The Story of US

Chapter 2

Killing the engine, Castiel leaned his head against the steering wheel. I guess overall things could be worse. It's not like he planned on doing much of anything in class, but he desperately wanted to be cool. He had never been cool so he had no idea why he thought he could pull it off.

Raising his head, an afternoon shower was kicking off, he thought back briefly to those green eyes.

Castiel was not overly experienced in the love department. He had dated a few men in his life. Well, he had one date and fooled around with a guy in college, but that was the extent of his romantic resume. He had acceded at academics and had graduated college by the ripe age of 20. Always being younger than his peers had limited his dating pool. Castiel had come out to his family a long time ago, and while no one treated him differently, no one talked about it either. He hadn't paraded men in front of his family, although if he had, it's doubtful anyone would have paid him much attention. His father was a workaholic and never around and his brothers spent to much time fighting to really pay attention to him, other than to remind him that he was, in fact, a loser.

Steering his thoughts away from his family he landed squarely back in those eyes. If he tried hard enough, he could still feel the heat of those strong hands on him again. It was ridiculous, of course, to be thinking about him. He didn't even know his name! Castiel had just named him the green eyed man and honestly it needed to stay this way. He only had one year to prove to the college that hiring him wasn't a mistake. He really didn't want to mess this up. As smart as he was, it wasn't until his second year of studies that he fell hard for Ancient Religions, but when he did oh man. He knew if this didn't work out that his dad would expect him to go into the family business and that just wasn't for him. The college didn't pay much, but he had a part time job as a pizza delivery man and between the two jobs he could afford to stay here with no help from his family. Colorado suited him better anyway. He loved the quiet. It was never quiet back home. Even the insects were loud in Louisiana. And the heat! Oh how he didn't miss the heat. The sticky August months that left an entire state wringing wet for the end of the summer. Here was different. Colorado was not sticky at all. He had spend many hours and days just hiking mountain trails or enjoying the view of Pikes Peak or just riding in his car.

Grabbing his bag from the passenger seat, Castiel finally made his way up to his apartment. The afternoon rain has stopped and he had the night off from deliveries. His apartment wasn't much but it was his favorite space. Everything was his and there was no one to complain or criticize him about the obscene amount of books or his eclectic taste in music. His small one bedroom looked like a comic con and a library simultaneously blew up and he loved every inch of it.

Locking the door, he flicked open his phone, scrolled down a bit then placed it in the music dock. Soon the apartment was filled with the Spill Canvas and Castiel happily sang along as he popped in the shower.

Singing along with his favorite playlist. He thought about how to spend his last night before school really started. He might only have one class but it was five days a week. Between his two jobs, free nights were fixing to be a thing of the past. He could always go hang out at the college, but he was trying really hard to be professional and not use his students as his only friends. His age was going to make this hard enough, the last thing he needed was someone thinking they'd catch a break because they'd had a few drinks with their teacher. Denver was only and hour away and provided a much larger landscape to get lost in. Plus, even if he decided not to do anything, it was still a nice drive.

Stepping from the shower, Castiel dried and dressed quickly. Slacks, and a simple white button up. His style was basic at best. Checking to make sure he had everything: keys, wallet, phone and then grabbing his well worn trench coat, he was out the door and on the road. The image of green eyes lost as he thought about a full night out and ticked off the miles.