"Miss? Miss, I need you to wake up. Miss (Y/l/n)!"
You sit up in your chair, taking in your surroundings.
"The library is closing," the woman next to you snaps, as if she's already said this a million times.
"Oh, sorry."
You wipe your eyes and begin gathering the materials spread across the table. Convinced you're leaving, the librarian moves behind her own desk. Just to appease the angry librarian, you check out a few books before exiting.
Your arms completely full, you start the slow walk home. Your mom hasn't bought you a car yet and you don't have money for the bus, so you're stuck walking. Living in the country is lovely in retrospect, but when you have to walk a couple miles to get home, it kind of sucks.
The shortest part of the walk is getting through town. You have to readjust the items in your hands periodically, but you get through town quickly enough. As soon as you get out of town, the pavement deteriorates until it's basically just a dirt path. With every step, dust puffs up and gets your old converse dirty.
Usually, you take this time to just think about life, and though you won't admit it, sometimes you daydream. About boys, friends, having a mom who actually cares, amongst other things. You are just starting in on these thoughts when the sound of an engine cuts through the quiet evening air. You frown slightly, finding it unusual for anyone to be on this road at this time. Most of the people out where you live are what you like to call country folk. No TVs, don't go into town often, mostly just keep to themselves. The rational side of you knows there are others like you (well, not exactly like you) living around in the country as well, but they must live pretty far from you because you never see them.
You look back and spot a red truck heading your way. Large dust clouds billow up behind it, but as the truck nears you, the clouds get smaller and the truck comes to a stop. Unease settles in your gut. Your mother never told you this, but it goes without saying to avoid strangers, especially ones offering you a ride in the middle of nowhere.
The passenger side door opens and you blink up to see a guy about a year younger than you. The fading sunlight reflects in his amber eyes. He looks familiar and you realize why. He goes to your school. You're pretty sure he's only a freshman, but you sometimes see him hanging out with a guy in your grade.
"Anybody home?"
"Huh?"
Your face flushes when you realize he asked you a question.
"I said do you need a ride? Seems like you've got your hands full."
You look down at everything in your hands. You've been working on a difficult project for school. You're probably overdoing it, but since your dad died, your mother has been melding you into her own image. Perfect daughter, perfect grades, perfect everything. Lately, you've been trying to break away from that, but it's like being perfect was the only thing you were made to do.
Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't have accepted a ride from these two, but one thought makes you nod "yes." Your mother would hate for you to accept a ride from anyone, especially if she knew who these two were. They're often seen causing trouble all over town. The only ones who never find it funny are the adults, but even younger adults appreciate the source of amusement.
"Alright. Just this once, though."
You shift the items in your arms and try to find a way to climb up into the truck.
"C'mon Gabe, help her with her stuff."
"Oh, right." The younger of the two turns to you again. "Let me take some of that for you."
You smile gratefully and hand him about half of it. He nearly drops it all, but when he catches your eye again, he tries to play it off like he meant to do that.
You settle yourself in the truck and shut the door, breathing in the odd smell. It's not necessarily smelly, but it doesn't smell great either.
"So, is there a reason you were walking by yourself at ten o'clock at night?"
You look up from buckling your seatbelt and study the driver as you reply.
"Project at school. All the teachers are trying to make us suffer as much as possible before summer break."
He glances at you in the mirror and you shift uneasily under his gaze. The younger, oblivious to your growing sense of uncomfortableness, glares at the driver.
"See Lucifer? I told you the teachers were putting us through hell. But no, you just thought I was being a baby about it."
"As a sophomore, I'm thinking she'll have more work to go through than you. Am I correct?"
He directs his gaze toward you again, and you look away.
"Yeah, maybe."
He returns his gaze to the road and for a moment, everything is quiet. However, the feeling of unease doesn't leave.
You know these guys aren't bad, and the rational side of you says there's no reason for you to be scared of them, but you're just scared of most human interaction in general. Your fear is only worsened around people like these two. The younger one you've seen around. Loud, class clown type, major flirt (and not just with girls if you're catchin' my drift). You didn't mind him. After all, he was a likable guy. You just preferred it when he didn't talk to you. He's constantly crowded with guy friends, girls clamoring for his attention, and often enough, a tall guy with long hair. They watch everything he does. If he talked to you, everyone would be watching and listening. Everyone.
