Simple Man

Dean couldn’t wipe the smug look on his face as he and Sam pulled up to the motel they were currently staying at, and Sam was getting quite annoyed. He had no idea that the voice they had heard on the radio was Amanda’s. As Dean emerged from the car, he stormed off toward the door to the room and Sam sighed. “Dean, would you slow down? What’s wrong?” He stopped and turned toward Sam, giving him a look that said he didn’t want to talk about it. Sam put his hands up in defense and followed Dean into the motel room, giving him a long, hard look as he threw his stuff on the bed. Sam decided to let it go and figured he maybe just needed some rest. A smile grew on Sam’s face as he walked toward the girl in front of him, opening his arms so he could get a hug from her, “Hey, Sasha. I missed you.”

She smiled wide and kissed his cheek, “I missed you, too, Sam. How was the hunt?”

He shrugged, “Nothing special. Killed some demons. Looked great doing it. What’s new?” Sasha giggled and poured a drink for the two men. “Dean here has a chip on his shoulder about something.”

“Dammit, Sam, I said I didn’t want to talk about it,” Dean growled at Sam, taking his jacket off and giving Sasha an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Sasha. I’ve just had a long night.”

She nodded understandingly and walked over to Dean, handing him the glass of whiskey, “Well maybe this will help you relax a bit.” Dean gave her a small smile and graciously took the glass, then proceeded to chug its contents. “There you go.”

“Thanks,” He said softly, then sat on the bed, putting his head in his hands. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to tell Sasha what they heard on the radio today or not. All he knew is that Sasha and Amanda hadn’t spoken since she had decided to drop everything and come with us. Dean understood; it probably made Amanda feel like shit when her best friend just up and left her, but it was Sasha’s life and her and Sam are perfect together. And Dean and Amanda definitely hadn’t spoken since they left; they didn’t really end on good terms. Long story short, Dean tried to get Amanda to come with them as well and told her they would drop her off in Nashville; but Amanda couldn’t disappoint her parents even more by not getting a degree. They had a large argument, and Dean just left. And what hurt the most was that Amanda didn’t come after him and he didn’t turn back around when he thought about doing it. He had ruined the one thing he was happy about at the time.

---

Amanda watched Sasha as she packed her bags in her apartment, and tears welled up in her eyes quickly, “Sasha, this is stupid. You’re just going to drop everything and go off with those boys? What are you going to do for money? Have you even thought this through?”

“Amanda, stop being my mother; I’m an adult, and I can make my own decisions. And by the way, those boys have made the both of us very happy in the last couple of weeks, if you haven’t noticed. Or was Dean just a good time for you?” Amanda could feel the sting with that comment, and her face began to turn red in anger. “I’m doing something for myself for once, and this is what I want. So stop trying to get me to stay. Nothing you say will change anything. So just leave it alone.”

Amanda let a few tears fall and kept quiet for a minute, letting everything process through her head. She couldn’t believe what was happening; her whole life was falling apart in a matter of minutes. She wanted to be with Dean, she really did; but she couldn’t just leave everything in a flash. She had some loose ends to tie up.

As she watched Sasha walk toward the Chevy Impala waiting for her, she made eye contact with Dean, who was leaning on the car with his hands stuffed in his pockets. She had disappointed him, too, and she wasn’t happy about it. Her heart started racing as he slowly walked towards her, keeping his head down. She didn’t know if she could handle this; she wouldn’t tell anyone, but she had fallen for Dean. Hard. And fast. So when he got about a foot away from her, tears already started to form. She folded her arms across her chest and looked up at him. “Be careful, Dean. And please take care of Sasha.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “Come on, Amanda. Please come with us; I just want you to be happy.”

“Who said I wasn’t happy, Dean?”

“Well, dammit, Amanda. I thought you wanted to do something for yourself.”

“I do, but not like this. I don’t want to disappoint my parents any more than I already will be. It’s not fair to them. They’ve done everything for me.”

“And I would do anything for you, Amanda.”

“This isn’t about you, Dean,” Amanda shook her head. “I’m not going.”

“Well I see what I am to you now,” He laughed sarcastically. “Just a fling, right?”

She started crying and shook her head, “That’s not it at all and you know it.” She couldn’t control it anymore and started sobbing, “Just let me go, Dean. Please.” She started walking toward her apartment and yelped when Dean grabbed her elbow tightly. “Let go of me!” As she broke free from his grip, Dean started crying as well. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again.”

