Chapter 8 – Something to whet the appetite
Dean rolled out of bed and groaned as his body assailed him with a maddening ache he had not quelled in over five days. He sat up against the bed and eyed the cold space next to him. What the hell was wrong with him? It had been five days since he had a girl riding him through the night and now, on the sixth day, he was on the verge of going crazy, dangling on the thought of bumping the first THING that crossed his path when he hit the curb. He widened his eyes when that recognition echoed through his mind. Jesus Christ, he had already hit crazy.
He shook his head as his cell phone cut through the silence and took notice of the time as he swept the phone up.
"Morning Sammy," he groaned.
"Hey Dean, did I wake you?"
"You know you did, you always do."
"Oh, um, sorry," Sam replied with genuine remorse in his tone.
"Don't be sorry; just tell me what you're calling about?"
"Oh, well I was wondering if you had some time to help me with a little project. You see, we just got this new chandelier that Jess ordered before we left for the honeymoon and I promised I'd put it up as soon as we got it, but after I opened up the box I realized that it's as heavy as a cow and I really could use an extra set of hands. So, what do you say? Will you help your brother out? Jess said she'd make waffles, eggs, and bacon as an incentive."
Dean sat up against the headboard and yawned as he felt his lower body coiling with more tension.
"Well, can't turn down a tasty meal...Is it just gonna be you, me and Jess?"
"Yeah...oh, um, did you want to bring over um... someone? I could ask Jess if it's okay."
"No, no man. I was just asking if... I needed to dress up, you know? Gimme an hour?"
"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks Dean, I really appreciate this."
"Sure, no problem."
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When Dean arrived and noticed the driveway (or the lack of a certain SUV), he gave a slight internal sigh. So, she wasn't there. Well, it wasn't like he didn't enjoy a home cooked breakfast, especially when he didn't have to do the cooking. He didn't even make it to the door when a glowing Jess opened the door, ushering him inside.
"Sam's in the dining room…if you want to go on back."
Dean walked back casually, watching the back of his brother with the instruction pamphlet out, he was such a widget. "Bend with your knees Sam, not your back."
Sam wiped his forehead from the sweat dripping down into his eyes, "Like you could do this on your own."
Dean smirked and laced his fingers together with a smooth crack, "Childs play" With the first attempt he looked up to Sam with a smile then the second time, after almost straining something, "Jesus you weren't kidding about the cow thing. I think it's a cow that ATE another cow in there."
Finally, both brothers got the Chandelier situated and Dean had attached almost all sides when Jess came in with a smile. "Sam honey, did you have a chance to check around work for a date for Buffy?"
"Sorry, haven't had the chance to really look into it." Sam observed Jess for a second before turning back to Dean.
Jessica's expression changed to a frown, "It's just I was talking to her and she has to go to this thing for work. She tried to get out of it every way she could, and I hate for her to have to face 'you know who' dateless."
"I'm sorry, sweetie . Maybe it won't be so bad…"
"Not so bad? Are you serious Sam? It would be humiliating. You know how badly he treated her?"
Sam shook his head. He really didn't want to fix her up with the few single men from his office. They were worse jackasses than her ex.
"The only single ones that I know think if you buy a girl a taco she owes them. I wouldn't subject Buffy to that – cause I actually like Buffy and wouldn't want to put her through that agony."
Jessica sighed with an agitated gasp of exasperation, "Gosh, why are there so many jerky guys in the world and not enough nice ones? There has to be one nice guy left..." Jessica shifted her eyes around in deep thought as Dean focused on working the screws in the chandelier. "Maybe I can dig into my old college yearbook?"
Dean cleared his throat a couple of times as Jessica met his eyes. "Uh, sorry, I'm... thirsty," he said.
Jessica nodded. "I'll get you some lemonade..." Jessica stepped back before her eyes widened. "Oh my god, Dean! How about you?"
Dean beamed a clueless look down at Jess. "How about me what?"
Jessica bounced excitedly in her stance. "Oh my god, why didn't I think of that? My sister got stuck going to this faculty thing and she really doesn't want to go by herself, even though she says she's okay with it, I KNOW she doesn't. Anyway, I was going to try and set her up with a date, but since Sam and I have got no nice guy prospects, we're out of options."
"Oh, I get it, stick her with Dean, he'll date anything right?"
Jessica giggled. "No, no, I meant, you're way nice and family and I know Buffy would feel a lot more comfortable going with someone she knows is not gonna be a loser or grabby hands. She's got enough stress going on without having to show up to this thing. So, what do you say Dean? Would you be up for taking my sister?"
Dean absorbed Jessica's genuine excitement and gave a casual look. "Well, sounds like a drag being forced to go to a work function, will there be punch? On second thought, maybe I should go with your sister to keep her AWAY from the punch. You never know what those meek science teachers might pull when the students aren't around."
Jessica giggled for a minute. "Yeah hey, if she gets wasted, you HAVE to take pictures."
Dean forced out a laugh. "Hey now, I'm a gentleman. I would not shamelessly exploit a drunk woman like you would."
Jessica giggled as Sam looked on in wonder. "So, what do you say, Dean?"
"I'll have to check my schedule, see what I got going on, but I don't usually plan too far out anyway. So, if she's okay with me taking her, then it'd be my pleasure. After all, what is 'family' for?"
Dean held his smile as Jessica bounced out of her skin. "Oh great! I'll call Buffy back right now and mention it to her! Thanks Dean, you're such a great guy!" Jessica batted Sam in the shoulder. "Don't you feel silly for warning me all these years about your brother?"
Jessica laughed to herself as she walked away. Sam scratched his head as he took in Dean's enthusiastic smile. "Um, wow Dean, that really is a nice thing you're doing for Buffy."
Dean mocked a frown. "Hey, I do nice things FOR YOU all the time man. And what's all this stuff about 'warning Jess about me'? What'd you say to her?"
Sam rolled his eyes, "The only thing I said was you were a very unique and colorful character and not to take anything serious when it came to comments about women in general."
