The Youtuber And The Teacher

Every Rose Has Its Thorns

Dean's POV

I pushed down the gas pedal, so that it almost touched the floor. It was coming close to eight o'clock pm, and the stars were coming out,but I barely even looked at my surroundings. I had only one thought in my head.

You have to find her.

Cas was in the process of calling the police to report a missing person, and when he finally thanked the police woman and hung up, he reached over to grab my hand and rubbed soothing circles on it. He brought it to his lips, and it calmed me down a bit. He didn't say anything, but I knew he bore my pain as well.

But I was scared to death. She was inexperienced, and had no job or place to live, and I was just really confused about the whys. Why would she leave? What could she have done to think we would want her gone?

I don't notice I'm crying until Cas wipes the tears away from my cheeks with the pad of his thumb.

"Dean . . ." He whispers, still stroking my cheek. "Don't worry. We will find her. She couldn't have gone far."

I nod, quiet, not trusting my voice. I glance out the windows as Topeka comes into view.

My car suddenly makes an odd rumbling noise, and when I look down, I notice I'm out of gas.

"Helldammit," I murmur, and pull into the nearest gas station. I pull right to a gas pump, and shut my car off.

"Hey, dad?" Asks Royal's small voice from the back seat.

I crouch down to see him. "Yeah?"

"Could you get a Peace Tea?" He hesitates. "For when we find her? I want to give her at least  something."

I nod and ruffle his hair as if he were twelve years old again. "Of course."

Cas and I hop out, and head inside.

Cas wanders off as I pay for the gas and the can of tea. Just as I'm about to hand the girl the money, Cas is yelling behind me.

"Dean! Dean, come here!"

I look once behind me, shove the money at the girl, and run over to where Cas is standing, with obvious shock etched on his face.

I train my eyes to where his are staring, and see a small pink post-it note.

Poetry, I think wildly, as I read through it. She loved poetry.

When I'm finished, it isn't necessarily the words that get me. It's the signature. Her intricate rose with her double last initials. That's what gets me. She loved drawing roses when she was younger, and I still probably have a hundred in a cardboard box underneath my bed. My chest constricts and I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe. I need a pocketful of periods, and a trucklaod of question marks to stop the run-on sentences jumbling together inside of my head.

I know the girl behind me is trying to get my attention, but I pay her no mind. Cas is shaking me, and I don't respond until he grabs my face with both hands and kisses me with such force I'm knocked back into the present.

He pulls away, and I look down at him blankly. "We have to find her, Cas."

Cas strokes my now-tear streaked face. "I know. But she's around here somewhere."

"Hello?!" Screams the girl at the counter, waving my loose bills in the air, attempting to get my attention. Her southern accent is strong now. I flinch at her loud sounds and turn around. "That girl?" She asks, calmly now, breathing a sigh of relief that she has my attention. "She was traveling with some guy. Pretty hot, the both a 'em were. Anyways," she shrugs, casually, resting her elbows on the counter. "They were here 'bout a half hour ago. You just missed 'em."