"We. We together. One being.

Flow together like water.

Till I can't tell you from me. I drink you. Now. Now"

– The Thin Red Line

April, 1965

Cas held his drink high as he navigated the crowd. It was as if the room were made of nothing but elbows as people pushed past him and into him, the threat of beer being sloshed onto his clothes an all too real danger. He jostled past Anna Milton, all long red hair and even longer legs, and she smiled at him, stopping a moment on her way to the back of the house

"Killer party, huh?" she said over the dull drone of people talking and the music flooding from the dining room. Cas nodded, grinning a little, using the back of his hand to push his glasses back into place. She giggled and touched the white collar of his shirt, kissing him on the cheek.

"It's so good to see you out of the library. Finals are torture!" she laughed and Cas shrugged, pulling his drink down to chest level now that he wasn't moving so much.

"Tell me about it."

"You think you did ok?" she said, stepping closer, and he could smell her perfume and the powder she had used on her neck. It stood out on her white skin as a delicate film from the heat of the party and all the bodies packed into the tiny Sorority house; he was tempted to wipe away a smudge that hadn't blended correctly out of some absent desire to fix it.

"I did as well as I could. You?" he answered, watching her roll her eyes to the ceiling, moving one shoulder Casually.

"Same, I guess!" she suddenly smiled, pushing him slightly, "Don't be so modest! We all know you aced!"

Castiel could feel the blush creeping up and coloring his ears, but he continued to shrug the compliment off.

"Well, enough talk about school. I'm glad you're having a good time," she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, "there's lots of girls here, you know," she pushed him again with her hand and Cas laughed nervously.

"Yeah," he trailed, looking around. She was right. There were plenty of girls.

"Here," she stepped forward and straightened his collar and his tie a little, smoothing her hands over his shoulders, "and remember to smile! You could get lucky tonight!"

"I doubt it," Castiel coughed, and she let her hands swing back down by her sides. She gave him a long look and smiled.

"I don't know," she sing–songed, "Come on, for you it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel!"

Castiel scoffed, taking a sip of his beer while she laughed at him. Finishing his swallow, he was just opening his mouth to say something else when there was a displaced roar from the front of the house. Several people turned to look, some fidgeting nervously.

An engine gunned and from the archway to the foyer, Castiel could see a bright beam of yellow light spearing through the front window.

"Cops?" someone said, a girl, her voice nervous. A friend shushed her and everyone was quiet, the music pouring out of the dining room seeming louder than ever in the gathered silence. A group of guys moved to the window, and though he could barely see over them he craned his neck to watch as they crowded around it, their hands on the glass.

"Who the hell invited him?" one of them said, pulling back from the pane to glare behind him at the party goers. Cas frowned and the engine cut off, the light going with it. "He parked right on the lawn!"

Cas' eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Parked on the lawn? So that was the light he had seen. He felt his pulse quicken – whoever it was, they had guts parking on the Delta lawn in the middle of the night, especially when they were apparently not welcome.

"I can't believe she did it," Anna said, and Cas turned to see her shaking her head, sighing as she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked at Cas and raised her eyebrows. "If you heard it from me, I told her not to tell him about tonight. It's going to be nothing but trouble."

"Who?" Cas asked, looking back to what little he could see of the foyer.

"You'll see," Anna laughed, and when Cas turned to continue speaking to her, she was already half way across the room, slipping away into the kitchen. Cas blew a breath out of his mouth and then glanced back at the foyer, still curious. Two girls had replaced the boys at the window, and were whispering to each other as he approached. He stared over their heads, but it was too dark to see from his distance what they were looking at.

"Did you see him?"

"Martha, don't look!"

"Oh, I can't help it! He's so bad! Would you look at that bike?"

"Can you even believe it? He and Lisa?"

They giggled into their hands, attempting to keep their breath from fogging up the glass, and one of them began tugging on their skirts a little in anxiety.

Cas' brow furrowed and he tried to look past one of their heads to understand, but he could only manage to make out was a shadowy group of people in front of what must have been the motorcycle they were referring to. It was too dark to tell the model, but the group was really two – four Fraternity brothers that Castiel knew from school and one individual a little taller than them, his back angled towards Cas. Castiel blinked and then rolled his eyes as the girls squealed.

"Do you think they'll fight? Rich looks like he's just spoiling for one!"

"Beth, don't talk like that! If there's a fight someone will call the police for sure!"

Cas snorted at the conversation and turned away, trying to remember if he would end up in the dining room if he went past the staircase on his left. Someone had changed the album and now The Beatles was filtering through the house. Abandoning the otherwise uninteresting stranger, Castiel made his way past the stairs, itching to dance. He bounced a little on his toes and hummed to the beat as he turned a corner – and excellent. The front parlor had been transformed into a makeshift dance floor, the sofas pushed to another room (one was even outside) to make space for the people already jammed inside, rocking with the music.

In the sea of people he could see Hester laughing and bobbing her head as a boy whispered something in her ear. She was looking in Cas' direction though, and he waved and she grinned, lifting her hand to beckon him over. He looked around for a place to set his drink and settled for the mantle already littered with bottles, and then hurried to her, pardoning himself as he knocked against the dancing people who were too engrossed in the music, or their partners, to care much.

"Cas!" Hester said, tugging his arm, coaxing him into a twist. He followed her example and soon the two of them were dancing, working into the groove of the group.

"Oh my gosh, so have you heard?" Hester said suddenly in an interlude, pressing herself close to him. Cas bent his ear instinctively to her, still moving his feet and she repeated herself, louder. "Did you hear?! About who came?"

Cas pulled back and rolled his eyes again, shoving his glasses back up his nose. He really needed to get the frames adjusted...

