"You remind me of someone."
Meg glanced up to see a guy sliding onto the barstool next to her while she stood with her tray waiting to collect her order.
He was a little older than her maybe, dark, sand coloured hair, green eyes, wide smile, she glanced down at the bar, guitar players fingers, and up at him again. "Oh? And who could I possibly remind you of?"
The corner of her mouth flicked up despite herself.
Getting hit on was a risk of the job, or perk, depending on how she felt that day. But this guy, at least, wasn't stumbling drunk, with unfocused eyes and too familiar hands.
"You remind me of this girl I went out with once. Amazing personality, stunning sense of humour, looked like one of those 1920's starlets."
"Is that so?"
He nodded and help up a finger at the barman before turning to her again.
"Yup. You remind me of her, but to tell the truth, you're much prettier."
"Smooth. Very smooth."
He laughed and shrugged. "I try. Can I buy you a drink?"
"I'm working."
"All night?"
She hesitated for a moment then smiled. He seemed nice. She liked to think she was a good judge of character and this guy seemed ok. Flirty but not pushy, clean but not preppy.
Also his smile.
It reached his eyes and gave him little crows feet.
She liked that.
Turning away from the bar with her tray she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.
"I finish at nine."
She was half surprised to see him still there at nine.
She was totally surprised that he was sober.
It seemed like he'd nursed only two beers while waiting for her and this was a big pro point in his favour.
"You waited."
He shrugged and stood, holding out his hand to her. "You seemed worth the wait. I'm Dean."
"Meg."
"Well, Meg, can I buy you a drink?"
"Sure. Beer? Give me a sec though, I need to text my housemate."
Cas was about to leave the house when his phone chirruped at him.
Plucking it up he saw a text from Meg.
- Gonna be late. Met someone interesting! You'd like him. Pick me up at 12? xxxx-
He smiled fondly and took his coat off.
At least now he could catch up on some Sherlock for a couple of hours.
"So you work here to pay your way through school?"
Meg shook her head and held her glass up to the bartender for another shot.
"Nope. You think waiting tables in this place could pay for school? I went for a while then dropped out." She narrowed her eyes. "Does that make you think less of me? That I'm not in school?"
"Not at all. I'm a great believer in understanding the difference between intelligence ad education."
She chuckled and propped her elbow on the bar to rest her chin on the back of her hand. "Dean. That may be the nicest line anyone's ever used on me."
"I tried."
"So what about you? School? Job? I don't think I've seen you around here."
"Just moved here actually. I work as a gopher at the recording studio…."
"Gopher?"
"Yeah… Go for this, go for that.. You know. Its crappy and pays dick but I'm interested enough in the industry to start at the bottom."
"Well good for you." Meg tapped her glass against his and smiled.
"You know what Meg?"
"What?"
"You may be the most charming person I've met here so far."
"Well. Dean. That's not hard. You see, this town is full of depressingly boring people."
He leaned a little closer to her, dropping his voice conspiratorially. "Is that so?"
"It is. Lucky you met me, or you could have spent your evening talking with one of those Paris Hilton wannabes over there." She saw his gaze flick over her shoulder at a gaggle of loud girls sat at a table n the other side of the bar, and was pleased at the tiny sardonic smile that crept onto his lips.
"That would have been a shame." He said, turning his attention back to her.
"Oh?"
"I have absolutely no interest in kissing any of those girls."
Meg felt a flush rise up her face and laughed quietly before downing her drink and looking up at him again.
He was very close, their knees having already met, were now giving way to their thighs, his elbow was touching hers and Christ he smelled nice. Like leather and shampoo and whiskey and sunny afternoons lying in the grass.
"You were planning on kissing someone tonight?"
"No." He closed the gap between them and waited, his lips only a fraction away from touching hers. "I was kinda hoping I might get to kiss you."
It's a funny thing, she thought, that whenever there's that first kiss, its hard to pinpoint who closes the tiny gap. Someone always makes the first move, but its hard to work out who finishes it, who makes the decision to throw caution to the wind.
She liked how he kissed.
It was polite.
No tongue down her throat, no blender worthy wet smacking of lips.
No. This was the kiss of someone who very much hoped there would be more and who didn't want to fuck it up on the first try.
It was also the kind of kiss that had that little electric spark running through it, the kind that promised more. Of tongue and teeth and nips and sighs.
"I really, really, want to see you again." Dean breathed hard as they parted and he smiled at the colour that had crept up Megs cheeks.
"Me too. But, there's one thing."
"Oh?"
"I'll have to ask my boyfriend."
Dean lent back and blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry….. Your what?"
"My boyfriend." Meg pointed over to the booth where Cas was sitting, beer in one hand, frowning down at his phone in concentration.
"You have a boyfriend?"
"It's…Complicated."
Dean ran his hands through his hair and glanced worriedly at Cas, even though he didn't appear to be watching them.
"Look. I don't want to step on anyone's toes you know? I just got here and… shit…. I'm sorry…."
"No! no it's not like that! Look, Dean, we have a pretty open relationship. It's not easy to explain it… ah crap…. I'm sorry. I should have said something but when I do, guys kind of presume I'm easy you know?"
She saw him hesitate and grabbed at his hands.
"I really like you, I think we could have a lot of fun together. Come over and meet Cas ok? He's awesome. What's the worst that could happen?"
"He starts throwing punches?"
Meg threw back her head and laughed.
"No silly. He's adorable. He won't get mad. Look, at the very least you walk away from here with two new friends. Whatd'ya say?"