By the time the first week of school had ended, Castiel had started to rely on the Winchesters for rides. Gabriel had to start working overtime to keep their mortgage payments under control, meaning he wasn't able to drive him anymore. Castiel didn't mind it; he enjoyed spending more time with Sam and Dean. He usually didn't get close to people so fast, but for some inexplicable reason Castiel had let Dean become his friend. Castiel merely thought that it was because of his existing friendship with Sam that allowed him to tolerate Dean, and he was mostly right. But somehow he knew that if he hadn't known Sam, he still would've became friends with Dean.
On Friday, he took a ride with Anna instead of Sam and Dean. He hadn't talked to her much because they only had one class together and he wanted to get caught up. He leaned against the hood of her car reading Hamlet for the fourth time as he waited for her.
"Hey, Cas," Dean had appeared out of nowhere. "Do ya still need a ride home from school today?"
"No, thanks," Castiel said, hardly looking up from his book. "I'm going home with Anna Milton tonight."
There was a slight pause before Dean responded. "Oh, so is she like your girlfriend or something then?"
"Oh, no," he replied, a slight grin tugging at his lips. He always found it funny when people assumed they were dating. "You see, Anna and I have been best friends for a while now, and dating could possibly threaten that friendship. We never even saw each other that way, anyways."
Dean exhaled slightly. "Oh, ok, I was just curious-"
"Hey there, Cas!" Anna cut in. She was looking from Castiel to Dean and it didn't take a genius to know that she wanted Castiel to introduce her to him.
"Dean, this is Anna," Castiel said. "She's the girl I was just talking about."
"Oh, your not-girlfriend," Dean smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Dean, a friend of Cas."
"Well I'm Anna, if you couldn't already tell," Anna replied, winking. "It's been a real pleasure to meet you, Dean, but we've really got to be heading home now. See you around!"
"Yeah, see ya," Dean waved. "Bye, Cas!"
Castiel waved back to Dean and got into the passenger seat of the car. As soon as Anna got in the drivers seat and shut the door, she groaned.
"What's wrong?" Castiel asked. Anna usually never got upset, or even angry, so this was a first.
"I told you to set him up with me!" She called out. "Not try to get with him yourself!"
Castiel tilted his head at this, but he figured she was joking by her tone and her grin.
"Kidding, Cas, I'm kidding," She said shortly after, confirming his suspicions. "It's just weird how you two have gotten to be such good friends in such a short amount of time."
"It's most likely because I was friends with his younger brother and have been using his car as a taxi service," he replied. It made Anna laugh, which only confused Castiel. How had that been funny? He just went with it, like most other times.
Soon the conversation had turned to what movies they would be watching that night and other things when Anna abruptly changed the topic. "How come we never go to your house anymore, Cas? Is everything okay at home?"
"Yes, it's all fine," Castiel sighed. "Gabriel has just been overly stressed with working overtime and looking after me that he has no time to clean up the place. And I'm often too busy with school work or managing the finances that our house is left... chaotic, to say in the least."
"Don't know how it could get chaotic with you two busy all of the time," she chuckled. "But if you don't want me seeing the place then I won't go."
