A/N: A Supernatural 'adaptation' of one of my favorite movies. Because I think that both Jensen Ackles and Joseph Gordon Levit play their respective characters with a force of humor, drama, and heart that just overlapped each other so well, I couldn't resist. More notes at the end.
Disclaimer: I own no rights to either Supernatural or (500) Days of Summer, and I am in no way profiting from this work of fiction. (Just having fun)
Day 288
Sam pedaled his bike through the streets of Lebanon, Kansas as though his life depended on it. More to the point – from what Kevin had said on the phone – his brother's life depended on it. When he reached the tiny bungalow tucked into the corner of the main street, just a few blocks away from the exterminator's where his brother worked, he rolled his ten speed up the front steps and abandoned it to the porch as he rushed to the front door. Kevin met him there with a worried look on his face.
"I didn't know who else to call," he said, as Sam whipped past him and into the little house. "It's Cassie all over again."
"You did the right thing," Sam assured him. "Where is he?" They both cringed as they heard glass breaking in the kitchen. Sam rounded the corner and saw his older brother standing at the sink, lifting dishes out of one side, and throwing them down into the other with a satisfying smashing sound.
"Dean."
"Sammy? What're you doin' here?" Dean asked, hand still held aloft, threatening to smash another dish.
"I'm here to help you. But first… you gotta put down the plate, Dean."
With Kevin for backup, he maneuvered Dean into the tiny living room and sat him down on the sofa. "Here," he said, handing Dean one of the few surviving glasses in the house, filled halfway with a dark liquid. "Drink this." Dean downed it in one gulp.
"What is that?" Kevin asked.
"Whisky."
Kevin did a double take, sizing up Dean's little brother a bit more carefully. He'd only met the kid a couple of times, but the scrawny thirteen-year-old was seeming more formidable by the second.
"Does Bobby know where you are? It's after ten." Dean spared a minute to question his little brother's wellbeing. When their parents died, they'd been taken in by their Uncle Bobby. But not long after, Dean had graduated, moved out on his own, started working as an exterminator – sort of picked up the 'family business'. But he'd always felt responsible for the kid. Dean was almost ten years older, but they'd always been close.
"Shut up Dean. Just tell us about it. From the beginning," his brother instructed.
"You want me to shut up, or start from the beginning?" That earned him a seriously?-look from the kid, so he decided to comply. "Things were going great. Just… awesome." He called up pictures of the two of them in his mind – smiling, laughing, happy.
"Then what?" Sam encouraged him to keep going.
I think we should break up, she'd said.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
"D'she say why?" Kevin questioned.
"Really, Dean. What are we doing? Going around, doing what we do… and then this – us – I mean, is this normal?"
"Normal? I don't know. But I'm happy. Aren't you happy?"
"You're happy?"
"You're not?"
"Dean all we do is fight," she raised her voice a little when she said it.
"That is bullshit!" he shouted, not to be outdone.
"Maybe she was just in a bad mood," Sam ventured. Dean shook his head.
"Then what?" Kevin prodded.
"This can't come as a total shock, Dean. We've been like Sid and Nancy for months now."
"Jo. Sid stabbed Nancy seven times with a kitchen knife. I mean, come on!"
A waitress came to the table they'd been sitting at and sat a piece of pie down in front of each of them. "Look, lets just eat," Jo said. "We can talk about it later." Dean stared at her across the diner table like he had fallen into some twilight zone, where he had no idea who Jo was – who anyone was. "God, this is great pie. I'm really glad we stopped here." She took a second bite of the pie and it was all Dean could take. He stood up and, as quickly as he could, left the table, heading for the door. "Dean! Don't go!" Jo called after him. "You're still my best friend."
"Damn," Sam said.
"Ouch," Kevin echoed the sentiment.
"You've broken up with girls before," Sammy reminded him.
"Yes."
"And girls have broken up with you before."
"Yep."
"So, you'll get over her."
"This is different," Dean said, his voice sounding even more gravelly after the double shot his brother had just medicated him with.
"How?" Sam asked in the way only a kid who's never really been in love – or ever really had a crush for that matter – can ask questions like that.
"This is Jo." Dean said it in that way that only a man who's seen his entire future laid out before him, and it's with the girl of his dreams, can.
"Dude, it's like they say – there's plenty more fish on PlentyofFish dot com," Kevin tried to help by throwing in his two cents.
"Well, 'they' are wrong." Dean stood and went to the kitchen to pour himself another double. "I don't wanna get over her. I wanna get her back."
Sam sighed in exasperation.
Day 1
"I heard she's a bitch," Kevin mumbled under his breath as they stood at the break room counter, waiting on the coffee pot to finish dripping.
"Yeah? From who?" Dean smirked knowingly. Aside from himself and the new girl, there were only three employees of Singer Pest Control: the owner – his uncle – Bobby Singer, Kevin, and the geeky dispatcher dude, Cas.
"Cas tried to say hi to her in Bobby's office this morning, and she just walked right past him."
