For my beautiful friend, HelenVanPattersonPatton and her The First Time Collection.
As she tugged the last bite of her corn dog off of its stick with her teeth, Mindy made a note to never tell Peter that his immature shenanigans actually inspired a genuine craving in her for a hot dog. His repeated mention of "wieners" leading up to the art exhibit had been fairly contagious and hard to escape. Since then she had fought the urge to stop by on of the many hot dog stands on the way home, somehow deeming the very idea as somewhat of a betrayal to the man who was the event's centerpiece, a man who was destined for an astounding amount of humiliation.
Now, with the exhibit officially behind them, she felt it was safe to finally indulge during her lonely trek to her apartment. While she didn't want Peter to think that she condoned his insensitivity, continuing to deprive herself seemed unnecessary.
"Why do I always forget that corn dogs are so damn delicious?" she asked herself, thoroughly satisfied as she tossed the stick in the nearest garbage bin. She wrapped her coat a little tighter around her body, deciding to take quicker steps now that she wasn't distracted by her dinner. She walked by the broad windows of a quiet bar just blocks away from her building. Mindy often liked to peer into the window and scope the different people sitting at the bar, making a game out of guessing why a patron had chosen such an antisocial part of the establishment, rather than mingle among the other bar-goers. Were they there out of sadness? Loneliness? The hope that they could simply enjoy a drink in relative peace? Maybe they were just trying to monopolize the attention of the cute bartender. She would guess, then narrate the person's story in her head, entertaining herself until she reached her home. In the interest of settling in after a disappointing night, she decided to forgo the game and quickly reach her apartment.
Quickly strutting past the windows, the figure of a man slightly hunched over the bar and illuminated by the light fixture directly above caught Mindy's attention. Even though the it was relatively dark otherwise and she was yards away, she could identify those slumped shoulders and that tension-riddled back just about anywhere. How could Danny be at this bar when he had just left in the company of a beautiful and overtly interested woman? A large part of Mindy felt like getting the answer to this question was far more important than allowing him his privacy. She turned around and entered the bar, squeezing her way past a group of rowdy bachelorettes and taking a seat right next to him. The small creak of the seat caused Danny to look up from his beer, raising his eyebrows slightly when he saw who it was.
"Danny?" Mindy called out, almost disbelievingly. "How are you even here right now when it was very clear that that woman had plans to give you the ride of your life? And how can you possibly be drinking again? Am I going to have to pump your stomach in an hour?"
Rolling his eyes, Danny replied while gesturing towards his beverage. "Relax. It's a light beer and it's the only one I've had."
"But you hate light beer."
Danny shrugged, appearing entirely deflated and not up to his usual bickering. Mindy sighed, worried that her friend might be in a worse state than when they had left.
"So what happened with the woman?" she asked, quickly and silently denying assistance from the bartender with a slight shake of her head.
Danny rubbed the side of his face gingerly. "She was a weirdo. She was fixated on one of the pictures and insisted that we recreate it at her place…like actually recreate it. She mentioned a tripod and a makeshift backdrop and she wanted me to pose with some sculpture of a baby…I didn't even get her name, I just parted ways with her on 19th Street. To be honest, I'm not sure why I went with her in the first place. It's not like I was entirely into it; I think I was just ecstatic to hear such a positive response to everything tonight."
Mindy patted his back supportively. "I guess having your hot body gawked at for hours comes with its disadvantages. That can't be the only thing that's bothering you, though. I know you've received stranger propositions just last week."
Danny pushed his drink to the side and crossed his arms, leaning against the bar. "Nah, I've just been thinking about what you said back there at the gallery, when you were defending me…the part about how difficult it would be to live with me. It made me think that Christina might have a good reason for doing what she did. Maybe I made it too hard to be in a relationship with me. Maybe I earned all this."
The gloomy droop of his eyebrows tugged at Mindy's heart. It was easy to deal with an argumentative, stubborn, or even grumpy Danny, but a depressed, downtrodden Danny was hard to witness. This was a side of him that he typically liked to keep hidden. The fact that he was so willing to open up to her like this spoke highly of their progress from colleagues to friends. She didn't have time to appreciate the sentiment, however, because his misinterpretation of her speech at the exhibit was eating away at her rapidly. There was no way she could allow him to think that he had earned this humiliation in any way.
