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spnhunter4life · 1 year

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End Up Here Chapter 3

Chapter Summary: Emily and Dean have their first date.

Word Count: 2.8k

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My alarm woke me up at 7:30 the next morning. I stayed in bed for a few minutes, stretching and petting Ziggy while I summoned the motivation to actually get out of bed, my usual morning routine. Then I remembered my plans for the morning.

I sat up quickly, suddenly wide awake. Ziggy, who is always hyper and excitable in the mornings, noted my change in energy and ran in excited circles on the bed.

“You wanna go outside?” I asked her, trailing my hand along the bed and watching her chase after it. I grabbed her and placed a kiss on the top of her head before getting up to get dressed.

I kept in mind my plans to meet up with that guy from last night – Dean, I reminded myself – as I decided what to wear. I settled on jeans and a t-shirt, my usual attire. After all, I was still going to work afterwards and I didn’t want to ruin any of my nice clothes. Not to mention it was just breakfast. It would be weird if I was overdressed. I did pull out a better fitting pair of jeans and a nicer shirt than I would have normally bothered with though.

I took Ziggy outside, letting her wander around the yard for a few minutes before I had to go in to finish getting ready. Ziggy’s breakfast was next on my list. I crushed up the joint pill I gave her every morning, mixed it into a spoonful of her wet food, and rinsed out her bowl when she was done. I checked to make sure she had enough water and gave her a scoop of dry food for later.

Then I set out a potty pad for her since I would be gone all day and wouldn’t be able to let her out. I never liked leaving her alone all day, but I couldn’t exactly take her in the restaurant with me, and I didn’t like the idea of leaving her in the car. I reassured myself with the fact that leaving her all day was a rare occurrence and while she may not love it, it wouldn’t kill her.

Now that my dog was set for the day, I went to the bathroom to finish getting ready. I brushed my teeth first and then did my hair. I sprayed a little bit of water on it to make my natural curls a little more pronounced and less flat. I didn’t bother with makeup. It wasn’t worth it when I was out in the sun all day, getting covered in dust and sweat.

