Chapter 2:
"Let me get this right..." Dean said slowly after we pulled out of the fourth motel that was completely booked, "every damn motel is completely booked in this damn city, and the only places that still have open rooms start at $300 a night?"
I nodded my head, just as annoyed as he was. It wasn't as if we had an endless budget, and Bobby would kill us if we ever spent more than $200 on a place to stay. Even $100 a night was pushing it. I sighed and looked back down at my laptop screen. After scrolling through a few different places in the city I finally found something. I started to tell Dean about the deal but hesitated. I turned to him but he didn't notice my glance. He was too busy scowling at the street we were driving(slowly) down. My voice hummed in my throat as I tried to decide whether or not to tell Dean about what I had found. After a minute of Dean trying to read street signs and yelling at passing people and cars, I broke down.
"Dean... I think I found a deal."
"Finally." he grumbled, not glancing over at me but waiting to hear the deal. I hesitated again and he finally looked away from the road for a minute to ask in a sarcastically polite voice, "Well, what is it?"
My nose twitched in a slight grimace as I answered,
"At a place called the Clairemont Hotel on Piedmont road, there are a few rooms still open for $50 a night."
"Sounds perfects. Lets go."
"There's a catch." Dean stared at me nervously and I sighed. "The only rooms still available are singles."
His reaction surprised me a little, but not that much. He just rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the road as he started talking in his lecture voice,
"Sammy, we are brothers. We've known each other our whole lives, and we're mature adults. I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed for a few nights."
I still don't see how he turned that around on me! I'm not the one who watches people sleep at night! I'm not the weirdo here! I shrugged it off, shaking my head as he turned down a wide, tree-lined road and the traffic eased up a little.
"Do you even know where you're going?" I asked him, since I didn't think he could know because I'd never given him directions.
"I thought I saw a sign back there for 'Piedmont' something."
We drove slowly down the quiet street for a little while then we saw a sign showing the entrance to a park. I hadn't seen a lot of parks in my life, but I thought that this one looked nicer than most. It was huge, stretching farther than we could see into it. It had about two baseball fields, a swimming pool and a lake, and a bike path that ran all the way through and around it. Since it was such a nice day outside, it was filled with people doing all kinds of different things. A bunch of guys were playing a frisbee game that looked fun, a high school girl was climbing a tree with a guy who was probably her boyfriend, and a whole lot of people were just sitting on the grass and park benches relaxing.
I think Dean was thinking the same thing I was as we watched them; wouldn't it be nice to relax? We were always going, going, going! Onto the next town, onto the next hunt, gotta run from demons, gotta run from angels, gotta kill lucifer. It never ended for us, and it never would, as long as we were hunters, and we could never stop being hunters, it's in our blood.
"Ask this girl for directions." Dean instructed me as he pulled up to a nice looking girl walking down the sidewalk in a green tank top and tiny yellow shorts with a pair of matching sunglasses and 4 inch sandals. When he slowed down beside her I noticed that even though she was wearing those tall shoes, she was still a short little thing. When I stuck my head out the window she pulled her sunglasses down and smiled at me cheerfully.
We should have known right then from that little smile of hers that she was that kind of a girl.
I gave her my pretty boy smile back, knowing Dean was probably doing the same behind me and asked,
"Can you tell us how to get to the Clairemont hotel? We're out of towners and we're a little lost."
She giggled as if I'd told her a joke then I noticed she was looking back and forth between me and Dean as she did. Finally she stopped laughing and settled on me, leaning down and putting one hand on the roof of Deans precious Impala.
"Are you two checking in?"
"Yup." I gave her another smile, trying not to notice how her boobs were literally right in my face. She really had some stuff going on there, it was hard not to notice. I could just picture Dean ogling them in the drivers seat. I caught a glance in my side-view mirror and, sure enough, his smile was a bit wider than necessary. If only he had known then what kind of a girl she was, he would not have been looking at her that way.
Of course she acted like she didn't notice it at all, pointing down the road in front of us and giving directions clearly in a very authoritative voice,
"Go down this street and take a left, you'll be there."
"Do you work there or somethin'?" I don't know what possessed me to ask that, but I did, and I really should have seen her answer as a warning.
"Naw, but I do work down the street a ways at a bar my friend owns."
I could practically hear Dean's face crack as his smile widened.
"Are you a bartender?"
"Something like that." she replied without giving any more details. "You two should stop by. It's always a party. We open at 8."
"Sure thin-" Dean started to wink and make us commit to going to some sleazy bar all night but I jabbed him in the arm and stared him down while whispering,
"We're looking for the place with all the demon deals, we don't have time for club hopping!"
He pouted then we both turned back to her to find her still smiling at us from outside the car window.
"Thanks for the invitation, but we're pretty booked while we're in town."
She shrugged and stood straight, backing away from the window. After another smile and a wave she laughed,
"See you around town."
