Secrets and Camera Flashes

Chapter 17

It's time to get some rumors stirred up.

Castiel waits in a little coffee shop in LA for his guest to arrive. Part of him wants to order his coffee while he waits, but that also feels fairly rude. This is what he gets for showing up a couple minutes early, apparently. He assumes his guest will arrive at about 9:00, the scheduled meeting time, but by 9:02, she's still not here.

He has opted not to use his phone while he waited, because if anyone were to grab a picture of it, he wouldn't look good. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with using a phone, but it's not the vibe he was going for. Unfortunately, he's starting to think he's going to be waiting for a long time, so he might as well make the most of it.

He barely has time to reach into his back pocket before the bell over the door rings, and Castiel immediately looks up, just as he's done every other time it's rung. Sure enough, Jo is walking through the door, her security guard not far behind. She scans the room, her gaze eventually landing on Castiel, and she smiles, heading to his table. Her security guard sits down at a table that's not too close, but not far enough away that he wouldn't be able to see if anything went wrong.

"Have you been waiting very long?" Jo asks as she sits down across from him.

"Just a minute or two," Castiel lies. It's been at least five minutes, though that's mostly his fault for being overly prompt. To him, this is like any other meeting his job has required of him. Jo probably sees it more as a friendly get together. Timing isn't quite as important.

"Wanna get some coffee?" Jo asks.

"Sure "

So they go up to the counter, order their drinks, and sit back down. Now for the awkward part. Socialization.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Jo asks. "It's been a couple days."

Castiel shrugs. "I started a new book series."

"What one?" Jo asks.

"The Mortal Instruments?"

"I haven't heard of that one," Jo says. "What's it about?"

"Does the word 'shadowhunter' mean anything to you?" Castiel asks, because he's not going to explain this whole thing if she already knows it.

"Oh, yeah, the TV show," Jo says. "I almost got a small role on it 'til the execs decided they didn't have the budget."

"Oh." He probably shouldn't shit on the show then, no matter how much he wants to. "Well, The Mortal Instruments is the series it's based on."

"I didn't know it was based on a book," she says, which is honestly kind of sad. "Is it any good so far?"

"The first one is," Castiel says. "I'm not very far into the second one, though."

"Hmm," she hums. "Maybe I'll check it out. How many are there in the series?"

"Six," Castiel says, which surprises her so much that he has to add, "and there's another two or three trilogies about other shadowhunters, and a couple one-off books."

Jo gapes at him. "That is a lot of books."

Castiel shrugs. "Just means I won't have to look for something else to read for a couple months."

"Or, you know, ten years," she jokes. "I didn't take you for a bookworm."

Castiel cocks his head to the side and squints at her. "Why not?"

Jo shrugs. "I don't know. You don't find a whole lot of booky people in this industry."

"Are you one of these booky people?" Castiel asks, trying to keep his hopefulness out of his voice. He's obviously not looking for a romantic or sexual relationship with her — or with anyone, for that matter — but a two-person book club could be fun.