Chapter Sixteen

Soon enough, Cas was settled back into the school routine, as much as he could be, though he wore his headphones much more frequently. Rhonda had, unfortunately, turned her interests from Dean to Cas, and spent most mornings perched on his desk. Cas insisted he didn't mind, but the pained expression on his face whenever she touched his cheek or played with his hair told them otherwise.

She turned up to track practice most days, cheering Cas on and earning confused looks from the rest of the team.

Dean usually sat several rows below her, doing his best to concentrate on the homework he brought with him while he waited.

The weather cooled even further, leaving a layer of frost in the mornings. A couple weeks into November, Dean was once more sitting in the stands with his homework, wishing he'd brought gloves, when the team finished earlier than usual.

They all filed into the locker room and Dean shoved his things back into his bag. Rhonda, as usual, hurried past Dean without so much as a word, but before Dean could join the team in the locker room, the coach stopped him.

'Cas lives with you, right?'

'Yeah,' said Dean. 'What's up?'

'Listen, I know he hasn't been here all that long, but do you think he'd like a letterman jacket?'

Dean's eyebrows shot up. 'You think he'll make the cut? I didn't think he'd be here long enough.'

'That's not really his fault, I don't want to punish him for that. He works hard, so I don't see why we can't bend the rules for him a little,' the coach winked. 'At this point, it's just a matter of whether or not he'd like it?'

Dean grinned. 'Sure. I think he'd love one.'

The coach smiled and clapped Dean on the shoulder, before leaving for the day.

Dean leaned on the wall outside the locker room, hands deep in his pockets and watched the rest of the team filter out. Cas had taken to dawdling in the shower to avoid Rhonda, but after a while, Dean began to worry. He pushed open the door and looked around for Cas, and froze as he saw Rhonda pressed up against him, pushing him into a locker.

'Stop,' Cas was saying, trying to push her off without hurting her. 'I already told you, I'm not interested in you that way.'

'You say that with your mouth, but your eyes tell another story,' she giggled.

'Rhonda, please,' Cas said desperately. 'I don't like girls, it's not personal.'

'I don't believe you,' Rhonda laughed, then reached for his belt.

Cas gasped and tried to pull away, but couldn't.

'Hey!' Dean shouted, making them both jump. 'He said stop.'

Rhonda rolled her eyes, but stepped away. She left the room, but not before blowing Cas a kiss and winking at Dean.

'Are you okay?' Dean asked, appalled, stepping over to Cas as soon as she was gone.

He nodded, but seemed shaken.

'Do you want me to come in here with you from now on, so you don't have to deal with her?'

Cas hesitated, but nodded again.

'Let's go home, I'll get you some hot chocolate.'

Dean walked him out of the locker room and ordered a cab. As they made their way to the parking lot to wait for it, Cas nervously grabbed Dean's hand, squeezing his fingers. Dean started, but squeezed Cas's back.

Cas was silent for the rest of the evening, sipping on the hot chocolate in the kitchen, staring into space.

'What's going on?' Mary whispered to Dean.

Dean glanced at Cas in the kitchen. 'I can't tell you,' he murmured back. 'Cas'll tell you if he wants to.'

Mary sighed but nodded. 'I understand.'

Cas went to bed without a word, pulling the curtain across their room.

Sleep evaded Dean for a while as he tossed and turned, heart racing, until he finally caved and took one of his sleeping pills. He was groggy the next morning, and rolled out of bed onto the floor, groaning loudly.

Cas pulled aside the curtain. 'Are you all right?' he asked, speaking for the first time since dinner.

'Yeah,' Dean mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 'Are you?'

Cas just shrugged.

He wore his headphones for the whole bus ride to school, and all the way into homeroom, with his hands stuffed deeply in his pockets and his shoulders hunched. He sat at his desk warily, the room absent of Rhoda's flash of green hair. Dean smiled encouragingly at him as he pulled off his headphones, but as soon as he put them in his bag, Rhonda breezed into the room and plonked herself on Cas's desk.

'Morning,' she said brightly.

'Good morning,' Cas mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

She sat so close to him on his desk, she was almost sitting right in his lap.

Dean looked from Cas to Rhonda, who was running her hand through his hair and stroking his cheek, apparently oblivious to Cas's discomfort. Dean bit his lip, then said, 'Hey, Rhonda, can I talk to you a sec?'

Both Rhonda and Cas gave him surprised looks, then Rhonda smiled widely. 'Sure.'

Dean led her outside and made sure no one was listening.

'What do you want with Cas?' he demanded.

Rhonda smirked, folding her arms. 'Oh, I don't want anything with Cas,' she said innocently, with a quick wink.

