"So I was perusing your mail -"
"Wait, what? I told you, stop doing that –"
"- when I saw this!" Mindy held up a little envelope that Danny instantly recognized, causing him to groan. "Danny, how could you not tell me that your mom is having a blue moon cookout? You know I love parties for unnecessary holidays!"
"Because I knew you would just invite yourself anyway," he grumbled.
"I will take that as a compliment to my proactive character," Mindy countered, "and forgive you for forgetting your best friend duties. Now, what does one wear to a blue moon cookout?" She smirked. "I can think of two moons I could show, but I doubt you'd approve."
He looked up, pleading. "Mindy, come on. You're gonna be bored anyway. It's just a bunch of old people eating hot dogs and complaining about their hip replacements."
Mindy's mouth popped open into a little o. "Daniel Castellano, did you just insult old people? Your own kind?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're still not coming."
"Aww, but I wanna meet all your friends! Don't worry, I won't embarrass you in front of your besties, like your pastor, or the neighborhood garbage man, or your middle school principal."
"First of all, it's a priest, not a pastor, and second of all, Father Michael is a cool guy! He's baritone in our barbershop quartet!" Danny froze as he realized he'd just added a massive amount of fuel to the fire.
Mindy simply held up the invitation, victory in her eyes. "See you tonight!"
Danny sighed and started dialing his mother.
"What do you think? Should I go with the blue dress with shimmer, or go for the more subtle blue skirt and black top?" Mindy held up a finger. "Ooh, or I could wear my midnight blue wrap dress!"
Danny groaned on the couch, hitting himself in the head with the remote. "Mindy. We've been at this for an hour. Please put me out of my misery already." He sat up, looking over at the arsenal of outfits she'd laid across her counter. "Is there a reason everything is blue?"
Mindy ticked her head to the right. "Um, it's a blue moon, dummy. I can't clash with the second main event of the party!"
Danny narrowed his eyes. "Wait…you don't think the moon is actually blue tonight, do you?"
Mindy paused in her examination of a dress. "Well why else would they call it a blue moon, Danny?"
Danny doubled over, laughing. "Oh, that's a good one." He paused to look at her face. "Blue moon!" He started up again, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes.
"Stop laughing at me and help me pick something to wear!" Mindy started beating him with one of her hangers. Danny held up his hands in surrender, his laughter dying down to a mere chuckle.
"Alright alright! Stop with the assault!" He let out one last laugh before pointing at a blue ombré sundress. "Wear that one, so you don't look so overdressed."
"I resent that sentiment," Mindy replied, but pulled the dress off the counter nonetheless. She darted into her closet, and, guessing by the steady stream of clothes Danny saw being tossed out the door, began to change. "You'd think you'd want a smokin' hot date anyway."
"Uh, date?" Danny swallowed, pulling at his collar.
"Oh relax, Danny, you know what I mean." Mindy exited the closet, leaning on the wall as she buckled one strappy blue wedge to her right foot. "By bringing me, you're bringing proof that you're a well-adjusted, successful doctah in the big city," Mindy ended with a mocking Staten accent.
"No one's really thinking that," Danny replied, but he sounded unsure.
"Uh huh. So that's why you're wearing your Sunday button-up," Mindy teased, coming over to flick Danny's collar. Her finger brushed his jaw with the movement and Danny hoped that she couldn't feel his pulse throbbing.
"You ready to go?" Mindy took one last glance in the mirror and tousled her hair, smiling over at Danny. He nodded back, wondering why he could feel himself start to sweat.
"Ma, I'm home!" Danny called out, opening the door to the familiar house.
"I'm in the kitchen!" An accented voice replied. Danny closed the door behind Mindy, leading her into the house. She could smell the chicken marinating and followed willingly.
"Danny!" An older woman with platinum blonde hair paused her snapping of beans to give Danny a hug. "It's so good to see you! Look at all that hair, you need to get Lou to give you a cut!" The woman tugged on a tuft of Danny's hair and he laughed good-naturedly.
"It's good to see you too, Dot." He gestured behind himself to where Mindy was not-so-surreptitiously grabbing a handful of barbecue chips. "And this is my colleague –"
"And friend!" Mindy interrupted.