"Danny, you know that I didn't mean that you deserved any of this," she began gently. "First of all, I never said it would be difficult to live with you. I said it would be challenging, and it would, Danny! I mean, you'd never let me lay across your piano like a 1930's lounge singer while you play, settling on something to watch on TV would be a constant fight, and you'd freak out if the toothpaste cap went missing, which I always lose before even a quarter of the tube is used."
"Hey, that's not true," he piped in, a hint of a smile tugging at the left corner of his mouth. "I buy that toothpaste with the attached cap that snaps."
Mindy nudged him gently with her shoulder, even though she was glad to see him able to joke with her just a little. "Whatever, point is, you're stubborn and set in your ways, but so am I, so is Christina, so are most adults our age who just know what they like and what works for them. Still, it would be a challenge to find enough middle ground to make living with you easy. But difficult to live with does not mean difficult to love, Danny. They're not the same. You didn't deserve any of this, whatsoever. And I think a part of Christina knows that or else she would have at least shown up to face you."
Danny appeared to be considering Mindy's point of view when she placed a caring hand on his shoulders. He looked at the hand curiously, then slowly looked up until his eyes met her face. She wore a tight-lipped expression that betrayed a combination of sympathy and encouragement.
"You're a good guy," she said with a calming, reassuring tone. "And I happen to think you'd be easy to love."
He gulped slowly, simply staring at her for a moment while the hand on his shoulder quickly slid down his back, giving it a quick rub followed by a parting pat. She removed the hand in order to cross the in the same fashion as Danny, leaning against the bar, as she waited for his response.
"Thanks, Min, that means a lot," he finally croaked, never allowing his eyes to leave her face. His Adam's apple bobbed once more before he spoke again. "I think the same of you."
Mindy furrowed her eyes while a small, playful smile ghosted her lips. "Which one? Difficult to live with or easy to love?"
"Oh, you'd be a nightmare to live with," Danny answered with a chuckle. Mindy didn't protest the claim, laughing along with him until he stopped and placed a hand on her forearm. As he did earlier, she looked at the hand before looking upward. His eyes remained on her arm as he continued. "But you'd also be very easy to love." He allowed his thumb to graze her skin slowly, back and forth, while his eyes remained trained on her arm. "With your loyalty and your thoughtfulness and your cheer, your candor…yeah, it would be really easy to fall for you." It was that moment that he chose to brave her stare and look upward.
She didn't know how to respond. Mindy had never heard him use that sort of tone with her, yet something about it felt like he had never used that tone with anyone else. It made her want to curl up next to him and tuck herself under his chin while he trailed his fingertips up and down her back. She suddenly wanted him to whisper all of his secrets while she attempted to cook him breakfast, or sit in his lap at his piano while he taught her how to play a scale. It made her want to be even closer to him while he told her in great detail what about her would inspire someone to love her…what inspired him to love her.
Then her rational side reminded her that he had consumed enough alcohol to make him fall for anyone, especially during such a vulnerable time. There was no way this was genuine; he probably had no clue what he was saying. He was Springsteen and she was Katy Perry. He was Ken Burns, she was Bravo TV. He was wasted, and she was just…another positive response.
"Danny, you're obviously very drunk," she stated plainly, making sure to keep a hint of a smile on her face so that he was aware that she wasn't upset.
"I'm not, though," he denied resolutely, making direct, insistent eye contact.
"You had so much to drink at the gallery and you're having the roughest night –"
"Mindy, that doesn't mean –"
"Danny, it's okay," she said with a kind laugh. "I know how great I am, I'm just glad you're beginning to feel better." She quickly hopped off of the stool, preparing to exit the bar.
Danny looked at her, the previous droop in his eyebrows returning. "Do you have to go?"
Mindy nodded as she readjusted her coat. "Yes, and so should you. It's getting pretty late. I'm sure the sooner you can get home and forget about this night, the better." She leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Get home safely, alright? I'll check on you tomorrow!"