Dean narrowed his eyes, heart thumping. 'Fine,' he said gruffly. 'If I take you on a date, will you leave him alone?'

Rhonda grinned. 'Works for me,' she said smugly.

'You get one dinner, then I drop you off at your place and I go home, got it?'

Rhonda rolled her eyes. 'Sure, whatever.'

'I mean it, Rhonda.'

'I said sure, didn't I?' she said. 'Friday night?'

Dean nodded. 'I'll message you.' He brushed past her and walked back into the classroom.

When Rhonda came back in, she sat back down on Cas's desk, but at her usual distance, and kept her hands to herself. Cas was relieved, but gave Dean a suspicious look.

'What did you do?' he said in a low voice, following Dean out of homeroom at the bell.

'Nothing,' Dean said evasively, hunching his shoulders, wishing he had a hoodie of his own at that moment.

'Dean-'

'It's fine,' Dean snapped, speeding ahead towards the physics classroom before Cas could see how sweaty he was.

Cas watched him most of the day, and Dean pretended to ignore it, but Cas wasn't the only one who noticed Dean's unusual quietness.

'What's going on?' he heard Jo whisper to Cas on their way to lunch.

'I don't know,' Cas replied.

Despite the dread gathering in Dean's stomach, the clear concern in Cas's voice was comforting. Even still, he couldn't face eating at lunch, or at dinner, and hid in his room for the evening, staring at the same page of his homework for hours while he tried to prepare himself for time alone with Rhonda.

'Dean?' Cas said softly, coming to their room for the night.

Dean couldn't even look at him, and Cas sighed quietly before going over to his side of the room and drawing the curtain across.

Several people throughout the week tried to ask him what was wrong, but he brushed them all off until Thursday night.

'Hey, Dad?' Dean said as casually as possible at the dinner table?'

'Yeah?' John said through a mouth full of food, spraying Sam with mashed potato.

'Gross, Dad!' Sam complained.

'Can I borrow the car tomorrow?'

'What for?' John frowned.

Dean hesitated. 'I - uh - I have a date.' The table fell silent. 'All right, guys, it's not that big of a deal,' he said, cheeks warming.

'Tell us about her,' Mary said excitedly.

Dean flinched. 'I don't wanna go into it - Dad, can I just borrow the car?'

'Sure,' said John. 'Be careful.'

'Thanks.'

He ignored Mary's disappointed expression, but he couldn't help but notice Cas staring at him, and could tell that Cas knew exactly what was going on. Dean dawdled after dinner, slowly washing the dishes and taking his time getting ready for bed, feeling Cas's eyes on him whenever he walked past.

Dean thought he'd gotten away with it, but as soon as he crept into their darkened bedroom, Cas's lamp switched on.

'You didn't have to wait up,' Dean muttered, sliding into bed and hugging his knees.

'You don't have to do this,' Cas said quietly.

Dean shook his head. 'It's okay, really,' he said, forcing a smile. 'You've been fielding her crap for me, I'm just returning the favour.'

'But-'

'Cas, really. It's fine.'

There was silence for a moment, until Cas let out a small 'okay', and got up to pull the curtain across, plunging Dean back into darkness but for the chinks of light bleeding under the curtain.

It took him a while to fall asleep, and he woke up drenched in sweat. He sat up and wiped his face, mouth dry. Five in the morning, but he could already hear the quiet taps Cas made typing on his phone. He sighed and forced himself out of bed to shower, choosing several cups of coffee over breakfast before dragging himself onto the school bus. He only vaguely listened to Jo and Cas talking while dread gathered in the pit of his stomach.

He almost threw up when he saw Rhonda already sitting on Cas's desk. She gave him a little wave but, true to her word, kept her hands to herself, refraining from touching Cas's cheek or running her hands through his hair.

The day went on and Dean's dread grew as the hours sped past, rushing him unwillingly closer to his dinner with Rhonda. The afternoon blurred together until Dean found himself back in his room, throwing on some nicer clothes and styling his hair again. John had pulled the Impala out of the garage for him and she was waiting in the driveway.

Dean climbed into the driver's seat, but froze with his hands on the wheel, unable to turn the key in the ignition. Then Cas leaned on the door, and Dean jumped violently.

'You don't have to go,' Cas said through the window, a worried expression lining his face.

Dean took a deep breath and finally started the car. 'I'll be fine,' Dean said, trying to force another smile but only managing a grimace.

Cas sighed. He looked as though he wanted to say something else, but he just stepped away from the car and watched Dean drive away.

Dean's hands shook as he drove, palms sweating all over the wheel and making it slippery as he made his way to the diner.

