Rejected

1: Letting Go and Keeping On

Sam knocked on the large oak door. His left arm was about to give out, and the large duffle bag was slipping from his fingers. He knocked again.

The door opened slowly. "Yes?" A boy's voice called.

"This-" Sam shifted his bag again. "This is my room."

"Oh!" The door opened all the way. "Sam?!"

A familiar Asian boy was standing in the doorway, a wide grin on his face.

"Kevin?! You're my roommate?"

"Looks like it! Here, come in, before you drop that bag."

Sam stumbled into the room. It was cramped, but cozy. Kevin was already all set up on the top bunk. The duffle bag fell out of his hands, landing in the middle of the room.

"Why didn't you tell me that I was your roommate?" Kevin asked.

"I didn't know." Sam sat down on the bottom bunk, having to bend his head down to avoid banging it on the frame. "Have you checked out the campus at all?"

"Not yet. I just got here, like, an hour ago."

Sam nodded, pulling out his phone. There was a text from Gabe.

Gabriel. He had texted Sam every day for the past three years. Sam hadn't texted back–partly because he never had service, and partly because he just wanted to let Gabe go.

Unfortunately, Gabriel didn't want to let Sam go.

The text read: I don't know why you don't ever respond to these, but I'm going to keep sending them. So what's up? What've you been doing?

Sam clicked his phone off.

"Who was that?" Kevin was unboxing his cello.

"Gabriel."

"Gabriel Novak? You two still keep in touch?"

"He texts me every so often. I just don't respond."

"Why not?"

"I'm just trying to, you know, let go." Sam sighed, falling back on the bed. It squeaked. He missed Bobby... and Dean.

Come to think of it, I haven't talked to Dean in, like, 6 months. I wonder if he's still with Cas.

"Then why don't you just tell him to stop texting you?"

"Because that would be rude."

"And ignoring his texts isn't?"

"Whatever. Someday he'll stop."

"Knowing Gabriel, he won't."

Sam sat up. "Why would you say that?"

"Just, that's Gabriel. He stopped pranking after you left, you know."

"What? Really?"

Did me moving have that big of an effect on him?

"Yeah. Completely. He even stopped pestering Jess and Jo, as far as I know."

"Really? Wow."

"Yep." Kevin dragged his bow over the strings of the cello, producing a high-pitched wail. He winced and went back to adjusting knobs.

Sam's phone buzzed. It wasn't Gabriel, though. Bobby's name flashed across the screen followed by the words: Did you get to Stanford alright?