Day 1…
Jamestown, North Dakota…
For her first day on the job search front Jaden wasn't having a good day. She'd already been turned away twice and they weren't even nice bars! That saying about the third time being the charm? Yeah that was a bunch of bull honky. The third bar was just a little better than the first two dives she walked into only the sleazy creep calling himself the owner tried to tell her there was a dress code. Jaden hadn't said a word until he held up a jumble of hot pink strings. When it was laid out on the bar top Jaden could see it was a non-existent 'bikini', something her Dad referred to as dental floss. Clearly it wasn't the place for her and the day was half gone already.
Winning the bet and lording it over Dean all hinged on her getting a job in one of the dives in town.
"Damit. There's gotta be one." Jaden muttered walking down the street. "I just need one." she looked both ways before crossing and heading around the corner.
In green paint above an old english styled pub entrance read 'Hunters'. She could see people walking into the busy bar, music floated out even though it was barely past noon. It just proved nothing stopped the drunks from getting a drink.
"Seriously." Jaden muttered glancing up at the sky but there was nothing up there for her. The guy upstairs wasn't looking out for her and hers; at least she didn't see it. Jaden blew out a breath and set her shoulders before walking into 'Hunters'.
Inside the music was louder than she had first assumed. The decor was all wood, very well taken care of, anyone with eyes could see the owner took pride in his establishmnet. There were pool tables set up on either side of the large room, long wooden tables were lined up sort of like a fence for the booths set into the walls. At her back the flash of lights caught her attention and turning Jaden found a large flat screen showing sports highlights.
"Sports Bar?" Jaden wondered.
'I'm in a sports bar. Me.' And what was so bad about that? For one she couldn't stand the empty headed jocks long past their prime who insisted on re-living the glory days. Or the beatnecks who thought they were sports aficionados and having to listen to them?
Jaden let out a disheartened groan but since her luck didn't seem to be changing she forged her way towards the bar. There she found the guy in charge, a large man with dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. At least 6' with a bulky build that had once been called athletic, this one had been a jock in his youth.
"Now it makes sense." She pasted a smile on her face switching into work mode with ease and watched him walk over to her side.
"I'm gonna have to see some ID before I serve you, unless you want a soda." He rumbled goodnaturedly.
"Do I really look underage?" Jaden asked pulling out her licence and handing it over.
"Yup." He grinned taking the small plastic. "Like a little girl in them clothes."
Jaden glanced at herself for once admitting the school girl skirt and her choice of t-shirt had been a draw back.
"Guess I should start to dress my age." Jaden sighed then shrugged the thought aside. "Looks busy around here." She commented taking her license back.
"Yeah, getting busier by the hour." He agreed looking at the crowd with a calculating eye.
"You wouldn't be short handed by any chance?" Jaden asked. "I'm looking for a job, nothing long term just the weekend."
"And why is that?" he asked eyeing the woman at his bar once more.
"The road calls." Jaden shrugged with a smile. "Ive got experience behind the bar, worked a month over in South Carolina. Busy place what with the univeristy and the hospital on either end of the street. Before that I tended for a couple of years in Michigan. I'm used to busy cocktail hours." Jaden assured.
"I don't have anything permanent anyway." He grabbed a beer from under the bar and handed it to the man at her side. "My regular bartender's out for a couple of days."
"Sounds fine with me." Jaden kept her smile in place watching the bartender making up his mind.
"Most of the customers are easy; beer or a bottle but this new crowd..." he looked around at the new faces.
"Mixing is my speacialty." Jaden replied drawing the blue-green eyes to hers again.
"Guess we'll see."
Jaden blinked, the only sign of her surprise.
"I'm Hunter, like the sign." He grinned at her arched eyebrow. "Come back at five. We close at three, maybe four if the crowd gets bigger."
"Great." Jaden hopped off her stool. "You don't have some sort of uniform..."
Hunter laughed and shook his head.
"No uniform here, Jaden."
"I'm obviously not the first he's tried to get into the pink thing." Jaden mused dryly.
"Its pink?" Hunter questioned. "Wonder what happened to the red one?"
"Red?" Jaden shook her head. "Never mind. I'll see you at five."
w
Dean lounged around in the room flipping through the channels but couldn't find anything worth watching. He considered surfing the net but didn't feel like getting off the bed so he stayed put. Across the room Sam was reading and trying not to think about his brother and the waste of time this little wager was costing him. Both heard the door slam closed and Dean slightly rose from his bed looking at the wall separating the rooms as if he could see her. He sat up swinging his legs over the side and waited. Sam wondered what his brother was thinking then decided it was better just to keep reading. He stuck his nose back in his book easily finding where he'd left off.
