AN: Hey guys! Another chapter for you! Sorry for the wait! Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. I hope you are all having a good summer! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I just own Lucinda.
Playlist:
Birdy & Jaymes Young-Best Shot
Mott the Hoople-All the Young Dudes
Whitesnake-Here I Go Again
Chapter 9-Denial
Luce and Dean had spent the last half hour listening to Metallica play from the tape/CD player/radio on her dresser and talked about whatever came to mind.
"Can I see it?" Luce sat up.
"See what?"
"The handprint."
Dean shrugged and sat up; pulling the sleeve of his black shirt up so Luce could see the handprint left by Castiel. She reached out and tentatively placed her hand over it, aligning her fingers with the ones on his arm. Dean watched her closely and he realized she had never touched him so gently before, so carefully, like he was one of the most important things to her.
That was exactly how Luce felt about Dean as she traced the outline of the handprint with her pointer finger. He was one of the most important people in her life. He'd been there through imagined monsters under the bed, nightmares, first boyfriends and badly ended friendships. Sam had been there too but in a different way than Dean. Where Sam was like a brother to Luce Dean hadn't been necessarily more, just something different. Luce's heart didn't race if Sam's hand accidentally brushed hers at the table when she was fourteen. She would do anything for Sam but she had never once entertained a romantic thought about him. Dean made her nervous in a good way and jealous when he talked about his one-night stands, although he had quit talking about them around her as much as he used to. Their eyes met and his green ones assessed her brown ones carefully for a moment before she dropped her arm as if he'd shocked her.
Dean had always felt strongly about Luce but he chalked it up to just being the fact that he wasn't close to any other girls, nor had he ever been, but Luce was always there. He wanted to know more about what happened with the giant. And although he would barely admit it to himself, he wanted to know more about how she and her ex, whatever his douche name was, broke up.
After she finished re-telling what happened with the giant there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Luce said.
Sam's face appeared as he opened the door a fraction.
"I thought you were going to bed?" she asked.
"Well you two won't shut up," he joked, walking around the bed. "Move over," he said, easily shoving Luce into Dean, who grumbled and moved over.
Luce laughed as Sam's legs hung off the end of the bed. "So what happened with Garth?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, and you haven't said what happened with that rich kid you ditched us for last summer," Dean added.
Luce held her tongue. Oh gosh, she did not care to tell either of them the answer to neither of those things. She sighed; she'd never been able to keep anything from either of them. "Well Mason slept with some freshman almost right after school started back after the summer. He tried to convince me it was my fault because I wouldn't sleep with him and he went on about how he was a guy and he had needs, just a bunch of bull."
Dean scowled. "He didn't try and force you did he?"
"No, I mean he made it pretty obvious several times during the last couple months we were together that he wanted to take things further but I told him I wasn't ready." By now her cheeks were a deep red and she was thankful neither Sam nor Dean were looking at her. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Dean did not look happy though.
"I'll kill him," Dean stated.
"Dean, like I said, he didn't try to force me."
"So he just felt you up?"
Luce could feel the heat in her face and she brought her hands up to cover it. "Ugh, Dean, like I said, I'd put a stop to it right there," she spoke through her hands, becoming more mortified by the second.
"I'll still kill him, on principle."
She brought her hands down from her face and changed the subject. "On the hunt with Garth it was a vampire and we thought we had it when it grabbed me."
Dean and Sam flinched at the mental image of Luce in the hands of a vamp.
"And I called out your name." She didn't look at Dean, instead staring at the ceiling.
"You called out whose name?" Dean asked.
"Yours. I don't know why I just…Garth was upset. He thought I was over you I guess."
"Over me? What are you talking about?" Dean asked, sitting up so he could look at her.
"Nothing just never mind," she blurted out and quickly crawled over Sam to get out of her bed. "You, um, you guys wanna' watch a movie downstairs?"
"Luce," Dean called as she left the room.
After he thought she was downstairs Sam spoke up, sitting up to face his brother. "Really Dean?"
"What?" Dean asked, his eyes leaving the door Luce had just walked through and turning his attention to Sam.
"You of all people. I mean you're a hunter. You're supposed to be aware of stuff."
"What stuff are you talking about Sam?"
"You really don't see it?" Sam looked incredulous.
Dean made a face that said he had no idea what Sam was talking about.
"Okay well you know the summer before Bobby sent Luce off to England? When she was fourteen?"
Dean nodded, not sure what this had to do with anything.
"Well she just started looking at you a lot and she would just gravitate towards you."
"So? We've always been close. That's not exactly new."
"Yeah but Dean remember the summer after that?"
Dean just stared at Sam, not sure what exactly he meant, or at least not wanting to entertain what it was he meant.
"Ugh, come on Dean," Sam splayed his hands in the air out in front of him, wanting Dean to catch on already. "You two always sat next to each other. You'd fall asleep with her in her bed almost every night just talking. The way she looks at you. You can't honestly tell me you don't know what I'm getting at here."
"Sammy just come out with it."
"Okay fine. She's in love with you Dean."
Dean stood up. "Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed.
"Dean she is and I see the way you've been looking at her since you got back."
"Oh whatever, get off it Sam. It's not like that. I'm not…I can't be in a relationship, you know how it is. And anyway she deserves better than this life, than being a hunter. But now she is one and you're trying to tell me she's in love with me, another hunter?"
Unbeknownst to Sam and Dean, outside in the hallway Luce stood listening.
"Yes! She is Dean and you have feelings for her too! You're just kidding yourself trying to deny it! I mean everyone else knows she's liked you for years. How can you not see it?"
"Because she's a kid Sam! She's eighteen! What kind of man do you think I am?"
"Oh please Dean she's always been mature for her age, especially with living in another country for four years." He shook his head. "You're not even going to give it a chance?"
"It? No Sam I'm not because there is no it! Now I'm done talking about this. If she has feelings for me like that then she'll just have to get over it 'cause it ain't happening!"
Luce ducked into the bathroom as Dean stormed out of her bedroom and Sam let out a big sigh as he watched Dean go.
