Chapter 21.1 - Girls, Girls, Girls
A/N- I want to apologize if there was any confusion or weirdness about my last chapter update. Some of you might have seen the last Chapter 40 as a tag to 'Dine and Dash' that followed what happened when John, Dean, and Adam got to their next motel after picking Adam up from the police station. After some reviews and some reflection, I decided that chapter was a little too dark and took the story in a direction I didn't want it to go. If you are interested in reading the chapter, I've published it (just check under my author name to find it). I still like the chapter, but it just didn't take the story where it eventually needs to go. Sorry for any confusion that I caused with this little indecision. Also, I'm writing this much lighter chapter to sorta make up for all the trauma I put you guys through with that one...
Timeline- Back in time again…This story takes place in June after Sam has turned 18, but has not yet left for college. Adam is 13 years old.
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Dean was a damn magician.
That was the only explanation. How else could he have gotten the waitress's phone number the in ten minutes since they sat down in the booth?
Adam sat across from his older brother watching the master at work; smiling flirtatiously up at the young blonde waitress asking when her shift ended. Adam, on the other hand, was surreptitiously working on pulling his sticky legs off the fake red leather restaurant seat without making any embarrassing noise. He could thank June in Oklahoma for that one.
They were sitting in a back booth of a local restaurant, grabbing lunch and waiting to meet up with Dad after his interview with the county coroner. They were all here working a cursed object case, one that had caused the deaths of four people over the last month. But Adam couldn't have cared less about the hunt at the moment. He was way more interested in trying to study and absorb the skill and charisma Dean was using to snag his latest date.
How did his brother freaking do it?
In every town, in every restaurant, in every bar, women fell at his feet. They practically tripped over themselves to get his attention half the time. Dean could get dates, information, favors, anything he wanted by just batting his eyelashes and smiling.
It was infuriating.
Especially when Adam considered how embarrassingly hard he'd already tried to imitate his brother. Like a million times. It always ended in the same awkward mortification that had him wishing he could hide under a rock and die.
Like even now, when Sam was sitting next to him glued to the local newspaper and Dean was grinning up at the busty, young waitress, Adam was stuck awkwardly adjusting himself and trying not to stare at the woman's chest that was two feet from his face.
Being 13 sucked.
When the waitress threw Dean another flirty smile, saying she'd be back with their food in just a minute; Adam couldn't help but beg his brother for some pointers.
"Dean! Man, how do you do it?" he asked, leaning across the table conspiratorially.
"Do what?" Dean asked casually, stretching out comfortably in the booth throwing an arm over the backrest with a smug look of satisfaction on his face.
"Do that," Adam said, nodding toward the waitress who was now behind the counter, coyly sneaking glances back toward Dean. "You make it look so easy!"
"It is easy, kid" Dean replied with an annoying amount of self-satisfied superiority.
"No it's not," Adam implored, "Trust me. The last girl I tried to hit on just looked at me and said 'No'."
"Ha!" Sam barked out suddenly from beside him and Adam gave his brother a shove in response.
Across the table, Dean chuckled at him too.
"It's not funny guys," Adam said, his cheeks growing red in embarrassment.
"Dude. It's funny." Dean laughed.
"Ok. Ok. What's the problem?" he asked becoming serious at seeing Adam's plain embarrassment and distress.
"I don't know. I just... I don't know," Adam admitted, staring down at the speckled diner tabletop.
"Ok," Dean said, taking his arm off the back of the booth and sitting up a little more, "So what do you say to them? The girls you like?"
"I don't know…" Adam said again uncertainly, giving another shrug of his shoulders.
"Ok, well…" Dean said sitting forward and resting his forearms on the table between them, ready to get serious with his brother, "Well, it's good to start with a question."
"Like that guy from Friends?" Adam asked, "How you doing?" he said with a flirty nod toward Dean, doing his best impression of the guy he'd seen on tv.
Beside him, Sam sniggered and ducked his head.
"No." Dean said flatly, staring back at Adam. "Stop it. Never do that again."
Adam deflated and slumped onto the table, resting his chin in his hands, "Ok, what then?"
"Something nice," Dean replied certainly.
"Nice?"
"Yeah. Nice." Dean said again, causing his brother to squint at him in confusion.
