It Doesn't Have To Be- Erasure

You are one side
I am on the other
Are we divided?
Why can't we live together
There are no rights
This isn't your decision
We need to talk of changing things
But no one wants to listen
It doesn't have to be like that

Present Day

Jo Harvelle stormed through her apartment slamming the door as loud as she could. The more of the mess she saw in the apartment the more angry she became. Dishes were piled in the sink and an empty milk carton sat on the counter. A few socks were strewn near the couch along with a pair of jeans..and what was that? A bra?

She exhaled slowly before she exploded. That was so not her bra. Oh no way..that did it. She was officially tired and pissed off. She was done with both of her roommates and wasn't taking it any longer. She pounded on Castiel's door first and when he didn't answer, she opened the door. Empty. Hmmm…

Stalking over to Dean's door, she pounded loudly. "I know you're in there. You'd better come out NOW or I'm coming in. I don't care who you have in there."

There were giggling noises from inside the room along with the deep bass of Dean's voice and the sounds of some shuffling. The wait and the stupid giggling only made her more furious. She tapped her foot impatiently. She was fully prepared to walk in before her hung-over disheveled shirtless roommate opened the door.

"What do you want, Jo?"he asked annoyed.

Although she'd seen Dean shirtless a number of times, it still made her heart pound.

"I'm not doing this anymore, Dean-o."

Either he was still drunk or thoroughly confused but he furrowed his brow "Not doing what?"

"You skipped class. AGAIN. I had to cover for you. AGAIN. It's not my responsibility that you can't handle school and working in the bar and being a babe magnet. I'm not covering for you anymore."

He ran his hands through his hair and winced. He had a headache but Jo couldn't have cared less. "Jo, I asked you to cover for me one time in class. You continued to do it on your own. I never asked you to keep doing it."

Jo frowned. He was right…he had only asked her that one time but why she kept doing it, she didn't know. She was just trying to be helpful since he had just started taking college classes at Sam's urging. The fact that they'd chosen the same history class had her over the moon, until he'd stopped showing up.

"What do you want me to do, Jo?" he asked her as he moved out of the way as his companion moved between them toward the bathroom

Jo looked at the girl as she ran by and just shook her head in disgust. "I don't care what you do but I'm not covering for you. It's time for you to grow up."

"Calm the hell down. It's not that big a deal." Typical Winchester response.

"You'd better get your act together before you flunk out."

"Whatever," he mumbled as he stumbled past her to get to the bathroom. He raised his arm to knock but seemed to think the better of it and just opened the door. Jo cringed as she heard more giggles and then some clattering around the bathroom before the shower turned on.

Deciding she'd heard enough, she walked to the kitchen to get something to eat.

She'd been pretty excited when Castiel had offered to let her stay with him and Dean when Sam Winchester asked her roommate Ruby to live with him. It seemed pretty logical that Sam move into their place while Cas said neither he and Dean would mine Jo moving into Sam's old room. It was almost an even swap and she was happy that they'd saved her the bother of having to find a new roommate. She had never actually lived with boys before but Ellen had her share of boyfriends who would occasionally crash at their place. From this experience, Jo knew that that boys could be messy and disorganized. And sometimes, they made her nervous when they drank too much. She didn't expect to have that feeling with Dean or Cas.

Jo adored Castiel, as most people who knew him did. He was the sexless older brother that she'd always wanted. He was a patient person with great listening skills. They were so good that almost every person in their social circle had once spent an evening sharing their tales of heartbreak with him. To Jo's knowledge, Cas had never had a serious girlfriend although he had almost as many admirers as Dean. In high school, he preferred to focus on his studies instead of women but living with the Winchester boys in college had loosened the reign on his personality. His social skills were rusty but he was basically a sweet guy. She and Dean had known each other forever. No matter what she did or how well they got along nowadays, her mind always took her back to that day in the forest. She could never forget although Dean had certainly had. As he grew older, he became nicer as he realized that she was one of Sam's dear friends but he never treated her as more of a little sister instead of a potential love interest. And Dean certainly had quite a few love interests. Jo never understood how despite his obvious womanizing ways, women still seemed to follow him around. He'd been the cause of almost all the broken hearts in Lawrence, Kansas. Of course he hadn't really given any of them a serious thought but still they lined up for his attentions. Jo had once asked Sam what the draw was to someone who had so obviously had little regard for feelings or women in general. Sam sighed and explained losing their mother in a house fire..Dean remembered her clearly and Sam suspected that he missed her affection. He sought it in any woman that he could get but never got attached so he wouldn't get hurt again. Jo thought that made sense but it still didn't give Dean the license to steal hearts so easily..particularly hers. She hated how much she used to think about being his girlfriend.

Not that she ever wondered about it anymore..but she couldn't blame these poor defenseless girls. Dean was still a sight to behold. Time turned him from a beautiful boy into a handsome man with eyes so green you could find yourself drowning in them if you weren't careful. And don't even get started on his lips. Lips that she'd had the chance to kiss once, so long ago. And sadly, she still remembered the expression on his face after he pulled back, a mixture of surprise and something that looked very much like fear. His ardor, however, was short lived. The next second he went back to treating her like a child and acted as if it had never happened. She remembered being crushed that at his reaction. Shortly after, she entered into a serious relationship with Garth Fitzgerald, almost as if to prove that Dean had no effect on her. From then on, Dean usually went out of his way to keep her at arms length.

Living with him was more difficult than she'd ever thought it would be, she thought as she opened the refrigerator to examine the contents. She knew there were no groceries because if she didn't go shopping, both Castiel and Dean would live on takeout. Both loved junk food and between cheeseburgers and pie, she wasn't sure how they were amazingly fit. She found a leftover container of Chinese food and pulled it out. After smelling and examining its appearance, she pulled herself on the counter and began to eat.