She quickly strode out of the bar before giving him a chance to stop her or even say a quick good night. Facing the night air once more, she swiftly continued her journey to her apartment, cursing herself for insisting on getting that corndog, or even glancing into that bar window. Maybe a few seconds more would have helped her to avoid what she felt was one of the most confusing, heartbreaking encounters she'd ever had with Danny Castellano. Even once she had reached her door and began to key into her home, she had no idea how to process any of it. He at least had the luxury of blaming it on too much champagne. What was her excuse? She sadly combed through her list of available excuses for her unfounded, somewhat sudden emotions until the moment that sleep finally claimed her.
Mindy woke up the next morning to a persistent knock at her door. The noise caused her to shoot upward, panting as her eyes quickly adjusted to the flood of morning sunlight. She grabbed her phone to check the time. 8:14 a.m. The knock came again. Nothing about it sounded authoritative, but there was a certain desperation there that led her to believe that she couldn't sink into her bed and ignore it until the visitor went away. With a huff, Mindy peeled back the covers and swung her feet to the floor, grateful that she had at least chosen to wear one of her more cohesive sets of pajamas in lieu of a tattered shirt and holey shorts. She quickly made her way to the door, running a self-conscious hand through the flyaway hairs that evaded her messy ponytail. The person began to knock again.
"Alright, alright, I'm almost there," Mindy called out, taking one last look in a nearby reflective surface. She wondered who would be so cruel as to visit first thing in the morning and not allow her at the least the obligatory run through with a brush or the quick gargle of mouthwash. Adjusting her pajama top, she opened the door.
Danny stood in a dark T-shirt and jeans, his hair neatly brushed and his face freshly shaven. He clutched a brown paper bag in one hand while the other, previously used for knocking, hung limply at his side. His eyebrows drooped again, but he didn't look cheerless this time; just hopeful.
He looked so much better than he did last night, which the color back in his cheeks and that rain cloud handing over his head seemingly gone. Mindy wished she had made him wait just long enough for her to check for any dried drool around the corners of her lips. Seeing him at her door brought both happiness and stress.
"Danny, wha-"
Within a second, Danny engulfed her with an arm around her waist and a hand cupping her jaw as he kissed her lips firmly, as if he wanted her lips to absorb all the reassurance he could possibly give. Mindy took a moment for her mind to catch up to what was happening, standing still enough to conclude that Danny Castellano, friend and colleague, was at her door and kissing her with purpose. Upon the realization, she leaned into him and wrapped an anchoring arm around his waist while her other hand found the side of his neck. The graze of his minty tongue made her hyperaware of her uncorrected morning breath. It appeared that Danny didn't mind, a gentle groan escaping him as he tilted his head acquainted himself with her lips a little more persistently. The feeling of his arms wrapping around her a little tighter bolstered her confidence, encouraging her to thrust her tongue into his mouth and clutch the front of his shirt, pulling him as close to her as she possibly could. As their lips continued to meld together in a moment of unadulterated wanting and need, she mourned the incredible amount of time lost in assuming that she would never know the feeling of Danny's lips upon her own, time that could have been spent moving them towards whatever this was.
He finally pulled back just enough to look at her lips, looking as if he were confirming what had occurred with the sight of her kiss-swollen lips. They remained in a clutch, and Mindy could hear the faint crinkling of a paper bag still safely in his possession. Danny cleared his throat.
"I was a little hungover this morning, I'll admit," he confessed in a low tone. "But I had enough strength to get myself cleaned up and enough sense to know not to wake you up this early in the morning without your favorite bearclaw."
Mindy emitted a brief, sputtering laugh as she clutched his shoulders. "That was smart."
"It was," Danny agreed with a smile, looking upward until their eyes finally met. "So we can conclude that I'm in my right mind, yeah?"
"I hope so," Mindy responded in a hushed whisper.
"I am. So please believe me when I say that you, Mindy, are insanely easy to love. You are, okay?"
Mindy bit her bottom lip, not wanting to ruin this moment with tears. She nodded. "So are you, Danny."
Still smiling, he captured her lips once more, sealing the sentiment with a simple, decisive kiss. When he pulled back, he brought the bag from behind her back and dangled it in front of her face. "So can I stay for breakfast?"
Mindy smiled brilliantly, then grabbed his wrist and dragged him willingly into her apartment.