Chapter Nine

                                    

                                          
Cas had to keep reminding himself that lunch at the garage was not a big deal. It was just lunch with Dean- and the coworkers he spoke of nearly as highly as his brother.
                          
Gabriel did nothing to ease his nerves. "Remember," he said, lecturing Castiel, "you use the forks starting from the outside in, and don't start eating until after the host has. Never make direct eye contact with the patriarch of the household unless he's talking to you. And speaking of looking at people, no eye sex with Dean-o at the dinner table."
                          
"I- Dean- we don't have eye sex!" Castiel protested, stumbling over his words slightly. 
                          
"Someday, I'll get a picture of you two doing it," Gabriel promised. 
                          
Castiel shook his head and went back to pre-arranging bouquets, trying not to worry. It was just lunch. 
                          
The text from Dean had read 'Come at 1 or so.' Castiel watched the clock behind the counter intently, only looking away when a customer came in, and even then he kept glancing up towards it. Whether it was because he was excited or anxious, he couldn't tell. 
                          
Quarter to, Castiel headed to the back room, pulled his tan trench coat over his sweater, and headed for the door. 
                          
Gabriel looked up from the customer he was helping- an older black woman looking for flowers to gift to her granddaughter. "Bye, Cassie! Behave yourself!" he called after him. Gabriel turned back to the woman. "My little brother has a date- he's meeting his lover's family. They grow up so fast." 
                          
"They do," the woman agreed. "It feels like only a few weeks ago that James was taking his first steps, and now thirty years later I've got a granddaughter who's top of her class." 
                          
"Cassie was top of his class once, when he was in school. That was only a few years ago." He sniffed dramatically.
                          
Castiel sighed. Gabriel and his antics.
                          
The bell above the door sounded as he left.
                          
Castiel pulled his beat up Lincoln into the cramped back parking lot at Bobby's Auto at exactly one o'clock. He got out of the car and looked around. So this was where Dean worked. 
                          
The building looked a bit like an old gas station, only with a large garage attached, and an even larger parking lot next to it. That had to be where they kept the cars that would have to be worked on. On the opposite side of the place, where Castiel had parked, there were far less cars, none of which were sporting shattered windows or dented hoods. He could see Dean's Impala parked a few spaces down from his car. That had to be the employees lot. 
                          
Castiel made his way to the main door and pulled it open. He had been inside just long enough to take in the gray walls and the wooden chairs lining the room, when a young, redheaded woman behind the small front desk took notice of him and started talking excitedly. 
                          
"Hi! You must be Castiel!" she said, grinning at him. 
                          
"You must be Charlie," Castiel guessed. 
                          
Charlie grinned even wider. "Yup. So... Dean's mentioned me?" 
                          
"Quite a bit," Castiel told her. She looked pleased. 
                          
"Probably not as much as he's mentioned you," Charlie said. "He mentions you at least twice a day. Usually more. This morning more than usual. He's been pining." 
                          
He was surprised at Charlie's choice of words- Dean had said that no one at the garage had been told that they were together- but Castiel couldn't help the way the corners of his lips twitched up. The knowledge that Dean missed him while he was at work filled him with an odd sort of warmth in his core.