I took one last look around the apartment, making sure I wasn’t forgetting about anything. Satisfied that everything was good to go, I said goodbye to Ziggy and then hopped in my car to meet Dean at the diner.

~~~~~

I got to the diner five minutes before 9, but decided to wait in my car for a few minutes. Being late stressed me out so I usually tried to be places a little early, but I didn’t want to beat Dean inside. Nine o’clock came and went, and by 9:02 I still hadn’t seen him. I decided to go wait inside. At least I wasn’t early now and he should be here any minute.

I went in and saw Dean already seated, waiting for me. The table he was at was directly in my line of sight when I walked in the door. I wouldn’t have noticed him otherwise given the amount of people in the room and the fact that I didn’t realize he was here.

“Hi,” I said, smiling as I sat down across from him. I was feeling a little shy this morning, as I usually did on first dates. And it had been a while since the last time I went on a date with anyone, let alone someone I liked as much as him.

“Hi,” he echoed. “How are you this morning?”

I was happy to see that I’d been right about the beautiful color of his eyes. And there was a smattering of light freckles across his face I hadn’t been able to see in the dim light of the bar. I didn’t know how it was possible, but he was actually even more attractive than I’d realized.

“I’m good,” I told him. “How are you?”

“I’m good too,” he said. “I’m glad that you agreed to meet me because I realize that I neglected to ask for your number last night.”

“Is that your way of asking for it now?”

“It’s my way of bringing it up so that I can ask. Emily, can I have your number?”

I smiled and then held my hand out.

“Let me see your phone.”

He pulled it out of his pocket and then spent a moment messing with it. He handed it to me with a new contact pulled up. I typed in my name and number and gave it back to him.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

“No problem.”

We stared at each other for a few tense seconds. I wasn’t sure what to say, but unable to look away. Dean cleared his throat.

“I, uh. I have something for you,” he said, putting his hand into his pocket.

“You do?” I asked, surprised. What could he possibly have for me? We’d only met less than 12 hours ago.

“Yeah. I couldn’t stop thinking about your frankly appalling taste in rock music,” he started.

I laughed.

“Hey, I told you those were just the bands I could name, not that they were the only ones I liked,” I defended.

“Well, even so.” He smiled and pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. “I made a list of some songs I think you should check out. You know, just whenever you have the time.”

“And when exactly did you have time to do this?” I asked him as I scanned his list.

“To write down the names of ten songs?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Well, you know. I was up most of the night working on it.”

“Alright, silly question,” I admitted. “I guess if I was going to write down a list of songs for someone to listen to it would just take me a while to decide what to pick.”

“I’ve got a pretty clear list of favorites in my head. I just scribbled that down quick before I left this morning. Only took me a minute or two.”

“Well I’ll be sure to check them out and let you know what I think.”

Our conversation was briefly interrupted when the waitress came to take our order. Her name was Helen and she was a very friendly older lady who seemed to genuinely love her job. I realized I hadn’t even looked at the menu yet and scanned it quickly while Dean ordered, choosing the first thing that looked good.

“So what are your big plans for the day?” Dean asked when the waitress was gone.

“No big plans. Just work,” I told him.

“Oh. So are you, like, a nurse or something? Or what do you do that you have to work on Saturday?”

“I don’t have to. But there are things that need to be done that I didn’t have time for this week and am probably not going to have time for next week either.”

“Uh huh. And what do you do?” He asked again.

“I work at Freedom Reins. It’s a therapeutic riding center.”

“What is that exactly?”

“It’s a place where people with disabilities come out to ride horses,” I explained. “I’m the head instructor and equine manager. So basically I’m in charge of all the horses. Keeping an eye on their health, scheduling vet and farrier appointments, riding the horses to make sure they’re all listening the way they should, working on any new behavior issues with horses if they come up. That sort of thing. I don’t always have time to do all that during the week on top of teaching classes.”

“Wow. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” I said. “But it’s all worth it when you see how much our riders love being out there and how much they benefit from it. What about you? What do you do?”

“I’m a mechanic. Not as exciting as your job, but I’ve always loved cars, so I enjoy it,” he said. “Plus it makes finding a new job when I move a lot easier. No matter where I go, there’s always going to be at least one mechanic looking for help.”

“It might not be exciting, but it’s an important job. We rely on our cars and I’d say the majority of people have no idea how to fix things themselves. Which means we kind of rely on mechanics.”

“What about you? Do you know your way around a car’s engine?”

“Pfft. Absolutely not,” I told him. “I’ve had enough issues with cars in the past that I can do some very basic maintenance, but otherwise I’m basically useless.”

“Basically useless is better than entirely useless,” he offered.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” I agreed. “So you said you love cars. Did you always want to be a mechanic?”

“No, not always. When I was little I wanted to be a firefighter. When I was a teenager who was supposed to be figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, I had no clue. There was a short period where I considered joining the military like my dad. But I decided that wasn’t for me. I did have this secret fantasy of being a rockstar though,” he admitted with a rueful smile.

“Doesn’t every kid want to be famous at some point?” I pointed out, trying to ease the little bit of embarrassment I thought I detected at that admission. “It’s either a rockstar or an actor or a sports star or a model. Whatever it is, they want to be the best and they want to be famous for it.”

“Which one were you?”

