Convincing Elena to come on the trip wasn't as hard as Caroline thought. Of course, Caroline may have left out a detail or two, but who was keeping count right? Elena sat in the back seat, staring out the window while Sam and Caroline conversed in the front. She tuned out the conversation between the young couple as she enjoyed the changing scenes from her window. They were long gone from urban scenery and had hit a long rural road. She watched with pure glee whenever they'd drive by a farm that contained cattle.
They'd been driving through the countryside for a little over an hour. At this point the scene once again began to change. The green from the grass was dissipating, and sandy grounds replaced it. She opened her window, and let the salty sea air enter her nostrils as she took in a large breath. She resisted the urge to put her entire head out the window to take in the newest scene. They still had a bit of driving to go, but they had arrived. White sand practically glistened as the sun shone on it. The blue of the not so distant sea was mesmerizing.
"This is so beautiful," She says.
"It's nice, huh?" Sam responds. "My parents would always take Dean and me to the beach in the summer, when we were younger. When I moved down here, I began to miss those family trips," He began to explain.
"That's where I come in," Caroline interrupts. "The moment he told me about his family trips-"
"She looked up the best beach closest to Virginia. Of course I didn't know she was doing this-"
"So I kidnapped him." Caroline says smugly.
Elena laughs. "How exactly did you manage to kidnap a giant?"
"She actually roofied me." Sam says with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. Elena's jaw drops at Sam's confession. She looks at Caroline, judgement in her eyes.
"Hey, hey!" Caroline exclaims. "It's not like he would have accepted to go with me if I just asked okay. He would have come up with a lame excuse to put off the trip. 'I got a test on Monday' kind of stuff."
"But I did have a test!" Sam exclaims.
"That's beside the point," She retorts. Sam rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the road. "The point is I didn't have another way to get him to stay quiet for the long drive. And in the end, we had a fun trip." Caroline reaches over and takes Sam's hand in hers. He then faces her, and returns the smile she'd been giving him.
"Yeah, I guess so." He responds, giving her hand a small squeeze. Elena smiled at the small gesture between the two, before she turns her attention back out the window.
The sea air filled her lungs once again, and she felt at peace. This trip was a great idea. She thought. Nothing could go wrong.
She soon found out she'd spoken too soon. When the three pulled up to the beach house, a figure that'd been sitting on the porch lifted himself up to his feet when he saw them. Elena had to do a double take when she spotted him. With her jaw dropped she turned to face Caroline.
Sam spotted Elena's reaction from the rear view mirror. "And that's my cue." He said, and quickly climbed out of the car. Caroline followed suit. She avoided eye contact with Elena as she quickly climbed out as well. Elena let out an annoyed breath of air, and she too angrily climbed out of the vehicle.
She then made her way over to Caroline's side before she could get too far. With her arms crossed across her chest, she narrows her eyes at the blonde.
"Caroline, what are you up to?"
Caroline acts baffled. "What do you mean, Elena?"
"Don't play dumb, Care. What are you up to?"
She shrugs. "Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, Elena."
"Fine, I'll go ask Sam then." Elena drops her arms and begins to make her way to Sam. Caroline quickly grabs her by her arm.
"No, stop!" she exclaims.
"Spit it out, Care. Why didn't you tell me Dean was going to be here too?" Elena questions.
"Would you have agreed to come if I told you he was?" Caroline questions back.
"That's not fair."
"It's 4 days, Elena. We're on the beach for 4 days. Are you seriously telling me you're only looking at the downside here?"
Elena lets out a defeated sigh. "No, I guess not. But, Care…"
"No 'buts', Elena. 4 days! You can survive 4 days. Then when we return you can go back to hating him."
Elena rolls her eyes. "Fine." She says grumpily.
Caroline clasps her hands together in excitement. "Great! Now let's get unloaded." Caroline grabs Elena by her arm, and drags her to the back of the car. She opens up the trunk door, to expose their entire luggage. Elena's eyes widen at the amount of luggage that was stuffed in the trunk.
"Care it's 4 days… What is with all the bags?" She questions.
The blonde shrugs. "I couldn't decide what to bring, so I brought options." She says, as she reaches in and attempts to pull one out. Caroline's struggling grunts catches Sam's attention. He quickly makes his way to help her out, with Dean a few paces behind.
"Babe," Sam puts his hand on Caroline's shoulder. "I'll get them." He says smiling at her.
"You sure?" She questions. He nods in response and begins to pull out the bags. Feeling satisfied with Sam's response. Caroline turns to Elena, only to find her scowling at Dean as he gave her a smug smile. Caroline let out a sigh and took a few steps towards the two.
"What's going on?" She asks Elena. The scowl is then aimed at her.
"We have to share the room, Care? Really?" Elena asks.
This was going to be a long 4 days.
