Notes: Several people have asked me to continue some stories, but I didn't think I had more to say there. However, I might have a multi-chapter story in me so if you think this one should continue let me know and I'll see what I can do.
"Mindy?" Danny rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans nervously.
"What'd you do?"
"I think I broke your bookshelf."
"Which one?"
"The one behind the blue chair."
"Like, how broke?"
"Like the right side of the middle shelf has come completely out and I had to prop it up with the books that fell out."
"Shit."
"It's not that bad. I can fix it. You got a tool box?"
"Look at who you are talking to."
"Fair enough. I can fix it though."
"Let me have a look."
It had taken them a while to figure out how to be friends, but once they'd settled on how to do it, nights like tonight were surprisingly frequent. A shared meal, maybe a movie.
And yes maybe at some point in the evening she'd get a little close and he'd have a little trouble breathing.
And maybe when he inevitably fell asleep during the film she might tuck a blanket around him and linger a moment too long, unsure if a friend is allowed a quick kiss goodnight just because the other friend just looked very sweet in his sleep.
"I'm really sorry." He followed her across the room and squatted next to her as surveyed the damage.
She knelt on the floor in front of the shelf. "Hey, hold it up while I take some books out."
He grabbed the shelf and held it steady as she first emptied the shelf itself, then the shelf below. "I think we can prop it up with that candlestick," she pointed at a chunky orange wooden candle holder that currently occupied the entirety of a fragile-looking table under the window.
"Please let me actually fix it. I didn't mean to break it. I just picked up a book to look at it and when I put it back down it sort of collapsed in my hands."
"The candle holder will be fine. It kinda fits with my modern bohemian style."
"Modern Bohemian? Is that what you call this?"
"What would you call it?"
"Toybox chic."
"Daniel Castellano! That's really cute. I'm completely offended, but it's cute."
"I'm not saying I don't like it. I mean it's not my style, but it's very you. And that's good."
She smiled shyly, the compliment unexpectedly touching. "Well if you get to critique my style I get to critique yours."
"Fine. Hit me with your best shot."
"Your place is...Urban Lodge"
"Urban Lodge... what does that even mean?"
"You know, it's kinda spare like a summer cabin, but it's so clearly city space."
"Okay. I can see that."
"It's nice. Like it could be cold, but instead it's really warm."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now get that candle holder."
He stood and retrieved it for her. "Mindy, let me fix it. I know you have a screwdriver here."
"If by screwdriver you mean vodka and orange juice, then yes I definitely can do that."
"Please."
"Fine." She got up and disappeared into the bathroom to return with a pink and purple box that looked like a spaceship.
"What's this?"
"It's my tool box."
"Mindy, it says Caboodle on the top."
"Well, it used to be a makeup case, but it makes a great tool box."
He steeled himself for what she considered a tool box and opened the lid. "What the hell is this?" He held up a tiny hammer that couldn't be good for any kind of human household task.
"Isn't it cute?"
"What do you do with it?"
"Mostly I break up big chunks of ice when I'm making drinks.
"Do you have a real hammer?"
"That is a real hammer."
"Real little." He sighed and put it aside. "And this?"
"That's a bobby pin. For my hair."
"And that seemed appropriate for a tool box?"
"Hey, man, I've had to pick more than one lock with a bobby pin. They're practical."
"You can pick locks?"
"Kinda."
"Do I want to know?"
"Nope," she called over her shoulder as she grabbed the tiny elf hammer and bounced away toward the kitchen.
"I'm just gonna blow past that." He reached back into the toolbox and found an orange pill bottle filled with screws and a Phillips screwdriver with a pink handle. "I think I can work with this."
He got down on the floor and peered in at the place where the original screw had failed. It only took a couple of minutes to get the shelf secured, and as he pushed on it to check his work he smiled. "See? Good as new."
She plopped unceremoniously onto the floor next to him and handed him a tall glass filled with a pale orange concoction and tinkling with ice. "Here, for the working man."
