beyoncepadthai | i'll have what she's having

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i'll have what she's having

So, Mindy's last birthday went uncharacteristically uncelebrated. Of course, she shopped and drank and all of that, but this year she's more than in a partying mood and has more than enough invitees to put something on without seeming like a total loser.

Deciding to mix things up, Mindy's rented out a cool seat-reclining, wine and dine theater at High Street mall, splurged on snacks and booze and arranged for a viewing of her favorite film. Of course there are a bunch of cool new releases she could let her guests enjoy, but it's her birthday, and this is one way she can force everyone she knows to watch the wonder that is literally anything Nora Ephron.

She can hear Danny's whining already, and she couldn't care less.

What she can't help but care about is what Danny once said to her back in New York, his cruel reminder to her that she wasn't getting any younger, the promise of a hot husband and adorable children ticking away. She's all the more conscious of it this week, especially after freaking out momentarily thinking that Luke might have already moved on.

The right decision or not, a real relationship or not, it's one more shot at a future that she's managed to screw up.

Hence, the alcohol. Dressed to impress, Mindy arrives early to get her start on a super strong and super fruity cocktail while she waits for her first guests to turn up.

[Set to the night of the 20th of June at one of the fancier theaters at High Street Mall. From 8-ish cocktails (+ beer and wine) and finger food will be served in the bar area, and then the movie (viewable on YT, if you are so inclined) will be starting at 8:30. Tag Mindy, tag around, before or after the film. ENJOY.]

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"Now I'm just wondering how I can fit a movie theater in my apartment," Elle jokes. "Drinks, friends, no chatty strangers, big chairs — this is the way to see a movie." It's such a great fit for Mindy, too, she thinks. It brings together so many things she loves, and besides, VIP status is the best way to celebrate a birthday. And if some of those guests don't appreciate the choice of film, well, she and Mindy will love it enough for all of them.

"It's so pretty," Mindy says, and she means it, too. She's not really any good at feigning liking things, something that gets her in hot water more than she cares for. But it's such a sweet gesture, a far cry from what Mindy usually feels about her exes.

She thinks that she and Luke are going to be just friends again just fine, and if that's not an evolution on her part, she doesn't know what the hell is.

"And I love jokes that exclude others," she teases lightly, then leans to kiss his cheek. "So thank you."

"Because a dragon isn't a monster?" Mindy asks, side-eyeing the hell out of Kate. Like it's her job to know all of the weird things that Newt is into. A monster's a monster, she's so not taking responsibility if she kills him.

But, okay, she might be a little more careful in discussing Godzilla in front of him. Or maybe just avoid it all together. She likes him better alive, for sure. He's come too close before. "Okay..."

"You're welcome," Luke says, feeling awfully pleased with himself. For a moment he'd really wondered if getting Mindy a gift without a receipt had been a mistake, but he knows she would appreciate a personalized gift more than she might let on via text or around people she doesn't know all that well. While their physical relationship may have ended, given the time they spent together, given the intimate nature of it, even the things Luke had said to her when they were ending, he thinks he's not wrong in saying they've grown close.

"I thought you might particularly appreciate that aspect of it," he continues, his smile widening into a grin. "You're the only one here who knows. Well, no, Reid knows. I accidentally showed him."

"Just trust me on this. You've seen Newt get all..." She makes a face and waves her hands, trying to indicate what she means. "Unless you're being totally respectful and know what you're talking about, don't go down the Godzilla, kaiju, dragon route."

Then she reconsiders, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Unless you want to see his head explode. Which is maybe a thing that might be kind of interesting, so just be prepared for that."

"You know, I wouldn't put it past this place making heads literally explode," Mindy muses, thinking of all of the bees and the week the city was deserted and magical mistletoe with a look of disgust on her face. "So I'm going to avoid the temptation. I'd feel crazy bad if it was my fault, so."

