Modern AU, set in university. Please enjoy.
Chapter 1: First MeetingAll my life there had been five people I had ever felt comfortable calling family, and of those five, only two were family by blood.
My mother died when I was six months old, leaving my father and older brother my only living family. My father was a big man, tall and burly. He worked as a labourer on building sites, I remember, growing up, hating that he was always away so much, always working. I resented that I hardly got to see him, and when I did he never wanted to play. I know now it was because he was tired, that he'd thrown himself into his work with even great fervour than ever before because if he didn't, my mother's death might have broken him completely.
As it was, his absence left me in the company, most often, of our neighbour Missouri Mosley, she'd come over from Africa as a refugee sometime in her twenties, married a nice young white man in a time when it still wasn't considered 'proper' to do so, raised a bushel of kids, all of whom visited her tiny little flat every Sunday with their own children in tow to have dinner. She was an imposing woman for someone so frail looking. She'd been nearly sixty when she'd started looking after me and my brother, and we could never get anything past her.
Which leads me on to my brother, Dean, who has, and always will, probably been both the biggest influence and pain in my neck in my life. He ran wild after our mother died, at the age of seven he became one of the biggest trouble makers in our street and Dad was constantly getting neighbours complaining about him. He'd hated everything for such a long time, even me, until he'd met the fourth member of my little family.
James Castiel arrived at Dean's (and later my own) primary school three years after mom had died. Dean had been classed as the school bully by then, and had thought nothing of picking on the skinny new kid with the funny name. Right up until Cas had punched him in the face. The two became fast friends during the break time they were forced to sit out as punishment and have been inseparable ever since. Cas was over at ours so often that Dad joked he'd had another son when he wasn't looking. But Cas helped keep Dean from straying too far down the wrong path, and was always there for me if I needed him.
The last member of my little family was Jessica. I'd met her in high school, and she was the most beautiful girl there. It took me three years to work up the courage to ask her out (much to my brothers, consummate ladies man that he is, amusement). When she agreed I was the happiest guy in the world. We were inseparable, always together. Regular date nights, holding hands, walking each other to class, the whole thing, up to and including spending the night at each other's houses, when we were old enough, with the blessings of our parents.
Then I'd gotten accepted into college, a good one, miles away from home. She was staying in our home town, going into training to be a hairdresser; she wanted to open her own salon and was pursuing it with a single minded determination. I loved that about her, that determination. But she, and everyone else, encouraged me to go and I did. She was dead before I'd even finished my second term. A car accident, the car she'd been in hit a patch of black ice on the road and just like that she was gone and all our plans to get married have kids, get her salon up and running, was gone with her.
I nearly didn't go back to University after that. Was prepared to wallow in my grief for years to come. Dad, Dean, Missouri and Cas bullied me back, determined not to let me grieve forever. I hated them for it, for a long time, before I got back into the routine of University life. But I was different now, and there was no changing that.
Since then I didn't look at girls with any real interest, just a passing glance before something about them would remind me of Jess and I had to turn away. In the spirit of experimentation, I'd turned my attention to men. I hadn't migrated across the fence completely; it was just easier sometimes to fall into bed with another guy. No attachments or commitments, just a willing body that didn't stir up memories of Jess.
All that changed though, when she slammed into me in one of the corridors on the way to class. I'm as tall as my Dad, even if I'm not as built, and she didn't do much more than rock me back a step. She however, did an impressive, arm flailing, stumble before I managed to catch her and set her back to her feet.
"Sorry." I said, reflexively, even it hadn't been my fault. I had gotten into the habit of apologising when I was a kid, being so much taller than everyone else made me awfully clumsy, and I've never really grown out of it.
"No problem." She replied. Her voice was deeper than I was expecting, but it was nice. She straightened up from fixing her skirt, a knee length flared denim thing I had never seen Jess, or any other girl wear. It clashed horribly with the converse boots and the yellow and black striped tights, bright yellow t-shirt and a denim jacket in a completely different shade of blue. She looked like she'd dressed in the dark, a far cry from any other girl I had ever met who were all so meticulous in how they looked.
"Wow! You're tall."
Her voice cut through my musing, making me realise I'd been staring at her, comparing her relatively flat chest (which was broader than I'd expected) to the memories of Jessica's slimmer, fuller figure. I blushed guiltily and refocused my attention onto her face.
I was met with a knowing smirk.
She wasn't pretty, not in any way I could quantify; her features were boyish, even with the makeup softening the hard lines. Her eyes were a captivating shade of Honey, sharp and intelligent.
"So, my names Gabrielle." She drawled out, rolling the end of her name neatly off her tongue, her accent indeterminate, but it definitely had a foreign twang to it, French maybe? "I think you ought to move out of my way so I can get to class. Sasquatch." Her tone was amused as she watched me.
I suddenly realised I was blocking her way, though she could just have easily walked around me if she'd wanted to. I stepped aside. "Sorry."
She took a step forward and smiled up at me. "You're cute. What's your name?" she asked.
"Sam." I answered, surprised.
She nodded and shot me a cheeky grin. "See ya around Sam."
And then she took off like a barely contained ball of mismatched colour and energy and I spent a long moment staring after her before shaking my head and continuing on to my own class.