A/N Warning: Dean and Gregg are in a developing relationship. This is totally PG (with a little swearing). I won't write anything past PG-13 (like the show itself) so if this seems a little lame, please forgive me.
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Last Chapter: "Oh yeh." Gregg rested his hand on my back as I was leaving, and something in me stirred. It was only as I pulled out of the driveway and looked back at Gregg, who was pulling the Chevelle back into the garage that I allowed myself to even think the words for what I'd been feeling. "Crush." I said aloud. "I have a crush-on a man."
***
Chapter Seven
Chick-Flick Moments
Sam was waiting at the curb with two other students when I pulled up outside his high school. I was sure he noticed me, a 327 engine isn't made to whisper, but he was busy chatting away with two average looking guys, and never looked up. Sam was lucky. He always seemed to make friends wherever he went, no matter how long we stayed. He finally looked at me and nodded, pulling away from the others to come to the passenger side of the car.
"You're late." He grumbled.
"You could take the bus." I left it at that. Ungrateful brat. "I do have a life you know."
"You said you'd be done with work at two."
"Yeh, your point?" Sam wasn't typically whiny, and at closer inspection he did seem to have something on his mind. "I was at Gregg's."
"Ohhh, Dean made a friend, didn't you?" A dimple became visible, but still, the set of Sam's shoulders, something was bugging him.
"And where's your friend? Amy or was it Amanda?"
"You're the one who dated an Amanda, her name is Amy."
"Get to first base yet?"
"You're kidding me? Like I'm giving you any of the details." He turned angrily to the window; I had a hunch why.
After several minutes of silence, Sam continued, still not facing me. "She doesn't think as highly of me as you seem to." There was a dramatic pause, as if he were waiting for my smart ass reply. "I don't get it...I'm not ugly, am I? I mean sometimes…I know you're the one with all the girlfriends, but well, how do you do it?
"It's personality Sam." Sam needed kind words now, not sarcasm. In these moments I wished our mother was alive, cos I was pretty sure this was the type of conversation you had with your mother and not your father, and certainly not with your brother. "Don't be so shy. Have confidence. If you like a girl just talk to her right away and look at her like you want her, then she'll know you mean it."
"You haven't dated anyone since we got here. What's up with that?"
"You made me get a job! There's no time."
"Dean, that's a big load of BS and you know it." It was my turn to look away, unfortunately I was driving, so my options were limited. What did he want me to tell him? If things continued the way I hoped they would he'd have his answer soon enough.
"Did you sleep with Amanda?
"What? That was…like four years ago. Ancient history." Sam was looking at me with eyebrows raised, expectant like some little puppy. That was the look that always broke me. "She wanted me to meet her parents first. Nothing ever happened and Dad came back so we moved on." The chick flick conversation needed to be put to bed quickly.
"We have an invitation for dinner." Sam's mouth hung open to question me silently. "It's free food! So don't look at me like that. Be happy, it'll improve our budget. Look, Gregg has this big ass suburban nightmare house with matching patio and grill. Let's take advantage of it. "
Sam ran his hands through his hair like he always did while thinking. "I have homework."
"Genius boy, should take you what, an hour or two?" Sam's head bobbed in agreement. "Come on. I'm not letting you stay home in the condition you're in. Next thing I know you'll be watching Lifetime movies. I'm responsible for you. Watching those movies would be some form of child abuse, it's just wrong."
"I'm not a child Dean." My name came out in one drawled whine. He caught something unspoken in my body language and added more with more maturity. "Okay, okay, I'll bring it with me, we'll probably be there all night." I'll meet Mr. Fantastic-Chevelle owner." Oh, a little too close to the truth sent a fresh wave of panic through my gut.
"There's the spirit. At this rate you're likely to be a party animal in like…forty years." Maybe I shouldn't rib him so much…naw, it was too much fun to play 'guess the Sammy face' each time I said something sarcastic. Besides, he seemed to have gotten past his gloomy mood over Amy.
"It's my job to do the little brother thing and check him out."
"What?" The soda I was drinking sprayed across the steering wheel.
"Make sure his car's good enough for ours. This is a car date right?"
"No! The car's bonded earlier. This is about food."
"Right, food. You finally met someone on your wave length Dean. I'm thrilled really. I told you settling down was a good thing."
***
Hours later, our bellies full, Sam excused himself from the patio and went inside to do his homework. This left Gregg and me alone. With Sam tucked safely out of sight we should be free to explore what happened this afternoon, but I wasn't the type to have long winded conversations about my feelings. Awkward moments like this were best relieved with humor or a come on.
Together, we settled down at the fire pit. Though the days were summertime warm the nights were getting chilly. The fire offered some warmth and the right opportunity to sit closely.
But I was still sitting several feet away from Gregg on a stone bench that might be pretty to look at, but was incredibly unkind to my body. The fire had long ago lost its ability to warm us and I could feel the cold of the bench soaking through my jeans uncomfortably. Across from me sat Gregg, the picture of ease and achievement. The fire light softened his features, taking away any lines that might have shown the years between us. It was his lips that stood out, full and now wet as he took a sip from the beer he was drinking. If I hadn't been sitting on the bench from hell I'd have leaned back and taken it all in. And been noticed, but wasn't that the point?