And anyway, she's just as head explode-y if anyone questions the legitimacy of something she loves. Meg Ryan, any of the Kardashians, vitamins shaped like cartoon characters... "How is married life treating you guys, anyway? I'm used to having called the police multiple times when it comes to my neighbors marriages by now."

"Accidentally?" Mindy asks, head tilting to the side. Then again, her seeing Luke had also been an accident. Part of her wonders if she should be upset he didn't actually tell her while they were sleeping together, but given her tendency to overreact to basically anything, she can't say she blames him. She glances around quickly and no one's really close enough to eavesdrop, but she drops her volume anyway. "Just shaking his hand and a claw snuck out, or?"

Edited 2015-06-24 10:36 (UTC)

"I would never leave your apartment," Mindy says with a wistful sigh. She totally appreciates that their creepy city benefactors give them housing and everything, but she does find herself longing for the place she had back home. So much time and money had gone into making it her own. "Man, maybe I should get a bigger place. Of course, Darrow's ladies would be without the best OB/GYN in town because I'd be eating popcorn all day..."

More than she does already, at least.

"Eh," she waves her hand. "I'd figure something out."

He laughs, more a silent shake of his shoulders than anything, then shakes his head. "It wasn't dissimilar to how you found out, actually, though there was no demon involved. No, I was startled by a raccoon and just kind of..."

He makes a face like he's baring his teeth, then shrugs, looking faintly embarrassed. At the time, wandering through the abandoned amusement park, nervous and excited all at once it had seemed like the appropriate reaction.

"In my defense," he continues, "It sounded like a much bigger raccoon."

"Those sound like some pretty atrocious marriages," Kate says, wrinkling her nose. Not like the cops have never been called on her parents, but in their defense it usually wasn't Tara causing the problems and was almost always one of the alters. Which makes it better, she thinks, though not by much.

"We're good, though," she continues, giving a shrug. "I mean, we're the same, which is pretty much obnoxiously adorable and totally full of ourselves. Which is better than teetering on the edge of divorce, right?" She's joking and she doesn't really imagine ever having such a big issue with Newt that she can't talk to him about it, but the thought scares her now and then. I's not something they need to worry about, she's sure of that, but her own parents had been kind of a disaster.

"You'd figure something out," Elle echoes, nodding. "God, I'd love a bigger place. I wish I could afford it now, but with all my school expenses... I'm just gonna have to wait and dream of the place I'll buy with all my fancy lawyer money one day."

It's really strange, admittedly, to have to budget so carefully. She can do it, she's great with finances, but she never had to before Darrow. Mostly she's pretty good at it, but it's hard sometimes to remind herself to keep her spending in check when she's used to being able to get and do whatever she wants.

Reid has no idea what Space Hospital is, aside from the fact that it's apparently watchable, but he nods like he understands perfectly well how a friendship could have sprouted from a meeting like that. As for the discounts, he's yet to actually pay for anything in the store, and he wonders if that actually makes him a bit of a bad friend. It certainly makes him a terrible patron.

"Book discounts are a good thing no matter how you spin it," Reid answers, figuring it's a neutral enough thing to say.

The truth is that there's so much more about having met Luke that's been great, every time they've gotten together has been filled with fascinating conversations of substance. Luke listens to him, no matter the topic, no matter how long his rambling on said topic gets, and it still feels strange sometimes to know that there's someone in this life he wasn't supposed to have willing to be that kind of friend to him. Reid is certain, in fact, that if they hadn't met that first day, he'd still be without any actual friends in this city. He certainly wouldn't be here.

Of course, he keeps all of this to himself. He'd kept his relationship with Maeve a secret from the team, the people who'd known him best, people he'd considered family, so he's hardly about to jump into admitting what feelings he may or may not (but definitely is) developing for Luke to a stranger. Especially not without prompting.

"He's a good man," he eventually settles on saying, glancing around until he spots Luke again in the crowd. He's hard to miss, with those curls and white stripe. "And he seems to think I am, too, so that's always appreciated." He bites down on his lip, looking sheepishly back at Mindy as he pulls the card he has for her from his bag and awkwardly holds it out to her.

