Chapter Three

Charlie, being her usual pain in the ass self, absolutely insisted on meeting Cas. In her book, which is essentially an odd assortment of rules that she made up on the spot to fit her need at any given moment, Rule #139 clearly stated that "It is the right of a person's best friend to meet, quiz, and judge any new love interest." Which was really pretty damn hilarious, because Dean never had that right with Dorothy. Charlie had just wandered over to his locker like she did every morning, but that time, with her hand on the small of the pretty brunette's back, and introduced her as her girlfriend. No prior warning or right to judge whatsoever.

Also, she had added, after having to listen to Dean gush over Castiel for hours on end on the phone while Dorothy was over and her aunt Hester was out, because come on, how often does a miracle like that come along? She and Dorothy could have been making the time count, but instead she had to listen to Dean pine like a preteen with a crush. Dean, with his cheeks stained deep scarlet, finally relented.

They were on their way to Dean's locker before lunch when it was brought up, prompted by the sight of Castiel gathering his own afternoon books about ten lockers down from him. He looked frustrated, slamming his palm against the metal object when it refused to open. Dean, for a moment, considered going over to help, but he knew Charlie could just use that to her advantage and he refused to be the one to feed the beast.

"We're not even together," Dean argued, although he knew it was pointless. When Charlie had her mind set on something, there is absolutely no stopping her; you could build a wall a mile high around the situation and she'd still find some way to get through it.

But, really, what grounds did he have to think that he may have a chance with Cas? Catching Cas looking in his direction a handful of times during Physics didn't necessarily mean anything. Maybe Dean was just sitting in the way of something he was trying to see, and he looked away when Dean glanced up because he didn't want Dean to assume exactly what he was assuming.

Anyway, who's to even say that Cas liked dudes anyway? He was probably straight. Definitely, unattainable and straight.

"Yet," Charlie corrected, wagging her finger at him. "The key word in that statement should be yet. And I will get the two of you together even if it kills me. Now, go invite that boy to sit with us. I wanna meet my future best-friend-in-law."

"I hate to tell you this, but I don't think that's a thing, Charls." Dean said with a small smirk, but began walking anyway, knowing that fighting with her any longer would just make things worse. Plus, he kind of did want to spend lunch with Cas, even if it was with the company of his nosy best friend and her equally nosy girlfriend.

The aforementioned boy still stood at his locker, which he'd finally, by some stroke of luck, managed to wrangle open, and seemed to be attempting some sort of organizational project. Huh, maybe Cas could help him.

"Good luck, lover boy." Charlie said with a wink while Dorothy, being the fiery little ball of aggression she was, punched him in the shoulder. Charlie and her then turned down the hall toward the cafeteria, Charlie, unsurprisingly, throwing up the Vulcan salute.

Dean took a deep breath before powering forward, approaching the boy from the side and leaning up against the locker next to him with a false self-assured smile. "Hey, Cas."

"Oh," Cas said, sounding surprised. He looked up and met Dean's eyes before he visibly relaxed, smiling at the other boy. He cradled the books he had taken out of his locker in his right arm and rose to his feet. "Hello, Dean."

"So, uh," Dean looked down at his feet, shifting a bit from one foot to the other. This was a regular gesture of his now, he guessed. "My friends were wondering, um, maybe, if you're not sitting with anyone already you'd like to sit with us at lunch."

Cas looked a bit stunned at first, but soon his lips turned up in a half-smirk as something over Dean's shoulder caught his eye. Dean wanted to turn around and see what it was, but he didn't really want to look away from Cas either. "So your friends wanted you to ask me if I wanted to sit with you?"

Dean felt his face beginning to heat up, despite how hard he tried to fight it. Was this just who he was now? The blushing lovesick schoolboy? "And me, ya know. I'd kind of like for you to sit with us."