"And friend," Danny rolled his eyes, "Dr. Mindy Lahiri. Mindy, this is my mom's friend Dot."
"Did you say doctor?" Dot zeroed in on Mindy. "You know, it really is a shame that your people are always getting pressured into that profession."
Mindy grimaced. "Oh, I don't know that I would say that I was pressured – "
"Dot, leave the poor girl alone." Mindy turned around to see a tiny woman chopping vegetables at the counter.
"Mindy, this is my Ma, Ma, this is Mindy," Danny beamed, bending down to give his mom a kiss on the cheek.
"It's Annette," Annette clarified, finally turning around to smile at Mindy. She held up her hands, which were covered in tomato juice. "I'd shake your hand, but…" Mindy nodded in understanding. "You like tomatoes?" Annette gestured to the pile on the cutting board. "I grew them in my garden. Nothing beats homegrown, you know, not even that overpriced Whole Foods crap they're pushing these days."
Mindy glanced at Danny, the corner of her mouth ticking up. "No, it sure does not. That's why I just avoid the issue by not buying any vegetables at all!"
Annette smirked. "That's just because you haven't had my bruschetta before. Just you wait," she smiled knowingly, turning and patting Danny on his cheek. "It's Danny's favorite, although the cheese makes him a little – you know," Annette added, whispering conspiratorially to Mindy and gesturing to her stomach.
Danny jumped in then, hoping to stifle any further revelations of his diet. "Here, Mindy, lemme show you where to put your purse. Ma, can she put it in your room?"
"Sure, honey. Just be careful about the bed, the frame's broken. Can you take a look at it?"
"She's been getting a little too much cardio in, if ya know what I mean," Dot winked.
"Oh, don't listen to her," Annette rolled her eyes, going back to cutting her tomatoes. Danny blushed and moved Mindy towards the back of the house, pushing the bowl of chips further away from her wandering hand.
"Your mom and her friend seem nice," Mindy said as Danny placed her purse next to the nightstand.
"Yeah, well, don't let her fool you," Danny replied. "She's got a bit of spunk."
"'Spunk'?" Mindy crinkled her knows. "God, who even says 'spunk' anymore?"
"Since when did 'spunk' become an outdated word?"
"Probably about the time you went to college – you know, when Lincoln was in office."
"Right," Danny rolled his eyes, leading her out of the bedroom.
"Danny! Guests are here!" Annette called from the kitchen.
"Showtime," Mindy smiled, pushing past Danny to go greet the newcomers.
"This is a really sweet party," Mindy commented, sipping her lemonade. It was nightfall now, a set of twinkle lights hung around Annette's backyard casting a romantic glow on the space.
Danny nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Ma always throws a nice, calm shindig."
"Oh god, Danny, we really need to get you a new dictionary."
"Too much?"
"Yeah."
Danny laughed. "Well, what can I say? These are my people." He shrugged. "They taught me how to walk, how to talk, how to change my oil."
"And believe me, it shows," Mindy replies, nudging Danny playfully. "But you know, I'm kind of jealous."
Danny paused mid-sip. "Of them?"
"Yeah." Mindy shrugged. "They've got their lives all settled, they have kids and a house and a family. It must be nice to just walk down the street and spend an afternoon at the neighbor's."
Danny remained silent, knowing there was more coming and waiting patiently.
"Don't get me wrong, I love being a well-adjusted, successful doctah in the big city," Mindy mocked with another Staten accent, "but sometimes I just wish that I could get to all that other stuff already." She glanced up at Danny. "You know?"
He swallowed, nodding. He definitely knew.
Mindy's eyes lit up as she spotted something over his shoulder. "Come on!" She grabbed Danny's hand, pulling him behind her as she ran over to the far corner of the backyard. Once Danny saw where she was leading them, he pulled back.
"Nuh-uh."
"Oh come on, Danny, it'll be fun!"
"Um, you might have fun. I will just be standing here awkwardly while you lie in a hammock. While everyone watches." He gestured to the rest of the party guests, who, contrary to his beliefs, were not looking over at their darkened location at all.
Mindy rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, Danny. Get over it. We're friends, we're both gonna lie in it." She unstrapped her shoes and handed him her drink. "Here, I'll get in first, then you scoot next to me. It'll be fine."
