Whatever It Takes

For once in a really, long time, you were looking forward to work. You took your time getting ready, making sure that you had on a little bit of make-up and tucking a tube of lipstick in your purse, just in case you changed your mind about wearing it. You decided to wear a cute little sundress that was covered in black and white polka dots.

“Well, you sure are looking nice for work,” your roommate said, poking her head in your room with your son on her hip. “Any particular reason?”

You felt a blush start to creep over your cheeks while you stole one last glance at yourself in the mirror. Your blue eyes were simmering with something that looked like it could be excitement. Or the fact that you almost stabbed yourself in the eye with the mascara wand. “Oh, no. I just felt like dressing up today.”

“Uh-huh,” Marcy said, still eyeing you. “Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with a certain Winchester brother that seems to frequent your closing shifts?”

That warmth in your cheeks got hotter as you knew that she was probably right. For the last two weeks, Jensen had been showing up every night with food and a helping hand where he could. He would make you sit at the bar and at least eat a couple bites of whatever he brought while he finished stacking chairs or one time he even offered to clean the bathroom.

“I don’t even know if he will come by tonight,” you said, shifting your weight on your feet, knowing that more than likely you would be seeing him. “Besides, he is a very busy man.”

Marcy laughed a little, like you had just told her a dry joke. “I think we both know that he clearly isn’t busy enough to not see you.” You watched as your son sleepily stare between the two of you. “Do you think tonight he’ll finally ask you out?”

Her question surprised you. You always had found Jensen very attractive even before you got the chance encounter of meeting him, but now that you knew a little bit more of the type of person he was – you couldn’t help, but get excited about the idea getting to know him more.

“I doubt it. I think he just feels bad for barging in on me a couple weeks ago,” you sighed. Even if this little friendship was short lived, you knew that it would be something you would never forget.

Marcy started to open her mouth to say something, but you glanced at you clock sitting on the nightstand. You were running a couple minutes behind schedule already with the extra time it took to get ready. Quickly, you rushed over and gave your little one a kiss on the head, wishing him a good night and a brief hug to your friend.

As the door was closing behind you, Marcy shouted out. “We won’t be waiting up for you.”



Just like clockwork when the clock struck quarter after nine, you heard a slight knock on the door. With a smile, you headed over, unlocking it briefly allowing Jensen to slip in and leave a couple of wet footprints on the ground.

“Good thing I didn’t mop yet,” you joked at Jensen’s back which caused him to turn around and look apologetically at his own mess. “Don’t worry about it.”

You watched as Jensen took a step back and handed you a little lunch box. With a grateful smile, you took it and headed over to the bar, all the while feeling his eyes watching you intently. It was starting to make you hyper-aware of everything that you were doing.

Jensen cleared his throat before taking the remaining steps to get to where you were sitting. “Sorry, it’s not much today. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

“You made us dinner tonight?”

You saw him nod and glance down at what you were pulling out of the insulated bag. “It’s nothing fancy, just some grilled cheese and tomato soup.” He reached over and pulled out the thermos, before grabbing a paper cup and pouring some out and sliding it over towards you. “I figured it was a good day for it.”

Nodding, you looked outside to see that the rain had picked up again causing a downpour over your store. “The upside was the store was slow enough that I got to send everyone home early and just kind of hang out.”

“You were by yourself?” He asked you, leaning across the bar, with a mouthful of his grilled cheese sandwich. “If I had known that, I would have come a hell of a lot earlier."

“Well,” you stalled, swirling the corner of your grilled cheese around in your soup. “It’s not like you could have known that.”

Once again, you felt his eyes on you causing you to swirl you sandwich a little bit longer before taking a bite. You didn’t look up at him, suddenly feeling nervous and a bit too warm for just wearing a sundress. But you saw from the corner of your eye, Jensen put down his sandwich and reach into his pocket for something.

Sliding his phone across the counter, he placed it right under your gaze. “I should have done this the night I met you,” you heard him give a low chuckle, the kind that made your insides twist. “Will you, please, put your number in?”

Marcy was going to have a field day when she heard about this tomorrow morning.

Quickly, you entered in your number, putting a little coffee symbol next to your name in case you shared your name with anyone else in his phone book. “There,” you stated, sliding his phone back to him.

Jensen quickly picked it up and typed something else into his phone. “I texted you, that way you have my number as well.”

You gave him a wide smile and went about eating your grilled cheese while Jensen started wiping down part of the counters and talking about something that happened on set that day. Apparently, Jared and Misha were in a bit of a prank war causing all kinds of mayhem between the scenes.

By the time you had finished your food, Jensen had just about finished stacking the last of your chairs and was starting to mop the front of the store, even though you insisted that he didn’t. He wouldn’t listen, leaving you with just counting the cashier draw and making the final deposit.

All of it didn’t take long, but a lot of your closing procedures went by a lot quicker with your extra pair of hands. You put the money in the safe and stood up, taking one last glance around the place and seeing that it had never been cleaner.

“I’m all done,” you said, not seeing Jensen.

“Ready when you are,” his voice rang, coming from the bathroom where he was exiting with a paper towel in hand.

Both of you grabbed your items and headed towards the door, Jensen knew the drill to leave first so that you could enter in the alarm code and then you would follow him outside and lock the door. With the both of you standing there, the rain was still kind of trickling down, but not nearly as bad as it had been half an hour ago.

“Thank you again,” you said, slowly, kind of not wanting to have to leave, but knowing you had to. “I really appreciate the food and extra help that you’ve been providing.”

A smile played at his lips while he glanced down at you. “I really don’t mind it. It’s kind of like a much-needed break from my world.”

You weren’t sure why, but hearing him say that you gave him a “break” caused your stomach to twist up in those knots again. Not knowing what to do with yourself under his gaze, you just offered him a shy smile. “I’m glad I could help.”

That got a little bit of a laugh from him again. If you didn’t know any better, you would say it sounded a little nervous. “So, Lydia,” he started, his tone shifting away from playful. “I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner sometime?”

For a moment, you forgot how to breathe. “You want to go out to dinner with me?”

He eyed you again and you realized that he was being completely serious. “I do. While I have been loving coming here the last couple of nights, I think it would be nice to get to know you better over a nice dinner and something other than coffee.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” You watched as a smile quirked at his lips.

You felt yourself blush and was thankful for the night sky right then. “Yes, I think dinner would be amazing.”

Walking towards your cars, you made plans for the following Saturday around seven. Jensen promised you that he would still come by a couple days during your closing shifts, but that his new filming schedule might make it difficult. And when you said your goodbyes, Jensen leaned down and gave you a kiss on your cheek that burned the whole way home.