That One Summer

“Kitty, I need help,” December Rae croaked into her phone, running a hand through her matted hair. It was still early, the sun was barely poking up over the elm trees in the backyard. She hadn’t slept one wink. Ever since Anna had dropped her off the night before, she’d been pacing her room back and forth. Trying to make sense out of what had happened at the Roadhouse.

“Girl, its 6:30 am, this better be good,” her best friend yawned.

“Kitty, I,” she closed her eyes, swallowing shakily. “Kitty, I kissed him.”

“WHAT?!” Kitty shrieked, so shrilly that December Rae actually winced. “You kissed him?! Where? When? WHY?”

“Last night, in the bar parking lot,” December Rae sighed. “I was really drunk. He was too. We were yelling at each other, then we stopped, and it, it just happened.”

“What kind of kiss was it?” Kitty questioned. “Short? Long? Was their tongue?”

“Uh,” December Rae could feel her cheeks flushing. “Well, lets just say we were heading for the backseat of his car.”

“You little tramp you!” Kitty practically squealed. “I can’t believe it. I thought you hated him!”

“I do!” December Rae sat down heavily on the bed. “I would never do that if I was sober. It had to have been the booze. I was drunk, feeling horny, and he was there.”

“No, no, no,” Kitty protested. “If you hate someone like you claim you do, you don’t kiss them, no matter how much alcohol there is. Honey, have you considered the fact that you actually might be attracted to Dean?”

December Rae sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Of course she’d thought about it. She’d spent all night thinking about it. Because as much as she tried, she couldn’t deny that she’d actually liked it.

She liked the feel of his lips, all rough and chapped. She liked the way he kissed, hungry and strong and deep. She liked the way his lean body pressed against her, the way his large hands had caressed her skin. She liked the warmth that radiated from him, smelling of whiskey and oil and drugstore soap. She liked it all, and it scared her.

“Kitty, I don’t know,” she hiccupped, feeling frustrated tears building in the back of her eyes. “He’s a total dick, I know, but, I liked it. I liked him kissing me. But I can’t like it. It’s wrong. I can’t.”

“Oh December Rae,” Kitty cooed. “It’s not wrong. You’re a woman, he’s a man. It’s natural. And maybe he’s not as much as a dick as you think.”

“What?” December Rae sniffed. “Of course he is, I told you what he’s done and said!”

“Honey, maybe he wasn’t always like that,” Kitty replied. “Bad situations can make asses out of decent people. And to be fair, you didn’t react very well when you first met him.”

“Are you defending him?” December Rae felt a rush of resentment towards her friend.

“No, I’m not. I agree, he’s said some awful things. But then so have you. And you don’t know him, not really. Maybe you should find out more about him before you judge. And maybe he should find out more about you.”

December Rae sighed. “Kitty, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Suit yourself,” Kitty’s voice sounded tired. “I’m only trying to help. Maybe if you two knew more about each other, you’d feel differently.”

December Rae couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was pretty sure learning more about Dean Winchester would not help sort out her jumbled feelings.

“When are you coming down?” she asked, deciding the subject needed to be changed. “As you can tell, I really need you here.”

“I can be there in two weeks,” Kitty replied. “Chuck doesn’t get vacation until then. And you know that Michael wants me to take him with me.”

“Your stepdad needs to make him move out,” December Rae let out a small chuckle. “A man of his age should not be living in his parent’s basement.”

“Yeah well, Chuck’s one of a kind,” Kitty said with affection in her voice. “I wouldn’t change him for the world. So you think you can survive until I get there?”

“I suppose I’ll live,” December Rae was pretty sure she wouldn’t. “But I’ve got to get to work. Call me later?”

“You got it,” Kitty affirmed. “Have a good day, girlie. Or, at least try to.”

*******

Try to was the key phrase. Despite the fact that Crowley had her busy rebinding and reorganizing the dilapidated reference section, December Rae was seriously distracted. She could not stop thinking about what she’d dubbed “The Parking Lot Incident”. As much as she wanted to blame it on the booze, she knew Kitty had a point. If she really hated Dean that much, would she have been so willing to crawl into the backseat with him? And why oh why did he have to stir up her emotions by being such a damn good kisser? She’d never been kissed like that in her life. Oh sure, she’d been drunkenly manhandled by her fair share of men, but none of them had set a fire in her belly like Dean. None of them had made her entire body shake with want. Fuck, she was so confused, and it made her brain hurt.

