A date. He was going on a date. Or, was it just dinner, maybe? Did it really matter? These were just a few of the questions running through his head as he showered in preparation for the evening. At the very least, he was grateful that Castiel had healed his injuries from the night before, even though they hadn't been all that significant. The one thing he didn't have to be concerned about was shaving, since the beard he had been growing mysteriously disappeared overnight. Once out of the shower, he pulled on a pair of jeans, boots, a black t-shirt, and a grey button-down, which he left unbuttoned. While the Texas Roadhouse had good food, sophisticated it was not and he could easily get away with what he had chosen to wear.
He grabbed the keys to the Impala and made his way to the garage. The apartments weren't all that far from the bunker, and he arrived a few minutes early. After parking the car he made his way into the lobby and took a seat in one of the open chairs while he waited for her.
___
So like, the last thing Alexis expected when she posted about finding herself a Prince was to get invited out to dinner - she was considering it a date though, and she’d see how well she vibed with Dean Winchester. After breaking up with Ted, she hadn’t done the serious thing since him and in Vallo had kind of just been doing some shopping - she wasn’t opposed to anything serious, but wasn’t going to simply settle and like Hot Italian Guy said on the network: it was really difficult to build a life here. To form relationships.
Especially when they could be gone in the blink of an eye and that definitely made the heart feel all fissured and broken, cracks forming in the pottery. Still, it meant something to try so that was what she was doing.
“Hey there, chesty prince,” she greeted cheerfully, a bounce in her step - which was probably impressive, given the needle-point stilettos she wore, paired with a velvet shirt dress with a slouchy sort of finish. Her hair bounced too, all those spun gold waves, and she carried a purse with her to complete the ensemble. “Ready to go? Which steakhouse are we actually hitting up, anyway?”
___
Dean looked up from where he sat and looked her over casually. "Wow. You look-" he rose from the chair and took another look at her, his gaze focusing on the incredible shoes on her feet. He wasn't one to really notice what a woman had on her feet, and honestly, looking at those shoes, he had to wonder how she managed to walk with such ease, let alone bounce like that. "Incredible, you look incredible." He smiled brightly, finding every part of her to be stunning. "Texas Roadhouse," he replied sheepishly, slightly embarrassed he hadn't made more of an effort. "I hope that's okay?"
He moved towards the door and pulled it open, stepping aside to let her go through first, still grinning like a fool. "You know, I think you were born to play the part of Rapunzel."
____
Admittedly, Texas Roadhouse was not a place Alexis frequented - peanut shells everywhere, with that cronch when you walked, and if a kid spilled a drink no one noticed or cared. It was just that kind of establishment. The old Alexis would have faked a headache or an emergency right on the spot, just to get out of this - but right now, she was kind of charmed. Dean’s sheepishness was cute, anyway.
“Ooh, I love some of that cinnamon butter stuff,” she replied, which was definitely testament to her agreement that it was totes fine. “And thanks - I’m really getting into the character and like, understanding her motivations and the way she’s barely hanging onto sanity.”
How would you feel if you grew up in a tower with no one but a crazy witch to talk to, and wanted to explore the outside world yet really weren’t prepared for it? It was much yikes, but Alexis was having a good time with the role. “Are you liking being a Prince?” she asked, walking beside him to the car. “Or is it awkward?” She knew Sabrina was young and in the role of Cinderella, but her friend was a professional so hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad.
____
Well, that was a definite relief. "I've actually never been there before, but it sounded interesting." Not to mention it was super affordable and he wouldn't end up leaving still hungry. "Motivations?" Dean questioned with a raised brow, turning his head to look over at her. His only experience with a musical had been behind the scenes at the supernatural musical, but he had also been on the set of a movie being filmed. Maybe he would have to think back to that and see what he could remember, if anything.
"Honestly, I don't think any of them have much in the way of sanity, but I should probably dig a little deeper into that." He mused in thought and stepped ahead to open the door to the '67 Impala, his pride and joy. Once she was comfortably in, he closed the door and walked around to the driver's side and got in. "It's definitely kind of awkward for me. I mean, there's the fact that right now, she's only sixteen. But, on top of that, she's not exactly my biggest fan and that makes it even harder." Maybe not for her, but it was definitely a struggle for him, especially after what she had said.
