Chapter 3

7:30 came very fast. Of course, they spent the whole time deciding on what to wear. Finally, Jackie settled on a white v-neck, light pink ripped jeans and black high heeled ankle boots. Carly picked out an olive green crop top with a black cami, blue jeans and black ankle boots as well that she called her "newsie boots." Now they were just waiting around for to Dean to call, he had called back earlier to get Carly's umber, and say that they were there. As excited as they were to be hanging out with the brothers, they were a little nervous.

For the hundredth time, Jackie wiped her hands on her bed.

"God, my hands won't stop sweating."

"Aww, is wittle Jackie novus about seeing da boy she's got a wittle cwush on?" Carly teased.

"Fuck off! Like you aren't nervous about being so close to Dean."

"But I'm able to keep my nerves under control."

"Since when? Is that your way of saying that you are just freaking out on the inside."

"Pfft, no." Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm a little nervous."

"A little?"
"Fine a lot! You happy now bitch?"
"Yes I am…jerk." Carly stuck her tongue out at her.

A silence filled the space between them which was broken by Carly's phone ringing.

"Hello?" she said answering it. "Oh hey Dean." Jackie could tell she was trying to sound cool but was in fact using all her willpower to keep from freaking. "Okay we'll be right down. Bye." She hung up and the girls stood up. "You ready."

"One sec." Jackie quickly ran her fingers through her newly straightened hair in the mirror. "Okay. Ready." She opened the door and they walked out.

When they got outside, they saw the brothers sitting in their car. The girls looked to each other and continued forward.

Dean and Sam looked up and saw the two coming towards them. They got out of the car to greet them.

"Hey guys," Jackie said to them.

"Hey," the Winchesters said at the same time, Dean's eyes locked on Carly and Sam's on Jackie.

After an awkward silence, Carly spoke up, "So, you guys ready to go?"
"Right! Right, let's go," Dean agreed. He got back in the front seat, but he wasn't in all the way before he saw Sam open the back door for Jackie.

"Oh, um, thanks," Jackie thanked him, turning pink.

"No problem."

Dean looked back and saw that Carly was already inside. He gave Sam a look as they both got back in their seats.

"What?" Sam asked.

"What are you trying to do? Show me up?" Dean mouthed.

"It's not my fault you can't be chivalrous," Sam mouthed back.

"You know you're just a dork," Dean said outloud.

"Whatever jerk."

"Bitch."

"Omigod, you call each other bitch and jerk too?" Jackie noticed.

"Wow, it's like looking in a mirror," Carly joked. They all chuckled then took off. The girls directed them to a restaurant called the Pasta Grill. "They have really good food here. As long as you like pasta."
"You could say that food is my religion," Dean stated.

"All praise foodha. I'm right there with you. Jackie here, however…"

"What about me?"

"You're so picky."

"I am not that picky!"

"But you so are. I mean, seafood, come on."

'So I don't like fish. Big deal. Everyone has some foods they don't like. Cooked carrots."

"Shusie you." Jackie just made a face and dragged her hand down the side of her head to her shoulder. "Oh God! You did the gross thing!" She turned to her blonder friend and flicked her arm.

"Hey!" She hit the taller girl's cheek.

"Stop it!" The two got into as much of a slap fight they could get into in the back of the car. Sam and Dean just laughed as they watched.

'Alright, alright. As entertaining as this is, we're here," Dean said. The girls stopped, but each gave the other one last push. "Now you girls didn't get any blood on Baby did you?"
"Is that what you call your car?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, he's kinda weird about the Impala," Sam added. Dean rolled his eyes and started for the restaurant. The others followed.

When they got to the table, they sat Sam and Jackie on one side and Carly and Dean on the other. As they looked at their menus, they heard Carly snicker.

"What?" Jackie wondered.

"I'm sorry, I just can't get over the…" She used her hands to show the height difference between Jackie and Sam.

"Oh shut up! I'm 5'2" is not like I'm under 5'."

"How tall are you Sam?"
"6'4"."