Finally the end of her shift came, and she was more than ready to go home. Take a long soak in the tub, then crawl into bed and maybe not come out for a year. She was so tired, that even with her swirling thoughts she was sure she’d pass out as soon as she hit the pillow.

She was reveling in this idea of sleeping forever, walking with her eyes glued to her feet, that she didn’t see the body in front of her until she practically ran into it.

“Oof!” she felt herself collide with a solid chest, stumbling backwards slightly.

“Shit!” a hand shot out to steady her, grasping her upper arm firmly. “You okay? That was-oh, it’s you.”

December Rae knew who it was before even looking up. The hand on her arm was burning a hole through her thin cardigan.

Shit.

******

Oh fuck, of course it had to be her. The one person he was doing his damndest not to think about. Just his shit luck.

“Dean.” She emitted his name, not in malice but in an almost wary way. She didn’t say anything else, just kept looking at him with those stupid blue eyes that now seemed to be branded on the inside of his eyelids.

He shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to do. He could feel a palpable shift in the air. Things were not the same after last night.

Last night.

Why he’d gone and kissed her in the first place he had no idea. One minute they were screaming, and then out of nowhere, he’d been struck with the sudden burning need to taste her, to feel her body pressed against him in all the right places. He’d debated it over and over again once he’d stumbled home, and had come up with nothing. Well, nothing then the scary possibility he was beginning to be attracted to her.

“Dean, you’re still holding my arm,” her soft voice interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly moved his hand away liked he’d been burned.

“Oh, sorry,” he mumbled, unexpectedly overwhelmed with the urge to put that hand somewhere else entirely inappropriate. Like right under her shirt, where it had been last night. All that soft skin, right there under his fingertips….

“It’s okay,” she interrupted him again (thank goodness), looking down at her shoes. “Uh, thanks, I guess.”

Dean blinked in surprise. Well, there was something she never said to him before. “You’re welcome,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. That made her look up at him with a look of cautionary surprise. He couldn’t help but let out a small snort. Yeah, that’s what his face probably looked like too. Both surprised the other was not screaming. And both wary the other would start.

“So, uh, work huh?” he blurted out, immediately inwardly cursing at himself. What was he doing?

“Yeah, rebinding books,” she looked just as confused that she was answering back. “Good times.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Dean could not seem to stop his mouth. “I mean no, that totally sounds like shit.”

She let out a small giggle that made his toes curl in his boots. “Just a little bit yeah. Doesn’t help that Crowley likes to play horrid jazz music while we work.”

“Oh fuck, he’s still into that shit?” Dean let out a small laugh himself. “Dude needs to seriously update his music collection.”

“Totally,” December Rae tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her pink lips giving him a tiny smile. It made his heart bang rapidly around in his ribcage. What had last night done to him?

They lapsed into silence again, both in a small state of shock they had actually had an interaction that didn’t end with name calling and rude hand gestures. Dean was the first to break, unable to stand the way she was biting her lip any longer.

“Well, I gotta go, meeting Cas after his 430 class,” he shuffled his feel uneasily. He had to get out of here. “Uh, see you around, I guess?”

She gave him a look her couldn’t quite pinpoint. “Yeah, I-I guess. Um, well, bye then.” A second long pause, was that conflict in her eyes?- and then she was sliding past him, down the stairs and off into the bright afternoon sun. He watched her walk away until he couldn’t’ see her anymore.

Well, if that was the strangest, weirdest thing.

“Dean!” Cas’s voice made him turn around. He watched his best friend hurry towards him. “Was that December Rae?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dean shrugged, switching from well-fuck-it-I’m-confused-and-kind-of-turned-on to mr-iceman-toughguy. “So what?”

“You didn’t look like you were yelling,” Cas frowned, straightening the collar on his white dress shirt. “That is very odd. You always yell.”

“What’s it to you?” Dean felt the hairs bristling on the back of his neck. “Come on man, Sammy’s gonna wonder why we’re late. Let’s just drop it and go.”

He turned around and began trudging down the steps. The last thing he needed right now was Cas getting into his “you two are sexually attracted to each other theory.”

Especially when he was getting scared that Cas may be right.

He was so focused on his inner monologue, he missed Cas’s quiet, frustrated sigh behind him.

“I’m going to lose to Anna, aren’t I?”