You don't leave people you care about in Hell.
"I'm sure it will be fine in the end, though. I know someone who is helping me with the music, so, that's good." Dean offered her a smile and started the car up, quickly reaching out to lower the volume of the radio, Led Zeppelin blasting over the speakers momentarily. "Sorry about that."
___
Sweet set of wheels, Dean Winchester. Alexis was comfy in the passenger seat, buckling up because safety first. “My mom’s an actress, she’s always talking about like - immersing yourself in the role or whatever,” she said, playing with the ends of a few loose waves that flowed over her shoulder. “Just not to the point where you lose yourself, that’s not cool. But she takes it all seriously, even her hokey soap opera roles.”
Not to mention The Crows Have Eyes happened to be cheesy as hell, but it was good experience and good work for Alexis to do, helping polish Moira’s brand and promoting the movie and all of that. “But okay, why isn’t Sabrina your biggest fan?” she asked, dropping her hands to her lap.
___
Dean never wore his seat belt, and had even forgotten that existed in the first place. They hadn't come standard with the car back at the time, but a few years back he had installed them himself, though they still never used them. "I think you might be the first person to actually use the seat belt." He mused with a laugh and pulled his on as well, though it felt incredibly uncomfortable. He turned his head and backed out of the spot and then made his way out to the road.
"An actress, that's cool. I'm sure she's given you plenty of helpful tips." He commented with a grin, reaching up to tug at the strap already. "I was on Doctor Sexy, once, sort of. Anyway, it's... kind of complicated?" His fingers tapped against the wheel as he drove, trying to decide what to say. He had no idea who Alexis was, or where she was from, but it didn't really matter. "Basically, she's unhappy about a choice I made regarding a brother of mine."
____
Complicated, she got that. And there was no need to explain in detail if he didn’t want to - sometimes talking about hard stuff with a near-stranger was helpful, since they didn’t know you, but then again that wasn’t always the case. Everyone here had their secrets, the skeletons about to burst free from closets, their intricately woven tapestries - Alexis was always curious, but she knew enough to not push about things.
“She’s good people and I’m sure you’ll work it out as we’re doing the musical,” she said. “If not, well - your acting should be good enough so that no one notices?” One of those starshine grins tipped her mouth upward - because right, you know. Silver lining?
Alexis tried to see the aforementioned silver lining in many cases. Goth emo wasn’t really her thing. “But now I’m totally curious about you, so you should tell me all about your world over dinner and like, how you eat your Oreos.” It said something about a person. You couldn’t convince her otherwise.
____
"Yeah, I'm sure we will." He turned to look at her and found himself smiling in return, her grin rather infectious. Dean was almost always pessimistic and her cheery demeanor was a stark contrast to his own. "Honestly, I'm a little worried about the role, but I will just practice extra hard to make sure I'm good enough."
He turned his attention back to the road and made the turn towards the restaurant, the drive being rather short. "How I eat my Oreos?" Okay, so maybe she did realize that they all came from different backgrounds, realities, dimensions or whatever. "My life isn't all that interesting, but sure, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Dean turned to her with another grin, pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant. "Oh, and I just dunk them in my milk and hope they don't fall in before I take a bite. You?"
____
“Oh, so you’re a dunker,” Alexis deduced, tapping her chin with her index finger. “That means you’re energetic and adventurous. Also kind of a social person. Me, I’m a twister - “ Who hadn’t twisted an Oreo though, even if it wasn’t their preferred method of consumption? There was something fun about it. “That means I’m artistic and trendy.”
It was possible she was bullshitting this, but who knew - maybe there was some truth to it.
She headed up to the restaurant with Dean and as soon as they got inside it was clear this was going to be a yee-haw of a time. The crowd was loud, the music was loud, the linedancing servers were loud, the crunch of peanut shells on the floor was loud - such an auditory delight. They were shown to a table and handed menus, and she opened the plastic lamination to see what tickled her fancy.
