The midday sun was filtering through the blinds in Mindy's office. It was a bit warm for Mindy's taste, and she had taken off her blue cardigan and draped it over the back of her chair. It totally undid her look, but whatever. She didn't enjoy being sweaty.
She was looking at Gwen sitting in the chair in front of her. She was completely put together. Not a single shining blonde hair out of place, and she didn't look the least bit over heated. Mindy was still processing the last thing Gwen had said to her.
"Gwen! That is so unfair. I'm not like that anymore. That was ages ago!" She looked at her friend over the tops of her frames. "You really need to have more faith in me. The next guy you set me up with could be love at first sight. How can you deny me possible love at first sight?"
"Love at first sight isn't real, Mindy. You really need to lay off the romantic comedies. When I first met Carl I thought he was a bit weird, but then I got to know him and realized he was just nervous. Plus, you tend to lay it on really thick when you first meet people and it's usually only after they get to talking to you that they realize how awesome you are." Gwen smiled at her best friend. "Plus, the last set up I did for you was a disaster so that's not an avenue we're going down again for a while, ok?"
Mindy took her glasses of and set them on the blotter in front of her. "First of all: Carl is weird, that's never changed. Second of all: I'm trying to tell you I'm no longer a hot mess. Third of all: How am I supposed to meet people outside of work if not through you?" She had ticked off each point on one finger like a teacher giving a lecture. When she was done she straightened the pens in front of her into a neat row. "Seriously, Gwen, everyone at those medical conventions is either ancient or married or addicted to prescription meds. I need you."
"Mindy, give it some time. Maybe we'll do it again. I just need to recover from this last one. We have got to space out our blowouts some. You totally scuffed my Jimmy Chu's this last time, and I don't know if I'm ready to look past that yet." Gwen saw Mindy's shoulders fall and felt a bit guilty, but her resolve could not waver. "I think you need some time to yourself."
"I'm tired of talking about this." Mindy blew a wisp of hair out of her face. This humidity was making it lanky. "What's in that bag you brought? I'm starving."
Gwen's face brightened. "Lunch. A peace offering. I got you a fresh greens salad with grilled chicken and almonds, and I brought myself a delicious sandwich. It's Havarti and ham on a dark rye. So good." She set the salad bowl and the wrapped sandwich on Mindy's desk. "And I got us some of that fancy water you were talking about. Tasmanian Rainwater. Supposedly straight from sky to bottle. However that works." She set them on the desk as well. "Peace offering accepted?"
"Gwen, you know how much I've wanted to try that water. So yes, your dirty trick worked. I will wait a whole week before asking you again." She smiled and grabbed one of the bottles. After taking a big swig she looked at Gwen. "This tastes like water, Gwen."
Someone clearing a throat in the doorway caught their attention. Danny was standing in there looking unsure of himself. He looked from Mindy to Gwen and took in the array of food on the desk. "I, uh, take it we're not doing lunch then?"
"Oh, Danny, I totally forgot about that, I guess you'll just have to owe me another day." Mindy took another drink of the water in her hand and picked up her salad to open it.
Gwen glanced up at Danny. His shoulders had drooped a bit and he had an expression on his face that almost looked lost. It was only there for the briefest of moments. It was quickly replaced with the normal half scowl he always wore. Interesting. He was turning to leave. She leaned forward and dug her phone out of her purse. "Oh, Mindy, it looks like I missed a call from Carl, and he left several text messages. Riley is sick at school and I need to go pick her up and take her home. Immediately." Gwen stood up and grabbed her bag, and shuffled closer to the door. She placed her hand on Danny's arm. "Danny, you should eat my food, we hadn't even opened it yet. I'd hate to see it go to waste."
Mindy narrowed her eyes at Gwen. "What exactly is wrong with Riley, Gwen?"
"Oh, you know, some kid thing. They're always getting bugs and puking everywhere. I'll see you tomorrow, hon." She slipped out the door, and called after her. "Nice seeing you, Danny. Don't let that food go to waste."
Danny was still on the threshold. He, "Well, actually, um, I have a thing…" He trailed off, but continued to just stand there awkwardly. Mindy hadn't notice though, she was intently texting someone on her phone. "So yeah, I'm just gonna go and –"
"Danny just sit down and eat Gwen's sandwich. I know you're some sort of sandwich connoisseur or something." She was still looking down at her phone, her fingers flying across the screen. She tapped send and set the phone on the desk and looked back up. "Well?"
He took the chair Gwen had been in and picked up the sandwich off the desk. "A connoisseur? Come on Mindy. I like sandwiches. Who doesn't like sandwiches?" He unfolded the ends of the wax paper and eyed the rye bread. "What kind of sandwich is this?"
"Something Gwen likes, does it matter? It's just a sandwich." She picked up her fork and dug into her salad. "Just eat it Danny." Mindy frowned down at her food. "What do you think that was about?"
Danny was in the process of situating himself. He set the sandwich on the arm of the chair and reached for the water on Mindy's desk. "What what was about?" He was frowning at the label of the water.
"Gwen. She did not have to go get Riley. That was totally a fake out, but I can't figure out why."
Danny continued to look at the water bottle. "What is this? Rainwater? How much does this stuff cost?" He opened it and took a drink and frowned.
"I don't know, like 11 or 12 dollars a bottle." She speared some lettuce and chicken on her fork and popped it in her mouth. "It's a luxury item, Danny. You should treat yourself more often instead of guzzling that tap water like you do." She was talking with her mouth full a little bit. "There are so many particulate contaminants in tap water, it's truly terrifying."