Ten minutes later Dean started to pace, each time drawing closer to the door. Sam was getting annoyed but he said nothing and finally his brother walked out.
Dean stopped in front of her door and paused. He could hear her moving around inside, her voice was muffled but he thought she was singing. He smirked and decided not to knock after all. He moved towards the Impala and sat prepared to wait for her to come out. Twenty minutes later her door swung open.
Dean was surprised by the woman stepping out of the room. The shiny satin dress was short and his eyes wandered over the bare legs frowning when he noticed the slit on either side of the skirt.
"You'll get wrinkles like that." Jaden teased. She closed her door and stood in front of him smiling. She held the leather jacket in her arms, a large bag slung over her shoulder.
"Where are you going?" the question was out before he realized how it sounded. Jaden arched an inky eyebrow, her eyes were lined in black with a dark shimmer over her eyelids. She'd put her hair up and stuck a white flower in it.
"Careful, people might think you're a jealous boyfriend." Jaden quipped flicking a lock of inky hair out of her eyes. "So were you planning on following me?" she moved to sit beside him before he had a chance to answer. She glanced at him through her lashes. "Because you're not very good at it."
"You're not driving this time." Dean retorted.
"That only makes it easier to give you the slip." Jaden grinned. She was having fun and he could see it. Her eyes shone bright with mischief.
"Is this your version of a Goth china doll?" Dean asked with a nod at her dress. Jaden glanced at herself and shrugged. She'd bought the dress on impulse, the bright cerulean color and tiny sliver and white clusters of flowers had caught her eye but what she'd liked the most were the delicate silver clasps that buttoned at her neck.
"I thought heels would be too fancy for a bar." Jaden quipped and impulsively raised her leg showing off her boot. "These are comfy." She tapped her heel on his shin with a grin.
"Not to mention one good kick in the right place is gonna hurt like hell." Dean added feeling the weight.
"Maybe you're not that kind of blond after all." Jaden teased. For once they didn't start arguing and laughed. On impulse Jaden leaned over and touched her lips to his. She jumped to her feet almost immediately. "That's for luck."
She waved over her shoulder heading trough the parking lot as Dean watched her go.
"Luck?" he wondered with a frown. He got up to follow her and remembered the cell phone. He wondered if she'd left it in her room but checking the GPS he found the little marker on the move. "Luck has nothing to do with it."
w
Dean found himself a bar with plenty of dumb drunks sloppily playing at a pool table. He grinned and sauntered in, ordered himself a beer and studied his 'competition'.
Sam had opted to stay behind not that Dean minded because all his little brother would be doing was sulking or casting disapproving frowns at him. He wasn't in the mood for 'Saint Sam' and he definitely didn't want to have the conversation his little brother was intent on bringing up when ever they were alone.
Dean smiled because that didn't happen to often since Jaden decided to ride with them. Then he wondered about the kiss. She'd been flirting with him. He knew it and she had to know because she'd been the one flirting in the first place. Dean didn't mind though, he actually liked the easy flow between them in those minutes before she left.
He'd swing around the bar and check on her, just to make sure there were no demons lying in wait ready to ambush her again.
"Another beer, handsome?"
Dean turned his charm on the girl slipping behind the bar.
w
It was nearly six in the morning as Jaden trudged back to the hotel slightly cold and pleasantly tired. Her first night tending bar since Charlottesville hadn't been bad. If anything she'd had fun, introduced some of the regulars to 'fancy concoctions' and made out better than Dean's 86 dollars, in tips. She yawned and her eyes watered. Stretching her arms over her head she felt her back ease just a bit. Her eyes searched for the familiar black car and found the Impala parked two spots from where it had been when she left.
Jaden grinned, pleased to see the blond had come back before she had which meant she'd had more time to rake in the cash. She thought of her impulsive kiss, her hasty escape and the flirting... because she'd definitely been flirting with Dean.
"What's going on with me?" Jaden muttered opening her door and resolutely leaving all thoughts of Dean and the kiss outside.
w
Sam woke first not that he expected Dean to get up before noon since he'd been out most of the night hustling for cash to win his bet with Jaden. He scowled and headed to the bathroom. It was stupid really, the way they both behaved. And Sam couldn't lay the blame on one of them because they both tended to pick and antagonize each other in equal amounts. It was like being in grade school all over again.
w