Been busy working the last few days so I didn't have a chance to update sooner. Thanks again to murphy9202, SomebodyWhoCares, and Sophie for your reviews! Glad so many of you are enjoying the story so far!
I woke up to Charlie shaking me roughly and saying something that my tired brain couldn't make out.
"What?" I asked her groggily. My eyes slowly began adjusting to the morning light that was flooding the room.
"Your alarm on your phone was going off for the last two minutes," she repeated. "Drove me insane; I kept telling you to wake up but you were dead asleep."
The events of last night came rushing back to me and I felt myself blush. Before Charlie could notice my red cheeks I turned away and picked up my phone. Garth had sent me a text an hour ago checking up on me.
"You just wake up?" I asked her as I began writing a reply to Garth.
Charlie lazily plopped back down on her bed beside mine and stretched out, throwing her arms behind her head. "I did about two minutes ago when your alarm went off." She shot me a fake glare before turning her head back and closing her eyes.
Remembering I had left my clothes to dry in the bathroom after jumping into the pool with Sam, I quickly said, "I'm going to grab a shower if you're going to doze back off."
Charlie nodded lazily in response. I set my phone back onto the nightstand and grabbed my bag of clothes before making my way into the bathroom. When I began undressing I noticed that my hair smelt faintly of chlorine. I bit my lip hoping that Charlie hadn't caught the scent when she had been waking me up.
"You're being ridiculous," I muttered to myself in the mirror. "And you're a grown woman. Who cares what you do."
With a determined air, I finished undressing and turned on the shower. It was a moment before the warm water actually came out of the faucet. I stepped in and felt my muscles relax and my eyes involuntarily close. I figured I had only gotten a few hours of sleep last night when I had finally gotten into bed, which meant I would need a lot of coffee to keep me up for the rest of this drive. Hopefully it wasn't too much longer until we reached that headquarters Dean had told me about.
I washed as fast as I could, fighting to keep my eyes open. These skeevy motels rarely offered a chance for a nice shower to begin with without me falling asleep and using up all of the warm water. Drying off, I quickly threw on some clothes and headed into the main room to see Charlie already pulling clothes together for a shower.
I began brushing through my hair thankful that it dried into fairly nice waves even if I did nothing to it. Living life on the road never really called for spending much time on my appearance. Besides, who was I planning on impressing? I barely spent much time with anyone.
Except part of me secretly wished I had an arsenal of make-up at my fingertips to use right now. And a nicer wardrobe. It was hard to stay stylish on a budget, but even harder when everything I owned needed to be something that could take a beating on a hunt. Yet, as I heard the shower turn on in the other room, I stared at my outfit in the mirror wondering if it flattered my figure or not.
I shook my head, snapping myself out of the thought. What did I care if my jeans made my ass look nice or not? I was going to be driving a car for the next few hours.
"Pull yourself together, Sierra," I told myself firmly. "He's just a guy. It was just a kiss." I frowned at my reflection. "Okay, so it was a few kisses, but the fact remains the same; it didn't mean anything."
A knock on the motel door caused me to jump.
"You talking to yourself in there?" came Dean's amused voice.
I crossed the room and opened the door. He was standing there with a grin on his face and a bag of McDonald's in his hands.
"Thought you two might want breakfast," Dean said cheerfully before bursting into the room and setting the bag down on the little round table. "Sam, Cas and I just got back from grabbing some food, but we figured you two were still just waking up."
I grinned sheepishly before heading to the table and pulling some food out of the bag. "Thanks, Dean."
"Just waiting on Charlie to finish up then?" he asked me casually.
I nodded as I bit into an egg sandwich. I chewed briefly and swallowed before asking, "How much longer of a drive do we have left?"
"Maybe five hours," Dean answered.
Taking another bite of my breakfast, I noticed Dean fidgeting around a bit in his chair. It looked like something was bothering him. We sat in silence as I ate for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before he spoke up.
"I noticed Sam disappeared for a bit last night."
I froze mid-bite and slowly turned my attention to him. "What do you mean?" I asked, forcing the guilty look off my face.
His brows furrowed together in concern and I immediately realized I was in the clear. He had no idea what had happened last night between his brother and me. I let out the breath I had been holding in and relaxed a little.
"I woke up around three this morning and his bed was empty. I checked out in the hall and I couldn't find him anywhere, but I still had the keys to the Impala," Dean told me. "If he didn't take the car I figured he hadn't ran off on his own but…it's just strange."
"Yeah, strange," I said in an echo, forcing a look of intrigue on my face. "Did you ask him about it this morning?"
