Chapter 22
"Hi, Audrey! How are you?" Dean asked quickly, his voice wavering slightly. He was thankful it hadn't cracked. That would have been embarrassing.
LIKE THIS WASN'T!? he thought to himself, hoping his face would not betray the fact that this was the last person he wanted to run into.
"I'm doing pretty damn good, sugar. Especially now that you're here. What brings you around these parts this early?" Audrey purred, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder. Batting her eyelash extensions at him.
"We're heading out of town on family business. Audrey, this is my brother, Sam, and our friend J." Dean nearly stumbled on his words, almost losing it at the end when he remembered J was with them. He was having trouble getting on better footing. It was too early for this shit.
Dean needed more coffee.
"Hi, ya'll. So, what can I get you this morning?" Audrey asked distractedly, hand still on Dean's shoulder. Her question may have been directed at the group, but it was clear Dean was all she really cared about.
She then looked at Sam, recognition on her face, "You must have been the one with the car troubles. Hope all is well." Audrey said optimistically, now stroking Dean's shoulder. Dean wanted to shrug her off, but he resisted the action.
"Oh, yeah! No big deal. Just a dead battery." He gave Dean A Look while he ordered, "I'll have a coffee, cream, and sugar, please." Sam said, tilting his head to the side as he watched Audrey eye his brother like some kind of piece of meat.
Sam felt the silent irony. For once Dean was on the receiving end of this kind of treatment. It did not look like it was going over very well.
"I'll have the same," Dean said, coughing awkwardly, looking and leaning away from Audrey. He was feeling rather awkward at her brazenness in front of everyone. Then he saw the expression on J's face out of the corner of his eye as she ordered.
"Coffee. Black." J snapped flatly.
'If looks could kill' didn't come close to the expression on J's face. Her eyes were fireballs that had succeeded in hardening. Her gaze should have frozen Audrey where she stood, then liquefied her into a molten mess. But the redhead was none the wiser.
Or at least Dean thought she should at the very least be able to feel J looking at her like that. Like what he felt whenever J was intent on him. Audrey was either oblivious or didn't care. Dean figured it was probably a bit of both since now both Sam and J were staring openly.
"I'll be right back with your drinks. Don't go anywhere." Audrey said to pretty much just Dean. She winked at him, squeezing his arm one last time and walked away.
More like sauntered away. She was trying way too hard. It was almost comical. Dean chanced another look at J out of his peripheral vision. Trying to get a read on her this time. She was watching Audrey walk away over Sam's shoulder. An expression on her face that Dean couldn't read.
All Dean knew was he did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever J had to dish out. She was positively terrifying mere moments ago. With the look he had caught on J's face; Dean knew he never wanted her to look at him in such ways. Or be the reason she looked that way.
He now found himself slightly more intrigued.
"Well, certain things… and certain ways… considered." Dean thought to himself as he thought of being on the receiving end. It was hot how this other woman's attention seemed to bother J. It appeared to make her livid. Dean liked the thought of J against this Audrey chick.
"Who am I kidding? Redhead had no chance. J would lay her out in seconds." Dean bit his bottom lip at the thought and chanced a look at J.
J then looked back to the table, back at Dean. Their eyes locked and Dean saw the fire in them again. She was on another mission. Dean was undeniably captivated. His lip was hurting with how hard he was biting it, so he released it after realizing what he was subconsciously doing.
The expression on J's face turned to one that Dean had seen before: Mischievousness. A smirk was forming on her face, now as she turned to Sam. Continuing their conversation on Djinn.
Dean was amazed at how quickly J managed to change. One minute she was a force to be reckoned with. The next she was just as laid back as him or Sam like nothing had ever happened. Then smirking at him like what she was thinking was very, very pleasing to her.
Just smirking at him like that, period, should be a crime.
Dean then caught Audrey's hungry stare over Sam and J's shoulders. She was basically eye-fucking him from across the diner, and more than one person had taken notice. Not just Dean. Or J or Sam. He immediately shrank into the booth.
The smirk on J's face was gone. Now there was no mistaking the pure fury returning to her eyes as she watched Dean shrivel into himself. She turned around to see what had caused Dean's actions.