"Maybe she was busy," Dean defended her. "Or maybe she's got an allergy to nerdy dispatchers."
"Or maybe she's a snobby, self-important, super-bitch."
"You know, Jo's a guy's name," Dean sighed.
"I know. Damn. She's so hot."
"Why do beautiful girls think they can treat everyone like ass and get away with it?"
"Centuries of reinforcement," Kevin answered without skipping a beat.
"You know what? Screw her. I don't have time for that crap."
"Dean. Jo," Bobby called from the door of his office. "Pairin' you two up today so you can show her the ropes, Dean." He tossed the keys to one of the company's trucks in Dean's direction. Jo intercepted the toss, however and smiled, dangling the keys out to her new partner. Bobby whistled and Kevin clapped.
Traitors, Dean thought to himself.
After Cas had gotten an emergency outcall about fifteen minutes later, and assigned it to the two of them, Dean headed out to the truck in a huff. He climbed in and started the engine before Jo had even reached the door. It was the truck he took regularly for jobs, and when the vehicle roared to life, the stereo started blaring. The girl climbed in and tried to say something to him, but he couldn't hear her over the noise. He mentally cringed at the thought that she would give him backtalk about his music. Preparing to make his drive-picks-the-tunes speech, he turned the volume nob down to a sad level 5.
"Sorry, what?" he asked, forcing himself to be polite, despite the fact that he'd been saddled with an amateur for the duration of the day.
"I said I love ZZ Top. 'Well, I hear it's fine if you got the time, and the ten to get yourself in'," she sang along softly with the quieted stereo. "I love 'em."
"You… like ZZ Top?" Holy shit, he thought to himself as she began typing the address of their job into the GPS.
Day 8
He stood at the back of the room, plastic fork shoved roughly into his box of fried rice, staring at the girl sitting on the edge of the desk, talking to Cas. She was definitely not an uptight bitch. She was beautiful. Even after a day of crawling under houses and climbing up in attics, with her bright blonde hair pulled back into a messy braid, her big brown eyes managed to shine as much as they had when she had climbed into his truck this morning. Dean looked away quickly as she grabbed her takeout carton and moved across the room to come and talk to him.
"Careful what you order from this place," he said as she edged up next to him and started forking a seared dumpling.
"Yeah?"
"Fried rice – phenomenal. Orange chicken – also good. Dumplings…" He waved his hand back and forth in a gesture of uncertainty.
"I like to live on the edge," she said before popping a pork dumpling in her mouth. "But," she said after swallowing. "I appreciate the advice, at least till I get to know the town a little better."
"Oh, that's right. You just moved here." She nodded in answer, taking another bite of food. "Where from?"
"Nebraska."
"What brought you to Lebanon?"
"Boredom, mostly. Wanted to try something new and exciting."
"Clearly, you've come to the right place." They shared a laugh, causing Bobby to turn and glare. He bought them dinners sometimes when it had been a late night, but that didn't mean he wasn't ready to go home, check on Sam, and curl up with an old book and his flask.
"But the best part is that it bugs my mom – me being out here on my own. Untethered."
"Yeah, I get untethered," Dean nodded, taking a sip of his beer. "Want one?"
"Thanks," she answered and took the bottle after he'd opened one for her. "So… how long have you been working here?"
"About three… er, four years."
"So, you've always wanted to be an exterminator, then?" she said with a sarcastically cocked eyebrow.
"I always actually wanted to open my own custom automotive shop." He took another long drag of his beer.
"You did? That's cool. What happened there?"
"It didn't work out." Jesus, pointed questions much? "I needed a job, and uh, here we are."
"You any good?" she asked, stealing a forkful of rice from his carton.
"Bobby's having me train you… so…"
"I meant with cars."
Dean thought about his 'baby' parked in the ally behind the office. "Eh, probably not." The 1967 Chevy Impala was pristine. He'd been forced to rebuild it a few times now – all damage being purely accidental, and so not his fault. Sometimes Sammy joked he loved that car more than women. It wasn't true, but it was close. Well… depended on the woman.
"Well, you're a perfectly adequate exterminator."
"Yeah, that was my nickname in high school. Perfectly Adequate Winchester. That's what they used to call me."
"They used to call me anal girl."
Dean had just taken another sip of his beer and he nearly choked when she said it, which did not go unnoticed by Jo.
"I was very neat… and organized."
Day 158
"I don't know, man. I think it's official," Dean said as he and Kevin were walking from the office back to the bungalow. "I think I'm in love with Jo." Kevin stopped and stood in place as Dean jogged up the steps to unlock his front door. "I love her smile. I love her laugh. I love that little Mickey Mouse shaped mole she'd got on her left shoulder. I love the way she sometimes licks her lips before she talks. I love the way she looks when she's sleeping. I love how she makes me feel. Like anything's possible, I don't know. Like life is worth it."
"This is not good."
