Author's Notes: I do not own Drake & Josh, I am making no profit whatsoever, no copyright infringement is intended, etc. This story will deal with adult themes (ie sexuality), so if you're uncomfortable with that please go read another story. All reviews/constructive criticism is greatly appreciated and encouraged.
Summary: Their dislike for each other runs deep, but Mindy and Drake find the only way to get what they want is if they work together.
Gratified Affair
Drake/Mindy, Josh/OFC. Prologue, 596 words.
After her breakup with Josh, it had taken only two boys before Mindy found unusual comfort with Drake.
Her first date had been with Craig Ramirez, and really it was only because he asked her so sweet and shyly one day after their difficult AP Chemistry class. He stuttered over his words and fumbled his books nervously and before Mindy could help herself, the word yes had tumbled out of her mouth and he looked just as surprised as she felt. Sure, she and Josh hadonly been broken up for a couple weeks; it hurt inside when he bragged in class one day about all the phone numbers he'd been getting (she wasn't positive, but she had an icky feeling that Drake and betting were involved somehow). Maybe it was finally time for her to start moving on with her life, seeing other people, and getting over him. That's why they'd broken up in the first place, right?
However, Craig and Mindy's date certainly hadn't gone over as well as she would've liked. As much as Mindy liked Craig, there certainly wasn't that…spark between them. There was the awkward ride in his mom's minivan to the restaurant and when they finally arrived, Craig couldn't stop babbling about the Science Fair and what his entry would be for next year and how he and Eric were definitely going to win something above third place. She nodded and smiled politely while she chewed her lasagna as Craig launched into a story about Niagara Falls in between bites of his spaghetti. He nearly knocked over a glass with his wild gesturing and Mindy thought to herself, this is what I wanted? This is what I waited for?
The evening finally came to a grinding halt in front of Mindy's front door where Craig tried to kiss her and ended up breaking it off awkwardly. His cheeks were flushed bright pink and he mumbled something about Eric and a few other things she couldn't understand. It didn't matter anyway because Mrs. Ramirez was honking the car horn and Craig ran off without so much as a goodbye.
A few weeks later Danny Fox, a guy from her history class, caught up with her after a Science Club meeting was over. She accepted partly because Josh was watching (not that it meant anything…they were just friends now, honestly), but mostly because Danny was pretty cute and she'd never really seen him outside of school. Their date had gone reasonably better than her experience with Craig, until she had to knee him in the groin. As it turned out, Danny wanted to exchange sex for her class notes and he didn't seem to understand that with Mindy, no meant absolutely not, get your hands off you creep.
That's when she let her knee do the talking.
After him, Mindy thought it would be best to take a break from boys. She felt she rushed into her "date" with Craig and Danny was a mistake that she could've said no to. So over the next month, Mindy got to spend quality time with herself for the first time since she was single. She threw herself into her homework, hanging out with her friends, and trying to patch up some kind of friendship with Josh. Hanging out with him wasn't as awkward as it used to be, but she used the time to take each day as it came.
There was no amount of time Mindy spent for herself that could've been prepared for the curveball life was going to throw at her.