Dean was more than uncomfortable with the fact that Audrey would not stop eyeing him from wherever in the diner she was. This behavior continued as Audrey helped a few other people and refilled some more drinks around the diner. She seemed to have no regard for whom she was serving or talking to. He could feel her eyes on him and it made his skin crawl.
Dean, thankfully, kept getting distracted by J, who was now busy covertly watching every move Audrey made. Intent on her like a cat intent on its prey. Watching. Waiting. If Dean had not been paying attention to J as closely as he was, he wouldn't have noticed. Sam certainly hadn't as they had since resumed their conversion.
He was very thankful for J's presence right now and he had no idea exactly why. As Dean watched J watch Audrey, he could feel Audrey's eyes on him again. J's eyes narrowed to slits as they watched Audrey with her eyes on Dean. This was one awkward triangle.
Dean could see that there was a new look in J's eye, a feeling about her, that made her seem dangerous. J was not pleased, that much was abundantly clear.
Audrey came back with their drink orders and took their food orders in the same fashion as earlier. Still with her hands all over Dean, and pretty much still ignoring both Sam and J almost entirely. Sam wasn't even sure she was going to get their orders right; she was so preoccupied.
Once Audrey had taken their orders and walked back behind the lunch bar, J spoke up.
"Excuse me, Sam. I need to wash my hands." J said, smiling sweetly at him, grabbing her bag.
Dean realized that he would now be alone with Sam for at least a few minutes.
The panic started to set it.
"Sure thing." Sam said as he got up out of the booth to let her scoot over and out before he sat back down. J walked off, after Audrey, towards the bathrooms. Sam's eyes never left Dean's. The shadows of the questions flickering across them.
"That Audrey is sure friendly... Speaking of which, I never did ask you what happened between me leaving the restaurant that night and when you got picked up by that Djinn. So, what happened?" Sam asked expectantly, leaning over the table slightly. His eyes were wide with excitement.
Apparently, Audrey's enthusiasm had sparked Sam's interest. Like there was some epic story he had missed out on. It was hard not to notice. Sometimes hunting did get a bit dull. So, Samantha wanted gossip. Dean was so enthused. He actively rolled his eyes.
"Well, I drank a few beers. Chatted her up at the bar for a bit while drinking another beer or two. Then I made some lame excuse and left. She gave me her number, but I obviously haven't called or anything. I didn't even hold onto it…" Dean said, mostly into his half-full coffee mug.
Sam deflated a bit with a long sigh. He failed to notice Dean was a million miles away. Back in that parking lot. Back with that amazing feeling he had experienced after Jo had called and bailed him out. On J's orders.
Sam had obviously been expecting something juicer with the way the chick was acting. Dean was glad he didn't notice
"So, once you made the lame excuse and left, which I assume had something to do with me having car trouble I am guessing? Okay. Then what happened?" Sam asked. His expression was curious, somewhat hopeful.
"I umm…" Dean trailed off trying to recall what had happened that night after he had left the bar.
He knew what had happened. It was the same reason he was having trouble putting a full sentence together at the moment.
J had happened. J had been everything that had happened.
He had been distracted by the fact that J had told Jo to call him, to get him out of the mess with Audrey, that he had not noticed anything else. Not being followed or what happened after that. It was all a fog. A blur.
Jo's phone call had been his excuse to leave in the first place. J had been the reason he had left and hadn't noticed a thing. She had him all kinds of distracted. A rookie mistake.
Dean was only now remembering.
"I… I umm…" Dean stammered.
"I barely remember reaching the parking lot. I must have been dosed inside and it took a second to kick in or something. I can't remember much." Dean said. Relieved that it was somewhat, mostly true.
He had actually been thinking about J having Jo call. He was distracted because J had thought of him, and had known in some way that he needed help. That she had known. And she had actually done something about it. Dean couldn't help but smile to himself, even now, at the thought.
The thoughts and feelings were all-consuming for Dean.
Sam observed his brother with narrowed eyes. Reading him and knowing there was something Dean was withholding. But Sam relented. Dean did not look comfortable, that was for sure.
Sam figured it was because just then Audrey walked by to help another table and brushed Dean's leg with her outstretched hand as she passed. Even Sam saw it and gawked after her.
"This is going to be a long morning." Dean thought to himself as he saw J walking back to their booth, a smile now settled into her features as she looked out the windows along the booth side of the diner. Audrey was walking towards her on the bar side.