Day 11
He was sitting on the couch at Bobby's with Sammy, playing 'The Last of Us' on the PS3. Battling zombies with his kid brother had become a regular thing the last few years. He liked it. Male bonding and all that crap.
"She likes basketball and ACDC. We talked about the perfect burger for like three hours, Sam. We are so compatible, it's insane. She is not like I thought… at all. It's amazing."
"Just 'cause some hot chick likes the same bad music you do… that doesn't make her your soul mate, Dean."
Day 22
"It's off."
"What?"
"Me an' Jo."
"Was it ever on?" Kevin asked skeptically. He and Cas were playing foosball at the corner pub down the street from work, while Dean sat at a table off to the side of the game, watching, waiting on a waitress to bring more beers.
"No. But it could have been," Dean said, slouching back in his seat. "In a world where good things happen to me."
"Well, that's not really where we live," Cas said, dryly.
"No."
"So what happened," Kevin asked as he conceded defeat to Cas and they both moved back to their seats at the table.
"You ready? Okay, so there we are, nine more units to spray, just me and her…"
"So. Uh… How was you're weekend?" Dean asked, trying to make small talk as they worked.
"It was goo-ood." She smiled brightly, a little too eager to communicate just how good her weekend had been.
"Can you believe that shit?"
"What shit?" Cas asked, looking even more confused than usual.
"Yeah. Pretty sure I missed something."
"She might as well've said she had sex with some guy she met at the gym all weekend. C'mon guys!"
"Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Kevin asked, his voice cracking as it raised in pitch.
"She's obviously not interested in me. There's nothing I can do about that."
"Just because she said her weekend was good, that means she's not interested?"
"And some other things."
"Did she say 'hey' instead of 'hi'? Because you know that means that she's a lesbian, right?"
They both turned to give Cas the what-the-fuck-Cas?-look that they'd perfected over the years.
"Whatever man, its fine. I don't need this crap. I'm comfortable. I'm un-hassled. People don't realize this but loneliness is underrated."
"You could just ask her out," Cas suggested with painful sincerity.
"Don't be stupid."
Day 27
Dean was lounging in Bobby's office on his lunch break, listening to his 'classic tunes' playlist on the big, old over the ear headphones he'd had since he could remember. Kevin walked in and started talking, but Dean ignored him, turning the volume up on his phone. Not to be dismissed, Kevin began waving his arms and miming that Dean should remove his headset.
"This Friday. All you can karaoke at The Roadhouse," he said once Dean had tugged the earphones off.
"No. Man," Dean looked at his friend in exasperation. "They're not gonna let us back in there after last time."
"It wasn't that bad," Kevin defended.
"Dude you threw up on the stage, decked the bartender, and threatened to burn the place down."
"But I didn't burn the place down. Besides, it's not like that. It's a work thing – we're all going. I'll be on my best behavior."
"Eh, I don't think so."
"Dude! You're not listening to me!" Dean sat up as Kevin motioned with a head nod to the outer office where Jo was chatting awkwardly with Cas. "The whole. Office. Is going."
Day 28
Dean walked into the karaoke bar apprehensively – walking around the main room, checking dark corners as if he were looking for some kind of ambush. It didn't take him long to spot her. She was struggling with the microphone on stage, trying to drop it to her level.
"Okay, I'm new, so no makin' fun of me."
The music started up and Dean's jaw slackened as he watched the girl on the stage, a little wistfully. She was singing Stevie. Not 'Fleetwood' Stevie – her solo stuff. And she could sing! She was killin' it.
"Well, he seemed broken hearted
Somethin' within him
But the moment
That I first laid
Eyes on him
All alone on the edge of seventeen"
"Hey, man." Kevin clapped him on the shoulder and led him over to a table where Cas was sitting, thumbing through the song catalogue.
"You said 'hey' instead of 'hi'. Does that mean you're a lesbian?" Dean sat as the song finished. He heard Jo thank the patrons for their applause, and then saw her walk through the room, straight to the empty seat next to him.
"They told me you weren't coming." She said in greeting. "Was I terrible?"
"What?" he huffed in disbelief. "You know you were amazing."
"Thanks. I wanted to sing 'I Won't Back Down', but they didn't have it."
"Are you kidding me? I love Tom Petty." He felt the grin spreading on his face – probably a little bigger than was cool to show the girl you're trying to pick up. He didn't wanna look like a dumb ass.
"So," Cas asked, filling the space Dean left when he'd shut himself down, trying to save face. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Dean almost choked on his beer. That was happening a lot lately. But Jo just smiled, probably writing off the weird question to the fact that it was Cas – and Cas was just weird.
"No," she answered, sweetly.
"Why not?" Kevin asked, suddenly interested in the conversation now.
"Don't want one."
"Come on. I don't believe that," Kevin prodded. Dean slouched down in his seat, suddenly more uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking.
"You don't believe a woman could enjoy being free and independent?"
"Are you a lesbian?" Cas asked, dead serious.