The older one is always with the younger outside of school, and on the occasions you see them causing trouble together or hanging out, the older seems more cold and intimidating. Just a scary guy in general.
"Tell me when we get to your house, okay?"
You nod, watching the familiar scenery pass by. Almost as if he can't stand the quiet, the younger pipes up again.
"My name's Gabriel. You've probably seen me around."
"If you haven't seen him, you've definitely heard him. He never stops talking."
"Shut up, Lucifer!"
He crosses his arms angrily, but you're pretty sure you heard a smile in his voice.
"As you can probably guess, I'm Lucifer. I believe you and Cas are in the same grade?"
You search your mind for anyone named Cas that you might know.
"Castiel is his full name. Dating Dean Winchester."
"Oh, yeah. I think we worked on a group project together once. He's the only one who actually helped out."
You smile, remembering the conversations you had with him. It was one of the only times you'd actually felt comfortable talking to someone.
"Yeah, he's a good kid."
You nod in agreement, and some of the unease melts away. These guys aren't so scary after all. On the way there, you don't start any conversations, so they continually bring up different topics until you're finally comfortable enough to speak more than a few sentences. You're enjoying yourself so much that you almost don't notice when you pass your house.
"Fuck, go back! That was my place."
Lucifer slows the truck and turns around, pulling into your small driveway. You gather up your things and let Gabriel open the door for you.
"Hey, wait a minute."
You look up at Lucifer, apprehension seeping in again.
"Hm?"
"It's not safe to go walking around alone this late at night." He hands over a slip of paper with two phone numbers on it. "Anytime you need a ride, call me or Gabe and we'll be right over, okay?"
Despite the fact that you'd pretty much just met, you hear the slight concern in his voice and suddenly you realize he isn't really scary at all.
"Definitely. Thanks so much." You smile at both of them, hopping out of the truck. "See you around, boys."
About a year later...
"Nonono, that's not how it was at all."
"Oh really?" Gabriel asks, wiggling his eyebrows at you.
"Yes really! Cas, help me out here!"
Castiel looks up from his textbook, surprised at being brought into the conversation, though you aren't exactly sure why.
"Um, whatever (Y/n) said, she's right."
Cas squints, hoping what he said was right, and when you smile, he sighs in relief.
"See guys? Cas said I'm right."
"Well Cas wasn't even paying attention, so that doesn't count!" Gabriel exclaims, putting a hand on his hip.
"Bro, calm down," Lucifer says from underneath his truck, getting in a better position to fix whatever is broken.
"No, you calm down!"
Sam places a hand on his shoulder, and Gabriel calms down enough to look at him.
"Just leave her alone about it."
"Thanks, Sammy."
You smile, ready to drop the subject.
"Listen (Y/n), if you're that into him, why don't you ask him out?"
"I'm not into him, DEAN!"
"Sure as hell seems like it," he mumbles, trying to distract Cas from his studying.
"We're just friends, and if any of you bring it up again, I won't talk to you for a week," you threaten, crossing your arms.
"That's what you say every time and every time you're talking to us by the end of the hour," Lucifer points out as he gets out from under his truck, finally ready to take a break.
"Guys, please."
"Alright, chill."
The boys drop it, like they always do. They know not to take their teasing too far.
You all head inside for food and drinks. This has become the norm. You all meet up at the Novak house and hang out. Whether it be in the garage, the living room, or one of their bedrooms, you always had the best time, even if you were just hanging around and talking.
"Gabe, give me back my soda!"
"No way, it's mine!"
"Gabriel, why I oughta-"
"Hey, hands off my boyfriend!"
"You get your hands off my boyfriend."
"Let's all just calm down-"
"You calm down!"
"I am perfectly calm- Ow, what the fuck man? Alright, that's it. (Y/n), hold my drink."
You take the soda can from Lucifer and watch with a small smile as the boys continue arguing, the occasional playful punch thrown in.
This is it. If you had to choose one moment as your favorite moment, as the moment that made you the happiest, it would be this one. Surrounded by the people you love the most, which is everything you could ever ask for.