Rhonda was already there. Dean could see her shock of green hair through the window. For the first time in his life, he wished the Impala made less noise. Rhonda knew he was there before he'd even parked and waved at him from the booth she'd chosen inside. Dean took a deep breath, rubbing his palms on his legs, and forced himself out of the car.

'Hey, Dean,' Rhonda grinned, patting the table in front of her. 'Come sit.'

Dean obliged, sitting in front of her, but didn't say a word, and held the menu up in front of his face.

'Come on, Dean, I already know what you want,' Rhonda said, flagging down a server. 'Hi, I'll have a grilled cheese and a salad, and he'll have a bacon cheeseburger with fries.' She gave the server a dazzling smile

Dean's mouth twisted, disgusted at her knowing him so well. He listened to her talk while they waited for their food, refusing to say a word to her, not that she noticed. Nor did she notice that he only picked at his fries and left his burger to get cold. He was acutely aware, however, of her foot sliding up and down his leg under the table. He tried not to react, but even the tiniest flinch in his lips seemed to encourage her.

Rhonda had barely finished eating her salad before Dean grabbed the menu again.

'Dessert?' he asked quietly.

'But you've hardly eaten,' Rhonda said.

Dean shrugged. 'Wasn't really hungry. You want anything else?' he said impatiently.

'We could split a milkshake,' Rhonda suggested.

'No,' Dean said immediately.

Rhonda tutted. 'Fine.' She waved over the server again. 'Can I get a banana split? What do you want, Dean?'

Dean struggled to hide his tiny smug smile and Rhonda not knowing this one little thing about him. 'Pancakes. Thanks.' He dawdled on dessert, putting off the inevitable time he'd have to spend in the car with Rhonda, but soon enough, he had to push away the plate. He hadn't eaten the majority of the stack, his stomach churning, clenched tightly. 'Okay, let's go,' he said gruffly, throwing down cash for the meal and a tip.

He walked directly to the car, ignoring the little giggles Rhonda was making, and brushing her off every time she tried to take his arm. 'Buckle up,' he muttered, hastily fumbling with his seatbelt as he sat down.

Rhonda obliged but sat as close to him as she could.

He felt himself sweating again, and he switched on the radio to relieve the tension, but Rhonda rolled her eyes and switched it off again.

'You don't like the radio?' Dean said nervously.

'Not right now,' she said, and something in her voice sent shivers down his spine. She put a hand on his knee and he gulped.

'Don't,' he said.

'Don't what?' Rhonda said innocently.

The closer they got to Rhonda's house, the further up Dean's leg her hand travelled.

'Stop touching me,' he said, her hand very far up his thigh.

She didn't remove her hand entirely, but she did move it back down to his knee.

'What's the matter? You never used to be this hard to get,' Rhonda pouted.

Dean's blood turned to ice. 'We've been through this. I don't like you like that.'

'You liked me enough when you slept with me,' Rhonda grumbled.

Bile rose in Dean's stomach, but he forced it down and kept his eyes on the road.

At last, Dean pulled up outside Rhonda's house. 'Well, goodnight,' he said without looking at her. Rhonda unbuckled her seatbelt, but before Dean could react, Rhonda climbed onto him and tried to kiss him.

'What are you doing?' Dean shouted, pushing her off hard enough to blast the horn. 'Get out of my car.'

'But-'

'Now.'

Rhonda huffed. 'Fine,' she snapped, getting out and slamming the door shut.

Dean peeled away from the house, forcing himself to breathe normally and drive the long way home. He ended up doing a few laps around the block before he could bring the car up the driveway and into the garage.

Mary and John were still in the kitchen, but Dean just went straight for the stairs and to his room.

When he opened the door, he saw the curtain hadn't been pulled across yet, and Cas was still doing his homework, wrapped up in a blanket and chewing on the end of a pen. He looked up at the sound of Dean entering the room, a tiny, worried crease between his eyebrows.

'Are you all right?' he said softly.

Dean looked at his face, his blue eyes, and relaxed. 'Yeah,' he said, Cas's quiet concern for him washing over him like a breath of fresh air. 'Yeah, I'm okay.' He gave Cas a small smile before pointing at the curtain. 'Do you mind?'

'By all means,' Cas muttered, going back to his homework with one last worried glance in Dean's direction.

Once in bed, comforted by the sound of Cas's pen scratching against his notebook, Dean reached into the drawer in his bedside table and carefully pulled out his t-shirt, cuddling it close to his chest, just in case.

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester, IAmTheMedusa and Damaged Emerald for the reviews!

I know I've been a bit sporadic with updates, it's been a rough year for me, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you guys