"Um, this is for you. I thought it'd be kind of rude to show up to your party without something so... Anyway, it's a gift card." He cringes at that, shaking his head. "And I'm not supposed to tell you that. Sorry."

"Don't feel weird," Molly says with a laugh, shaking her head. "Seriously, I never do anything for my birthday." At least, not since she showed up here and found that it felt too strange to do so. Celebrating a year of life that she shouldn't have gotten, that she wouldn't have anywhere else, being reminded that she's another year older than she ever would have been back home, it's never sat well with her. "I'll probably stay in and get takeout or something. I have work that day anyway."

Something low-key will suit her better. For Mindy, though, this seems like a perfect way to celebrate. "But, uh, I'm good, I'm good. You know, busy as usual, but I wouldn't really have it any other way."

"Tea of the imaginary variety, unless I'm there to oversee it all," Sawyer confirms, shaking his head slightly. He's had more than his share of spills already over the years thanks to the girls of the household. Fortunately, most of them are relatively harmless, leaving nothing behind more serious than a colored stain here and there. "But if you're there to raise the ratio of adults, I might be able to give her somethin' to work with."

His smile widens. "And hell, if she don't eat bear claws, I'll take 'em all. She's got a sweet tooth, though. I've given her cotton candy and funnel cake before, and she'll try to smash every iced cake she comes across with that tiny little hand of hers."

"He didn't have to honor that request," Kurt quickly points out. Heck, he knows for sure that when he's playing the retail salesman, people who try to worm some favors from him rarely see him acquiesce. Unless they're incredibly hot guys. In which case, sometimes Kurt can't really deny that part of him that still appreciates a man's silhouette for the art that it is. "He clearly had a reason to."

Stepping closer and letting his arm wrap warmly around Mindy's shoulders, Kurt gives her a look up and down, assessing whether or not her words are to believed. Relatively satisfied with what he finds, Kurt nods.

"Alright. I'm going to take your word for it. I guess doctors are a bit more resilient than your average person, huh? Though I'd like to believe that musical theater wannabes are as well. We have to be strong, at least in ego and in spirit. Not the biggest market for our work out there."

Newt's pretty sure he catches Mindy eyeing his upper lip, which had been freshly shaven just that morning, and he's admittedly surprise that she doesn't give him shit about not wearing a fake mustache this time. Not that he's sad about it, the fake mustache thing had been one time, okay, it doesn't even have to be a regular topic of conversation but since he seems to have eluded it, he's not going to ruin that by bringing it up on his own.

Instead, he hones in on Mindy's massive age lie because yeah, he'd been the one to say it first but he's pretty sure everyone here knows that she's twenty-one for like, what, the tenth time? He's not actually sure how old she is, if he's honest, and he's also not sure whether or not that makes him a shitty friend. To be honest, he'd asked Kate how old Mindy would be when they'd gotten the invitations in the mail but hell, that'd been like, two and a half weeks ago. A lot of shit happens in two and a half weeks, he can't possibly be expected to remembers people's ages.

"Right, next year, I'm totally deaging to nineteen, which was actually a pretty decent year for me so you know what, maybe I can work on a way to actually make that happen. Nice little age reversal whammy, doesn't sound so bad, right? Stranger things have down here, nothing could really go too wrong with a blast to my teenaged past. Definitely long after the first time I tasted alcohol, though."

"I... have absolutely no idea what Inception is," Emmett admits, bracing himself for that to be almost as significant an affront as his not having seen When Harry Met Sally before. It's a strange thing, really. He's not from too terribly far earlier than most of the people here he knows who came from somewhere else, but those few years have made a huge difference, both in terms of technology and pop culture. Then again, he never paid a whole lot of attention to the latter. "I don't know if that's better or worse."

"It was a raccoon?" Mindy asks, and she can't help it, she clasps her hand over her mouth, starting to laugh. Having seen what Luke looks like as a wolf, now, it's kind of ridiculous to imagine him spooked by anything the size of Pepe, Mindy's stalker raccoon kind-of-pal. "You need to work on your nerves, man."

