"Oh. My. God." Each word was accented by a pop of Rose's chewing gum. Eliza looked up after the third snap.
"What is it?"
Rose didn't say a word, just pointed toward the door. Eliza allowed her gaze to follow the finger, to light upon. . .
"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, immediately dropping to her knees behind the bar. "It's them! They're back!"
"Hmmm," Rose murmured. "And they brought another hottie with them. Oh. Ew. And some old guy."
Eliza pulled her body as close to the bar as she could. Rose looked down at her, a confused look on her face now.
"Hey," she said. "I thought you liked them. Like him, anyway."
"I did," Eliza hissed. "But Tony's back in town today. I don't want him to get pulverized!"
"Who, Tony?" Raised eyebrow. "Hon, Tony's the size of a dump truck. Nothing's gonna pulverize him."
Eliza sighed. "Not Tony. Dean. You know, green eyes, long eyelashes, reflexes of a panther during"
"Alright, thanks, enough," Rose sighed. "Fine. You want me to go serve them?"
"No, it's okay," Eliza said. "Just. . .keep look-out, okay. Tell me when Tony's coming in."
She brushed off her leggings, as unobtrusively as she could. The skintight cotton did a great job showing off her ass, but not such a great job staying clean in the sawdust, shavings, and spilled everything that accumulated behind the bar. She pulled her shirt down, so that the lacy top of her bra could be seen over the top, and her cleavage on best display. She reapplied lipstick, threw back her hair, and stood.
"How do I look?"
"Like you're about to nail some prettyboy behind your 300 pound boyfriends back," Rose said, and gave Eliza a gentle push. "Go get'em, Tiger."
Eliza nodded. She sauntered over toward the four men, who had already taken their seats around a table. "Why, hello, boys, what can I get for you?"
The new one was the first to speak. Dean and Sam were hot, sure, she remembered that, but this one was just so pretty, and blue eyes. . .
"We are looking for an amulet that—"
Sam's arm reached out and covered his mouth instantly. He turned to her, a bright, wide smile on his face. The exact opposite of the sulkiness he'd pulled just two days ago. "Just bring us a round of that local thing. It was great."
"Oh, all right," Eliza said, mouth half-turned in a smile. "Turning into a drinker now, eh? See your brother finally had an impact on you." She turned, winked at Dean. He turned a bright red color, and started squirming in his seat. Huh. Weird. He hadn't seemed like the easily embarrassed type.
"I'll be right back with those," she said, and walked away. She was very careful not to click her heels, however. There was something really weird going on with the men. The bar, almost dead at noon, carried sound well, though, and she'd always had excellent hearing.
"Dean, really?" the old man asked. "It's the middle of Armageddon, and you're still getting every cheap bit of ass you can find?"
It took a real effort for Eliza not to turn around, mark over, and shove a stiletto into the geezer's head. She began pulling the beers.
"I do not like this," BlueEyes said. "There is something here. . ."
"Cas, relax," Sam said. He leaned back, broad grin on his face. Eliza's heart started beating a little harder. Damn, maybe she'd been right about him in the first place.
"Let's just find the pendant and get out of here," Dean said, his voice low. Eliza finished with the beers, handed two to Rose, and walked back over. This time she moved closer to Sam, who was clearly in a better mood than Dean.
"Here you go," she purred, leaning down and handing over the pint. Full-on cleavage! Time to make that money go to good use.
"Huh. . .check that out," Sam said with a wink. "Even in the wrong body I'm still the hotter brother."
"Shut up," Dean said.
The old man, meanwhile, and BlueEyes, were more focused on Rose. Which was just weird, really, since Eliza was clearly hotter. Really. Sure, Rose, had the blond hair, and the blue eyes, but she was also fat and short. Well. . .maybe not fat. . .not exactly, but short anyway. And only a size A. So seriously. What gave?
"That is a lovely amulet you are wearing," BlueEyes said. "May I see it?"
"Huh?" Rose's fingers went to the charm around her neck. Clutched it close. "I don't know. . ." she said. "It was a gift."
"Don't do it, Cas," Sam muttered, deep into his drink. BlueEyes just turned and stared at Rose freakishly. All of a sudden, Eliza didn't regret missing out on the attention for once.
"Please," BlueEyes said again. Trembling a little, Rose lifted it from around her neck, and handed it to the man.
"Interesting," he said. The geezer leaned over to examine it, as well, trailing gnarled old fingers over the shifting stone.
"Not just a mood stone?"
"No. It clearly has other properties." BlueEyes turned to Rose again. "May we hold onto this? Overnight? We will return it in the morning."
"I don't know. . ." Rose said, trembling a little. "I mean. . .it was a gift."
"Probably doesn't mean anything," Geezer said. "Looked, we both touched it, and nothing. No badda-bing, badda-boom, no body shifting, nothing."
"We told you," Dean said. "Nothing strange about this place."
BlueEyes handed it back, his gaze still intent on it. Outside a motor choked, revved, choked again, and sputtered. Eliza's gaze jerked to the door. Tony. Shit. Panic.
"Uh. . .listen. . .I gotta go. . ." she choked out, she turned, nearly knocking Sam's beer over in her haste.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked. He looked at the door himself.
"N-nothing," Eliza said. Sam shook his head.
"Yeah, right," he pressed something into her hand. "Listen. You need any help. . .just call that number."
It shouldn't have been reassuring. Really shouldn't have, being as Sam – or rather, Sam's fucking brother, who was still looking pissy in his chair – was the reason she was potentially in trouble.
"Don't worry about it," she said, but she stuck the paper in her bra. It really wasn't anything to worry about. . .as long as she changed and was behind the bar by the time Tony walked in. Which was unlikely.
"Geez, Eliza, I'm so sorry," Rose said. "I'll stall him. Just run."
She did. It took her less than four minutes to run to the bathroom, throw on a pair of baggy jeans and a men's denim shirt. The hair was thrown back into a ponytail. It was scrubbing off the make-up that took the most time. Rose must have been very successful at her diversion, because Tony was just swinging the door open as she made it behind the bar.
"Tony!" she squealed, and ran to meet him, throwing her arms around his thick neck. Behind her she could hear – actually hear – Rose roll her eyes. The men chuckled.
"You sure know how to pick'em," Geezer mumbled.
"Why do you always have to pick the girls with the biggest boyfriends?" Dean asked.
Weirdos, Eliza thought.