"No, I'm not a lesbian." She smiled easily, then became more serious as she leaned forward to speak again. "I just don't wanna be somebody's girlfriend. I don't really wanna be anybody's anything, you know?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Cas answered.
"It sounds weird, but... I just like being on my own. Relationships are messy and feelings are always getting hurt. Who needs it? We're young. I say, let's have as much fun as we can, now, and leave the serious shit for later."
"Oh my god! You're a dude!" Kevin exclaimed. He turned to Dean in disbelief. "She's a dude!"
A few hours later, Jo and Dean flanked Kevin, leading him out of the bar and over to Dean's car, parked at the curb.
"You are amazing," Kevin mumbled, stumbling forward drunkenly.
"Yeah. I know." Dean smiled over his friend's shoulder at the woman on the other side. Jo returned the smile and laughed quietly as dean reached to open the back door of the Impala.
"And you're amazing, too."
"Thank's, Kev," Jo said, graciously, helping Dean dump the near limp body into the back seat of his car.
"And you should know," Kevin raised his voice now. What he had to say was important. "He's into you. Like he likes you, likes you."
"Okay, buddy," Dean cut in before Kevin could say anything else. The situation was already beginning to get seriously messed up. "Lets get you home."
Jo raised her brows as Dean shoved Kevin's feet into the vehicle and slammed the door shut.
"I'm sorry about that. This happens every time we come here." He shoved his hands into his pockets nervously, then realized that was something he'd seen Sammy do when he was uncomfortable. He pulled his hands back out of his pockets and raked them through his short-cropped hair. "He gets sloppy drunk and makes an ass of himself."
"That true?" she asked, taking a step closer.
"Yeah, he's a total lightweight. It's embarrassing."
"No. About you." She was speaking softly now and he noticed – not for the first time that night – her perfume. It was the first time he'd seen her in out of their uniform, and he was definitely not disappointed. "Do you… Like me?"
"Huh. Well… yeah."
"As a friend?"
"Yeah," he said again, not wanting to push. Of course all she wanted to be was friends.
"Good," she smiled at him a little too mischievously. "Because I think you're interesting. And I'd really like for us to be friends."
"Awesome…" They were both quit for a moment before they heard Kevin, still in the backseat, trying to climb over the backrest into the front of the car. "I gotta get him home, so…"
"Yeah, well… This was fun. I'll see ya soon, okay?" She turned without waiting for an answer, and walked off in the direction of her car.
Day 33
They were on a call to a chain hotel that had two floors of their sprayed every quarter. It was one of their biggest clients and usually required all three technicians, and Bobby, to get the job finished in one day. Dean was helping Jo pull her pressure sprayer out of the back of the work truck.
"So that was fun the other –" He was cut off by Jo's lips pressing up into his open mouth, capturing his next words before he could speak them. Shocked at first, Dean had never been one to waste an opportunity. His hands snaked around her waist and pulled till she was forced to stand on her toes to participate in the now intense kiss that Dean had eagerly encouraged.
Soon, they were both in need of breath, and he let her sink back to the ground, both of them panting to take in air. He looked at her like she was the only thing keeping him tethered to the earth at that moment. Without a word, she turned, grabbed her equipment, and walked of into the building to begin her work.
"I finished my block of rooms," she said a few hours later, leaning against the door jam of the room dean was currently working in. "Need help?"
"No. This is my last room. Have a seat and I'll be done in a sec."
Instead of sitting, Jo paced the room. It was an adjoining, and the doors between the two rooms stood open. There was a screw loose on the strike plate and she pulled a two-in-one from her pocket so she could tighten it. As she finished with her impromptu handy-girl job, she felt a pair of strong hands come to rest at her waist.
"Bobby and Kevin went back to the office about ten minutes ago."
"Oh." She said it as if someone had just told her it was supposed to rain today. Then she turned around and reached up to pull Dean's face down to her level. They shared a heated gaze for a few seconds before he crashed his lips down to meet hers. She began walking them both back into the room, further from the door and closer to the bed. When Dean felt the edge of the mattress brush against the backs of his legs, he turned them around and lifted Jo up long enough to lay her down on the mattress.
She laughed as their lips broke apart and he climbed onto the bed to lie next to her.
"This is fun," she said breathlessly. "You're fun."
"Yeah." Dean let his eyes roam over her, not concerned about hiding his feelings any longer. "So're you." He moved his head closer to hers on the pillows and kissed her. – lazy, this time. But before he could escalate it further, she pulled her head away a little bit.
"Just so you know," she began, whispering as if there were others in the room and she wanted only Dean to hear her. "I'm not really looking for anything… serious."
"Yeah," he nearly yelped out, too quickly, at her admission.
"Because that freaks some people out, sometimes."
"I'm not freaked out."
"Good," she said.
"Good," Dean echoed as he watched her get up and start gathering their equipment.
They pulled up to his little house on the corner of Main and she got out of the car to open his garage so that he could pull the Impala in for the night. Where had this girl come from? He'd never known anyone like her before. This was the girl all of those sappy power ballads were written about.
