“So, the party starts at ten. Castiel and I are performing for about hour starting from ten thirty until eleven thirty. So, even if we left right away after that, we would only barely have time to get home before the year changes. Also, pretty sure Morgan will want to stay there so we don’t have a ride.”

Amanda, Castiel, Leon and Sarah were gathered in Castiel’s room going through the plans for New Year’s Eve. Leon was running Amanda’s curls through his fingers while he talked. To Sarah, it was absolutely adorable. Equally adorable was how Castiel, who was sitting behind her on the bed, had wrapped his arms around Sarah and rubbed small circles on her sides with his thumbs.

“We should have our own party beforehand then,” Amanda said. “We could have some snacks and share our gifts, and if were at Leon’s it’d be easy for Morgan to pick us all up in one go.”

“That sounds good to me,” Sarah said.

She hadn’t been to Leon’s home yet, so it’d be nice to see what his place was like.

“Should we meet up at like eight? Twenty minute drive to the party so we have like an hour and half before we have to leave.”

Everyone nodded and mumbled in agreement.

“I think it’d be fun if everyone brought something to eat,” Amanda suggested, “like, bag of crisps or candy or cookies or whatever. It doesn’t need to be anything big.”

“That’d be fun. And that way Leon wouldn’t have to get everything.”

“Yeah.”

They agreed on that as well and ironed out a few more tiny details. Castiel said Leon and Amanda could stay and hang out, but they had to leave since Amanda’s dog was alone at home. Castiel suspected they just wanted to take an advantage of Amanda’s house being empty, as if he wasn’t thinking the exact same thing himself. His parents were out. He was alone with Sarah.

Castiel and Sarah saw their friends off downstairs, and after the front door closed, Castiel walked up to Sarah and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She had come home few days earlier and they had seen each other briefly but hadn’t properly spent time together until now.

Sarah felt Castiel’s solid chest against her back, and his strong arms around her. She smiled when he rested his chin on top of her head. She placed her hands on top of Castiel’s.

“Enjoying yourself?” she asked.

“Yes. I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Sarah said and leaned against Castiel.

It was nice to be close to him again. She had enjoyed her holiday, but hugging Castiel for the first time after coming back had been the best feeling in the world.

“Do you want to maybe go back to my room?” Castiel asked, letting his hands wander a bit lower on Sarah’s body shining light to some of his intentions.

“Maybe…”

“I’ll take Ares out real quick first,” he said and extracted himself from the embrace.

The cast on Ares’s leg had been removed and the healing progress had been wonderful, but he still had to wear a cone and live in a bit more restricted space for few weeks just so that he wouldn’t accidentally strain himself too much. Ares was already allowed to roam pretty freely when other people were around, but they had also slowly started to let him out of the kitchen by moving the fences to the living room when he was alone in the house. He was still banned from couches which annoyed the dog greatly.

While Castiel went outside with the dog, Sarah made her way to Castiel’s room. She straightened the bedcovers and pillows that had become crumbled from four people sitting on the bed and moving around. Then she lied down and stretched herself a bit before settling into a comfortable position. Her eyes wandered the walls of Castiel’s room, looking at the few photos and posters on the walls.

She closed her eyes with a content sigh. She enjoyed a relaxing and quiet moment.

Door opened and closed downstairs, and soon Sarah heard steps in the stairs. They stopped at the doorway.

“Are you sleeping?” Castiel asked quietly before walking in.

“No.”

Sarah rolled to her side and opened her eyes slightly. Castiel lied down next to her and pulled her close. Sarah wrapped an arm around him and for a moment they enjoyed each other’s presence in silence.

“I missed you,” Castiel mumbled the words again against Sarah’s shoulder.

“I missed you too.”

“It’s weird. You were away only for a week, but it felt like such a long time.”

“It did. I’m happy to be back. I would’ve come by properly earlier, but I really needed to recharge. Being around so many people was exhausting.”

“It sounded like they were quite a bunch.”

“Yeah. It was nice, but it was hard to take a break. It wasn’t ‘polite’ to spend time alone. Even if you didn’t want to talk, you had to be in the same room with everyone else. So, I was still exposed to all the commotion even though I tried to filter it out.”

It had been fun to spend time with her relatives after not seeing them in such a long time, but socializing had become very tiring after the first few days. Especially when every day was also packed full of other activities. Sarah could barely call it a holiday.

“I would’ve said fuck them and been alone anyway.”

Sarah let out a laugh.

“I’m sure you would’ve. You might’ve even escaped after a few days. I feel like my cousins’ presence would’ve been too much. Or my aunt’s. Well, definitely my aunt’s.”

“You think I’m that weak?”

Sarah felt Castiel’s lips curve into a smile.

“No. But I have a feeling you wouldn’t have enjoyed it too much. Although I said we could maybe meet up with them during the summer.”

“Oh, really?”

“We don’t have to, of course, but it could be fun.”

“I’d like to meet them.”

“It’d be nice. Amity has a boyfriend too, so if he comes, you can hang out with another guy,” Sarah said and smiled, “and you don’t need to suffer in the all-girls group.”

“I’m sure I’d suffer terribly surrounded by beautiful girls,” Castiel said.

