The moonlight shone through cracks in her mahogany hair. Castiel studied her, as she looked up at the stars. She was beautiful. So beautiful. She lay down on the blanket they had spread across the sandy beach, and he lay next to her, his arms behind his head.

"Nothing prettier than the beach at night, huh Clarence?"

Cas smiled and reached for her, lacing his work roughened hand with her soft pale one.

"This was a nice idea Meg," he said, breathing in the cool night air as he looked up at the star dusted night.

Meg nesteld closer to him, and lay her head on his shoulder. They lay there quietly for a while, just looking up at the stars. There were other people on the beach, but not many. Just a few other random teenagers, some going night swimming in the freezing ocean, and others on the shore like Meg and Cas.

"I'm so glad to be out of school." Meg said with a sigh. "Eighteen years old and free as a bird." She looked up at Cas. "You know what we should do?" She looked so eager, her eyes wide and sparkling. A smile pulled at the corners of Castiel's mouth. She was always bubbling with energy, a new idea, a new adventure.

"What?"

"We should travel. Just me and you, and the whole world ahead of us."

She could tell he wasn't too enthralled, so she started talking faster, hoping maybe if she said all she wanted to say, he would agree with her.

"We could stop in different towns, get jobs and make some money until we had enough to move onto the next one." She looked out to sea, a dreamy expression on her face. Cas swallowed hard. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't leave, he was next in line to run his father's auto business, Singer Auto. But he didn't want to crush Meg.

"Meg I-" Cas was inturrupted as a tall, muscular blonde approached their blanket. "Meg? You look bangin'. It's been a while." He said with a smile, revealing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth.

"Luke?" Meg said, standing up and throwing her arms around the blonde's neck.

"It's been while." Luke said. "Man, like six months, just about. Right? I think that's about when."

Cas choked. Six months was hardly a lifetime to go without seeing someone. He stood up and protectively put his arm around Meg's waist. "Meg, who's this?" He said as he stood up a little straighter.

"I'm Luke, Meg's, well I guess you'd call me her ex boyfriend? We never really officially broke up but."

Cas' jaw tightened. "I see. Well, I'm her current boyfriend."

Luke's eyes darted from Meg to Cas. "Oh I see. Well that's just ace." He smiled but he looked a little disappointed. Maybe even hurt. Cas couldn't help but feel a slight feeling of triumph bubbling in his stomach.

"We should probably get going, I have work in the morning. It was nice to meet you, Luke."

Luke didn't bother to look at Cas, his eyes were fixated on Meg. "It was great to see you again." He said, his light blue eyes alight with a mischievous glow.

"Well have to do this again sometime."

Not a chance. Cas thought to himself. He bent down at grabbed the blanket, shaking the sand from it and folding it up. He placed it under his arm and took Meg's hand.

"Tonight was great, Cas." Meg said, leaning against his car door. They were parked outside her house, and neither of them particularly wanted her to go in.

Cas nodded. "If you want, I'll pick you up before work tomorrow and we can go to breakfast."

He played with his shirtleeves, a nervous habit he'd developed. Sometimes Meg still made him nervous, and they'd been dating for months now.

"Sounds perfect. See you later Cas." She tilted her cheek toward his lips and he pressed a gentle kiss to her alabaster skin. She sent him a little wave as she walked up the front steps and disappeared into her house.

Cas let out a heavy sigh. It shouldn't be so hard to let her go. He knew he'd see her again in the morning, but he hated the feeling of being without her. It was ridiculous, he knew.

When he got home to his apartment he tossed his keys onto the counter before heading to his bedroom and pulling off his shirt and changing into more comfortable pants. He slipped into bed , closing his eyes and trying to sleep. He tossed and turned, the noise outside the window was almost unbearable, and made it too difficult to sleep. He tossed and turned for a bit more before exasperated, he climbed out of bed and pulled his turntable to his bed. As the first few chords of his Johnny Cash record began to play, Cas closed his eyes and waited to drift off to sleep.