Let's Take the Road Before Us

Chapter 4

"Would you rather have a fish chin or a pepperoni nose?"

I considered the implications of both choices for a moment. "It depends if I could smell with the pepperoni nose."

"Um... Let's say yes, you can smell," Cas responded.

"Then yeah. Pepperoni nose. I mean, imagine trying to kiss someone with a fish chin, that'd be terrible! You'd just slap them with your wet tail!"

Cas and I both laughed. We were both on my bed, just talking. It was Saturday night, and two weeks ago was when we had gone snowmobiling. Since then we'd been really close, almost inseparable. My "friends" have adjusted to him well, which was unexpected but good.

Cas shifted himself so he was on his side facing me once he had finished laughing. "Who would you kiss?"

What? "What?"

"You know, who would you kiss? Other than Lisa, of course." ... What? Was he saying what I thought he was saying? My gaze subconsciously flickered down to his lips.

"Well.... I don't know. I... haven't thought about it..." Was he leaning in too?

Without really comprehending it, I closed the small gap between us. His lips were softer than I expected, and I hoped I wasn't too rough for him.

Before I knew it, Cas had pulled away.

"Dean, I..."

"I know, I know," I reassured, going in for a follow up.

There was a gentle nudge on my shoulder. "No, Dean. I'm... I'm really sorry. It's not your fault, I just... don't see you as anything more than a friend."

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had never been rejected before. It was definitely not something I had expected, nor did I want it to happen again.

I lowered my head in complete embarrassment. I was sure my cheeks were a bright shade of pink, and I just wanted to crawl under the covers and hide.

"Whatever dude." I tried to shrug it off like I didn't care.

"Hey, Dean," Cas prodded as he put a hand on my shoulder, more gently this time. Something about his touch made me look him in his eyes. "I'm sorry, but let's just forget it, okay? It never happened."

Thank god, I had a way out of this. I nodded, gladly taking his offer. It alleviated the sting of embarrassment, but did nothing to relieve the weight of rejection. At least he was still here, at least he didn't go running for the hills. And now there was no trace of doubt. I had my answer; all I had to do was get over him.

"Ok, good. Do you wanna play video games?" Cas offered, even though it was my house and my gaming console. I nodded and smiled as we moved off my bed to the floor.

For a while we switched off playing my brand new game, Until Dawn. It was pretty fun and really immersive, which was all I cared about because it got my mind off of what had just happened.

"What the fuck dude?? Why did you open the door??" I was yelling at Cas because he had opened the trapdoor that clearly had the monster in it, killing one of the characters. "I really liked Ashley. Dammit Cas!"

I threw my arms in the air in despair as I flung myself back onto my bed.

"Dean, I'm so sorry. That was really stupid," Cas hid his face behind my controller. "I thought if it was shaking there would be another human that was lost...."

I rolled my eyes, even though I wasn't really mad. It was just a game, and I was just playing him. "You know, I thought I could trust you. I invited you into my house, gave you my game controller, and this is how you repay me? Ashley was the only character who wasn't a dick."