Danny was jolted awake when his doorbell rang. Again, and again. He blinked and his eyes came into focus as he looked at his alarm clock.
Four in the morning.
"What the fuck?" he muttered. Who the fuck wanted to see him at four in the morning? Danny cursed under his breath again. If it was Morgan, Danny was seriously going to do something to his face.
The doorbell went off again. Danny rolled out of bed. His head was killing him. Whoever it was, they had a death wish. He scuffled to his door, turned on the speaker.
"What. The. Hell," he growled.
"Let me up, Castellano." It was Mindy. Danny stared at the speaker, not sure if it was real or not. Why wasn't she in Haiti? Her flight left hours ago. What was she doing here? "Castellano," her voice brought him back to reality. "Let me up."
He pressed the buzzer and his arms went limp by his sides. He then looked around. There were beer bottles everywhere, since he had gotten drunk while watching The Real Housewives of No One Cares and didn't pick them up after he peeled himself off the couch to go to bed. He looked down at what he was wearing. A ratty t-shirt and boxers. Great.
Just as he was turning to throw on something, Mindy knocked. Shit. He took a deep breath and opened it.
Mindy didn't even pause for a "hello".
"I didn't go to Haiti," she blurted as soon as she saw Danny's face. Danny opened his mouth to respond, but she wasn't stopping. "I didn't go to Haiti and it's your fault."
"Whoa, my fault?"
"Yes, Danny. Your fault." With that, she pushed past him and into the apartment. "I mean—whoa, dude. You need to work on your cleaning skills."
"Mindy."
'Whatever," she looked at him with accusing eyes. "I didn't go to Haiti and it's your fault."
"You've said that already. Mind elaborating?"
"God, I hate you. I seriously hate you right now, Danny."
"Why? What the hell did I do?"
"I broke up with Casey," Mindy was going a mile a minute. "I fought my way off an airplane. I had to find my bags, which was really hard because they were already loaded on the plane, but I couldn't have all my stuff be in Haiti while I was here, obviously. I made myself look like a complete asshole. Because of you and your stupid face."
Danny blinked. "My—my face?"
"God, Danny. You're such an idiot. Yes. Your face. Your face because it's all I've been seeing in my head for the past two days."
"What?"
Mindy was practically red by now. "OH, MY GOD. Danny. The break room. Two nights ago. After the triplets. You insulted my haircut and then you grabbed my glasses and said something about 'schmutz' and then you stared at me and I stared back and…and we had a moment."
Danny was silent. Because his heart was thumping and he was pretty sure that his sweat glands were working overtime. Because he knew exactly what "moment" she was talking about. He kept playing it over and over in his mind. How stupid she looked in that haircut. How much he hated it. How much it would actually grow on him. How much it made her eyes look bigger.
He replayed the moment when he grabbed her glasses and put them back on and she didn't even move. She just sat there, watching him. So, he had to make up something. And when Danny put her glasses back on her—who does that?—all he could think about was cupping her face and making her forget about everything.
'I.…"
"Oh, my God," Mindy said quietly. "I've made a huge mistake," She took a deep breath, holding in tears. "I've, um, I have to go." She put her head down and made a beeline for the door.
"Mindy, wait," Danny said as he grabbed her arm.
She turned to him. "No, Danny, you don't understand," she said, her voice dangerously soft. He could tell she was fighting to keep it together. "I have ruined everything. Casey is the greatest guy I've dated in my life. He's probably the only guy…." She paused, collecting herself. "And I blew it. I blew it because I thought I had a moment with a coworker."
Danny flinched at the word "coworker". It was harsh and unfeeling. He wanted to look away, but he was acutely aware of the fact that Mindy's eyes was searching his face, looking for anything that would make this all worth it.
Mindy dropped her gaze and wrung her hands. "Right, well. This was…" she trailed off and looked at her feet.
Danny's mouth was dry. He felt like a moron. He always felt like a moron around her, but this was worse. He ruined her relationship. Yeah, Mindy ruined his relationships, but this was different. Casey was actually a good guy and he seemed to care about her. None of the other assholes did.
Mindy sniffed and wiped a tear quickly off her face. "Good—good talk, Castellano, I guess," she turned and headed for the door. Danny was frozen. "I will see you at the office."
She stopped when her hand was on the doorknob. She turned back to him. "Were you going to kiss me?"
"What?"
"In the break room. Were you going to kiss me? Before I told you about…Casey."
"Um…."
"Right. Yeah. I just made this a thousand times more awkward didn't I? Yup. Yes, yes I did."
"Mindy—"
"What, Danny? Clearly, I've gone and fucked up another situation, per usual, and I would love it if you would make it easier on me and never speak of it again. Hey, maybe if you would never speak to me again, it would be easier on both of us, because I don't think I can walk out of this with a shred of dignity and it's just common courtesy. Because after this, whenever we have a conversation, you'll be talking to the pathetic woman who came to your house in the middle of the night, ranting about how the two of you had a moment—that may or may not have happened—and she didn't go to Haiti because of it, and I'll just be wanting to die, okay? So, yeah."
Danny crossed to her and grabbed her face. "Stop talking." When he pressed his lips to hers, she was surprised, but she soon relaxed and melted into him. The dull ache that he was trying to ignore for the last two days was suddenly gone. All he wanted was her. He hadn't even realized it until she flew out of that hospital room, leaving him totally alone.
He pulled back and moved some strands of hair from her face. Mindy closed her eyes and put her head on the door, breathing shallowly. "Does—does this mean that there was a moment?"
Danny chuckled; a low rumble that made Mindy's heart beat a bit faster. He put his mouth next to her ear. "I'm glad you didn't go to Haiti."
"That doesn't answer my question, Danny," she protested.
He didn't answer her. All he did was kiss her again.
