Chapter 13:

Mina sips her coffee, wishing it was something stronger. Two days. It had been two days- 52 hours and about 29 minutes since she had seen or heard from Joshua Chasez. The kiss… the kiss that lasted only 5 seconds before she pulled away still lingers in her brain. Oh god and the song. He wrote a fucking song about her. He’d written dozens of songs, she didn’t even know which one. Fuck.

“Move past it Mina. You’ve got a date tonight. It’s fine. Everything is fine” she mutters to herself, feeling like Ross in The One Where Ross is Fine. She just wishes she had someone to talk to. What a week for Madison to be MIA and then Josh was Josh. 

“I need more friends” Mina mutters as the door to her office opens and Sarah peeks her head in. 

Sarah was cool and they were close but she couldn’t unload all her crazy problems on her. 

“Hey Sarah” 

“Rebecca Mills called to say that she had to cancel her dress fitting for this afternoon, something came up” 

“Okay thanks Sarah! Is Madison in yet?” 

Sarah turns to look behind her at Madison’s office. She looks back at Mina and shakes her head. 

“Thanks” Mina says softly as Sarah turns and closes the door back. 

She had hoped the fitting would take up a decent amount of her day but guess the universe had other ideas. As Mina ponders over her now suddenly open schedule her phone sings. Alex. 

“Hey” 

“Hay is for horses!” he jokes. Mina chuckles. He spends a lot of time around kids.

“Oh hush. How are the patients today?” 

“As good as they can be, considering… but no bad news today, which is good news to us”

“Good! I can’t wait to see you tonight”

“That’s actually why I called,” Alex explains as Mina’s smile fades. 

“Oh…” 

“I’m not cancelling…” 

“Oh?” she perks up

“I know we talked about dinner out but what if we just stay in tonight?” Alex suggests. After her crazy week- it sounds like perfection!

“Sounds wonderful! We can break open my new wine of the month!” 

“You’re part of the wine of the month club?” Alex laughs

“Don’t laugh. Madison got it as a birthday gift” 

Alex chuckles. 

“My place around 7? My calendar has been cleared for the rest of today so I can skip out early… a little takeout, some wine…might change into a little something comfortable…” she trails off

“Keep talking like that and I’ll be there at 5” Alex tells her. She hears a bunch of noise in the background. “They just paged me. I gotta go. See you at 7!” he adds, hanging up. 

Things with Alex were going well. They’d been seeing each other for about a month, they hadn’t had the “exclusive” talk but she wasn’t seeing anyone else and she was pretty sure he wasn’t either. They had slept together a few times already. It was decent, nothing mind blowing or life changing but it had been quite awhile since she’d gotten any at all so she was fine with it. Maybe some decent sex tonight is what she needed to get her mind off Josh. 

6:00 was early for Mina but late for everyone else. The office was dark and empty already as she closed her office door to leave. Leaving before dark? Definitely a win in her book. Traffic was horrendous as usual so it's 45 minutes before she pulls into her driveway. Alex is already waiting for her. 

“Got done early today, thought I’d meet you here” Alex states, greeting her with a kiss. She kisses him back and smiles. They walk up to the front door and she lets them both inside. 

“If you want to order the food, I will go change” Mina tells him, leaning into him for a quick kiss. She leaves him in the kitchen as she heads upstairs to get comfortable.

Mina looks through her drawers and into her closet. She didn’t want to be overly obvious with lingerie but she wanted to be comfortable yet sexy. She settles on her lounge pants that sit low on her hips and an oversize top, no bra. Mina tosses her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. She gives herself a quick glance in the mirror before heading back downstairs, “This will work.” 

She finds Alex sitting on the sectional in the living room, flipping through Netflix. 