"Marginally better," Mindy says, lifting her hands to gesture with her two index fingers just how small the margin is. But she's kidding. At least, mostly. If any couple deserves to be deliriously happy, it's Kate and Newt, two people that Mindy's never doubted the love between.

It doesn't mean she's not allowed to be bitter about other people's happiness from time to time, although lately it's more sadness than anger she feels, and it's never directed at her closest friends. An improvement, if anyone's keeping count, on how she'd handled the first years of Gwen's marriage. It was much harder to be bitter, at least in person, once her goddaughter came along.

"I feel like we need to hang out more, the three of us, considering we're literally neighbours, though. I don't want to be a weird third wheel, so I'm just putting it out there."

"How much longer until you graduate, again, anyway?" Mindy asks. She's positive that Elle has told her a dozen times before, but she's less versed in law school dynamics than medical. Even that varies from place to place and universe, and she'd been confused enough while she was there. "I feel like all of my friends are in college and I'm a working stiff."

One that loves her job, but still. Mindy misses learning, sometimes. It's not like she can exactly go out of town for conventions on the latest breakthroughs in laparoscopy these days.

Dude is kind of incredibly awkward and Mindy wants to cringe in turn, but at the mention of a gift she perks up immediately, latching on.

"Are you kidding me? Gift cards are the best gift," Mindy assures him. She should say that he didn't have to get her anything, but that would imply that he wasn't expected to at the next party she throws, and Mindy loves gifts. Even if it's a gift card. Especially if it's a gift card, in fact. "Not that I don't trust your taste. I'm sure you'd shop amazingly for some Indian lady doctor you've never met."

She takes the envelope, smiling at the card because he must have gotten some guidance on what she was like based on the bling alone. "This is awesome," she says, holding it up as if it's his first time seeing it, before she goes for the actual present. "Oh my god, I love this place. I know a couple of people who work there. I can totally use this. Thank you, Spencer."

She's awkwardly trying to fit it back into her purse that's a tad too small when it occurs to her she's being basically the worst host ever. "So, uh, tell me something about you? You're a good gift giver, we both like Luke, you're very tall... what else?"

"Well, you didn't have my parents who basically threatened to kill me if I drank before I was legally allowed to," Mindy says with a wave of her finger. It's not the whole truth, but her parents were pretty legit about making sure that she stayed within the confines of even the most arbitrary laws.

Not that she would have gone outside of them, anyway, given that she was basically a massive loner until she was about twenty-four. Some would argue a few years later than that, and she'd have to hit them. "Nineteen was a terrible age for everybody, what are you talking about? Was that the first year you caught your first drag—sea monster, or whatever?"

They walk side-by-side into the theater in silence, Luke staring at his shoes and seemingly refusing to look up at him and Reid wondering what on earth had caused the sudden jolt of his friend's arm and whether he'd done something terribly wrong in the few seconds between standing still and walking. He's glad the theater is already dim when they step inside because it helps to hide the way his brows knit and the corners of his lips turn downward into a confused frown.

The only thing he can think of that might have shifted the mood is that maybe he'd sounded a little too eager about watching La Strada in the near future, though he'd tried very hard to keep his voice and expression neutral; then again, Luke is a werewolf, he has senses that are heightened that allow him to tune into things Reid can't so maybe that's it. Maybe Luke had noticed the quickening of Reid's heartbeat or felt a blast of heat that Reid had felt in his cheeks at the idea of watching a movie with Luke alone, in the comfort of Luke's apartment. Even thinking about it now makes his pulse pick up, and he lets out a long, silent exhale as he urges himself to regain some sense of control lest Luke decide he'd rather sit somewhere else altogether.