They didn't waste any time picking up where they'd left off. Stumbling into his bedroom, kissing as they went, they practically fell onto his bed.
"Wait, wait. Hang on," Dean gasped as she began unbuttoning his work shirt. What he wouldn't give to be doing the same to her right now. But first… "I'll be right back," he said.
Leaving her lying on top of his bed, he moved quickly down the hall and into his house's one bathroom. "Okay. She's just a girl… in you're bed," he said to his reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. "You do this all the time. No big." He opened the cabinet and removed a condom, shoving it into his pants pocket. He wasn't sure they were actually going there tonight. But damn it if he wasn't going to be prepared. Boy scout motto, that was. Always be prepared. Only he'd never been a boy scout.
He stopped his inner rambling when he walked back into his bedroom and looked down at his bed. Jo was still there. He was pretty sure her clothes had gone home, though. His grin widened and, this time, he let it linger as he switched off the lights and dove for the bed.
Day 303
Dean stumbled into work with an amount of stubble so long gone it no longer deserved to be called anything but a beard. It was the last few weeks of Sammy's summer vacation and he was lounging on the couch in Bobby's office. Dean walked in and tossed the kid one of his old work shirts.
"You can ride with me today, Sammy," he mumbled as he walked over to the time clock to punch in.
"You get her back yet?" Sam asked, ignoring the implication that Dean was going to make him work today.
"Workin' on it." Dean passed the kid a cup of coffee and glanced to the outer office where bobby was breaking down the basics for their new hire, Jody Something.
"You should write a book," the kid said. "Henry Miller said the best way to get over a woman was to turn her into literature."
"Do you even know me?" Dean asked, smacking Sam up the back side of his head. "Get a haircut, will ya?" As he walked back out to the outer office and Cas' desk, he felt his phone buzz.
not this weekend, but maybe next
i hope this means you're ready to be friends
Day 87
"Seriously?"
"What?"
"'Octopus' Garden' is the best Beatles song ever?" He followed Jo through the used record store, watching her shuffle through the stacks of vinyl. "You might as well just say 'Piggies'."
"I love Ringo," Jo shot back in defense of her musical preferences.
"Nobody loves Ringo."
"That's what I love about him."
Day 95
Waking up with Jo - not every morning, because... what kind of a casual relationship would that be? - was like coming home. But especially Saturdays. Saturday mornings were the regular Coffee and Cars Expo days. They'd wake up early (usually fool around a bit), grab a bite, and take their coffee with them over to the county fair grounds. Most of the time it was just the local car nerds, nothing new to see. But every once in a while... Dean would forever remember the way her face lit up when that 1968 electric blue Chevelle drove into the parade ground. She lit up like a kid at Christmas.
There were the quiet nights they'd spend watching old movies like 'The Sting', and no matter how many times she'd seen it, Jo would cry and burry her head in his should at the part where Loretta was killed in front of Hooker.
Then the time she asked him to show her under the hood of the Impala, the actions following which definitely included sex in the back seat.
But the best thing he could hold onto would be the look on her face when she saw that Chevelle. "I don't know cars," she'd said. "But I know pretty. And, honey, that's gorgeous."
"Careful," he cautioned. "You'll make my baby jealous." She chuckled at him. "I'm serious. You'll have to hitch to get home." He felt his grin spread ear to ear as her chuckle turned into a cackle. And he didn't care who saw.
Day 109
"So, what are you?"
"Whadda you mean? We're not anything."
"But what do you call each other," Sam asked, slurping his shake as they sat outside the diner with Kevin, waiting on their chilly cheese fries and Sam's salad.
"What? Do, like, we call each other boyfriend and girlfriend? We don't need labels. Seriously, Sammy. That is so juvenile." Dean swiped SAMs shake and took a long draw in the large, plastic straw - in the process, avoiding eye contact with his brother and Kevin.
"Now you sound gay."
"He's right, Dean. You do," Sam nodded his agreement.
"C'mon, guys! Okay, first of all, you," pointing at Kevin. "Event dated since the seventh grade, and you were with her till she left you to go to college. And secondly," looking at Sammy skeptically. "No. Know what? There is no secondly, because you're thirteen, Sam!"
"What's you're point?" The kid asked, wrestling his shake back from his brother.
"I don't think you two are exactly experts on modern relationships."
"Why don't you just ask her?" Sam asked when Dean drove him home that night.
Cause I ask her, that's like the kiss of death. That's like saying 'I love you'."
Yeah, I get it. It's like with me and Ruby."
"Who the hell is Ruby?"
"My girlfriend before Amelia."
"Who the hell is...? Never mind. What are you sayin' Sammy?"
"I think the reason you don't want to ask her is you're afraid you won't hear what you want. Which will shatter all the illusions of how great things have been these last couple months."
"Damn. When'd you get your psych degree?"
"Look, it's easy, Dean." Sammy reached to open the passenger door and climb out in front of Bobby's house. "Just stop bein' a pussy."