"Thanks for the help!" I yelled back as we drove away. She winked then held up a quick peace sign as she turned to go into the park. I thought the peace sign was weird, little did I know how perfectly normal that action was in Rain City or how many times I would see it before leaving...
The Clairemont hotel was far sleazier than I'd thought it would be, considering that the neon sign out front had at least 5 letters missing. It was very strange, actually, as it seemed to be the only dirty building around. Each house and restaurant down the rest of the street was pretty well taken care of(give or take a dried out lawn here and there. Guess rain was a bit scarce in Rain City) and despite each of them looking rather old, like our hotel, they were victorian and antiques. The Clairemont however, was a tall, brick building with dirty windows and ivy creeping up the walls.
Safe to say, not the worst place we'd ever stayed.
Later on we would find out that the reason the Clairemont was the only sketchy building around was because it was some sort of "national landmark" and therefor couldn't be shut down. A president stayed there once in it's glory days or something. And Yet, the owners didn't have enough money to fix it up like it's neighboring buildings.
As we parked and started walking with our stuff to check in, I began to worry about the second reason I hadn't really wanted to stay at the Clairemont. Dean was walking in front of me and not even had we walked through the revolving door were my fears confirmed. Why did they have to put that sign directly in the entranceway?
"Sammy!" Dean's voice was way too giddy. He sounded like a two year old. "They have a lounge! How come you didn't tell me about the lounge?" Yup. Maturity of a two year old.
"I didn't even see it on the website." I replied with a fake smile, quickly leaving Dean staring at the sign pointing downstairs towards the smoke filled room with basement windows covered in prison bars.
"Lier!" He punched me in the shoulder, his mood suddenly bright as the sunshiny day outside, as we waited for someone to show up at the counter and check us in. "Do you even know what a lounge is?"
"What do you think I am, a kid? Of course I do. I just didn't think it would be important. We don't have time to go sit around with a bunch of strippers all night."
"Aha!" he laughed, pointing at me in victory. "How did you even know it was a stripper lounge, huh? It could have just been a regular hotel lounge, or a comedian lounge."
I rolled my eyes. "How did you know it was a stripper lounge?"
He shrugged, still smiling his dumb, happy little smile. "I didn't. I was just hoping. Is it really?"
"What do you think?"
About ten seconds later I was checking us in alone, while he went downstairs to "check it out."
Serves him right.
I was just stepping into the elevator to head up to our room when he nearly ran to get in after me, a panicked expression on his face. I have seen a lot of Dean's different faces. I've seen his cool face(or what he thinks is his cool face), I've seen his scared face, I've seen his mad face, his happy face, his excited face, his tired face, and a whole bunch of other faces that are particularly Dean, and no one else, because only he can make them.
The face he was making as he stepped into that elevator was a new combination of Dean faces; scared, confused, angry, even more scared and confused, and a tiny hint of embarrassment(evident from the blush tinting his cheeks).
"What happened?" I asked skeptically, furrowing my brow with interest.
His lips tightened, and his shoulders tensed. He stretched them a little, rolling his muscles and neck, trying to play it off like it wasn't very important. He gave me one last look before I raised an eyebrow and he caved.
"Not my kinda strippers." he answered simply.
Surprised, I imagine my laugh went a little like, "Pffft! Hahaha! "Not your kind of strippers?" Dean, strippers are your kind of strippers! Don't give me that crap! You barely care even if they're ugly."
His glare hid nervousness behind it, but I didn't push. He obviously wasn't going to tell me what happened, so I knew I'd have to go check it out myself.
As soon as I set my bag down in the room I grabbed one of the keys they gave us and set out the door.
"Where you going Sammy?" His voice had an accusing ring to it and he was starting to pout. I stopped just in front of the door and turned around slowly, giving him an innocent look as I pointed down the hall and replied,
"Go get some ice."
He seethed, nodding towards the plastic ice container jerkily.
"You need that, don't you?"
"Oh! Right! Thanks." He tossed it to me(a bit harder than necessary) and I knew he was glaring at my back until I was finally out the door. I wouldn't be surprised if he had glared at the wall in the direction I was walking. He knew where I was going: to check out the lounge.
Something had scared him away, big time. And not much can scare my brother away from a bar and naked chicks, so what the hell could it have been? I hopped down each stare as the smell of smoke grew thicker. Even when the dim lights of the lounge hit my face, I couldn't figure out what had made Dean hightail it out of there so fast. Then again, he had been down for a few minutes while I was checking in, so maybe it was something else, something you only notice after a few minutes.
I slowly made my way to the bar. Nothing unusual there, just a cute girl cleaning out some glasses. I took a seat and turned around to get a look at the rest of the place. It was dark and smokey, so hard to see. Since it was the middle of the day it was pretty empty, there were only a few guys near the stage who a fairly normal looking stripper was having conversation with. There was a drunk passed out on the bar, but nothing saw was anywhere near scary enough to make Dean have that kind of face.
