After schlepping her bag onto the floor next to her bed, Ryan decided to wash the day away with a shower. When she got out, she'd wrapped herself in a towel and had another on her head, thinking that she'd either be alone in the room or it would just be Dean, who'd already walked in on her without thinking more times than she could count.
But it wasn't Dean sitting on her bed, arms crossed and lips tight.
It was John.
Ryan was caught off guard when she found John in her room, considering he was hardly in the hotel room to begin with. And by the looks of it, he was unhappy about something.
"Oh, hi, Mr. Winchester," she smiled hesitantly, tightening her towel.
He didn't reply, he just continued to stare at her with the same hard expression, one eyebrow raised.
"Is there something you-"
"I got a phone call from your chemistry teacher today."
Great. Four weeks at school and already getting phone calls to home. And not even her home, really. Bobby was off chasing who-knows-what and had left her with the Winchester's for an indefinite amount of time. Long enough, however, for John to be put down as Ryan's immediate contact at school.
"Oh. Right." She walked towards her suitcase, carefully sorting through it to find a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt to laze around in for the rest of the night.
"'Oh, right'? Ryan, you can't be falling asleep in class every day. You fall asleep, you act out, people will start asking questions. If people ask questions, we have to move. And I haven't closed this case yet," his voice raised.
Ryan turned around to face him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Winchester. I didn't think about it like that."
She was obviously unfamiliar with the life of a nomadic hunter. Up until about six months ago, she was a normal high school student with normal friends and a normal life. Completely unaware of the evil that lived inside of her, Ryan went through the motions with an every day routine. She was smart, near the top of her class, on the straight track to getting into a good college on scholarship. And then it happened.
The memory flashed through her head like a movie, causing her insides to swell up and tighten. She turned away from him as her eyes shut tightly.
John knew that he'd cracked open a box of bad mojo by getting after her and her ignorance.
"I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm sorry. I know this must be hard… leaving your life behind cold turkey,"
"I didn't leave anything behind. Just an empty town full of ash," she reminisced, her voice sounding far away as the scenes played out in her head.
"Don't talk like that, Ryan. You're here now, and we're not gonna let anything happen to you. Don't worry."
She turned back around, a small smile forming on her lips. "Thanks."