A week after my arrival in Lawrence, Dean and I have slowly gotten used to being around each other. We bump into each other so often that Hannah jokes that we do it on purpose.

"So, how many times did you two plan on running into each other this week?" Hannah says over her coffee, and I resist the urge to kick her under the table.

"Look, it's not on purpose! Trust me, I have no intention on dating Dean Winchester again." 

"Doesn't look that way to me," she mutters.

"We agreed that we would be friends, that's it. You would be the first one to know if I decided to start something with him again."

Hannah smirks into her coffee. I see it, but choose to ignore it.

"Anyways, I need a favor. Could you watch the girls tonight?"

"Of course! Is that even a question?" I smile, and Hannah pats my arm.

"Jeremiah and I are finally getting a date in. With the girls having ballet and sports , we haven't had any time to ourselves lately."

"Ooh, what do you have planned?" I ask, and she smiles, her face reddening. Just as she was going to respond, yelling erupts from upstairs.

"Mommy, Keturah pulled my hair!" Moriah yells from upstairs, saving Hannah from my inquisition. Shaking my head, I take out my phone and notice that I have a notification for Instagram. Clicking on it, I see that it was a follow request from Dean. Do I click it, or do I ignore it? If I accept it, I might open a can of worms that can't be shut. But if I ignore it, that might send the wrong message. I decided to accept it, since we are trying to be friends, and friends accept follow requests. I swipe through his Instagram, and my face reddens when I see a picture of his in his military uniform.

"Damn, he looks good in dress blues!" Hannah says over my shoulder, nearly giving me a heart attack.

"Jesus, Hannah! Are you trying to get punched?" I say, holding a hand to my chest.

"Why are you looking at Dean's Instagram?"

"He sent a follow request, and I decided to follow him. We are trying to be friends after all."

"Oh."

"Oh? What's 'oh'?"

"Nothing, it was just an 'oh'."

I narrow my eyes, knowing that wasn't at all what she meant.

"I promise, it wasn't anything negative. If you want to be friends with him, be friends with him. You're an adult, you can make your own decisions." She reasons, and I laugh.

"Thanks, Mom, glad I have your support," I joke. "Alright, I'm heading into town for the day. Hopefully I can find someone that is hiring."

"Bye! Good luck!" Hannah shouts as I walk out of the kitchen. I grab the keys to Jody's car, since she let me borrow it until I could get my car here from New York. Climbing in, I plug my phone and turn on some music, then pull out of the driveway. Soon, I'm driving down main street; I decide that I wanted to try the library, since I practically lived there before Jody adopted us. I walk in, and immediately I'm ambushed by the head librarian, Donna.

"Castiel Novak, is that you?!"

"Hi Donna!" I say, and she wraps me in hug.

"Oh my goodness, it has been too long. How are you? I heard about....you know." She asks, and I let out an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah. I'm doing okay, I guess. I mean, I hate his guts, but I'm not crying over him anymore, so that's good."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Cas." She hugs me again, and I can't help but laugh.

"I'm fine, Donna, don't worry. Actually, I came to ask a question."

"Fire away! What can I do for you?"

"Is there a possibility that I could work here? Or at least volunteer?" I ask. She smiles widely, and I knew my answer.

"Of course you can work here! Kind of a coincidence, actually. Kim just retired a week ago, and I've been trying to fill her spot."

"Perfect!" I smile, and I feel a weight being lifted off of my shoulders. For the first time in a few weeks, the stress of starting over was starting to fade.

"Well, now that you're officially working here, you can put these carts of books back for me." Donna replies, pointing at two carts full of books. "Then you can label these new ones and put them on their new shelves. Once that is done, I'll try and find something for you to do, okay?"

"Okay!" I say, walking over to the carts. "Donna?"

"Yeah?" 

"Thank you for helping me out." 

"Oh, you don't need to thank me, Cas. You're always welcome here."

I smile, appreciating Donna's words. In this town, this was one of the rare spots that I was actually interested in going to. Rolling the cart to the A-D shelves, I start my job of re-shelving, beginning to find a rhythm. Before long, I was done with both carts and starting to label books. 

"Cas?"

 I look up, and see Dean standing at the main desk.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I'm returning books for Sammy. He had to take a trip up to Topeka for a trial, I guess." He responded, setting the books  down on the counter. 

"Oh, I can help you. Wow, these are some heavy reads," I exclaim, looking at the titles. "Problems in General Physics, The Feynman Lectures, A Brief History of Time... wow, my brain just hurts looking at the titles."

Dean laughs, and my face warms. I missed the sound of his laugh, deep and rich. What am I doing? I think to myself. He's off limits to you, remember?

"Yeah, I get it. Sammy read those for fun. Said he wanted to learn more about physics."

"Wow, gotta give him some credit. These are pretty hard books." I say. I hand him his receipt, and he grins, sticking it in his back pocket. For a few seconds, we just stand there in awkward silence, not knowing what to say to each other.

"Are you-"

"I was wondering-"

We laugh, falling for the biggest awkward moment ever. 

"You go." I say, and he chuckles.

"I was just asking if you had any plans tonight. If you do, I won't be offended."

My face warms even more. Is he trying to ask me out? NO, stop! You said he was off limits, so that means you tell him that you have plans, Cas, I think to myself as I put Sams books on the shelf.

"I do, actually. I have to watch the girls tonight for Hannah and Jeremiah."

"No worries! I'm sure we can get a drink another time, right?"

"Yeah!" I respond, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. Seriously, is it hot in here or is it just me? Why am I letting him make me feel like this?  "I'm free Friday, actually." 

"Oh, good! I was actually just going to ask you that," He says, his smile widening. "Sounds like a plan. See you Friday?"

"See you Friday, then!" I respond, and he nods. I watch him walk away, and I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

"So do you need Friday off, then?"

I spin around to see Donna behind me, a sly grin gracing her features. My face warms as I walk past her and return to my book cart.

"If you would be so kind, then yes, please." I chuckle, patting a hand against my cheek. She nods, silently walking back to her post in her office. I exhale shakily as I wheel the cart over to the correct shelf. 

"What did I just do?" I mutter to myself, starting on the far end of the shelf. "You did the one thing that you said you weren't going to do!"

I run through the million and one things I could do to avoid going to this date. I could just cancel now and be honest. I could fake being sick, say I got a cold from the kids. Or I could just use the hand I dealt myself and  just go. And besides, it's not even a date. It's just two old friends getting together for a drink. Shouldn't be that bad right?

Right?

A/N: Sorry for the prolonged update! I've been super busy with school and work I haven't been able to find the time to write! Anywhoo, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

I'm also starting a new story soon, a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but with a twist! I'll let you guys know more about it in the future!

Cheers!
LeTCC24