"You're related to that guy who ran away a few minutes ago."
I turned around to see the bartender staring at me with crossed arms and eyes that were far to interested in what they were looking at for their own good. She had dyed black hair, gelled a little at the top and going straighter at the bottom, with matching black eyeliner all around her eyes. Counting all the piercings I could see, she had a nose ring, two on her left eyebrow, giant holes with plugs plus four more going up each ear, and although it was just a suspicion, I figured there was a tongue piercing too. Plus, she was a huge, detailed tattoo going up her arm and into her neck. She was hot, if you like someone like that, and Dean usually does, which made me wonder even more why he would leave looking so terrified.
I chuckled, giving her a nice smile. "We're brothers. Why'd he run away, anyway? Did you see something happen to him?"
She laughed then reached down, grabbing the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head. Although shocked, I didn't look away. She was the one who took her shirt off, not me, why wouldn't I enjoy the view?
Both nipples were pierced, the metal rings gleaming in the dim bar lights. But, that was not what was catching my attention. It was the fact that there were actually no boobs attached to those nipples. She was as flat as a log!
It took me more than a minute to put it together.
"You're a guy!" I yelled, then glancing around to see if anyone was looking at me weirdly.
"Finally." She(he) laughed, putting her, sorry, his, shirt back where it should be. "Names Jester. You aren't from around here."
Jester seemed to never ask any questions, always making statements like he was already positive what he was saying was right. I couldn't really get a good read on him in the beginning. I could tell he was confident, and thought he was hot stuff. Which, I admit, it fairly true. Not only does he look like a girl, he looks like a hot girl. When I asked where his name came from he just said, "It's Chester, but with a J."
"Would Dean really be that freaked out just because he hit on a guy?" I asked after Jes put a cold, and very welcome, beer in front of me.
"That hot piece of tail is named Dean. No, he was way more freaked over all the guys hittin' on him. I barely got my shirt to my belly button when Loretta(his real name is Lawrence) came over trying to chat him up. Dean was really into it at first, and then he noticed... well you know!"
He ended with a laugh and a nudge over towards the stripper still talking to the two guys from before. She was hot... and obviously a man. When I say obviously, I only mean obvious NOW, now that I already know. I fI hadn't have known, I would never be able to tell from far away. "Loretta" had an exotic look, Russia or something, as I looked at her I had to shake myself to remember "she" was really a "he."
That then reminded me of what Jester had said just a moment ago.
"Did you..." I muttered slowly, trying to organize my thoughts, "Did you call Dean a hot piece of ass?"
"Tail." he corrected me, and poured a drink for a man who had just walked in a moment ago.
This took a minute to sink in, but when it did, I could hardly stop laughing. I had not laughed this hard in as long as I could remember. Just picturing Dean's face when he finally realized he was hitting on a guy in drag was like force-feeding me laughing gas. I was loosing it. I didn't even notice Dean nervously walk down the stairs and over to me, giving me the most annoyed look I can imagine.
"It's not that funny." he instantly understood why I was laughing.
"It so is." I corrected him, nodding my head up and down as my breathing finally went back to normal and I took another sip of beer. He didn't cast a glance at Jes who placed another beer in front of him. He just grabbed it and took an angry swig, looking around the room nervously.
"I'm surprised you'd come back after the way you bolted out 'a here earlier." Jes added into our conversation, giving Dean a rather alluring smile. Alluring of course, only if you don't know that he's really, well, a he. Or if you're into that kinda stuff, because you're a, well, you know.
Dean gave him an unpleasant look that Jes just seemed to take as a compliment, as he smiled even wider in response. Dean spent another minute finishing off his beer and staring around the room. We both noticed when the three guys(one disguised as a woman) in the corner finally came to the end of their conversation and started walking up towards the main lobby of the hotel and out of the lounge. I pretty much knew what Dean was thinking from his face. He was wondering if those poor guys were even stupider than he was. I have to admit, if they really didn't know Loretta was really Lawrence... I would pay to see them when they finally figured it out.
"What the hell is with this city!" Dean shouted, obviously having enough of sitting on the stool with unanswered questioned.
Jes laughed at us as we turned to him for answers.
"You haven't heard the nickname we all have for Rain City."
Patiently, we waited for him to tell us. Neither of us was thinking of how this related to the demon deals, but we would remember sooner or later. Jes gave us both another couple of beers and smiled.
"Welcome to Rainbow City, Boys."
I really have other things I should be doing. I will probably, no, definitely not be updating for at least another 2 to 3 weeks. The sad thing is, I really wanna write this story. Like, I think it's gonna get really good, I just have no time!
Also, I'm still going to hell. So I have that to look forward to when I finally get the experience the peace... of death.
And on that sweet note, good day, Readers, if you are even there. Love you! ^_^
KeikoPanda102