He took a sip and grimaced. "Min, this is more vodka than orange juice."
She smiled, "Yeah, I make a pretty great screwdriver." She fished around in her glass for a piece of ice which she proceeded to chew noisily.
"You're gonna mess up your teeth like that." He picked up the paperback nearest to him. "Why do you have so many True Crime books? Don't these give you nightmares?"
"Oh, they do. They're addictive though. The man you love is living a double life, and he like puts a hit on you because his other wife can't find out about you. Can you imagine?"
"No, I can't,"
"Well I can. Vividly. It keeps me up at night, which is why I have to keep reading. It's a vicious cycle."
"Mindy, no one's gonna murder you."
"I don't know, Josh might've. Drugs and everything." She started loading books back onto the shelf.
"Why don't you read something nice?"
"What would you define as nice?"
"I dunno. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?"
"Whoa, with Tom Hardy?"
"What?"
"That movie had Tom Hardy AND Colin Firth, but I just could not get into it."
"Well it was a book first. A good one."
"You know what Tom Hardy movie I could watch like right now? Wuthering Heights."
"Also a book first."
She hit his arm. "I know that! I love it. It's crazily romantic."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is, Danny! They loved each other and couldn't ever be together. It's heartbreaking. Don't act like you've read it!"
"I have."
"You have?"
"Yeah. I read a lot of stuff. I'm not much of a TV guy."
"All right wise guy, why isn't it romantic?"
"They basically made everyone else around them miserable because neither of them could man up and live with the consequences of committing to be together."
"Well that is a singularly unromantic way to put it." She took a sip of her drink and gave him a thoughtful look. "They longed to be together, Danny. That means something. Haven't you ever longed for something you couldn't have."
His heart stuttered in his chest. "They were from different worlds. They were both pretty broken people." He looked at the slowly melting ice in his glass, "Maybe him especially. Do you really think there was a chance for a happy ending there?"
"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean that the love between them wasn't beautiful." She put her now empty glass down. "Hand me those." She pointed at a couple of books near his hand. "Thanks for fixing this, by the way."
He leaned over and as he gave her the last book her fingers brushed his and he looked up at her. "I'm sorry I broke it."
"You didn't."
"I... what?"
"You didn't break it. Casey did."
"Casey? You mean this thing's been broken for months?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you replace it?"
"Danny, just because something's broken doesn't mean it's not any good." She looked directly into his eyes.
He broke the gaze first and cleared his throat. "Says the woman who let me think it was my fault so I had to fix it."
"Hey, I told you several times not to fix it. I was just gonna prop it back up and live with it. You insisted on putting it back together."
"I couldn't leave you like this."
She flashed him a careful look. "You could have. But you didn't. And I appreciate that."
"Well just because you don't mind broken things doesn't mean they can't hurt you."
"I'm not afraid of that. You shouldn't be either." She paused and smiled at him again. "While you're here..."
She made the screwdrivers, and watched while he changed a couple of lightbulbs, reattached a loose baseboard and fixed the door handle on her walk-in closet. "How is this broken? I thought you were Houdini with a bobby pin."
"You have to have the bobby pin with you to pick the lock, and I didn't. But I got out without any help, thank you very much. How much longer is this gonna take?"
"'You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.'"
"Oh my GOD, did you just quote The Princess Bride to me?"
"I might have." He dusted his hands on his thighs. "It's done."
"How do you even know that movie?"
"Also a book first, but I know it because it has Andre the Giant. He's a legend. Did you know that he was so proud of the movie that whenever he met someone new he asked if they'd seen the movie and if they hadn't he'd sit down and watch it with them?"
"I did not know that."
"It's true."
"Well I know what we're watching tonight."
. . . .
Mindy heard the first gentle snore before Westley and Buttercup even made it out of the Fire Swamp. She pulled the extra soft chenille throw off the back of the sofa and laid it across him, pulling it up to his chin. Unable to help herself she dropped a kiss on his head.
"You're not broken."