Day 259
"I'm gonna get another whisky, you want another beer?" Dean asked as he stood up from their table to head to the bar.
"No, thanks. I'm good," Jo answered softly. She'd been quiet tonight. When he turned back to the table with a fresh whisky in hand he noticed a guy standing close to their table, crowding her.
"Haven't seen you here before. You new in town?"
"You must not be very observant," she said, voice clipped, obviously trying to indicate that she wasn't looking for a conversation with this guy.
"So lemme buy you a drink."
"No thanks," she said as Dean walked up and set his glass down on the table.
"What, 're you with this guy?"
"Hey. I'm Dean." He kept his jaw clenched, trying to avoid causing a scene.
"Come on. What are ya drinkin'? I wanna buy ya a drink."
"I said no," Jo reiterated. Dean stepped closer. Putting himself between Jo and the over-eager asshole.
"Seriously? This douche is your boyfriend?"
That was the trigger word. It had been a really long time since he'd been in a bar fight. Too long. Definitely time to fix that.
Forty minutes later, the walk through the door of Jo's studio apartment, Dean holding an ice pack to his eye.
"You gotta admit I gave as good as I got, though." His lip cracked and started to bleed again as he grinned at his accomplishment.
Jo stood at the tiny kitchen bar, her back to him, pointedly not commenting.
"Jo?" Dean asked, more curious than concerned. "You okay? What's up?"
"I can't believe you."
"What?"
"Why'd you do that, Dean?"
"Are you shitting me? You're mad after I just got my ass kicked for you?"
"Oh, really? Was that for me? For my benefit?"
"Hell yes it was," he said, turning her to face him.
"Well, next time, don't. I don't need your help." Dean stared at her, not knowing what to say, he was so blindsided. "You know what?" Let's just talk about this tomorrow, okay?" I'm really tired."
She started moving around the apartment, gathering her bedding, getting ready for the night. Soon she was done and, hugging a pillow to her chest, she started usher in a silent Dean toward the door. A few steps short of the exit, though he stopped and tossed the bag of ice to the floor.
"No," he said. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me... What is going on?"
"Nothing." She sighed and threw the pillow back onto her bed. "We're just..."
"What? We're just what?" Dean heard his tone get harsher but he couldn't seem to be bothered by it.
"We're just fri-"
"No!" He cut her off forcefully and she glared at him in warning. "Do not say 'friends'! Don't give that fucking line again, Jo! This..." He gestured between the two of them. "Is not how you treat your friends. Holding hands at the supermarket. Kissing in the job. Car sex! Friends my balls!"
"I like you, Dean. I just don't want a relation-"
"You are not the only one who gets a say in this! I do too, and I say we're a couple, goddamn it!" He turned around and put his fist through the wall next to him, before heading for the door. He heard Jo let out a long breath before he slammed the door behind him.
When he got home he put a bag of frozen peas on his left eye and opened a beer. Beer, bath, ice pack to the face – this was his usual after-bar-fight-routine. This was something he knew how to do. After the peas thawed and he'd spent over an hour tossing in bed, the rainstorm hit. This is an awesome night, he thought angrily as he drew a pillow over his head and moaned. Lightning crashed and, at nearly the same moment, he heard the doorbell buzz.
Dean was still pulling the tee shirt over his head when he opened the door to reveal Jo, standing on his front porch, wet from the rain. He decided to remain quiet – let her speak first. He'd voiced exactly what was on his mind before he'd left her apartment.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" His voice sounded more rough than normal and it threw him for a moment, causing him to take a half step back.
"I shouldn't have gotten angry with you."
"Look," he sighed heavily. "We don't need to put a label on it. I get it, but," he moved back into the house another step and motioned for her to follow him. "I need something…"
"I know."
"I need to be able to know that you're not gonna wake up in the morning and feel differently." He was speaking softly, looking down at his bare feet, and he flinched a little when he felt her fingertips on his cheek.
"I can't give you that, Dean. Nobody can." Jo ran her fingers over his busted lip, then, and he inhaled sharply. "Does that hurt?"
"No. It doesn't hurt." Closing the door, he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her to him. "C'mere."
Day 314
I fucking hate Jo. I hate her straw-like hair. I hate her crooked teeth. I hate the cockroach shaped splotch on her left shoulder. I hate the way she smacks her lips together before she talks. I hate the stupid look on her face when she's sleeping. I hate the way she makes me feel.
Day 345
"Look, Julie… It's Julie, right?" He turned to look at the girl – the one that Cas had set him up with – sitting on the barstool next to him.
"Anna."
"Anna. You're a very attractive girl. Very pretty… and smart. I just wanna let you know up front, that this is not going to work out."
"I'm sorry?"
