A/N: info & warnings in prologue. This part is kind of blah and I don't particularly care for it but my muse felt like it had to be written. Thanks for reading; reviews are love! :-)

Part 24

Josh flops down backwards on his bed, groaning.

"Morning to you too," Drake says, sitting up in his own bed and throwing the sheets back.

"I'm grounded."

Drake rolls his eyes. "Mom and Walter catch you sneaking in?"

"I wasn't sneaking. That was the problem."

"Dude, Josh, you sound like me right now. That's never a good thing."

Josh sighs and sits up. "I know! It's just… Mindy and I were actually getting somewhere this morning and I wasn't thinking about not getting caught when I got home. We talked. Kinda."

"The Ice Queen's starting to melt?"

Josh cuts his eyes at Drake. "Really? After yesterday you're going to say som—"

"I'm kidding, Josh, geez! Being cold is her defense mechanism, I get it. Humor is mine," Drake says with a hurt look in his eyes as he hops down from the loft.

"Yeah, I know, Drake, but your jokes aren't always funny."

"Yeah, and neither are yours." Drake perches on the back of the couch. "Look, I get that you want whatever's going on between you and Mindy right now to just be about the two of you but I'm not going to stop caring or worrying about how you're doing. You're my brother and I love you."

"I know."

"Okay. So, we're cool, right?"

"Yeah, we're cool."

"Good. I still don't like her, you know. Ah" Drake holds his hands up. "But I will try to be nice to her until she goes back to normal or whatever her normal state is because that girl is not normal."

Josh shakes his head and sighs. "Thanks, Drake. I appreciate that you're going to make the effort. Took you long enough."

Drake makes a face. "So, you two are making progress, huh?" Josh nods, a small smile appearing on his face. "Okay, are you two still not together? Because it's just weird that you're always spending the night with her. Like, seriously, haven't you slept with her more now that you're broken up than when you were dating?"

Josh starts to open his mouth then stops as he thinks about it. "Actually…yeah. I mean, we are just sleeping, there hasn't been any funny business," he ignores Drake's snickering, "but, yeah. And, no, we're not really back together. Not yet, at least. She's still not ready and I'm not going to push her. I think that she and I are gonna be okay though. She still loves me and wants to be with me."

"Did she say that?"

"Yeah."

"I guess that's better than nothing," Drake says, trying to be supportive and optimistic for Josh's sake.

"No, it is."

After a moment, Drake starts snickering again. "Funny business. You can say 'sex,' Josh, it's not a bad word."

"I know it's not and I wasn't referring to sex when I said 'funny business,' I meant that Mindy and I are just sleeping and cuddling, and nothing else. Nothing."

Drake squints as he reads into Josh's tone and he cocks an eyebrow. He smirks and chuckles. "Yeah, but you want to."

"No, I don't."

"Yeah, you do. I'm not saying that you want to get it on but you definitely want to do more than cuddle with her."

"Fine, yes, if life were like a fairytale and I could kiss her and make it all better, I would."

"Screw fairytales, kissing makes everything better in the real word." Drake shrugs. "Although, I guess not in your situation. Hey, like you said, she's coming around!"

Drake gets up and grabs his robe. He walks over to the door and pauses. He jogs back over to his dresser and fiddles around in the top drawer for several seconds. He walks over to Josh's bed and tosses something at him.

Josh catches and opens his hand. He furrows his brow and gapes at Drake. Holding up the condom, he points at it and asks, "What is this?"

"Just in case. Even if you and Mindy don't get back together or if you do and the two of you don't ever…just, whatever. You should always be prepared."

Josh frowns. "Yeah, I don't think—"

"Just carry it in your wallet! I doesn't matter what you think or plan; you should know that. You and Mindy weren't planning on doing it exactly when you did." Drake sighs. "Check the wrapper every so often to make sure it doesn't have any tears or holes in it and if it expires before you get a chance to use it, toss it but be sure to replace it."

Josh grimaces as he pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and slides the condom behind his driver's license. "There's something very wrong with my life when you are the one giving me sound advice."

"Tell me about it," Drake snorts. "I have to go wash the responsibility off now."

After Drake goes down the hall to shower, Josh leans over and pulls open the top drawer of his nightstand. He pulls out as strip of pictures of him and Mindy taken at a photo booth and he pushes the unopened box of condoms further back before closing the drawer. He lies back, staring at the images of him and Mindy during a happier, much more innocent, time.

He knows that they can get that happiness back.