“Ordered the food, should be here in about 20 minutes”

“Sounds great!” Mina replies, sitting down next to him and snuggling up. They agree on a movie and click play while they wait for their food. Their food arrives and they pause to eat and refill their wine glasses before resuming their movie. Mina glances over at Alex, but then focuses back on the movie. He glances at her, then back at the movie. She wasn’t even sure who made the first move but suddenly she was in his lap, his lips on hers, hands roaming everywhere. Alex’s hands move under her shirt and he grins as he finds she’s not wearing a bra. Mina’s head rolls back as his fingers caress her nipples. Alex’s lips move to her neck as the doorbell rings. 

Mina silently curses them for interrupting. She looks down at Alex

“Were you expecting someone else?” he asks 

“No…” she answers, getting up. She adjusts her shirt the best she can and heads to the front door. She opens it slightly and gasps. 

“JOSH! Uh what are you doing here?” she asks. Leave it to him to not say anything to her for days and just turn up at her house out of the blue. He could be such an asshole sometimes. 

“I just wanted to see you,” JC says in his cheerful demeanor. He looks down at her and notices her lounge pants are turned sideways. It instantly clicks. He had been in this situation many times before. “Oh shit. I’m sorry… I didn’t realize I was interrupting anything”

Mina looks back at Alex as he just sits there waiting on the couch. She was torn. Tell Josh to go home so she and Alex could have sex or invite him in to stay? 

“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” Mina tells JC. He apologizes before turning and walking away. Mina closes the door, locks it and leans up against it. Alex starts to chuckle. 

“What?” she asks

“Your pants… are sideways” Alex explains. Mina looks down and sighs. Of course Josh would have seen that and had known exactly what he interrupted. Dude had perfect timing. 

“Where were we?” Mina asks, as he gets up and meets her by the stairs. “Oh right” she jumps into Alex’s arms and wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her up to the bedroom. 

In typical JC fashion, he vanishes again and it is a few weeks before Mina hears from him. It is after Labor Day when he finally calls her. Luckily she was home alone this time. 

“Did I win a prize? Is THE JC CHASEZ calling me?” Mina asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she answers the phone. 

“Very funny... I was with Podwall in the Hamptons, got busy” JC explains. Mina remains silent. 

“Willie, don’t give me the silent treatment. How was I supposed to know I was interrupting… things?”

“It’s called call or text beforehand Josh. You can’t just show up at my house unannounced”

“I just wanted to see my best friend. Guess I forgot to factor Alan into the equation” JC says. 

“Alex, his name is Alex, which you know that you know so stop being an ass” 

“Whatever… listen I have some news and I just wanted to share it with you, is that so wrong?” he asks jokingly. 

“Okay fine. What’s your news?” 

“Earlier this year I was in Mexico filming a movie and it’s finally being released!” JC announces

“Josh that’s awesome! I didn’t know you were acting again. I know you like to stay out of the spotlight” Mina tells him. 

“I do but this was an interesting role and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when I heard the cast” 

“Tell me more” Mina states, settling in on her couch with her usual glass of wine. 

“It’s a comedy about the opening night of a musical, of which I’m the star. The musical is about one hit wonders and I play… ready for it? Myself” he laughs

“Playing yourself? Like you’re playing JC Chasez? What?” Mina laughs, amused but still somewhat confused

“A slightly exaggerated version of myself but still me, JC” he explains. Mina laughs once again. 

“I definitely have GOT to see this movie!” she tells Josh. 

“I’m glad you mention that. I’ve got an extra ticket to the premiere in a few weeks. You should come with me”

“Well I don’t know Josh… There’s Alex to think of and… I don’t want it to be awkward” Mina says

“It will be fine. We’re friends right? There’s nothing wrong with that” 

“But that kiss…and then there’s…”

“Wills, we’ve known each other a long time. We’ve got history but we’re friends. We will go as friends to see a movie. It’s a normal friend thing” JC explains. Mina sighs. He was right and sounded like he had already forgotten about it. It was nothing. What was she getting so worked up about?

“Fine. I’ll go” she reluctantly agrees. 

“Great!” JC states. She could hear the smile in his voice. He could always charm her into things. He’d been doing it for years. “I’ll give you the details soon. Tell Aldo I say hi” he adds. 

“It’s Alex!” Mina replies but only hears the dial tone.