"See, there was this girl." Anna had convinced him to take her to the diner so she could get some coffee into him and maybe make some kind of sense out of what he was saying to her. But, so far, no dice. "I was… I loved her. And, she uh… well she basically took a giant shit on my face." When she gave him a disgusted, questioning look, he clarified. "Not literally. What are you, twelve?" He squeezed his eyes shut and scrubbed his face with his hands as if he was trying to clear the image from is brain. "The point is, I blew it. And I know that she is the only person in the entire universe who could possibly make me happy." Anna rolled her eyes at this point, but Dean was too busy being a sloppy, sad drunk to notice. "There's two options that I can see. Either she's an evil, soulless, demon bent on destroying my happiness, or – option two – she's a robot."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, honey," Dean plastered his best flirtations smile on, though it came off more comical than anything else in the state he was currently in.
"She never cheated on you?"
"No."
"She ever take advantage of you in any way?"
"Well, no."
"And she told you up front that she didn't want a boyfriend?"
"So then, robot, right? See, that's what I figured too."
Day 402
"I hate these things."
"What, ties?" Sammy asked as he untied his tie for the fourth time and started over.
"No. Weddings." Dean paced in the bathroom at the event center of the Lebanon Botanical Gardens. He and Sam were standing up as Best Men for Bobby tonight.
"Did you see who was out there?" Sam asked as he readjusted his tie again, causing Dean to finally come and bail him out.
"Half the town, Sam. What?" he asked with exasperation. He knew who Sammy was asking about, and it wasn't the bride. Jo had waved when she'd walked into the lobby of the building, waiting with the others to be seated. He'd given an awkward sort of nod in acknowledgement before retreating back here to check up on his brother.
"It's been months, Dean. Just say hello." Dean glared at Sam's reflection in the mirror, not needing to say much of anything to communicate what he thought about that. "At least… be nice. Do it for Bobby and Jody."
"Bitch," he muttered as he started to leave the room.
"Jerk."
An hour and a half later and he was sitting at one of the pristinely draped tables, listening to Jo laugh again. Laughing at something he said. And smiling. And all of the sudden, he didn't hate weddings anymore. He watched as she gathered with all of the other single women, and somehow caught the bouquet. Then they did shots. He really didn't hate weddings at all.
"Wanna dance?"
"Yeah." She smiled as she took his hand.
Day 430
"It was really beautiful."
Dean walked into the office carrying their lunch order in a few greasy paper sacks, and he caught the end of Jody saying something to Cas. "What's that?" he asked, only mildly curious, dealing out the food to the other two – Bobby and Kev were still on an appointment.
"You know," Jody started, softly. "Today. It's so beautiful today. A shame to have to work through it, huh?"
"Heh, yeah," he agreed with her to be polite.
"Also, Jo's engagement ring," Cas added. Jody immediately dropped her head to her hands.
"Jo's… huh. Engaged?" He felt something tighten around his chest and he suddenly wasn't all that hungry.
"Yes. Apparently she saw Jody in town this morning. She was just telling me about it. It sounds like a beautiful ring."
"Dean…" Jody reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
"I think I'm gonna eat my lunch in the truck. Listen to some tunes. Maybe get an early start on my next service call."
Day 441 ½
"Sit down." Dean did as he was told and Bobby closed the front door and walked across the porch to sit in the chair opposite. Sam and Jody were inside, cleaning up the dinner they'd just shared. "Now, I'd ask you if there'd been a death in the family, or someone gettin'… I don't know, diagnosed with cancer. 'Cept, I know that ain't the case. So you tell me, now. Is all this over a little ol' ring, Dean?"
"I don't know what you're talkin' about." He shuffled his feet beneath his chair and stared Bobby straight in the eye. Cool. Detached.
"Dean. Everybody knows, son." He sighed and leaned forward a bit. "You're late most days. Smell like the gutter. I've started getting' some customer complaints, too."
"So? What're you sayin', Bobby? You firing me?"
"The only reason I ain't's 'cause you always get your jobs done consistently. What I'm sayin' is – and take it from an old screw-up who had to work it out for himself – get you're head outta your ass and get back on track! Idjit!" Dean just sat there, shaking his head and chuckling to himself without humor. "Find a damn thing that makes you happy for you, and hang onto it. And if that don't work out, then you find somethin' else. If that means you leavin' the company, well so-goddamn-be-it! But don't go on becoming this other person that you aren't. Not caus'a her."
Day 450
"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Sammy asked as he walked up the driveway of the little bungalow one day after school.
"Eh, just needed some TLC, Sammy. Didn't ya, Baby?" he said, rubbing the front fender of the Impala with affection. The hood was up and he was doing some cleanup on her engine block.
"Good to see ya workin' on her again."
"Yeah. Feels good to be."
"Hey, Dean." He turned his head to look at his little brother through the late afternoon glare. "I know you think she was the only one for you, but I don't. I think, when you're looking back, you're only remembering the good things. Maybe next time you look, you should look again."
Day 287
"Okay, we've got 'The Untouchables'. Or 'Tombstone'." Dean held up each DVD in the electronics department at the local Target. They'd been walking around the store for over an hour now and Jo hadn't shown much interest in anything. He was trying to entice her with the idea of a movie night. "Costner and Connery, or Russell and Kilmer?"
