Dean was sitting at the bar, sipping his beer. Castiel was in the kitchen with Adam, helping him with the few things they had to do in the kitchen today. It was a good idea for him to get used to the kitchen and the things to do there, for when he was on kitchen duty himself. He would be starting tomorrow and for about a week.

Dean was staring out into the air, his hands both wrapped around the beer bottle, lost in his thoughts. He didn't notice the older guy walk up to the bar before he said something.

"You know where the bartender is? They can't just leave the place untended," he said, looking at Dean, and Dean almost jumped, snapping out of his thoughts. Dean looked at the guy. He looked to be well up into his fifties, and he looked to be a regular. Dean had seen him before. He sighed.

"Yeah, sorry," he said, then turning his head to look to the slightly open door that lead into the kitchen. "Hey Cas!" he called, "Customer!"

It wasn't more than a few seconds before Castiel appeared in the door, and he looked at the other guy. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said, putting on that smile Dean knew to be for customers only. He didn't see Castiel smile much other than at the bar. "What can I get you?"

The guy wanted pure vodka, and Castiel poured it in a glass and handed it to him, and after the guy paid, he went back to the back where he had been sitting before.

Castiel turned to look at Dean after he left. "You done with that yet? Want another?"

"Nah, I'm good," Dean said, smiling. Just then, his phone started ringing, and he put his beer down on the bar and pulled out his phone, answering when he saw Sam's name on the screen. "Hey Sammy, what's up?"

Castiel walked back out into the kitchen, leaving Dean to talk to Sam by himself. When he got into the kitchen, Adam was scrubbing a stain on one of the tables. "Need help with that? Or anything else?"

Adam looked up at him before looking back down. "Nah, I'm good. You can go tend the bar."

Castiel nodded and left the kitchen. He went to stand behind the bar and looked at Dean as he put his phone away. "So what's up?"

Dean sighed and took a sip of his beer. He looked at Castiel when he put it down on the bar again. "Sam says he's got an interview at some fancy ass college over in England where he can study his law. He wants to go to England for this shit, and I don't know how we're supposed to afford that."

"Is he even sure he'll get in?" Castiel asked, watching Dean. Dean shook his head without saying anything, and Castiel sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna have to get another job, that's what I'm gonna do," Dean said. "There's no guarantees he'll get in, but if he wants to go to a fancy college in England, he'll go to a fancy college in England. That's what's most important, anyway."

"What will you do if he gets in?" Castiel asked.

"Send him off to go to his fancy ass English college. I don't know about me. I'll probably go with him. Can't have him go all by himself."

Castiel nodded, and paused when the guy from before came up to get a refill on his vodka. Castiel didn't look at Dean again until he was gone, and when he did, he still had the smile reserved for customers on his face. "You think he'll get in, then?"

"If he puts his mind to it, he can get into any college he wants," Dean said. "He's real smart. I just don't know how I'm supposed to make it alone here if he goes, with money and all, when he's not here to keep his job. So I'm gonna have to go with him."

Castiel nodded, still with the smile on his face, but he felt kind of numb. Dean was the only friend he had made here yet, and with him gone, he'd be back to being alone with Gabriel, and to him, right now, that sounded incredibly dull. He didn't want Dean to leave, but he understood why he had to. He wasn't going to tell Dean all of that; he wasn't that desperate.

Or maybe he was. But he wasn't going to let Dean know that.

"You okay?" Dean asked, and Castiel snapped out of it. He hadn't even realized he'd been staring at Dean for several moments now.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Just then, a big group of people walked in through the door, letting in the cold air and shouting at each other as if they had already been drinking before getting here. As they all approached the bar, Castiel glanced to Dean, giving him a small smile, and shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry. Talk later?" he said.

"I gotta get going," Dean said. "Tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Castiel said. "I don't know if I have time-" He was going to say something else, but it escaped him as the group of people reached the bar and started ordering drinks. Adam came out to help him, and when Castiel looked back to where Dean had been, he was already gone.


Castiel didn't answer his phone when Dean called the next day. When Dean tried the landline, the one always standing in the living room, and Gabriel picked up, looking over at Castiel while he said "Hello, Dean," Castiel shook his head. It wasn't more than a second before Gabriel was telling Dean that Castiel wasn't home and that he didn't know when he'd be back.

"Sure, I'll tell him that," Gabriel said and hung up the phone. He leaned back in his arm chair. He looked over at Castiel. "He said to tell you to call him later."

Castiel nodded, not looking away from the TV. They were watching some program about the African savannah on Animal Planet.

"Trouble with the boyfriend?" Gabriel said, looking over to the TV.

Castiel sighed. "He's not my boyfriend."

