"FINE I'LL GO." Cas said annoyed.
"YES!" Charlie and Jo high-fived and whooped.
"It's gonna be fun. Trust me." Jo said.
The three friends sat around the lunch table, chatting anxiously about the upcoming party. It was tomorrow night, and as far as Castiel was concerned, it couldn't come soon enough. He was looking forward to a break from everything, and to getting wasted without a care in the world.
"So, is anyone that doesn't suck going?" Cas asked.
"Um, yeah. Us." Charlie said, gesturing between her and Jo.
Cas rolled his eyes. "BESIDES you."
"Why, are you gonna find some poor guy to hook up with and never talk to again?" Charlie said and Jo nearly spat out her lemonade.
"What gives you the idea that I do that?" Castiel said warily.
"Connor, Joel, Micah," Jo listed.
"Zachariah, James, Daniel," Charlie continued. "Oh and poor Lewis. He was really heartbroken."
"'You give me the best night of my life and I don't even get a HELLO?'", Jo imitated, feigning sadness as she dramatically fell back on to Charlie.
"Okay, I get it." Castiel said, throwing a pretzel at Jo and hitting her in the chest.
"Wow, right in the sternum."
~~~~~~~~
The next day, Dean was walking through the classroom, handing back bundles of graded assignments. Low chatter could be heard as students talked to one another in the absence of Dean's teaching. He had put the most important on the bottom; he could feel the jagged edges from the scissors on his left hand as he gripped the papers tightly. Walking over to Castiel, he could feel his chest tighten up with nerves. Cas looked up and him as he approached, subconsciously taking the innermost half of his bottom lip between his teeth. Dean gulped.
"Nice job, Cas. I especially liked the last one." He said quietly, setting down Castiel's graded work in front of him. Cas smiled up at him.
"I thought you might. The way you talk about it in class is quite inspirational." Castiel said, leaning forward to rest his chin on his hand.
"Just a guy who likes his car." Dean shrugged, blushing at Castiel's attention to detail. He looked at Cas once more before turning to walk back up to the front of the class. Cas sighed happily.
"HEY. Earth to Castiel?" Jo said, waving a hand in front of his face. He sat up, looking over at her.
"What?" He asked. She gaped at him. "WHAT?" He asked again.
She hurriedly gestured in between him and presumably Dean. "Okay, what's going on? What was he talking about? What were YOU talking about?"
"Just something i drew on the last page of reading questions." He shrugged.
"Let me see!" She said, quickly whisking away his bundle. He attempted to grab it back, but it was too late. Jo studied the papers. "Why are there giant holes in every page of your homework?" She said, slowly turning to look at him. Castiel snatched them back, suddenly just as puzzled as Jo.
She was right, every one of his drawings had been cut out.
Is he...keeping them?
Castiel felt himself blush. He snapped his head up to look at Dean. He was smiling back at him. He lifted the papers and pointed to them in a 'what is this?' gesture. Dean just winked in response. Jo looked on this exchange with even more confusion than before.
~~~~~~~~
As Dean sat back down, he couldn't help but look back over at Castiel. Jo had grabbed his bundle of assignments and he was desperately trying to get them back. When he finally succeeded, he could see them both looking over them in confusion. Cas looked up at him, cheeks flushed. He pointed to the papers with furrowed eyebrows and Dean winked, feeling his chest warm. Castiel's eyes widened and his face went bright red. Dean chuckled.
That was adorable.
~~~~~~~~
Castiel quickly clicked the locks on his viola case shut as he anxiously waited for the bell to ring. He had been counting the hours until he could go unwind with Jo and Charlie.
"You're done early today Cassie, what's up? Got a hot date after school?" Gabe said, walking over to him as everyone else started to pack up.
"Yeah, I wish. I'm hanging out with Jo and Charlie tonight." He said, rolling his eyes.
"You're not going to that party, right?" Gabe asked. Castiel stopped.
"No, we're going to Charlie's. Her parents are on business trips so we have the house to ourselves." He said cautiously. "Besides, how do YOU even know about that party?"
Gabe shrugged, smirking. "What can I say? I'm cool. I know things."
"Okay, WHATEVER." Cas said.
~~~~~~
"Are you guys here yet??" Castiel asked into his phone, putting his free hand in the pocket of his black denim jacket. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Jo, Charlie walking up from the car behind them. "Hey," he said.
"You ready?" Charlie said, looking between them.
"As I'll ever be," Cas said as they began walking up the dirt driveway towards the house, Castiel's black combat boots scuffing up the dirt.
When they reached the door, Jo reached up to knock. The door swiftly flew open, a tall, lanky guy standing behind it.
(Play bad guy by Billie Eilish for a good time)
"HEEEYYYY come on in!" He shouted over the pounding music, arms outstretched. He moved aside and all of three of them filed in. It was dark, save for the large, colored LED lights sitting on the floor. The trio looked at each other and Cas made a drink gesture and pointed towards what he thought was the kitchen. Charlie pointed at herself and then at the crowd of teens before grinning, saluting at them and disappearing behind the grinding mass. Jo pulled out her phone and began typing. Cas felt his vibrate.
Gonna go find Ruby's dog lol
Cas laughed and she shrugged before heading towards the stairs. On his own, he turned to his left, seeing a step up into a massive kitchen. A single overhead light was on over the top of a large granite top counter FILLED with bottles and cups.
Mission accomplished.
He walked around the counter, maneuvering around party-goers, inspecting the bottles as he went. He didn't really trust the cups, considering he had no idea who poured them or what was in them, so he went with a bottle of beer that he made sure hadn't been opened and popped the cap off with the countertop.
He sipped and reveled in the sensation of the bubbles soothing his dry throat. He saw a sliding glass door leading out to the backyard, and heard quite a lot of drunken, joyous commotion coming from outside. He decided to check things out.
