Pull Me Up (a destiel au fanfic)

chapter 2

I didn't talk much in the car, aside from a few short answers to relieve myself of talking to the funeral director. He was incredibly nice and for his job, a little too funny, but I didn't really mind. It was a change of pace for me to think something was funny although I didn't laugh.

"Anyways, how are you feeling? I know this is hard, especially since Samuel was your brother," Castiel asked softly, starting up the small talk on a topic I was far from interested in talking about.

"I'm fine," I answered, just as quietly as he had asked if not more.

"Okay," he said back, pressing his lips together and pulling over to the side of the road just down the block from where the small cafe they would be eating at was. Well, he would be eating at. I got out of the car without making any attempt to talk to him.

I figured he would try again and when the time came I would eventually have to answer him. But for now I remained silent, watching him out of the corner of my eye to predict the nature of his next question. He turned out to be incredibly hard to read, so I gave up and looked back to the sidewalk in front of me.

The streets were uncharacteristically crowded for a Thursday afternoon and I tried to hide my discomfort.

"Not fond of crowds?" Castiel asked, the keys hooked to his briefcase clicking as it hit his hip. I glanced at it to see only a few keys and an abundance of key chains. I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm not either," he shrugged.

Although I'd promised myself I wouldn't initiate conversation, I was curious. "Don't lots of people come to funerals sometimes?"

He turned, stuffing his hands in his pockets and answering smoothly, "Yes. Most of the funerals I work with have at least fifty people attending, which doesn't seem like that many on the surface, but they tend to have their services in quite small rooms or chapels." He shrugged, letting out a breath through his nose. "It's alright though, I'm not feeling worse than they are, and I actually like it when a lot of people comes. It makes me happy to know that their family or friend, or whomever they were there for, was loved."

There was a noticeable difference in my answer compared to his and it was the fact that he didn't know when to stop talking.

"Oh," I replied about thirty seconds late while we rounded the corner to enter the shop in the center of the strip mall.

Upon entering I could tell that the cafe was a local establishment because there were only two people working, and the woman cooking the food was the same one serving it. The man behind the counter was younger than the woman, probably her son, and was working the line of eager customers with ease.

In the midst of my awestruck observing, I felt a hand between my shoulders and let Castiel lead me to a small table in the corner of the shop. "Have you never been here before?" he asked quietly, folding his hands on the table. I shook my head, looking around to see the brick walls and the indie paintings clattered amongst them. "It's a cute place," I looked back to him and he was looking up at the dream catcher hanging from the ceiling. "That's new," he told me, looking back down to meet my eyes with a small smile on his face. He seemed to just have a grin etched into his features, and based on his smile lines, I guessed it was just his personality.

Or part of his job.

I nodded, rubbing a hand over my mouth and letting it fall back to my lap, folded over the other one. "Do you want anything? I'll go get it, you can sit," he offered, standing to go to the line. I shook my head and he pressed gently, "Are you sure?"

I hesitated, but politely asked for a water and he nodded, continuing to walk away. Subconsciously, I reached to my pocket for my cell phone, feeling it pressed against my thigh. I didn't quite remember grabbing it before I left, but to be honest I frankly didn't remember getting showered or dressed this morning either. I cautiously pulled it out and saw Sammy and I as my background.