A moment passed and both were quiet. Dean kept his eyes trained on his shoes, refusing to look up, afraid of what he might see in the other boy's eyes. What if Cas was just now realizing how much of a dork he was, and had decided that he didn't want anything to do with him? What if he saw through to Dean's little crush on him and he thought it was pathetic, or worse, disgusting? God, he was so stupid, putting everything in jeopardy like that.

"Dean," Cas said, breaking through his haze with his worried voice. "Are you okay?"

When he glanced up, he was met with a pair of concerned blue eyes. Cas smiled reassuringly at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Dean, I'd love to sit with you all. But are you okay?"

"Oh, um, I'm fine," Dean said with a sheepish grin.

Cas studied him silently. "Dean, I would very much like to be your friend, if you would allow me to be. Please don't doubt that."

"Cas," Dean said in a firm voice, his current feelings pushed back into their nice little compartment in the back of his head. "I'm fine. I swear."

Cas still looked a bit hesitant in believing him, but he seemed to, eventually, give into the fact that Dean did not want to talk about it and he would have to respect that. Cas forced a small smile. "So, who are these friends we'll be sitting with?"

Dean simply smiled, leading the other boy to the cafeteria and hoping that either his friends would lay off- which was highly unlikely-, or that Cas had thick skin. To deal with the two of them, especially Dorothy, who literally had no filter at all, a person needed to be able to hold their own. Dean just hoped that Cas was that kind of person.

•○•○•

"So," Dorothy began, a smug smile spreading across her lips as she spoke, though it was directed at Dean. "You're the famous Castiel Novak that Dean hasn't shut up about."

Benny, the bastard, actually chuckled at that, but when his eyes met Dean's across the table, he quickly wiped the smirk off of his face, raising his hands in mock surrender, although his amusement was still evident in his eyes. Jo and Charlie, however, seemed to have no qualms about cracking up at that. The only one who stayed silent throughout all of this was Garth, who simply gave him a sympathetic smile. So basically all but one of his friends were a bunch of traitors. Great.

"Really?" Cas asked, visibly trying to fight back a smirk at the boy next to him as he placed a hand on his own chest dramatically. "Dean, I'm touched."

Dean's face was burning, but he wasn't sure whether it was from anger at Dorothy or embarrassment because of what Cas had to hear from her. Maybe a mixture of both. "Blow me, Baum."

"Dean, you do know the definition of lesbian, correct?" Dorothy asked, the comment only seeming to have served to amuse her.

"Hush, both of you." Jo said, speaking over the both of them and shooting their table guest an apologetic look. "Castiel here probably thinks we're crazy."

Dean gave Dorothy a pointed look, raising his eyebrows as if to say, 'You heard the lady, now shut up', but it was merely met with an eye roll and some indignant huffing on her end. Better than nothing, he supposed, but still not exactly what he'd been aiming for.

Cas shrugged, flashing them an easy smile. "Nah. Actually, I'm finding all of this quite funny. Are you two always like this?" He asked, gesturing between Dean and Dorothy.

"Pretty much." Dorothy replied, her attention on the plate of fries she was eating. "Captain Ameridork over here tends to bring out my more... aggressive side."

"What? You mean that isn't your factory setting?" Dean asked, shooting her a self-satisfied smirk.

"Quiet, both of you." Charlie said, her face still full of humor but also of embarrassment. "I swear, you both are like ten year-olds."

Here they were with a guest at their lunch table, something that rarely ever happened, except for when Bela Talbot used to sit with them when she was new in Sophomore year before finding her place in the school with the more popular bunch, and they were sitting here bickering in front of him. A real great impression they were leaving on him, she was sure.

"So, Castiel," Charlie turned to Cas, ready to attempt to rectify the damage her friends had caused, but she found that his eyes had seemed to wander to the boy next to him, his expression soft and content and a barely-there smile gracing his handsome face. Dean didn't seem to notice, however, his attention wrapped up in the burger in his hand. He had ketchup on his face and everything, yet Cas looked at him like he was something of wonder. Charlie smiled a bit, going back to her lunch instead, not wanting to break up whatever progress that was being made.