The cool night air felt nice against his skin. He looked around and saw that a keg stand had caused the ruckus. Laughing and shaking his head, he walked over to see none other than Ash being lifted down. He screamed in victory and raised his arms up, being patted in congratulations by all those around him. Ash saw him and stumbled over.
"Cassssiiiieee!!" He yelled, throwing an arm around his shoulder. Ash pushed him towards the pile of kegs and the drunken crowd. "You next! You next!" Castiel shook his head at the excited onlookers, much to their disappointment.
"I'm not going to throw up all over myself tonight, thank you." Cas said, leading Ash back towards the house.
"Mmmm you're no FUN." Ash slurred. He began getting heavier, and Castiel could see his eyes fluttering shut.
Must not have been the first stand he did tonight.
Cas found an empty couch towards the back of the living room and draped him across it.
Eh, he should be fine.
~~~~~~~
A couple of hours and a half a bottle of vodka later (plus a few beers), Castiel was shouting at the top of his lungs, Charlie on his shoulders. The speakers spread through the house shook the walls, and there was enough jumping to make the floor creak and groan. Jo had left about a half an hour ago since she wasn't much of a drinker, and upon seeing both Castiel and Charlie chugging alcohol, she took her leave.
"SHIT COP", someone shouted from towards the front of the house as blue and red lights could be seen flashing through the windows. The music immediately shut off, and the more sober members of the group grabbed keys and jackets and fled. About half the house had begun to bolt, and Castiel had just enough presence of mind to wander over to the kitchen and let Charlie off of him, setting her onto the counter before turning over and slumping down onto the ground against it. Charlie hopped off of the granite surface and shook his shoulder.
"Castiel! Castiel, we gotta go!" She whisper-yelled, as if there wasn't already a huge amount of noise being made around them. He shook his head grumpily, grunting at her. He swatted her away with a limp, floppy hand and closed his eyes, enjoying the coolness of the cabinet behind him. Desperately looking around, she tried to drag him up by the arm. He was dead weight in her hands.
Not having the strength to life him and seeing the front door creeping open, she whispered "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Cassie!" as she quietly raced up the stairs to hide.
"Officer Winchester, Lawrence PD!" A booming voice yelled as a flashlight beam floated through the now dark house. A light flicked on to reveal a number of teenagers scattered over the floor and various pieces of furniture, some standing, but most looking very afraid.
One girl just started wailing "PLEASE DON'T TELL MY MOOOOMMMM!" and sobbing her eyes out. The officer just sighed, massaging his forehead and slipping the flashlight back into his belt. He picked up a walkie, pressing a button and requesting back-up into it.
"Another squad car or two. It's just some drunk kids, but this'll take forever if I do it by myself. Over." A garbled response came through. "Thanks, Jenkins. Over."
He stepped forward, finding more light switches and flicking them on, earning groans from the more intoxicated teens. "Alright, who's house is this?" He yelled, his tone implying that he wasn't expecting much of an answer.
"Ru-b. Ru-ruby" A small voice stuttered. The officer turned. Castiel lay against the cabinet, head leaning against it and an arm resting on his knee, while the other leg and arm sprawled on the tile floor. The cop knelt beside him. He retrieved a smaller flashlight from his belt and clicked it on, grabbing Castiel's chin and shining it into his eyes. Castiel grunted and pulled his head away, reaching up to nurse and shield his eyes.
"What the hell..." he mumbled. Satisfied that Castiel didn't look unusually under the influence of anything but alcohol, he looked at him.
"What's your name?" The cop asked.
"Castiel, who wants to know?" He groaned, eyes squeezed tightly shut, his palms rubbing against his temples as he tried to soothe his aching head. The cop laughed.
"My name is Sam Winchester. Castiel, can you tell me whose house we're in?" The cop said. This seemed to get Cas's attention. He slowly looked up with wide eyes.
"Um. Ruby. Ruby Monroe." He stumbled over his words as he looked up at the police officer. He had long hair that framed his face, a strong jaw, and soft hazel eyes. He looked around, "She's blonde..." He said, scanning the room for any sign of her. He tried to get up, but the officer gentle touched his arm.
"That's fine, I'll handle it. Stay here, I'll need to call someone to pick you up. Now how old are you, Castiel?" He asked.
Fuck.
"17...", he muttered, knowing he was in trouble.
"And have you been drinking tonight, Castiel?" the officer asked. Castiel just looked at him, not really knowing what to say. The officer smiled ever so slightly. "This will probably be better for you if you're honest with me, alright? Have you been drinking tonight?" Cas nodded slowly, his face going pale.
Anna and Gabe are going to murder me.
"Okay, thank you for being honest, Castiel. Can you tell me what Ruby looks like? What she's wearing? Anything that'll help me find her?" The officer said gently. Castiel nodded once more, thinking.
"She's blonde, hair to here-ish." He gestured to his shoulder. "She's wearing a dress, it's...purple? Yeah, it's a purple dress, and she probably isn't wearing shoes anymore." He said slowly, recalling seeing her toss her shoes into the air and go attack some poor guy with her red lips. He looked over at the fireplace. "Oh, theres pictures of her on the mantle." He said, happy that he had even though of that. The officer turned to look.
"That was a big help, Castiel. Thank you. Now, is there a number I can get ahold of your family with?" Castiel shook his head. "C'mon, I need you to be honest with me." Sam said seriously.
"My parents died, I live with Anna." He mumbled vaguely, suddenly feeling very sleepy. His eyes were fluttering, nearly closing entirely.
"Alright, just stay here until I come back for you." Sam sighed and stood, walking towards the mantle.
A sudden, sharp ringing echoed through the house. Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket, answering.
"Hey, Dean."