A few minutes later, Anna Milton from Jo's psych class, a petite red head, fully dressed, ran through the apartment waving and smiling before she reached the door. Jo smiled mechanically wondered as she waved at the hapless girl if Dean even knew her name.

As if on cue with her thoughts, Dean, in all his shirtless glory, walked into the kitchen. He didn't seem at all embarrassed or ashamed of his actions. Jo hadn't really expected him to be. She heard him sigh as he opened the refrigerator door, probably looking for the same container she was eating out of now.

"Mind if we share?" not waiting for her reply before talking some noodles out of the carton with his fingers.

Jo tried to look surprised "What? Are you talking to me again?"

He rolled his eyes at her and reached back into the carton for more noodles and then piled them into his mouth. Afterwards he pulled himself on the counter next to where she was sitting.

"So, who was your friend?"

He rolled his eyes at her as he chewed.

"Do you even know her name?"

He shrugged and kept eating. Jo couldn't help but laugh.

"You know you could have at least walked her to the door."

"She knew where it was," he said managing to take the carton from her hand. "What's your point?"

Jo looked at him and realized he really didn't see anything wrong with how he treated his date. "Nothing."

They continued to share the food quietly in an uncomfortable silence. She was still mad and he wasn't improving her mood by taking her food away.

"Have you seen Cas?" she asked remembering he hadn't been in his room.

"He had a meeting with his new biology partner."

"Oh," Jo said before taking another bite of noodles.

"Last night," Dean added.

"Last night what?" Jo frowned.

"He had a meeting with his lab partner last night."

Jo's nostrils flared in surprise. Castiel wasn't the type to have one night stands.

Before she could respond, the door slammed and Castiel walked in looking tired but happy.

"Good morning young people," he announced cheerfully as he settled on the couch, his dark hair tousled and his blue eyes sparkling.

"Someone got lucky last night." Dean said taking the Chinese food the living room to join him..

"Eww gross." Jo called to them.

"Not at all," Castiel replied with a smile on his face. "Just happy to be alive this morning."

"Why? Did your new lab partner get rough?" Dean laughed taking a seat on the couch picking up the remote and handing Cas the carton of food.

"Maybe," Castiel offered vaguely slurping noodles, changing the tv. "Oh look Sportscenter."

Dean looked at him expectantly but Cas didn't spill.

Jo knew Cas was evading Dean's questions and it was just a matter of seconds before Dean either went full on Spanish Inquisition or completely became submerged in the sports news. She'd have to say something to them fast before she lost the opportunity.

"Guys?"

Nothing. She tried again.

"UH GUYS?"

They turned to look at her. "I hate to disturb your male bonding but I wanted to let you know, I'm not cleaning up after you two anymore. This place is a mess and it's not my mess so you two need to clean it up before you head out today."

Both boys looked at her blankly.

"Jo, get out of the way. You're blocking the TV," Dean grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Jo asked

"I don't want to hear about cleaning the apartment. If I wanted someone to tell me what to do, I'd still be living at home with John."

"Come on you two," Cas said sensing the upcoming storm."Don't start."

"Well it's true. I lived here first and I don't need you around to tell me when to clean my room. You need to quit acting like such a bitch."

"Oh Dean" Cas said hiding his face with his hands. "Please tell me you aren't resorting to name calling with Jo."

"Bitch? I'm a bitch? I wouldn't be talking,buster. You don't even want to get me started on you. You don't want me to say what everyone is thinking about you and the everlasting revolving door of women that you parade in and out of this place."

In a flash he was up on his feet and dangerously close to her face. "That is absolutely none of your business."

"Seriously Dean, Jo… isn't there like a rule that says you can't argue on a Friday?" Castiel pleaded.

Jo could feel her pulse race. She'd seen Dean angry a number of times but she'd never been on the receiving end and even as she was scared, she was a bit thrilled.

He took a step closer to her and she instinctively moved back.

"I don't care about your business. You make me sick sometimes, you know that?"

Both were so engrossed in each other that neither noticed Castiel moving slowly of the couch to flee the room.

Dean moved closer again almost as if drawn to her. He could feel her trembling but it didn't seem as if she was afraid. It was almost electric. The urge to touch her was overwhelming and he didn't like it at all. He killed the thought the only way he knew how.

"See the funny thing is Jo, I don't care what you think of me. I can do whatever I want and you know what? So can you. So if you don't like the way we do things here or you don't like the way I spend my nights, you can find another place to live. Either way, I don't care."

He pushed past her to get to his room slamming his door with a loud crash. Jo suddenly felt the urge to cry and she didn't really understand why. Tears welled up and began to fall. She jumped when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"Joanna…You know he has a temper," Castiel said softly trying to make excuses for Dean, the customary cleanup crew. "Try not to agitate him. I'll straighten up."

She gave Cas a halfhearted smile and he leaned over to hug her. Hugging Castiel was always an experience. He smelled like butterscotch and laundry detergent. The mix reminded her of something safe and warm. She inhaled deeply and sighed as he released her.

She had no idea what had gotten into her. She hadn't meant to be such a bitch but lately, everything Dean did annoyed her to no end and today had been no exception. The messy apartment, the frustration she had felt for having to lie to their professor again for him, seeing him use another girl like that…had just been the last straw for her today. He was just so…infuriating. Right about now, she felt like she could kill him. Just go into his room and strangle him with her bare hands. At least it might make her feel better.

Resigning herself to her misery, she muttered "I'm going to go lay down" to Cas and locked herself in her room. Hell, if he could do it, then she could too. With an exhausted sigh, she flopped down on her bed, now extremely grateful she had spent the extra money on her down comforter, and fell into an angry, frustrated sleep