"14 inches. Wow." She started laughing and Dean joined in. Jackie and Sam just looked to each other, annoyed and went back to their menus. The joke was dropped after that. "So, have you guys found out anything on what killed Erin?"
"We did some research and found out that there was a Melody Carmichael at UNM about 30 years ago and she did die in a fire in the basement," Dean explained.

"We also found out that there have been two other deaths around here, and both have ended up with the same scratches on their necks," Sam followed.

"So, the wild animal theory…" Jackie trailed off.

"Is probably not true. These marks are in the same spot, same shape, same amount of scratches. A wild animal would not be that precise."

"What are the others' names?"

"Debra Hathing and Sabrina Quarters."

"Is there any connection?" Carly questioned.

"None that we can find yet," Dean answered. "But look, enough about the case right now. We wanna get to know you two. So, you're theatre majors. What's that like?"
"Busy," both girls answered at the same time.

"We have auditions and shows and rehearsals. Plus classes and homework. We're actually both in a show right now," Carly said.

"Really? What show?" Sam inquired.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream," Jackie told him. "I'm Helena and Carly's Hermia."

"Wow, the leads. Very nice," Dean commented. "So, question two out of twenty, are you both single?"
"Dude, personal boundaries," Sam scolded.

"No, no, it's okay. I am single and Jackie is newly single."

"Newly single? You just break something off?" Dean questioned.

"I've been single for well over a month now. I wouldn't call that newly."
"What happened?" Sam wondered. "If you don't mind talking about it, I mean."
"It's so not a big deal. We were together for about two months and then he started liking another girl and that's that. I'm so over it."
"To bad you have be playing opposite of him," Carly brought up.

"Yes thank you Carls for reminding me."

"Opposite?" Sam was confused, and so was Dean.

"He's playing Demetrius."

Dean whistled. "Wow. That must be awkward."

"Look, enough about my love life. What about you two? I mean, you guys are paranormal investigators."

"Maybe," Carly challenged.

"Carly."

"No, she's right," Sam defended. "We aren't paranormal investigators. We've talked about it and we figured we can tell you."
"We're hunters," Dean came right out with. "We hunt spirits, demons and anything evil, and we destroy them."
"Um…wow," Carly stated. "That's a little different from being paranormal investigators."

"How'd you guys get started doing that?" Jackie asked.

"Our dad. It's sort of a family business," Dean answered. "He started it and we just kind of followed in his footsteps."
"Well, some of us were dragged kicking and screaming in his footsteps," Sam joked.

"You didn't want to do it?" Jackie inquired of Sam.

"I was in the middle of my Senior year at Stanford, steady girlfriend, and then one night Dean breaks into my apartment and forces me to go on the road with him. But I got used to it and stayed."

"And, um, what-what does your girlfriend think of all this?"

Sam looked down and played with the straw in his water. "She, uh, passed a while ago."

Jackie's mouth dropped open. "Omigod Sam. I am so sorry. I shouldn't have asked anything."

"No, no, it's fine. You didn't know. Besides, I'm moving on." He looked at Jackie and smiled. She smiled back.

They stayed like this until Carly kicked Jackie underneath the table.

"Ow!" Jackie exclaimed and glared at her "friend."

Carly just gave her a big smile. "Sorry."

The rest of the night went along without any fighting. There was brotherly and friendly teasing, but it was all in good fun. The four got along very well. They acted like friends that had known each other for years.

"So then when I played the song and the line 'I cut an avocado' came on, Jackie here thought-"

"No Carls! Please, I'm begging you to stop!"

"She thought he had said 'apple cuddle'." The boys burst up laughing and Jackie hid her growing red face in her hands.

But then she snapped up and tried to argue, "In my defense, the two sound alike!"
"Apple cuddle. Avocado. Apple cuddle. Avocado," Carly weighed. "Oh yeah Jacks, they sound so alike." She was being sarcastic. Jackie just stuck her tongue out at her.

"I feel you Jackie," Sam comforted. "Dean likes to make fun of me for things I do."

