35. "Miss Social Butterfly."

I was more than happy to not be around Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a while. Of all the things I'd seen since joining the Winchesters, the zombie thing was the worst. People had been coming back from the dead in Bobby's town. It was especially difficult for him, as one of the said zombies turned out to be his wife. I was just glad we hadn't been in Maryland, because I could think up three family members of mine who would have come back. That would have been the worst thing for me. The memories alone would have killed me inside.

So after that awful time, we ventured away. Naturally, we booked ourselves a motel room. But things were different now, in a good way and a bad way. Speaking of the good way, we got backlash for it, Sam and I. Bobby wasn't as vocal about it as Dean had been, but he didn't approve of it. It didn't turn out into a screaming match, more like someone left once the argument was done in a heated huff. Mind you, that was before the zombie incident. When that happened, it was like the disapproval had dissipated in the air.

We were hunkering down for the night, but I was wide awake. I wanted to explore. I wanted to stretch my legs. No monsters, no zombies, no demons, just a walk. And I wanted it to be on my own. The boys looked like they needed a good few hours, or days really. And I thought my eyes looked bad. Theirs saw years of missing sleep.

"I'm surprised you don't want to go out," I voiced to Dean. "I mean, bars equal women."

"Not tonight." He took a sip from about the third beer can. There were already two on the nightstand near him. "You can go ahead and do whatever, just be careful."

"I'm surprised you still care." I snorted.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You tell me," I said pointedly.

"You have your phone?" Sam butted in.

I held it up as proof. "Full charge. If I'm in any serious trouble, I'll call. If I'm not back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, call."

"You plan on partying the whole night?"

"No, but I don't know where the night will take me." I shrugged. "Now, you two just lay in bed and sleep." I walked over to Sam's bed, bending over to kiss him. I frowned as I heard Dean make gagging noises behind me. I headed out the motel door, sparing Dean from seeing my middle finger. Stirring the pot wasn't going to do any good. He needed to get over this. Bobby took less time to get over it.

I inhaled the crisp night air. I tucked the phone away in my jeans, already having my night planned out. A bar sounded really appealing. Just a place to hang out and feel like a normal person for once. I needed some normalcy right now. Even my relationship with Sam didn't sound normal. It had to be because the hunting business brought us together.

I picked the closest bar I could find and entered. It wasn't too late yet, so it wasn't so crowded. My eyes located the pool table, and I felt the urge to hustle. It brought me back to my days when I traveled with Sam and stayed in Oklahoma. I'd done my fair share and collected a decent pool of money. Who was to say I wouldn't try my luck here?

I milled around a little, keeping to myself. I did carry some cash on hand. I found a table and sat all by my lonesome, observing. It was easy to see who was together and who friends were. I watched with high interest as a match of pool was going on near me. To me, pool was a game of patience and luck. If you played your cards right, you came out on top. If you didn't have luck on your side, or patience, you were almost guaranteed a loss. A decent aim also benefited you more than your opponent. A little trash talking could help you too, as it could in any game, but at the same time it could make things worse.

I ordered a simple nacho platter and some soda as I quietly observed. As the time went on, more people filed in. The night crowd was coming alive, so it was bound to bring action. I was ready to see where the night would take me.

I saw a few different matches as I slowly munched away on my food. Some of the players were calculated, some were too drunk to realize what the hell they were doing. They were the stupid ones who made stupid bets and lost a hell of a lot in the process. The drunks needed to keep away from those pool sticks anyway. Angry drunks could take advantage and get violent. Not that I would intervene, I'd just watch and keep my nose out of that business.

"You play?" a voice asked. 

For a minute, I didn't think the question was for me until I pulled my eyes away to see a rather attractive looking man across from me at my table. His hair was golden blond and ruffled in a sexy bedhead kind of way. He came off a bit predatory to me, just in the sense that he happened to flock to me whereas he could have found some other girl to chat up, but his blue eyes looked innocent enough.

"When I can," I finally answered. My fingers searched for more nachos.