After the 4 of them unpacked and settled themselves into the beach house. They decided it was time to hit the actual beach. Sam and Caroline walked hand in hand, as they led Dean and Elena down the boardwalk. Elena watched with amusement as the two playfully swung their hands as they walked.
"It's like a chick flick in real life." Dean suddenly remarks, pulling Elena away from her thoughts.
She looks over at Dean. "And what's wrong with that? I think it's cute." She responds.
"Of course you do." He chuckles.
She narrows her eyes at him, and opens her mouth to speak. She then closes it again, deciding against speaking up; not wanting to bicker with him again.
"Okay, you know what," She stops walking. Dean stops as well and looks at her curiously. "We're going to be here for 4 days. I'm a med student, and my stress is practically pouring out of my ears. This trip is my only escape and I really want to enjoy it,"
"Okay." He says.
"So, what do you say we both wave the white flag and put a halt to our fights? Atleast until we get back home."
"Sweetheart, you're the one who starts the fights," He notes. "But yeah, okay. Sounds good to me." He extends his hand out to her.
"Good," She says, reaching her hand out and gripping his. "I don't always start them." She mutters as they shake hands.
He laughs as he drapes his arm around her. "Sure, whatever you say, sweetheart." Surprisingly enough, Elena doesn't push him away. The two then begin to follow Sam and Caroline once again who now, were a quite a distance away.
Once on the beach, Elena lays out her towel on the sand. She tosses the book she brought along with her onto the ground and then begins to unbutton her shorts. Feeling a pair of eyes on her as she removed her shorts, she quickly turned to face the culprit.
Dean sat beside her, with his brows lifted and a smug smile on his face. Elena rolls her eyes.
"Stop it." She demands.
He raises his hands in defense. "What? I'm not doing anything, sweetheart. Just enjoying the view." He teases. She once again rolls her eyes and laughs.
"You are such a perv." She accuses, sliding her shorts down and kicking them off to the side. She reaches to remove her shirt, but once again feels Dean's gaze on her. "Dean please," She pleads.
He chuckles. "Fine." He removes his eyes off of her, and looks out to the beach. He watches the waves crash onto the shore, the kids splash in the ocean. His attention is then pulled by the sound of squealing. He spots Caroline and Sam, happily splashing at each other in the water. His lips curl up into a smile, seeing the happiness his younger brother had with his wife.
"Oh crap!" Elena's voice says beside him. He turns his attention back to her. She'd removed her t-shirt now, and was now only in her bathing suit. Dean bit his tongue, knowing it would be best not to make any more suggestive comments on her appearance; instead he focused on her problem at hand.
"What's wrong?" He questions.
"I left my phone at home," She says a she searched through her beach bag.
"What, you need to take a 'Hashtag beach selfie?" He jokes.
She narrows her eyes at him. "No. I was going to use the timer to get an even tan."
He laughs, and digs into his pocket. He grabs his own phone and hands it to her. "There ya go, sweetheart."
She takes it reluctantly from his hands. "Are you sure?" She asks. He simply nods and returns his gaze onto the beach.
Surprised by the gesture, she feels her eyes linger on him a moment longer than need be. She clears her throat and begins to set the timer.
"Thank you." She says, as she lies down and opens up her book.
Her eyes stared at the words, but her mind didn't register the words. Having Dean so close beside her, for the first time she felt intimidated, a little self-conscious. Realizing it was pointless for her to keep reading; she shuts her book and sits up. Dean turns to face her, surprised by her sudden action.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"I'm too distracted," She says. He tilts his head curiously. "The seagulls… I don't know. I can't focus on my book," He nods in understanding, and once again turns his attention back to the beach. "Want to go for a walk?" She asks, pulling his attention back to her.
Baffled by her question, Dean is left speechless. Suddenly the heat in her cheeks begin to rise.
"Or not. I, um… I'm gonna go… " She says as she quickly gets up from the towel and avoids eye contact with him as she frantically began putting back on her clothes.
You idiot! Why'd you ask that, Elena? What are you doing? She mentally scolds herself.
He gets up from his chair, and grips her arms to hold her steady. "Yeah, let's go for a walk." He says smiling at her.
"You don't have to…"
"No it's okay, I saw a funnel cake place on our way here. We can share one." He says.
She nods and returns his smile. "Yeah, okay let's go." She responds.
The two then begin to make their way back to the boardwalk, in search of the funnel cake place. The conversation seemingly flowed between the two the more time they spent with each other. Once they arrived at the Funnel Cake Shop, Dean ordered one for the both of them. They took their cake, to an empty table with two chairs on the boardwalk.
The conversation continued as they ate. At one point Elena found herself stunned at the man who sat in front of her. He wore Dean's face, but it wasn't the same man she'd been bickering with over the last few years. It was the Dean she met on her first date. The little hint of Dean, she saw staring at his younger brother with tears in his eyes, on his wedding day.
This was a different Dean, and she liked him.