"Sam?" he said, turning slightly to his middle brother indicating that Sam should explain what Adam was clearly too dense to understand.
"Like if you're in a restaurant, you ask her what she likes to eat there. Library? Ask her about the book she's got. School? You ask her she thought if Mr. So and So's class was as boring as you did." Sam clarified, only halfway looking up from his newspaper.
"Yeah." Dean agreed, "Be friendly"
"Be friendly? That's your advice?" Adam asked cynically.
Dean grinned back at him and nodded.
"You gotta be kidding me. How am I supposed to get a girl with that?" Adam shot back in irritation.
"Girls aren't something you get dude," Dean said waxing poetic, "They're something you get to enjoy,"
Adam just stared back at him, annoyed.
"Sam, help me out here," Dean said.
"Sorry dude," Sam said with a scoff. "I've got no clue what the hell you're saying,"
Dean rolled his eyes at his brother and turned back to Adam, "What I'm saying is… that girls…women…they're awesome. They're fun and fun to play with. You just gotta talk to them and have fun with them. Smile, flirt, enjoy it."
"You're an idiot," Adam spat, completely irritated with his brother's useless advice.
"I'm an idiot who's getting laid tonight. What are you?" Dean retorted.
Adam scowled at his brother.
"Look," Dean said nodding up and over Adam's shoulder; "There's a girl your age over there at the counter. Probably waiting on a to-go order or something. Go talk to her,"
"No way!" Adam said immediately.
There was no way in hell he wanted to go over and talk to a random girl. He had no idea what to say, how to "be friendly and enjoy it" like Dean so uselessly suggested.
"Come on dude," Dean pressed, "Just go ask her something. Say hi at least."
"No man. No way," Adam protested, sitting straight up in his seat, resolute in his rejection of Dean's stupid idea.
"Go on man," Sam teased from beside him, scooting closer to Adam so that he was slowly pushing him out of the booth.
"Quit Sam!" Adam complained, pushing back at his brother "No. No. I'm not going,"
"Go on kid. Don't be a chicken. Man up," Dean said, confidently.
"No…" Adam said halfheartedly, aware that Sam was inching him out of the booth despite his best attempts to stay seated.
"Go man!" Sam said with one final shoved that pushed Adam out of the booth so fast that he almost landed on his ass in the middle of the restaurant.
Adam stood up quickly, scowling at his brothers and knowing there was no way they were gonna let him sit back down in the booth until he'd gone and said something to that girl at the counter.
With another angry stare, which caused both his brothers to snicker at him, Adam turned around and walked toward the counter, his mind spinning to come up with something to say to her that wasn't dorky and embarrassing.
He walked as slowly as he could, taking a deep breath to embolden himself before the last step that left him standing next to her.
"Hey," he said lightly, giving her a quick side-glance.
Dean was right; she was probably around his age. And cute too. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and she had soft, pale skin with pierced ears holding small silver studs and beautiful pink lips that pulled back into a small half smile when she turned to him and replied, "Hey."
Ok, first step, Adam thought.
He leaned up against the counter, grabbing one of the menus lying there, "So uh..." he asked clearing his throat awkwardly praying his voice would do that thing where it came out as a squeak, "What uh...what do you like to eat? Uh… eat here I mean?"
The girl eyed him from the side for a moment and Adam felt his heart pound in his chest as his stomach twisted in apprehension. Then she turned just a little, giving Adam his first full view of her face.
Her stunning, beautiful, amazing face.
Her face just looking right back at him.
Adam gulped and suddenly realized he'd been in a daze and she was actually talking to him.
"…is ok I guess." She was saying.
Crap. What did she say?
Man, her hair was so shiny.
Adam was lost for a minute, thinking about how he'd like to touch her hair, just run his hands over her head and pull her down for a kiss. Just like in the movies.
"So yeah…" she was saying again, peering at him in growing confusion.
Don't be weird! He thought angrily at himself.
Adam shook himself, "That sounds good…" he said, trailing off and trying to figure out what in the hell he was gonna say next.
Just be friendly.
Dean's advice flooded his ears, but what in the hell did that even mean?
Quickly glancing over his shoulder he saw both his older brothers staring at him, eagerly watching the situation unfold.
