Mindy was so proud of herself. It had been a couple months and she had stuck to her No Dating rule! She'd spent more hours on the phone with Rishi when she could, had more time for coffee with Gwen and Alex and Maggie, was able to devote more of herself to building up the practice. A life without Boy Drama was...nice.

That isn't to say she didn't miss guys, but she was noticing that as time went on she was too busy to remember to miss them.

And then there was Danny. In the beginning of her little No Dating experiment he had seemed unsure of it all, as if he didn't believe she was being serious. But as time went on Mindy noticed that Danny seemed, well, impressed.

Mindy also noticed that - consciously or not - Danny seemed to be starting up a No Dating era of his own. He hadn't seriously dated anyone since Christina. But it wasn't like the last time, he wasn't heartbroken and guarded. He seemed more sure of himself, more comfortable in his own skin; Mindy was happy for him.

Not that she'd ever actually tell him any of that. That might be weird. Wouldn't it?

It was the end of the week, time to head home. Mindy sighed admiringly as she took in the view of New York City in front of her. God, she loved this city.

February. The month where new lovers grow closer and old soulmates remember why they fell in love in the first place. It's not freakishly cold like December and January but there's still gorgeous snow to adorn the landscape with a romantic winter glow –

"Mindy." She felt Danny's arm nudge her. "You're narrating out loud again."

She nudged him back harder. "I narrate out loud on purpose, Danny! The world needs to hear my insightful observations."

"Well then please let me know your thoughts on how to deal with crazy people who talk to themselves." Danny shot her a teasing grin.

Things had been going so well for them the past little while. No intense arguments or drama. Okay, they still argued all the time but in the nice way. She enjoyed walking home with Danny, it was never awkward or forced; conversation would flow easily.

"Any plans for the weekend, Danny?" Mindy asked, choosing to ignore his dig at her natural-born awesomeness.

"Huh? Oh, not really. You?" Danny seemed unusually distracted and tense. And kinda sweaty.

"No I don't. Are you okay?" Mindy asked. Just when she thought things weren't weird between them he starts acting odd. Usually Danny loved telling her all about the new Springsteen Show he had tickets for or whatever.

But today something was different.

"You wanna have dinner tonight?" Danny blurted out, his voice a few decibels too high.

"What?" Whoa. That was definitely not what she was expecting him to say. Was Danny trying to…?

"I mean you said you had no plans and there's this new Thai restaurant near your place so I thought -" Ok he was literally sweating buckets now; she had to put him out of his misery.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure! Why didn't you say so, Danny?" She squeezed his arm before smiling. "Be at my place by 8!" He seemed to calm after that and they walked on in companionable silence. Mindy let a string of fantastical scenarios run through her head. She felt it best to let those particular thoughts go unspoken.

This was a date, right? Of course it was a date. No. Wait. She had told him she wasn't dating right now. Dinner between friends? I mean they'd had dinner together a million times before. Like that pizza place. Or that sushi place. Or that one time she'd dragged him to eat at the food truck that sold crepes and waffles all day. This was just like that. Right?

But.

"Mindy, do you want to order?" Danny gently prompted and Mindy realized the waiter was impatiently standing in front of her. When had he got there?

"Uh yeah." She hadn't even looked at the menu even though she'd had it open on the table the whole time. She quickly picked her go-to Pad Thai dish to save face.

Stupid Danny. Stupid unreadable Danny. Stupid No Dating. Stupid delicious Thai food. Stupid –

"Earth to Mindy? I asked you how your food is. Are you okay?" Now it was Danny's turn to look concerned as Mindy fumbled with the situation they were in.

Earlier in the day it had been Danny who had acted like a nutjob. How dare he turn the tables on her!

Mindy was starting to resent Danny and her feelings for him and all this unspoken crap. She had been single for way too long and now here was a golden opportunity with a guy she really really really really liked and she wasn't even sure how he felt. She always knew how the guy felt, otherwise there was no point! One thing was for sure, Mindy was definitely not used to holding still.

She attacked her food in frustrated anger. Danny didn't seem to notice though. Probably just thought she was really hungry. Mindy rolled her eyes. Men.

Mindy and Danny began walking from the restaurant towards Mindy's place. Mindy's mind was racing. They were going to make it to her door and she would still have no answers. Just a million questions and one annoyingly handsome jerk who needed some sense knocked into him.

And at the moment Danny was filling in the silence with some useless, irrelevant and completely unromantic nonsense about the New York Mets.

Mindy couldn't take it anymore.

"I LIKE YOU!" She shouted seemingly at the top of her lungs.

"What?" Danny almost tripped over his own surprise at the non-sequitur she had just thrown at him.

"I like you, Danny. And I haven't dated anyone since Christmas. I've been sitting here like a moron waiting for you to make your move and then you ask me to dinner but we still both pay our own share and you don't say anything and I keep waiting." Mindy rambled.

"You said you weren't going to date anyone right now." Danny offered hesitantly.

"I like you." Pouted in reply, frustrated and a little bit embarrassed but mostly impatient.

A smug grin appeared on Danny's face and Mindy immediately regretted her confession.

What had she done? She had blurted out her feelings like some kind of crazy stalker schoolgirl with a crush. Now she would probably never hear the end of it. Daniel Castellano was going to lord her feelings over her for the rest of her life, she was sure of it. Oh god, she should just flee to her apartment now while she still had the chance…

"Really?" Danny asked, studying Mindy's face for confirmation and suddenly it wasn't arrogance she saw on his face but hope.

"Yeah." Mindy replied, now only a whisper remaining as her frustration made way for nervousness. She realized how important this moment was. This was big. How typical of her to just barge right through it.

"I like you too." He took a step closer, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "A lot." Danny gave her a lopsided smile.

"Really?" Echoed back in her sweetest voice.

"Yes." Danny chuckled. "I have for a long time now, Min."

"Oh, Danny." She practically had stars in her eyes.

Danny leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers and tangling his hands in her hair. It was the middle of February but all Mindy could feel was heat emanating through her core. He was patient, probing, passionate with his kiss. But there was something else, a tenderness that surprised Mindy. She felt her stomach drop to the pavement and her heart sing.

"Uh." Was all Mindy could manage when they broke apart. In all their years of bantering, Danny had never succeeded at making her speechless, until now.

"In case there was any doubt left about whether or not this was a date." Danny explained, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.