"Know, I don't really feel like action movies tonight, Dean."
"Well, that's okay." He set the DVD's back on the shelf and rubbed her arm sweetly. "Whatta ya feel like?"
"Dinner?" she asked, turning away from him and heading down the aisle.
"Oh, I heard about this new little diner across town. Heard they got great pie!"
Day 488
"Hey, Dean!"
He turned around at the sound of a feminine voice calling his name. Then he recognized the voice a split second before he saw her. She was walking quickly over the gravel and straw of the fair ground parking lot towards him.
"I thought I might see you here," she said as she caught up to him. They moved out of the path of traffic and stood next to the Impala – freshly detailed, waxed and tuned up for the show. "I've always loved Coffee and Cars ever since you brought me."
"I guess I should say congratulations," he said, nodding toward her left hand.
"Only if you mean it."
Oh, well. In that case…" But he said it with a small smile and she let out an equally small laugh in return.
"So. How you doing? You look good."
"Yeah, I'm getting' there." He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to distract himself from the strangeness of the situation. "I, uh. I quit the company, actually."
"You did? I hadn't heard. Good for you!" She sounded genuinely happy for him.
"And you're married."
"Yeah."
"Didn't see that commin'." There was silence between them for a moment before he spoke again. "You should have told me. At the wedding… before we danced."
"Well he hadn't asked me yet, so…"
"But he was in your life. He was going to." She nodded. "So why'd you dance with me?"
"Because I wanted to."
"You never wanted to be anyone's girlfriend and now you're someone's wife, Jo." She looked down and he turned away, shaking his head. Turning back he said, "I don't think I'll ever understand that." It wasn't an accusation or condemnation of her actions with him. Just a statement of fact. He was tired of being angry at her. Angry at… why?
"It just happened, Dean."
"What?" They had both softened their voices now, moving closer so that they could hear one another better. But still more than an arms reach away.
"I just knew."
"Knew what, Jo?"
"What I was never sure of with you." He gasped a little and stepped back, as though he'd been punched, but she didn't stop there. "I was just sitting at a coffee shop, eating lunch and looking at a book about vintage tattoos, when this guy comes up and asks me about it. And now he's my husband."
"So you're sayin' I wasn't bad boy enough for you?" He laughed a little at himself, but he felt the tears start to press behind his eyes, and he was not going to break down in the fair parking lot, damn it.
"The longer I spent with him and the more I got to know him, the more I kept thinking, 'Dean was right'."
"No…" He swiped at the bit of moisture settling on his cheek. Then he felt her fingers come up to help him wipe away the next one.
"No, you were right. Relationships are important." She smiled at him again, a little more sadly this time. "You were always right. Just not about me."
He closed his eyes as she stood on the tips of her toes to place a kiss on his cheek.
"I should go," she whispered. "But I'm glad to see you're doing well." She turned away and began to walk back into the crowed.
"Hey, Jo!" He watched her turn and he remembered seeing her that first day at the office. "I really do hope you're happy."
Day 500
The interview was at Northside Customs Body Shop at ten that morning. It was nine forty and he was walking up to the door eagerly. There was a petite girl with light brown wavy hair rushing up to the door behind him. Dean reached for the handle, and, being the gentleman that his mother raised him to be, held the door open for her.
"Thanks," she smiled up at him, nearly having to look straight up to meet his eyes.
"No problem." He let her talk to the guy behind the front counter and have a seat before he moved to check in for the interview.
"Campbell will be with you guys in a minute," the young guy said, speaking to both of them. The chick looked up at him and he glanced at her, both a little surprised.
"I guess you're my competition," he said, not unfriendly, as he took a seat across from her.
"Guess so."
"I'm Dean."
"Lou," she returned with an interested grin.
"Lou's a guy's name." She just raised her eyebrows as if in challenge at his comment. "So," he laughed, grinning again. "I hope you don't get the job."
"The feeling's mutual," she replied easily with a quick wink – so quick he nearly missed it.
Oh, yeah. He was in trouble.
Day 501
Fin
So, like the disclaimer at the beginning says – this was inspired in part by (500) Days of Summer. I love that movie. And I just see Dean a sort of this hopeless romantic that's in denial about it. I wondered how he'd react if he met a girl he could fall for (because, let's face it, not everyone we fall for is always right for us) who turned the tables and only wanted to have a good time. I've never really seen Dean with any of his love interests on the show, honestly, and I don't know who he'll end up with, or if he will end up with anyone. I just know that, it is true, relationships really are important. Anyway, I really love the deeper meanings that you can take from the movie, and I saw how perfectly (I hope you agree with me) the SPN characters fit into this story.
Some dialogue is taken directly from the movie, but I've changed as much as I could when I should, and where I thought it would be too OOC to leave things to the original script. So, yeah… Supernatural Adaptation of (500) Days of Summer.
Hope you enjoyed it (and if you did, please let me know)!
~Yve