"You played the violin to him," Gabriel said, as if it meant Dean couldn't be anything but his boyfriend. Which, taking Castiel's past into consideration, it really couldn't.

"He's not even gay, Gabriel," Castiel said. "And I don't even like him in that way."

"Then why is 'he's not even gay' your first argument, and not that you don't like him in that way?" Gabriel asked, looking over at him. For once, it didn't feel like he was being the teasing older brother Castiel knew him to be, but sincerely interested and worried about Castiel.

"It's not going to happen, okay?" Castiel said, his voice on edge. "It doesn't matter that I don't like him, and it wouldn't matter if I did. It's not like he'd like me anyway. And it just doesn't matter. Especially now."

"Why especially now?" Gabriel asked, sitting up a bit. "Did something happen?" He hesitated. "Is he dating someone?"

Castiel turned his head to look at him, brows furrowed in annoyance. "Why do you even care?"

"Am I not allowed to care?" Gabriel asked, leaning back into his chair again. He was still watching Castiel. He picked up the bean bag on table next to him and held it in his hand for a moment, playing with it, twisting and turning it. "So what happened?" he asked after another moment as he threw the bean bag at Castiel.

The bean bag hit Castiel's shoulder, and he picked it up when it landed on the couch he was sitting on. "He's going to England."

"Can't you just date him when he comes back?" Gabriel asked. Castiel glared at him and threw the bean bag back at him, hitting his chest. "What?!" he exclaimed.

"I've already told you that I don't like him, and that he's not gay, and that he wouldn't like me if he was," Castiel said. "Besides, he won't be coming back."

"Why's he not coming back?" Gabriel asked, playing with the bean bag again.

"His brother is going to England for a college interview, and if he gets in, Dean is going to live with him there," Castiel explained. He was not looking back at the TV, although he couldn't really concentrate on what was on. The program had ended and it was now commercials, but he still had no idea what they were for.

Gabriel nodded, but he had a confused look on his face, his lips pursed slightly and his brows furrowed. "Why?"

Castiel sighed and looked at Gabriel again. "Do we have to talk about this?"

"Guess not," Gabriel said, and they both turned back to the TV. They sat quietly and watched the commercials for a minute or so before Gabriel broke the silence again. "Why don't you go with him, then?"

"Gabriel," Castiel sighed, not looking at him.

"What? I just asked a question."

"Just leave it," Castiel said. "It's not going to happen."


They decided to order take out that night, because neither of them felt like cooking, and Castiel took his food to his room to eat there. After eating, he went to throw out the box, and then he went back into his room and played the violin.

When he heard his phone ring over the violin, he elected to ignore it, deciding that if whoever was calling asked him about it, he could say he didn't hear it over his violin. It was probably Dean anyway.

It wasn't that Castiel didn't want to talk to Dean. Actually, he had a hard time finding something he would rather do.

But he figured that if he just got out of this friendship now, or even pretended it didn't exist, he wouldn't feel as alone when Dean left.

It didn't do much to change how alone he felt right now, though. And it didn't help that he had to work tomorrow, and Dean would probably come in like he always did. Cutting of the friendship wasn't going to be easy, but Castiel knew he had no other choice unless he wanted to be depressed when Dean left.

When Castiel left for work the next day, there wasn't a thing he would rather do than stay home. He wanted to watch TV with Gabriel, and he wanted to read his and Gabriel's book collection from one end to the other, and he wanted to listen to and play music. The last thing he wanted to do was to face Dean.

But he figured that he'd have about half an hour before Dean got there. Half an hour to brace himself wasn't nearly enough, but it was all he had, and he had to keep this job. It was hard enough to find this one in the first place.

He sighed as he walked in through the back door that lead direction into the kitchen, and he was looking down into the floor. He stopped dead in his steps as he looked up and saw Dean.

"Dean, you can't be back here unless you work here, and last time I checked, you don't," Castiel said after a moment's hesitation, trying to figure out what to say.

Dean looked up at him with a grin. "Only now I do," he said.

Castiel was quiet for several long moments before he spoke again. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I told you I had to get another job if I'm supposed to afford Sam going to his fancy ass college," Dean said. "And you guys needed someone to work in the kitchen. So now I work here."

"Oh," Castiel just said, lacking something better to say. He just went out into the bar before Dean had the chance to say anything else.

Avoiding him and cutting off their friendship just got a lot harder.


AN:

Alright, there goes the fourth chapter.

No reviews on the third chapter, either. Don't get me wrong, I love you for favouriting and following and everything, I'd just be really happy to have more than one review on a four chapter story.

So yeah, hope you liked this. Review if you like.

Lea