“Mm. I was going to be a famous singer. You know, up until I realized I have terrible stage fright and would absolutely hate being famous.”

He laughed and the waitress brought our food out, telling us to let her know if we needed anything else.

“How’d you decide on being a mechanic then?” I asked him.

“We have this family friend that owns a salvage yard and auto shop. I used to help him with the cars when we visited. I realized it was something I really enjoyed doing and I didn’t need any school for it. Employers usually prefer experience over schooling, so I just went to work with that friend for a couple years after high school and picked up what I needed to know there. I’ve been bouncing around ever since, learning on the job if I come across something new.”

“It’s nice that you knew someone who was able to help you get started.”

“Yeah, it was. Bobby’s great. I owe him a lot.” He smiled fondly when talking about the man. “What about you? Did you always have big plans of working at that riding center?”

“No,” I smiled. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do either. I knew I loved horses though. You know how basically every class in every school across America has a horse obsessed girl?” He smirked and nodded. “That was me. So that’s what I went to school for and I just assumed I’d figure out what to do with it later. Not the smartest move, I know.”

I paused to take a bite of hashbrowns and a sip of orange juice.

“But, it worked out. I found Freedom Reins because I did an internship there. I came back the next year, and once I graduated, was offered a job there. When my current position opened up a couple years later, they offered it to me.”

“That’s great that it all worked out that way.”

“Yeah, it is.”

We were both quiet for a few moments and I searched for a new topic. I asked the first thing that popped into my head.

“What’s your family like?”

“Not much to tell there,” Dean answered. “Just my parents and my younger brother Sam.”

“And where are they at?”

“My parents are in Kansas. They settled down there a few years ago and it’s where they plan to stay.”

“You didn’t like it though?”

“I was already out of the house by the time they moved there. But we lived there for a short time growing up. It was a nice enough place.”

“Just not what you’re looking for,” I finished for him.

“Exactly.”

“What about your brother?”

“Sammy’s in California. He just passed his bar exam last year and now he’s working as a prosecutor out there,” he said.

“Wow. A lawyer. That’s impressive,” I mused. Dean smiled proudly.

“It is,” he agreed. “What about your family?”

“Well my parents live a couple hours away. My older brother is also a couple hours away, working on my grandpa’s ranch which he’ll take over one day. And my younger sister is in Texas working as a photographer.”

“Why Texas? That’s a long way from the rest of the family. Or was that the point?”

“Her husband is from Austin and he’s got his own business down there. It was a lot easier for her to move than him.”

“That makes sense,” he said. After a short pause he switched topics. “So, you’re a horse lover.”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“And your grandpa owns a ranch?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any horses of your own then?”

“No, I don’t. I’m pretty busy without having a horse of my own to take care of. Not to mention I have nowhere to keep it. I mean, my grandpa's ranch would technically be an option, but I’m not driving two hours one way every time I want to see my horse. I do have a dog though. Between her and all the horses at work, I’m pretty content with the amount of animals in my life,” I told him.

“Well if you ask me, dogs are better anyway. What kind of dog do you have?” He wondered.

I smiled at his interest. I was always happy to talk about Ziggy.

“I’ll tell you, but don’t laugh,” I warned.

“Why would I laugh?”

“I don’t know. A lot of people see the outdoorsy, horsey, country girl and assume I’ve got a cattle dog or something. Or at least a big breed.”

“I had no assumptions of the kind,” he assured me. “But I’m going to assume it’s a small dog then? Nothing wrong with that.”

“She’s a chihuahua mix and she’s about as small as they come. She weighs four pounds.”

“And she’s full grown?” He asked in disbelief. I grinned at him.

“Eleven years old. A lot of people assume she’s a puppy when they see her. Although she’s starting to get gray, so that might not be the case for long. What about you? Any pets?”

“No, not right now. I’ve thought about getting a dog some day, but I just figured I’d wait until I was settled for good.”

We sat together for nearly an hour, talking and getting to know each other. I learned that the classic car he drives is his most prized possession and that he is a bit of a movie nerd. He came across as very genuine and sweet and I could also tell that he’s a smart guy.

The waitress came over and asked if our bill would be separate or together. Dean and I answered at the same time, me telling her separate and Dean saying together.

“I can get my own,” I told him.

“I know you can. But I’m the one who asked you out. I’ve got it.” Then he turned to Helen. “Together,” he said again. She walked away with an amused smile.

Overall it was a very pleasant morning. I was so glad he asked me out and was already looking forward to seeing him again.

“Thanks for breakfast,” I told him when we were out in the parking lot. “I really enjoyed it.”

“I did too. We’ll have to do it again sometime. Maybe we could change it up a little and do lunch. Or if you really want to go crazy we could even go to a movie or… bowling or something. I don’t really know what there is to do in this town.”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “I’d like that.”

“Ok, great,” he smiled. “I guess I’ll see you around then.”

I smiled back.

“Bye Dean,” I said and then got into my car.

A/N: I tried to make up a cool name for a therapeutic riding center, and Freedom Reins is what I came up with. Turns out it's actually a real place in Indiana, but it took me forever to come up with that name and I didn't want to change it. If you're unfamiliar with therapeutic riding centers, I encourage you to check and see if you have one locally. They are really great places and I think a lot of them are nonprofit. They are a great place to donate to or even consider volunteering! They really do make a big difference in the riders' lives.

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