Sarah chuckled and poked his side with her finger.

“Should I be concerned?”

“Of course not. I have my eyes only on you.”

His lips brushed against Sarah’s neck, pressing soft kisses on her skin. The feeling made Sarah’s skin rise to goosebumps as she slightly turned her head. Her fingers brushed Castiel’s back. The kisses moved from Sarah’s neck to her jaw and finally the corner of her mouth where they stopped.

Sarah wiggled herself into a better position where she could see Castiel’s face. They were so close that their noses touched. She looked into Castiel’s grey eyes before smiling and closing the short distance between their mouths with a soft kiss.

“I missed this as well,” she whispered when their lips parted slightly.

“Me too,” Castiel replied and kissed her again.

Sarah had no idea how much he had missed this; touching her, holding her, kissing her… Castiel had felt like he was starving.

Their hands started to wander, tugging on clothes, and sliding under shirts. The touches made Sarah shiver. She’d never get tired of feeling Castiel’s fingers on her skin. The touch left an almost burning feeling behind.

In a sudden burst of boldness, Sarah pushed Castiel on his back and climbed on top of him. Their kissing paused for a second, and Castiel looked at Sarah in surprise, causing her to blush in deep shade of red. Embarrassment hit her in seconds, and she shifted to retreat from her position. Oh god, why had she done this? Castiel must’ve thought she was stupid.

Before she could move, Castiel placed his hands on her hips, holding Sarah in place.

“Don’t go,” he said, sounding breathless. It was so hot to see Sarah straddling him.

Sarah stayed in place, heart thumping in her chest. Castiel’s fingers fiddled with the hem of Sarah’s shirt pushing it up slowly. His parents could come home at any point, so things had to stay somewhat decent, but it wouldn’t stop them completely. Every moment he could spend with Sarah was a win.

When Castiel had pushed the shirt up enough, Sarah pulled it off. She felt Castiel’s eyes on her body, inspecting every inch of exposed skin with a hungry look.

“I want to eat you all up,” he said. His fingers pressed against Sarah’s hip bones.

Sarah blushed again and bit her lip. Her heart thumped in her chest when she ran her hands up Castiel’s stomach to his chest pushing his shirt up in the process.

“What are you waiting for then?”

A wolfish grin spread on Castiel’s face when he pulled Sarah closer and pressed a searing kiss on her lips. He prayed his parents wouldn’t come home anytime soon.

When Sarah sat up to look for her shirt, she winced from a slight pain on her shoulder. Castiel pushed himself into a sitting position as well, distracting Sarah for a moment with the flex of muscles.

“How badly I’m bruised?” Sarah asked while trying to inspect her body.

“Um, not too badly? You should be able to cover all of them with clothes.”

Castiel felt bashful seeing all the love bites blooming on Sarah’s light skin. Maybe he had gotten bit too excited, but in his defence, Sarah had been fine with it. Of course, he would’ve stopped if she had asked him to, but she only told him to make sure no marks would be on easily noticeable spots. Castiel had happily obliged which meant that the skin below her collarbones was a home to several marks now which hopefully wouldn’t all bruise, but at least they were pretty red at the moment. There were even few around her hips.

Sarah put on her shirt and fixed her hair a bit, but before she could get up, Castiel wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close again.

“You’re alright, right?” he asked with a tinge of concern in his voice, “I wasn’t too rough?”

Sarah smiled and kissed his cheeks.

“I’m fine,” she reassured, “you don’t need to worry.”

Castiel had showered her in so much affection and desire that the experience had been a bit overwhelming, but she had enjoyed it. Sarah was happy that they could still enjoy each other without going all the way. She had thought about the next step more and more recently, and all these positive experiences with other aspects of intimacy helped Sarah build the confidence and trust she needed. For now, she was content with the current situation, and luckily Castiel seemed to be too.

They walked downstairs to let Ares out of his confinement in the kitchen. The dog was excited to see them and charged towards Sarah to shower her in affection. Sometimes Castiel felt like Ares was more affectionate towards her than him, but it was adorable to see. He still couldn’t help laughing a bit at the memory from few weeks back, where Ares had defended Sarah against Castiel’s cuddling. It really showed how much Ares cared about her. It created such a strong contrast between the relationship between Rachel and Ares that Castiel wondered how he had even dated a girl his dog didn’t like.

They shared a few sandwiches and a small bag of crisps as a snack before Sarah said she needed to head home. She wanted to ask her mother if she could stay over at Castiel’s the next day, since they would come home from the party so late. Even though her mother had been more lenient recently, Sarah wanted to butter her up a little bit by helping with housework and such.

“I’ll come pick you up tomorrow before we head to Leon’s,” Castiel said when they were exchanging goodbyes at the door.

“Sounds good.”

Sarah was excited about the next day. She had never really been to parties. It would be so exciting. And she would hear Castiel and Leon play again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

They exchanged a quick kiss before Sarah headed out. She barely had crossed the road when a car driving towards her honked. She jumped but noticed Castiel’s mother waving excitedly at her. Sarah smiled and waved back. Then she hurried home to start negotiations with her mother. She was determined to reach her goal, so she was prepared for a long discussion.