Who I am Today

One

Dean was just finishing his shift at the coffee shop down the street from his dorm. It was a Friday; the first Friday Dean had had free for a long time. The last week had been utterly hectic, due to it being finals week. But now, he had a whole three months of freedom from school. And he intended to make the most of it.

Twirling the keys to his car (a '67 Chevy impala, but everyone on campus knew that - much to their chagrin - because of Dean's semi-frequent 3AM drives, and his Baby's unfortunate jet-engine sounding purr) around his index finger, Dean made his way out of the swinging glass doors of the coffee shop, whistling Stairway to Heaven. He passed Benny, who would be taking over Dean's shift inside, and mimed tipping his cap; giving his award winning grin.

"Well aren't you just pleased as punch, Winchester?" Benny drawled, slowing to a stop in front of Dean.

Dean nodded. "Got my last final over with today, so now it's just me, Charlie, and the latest Game of Thrones episodes for the rest of the weekend."

Benny nodded, "You ain't coming to Henrikson's party tomorrow then?"

"Bastard never told me about it." Dean frowned. "I'll think about it. See what Charlie says."

"I'll be lookin' out for you." Benny said, "I gotta get to work. See ya brother." He saluted lazily before disappearing into the coffee shop.

Benny was one of the very few people that Dean hadn't known his whole life, but trusted implicitly. The endearment summed it up; he and Benny were like brothers. If either of them believed in reincarnation they might even say they'd been brothers in another life - that or war veterans. To say Dean and Benny had been through some shit was an understatement.
Dean unlocked the impala and collapsed into the driver's seat, shoving a cassette into the player and cranking up the volume. Jamming the keys in the ignition, he proceeded to pull out of his parking space and race down the street, heading towards the library to pick up Charlie.

This was Dean's third year attending the University of Texas. He was studying engineering; even though he'd always expected to work fixing cars in Singer Repairs with his uncle Bobby, the man always had known him better than he'd known himself, and had set up a fund when he was young - allowing him to get an education. Not to say that plan was out the window completely, if Bobby made the slightest indication he needed help back at the shop, Dean would drop all this in a heartbeat - for family. That being said, Dean was enjoying this whole thing more than he expected.

Six months ago, Dean had gotten the nerve to ask out his now-girlfriend; Lisa Braeden. She worked at the coffee shop before Dean did, when he used to come in almost every day - even though it was a twenty minute detour from his route to class. Eventually he had asked her out to dinner, flustered and nervous. She'd said yes ("of course she did, dumbass." "Thanks Charlie."). Dean had gotten a job washing the dishes at the coffee shop (Crowley's Croissants, yes, cheesy, Dean knows.), and had worked his way up to manning the till.

Lisa had just finished her fourth year of English literature. Although Dean still lived in the University dorms, Lisa had been not-so-subtly hinting that he should move in with her; but Dean wasn't quite ready to leave his comfortable, reliable room that he'd called home for the last three years, so he had been avoiding her hints.

That's where Dean was now; sitting on his blue, plaid comforter - huddled next to his best friend Charlie. They had been watching crap TV for the last three hours, after catching up with Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, and it was now well past midnight.

Charlie sat up and yawned, reminding them both of this fact. She patted Dean's knee and stood up, stretching.

"You're not staying?" Dean asked, yawning too.