I glanced into the rear view and saw her walking away, and I think my heart shattered into tiny pieces. Well, whatever was left of it, anyway. I remembered that I wasn't the only one losing someone here, and I reached into my pocket and grabbed my cell phone, dialing Page's number and biting my loser lip. Dean was shooting me a confused glance, but I waved him off and waited for her to answer. One ring, then two...then a third...then, "Come on, Page, pick up. Please..." I pleaded with her over the distance between us. I knew she was awake. Just...not answering her phone. I leaned my head back against the passenger's seat and shuddered a sob. 'Hi, you've reached Page...I'm probably doing something right now, but leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can...bye!' I heard Page's voice coming through the phone, and I gently hit my head against the seat, then closed the phone.

Dean glanced at me again. "Give her time, man...she'll call you..." he told me in a semi-comforting tone. But I knew that was the most comforting Dean got. "Sorry, man. But you know that she can't know about this and--"

I chuckled lightly and ran a hand over my hair, my face falling when my hand touched the spot where Jess' blood had hit me. "Funny thing that..." I glanced over at him, a grin forming on the corner of my mouth. Dean went deadpan and I shrugged my shoulders. "Well? Fuck me for having a conscience. I told her eons ago, anyway, Dean. And she doesn't even believe me, so you have nothing to worry about..." I stared out the window as we passed the campus, and sighed deeply. I was not in the mood to be belittled by Dean for telling my best friend a secret and defying our asshole father.

Dean was about to open his mouth and I took my phone from my pocket again, dialing Page's number. As if he knew how to handle women, anyway. Dude hadn't had a steady girlfriend in his life, probably. I listened to the five rings it took to go to Page's voice mail, then her message again, and came to the conclusion that she probably didn't want to talk to me. So, I left a message for if and when she changed her mind. "Page? Sam. I really...have nothing to say, okay? And I know I don't deserve the chance to say it, either. But, I mean...just call me, please. I know I wasn't the only one to lose someone and--" the timer cut me off. "Shit..."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Sam. Seriously, you lost your girlfriend, and not even a night has gone by and you're calling another woman? You say I'm bad? Give it a rest..." he crossed his arms.

I wanted to knock him in the teeth for even comparing me to him. But instead, I just reclined the seat and prepared to sleep for awhile. I'd fucked up so much over the past week, I just wanted it to be over with. I wanted to forget everything. Jess, Page, my mom, what I could have been had this shit not happened...I watched as Dean turned the music down and smiled a but to thank him, before closing my eyes and trying to nod off.

But after an hour of staring at the night sky as it flew by, I decided that I couldn't sleep. Not until I knew that Page didn't hate me. I pulled the seat back up and bit my lower lip, not wanting to call her in front of Dean. Fortunately, it wasn't something I'd need to worry about, because Dean pulled over in that moment, and looked at me. "Gotta take a leak?" he asked me, quite unceremoniously. I shook my head, and watched him get out of the car, making sure he was gone, then grabbing my phone. I pushed speed dial two, for Page, and listened to the rings.

One. Two. "Come on, Page..." I pleaded inwardly. Three. I pulled the phone from my ear and prepared to hang it up.

But as my hand touched the top to close it, I heard a very annoyed voice coming through the other end. "What?" Page asked. And it almost didn't sound like Page.

I quickly brought the phone back to my ear. "Page..." I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to her. Was I supposed to tell her that everything was okay? And that my brother was trustworthy? No. That would be a lie. "Hi..." I started out simple.

She scoffed. "Hi? That's how you start off?" she asked, and I heard a door close behind her.

I sighed. "What in the hell am I supposed to say?" I asked, staring out the window at no one.

"I don't know, Sam. I really don't."

"I...didn't want to leave like this."

"Well, you sure as hell couldn't have expected a positive reaction..."

"I didn't know what to expect..."

A sigh on her end, and a few seconds of silence, and I decided to try and clear the air. "Listen, I don't know when or how, but I know I'll be back, okay? And if you're not in California, I'll come to wherever you are and find you. First person I'll look for, I promise..." I told her. "Just...please, promise me you're not going to hate me..." I felt tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. If I lost the two most important people in my life in one night, there was no telling what I'd do.

She was silent for another second, and she sighed heavily once again. "I couldn't hate you if I wanted to, Sam. You know that," she said gently. "You...still promise to call me?" she sounded hopeless.

I nodded, then realized that I was on the phone, and that wouldn't work. "Of course. I'll send you letters, too. From every state we pass through."

I heard a bit of a smile in her voice, though it was very forced. "Where, exactly, are you going, anyway?"

I thought for a second, of the best way to tell her this. "I...don't know. I mean, Dean knows better than I do, but...I promise, I'll call you once every couple days, and I'll write you all the time, okay?" I swallowed hard.

"Okay. And I'll...send Jess' parents your love..."

"Thanks, Page..." I felt a sob in my throat. "Really..."

I heard her swallow something. "Bye, Sam..."

"Bye, Page..." I said, and for the first time in my life, I felt like it might actually be for real.

Dean made his way back to the car, just in time to see me close my phone, and part of me thought that it may have been on purpose. "You get to talk to her?"

"Yeah..." I said simply.

"Feel better?" he asked me.

"About as good as I can feel right now..." I shrugged and leaned back in my seat, preparing to try to sleep, once again.