Part 10

Forty-five. His feet tapped out the numbers as he slowly paced his way to Carmen's apartment. He hadn't called her but his finger had hovered over the button more than once. He decided to walk over and leave the dish on the mat or at the office. He didn't have to see her at all. Just leave the dish and go.

Somehow he got to her landing and didn't know what to do. Her windows were open, music was playing and lots of laughter streamed out. He could just leave the dish and be home in an hour. Taking a deep breath, he took one step toward the door and the damned thing swung open. "I think it's the pizza guy, Carmen!" Dean froze. Damn it! The blonde turned and blinked at him. "Holy shit! What happened to your face?"

Jaw set… it still stung and his shoulders hunched in as if he'd been punched. He should have never come. He turned to go. And then he heard her voice. "Dean?"

"You know this guy?"

"Hey! No guys! That was a rule!" A slurred voice called from a window.

"I just came to… drop this off." Dean turned back and held the pan out.

"Thanks… I was kind of expecting you to call. I would have gone to get it." She handed the pan off to her friend and attempted to shut the door but there were several hands that kept it ajar.

"I just figured you'd be busy… cause… you work and… yeah."

She peered out into the lot. "Where's Sam? Or Ellen?"

"They took off that next morning."

"Was Ellen okay?"

"She'll be fine." Dean nodded.

"With a friend like you, of course she will." She shook her head at the memory of all she'd heard and cast her eye to the lot again. "Did you walk?"

"I'm not approved to drive yet… I'm missing a dimension." He made a gesture next to his face. "They left me the car but… I… anyway…" He swallowed down a lump. "By the way… Ellen says she doesn't remember agreeing to a lesbian roll in the hay but I told her you'd back me up on that."

"She blacked out?"

"Nah." He chuckled, smoothing his hand over his hood. "Ellen ran a saloon until last year, she could drink you, me and Sam under the table without getting a buzz."

"You know, I love it when you smile." She reached out to touch his cheek but his eyes flicked to their audience, poorly concealed by the open door and windows, and he stepped back.

"Don't patronize me, Carmen. I just came to give the dish back."

"Dammit, Dean!" She slugged him in the shoulder. "When are you going to get it through that thick skull that I don't pity you?"

"If not pity, then what? It's not my charming good looks cause those kind of melted away."

Carmen took a breath and placed a hand on each of his shoulders. "I admire you. You can't help what happened but I don't really see it slowing you down."

"Still things I can't do."

"Still a lot of things you can do."

"Added one more thing. I can scare a room full of beautiful women into silence."

"Let me get your clothes." She reached for the door and the stampede of feet running away from the door was hardly subtle.

"Keep 'em."

"No. Just wait." Then she grabbed his arm and tugged him inside the apartment. He was quick to use his other hand to fix his hood. She left him standing in a room with six woman who all had drinks in hand. She reappeared with two hoodies, two undershirts and two pairs of his flannels. "Guys, this is Dean. Dean these are my friends Lacey, Lynn, Jennifer, Deborah, Trudy and Nancy. Trudy is the rude one who answered the door."

"Love you, too, babe." Trudy raised her glass to take a huge drink.

"Dean?" Nancy asked. "How did you two meet?"

"I was in the hospital." Dean cleared his throat.

"He's also very brave and saved my life." Carmen laid a hand on his chest. "Got me home safely… and did the dealing with my parents."

"Wow. Talent." Nancy tipped her glass to him.

"Mama cooked for him."

"Okay. Now I'm awed." Jennifer lifted her glass to him as well. "I've been her best friend since the second grade and Mama has never cooked for me."

"Well, you did drop her off stinking drunk about six times junior year." Lynn cleared her throat. "So, you're the infamous Dean, huh."

"Hey… um… You're David's girlfriend, right? He's a cool guy." Dean offered lamely.

"Well, he thinks so." Lynn drew in a breath and the other women raised their glasses and took a drink. "David…"

Carmen leaned in. "He's in the burn unit, right now. A blaze the other night. Nothing too bad."

"Well, he's got the fire brigade chilling in his room." Lynn looked up to Dean from her seat. "So… Carmen's got your clothes?"

"Unauthorized sleepovers…" Deborah or Lacey sing-songed.

"Guys, enough." Carmen shook her head at them.

"What? It's not like he believes you're a virgin."

"This is a girl's night." Trudy stood up with her drink and peered into Dean's hood. "If he's gonna stay, he's gonna have to strip and show us some moves." Her hands began to pull at his hoodie's zipper. "You boxers or briefs?"

Both Dean and Carmen choked at that. Carmen began pushing him to the door. "Go, run, now. She will totally start trying to stick dollar bills down your pants."

He let himself be pushed to the door. "I can always use the extra cash."

"You're…"

"Just meat to you ladies."

"If they're ladies, Ellen's the Queen of England."

Dean stepped outside the apartment, laughter reaching his ears from inside. "Yeah, real bad girls. Sitting around, eating pizza, drinking and ragging on men. I'll bet Lawrence doesn't have any real bad girls. The only truly bad girl left about four days ago."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

She tapped her fingers on his chest. "Okay. Fine. Friday night, I'll pick you up and you can take me to find some trouble."

"You're on." Dean turned and made it to the landing. When he heard the door shut, he realized what he'd just done. "Sneaky bitch."

TBC