I should have been thinking about our next hunt, what clues Dad had put together last time we talked. He wanted me to join him; leave work, pull Sam from school. Sam wasn't going to have any of this, so I'd been stalling Dad. Only, I knew deep down I wasn't up for another hunt, not now, not when things were just getting interesting. All I could think was what would I do if Gregg was a girl. There was no doubt in my mind that if he was a member of the finer sex I'd be all over it with some cheesy pick up line.
I thought of all the lame approaches I'd used on women. They weren't gonna work on a man in his thirties, it would be an insult. Gregg looked over and I was thankful for the dim lighting when my face grew hot from embarrassment. He'd caught me staring, and he held my gaze. Then he made the first move. And it wasn't anymore refined than something I would have said.
"Dean, need another?" He waved his empty Heineken at me.
"Yeh, sure." No one cared for me, that was my job. But not to Gregg. He returned to the patio not only with two new beers, but with a blanket. He put it around me and sat down a few feet away on the glider.
For all I knew maybe Sam was batting for the other team. The boy had never had a girlfriend and seemed to draw an unnatural pleasure from his books. Let the kid make love to his books all he wanted, but I wanted flesh and bone, the feel of a warm body holding me, yielding flesh. The brush of lips across my jaw line as the found their way to mine.
I've dated plenty of girls. Fact is, I'm a love em and leave em kinda guy. You have to be in this business; it's the only way to keep your head. But maybe I did want more than just a casual fling. I think I realized that a couple of years ago when I met Cassie. She wasn't going to let me use her, and she commanded the kind of respect demonstrated by gentlemen. And up until meeting her, I'd never been more than a cad.
I discovered what love felt like, and when it's taken away, the empty hollow void sets in. I had really cared about Cassie to the point where even though it had been two weeks I felt I had this bond with her that could never be broken. Then, I got so washed up in my sentimentality that I told her the truth. I told her I was a hunter. Understandably, she did what normal girls should do when presented with the truth that monsters really exist and people like myself fight them. She ran.
For two years I wondered if I could ever fill up the hole she left. I didn't think it possible that I would find her replacement in a man.
"Looks like you could use the blanket too." And me and the blanket moved to the glider beside Gregg. I opened it to include him.
"I was hoping you'd say that." His leg was so close, touching, he kept his right hand in a death grip on his beer; his left held the blanket. "I couldn't believe my luck last week. Another classic Chevy fan. So, you met my baby, what do you think?"
"Gregg, I need to be honest with you." I wasn't sure he'd take this as an insult. "I think two cylinders need a rebore." He looked worried so I added. "But I mean I'm not gonna know until I do a pressure test. She's ill." I lowered my eyes. What came next was a shock. Gregg laughed a hearty laugh.
"I thought you'd say, get the f away from me."
"What? Why would I say that?"
"Dean. Ever since you walked out of that bathroom, and I saw your face. I've just wanted to…." His voice trailed off leaving me hanging.
"What?"
"Something's a little a little dangerous about you. If I say the wrong thing…it's like you'll haul off and punch me."
My mouth opened. I knew what I wanted, and it wasn't this man's blood. In the dark, with no one around, no one to judge me, I needed to be honest. "No, that's not gonna happen." I added softly. "Tell me."
"Ever since I saw you walk out of that bathroom I've wanted to devour you. Those lips, I want them." No one who was filled with desire should look as in pain as he did. "I want you."
I didn't answer, didn't have to. My eyes were closed as he leaned into me, never taking his hands from the blanket. The lips that found mine were surprisingly soft. His kiss was brief, gentle, and then it was over. I'd kissed longer than that in the fourth grade. Gregg moved back a few inches from my face. There was a pause as he waited to gauge my response.
In the faint light I wasn't sure he'd know my look was one of wanting, tinged with a little fear of the unknown.
"Kiss me back."
I answered his demand by standing up way too urgently. After taking a long drink from my beer for courage, I really looked at him. If only he was a chick. But he wasn't and that was the whole reason why I was acting like a thirteen year old boy hot for an older girl and at risk of sprouting a woody. I needed air, I needed space, time to think.
"Are you leaving already?" Gregg looked worried.
"It's Sammy, he's gonna be out here any second now, I told him we'd leave by ten."
Gregg reached for me, his hand only inches away from mine. As I stepped closer, his arm went around my waist, but our time together was interrupted by the sound of the sliding glass door of the patio. Then Sam's voice called out, "Dean, can we go soon? I'm tired."
I wasn't sure what he'd seen and realized in my euphoria I simply didn't care.
"Yeh, Sam, we'll go." I looked to Gregg, whose mouth hung in shock.
"Are you a psychic or something?"
Now that was funny. "Naw, I just know my little brother and all his anal little quirks. Call the shop tomorrow if you still wanna set up an appointment for the pressure test." There was more reason for me to say call, but all I could do was hope it bought me some time to figure out what I needed.
Confined to the car with my brother for the fifteen minute drive I feared he'd start another chick-flick moment. But Sam was uncharacteristically silent which left me to my own thoughts. Had I shown Gregg how I really felt about him? Could he even tell I was interested? The next day couldn't come soon enough for me.