"Just my job as an older brother."

They left the restaurant fairly soon after that. The ride back to the campus was just like the earlier part of the night with laughs and jokes and stories.

"Thanks for the great night guys," Carly thanked them as they got out of the car.

"It was a lot of fun," Jackie agreed.

"Thank you guys for showing us that great place. You were right Carly, good food," Dean said.

"And also thanks for answering our inane questions," Sam added.

Jackie giggled. "They weren't inane. You were just trying to get to know us."

"And we apologize for now knowing us," Carly followed.

The guys chuckled. "Nah, you guys are cool," Dean told them.

"So are you two," Carly replied. The two locked eyes and gave each other slight smiles. Sam and Jackie just gave each other knowing looks.

"Okay," Sam spoke up, snapping them out of it. "We have to go check into our motel. But we'll make sure to keep in contact with you two. Jackie, why don't you put your number in my phone since Dean has Carly's." He handed her his phone and Jackie put her number in. "Cool. I'll text you. Both of you, let us know if anything else happens."

"Or just, you know, if you wanna get together," Dean added.

"We'll hold you to that," Carly replied. The two got out of the car and closed the doors.

"Night guys," Jackie waved.

"Later," Sam said back, and they drove off.

When they were out of sight, the girls ran inside and didn't stop until they got to their room. When they finally had to the door closed, they squealed.

"Omigod, so tonight happened!" Carly exclaimed.

"I don't even have words! Oh wait, yes I do. Dean is like in love with you!"

"I don't know about that, but I like him like a lot."

"I saw him flirting with you and stealing glances at you all night, and just now at the car?"

"Well, then there's you and Sam."

"Um, tell me why you broke up our little staring contest tonight? HE WAS LOOKING AT ME!"

"Because I'm a bitch. And it was getting too cute that I was gonna throw up."

"Well it's obvious we have feelings for the Winchesters. I just wanna know how they feel about us. Actually I can answer my own question. They're probably not thinking about it because they have a case to do. At least Sam isn't."

"There's the positive thinking I love about you."

"I'm just being realistic. At least with Dean he can probably multitask and do the case plus court you. Sam however, I think that he is the type of guy who thinks with his upstairs brain."

(Meanwhile in the motel)

"Hey bro, you want a beer?" Dean asked Sam. He didn't reply. He was just lying propped up on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed. "Sammy?" Still nothing. "Yo dude!" That snapped him back.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I was just…thinking."

"About Jackie?" Sam's face turned red. "I know you like her. You don't have to be embarrassed. She's a cool chick. Not my type, but definitely yours. And I can tell she's way into you too. You should go for it."

"I don't know man. I just feel guilty."

Dean exhaled and sat down on his own bed. "Listen, I know how in love you were with Jess. I get that. But it's been a long time now. You even said tonight that you were moving on."

"I am. I just feel guilty for moving on."

"You shouldn't. especially if you're moving on with Jackie. She seems good for you."

"I shouldn't even be thinking about her like this right now. We're in the middle of a case.'

"Case shmase. What's the point in saving the world if you can't get a little nookie every once in a while?"
"Shut up Dean. She's not that kind of girl. She's…sweet."

"Still, can't hurt to try."

"And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Carly." Dean shifted awkwardly and took a sip from his beer. "I saw the way you acted around her. You were actually happy. I haven't seen you like that with someone since Cassie, and this girl didn't run when you said what you do. Besides, she seems like the female version of you. It's like your soul mates or something."

"Okay, enough of this soul mates crap. You know I don't do chick flick moments like that. I'll admit, I do like the girl and not just in a sexual way. I've never felt that way about a girl since Cassie. But that doesn't mean she feels the same, so I should just forget it. I'm not good enough for her."

"What? That's crazy. She likes you too Dean. I can see it."

"She's a college girl Sam. A brain. I'm street smart, not book smart."

"I feel like she's the kind of girl who doesn't care about that. You should take a chance."

Dean just sighed and took another sip of his beer. He and Sam had a lot of work to do, in more ways than one.