"Too afraid to butt your way in?" he teased.

"Nah, I was hoping to lure someone in by testing my aim," I retorted lightly.

"So you're one of the sly ones, the one that leads people into her traps." He smirked. "I can see that."

It was obvious this guy was flirting with me, but I didn't mind it. This felt normal, and I needed some normal right now. Would I tell this to Sam later on? Of course. This was harmless flirting, this wasn't going to amount to anything. Though our relationship was fairly new still, I was faithfully loyal to him. I'd been loyal to him since I got pulled into this apocalyptic mess.

"I'm guessing you didn't come here to challenge me." I sipped on my drink.

"I kind of did. And I saw you needed some company." He leaned against the table. "Tell you what, let's make it interesting."

"Whoa, hang on," I half laughed. "I never agreed to a game with you."

"Yet," he said. "But I think you just might. Whoever loses buys drinks."

My lips pursed. "That's all? Come on, there's got to be higher stakes."

"All right. You want high stakes? You win, I don't bother you, and we part ways like the good sports we are. I win, I get your number, you pay for some drinks, and we see where the night takes us."

My skin crawled at the challenge. It was too tempting to not refuse. I sat in thought, mulling it over. I didn't know how skilled this guy was. I couldn't try and act like I sucked, I wasn't too keen on losing.

I felt, deep down, that I already accepted the bet before I could get the words out of my mouth. He watched me eagerly. He didn't seem to think I was going to back down from this challenge, either.

"All right," I conceded. "Challenge accepted. You, me, pool table, right now." My eyes flickered over long enough to see the battleground had emptied.

I scarfed down the rest of my nachos before we headed over. We got the game set, and in a gentlemanly manner, he let me start the game off.

I impressed him on the first strike. In turn, he impressed me. He was no stranger to this game, and neither was I. Something told me I was going to have to fight tooth and nail to win this one.

Somehow, by a miracle, I pulled off the victory. I kept myself collected and showed good sportsmanship in the end.

"Well I'll be damned," he said. "You've got talent, I'll give you that."

"What? No double or nothing?" I snickered, twirling the pool stick.

"And have my ass handed to me twice? Once was enough for the night. You should try a tournament sometime. You'd have a pretty good shot."

I smiled genuinely. "Thanks."

"You a local?" I heard the hope in his voice.

I pouted. "Sorry, no. Just in town for a few days."

"That's too bad. I would set a date for a rematch."

We parted on good terms, a handshake. Once he left, I realized I never got his name. Before I could track him down and ask for it—not that it really mattered, but it did a little bit to me—he had disappeared into the crowds.

I busied myself with setting up a new game for the next players. I was one and done. Maybe I could pursue that guy and find him again. Maybe. He seemed like an all right guy. A flirt, for sure, but he seemed genuine.

"Back hustling again?" a familiar voice joked.

I turned around and was immediately confused. "I thought you were staying in bed like your brother?"

Sam shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

"Did you follow me here?"

"Nah. I put myself in your shoes and figured you'd be somewhere close by."

"Right. Because if I was in trouble, I would have called." I raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Be serious, Sam. Do we need to leave? Is something coming for us?"

He looked a bit startled. "I can't have a good time with my girlfriend?"

I felt the heat creep into my cheeks. He didn't say the word "girlfriend" often, and when he did, I had to admit, it made me feel giddy. "Well, I just thought since you were here..."

"Kota." He grabbed my arms gently. "I know you're on high alert now, an unfortunate side effect of being with us, but it's okay to let your guard down every once in a while."

I blinked at him. "Are you okay, Sam?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem a little...I don't know." I shrugged. The fact that Sam was here made me feel like something was here, something we needed to take care of. But he was insisting that he was here because he couldn't sleep. Did he worry about me? Had he been so worried that he insisted to track me down to the bar and physically find me?

If he'd been worried, why hadn't he just called me?

"You're not at the bar, chatting up guys?" he asked teasingly.

"Ha, ha, funny," I scoffed. "You know me, Miss Social Butterfly."

