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Chapter Rating: T
Pairings: past Josh/Mindy, hints of Drake/Mindy, references to Drake/OFC, Mindy/OMC.
Chapter Summary: Josh and Drake both contemplate their platonic relationships with Mindy; Mindy reflects on her burgeoning friendship with Drake.
See Chapter 1 for all pertinent info.
VII. Coffee
Mindy goes out with Nathan a few more times before she declares that things are not going to work between them; it turns out that he's an egotistical chauvinist, characteristics he hides very well on their first couple of dates. His true colors become more vivid and vibrant with each subsequent date until she gets fed up with his behavior and they way he's oogling their server. She leaves him at the table by himself, calling a cab to take her home. She storms into the house, having spent the entire ride noting that Nathan had more flaws than redemptive qualities, a whirlwind of irritation and fury.
Josh sticks his head out of the kitchen and starts to ask how her date went. Mindy cuts him off, informing him that Nathan is a pig and a jerk.
A couple days later, while they're all in the kitchen one morning, Mindy doesn't pay any mind to the weird look that Josh gives Drake when he tells her that she can do better. It's not that Josh honestly believes that something could happen between Drake and Mindy, because even if Drake did try to make a play for Mindy, there's no way that she would ever give him the time of day. But it still drives him a little crazy knowing that his brother might be having thoughts of a carnal nature about his high school sweetheart.
Josh is over Mindy, he is. It's been nearly three years since they called it quits for the final time and they work just as well as friends as they did a couple. It was always too easy for them to fall back into their same old routines while under the shroud of friendship and it's a secret that Josh keeps from Drake when he and Mindy have slipped up and tumbled into bed. It was something he and Mindy had discussed and agreed upon shortly after they became housemates: that it was truly over between them and their relationship would remain a strictly platonic and non-physical one. Josh will never admit it to Drake, but there are times when he doesn't want to date Mindy again but he wants to be with her again, because she is familiar, because they have the connection, history, and chemistry that they do. They have gone their separate ways romantically; it's part of growing up that they let go of what they had as teenagers and start to pursue the life and love they want as adults. Josh knows that neither he nor Mindy can see themselves spending the rest of their lives with the other and having a family and he is completely okay with that.
He is seriously not okay with the thought of Drake and Mindy having a fling, or, God forbid, an actual relationship. He knows that the odds of either happening are at least a million to one because Mindy would shoot Drake down with an epic brutality. He knows Mindy and he knows Drake; nothing about Drake conforms to the idea of Mindy's "type." Nothing.
Josh stops being so concerned about what kinds of thoughts Drake might be having about Mindy when his brother throws himself back into the dating game full force. It wasn't like he had taken a break but Josh can't remember a time when Drake went so long between dates. Josh joins Mindy in giving Drake disapproving and judgmental looks after the third girl he brings home in two weeks sneaks out in the middle of the night. Despite Drake's reputation, he could at least let the girls spend the night. While the three of them are trying to stay out of each other's way in the kitchen the following Sunday morning, Josh informs Drake that he doesn't mind sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the den. Drake just shrugs and explains that a one-night stand doesn't mean that they have to stay the entire night. Mindy rolls her eyes and makes a noise of disgust before taking her coffee and retreating into the dining room to read the morning paper.
She's irritated with Drake's about face return to form. He seemed like he'd actually started maturing, that he was beginning to see women as something other than sexualized objects. And his concern after her less-than-perfect first date with Nathan had given her hope that he was moving in the right direction towards becoming the man he didn't want but had the potential to be. She lets out a sigh and sips her coffee, reminding herself that Drake is neither a project nor experiment for her to research and study nor is he a plant for her to prune and cultivate. Whether he acts or thinks like it, he is a grown man and it is none of her concern what he does with his free time or with his life in general unless it directly affects her. She feels a little sad; she was beginning to enjoy the friendship they were working hard to develop. If Drake's already backslid into his "love 'em and leave 'em" routine, it can only be a matter of time before he reverts to treating her like she's sub-human.
Mindy frowns, running her finger around the rim of her coffee mug. She's always been able to give as good as she gets—well, truth be told, not to toot her own horn, she's always been able to give back better. It's an extreme sport, her defense mechanism in overdrive, being able to prove herself and one-up everyone else. She's not looking forward to resuming the juvenile bickering with Drake but she's preparing for it anyway. Best to be prepared than to be caught off guard when he decides that he doesn't need nor does he want her friendship. She can only make so much of an effort to rebuild the burnt bridges between them that she first laid flame to.
They're all adults now—isn't it about time that they all left childish things behind and acted like it?
Drake doesn't speak when he brings his bowl of cereal out to the table and sits across from her. He can't prove to Josh that he isn't interested in hooking up with Mindy if she's just going to look let down, like she expected better from him, every time he lets a girl talk him into bringing her back there instead of her dorm room, her parents' house, or the apartment she shares with her fiancé. How was he supposed to know that one was engaged? It's not she was wearing a ring. What's worse is that he feels guilty about it, not just about sleeping with a girl who was already in a relationship because he's done that before and never felt bad about it, but because Mindy's eyes speak volumes and convey so much even when her mouth is closed. It pisses him off because he shouldn't care what she thinks about him, he doesn't want to care. Now there are thoughts of her not only invading his dreams at night but occasionally his waking hours as well.
If he could just get her out of his system; if she were any other girl, he'd only have a put a little effort into seducing her into his bed for one night, but she's not just any girl. She's Mindy Crenshaw; the girl's a damn genius who scares the hell out of him and she's always been immune to his charms. She's Josh's ex-girlfriend, Josh's first real love. She was his enemy and now she's kind of his friend. He can't just treat her the way he treats others, he can't use the same lines, he can't flip his hair, wink at her, or play her a song on his guitar and have her melt at his feet and into his arms. She's too smart for him and she thinks too highly of herself to ever fall for any of his come-ons.
He jabs his spoon into the bowl as he tries to shove the thoughts out of his head. That he might actually want to hook-up with Mindy is disturbingly depressing because she's the one girl who has never wanted him and that he has never wanted before. He cheers himself up by telling himself that it could be a phase, almost like a crush; he hopes it is. If so, if he just bides his time, sooner or later—preferably sooner—these fantasies will fade to black and they can be friends. Just friends.