Pieces Of Me {Sam Winchester}

Burn

The next morning, Josie woke up around noon to an empty bed. Myles had left the bar around three in the morning to work the earliest shift at the diner where he waited tables, and he wasn't back yet.

She rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, fighting a major hangover. She grabbed a Benadryl bottle from the medicine cabinet and popped two in her mouth, then jumped in the shower. She scrubbed her hair and skin, then stepped out and changed into ripped skinny jeans and a white tank.

She was supposed to meet Jess at a cafe in town, and Myles would meet them later. She checked her purse for keys, her cell, and her wallet, laughing silently at the times when there was a knife amongst the rest of the contents of her bags. It had always been about staying safe...but after a few years out of the life, Josie was discovering that not everything actually wants to kill you.

•••

Josie yawned in the library that evening, sipping her coffee.

"Are you done yet?" she asked Jess.

"Leave me alone, this is hard stuff," Jess replied, intensely scanning her textbook.

Josie yawned again, then rested her chin in her palm.

"How bout now?"

Jess glared.

"You know what?" she said. "I'll finish this back at the apartment. You're too impatient."

"Finally!" Josie exclaimed, leaping up from her chair.

She and Jess had a study date every Wednesday. They'd always done that, since they met freshman year. Wednesday night studying had been a tradition since before both Sam and Myles were even a ideas.

Jess shoved her Cultural Ecology book in her bag and grabbed her coffee, then headed outside with Josie.

"See you at the bar tomorrow?" Josie asked.

"Of course," Jess answered. She spun around on her heel and was about to go, but she paused.

"I forgot," she said. "Can you give me a ride back home?"

Josie raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't Sam usually pick you up?"

"His brother showed up last night," Jess explained with an eye roll. "They're checking on their dad or something? I dunno, he mentioned a hunting trip."

Josie frowned. "His brother? And his dad? I thought he hadn't spoken to them in, like four years."

"He hadn't."

"So his brother just showed up out of the blue?"

Jess shrugged. "Basically, yeah."

"And Sam just went with him? Just like that? After four years without contact?"

Jess shrugged again. "I don't even know. But you know, it's good that Sam is reaching out to his family again. He's so, you know, private about them. Plus, maybe now that his brother is back and his dad might be too, Dad will finally be convinced that Sam's not some member of the Norwegian mafia who immigrated illegally and is going to take me hostage and send me to Scandinavia."

Josie pursed her lips.

"Your dad doesn't have very many friends, does he?"

Jess shook her head. "As a matter of fact, he does not."

"Didn't think so. Still need that ride?"

•••

Josie flipped open her cell and pressed it against her ear.