---

Amanda tried to erase the memories from her head as she sat on the balcony of her hotel room in Florida. She was overlooking the open ocean on the eight floor of the resort, drinking her coffee as she enjoyed the nice breeze flowing by and pondering what her life might be like today if she had gone with Sasha and the boys that night; different, for sure, but maybe she would have liked living that life. She didn’t want to think on it too much; she made her choices and took her risks. It only took her four months after she graduated college in May to get discovered, and only one more month to make an album. She had already had about twenty-five songs written before even going into the studio and her manager and band had a hard time deciding which ones should stay on the fifteen song record. After the record was finished, Amanda went around the country doing promotional things and playing at radio stations; her album released in October and she was just now starting to tour as an opening act.

This was her third stop on the tour, in St. Petersburg, Florida and she was mustering up the courage to get in the shower and make her way to the venue. Not only was she still trying to move on from Dean and Sasha, she got news one month before tour that her parents had died in a drunk driving accident on their way home from a work function. She flew home and went to the funeral, spent a week trying to do as much with the estate as she could, then flew back to Chicago, where she currently lives.

She wanted to call Sasha so badly, but didn’t want to be the person that calls her only when she needs something. But on the other hand, it would be so nice to have someone to talk to. Amanda took a deep breath as she picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts, found Sasha’s number and called it, holding the phone up to her ear. As it rang, she paced around the balcony and tapped her fingers on the mug filled with tea in front of her.

“Hello?” Amanda smiled and almost couldn’t find the words to say. “Amanda?”

“Sasha,” She breathed, sitting back down in the chair. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to hear your voice.”

Sasha frowned, “What do you want, Amanda?”

Amanda followed suit as tears welled up in her eyes, “Sasha, I’m so sorry. I wanted to go; trust me, I did, but I couldn’t just drop everything. I had to finish school…make my parents proud. It hurt so much to watch you leave and I can’t get that image out of my head. I miss you…you’re my best friend. And I can’t stand not having my best friend.”

She waited for Sasha to respond, but everything was quiet for a few moments. She guessed Sasha was trying to think of something to say. “I’m sorry, too, Amanda.” For the next few minutes, Amanda caught up on what Sasha had been doing for the last year. Amanda listened, but was a bit envious that she was having the time of her life. “What’s been up with you?”

Amanda took a deep breath in then let a few tears fall, “Well, I got that record deal,” She smiled weakly and laughed a bit at Sasha’s squeal of excitement. As she listened to Sasha praise her on the other end of the line, she was trying to think of a way to tell her about her parents. “Sasha?”

“Yeah?”

“My parents died,” Amanda looked down at her hands and let a few tears fall. “I just thought you should know.”

“Oh my God, Amanda, I am so sorry.” She listened to Sasha’s comforting words. “Sam and Dean just pulled up. You want to talk to them?”

Amanda sighed, “No, Sasha. Don’t tell them I called, okay? And don’t tell them about my parents or the record deal. Please.”

She could hear Sasha groan on the other end, “Okay.”

“I’ll talk when I’m ready.”

As Amanda hung up the phone she started to feel guilty for not talking to Dean when she had the chance to, but she couldn’t let all of those feelings come back to her. It would affect her performance tonight and she didn’t need that. She already had enough going on.

Throughout the next month Amanda and Sasha talked regularly and every time they did Sasha would beg her to talk to Dean and every time Amanda would refuse politely. She just wasn’t ready; but she did make a promise to herself that she would talk to him at some point. She had forgiven him and was hoping he had forgiven her, too. But she could be wrong about it all. Amanda loved that Sasha was so cool about keeping her a secret from the boys, but made a fatal mistake one day while talking to Sasha on the phone.

“Sasha, I’ve got to go, okay? I’m tired and we’re travelling to Dallas, Texas so I’m going to get some rest okay? I’ll call you sometime tomorrow.”

“Alright, bye Amanda.”

Amanda smiled, “Bye, Sasha.” As she hung up the phone, her eyes went wide and she sat up in her bunk on the tour bus, “Fuck!”

---

Sasha smiled wide as she set her phone on the motel bed and jumped around doing dances. About fifteen minutes later, Sam and Dean walked in and looked at Sasha with confused looks on their faces. “What’s wrong, Sasha?” Sam asked, walking over to her.

“I have a job for you all,” She smiled lightly, “We’re going to Dallas, Texas.”