FADED ▷ Sam Winchester [2]

22 | DANCE OF THE CLAIRVOYANTS

5:20 pm

"Mandy. That short for Amanda?"

"Duh."

I laugh a little too loudly at Dean's pathetic attempt to flirt with our waitress. Sam, Dean, Mary, Cas, this other hunter Wally, and I are all gathered around a table in a restaurant. We're talking about a case in town that Mary called the boys and I about.

"Yeah, I'll- I'll go with the cheeseburger," Dean decided, giving up and putting down his menu.

"Hey, what's the WiFi password here?" Sam asks politely to the waitress.

"Extra cheese."

"No, no," Dean says. "Just, as it is. That's fine."

"That's the password. Extra cheese," the waitress clarifies. I smile a little bit. Sam finishes typing in the password on his iPad and puts his hand back in mine underneath the table. He gives me a sneaky smile. I return it.

"You know what? That sounds good. I'm gonna change mine to a cheeseburger as well," Wally voices his order. "Extra cheese. I want a carbo-load.

"Cheese isn't a carb," Mandy says.

"Cheese isn't a carbohydrate," Castiel says at the same time. Wally seems to debate this a moment. My eyes flicker back and forth between Cas and Mandy. The two are looking at each other. Mandy looks interested in him; Cas just looks confused.

"Steak and eggs. Bloody," Mary voices her order.

"And how bout you... handsome?" Mandy asks, smiling a little at Castiel. I grin at him, loving the fact that I'm here while this is happening. It's priceless.

"Uh- Uh... Sunrise special please," Castiel decides after a moment of everyone looking at him.

"Nice," she compliments him and walks away.

"Oh, dude, she is into you," Dean tells Castiel.

"Mm-hmm," Wally agrees.

"Dean," Mary scolds him a little.

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

Mary's phone vibrates and she pulls it out of her pocket, glancing at it for a moment. This gets Sam's attention. "Everything all right, mom?" He asks.

"Yeah, just a hunter. Needs some help."

"Another one?" Dean asks in surprise.

"Can't have too many friends in this line of work," Mary says. "Okay—"

"The internet here sucks," Sam interrupts, taking his hand back out of mine briefly to play with his iPad. "I downloaded all the bunker's files into a new archive, but we're not getting any signal, so—"

Dean fake snores. "Nobody cares. Cas, here's the thing you need to know about waitresses, okay? They get hit on all day long, so you gotta bring your A-game. But, upside? They always smell like food." He gives Cas a thumbs up.

"They always smell like food," Wally repeats in agreement.

"Okay, okay—" Mary tries to get everyone's attention.

"Why is upside they smell like food?" Sam asks.

The boys all talk over one another for a moment, and I can't really make out everything they say.

Suddenly Mary smacks her hand on the table. "Hey," she says loudly to get everyone's attention. "Screens down, eyes up, shut up."

"Sorry mom," Sam says guiltily.