Twist And Shout

part 1

April, 1965

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Cas held his drink high as he navigated the crowd. It was as if the room were made of nothing but elbows as people pushed past him and into him, the threat of beer being sloshed onto his clothes an all too real danger. He jostled past Anna Milton, all long red hair and even longer legs, and she smiled at him, stopping a moment on her way to the back of the house

"Killer party, huh?" she said over the dull drone of people talking and the music flooding from the dining room. Cas nodded, grinning a little, using the back of his hand to push his glasses back into place. She giggled and touched the white collar of his shirt, kissing him on the cheek.

"It's so good to see you out of the library. Finals are torture!" she laughed and Cas shrugged, pulling his drink down to chest level now that he wasn't moving so much.

"Tell me about it."

"You think you did ok?" she said, stepping closer, and he could smell her perfume and the powder she had used on her neck. It stood out on her white skin as a delicate film from the heat of the party and all the bodies packed into the tiny Sorority house; he was tempted to wipe away a smudge that hadn't blended correctly out of some absent desire to fix it.

"I did as well as I could. You?" he answered, watching her roll her eyes to the ceiling, moving one shoulder casually.

"Same, I guess!" she suddenly smiled, pushing him slightly, "Don't be so modest! We all know you aced!"

Castiel could feel the blush creeping up and coloring his ears, but he continued to shrug the compliment off.

"Well, enough talk about school. I'm glad you're having a good time," she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, "there's lots of girls here, you know," she pushed him again with her hand and Cas laughed nervously.

"Yeah," he trailed, looking around. She was right. There were plenty of girls.

"Here," she stepped forward and straightened his collar and his tie a little, smoothing her hands over his shoulders, "and remember to smile! You could get lucky tonight!"

"I doubt it," Castiel coughed, and she let her hands swing back down by her sides. She gave him a long look and smiled.

"I don't know," she sing-songed, "Come on, for you it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel!"

Castiel scoffed, taking a sip of his beer while she laughed at him. Finishing his swallow, he was just opening his mouth to say something else when there was a displaced roar from the front of the house.Several people turned to look, some fidgeting nervously.

An engine gunned and from the archway to the foyer, Castiel could see a bright beam of yellow light spearing through the front window.

"Cops?" someone said, a girl, her voice nervous. A friend shushed her and everyone was quiet, the music pouring out of the dining room seeming louder than ever in the gathered silence. A group of guys moved to the window, and though he could barely see over them he craned his neck to watch as they crowded around it, their hands on the glass.

"Who the hell invited him?" one of them said, pulling back from the pane to glare behind himat the party goers. Cas frowned and the engine cut off, the light going with it. "He parked right on the lawn!"

Cas' eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Parked on the lawn? So that was the light he had seen. He felt his pulse quicken - whoever it was, they had guts parking on the Delta lawn in the middle of the night, especially when they were apparently not welcome.

"I can't believe she did it," Anna said, and Cas turned to see her shaking her head, sighing as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked at Cas and raised her eyebrows. "If you heard it from me, I told her not to tell him about tonight. It's going to be nothing but trouble."