Rock 'n' Roll with Me

Chapter 4

Bang bang bang.

Dean groaned and buried his face into his pillow only to recoil at the smell of his own breath. Waking up hungover was bad enough, but being rudely awoken by someone battering on his bedroom door like a goddamn jackhammer—

BANG BANG BANG.

"Alright, I'm up!"

Ignoring the wave of nausea that hit him as he sat upright, Dean heaved himself onto his feet and scanned the room for his pants only to find that he was still fully dressed from the previous night's drinking session. He hadn't even managed to take off his boots before passing out on the bed. Staggering over to the door, he threw it open and came face to face with his bright-eyed and bushy-tailed brother.

"Time to rise and shine, buddy!" Sam gave Dean a quick once-over and his cheerful demeanor faded. "Wow. You look like crap."

"Trust me, I feel worse than I look."

"Well, you better sober up real quick, 'cause we've got a party to get ready for."

Dean groaned again. He'd forgotten all about that. "We've got all day to get the place ready for the party. Just let me hit the hay for another couple of hours and—"

"Dude, it's like two-thirty already," Sam chuckled.

"Whaa?" Dean checked his watch and, sure enough, he'd slept through the entire morning. "Goddamnit."

"What time did you go to bed?"

Dean shrugged. "Kinda hard to tell without any windows."

Sam threw him one of his concerned looks. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." The lie rolled so easily off of his tongue that he almost believed it himself. "Just give me ten minutes and I'll be raring to go."

Dean tried to close the door but Sam stopped him with his big shovel hand. "Are you sure you're okay? Because you know if you want to talk to me about anything—"

"Nope. I'm good."

Sam didn't look at all convinced, but he pursed his lips and shrugged. "Okay. Well, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me. I put the turkey in the oven this morning, it should be ready in the next couple of hours, but we still need to prepare everything else."

"Alright, Julia Child, I'll be there in a minute."

Dean slammed the bedroom door shut harder than he intended and the sound caused him to wince in pain. He caught sight of his reflection in the vanity mirror and grimaced; his lips were cracked and dry, and his hair was sticking out all over the place. Man, he really did look like crap. Nothing that a hot shower couldn't fix, though.

After showering, Dean headed towards the kitchen, where he found Sam peeling a large pile of potatoes. Cas sat at the kitchen table assembling a cheese and onion cocktail hedgehog. His expression was one of extreme concentration as he carefully pierced the pickled onions and cubes of cheddar with the cocktail sticks. Dean stole a few pieces of cubed cheese and popped them into his mouth before making a beeline for the fridge.

"You know, you could help us get ready for this party that you were so insistent on having instead of stealing food and raiding the fridge," Sam huffed.

"I am helping," Dean argued. "I'm supervising. That's some fine work you're doing there, Cas."

"Thank you, Dean."

"Could you at least slice the oranges for me?" Sam pleaded. "We need them for the fruit punch."

Dean lolled his head back and sighed. "Fine. Just let me have my hair of the dog first and I'll get right to it."