Danny watched as she slowly backed up to hammock. She tried sitting down in it, only to slide off into the grass.
"Ow! Dammit, Danny, your stupid hammock hurt my butt!"
"Well it's not like you don't have enough padding," Danny mumbled under his breath.
"Exsqueeze me?"
"Nothing, dear," Danny grinned down at her. He stifled a laugh as she held out her hands for him to help her up. Putting down their drinks, he grabbed her hands, pulling her a bit too hard and steadying her up against his chest.
"Thanks," Mindy smiled, patting him on the cheek. She turned around and faced the hammock. "I will own you," she said with determination, bunching up her skirt in one hand. She narrowed her eyes, sidling up to the fixture sideways.
"I don't think that's gonna – "
"Hush, I'm concentrating." Mindy slid halfway onto the edge of the hammock, clutching at the ropes and looking like a cat about to find out the curtains aren't as strong as it thought. "Danny!" She squealed, falling off again.
"You sure you haven't done this before? You're a pro," Danny smirked, helping her up once again.
"Very funny. If it's so easy, you do it," Mindy huffed. She held out her hand, watching as Danny struggled with his desire to remain clean, versus the slightly stronger need to be a macho man. The latter side won out. He grumbled as he dusted dirt off the seat of his pants, kicking the hammock and causing it to swing as Mindy stood smiling victoriously.
"Here. Let's sit on it together, at the same time." Danny motioned for Mindy to move next to him. She came in close, facing away from the hammock like Danny. He grabbed the ropes with one hand and tugged on her elbow with the other, gently lowering them onto the swing. He grinned, victorious, pushing the hammock back and forth with their feet on the ground.
"Danny?"
"Hmmm?"
"Can we turn the other way? This is killing my back." She preemptively whacked him in the chest. "And don't make any old-lady cracks."
"Spoilsport." Danny glanced at the hammock. "I guess, uh, I'll lay across first, and then you…"
"I'll get next to you."
"Right."
Danny wiped some sweat from his forehead, slowly turning so that he was laid across the length of the hammock. He watched as Mindy followed, trying not to throw him off. The hammock teeter-tottered, threating to tip them over and onto the ground.
"Uh, Mindy? I think you need to get closer to me. For balance," he added hastily, arms still spread wide with hands clutching the ropes.
Mindy scooted in closer, her head now resting on Danny's chest, her knees bumping his. "Better?"
"Mhm," Danny replied, trying to regulate his breathing. He could just imagine how rigid he must seem, his chest expanding out and then shuddering in. He just couldn't remember the last time they had been so…close.
"Look at the moon," Mindy pointed with the hand that wasn't curled up against Danny.
"Not so blue, is it?" Danny chuckled, forcing himself to breathe normally.
"Whatever," Mindy whapped him on the arm. "Why is this 'blue moon' so special, then?"
"It's when there are two full moons in one month. It only happens every few years."
"Ooh, like the Miss America pageant being held in the U.S.?"
Danny sighed. "Yes, like that."
They were quiet for a long time after that, just looking up at the sky and breathing together. They didn't even notice that the backyard had slowly emptied, leaving them alone in their little space.
"You comfortable?" Danny hoped Mindy couldn't tell how much he was sweating. His heart was ramming in his chest, but he somehow managed to sound natural.
"Mhm". Mindy nuzzled Danny's chest, curling in even closer. She took a deep breath. "You smell good."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, like Old Spice and the OR and, I don't know…just that Danny smell."
Danny looked down at her. "I'm gonna take that as a compliment."
She looked back up at him. "You should."
And suddenly, but so gently, Danny was reaching down and pressing their mouths together, the slow rock of the hammock making them feel like their world was spinning twice as fast as usual. And for once Danny didn't feel trapped, and Mindy didn't feel like she was pretending. There was just her, Danny's soft lips, and the bright moonlight shining across them as they kissed as if they had all the time in the world to share.
Danny pulled back and released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as Mindy's eyes crinkled in delight. She reached up and pressed her lips to his once more. They lingered there for a second, taking in the sensation of really holding one another for the first time. Then Mindy slid back down and curled further into Danny's side, tracing lazy circles on his chest with the tip of her finger. Danny smiled, thinking that they almost looked like moons.