"I heard. Who is it?" he asked and Hester gaped at him, her arms swinging in time with the music.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Well, I mean, I guess it's someone Lisa knows?" he continued, barking a laugh, and

Hester shook her shoulders in rhythm, even as she gave Cas the most incredulous look he'd ever seen. He frowned, annoyed.

"You just finished your first year and you don't even know who Dean Winchester is! Honestly!" She huffed, "I mean, he's only the top racer in the county – and the cutest repeat offender in the city. I think it's true he's got a record, but a lot of people think it's just rumors!"

Cas laughed at her, his curiosity piqued.

"So what about him?" he teased, twisting again. Hester bent closer.

"Well, you know, Lisa and him were together in high school! There's all this scandal about it because he's so bad and she's a Delta girl, you know?"

"Anna said she told her not to invite him!" Cas added. "I did know that much!"

Hester nodded enthusiastically.

"I'd believe it! A boy like Dean at a Delta party? That's asking for trouble!"

"He parked on the lawn."

"He did not!" she shrieked, blushing, "Oh, gosh, he's just so bad, don't you think? Did Rich fight him? He said he would if he showed – those two hate each other...wait, did you see it? His bike?"

She grabbed his arm and Cas smiled at her, shrugging.

"Maybe?"

"Did you? Cas, did you?"

"It was too dark," he admitted and Hester let his arm go with a disapproving noise.

"You awful tease! That bike has won him so much money – he's going to be state champ this year, I just know it. We'll read about him in all the papers and then he'll win the big cup and take some lucky gal."

"You hoping it's you?" Cas prodded, stepping closer to her to get out of someone's way.

She tossed her head.

"Not on my life! He's beautiful, but he goes through girls like seasons! Well, and all those rumors! Not on my life!"

"What rumors?" he stepped back again even though Hester held tight on his arm.

"You mean you haven't heard? Where have you been?" She laughed, getting nearer to Cas, her movements slowing so she could get a better look at his face. "You really haven't heard?"

Castiel shook his head and Hester tugged at his arm, dragging him through the waves of people and out, placing them near the stairwell where it was less crowded. She motioned for him to get closer, and he did so, ducking his head so that he could hear her more clearly.

"Apparently he's been raising his little brother since he was a kid himself, and his dad was a deadbeat or something like that."

Cas frowned and pulled away, holding his drink at his chest.

"That's awful."

"That's what I heard, and people say it's a rumor, but I think it's actually true."

"Well, if it's true, that doesn't really make it a rumor, does it?"

Cas didn't say anything, placing his drink on one of the steps behind Hester instead. She picked up a cup beside it and held it up to her nose, sniffing and making a face as she put it back. She coaxed him down to her level again and he followed, moving slightly closer.

"I also heard the reason why he and Lisa broke up was because he's a homosexual," she whispered it right in his ear, and Cas jerked his head back, his eyes wide behind his glasses. She shrugged again. "Only rumors again, Cas! Could go either way!"

Castiel pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose with his finger. Hester smiled and laughed at him and grabbed him by the wrist to drag him back into the mob of people before stopping near the kitchen.

"Wait right here–I want to get something to drink and then we can dance some more, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Cas smiled and leaned against the wall, watching the bodies in front of him move along with the music. A few minutes later Hester came barreling out of the kitchen, grabbing Cas by the arm again, surprising him and causing him to jump.

"Oh my God, Cas! I love this song!" she exclaimed, "Don't you just love The Beatles?" she moved her body and bobbed her head, holding Cas' wrist in her hand as he moved with her.

"Yeah, they're great!" he grinned, and Hester grinned back.

"We should go see them one day, huh? Maybe they'll play around here and we can go see them together!"

"That would be cool, but–"

"But you'd rather see Elvis. I know, I know. Jeez, Cas, who are you? My mother?"

"Hey, without him your precious Lennon would never have gotten over here,"

"Don't be so bitter! Elvis is fine... if you're ancient!"

Castiel rolled his eyes and moved along with Hester, bobbing his head, and Hester wouldn't stop grinning, but then Cas' attention was drawn elsewhere when he saw someone walk out of the kitchen. Hester stopped when she noticed that Castiel wasn't dancing anymore, and she followed his eyes.

"That's him," she spoke low and jabbed Cas with her elbow, and he snapped his attention to her.

"Who?"

"Dean Winchester. Oh my God, isn't he just so handsome?"

Castiel watched as Dean walked through the crowded room, right past them, and he could feel the brush of his leather jacket against his arm, and it sent a sort of chill through his body. Dean continued walking without looking back, and he rounded a corner and disappeared.

"Hey!" Hester waved her hand in front of his face and he jumped back, bumping into someone behind forcing him to apologize quickly before turning back to face Hester. "Hey, are you okay? You sort of drifted off there for a moment."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," he said, pausing for a moment, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "He looked angry."

"Rich probably tried to fight him, but he was probably asking for it. I heard he likes to start things, you know?" She shrugged and tugged at Cas' sleeve, pouting. "C'mon, let's keep dancing; this is the only thing keeping me from going insane here."

Cas stared at the spot where Dean had turned for a moment longer before nodding and letting his body start to reacclimatize acclimate to the music, his attention back to Hester. "Yeah, okay." He smiled and Hester swayed in front of him, moving her arms at her sides, and he matched her motions, keeping beat with the song.

It didn't take very long before he had lost himself in the music and the drifting movements of the other people around them. He smiled at Hester and she bit her lip coyly, sneaking his hands to her waist. Cas stalled for a moment when his palms brushed over her dress, his throat growing a little thick. His fingers twitched and he settled them on her body, her own arms coming up over his shoulders. He took a breath and tried to look over her shoulder even as she tried to peer right in his eyes. He knew how Hester felt about him. She was constantly trying to get him interested, and it wasn't her fault. It really wasn't.