Somebody to Love ~ Joe Mazzello High School AU

Anything but Decaf

          I slowly came into consciousness at the sounds of people talking and laughing, deciding to keep my eyes closed. I could see through my eyelids that the lights in the auditorium have been turned on, so I grumpily pulled my blankets above my head. I prayed that I could fall back asleep, even just for five minutes, but I knew the commotion in the room would keep me from it. I kept the blankets above my head and just lied there, refusing to accept that it was time to get up. 

          "Did you try and wake her up?" I heard a voice, that I'm pretty sure was Joe's, in my vicinity. 

          "No, I'm barely out of bed myself Joe." Lucy replied, and I smiled to myself at her sass.  After a couple seconds, I felt a hand on one of my legs that I didn't realise was out of the blanket. 

         "Cas? It's seven, we have to get up." I groaned, snatching my leg under the covers, but reluctantly uncovering my eyes. Joe was already dressed and everything, while I'm over here probably looking hungover and/or dead.

          "Fine." I sat up, keeping the blankets wrapped around me as it was pretty cold. My back was still sore but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. "Why are you already dressed and everything?"

          "You could say that I'm an early bird." He shrugged his shoulders, standing up from the crouching position he was just in and holding his hand out to me. I took it, and let him make all the effort to help me up. My first instinct was to brush down my hair with my hands and just put it into a little bun just for some sort of control. My eyes were still heavy as I fished through my bag to grab some clothes, a brush, and my toothbrush and toothpaste. I marched my unhappy, and tired, butt to the bathroom to get dressed and all that fancy stuff. By the time I was done, I was basically wide awake and craving coffee. When I walked back into the auditorium, almost everyone was still unpacked and I felt like I could've milked my sleep just a little longer. I walked over to where Joe was, zipping up his bag, and leaned against the back row of the chairs. 

         "I want some coffee." I grumbled, crossing my arms. Joe stood up, pulling down the flannel that had ridden up his back while he was leaned over.

          "The teacher's lounge has a coffee machine." He shrugged, and I immediately started heading over there, Joe following me. "How do you know if we're allowed to?"

          "Are we?" I continued my stride to the door of the teacher's lounge.

          "Yeah." he smiled, and I nodded. I opened the door and saw that there was Gwil and Rami, along with some other older students, already taking advantage of the coffee machine. 

          "Morning." Gwil held out his styrofoam cup to great us.  

          "Good morning." I smiled to Gwilym, walking past him to the counter. There was about a half a pot of the coffee left. To the left was some cups, sugar packets, and some powder creamer; which I couldn't help but cringe at, but hey, coffee amirite. I saw Joe walk up next to me, grabbing a cup and handing it to me before grabbing one of his own. I poured my coffee and Joe and I traded spots so I could fix mine. "This is so disgusting." I said holding up the creamer, it was hazelnut. 

         "What did the creamer do to you?" Joe poured his coffee as well, putting the pot back on the heater.

          "It offended my tastebuds, that's what." I replied, sadly pouring the pour excuse, ha get it, of a creamer into my coffee, stirring as it went. I handed it over to Joe and took two sugar packets, ripping them open and mixing them into the coffee. I brought the cup to my lips, sipping a little coffee to taste. Ah, tastes like being dragged to a church gathering by your grandparents. I scowled at the coffee, but continued to drink it.

          "How is it?" Joe sipped on his coffee as well, smirking behind his cup.

          "Awful." I replied, taking a big swig. "I'm only here for the caffeine. After I said that, Joe turned to the cabinet above the coffee machine, opening it and pointing. I leaned over into Joe, looking at what he was pointing at; it was the coffee grounds container. "DECAF?" I snapped my head to Joe who was obviously trying not to laugh. "What kind of teachers. drink. decaf. coffee." I rubbed my face in distress, debating on pouring out the coffee. 

          "Don't be too sad Cas." Joe slung his arm around me, pulling me into him. I glared at him, reaching around him to put my cup on the counter and just hug him instead. "Oh, did you want me to drive you home this morning? Or did you want to hang out or something?" Joe looked down at me, keeping his arms loosely wrapped around my midsection. I hummed in thought, pretending like I didn't already know what I was going to say. 

          "Welllll, you said we could look at bass guitarssss." I leaned my face against his arm before tilting my head up and looking at him. Joe looked at me with an over exaggerated thinking face.

          "Oh did I?" he used one of his hands to scratch at the side of his head. I pushed away from him, playfully, and went to pour my coffee down the drain before throwing the cup away. 

          "For that sarcasm I feel like you owe me some coffee or something." I crossed my arms and jutted my hips out. 

          "Fair, fair." He nodded, downing the rest of his coffee before throwing it out. 

          "I just gotta text my mom and all the jazz." I pulled out my phone and went to my messages.

     Hey mom, the lock in went good, I'll tell you more about it when I see you. I was just gonna tell you that Joe and I were thing of going to town to a music store if that's okay. 

          I slipped my phone back into my back pocket after hitting send, hoping my mom was awake already so I didn't have to call and wake her up. 

          "Okay, now we wait. I'm going to go pack up my stuff." I said, hitching my thumb over my shoulder, motioning to the general direction of the auditorium. Joe nodded, walking beside me but breaking off to go stand with Gwil and Rami while I went the other way towards the door. I went back into the auditorium, packing up all my blankets and my computer. I pushed the bankets roughly into the bag, trying to get them to fit. Why does it always seem that there's more stuff then when you first pack? After I finally got my bag clipped together, I felt a slight vibration in my pocket. I quickly took the phone out, seeing the message displayed on the screen.

     Mom: That's good you had fun. Just notify my every once and awhile and tell me what you guys are up to. Have fun. Love you. 

     Thanks mom! I'll text you when we get to the music shop and stuff. Love you too. 

            I put my phone in my pocket and started going back to the teacher's lounge.