"Yeah," Dean said, scratching the back of his neck. "He said he had been wandering the hallways for a bit because he couldn't sleep. But I'd have seen him if he was."
My stomach involuntarily dropped. So apparently we were both keeping last night a secret, and for some reason that bothered me. Though, if he would have told his brother, no doubt Dean would say something. And then Charlie wouldn't be able to keep quiet with her 'I told you so' comments for the next five hours.
"Maybe you guys somehow just missed each other," I suggested.
"Yeah," Dean responded in a tone that sounded like he didn't believe that at all. "Maybe."
"Breakfast?"
I jumped at the sound of Charlie's voice behind me. The conversation between Dean and I had made me forget she was in the other room entirely.
She didn't hesitate before digging into the bag of food and pulling things out, quickly unwrapping food and taking big bites. Dean briefly smiled at her enthusiasm before that concerned expression was back on his face.
"What's wrong with you?" Charlie asked between mouthfuls of food.
"Just worried about Sam," Dean said in short.
Charlie nodded her head, already aware of how much Dean had been worrying about his brother for awhile. "Where is he, by the way?" she asked as she practically chugged her coffee.
"Offered to finish packing up," Dean said, pointing with his thumb to where their room next door was. "He's keeping an eye on Cas, too."
"Cool." She took a bite of hash brown and then asked, "When are we leaving?"
Dean chuckled. "We're just waiting on you two, but it looks like you're demolishing breakfast in record time."
"I'm going to finish packing up then," I said standing up.
"I should probably go check on Sam and make sure he hasn't lost Cas," Dean said as he too stood up. "Meet you two in the lobby in ten minutes?"
"Sounds like a plan," I told him as I began picking up a few personal items that were scattered around the room.
Charlie was finished eating in a few minutes and then she helped pack up her things. I tucked my phone into the pocket of my jeans and scanned the room one last time. When we were sure we had everything, we made our way out of the room and down the hallway. Sam, Dean and Castiel were just making it into the lobby moments before the both of us did.
I handed our room key over to Dean who began checking us out of the room. The man behind the counter kept giving Sam strange looks the entire time, something that wasn't going unnoticed by his brother. Just when Dean finished with all of the important business, the man spoke up.
"You look familiar," he said, eyeing Sam suspiciously.
Sam cleared his throat awkwardly and shot me a glance from across the room; the first time he had really acknowledged me since last night. His glance seemed to trigger the man's memory.
"Hey, wait a minute…" he said, his eyes narrowing.
"Well we should be going now," Sam said, practically pushing Dean and myself out of the lobby door.
"What was that all about?" Dean asked his brother curiously, glancing back through a window at the man still staring at Sam's retreating form.
"Nothing," Sam said simply, shooting his brother a smile.
Not wanting Charlie to start getting suspicious either, I began walking at a brisk pace to my car.
"He appears to have recognized you," I heard Castiel say in his monotone, point-out-the-obvious sort of way.
"What's up with Sam?" Charlie asked. She stopped and was leaning against my car eyeing him a few parking spaces over from where we were. "Looks like he's hiding something."
I shrugged, hoping she would drop the subject. She didn't though, and instead kept staring at the two brothers now having a silent conversation over the hood of the Impala.
"It's weird. I've never seen him like that," Charlie pointed out. "That guy must have caught him doing something he really doesn't want Dean to know about."
I caught her eye and felt my cheeks burn. "Well, whatever happened, I'd like to not delay this five hour drive any longer."
At the mention of a five hour drive Charlie's face fell dramatically and all thoughts of whatever Sam had been up to disappeared.
"Five hours?" she asked in disbelief. "What am I supposed to do in this car for another five hours?"
A sudden chill crept its way up my spine. Glancing around the parking lot, I felt as if someone was watching us. The thought of Crowley appearing out of nowhere last night popped into my head and goosebumps rose on my arm. I couldn't see anyone lurking in the shadows, but the uneasy feeling was still present.
"Hey, guys, can we get a move on or do we have to wait around all day for you to continue bickering like an old married couple?" I shot at them.
The two stopped their conversation, which had switched from silent to verbal again, and glanced at me. Dean was glaring at me but Sam had another expression on his face that I couldn't make out. Without hesitation, Sam opened the passenger door and got into the car joining Castiel who had already been sitting in the backseat.
"Call us if you need anything," Dean grunted out, apparently in a sour mood now.
I hopped into the driver's seat and saw Charlie trying to get comfortable in her chair.
"This seat is going to morph to my ass pretty soon," she said seriously.
I grinned before throwing my car in reverse and backing up out of the parking spot. Following the Impala out onto the main road, I shot one last glance back at the shady motel through my rearview mirror, another chill running up my spine.