"You look like you need a drink."

I looked at him strangely. "You're just roping me into the fact that you want one, not me."

"Oh come on, Kota. We can't play it safe all the time."

"When have we?" I retorted as he pulled me towards the counter. We took two barstools, and Sam ordered for us both, though I insisted that he didn't. We kept close together, avoiding contact with other people. "I thought Dean would be the one to start me on an alcohol path?"

"It sort of comes with the job. You need something to help you forget the stress for a few hours." He took a long drink of his bottle.

I hugged the bottle with my hands. "Be honest with me, Sam. You didn't come here to spend time with me."

"What?" He sounded offended. "Of course I did."

"You're here because you thought up the worst things possible that could happen to me, so you decided to come here and make sure I was okay. A call would have saved you the walk." I reluctantly chugged some of the bottle I had.

"I didn't mind it," he admitted. He nudged me in the ribs playfully. "Besides, it's nice to pull away from everything for a little bit."

We ended up staying a while, completely forgetting the big picture that was unseen by most. We spent our time in each other's company and actually had a genuine time. To see him look genuinely happy, it made my heart lift. Granted, I hadn't see Sam anywhere close to happy when I'd met him in high school, but right here, right now, I was happy too.

A few drinks later, my head was spinning, and I had no idea what I kept rambling on about. Sam cut us off at that point and kept me attached at the hip as we left the bar. We walked in the quiet night, his arm snug around me. I leaned against him, almost sleepwalking at times when I'd close my eyes.

As our walk began to end, the more I began to feel tired. Stupid alcohol and its effects. I could see the doors in sight, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what our room number was. But that didn't seem to matter to Sam. I was flipped around and against the wall, with his mouth covering mine. Call it an automatic reaction or me being in an alcohol stupor, I kissed back either way.

Something rose inside of me, something terrifyingly almost foreign. My stomach knotted tight together, but it was for good reason. His fingers dug into my hips possessively as though he was waiting for someone to try and take him away from me. I kept my breathing fairly calm whilst his was ragged.

"Is this going to go where I think it might?" I whispered, looking deep into his hazel eyes.

"If it is, we can spare ourselves the awkwardness."

"How thoughtful." I got his idea immediately. Good thing I never left anywhere without my pick.

We found another room a few doors away from our room, just in case the walls weren't thick. Somehow I was steady and my vision wasn't jumping around as I picked the lock.

"What if someone's inside?" I asked.

"Then we move on until we find an empty one."

Once I got the lock taken care of, I cracked the door open. When no protests rang out, I opened the door wider. We exposed brief light into the room. We stepped in, and Sam shut the door. His hands were at my hips again, and I felt a shudder ripple down my spine. My shoulder, the healed one I might add, was exposed, and I threw my head back, a low purr in my throat as his lips met the scarred skin.

It felt like a forbidden place to touch, let alone look at.

I turned around and snuck my hands under his shirt. He guided me until I ended up falling back-first onto the bed. I giggled stupidly in the dark, feeling his mouth attack under my chin and down my neck. My fingers found his hair before trailing down the sides of his face. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see his figure. He was right over me, I could feel his breath on my face.

I pushed myself upwards, and he helped me sit up. I sat atop him, my hands finding the sides of his face again. Fingers skimmed down my back. The worst thing about this was me getting his shirt off. It was a bit awkward because of my lack of efficiency. Our foreheads touched.

For some reason, this didn't feel too soon. It felt right. I smiled fondly at him as he moved a strand of dark hair away from my face. The shine in his eyes was adoration, unadulterated adoration.

The rest was history once we resumed kissing in the dark.

**If you think things are getting good now, just wait until the next chapter ;)

And no, there is no smut in the next chapter. This book would have been rated Mature a long time ago if that were the case. Just let your imaginations run with that ending.

P.S. Listen to the song, don't really pay attention to the video itself. I was trying to find how the song sounded in the movie, but I had trouble with it and the one version of the song I found didn't sound the way I had hoped.**