And asked for a Jamaican Cowboy drink because she wanted some schnapps tonight. “Okay - now you show me yours,” she encouraged. “I don’t like, know much about where you come from.”
____
He had no idea if she was making it up, but it seemed legit and he saw no reason to question it. "Kind of social, huh? That's interesting, it all seems fairly accurate. I would definitely agree with you being artistic and trendy." When they walked into the place he was taken aback a little by how loud and noisy it was in the place. If he had known, he might have selected a different place. But, they were here now and he just had to make the best of it.
Before the waitress left the table, he requested a draft beer and moved his attention down to the menu. "You want to know about my world?" He flipped through the pages slowly, mildly amused over the one dish titled Road Kill. "It's-" he paused in thought, and then figured there was really no point in pretending to be normal. "Exhausting, but, I'm never bored, which is a good thing. I deal with a lot of different supernatural creatures, it's what my brother and I do for a living. Far from glamorous. How about yourself?"
____
“Supernatural creatures? Like vampires?” Alexis asked - she’d only heard about those sorts of things in movies and television shows, and books of course. Stories about demons and witches and zombies, oh my. Then she came here and it was all super real - surprisingly, she adjusted to it pretty well though. Maybe because her life was filled with all sorts of crazy things, and all the crazy situations she’d gotten herself into - she always adapted quickly, that was just how it had to be.
Except for when her and her family were forced to relocate to Schitt’s Creek - that had been an experience, an exercise in what it truly meant to adapt and change. But she’d come out on top after everything there too.
But right, speaking of Her Life and all. She sipped on her drink when it came, swirling ice in the glass. “Well, let’s see - my dad owned a chain of video rental stores and my mom was an actress. My brother ran an art gallery and I was just living the pop star, model life. Then our family went bankrupt and we were forced to move to this small, podunk town my dad once bought my brother as a weird gag gift. We tried forever to leave, but nothing worked - then we realized we didn’t want to leave? It actually became home for us. And like, we all got closer too - remembered that we actually cared about each other,” she said.
____
“Yeah, vampires, zombies, werewolves, and other stuff.” Okay, cool, she hadn’t looked at him like he had three heads or anything. That was good, right? Maybe she was familiar with that kind of thing at this point in her life. Dean smiled as she went on and he dropped his gaze to the menu for a moment. Did she really just say her family moved to a small town that was purchased by her father, as a gift for her brother, as a joke? He looked up at her with a polite smile, still trying to figure out if that was retaliation for his supernatural business, or if it was actually legit.
There was a part of him that wanted to admit defeat and just laugh it off, but she had said it sincerely and with such conviction that it made him think she was telling the truth. Really though, it was the kind of set up you would see on television and not in real- oh, right. The whole thing was starting to give him sort of an existential crisis, but there were more important things to stress over. Like Sam not having his soul.
“Yeah, I get that, family is important. That must have been a nice bonding experience.”
_____
So zombies and werewolves seemed legit but her family previously throwing around their money, stupidly, did not? Well, that was cool - Alexis held the straw of her drink with dainty fingers, trying to go slow so she didn’t end up with flushed cheeks, pink blooming there. “It took us a while to get to the bonding part,” she admitted. “But everyone was like - really good in that town. Good people. I miss them and, I don’t know, I want to try to be good people here too.” Maybe that was why she threw herself into her DOA work, and her work with the Apothecary - not to mention planning various seasonal events and things like speed dating.
If she disappeared, she wanted to be remembered for doing things that helped people - not for her fashion sense (which was still great, thanks) or who she was dating.
It seemed a crime to go to a steakhouse, even a chain, and not order an actual steak - so when the waitress came back, she asked for a filet with a salad on the side. Those buttery rolls in a basket also looked good, so she decided to indulge in one, ripping it open as the steam rose up - they were still piping hot. “So you have your family and stuff here though, right?” she asked, thinking she’d read things akin to that on the network.
_____
Strangely enough he found he couldn’t stop smiling as he watched her with her drink.
