The Dark and the Light (Book Three: Supernatural fanfic)

Stuck In the Middle (With You)

Sam, Dean, Castiel, Ariel, Faith, Mary and I were all sitting around a table in a diner called Raul's, on a hunt together, ordering dinner from a waitress.

"Mandy, that short for Amanda?" Dean asked.

"Duh," Mandy answered.

"Yeah, I'll--I'll go with the cheeseburger," Ariel told her.

Sam pulled out his laptop. "Hey, what's the, uh, WiFi password here?"

"Extra cheese," Mandy answered.

Ariel thought that  she was talking about the cheeseburger. "No, no. Just, uh, as it is, is fine."

"That's the password," Mandy told us. "Extra cheese."

Ariel nodded awkwardly in understanding, looking away. Sam, Faith and I smiled.

Sam typed the password into his computer to get into the WiFi.

"You know what?" Dean asked. "That sounds good. I'm gonna change mine to a cheeseburger as well. Extra cheese. I wanna carbo-load."

I said, "Cheese isn't a carb", the same time Castiel said, "Cheese isn't a carbohydrate."

Dean shrugged. "Mm, well."

Mary looked at Mandy. "Steak and eggs. Bloody."

"I'll have the same thing that Ariel's having," Faith told her. "Mom and Dad are eating healthy."

Sam and I smiled.

Mandy looked at Castiel. "And how 'bout you, handsome?"

"What?" Faith asked.

"Um, uh..." Castiel trailed off, studying his menu. "Uh, Sunrise Special, please."

Mandy smiled. "Nice."

Mandy walked away.

Dean leaned across the table to talk to Cas. "Oh, dude, she is into you."

"Mm-hmm," Sam agreed.

"Dean..." Mary trailed off.

"No, this is good," Dean told us. "We've been looking for teachable moments. This..." 

Dean clicked his tongue.

Mary's phone vibrated, beeping. She took it out to look at it.

"Everything all right, Mary?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a hunter who needs some help," Mary told us. "Can't have too many friends in this line of work."

"Okay," Faith told us.

"The Internet here sucks," Sam told us. "I downloaded all the bunker's files to a new archive, but we're not getting any signal, so..."

Ariel made playful snoring noises, pretending to sleep. Faith and Ariel both laughed. Sam, Dean, Castiel, Mary and I looked at them in amusement, smiling a little.

"Cas, here's the thing you need to know about waitresses, okay?" Dean asked. "They get hit on all day long, so you gotta bring your A game. But upside?" He clicked his tongue. "They always smell like food."

Ariel frowned in confusion. "They always smell like food?"

"Yeah," Dean answered.

"Okay," Mary told us.

"Right?" Dean asked. "It's great."

"Why would you want them to smell like food?" Faith asked.

Mary banged the table to get our attentions. "Hey. Screens down, eyes up, shut up."