Neon Lights

Chapter 34 - I Bet My Life

•Castiel's POV•
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June 16, 1968
5:34 p.m.
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We woke up and ate breakfast this morning like any normal day. And it was a normal day. Dean didn't mention my freakout last night, which is good. I don't want to talk about it right now.

"Hey Two-Bit," Dean called him, "Did'ya bring the instruments like I asked you to?"

"I sure did!" Two-Bit replied, "Let me get 'em!"

"Get some records, for after!" Dean yelled after him. I looked up from the lint ball I was pushing around with my socked foot.

"What're we doing?" I asked, letting Dean take my hand and squeeze it.

"You'll see!"

Two-Bit called for help with the stuff. Darry, Dally, Soda, Charlie, and Steve rushed to help him.

He set everything up - a small piano stand, an acoustic guitar, a violin, and a cello.

"Okay!" Dean clapped his hands, "Johnny and Pony on piano, Darry on guitar, Cas on violin, and Steve on cello. Soda's singing. Got it?"

"Dean, what to I play?" I asked. What are we doing?!

Dean handed me some sheet music, "You've played a long time. I think you can manage to follow this. Just watch me for the stop/start signal."

I nodded subtly and set up the music. I took the violin and practiced a few lines. A catchy Celtic tune was what I got. What are we doing?!

"Newcomers, this is something of a tradition of ours," Soda explained, "We have two songs that we know like the backs of our hands. We sing and dance to them all the time. Not the type of music you'd expect us to like, but it's sentimental to us."

"Alright, start us off," Matilda gestured for whoever to begin.

"I just wanna let you guys know again before we start that I think you're all really beautiful and uh..." Everyone laughed gleefully at Soda's start, "...Things are coming together here!"

Darry counted us off, and it was game on. Dean, I guessed, would be leading the dancing. He gave me a signal and I started the song with some violin.

Soda, surprisingly, is quite a good singer. I noted how much life he put into this song, and I made sure to memorize how happy it made me.

"Johnny Tulloch agus Mary agus Ian, Alec, Rory agus Hector, Mary Sarah, Archie Dan, Alex Joe,
Little Johnny Dougal agus Theresa, Duncan, Peter,
All piled in a wagon for a dance in Glencoe!"

Despite being a Celtic tune, it was pretty fast-paced. Meg joined in as a female voice for the verses.

"Well they barreled down the back roads by the farmhouse and the pasture,
They barreled down the back roads where the bochans wouldn't go,
Sipped a little dealach just to get the diddle flowing,
Sang a Gaelic song there was no radio!"

I was still playing the violin in the background, watching Dean leading the dance. He was getting everyone to form a line and link arms. Why?

"When they got to the dance they could hear the fiddle playing,
See the couples swaying through a window by the door,
Shovelled out a nickel to a man behind the wicket,
Then heard the prompter holler 'Four couples on the floor'!"

Dean gave me the signal to break into a solo. He had gotten everyone who he formed a line with to kick their legs up with the music, just like traditional Celtic dancers. But I noticed something...