“You want to try to be good people?” He questioned with a raised brow, closing his menu after he finally decided on what he wanted. “I mean, you already seem like a nice person to me, so the trying bit is just a little confusing.” Dean looked back at her with a smile and reached for his beer to take a quick chug. He went all in with his meal, going for the bone-in ribeye with a loaded baked potato and buttered corn.
“Yeah, my mom recently showed up, my brother, and two friends of mine. Adam has been here for a while though.” He reached for one of the rolls himself and buttered it up quickly. Talking about yourself and your family was really fucking weird, but she had wanted to know. Or, maybe that was just her being polite? Dean took a bite of the roll and chewed it somewhat carefully, only dropping a crumb or two as he did so.
“So, you were a model slash pop star, your mom an actress, your dad a business owner, and your brother owned an art gallery?” He repeated, trying to turn the focus back on her instead. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like. Was it difficult giving it all up?”
________
“Oh, wow - that’s a lot of people. You like having them here though?” Alexis questioned, head tipped to the side curiously. She really missed David and hoped he came back - honestly, she’d take anyone from that podunk little town. Maybe even Roland (or not Roland, since he had a baby to look after). “But yeah, difficult was the name of the game for awhile.”
It made her laugh a little, fondly, all those memories she had of leaky motel roofs and the dead body situation (well, that part wasn’t fun because ew, Stevie touched it) and the trashed pregnancy test that everyone thought was hers, but it was really Jocelyn’s. Her life was crazy in a way that didn’t have to do with demon slaying or having superpowers or magic, like many of the people here. “I guess eventually we just realized that all of it was fake?” she mused. “That it didn’t really even matter. That it would have ruined us, if we didn’t get that wakeup call.”
________
Somedays it seemed like being in Vallo was a blessing in disguise, while other days it seemed like it was a nightmare. Having his mom show up had been a good thing, but having Sam show up without his soul, less good. Still, it was Sam and that was all that mattered. With Alexis being so chill about the supernatural thing he wondered if maybe he could open up to her a little more than he usually would. Maybe he used hunting as an excuse, something to hide behind so he didn’t have to share. If nothing else, it would be nice to have a friend on the outside, someone like Alexis, who kind of reminded him a little of Charlie, with her cheeriness and optimism. Someone he had- nope, not going there.
“Yeah, it’s definitely nice having them around. My mom, she, uh…” Dean looked down at the table with an uneasy laugh, his fingers drumming against his leg. “Died. She died when I was about four years old and my younger brother was only six months.” His voice fell soft and he started to wonder why the fuck he had gone down this road to begin with. “My life, it’s all sorts of crazy and you can’t even begin to imagine the shit that has happened, but-” he let out a heavy exhale and then drew in a deep breath, lifting his gaze to meet hers, a half hearted smile on his face. “Sorry, I’m an idiot, this probably isn’t one of those things you talk about on a first date, er, um, whatever this is, I guess. Believe it or not, my kill count is tremendously higher than my date count. So, yeah-” What. The. Fuck?!?
He reached out to grab the mug of beer and took a long drink from the glass. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and someone you know will show up.”
____________
“No, it’s totally fine!” Alexis assured, her smile encouraging, because the whole point of a date was to get to know each other better - sure, it didn’t mean they had to spill the entirety of their guts, but still. “It’s not a bad thing, if you need to talk about it. Anyone who lost their mom at an early age and then having her show up again someplace when you’ve grown - well, that’s something to get used to.”
Or least she assumed that was the case. Besides, Dean gave off these very macho, tough-guy vibes - like he was a product of some shitty patriarchal system that encouraged men to stifle their emotions and not discuss them, acting like men didn’t even have emotions at all, but that was not true. And also terrible.
“We can talk about pretty much anything except like, decaying corpses or something,” she added cheerfully, unrolling her silverware from her napkin. Their food was dropped off, and she looked forward to chowing down - most of the time she watched what she ate, but she exercised daily (she was a runner, a jogger) and was diligent enough to allow herself a morning coffee beverage of the pumpkin spice variety, sometimes, as a treat. A nice steak was a treat too. Oh, and speaking of treats - “And I’ll show you the best place to get ice cream after this, so save room.”