"Uhhh…" Adam stuttered, looking down toward the menu that was clenched in his sweating palms.
"Uhhh," he started again.
Fuck it, he thought.
"You see those guys back there?" he asked quietly, throwing a glance to the side indicating that she should look behind him.
"Yeah," she said, eyes darting to his brothers and back again.
"My brothers." Adam said, putting the menu down, "And they aren't gonna let me come back to the table 'till I get your number,"
The girl looked at Adam skeptically then glanced around him again to look back at Sam and Dean.
"The dark haired one is kinda cute," she said, a smile growing on her face.
"Yeah," Adam snorted, rolling his eyes, "Look, I pretty much suck at this talking to girls thing… obviously…" he said motioning between them, "but if you could just write something down on a napkin it would help me out,"
The girl looked back at Adam and smiled.
"I've got brothers too," she said, grabbing a napkin off the counter.
She leaned over behind the counter to grab a pen and Adam had to glance, look away, glance, look away at the unintentional display in front of him. She uncapped the pen between her teeth; searing another mental image in Adam's mind he didn't want and leaned down to write on the napkin.
"I'm not giving you my real number," she said honestly as she wrote, "I don't even know your name… but… me and my friends usually come here after school on Fridays so maybe I'll see you again,"
She folded the napkin in half and handed it out to him. Adam reached to grab it, but she pulled back a little, making him look at her.
"What is your name?" she questioned coyly.
"Adam," he said quickly, then suddenly remembered Dean's advice to 'play' and he grinned back at her, "And what can I call you? Other than 'cute restaurant girl' I mean,"
"Cute huh?" she countered with a smile.
"Yeah…maybe," he retorted still grinning at her.
"Miss, your order…" the cashier said, coming between them and handing the girl a white plastic bag filled with to-go containers.
"Thanks," she replied to the cashier, grabbing the bag.
"I gotta run," she said, taking a step away from the counter and Adam, "but maybe I'll see you on Friday huh? And it's Stephanie by the way."
"Uh… yeah… cool." Adam said, trying his quiet his internal cheer of success, "Oh and thanks for this," he said gesturing to the napkin.
Stephanie, the cute restaurant girl, just smiled back at him and nodded, turning and walking out of the restaurant, probably feeling Adam's eyes on her the whole way out the door.
Adam stood still for a moment, a little lightheaded and dazed from the whole exchange, trying to gather himself before he went back to the table and what he knew would be the taunts and teases of his brothers.
Walking back toward them, Adam couldn't help but wave the little napkin with the fake phone number on it, a clear indicator to his brothers of his success.
"Dude!" Dean said sitting up proudly and welcoming him back with open arms, "You did it!"
"And you didn't barf all over her or anything," Sam teased as he slid over in the booth, letting Adam sit down.
"Yeah, I know..." Adam said, still feeling a little stunned at how well the whole thing had gone. It was definitely his most successful exchange with a girl since… well… well ever.
"Very nice kid," Dean said appreciatively, "You gonna call her? Maybe we could make it a double date with hot Heather here," he offered, wagging his eyebrows expressively toward the kitchen.
"Uh… I don't know…" Adam said, once again feeling flustered, "She uh... she said maybe I could meet her here on Friday,"
"Ah shit!" Dean said, excitedly clapping a hand on the table, "Kid's already got a date!"
Adam felt blood rush to his cheeks in a weird mix of embarrassment and pride.
"All right Sammy, we just gotta get you hooked up now," Dean teased.
"I can get my own hook up, thank you very much." Sam retorted playfully.
"Ok yeah?" Dean asked suspiciously.
"Yeah." Sam said staring down his brother, "Meeting her to study after school tomorrow,"
"Study? Sounds lame." Adam said.
"Oh kid, you don't even know," Dean goaded, "Nice Sam. But remember: No glove, no love."
"Gross Dean." Sam said rolling his eyes and turning back to his newspaper.
"Hey, I'm just saying," he said, grinning and again leaning back comfortably in the restaurant booth seat, proudly surveying his brothers, "Everything's coming up Winchester. Am I right boys?"
Adam snorted in laughter and Sam just rolled his eyes. Dean was always in the best mood when he thought he might get laid.