Her and Audrey bumped shoulders casually in their passing. J had been looking the other way, out the window. She turned and quickly apologized, putting her hand on Audrey's arm, looking into her eyes.
J looked like she was apologizing to Audrey again as they both turned away from each other to continue on their ways. Audrey now had a somewhat dazed look on her face as she continued to walk to the back of the diner where J had just come from.
J's smile had turned smug.
"Hey, Dean. Would you mind if I sat next to you this time? There is an awful glare from someone's windshield. It's not doing this headache any favors." J said even more sweetly to him than she had been to Sam. She smiled an irresistible smile at him.
Dean's stomach lurched as he got up out of the booth to let J slide in. Her hand had reached out and grazed his shoulders from one side to the other as she slid behind him. Sending chills down his spine in the process. This touch was more than welcomed. This touch was something he had been craving deep down.
"Of course, no problem." He said gruffly as that craving intensified for a moment.
As Dean sat back down in the booth, he could feel J sitting there next to him. Feel the dip in the booth seat. Feel her body heat. Feel her voice resonate as she spoke. It was almost as if he were suddenly super sensitive to her presence. The hairs on his arms stood up on end.
There seemed to be electricity running through the air between Dean and J and Dean wasn't sure if J was even aware or if she even felt anything at all. Or if he was just nuts and imagining the whole thing.
J and Sam continued their conversation on Djinn for a few more minutes and Dean collected and sorted his thoughts quietly. It seemed there was a lot of lore neither of the brothers knew about and J was only more than happy to fill them in on what she knew.
They had the basics down. But there were some nuances to them that would help them in the future if they happen to cross paths with one again in the future. Which was extremely likely.
Audrey came around with a full pot of coffee to refill their cups a few minutes later. When she went to put her hand on Dean's shoulder again, she touched it for a fraction of a second, before pulling her hand away as if she had been shocked by an electric current.
The look on her face conveyed the surprise she felt. Dean was just as astounded. Not only had he known it was a shock that she felt, but he had also felt it too. Only, to him, it did not feel like an electric shock. It was not painful like it seemed to be to Audrey. It felt more like his body heat pulsed in that area, like a muscle twitch under his skin.
J just leaned back in her seat and asked for a refill on her coffee. And watched. Dean noticed the slight smirk she had on her face that she was trying to hide. Sam had not noticed as he waited impatiently for Audrey to leave so he could finish asking the question she had interrupted.
Once everyone's mugs were full and hot again, Audrey tried to touch Dean again. This time on his forearm as she bent down low, to expose her cleavage, and to ask him if there was anything else that she could get him.
Audrey audibly yelped, straighten up, and withdrew her hand as she finished the sentence. Again, like she had been shocked by a strong electric current. She looked at Dean with wide eyes before she turned around and walked away without another word. Dean just smiled at her the whole time, having felt his muscles twitch under her touch again.
He liked this new inability for her to touch. Wherever it came from. He even kind of liked that it caused her discomfort. Served her right for being all over him without his consent in the company of family and friends.
Audrey brought them all their food and another round of refills with not even a look in Dean's direction. She kept as far away from his as humanly possible for the remainder of their meal and asked him a few questions and was polite for a waitress.
"She doesn't seem as friendly all of a sudden." Sam noted when he forked over the cash to pay for everyone despite J's fiery, and imaginative, objections.
"Yeah. Maybe she finally got the hint that I'm not that into her or something." Dean mused.
"Or maybe she had a shocking revelation." J added without thinking. The way her eyes went wide for a second told Dean she had not meant to say that. He did not believe in coincidences.
And at the time, Dean was actually thinking about J's reaction to Audrey's actions. He was wondering why she had been smirking. And if he was perfectly honest with himself, he was wondering if she had anything to do with Audrey's changed behavior and her newfound incapability to touch him now.
J's comment only added more question to the ever-growing pile of unanswered ones.
Dean sighed. He was resolute on getting answers. Sooner rather than later. As he got up from the booth, he made a promise to himself to at least ask some questions. At the very least.
The three gathered their things and left the small diner. The sun was a lot higher in the sky now. They had a long day ahead of them, and Dean didn't know whether to dread the drive or rejoice in it.