But then, he thinks, Luke had said he was looking forward to it. He'd seemed happy that Reid had agreed, and Reid can't forget the smile that had just been on his face. There'd been something so sweet about it, almost shy, and Reid recognizes it because he's caught himself with the same one every so often as he passes by a mirror or a window and realizes that yes, as is becoming more and more common, he'd been thinking about Luke. This feels almost like the high school crush he'd never had and somehow so much more at the same time because they're two grown men who are very capable of running their own lives but Reid thinks that in the future, if he finds out they've been feeling the same way for each other all this time, he'll feel very foolish for missing it.

Then again, profilers are notorious for not being able to profile themselves or those too close to them, so it wouldn't necessarily surprise Reid either. The things is, he's an enormous fan of the facts and right now, the only fact he has is that Luke considers him a friend. It's a very nice fact to know, of course, but Reid desperately wants to know if there could be more between them one day. This is neither the time nor place to ask, though, which he reminds himself of as Luke leads them to a pair of seats far off to the side.

He pauses, blinking at the seats then looking toward a few that are still available toward the center, where the rest of the attendees of the party have gathered, and he stops himself just before he's about to ask if Luke's sure he doesn't want to sit closer to everyone else or have a better view of the screen. Reid bites down on his bottom lip, studying Luke for just a few seconds before breaking out into a smile and nodding, foregoing all worries that Luke might be upset with him in that moment because as far as he's concerned, the movie will be far more enjoyable this way. He's never seen When Harry Met Sally and it seems that tonight, that won't necessarily be rectified.

Somehow, he doesn't think either of them will mind finding a distraction in each other.

"It jumped out of nowhere," Luke says, laughing as well. It really is rather funny, though at the time he'd mostly just be terrified that Reid wouldn't give him a chance to explain. Somehow in a very short period of time he's become quite attached to Reid and he doesn't know how to talk about it in any way that won't make it seem strange. Especially with Mindy, considering their past. He knows they're friends and he'd very much like to keep that, but he isn't sure what sort of boundaries exist in terms of telling each other about their potential love lives now.

"And we were in the amusement park," he adds. "It was very dark."

Sinking into his seat, he's suddenly very aware of just how physically close this put him to Reid, the heat that practically pours off him and there are very few times in Luke's life when he finds being a werewolf actually difficult, but this is turning out to be one of them. Reid is just so close and he's so warm and Luke can smell him. It doesn't make sense, it shouldn't be so difficult for him to just shut it out of his sense, but he can't seem to manage it. He'd spent years around Jocelyn without having her scent affect him like this and he can only assume he must have grown used to it after all that time. But this is new, Reid is new, and as Luke finally relaxes into his seat he feels like he's surrounded by him all without even touching him the slightest bit.

It's absurd. And it's impossible. And he isn't sure how he's supposed to sit next to this man in a dark movie theatre for the next hour and a half without giving in to the sorts of impulses he hasn't felt in years. It makes him feel immature, like he's traveled back to a time when his hands would grow damp at the thought of being close to someone he liked, when sitting next to someone like this was more than enough to make him nervous. And he finds he kind of likes it, too. He might be nervous and he might feel a little like the next ninety minutes will be torture, but he's going to enjoy it all. Every last minute of being this close to Reid feels like something special.

He shouldn't do it, but he leans over slightly, his shoulder brushing against Reid's in the dark as the lights far. "Have you seen this before?" he asks and he's only asking to say something, to be able to carry on a conversation when he knows he should be keeping himself quiet. Other people are going to want to enjoy the movie and aren't going to want to hear him talking, but he finds he can't help himself. He doesn't want any of their conversation to end just yet.

"Clary and I used to watch movies like this on Sunday afternoons when her mother was busy," he continues, still taking care not to speak too loudly, still leaning closer to Reid. He doesn't know why he's doing this to himself, moving closer still when he should just be pulling away, giving them both some space, but he can't seem to help it. It's like he's being drawn in, like something in Reid is pulling a part of him closer and Luke thinks of what it would be like to just give in to it.

But he doesn't. Not now.

"Old horror movies, too," he says, then huffs out a soft laugh. "Black and white movies from the thirties and forties. I loved those afternoons."

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i'll have what she's having

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