"No thanks. Real men drink tap water." He took a bite of the sandwich. Good job Gwen.
"Oh, Danny. Let me get out my diary. I need to add that to the Real Men According to Danny Castellano thesis you're working on." She took another swig of the water and rolled her eyes. She picked up a file from her desk and started fanning herself. "Is there something wrong with the air-conditioning today? It's so stuffy in here."
Danny looked up at her. There was a slight sheen of perspiration on her forehead and he skin was a little flushed. Danny suddenly felt warm himself. "Reed probably messed with the thermostat again." He looked down at the bottle in his hands again. "Bottled water is so bad for the environment. I thought you'd be on the ban-bottled-water-bandwagon by now." He looked up at her. "Deslaurier would be so disappointed in you." He smirked.
"Shut it." She set the file back down and poked at her salad with her fork. "I think I'm gonna cash in on that bet. Give me half of that sandwich." She gave him a pointed look.
Danny looked down at the sandwich. It was a very good sandwich. "You're just being vindictive because I brought up Deslaurier. You know you don't want this sandwich, you just want to hurt me. And yes, taking this sandwich from me would hurt." He took another large bite and stared her down.
As if on cue muffled strains of sitar music began filtering down from the ceiling. Danny looked up. Deslaurier. What a douche. "You've got to be kidding me. I've told him a dozen times to turn that stuff down. It's not professional for our patients to be hearing that while we're trying to talk to them about ultrasounds and dilation measurements."
"I don't know. I kind of like it. It gives the place a kind of ambience. Like we're some place nice." She smiled a sweet smile and looked up for a second. Danny clenched his jaw a little bit and stared down at the sandwich. Suddenly he had no appetite.
"You would like it, wouldn't you?" He muttered sitting back in the chair a bit. "We're eating a sandwich and a salad. What kind of sandwich shop have you ever been to that plays sitars and harps?" The scoffing tone in his voice was harsher that the situation called for, but Danny couldn't stop himself.
"It's like a fancy restaurant. The kind of place I would want to go." She was eyeing Danny suspiciously. She had set aside her salad and was tracing patterns in the condensation droplets on the outside of her water bottle.
Danny raised an eyebrow and an incredulous half smile appeared. "Sounds like up there's a place you want to go, Min." There was that damn nickname again. Danny cringed inwardly.
"Don't be ridiculous, Dan. That's absurd." This conversation was making her extremely uncomfortable, so she decided to be intentionally obtuse. "Why on earth would I, a medically licensed OBGYN, want to work in a Holistic Birthing Center with a bunch of quacks?" She widened her eyes with feigned curiosity.
"Maybe you like one of the quacks." Danny had leaned forward in his chair and set his sandwich on the front of Mindy's desk. He suddenly became aware of his aggressive posture and the intensity with which he made the assertion. He cleared his throat and set back in his chair a little, trying to appear more nonchalant. "What is it with Deslaurier anyway, Mindy?"
"What are you talking about?" This line of conversation was worse.
"Why are you making nice with him?" Stop talking about this. You don't need to know what the deal with Deslaurier is. Danny's mouth was outrunning his judgment. "I saw you with him at the hospital, you know that. But that was after he treated you badly. You said so yourself. So why the starry eyes and cheek kissing?"
Mindy is totally taken unaware by the soft tone in which the question was asked. Danny had dropped his gaze. He was fidgeting with his watch, unbuckling and buckling it again. He looked vulnerable. She'd never seen him like this. It made her feel odd. She let out a deep breath. "He apologized."
"That's why I didn't invite you Alex's party. I thought you'd bring him, and I can't stand that jerk." He looked back up at Mindy. She laughed halfheartedly and leaned back in her office chair.
"You know Danny, he might have been better than my actual date." This was quite possibly the oddest interaction she'd ever had with Danny Castellano, and she didn't know how to feel about it.
"Don't bring that up." He laughed. "I've been trying to forget about that from the moment it happened. You have the worst judgment when it comes to guys."
"Well, Danny, maybe you should just be my wingman and tell me if the men I'm interested are real men. You seem to have an infinite supply of criteria." She was frowning.
"Well, maybe I should. You seem to have no clue when it comes to picking out the right guy." Danny was frowning too. He had leaned forward in his chair again and this time both of his hands were on the front of her desk. "Although, I think that just telling you what a real man is would have very little effect, because you never listen to a damn thing anyone says. You'd have to be shown what a real man is."
Danny stood up from his chair. Looking down on Mindy he could see the fire in his eyes. "Oh, really. You think you can show me what a real man is?" She wasn't yelling, but the intensity of the question had the same affect. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Why don't you then, Danny? We both get out of here at the same time. Just in time for dinner. Maybe you should just quit running your mouth and prove it."
"Oh, I can prove it. It's not all talk. It's about time you learned what a real man is!" Danny heard his voice raised, and it was like he was having an out of body experience. He was sweating here. This room was suddenly more than just a bit too warm He was watching himself from afar. No no no. This is not a good idea. "Meet me at the elevator at five."
"It's a date then." Mindy's eyes were flashing and even though there was still anger in her voice she also sounded a bit smug.
"Oh, you bet it's a date!" Danny abruptly turned and stalked out of her office. What the hell just happened?
Mindy was standing alone in her office fanning herself with the file again and wondering the same thing herself when her phone started buzzing. It was a text from message from Gwen. Maybe I won't have to set you up with anyone after all.
"What the hell, Gwen?