She said it with a playful twinkle in her eyes, like she was sharing the most important secret, but she hadn’t taken anyone there yet, so why not? Alexis Rose was truly a giver at heart.
____
Decaying corpses, ha. He might have been a bit of a noob when it came to dating, but discussing dead bodies and shit like that was never something he discussed. Still, even though she told him they could talk about anything, he decided it would be best to stay away from the emotional side of things. At least, for now, anyway. “Ooh, the best place to get ice cream? I am all in, and there’s always plenty of room for dessert.” He assured her with a wink and a smile.
Somehow, he managed to eat his entire meal without dropping anything all over him, which was a definite plus. The conversation shifted towards Vallo and the upcoming musical, which Dean was more than okay with, and once they had finished eating he paid the bill and escorted her out and back to the car. Twenty minutes later they were sitting on a bench outside the ice cream place, and Dean was happily devouring his apple pie sundae. “Okay, you just introduced me to my new favorite place. This has to be the most incredible sundae I’ve ever eaten. How can I ever repay?” he questioned with a teasing smile.
_______
“Well, I’m glad you like it,” Alexis preened, and she just had a feeling her secret ice cream shop would be a big hit. Or, well, it wasn’t that much of a secret, considering it was right there in the city (close by to the Apothecary, actually, that’s how she found it) - but she was glad to have an excuse to show it off to someone.
_______
“Next time, I am so getting that bacon flavored ice cream. Like, what? That is just insane.” Dean laughed and sucked his spoon clean, digging right back in to his sundae. “Oh, I have options?” He turned to look at her with a crooked grin and bit down on his tongue, trying not to laugh. “You, uh...there’s a little, um…” he leaned in closer and reached out to swipe his finger along her nose, wiping away a small bit of ice cream. “...ah, got it.”
It felt like it had been ages since he’d been able to do anything without constantly worrying about something, someone, or whatever, and it was definitely a nice change of pace. “Back to those options, do any of them involve a kiss, or getting to take you out again?” Not exactly smooth, but what the hell? No guts, no glory.
_____
Alexis laughed a little, trying not to go cross-eyed when Dean swiped at the leftover dollop on her face. Ice cream was such a mess sometimes but so good, she would never give it up. “Next time,” she agreed. “Bacon’s all you. And, well - “
Since he asked for a kiss, she could give him one - he was being very gentlemanly about it, since asking was always better than just assuming. And taking. So with her spoon stuck in her ice cream cone, she leaned in and planted one of those kisses on his lips, minty cool and sweet as a sugar cloud. “Thanks for dinner, by the way. I had a nice time.”
And after such a crappy time with being waypointed into a hotel of horrors, she needed a few good nights out to take the edge off, so she was pretty glad that things worked out as they did.
_____
“You’re welcome,” he whispered as she pulled away from the kiss. “I had a nice time too, and it was definitely a pleasure.” While they finished up their ice cream he contemplated his next move. Drive, or walk her home? Walk. It wasn’t that far and it was a nice night, with no looming threats at the moment. He walked with her towards the apartments, rather slowly, given the shoes she was wearing, and he went up to the lobby with her.
“I look forward to seeing you again. Be it at rehearsal, or, wherever.” Fuck, this was awful, he felt like a teenager again and he absolutely hated how awkward it felt. In a last minute decision he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek. “Have a good night, Alexis.”
_____
Maybe he was awkward, but it was endearing - dates were all about awkwardness anyway, and given her rather questionable history in that arena? Alexis hadn’t really experienced your typical dinner-ice cream combo in awhile, something wholesome like that. Before Schitt’s Creek, it had been Stavros flying them someplace on a private jet, rolling on ecstasy in a club, or wreaking havoc in the Hamptons.
“You too, Dean,” she grinned, wiggling fingers in a wave, before turning and heading toward the elevator to take it up to her apartment. “Don’t get into too much trouble.”
Maybe some though. Some was always good for the soul.