the video." Now all I saw was confusion, so I shyly began my serenade.
"You can't start a fire, you can't start a fire without a spark." It dawned on him what I was doing as he recognized the lyrics from the Springsteen song. The smile was coming back.
"This one's for hire, even if we're just dancing in the..." So maybe my singing was not Taylor Swift level but come on, he could have let me finish. But no, Danny had to stop me mid song by catching my mouth in those soft, lush lips of his, catching my breath along with it. I forgot Cliff, and the party, and my middle name. All I knew was his warmth and his scent and how hard those muscles in his chest were and how strong those arms wrapped around me felt, and I didn't for a minute feel like a dummy for waiting so long for this.
"Gun." He said breathlessly as he finally tore his mouth from mine. I felt drunker than ever at that moment and the wine buzz had long ago left me.
"What?" I said blearily.
"This gun's for hire. You said this one." He was grinning at me and I realized just what all those years of teasing were... foreplay.
"Damn you Danny Castellano. You have a lot of nerve correcting my huge romantic gesture. I didn't tell you when you missed that dance move..." Danny threw his head back and laughed and then wrapped me back up in his arms and shut me up again.
Rude.