anonymity was never an option

84: dean

"It always smells so good in here." Lisa sniffed over dramatically as they walked into the kitchen.

"I don't know why." Dean tossed down his backpack next to the counter.

"It's like a mix of coffee and pine trees."

"Pine trees?" Dean shook his head.

"Has no one ever told you you smell like pine trees?"

"Um..." Dean blinked a few times remembering one time Cas told him his favorite cologne reminded him of a forest, but he opted out of sharing that snippet with her.

Instead of answering her, he turned behind him and pulled a blue box of mac and cheese out from the cabinet instead, pretending like he was busy reading instructions, when in fact he already had them memorized.

Dean pulled a pan out of the sink and started filling it up with water.

"Is that even clean?" She laughed in front of the island.

"Uh yeah. Dirty dishes on the left. Clean on the right." He signaled to where he took the pan out from.

"Whatever grumpy." She leaned forward on the counter.

Dean turned the pan towards the stove and placed it down on one of the circular spots along the glass top. He flipped the switch on next to it and then turned back around towards Lisa.

"Who is that?" She pointed a picture on the counter.

Dean instinctually remembered what it was, and rushed over to where she was looking. On the counter lied a picture of him and Cas sitting on the garage floor at Bobby's. Dean was leaning on the wall covered in grease from working on a car earlier in the day, and Castiel sat beside him laughing, but leaning away as Dean had outstretched his hand towards his face. He quickly picked it up and slipped it in his back pocket as he looked up at her and then back down to the floor.

"Okaaay?" She leaned back.

Dean leaned back against the counter next to the stove top and watched as Lisa stared at him from the island.

"Dean... what the hell is going on with you?"

His eyes darted towards the floor and ended up on the other side of the room staring at the couch.

"You know what, whatever." She threw her hands up. "I have to pee. But when I come back you better have something to say."

She started walking across the living room, her converse creating footsteps on the hard wood, reminding Dean of how he would take off his shoes at the end of the night to not wake Cas up on the nights he had to work late. He knew the footstep pattern she was taking. It led straight to his bedroom.

"Lisa... Lisa wait..." Dean rushed as he got off the counter and hurried into the living room.

She walked through his doorway and turned on the light, making Dean run until he stood in the doorway too.

"What?" She turned around to him.

"Um... I was just gonna say..." he looked over to the bathroom door which was thankfully closed in the moment. "I wouldn't use that bathroom... it's a... a mess... I was throwing up in it last night."

He fake smiled, trying to disgust her, when in reality he just didn't want her to walk in and see Cas's toothbrush on the counter, or the array of clothes that were falling out of the laundry basket that clearly weren't his.

"Dude... clean up after yourself." She remarked, rolling her eyes.

Her eyes landed in the corner of his room, where on the floor next to the dresser a navy blue back pack with an array of pins all over it sat on the floor.

She started to walk over to it as Dean traced where she was going with his eyes.

Shit. Cas's backpack.

"Who's is this?" She said pointing to the bag on the floor.

"What... no... uh... nobody's." Dean fumbled, leaning over on the doorway.

"Oh yeah?" Lisa raised her eyebrows picking it up. "Since when were you a twenty one pilots fan... or... or cared about saving the bees?"

"Well I mean bees are pretty important..."

"Dean you're terrified of bees." She stated dropping his backpack back onto the floor.

"And I also bet money that coat right there is not yours." She pointed to the end of the bed where Castiel's coat had sat since he left. Something Dean knew he would never purposely forget. "Tan is not your color."

Lisa leaned over to the bed rail and picked up the coat which she held out in her hands. Dean shifted upright and stared at the coat as she reached her hand into the right pocket.

"Stop." Dean rushed over to her. "Stop. I'll tell you okay? Just leave the coat alone. You have no right to go through it."

She looked up at him in question and then dropped the coat back on to the bed.

"Okay. Better start talking then."

"Just..." Dean out his hand on his head. "...go to the bathroom in the hallway and meet me back in the kitchen, the water is probably boiling by now." He sighed.

She slipped out of the room quietly and Dean followed, closing his bedroom door behind her.

Another long day, here I come.