Are You Insane??

Who: Dean and Caleb
Where: Art class
When: First period

Dean sat slumped in his chair, art pad open in front of him, his attention focused on that as he drew, filling up the white space, though his mind wasn't really there, not really. His mind was all over the place - still, like it had been all damn weekend. Oz had been right, Oz had been so, so right - he'd completely underestimated what it would take to live in the same house as the girl he had a thing for, especially when she was a cuddly type. But he hadn't expected... He'd started flirting with her, he knew. He didn't mean to, but, occasionally he'd realise that he had been - and that wasn't fair to her, wasn't fair to either of them. He knew why she and Joshua had broken up - even if there was a snowball's chance in hell she might be vaguely interested, which he doubted, now was not the time. Now was the time she needed to get her head straight and find herself and everything that went with that, not to have her best friend, who she trusted, start... But, she'd crawled into bed with him and he couldn't get that image out of his mind. He scribbled out the last drawing he'd done of her and turned the page, welcoming the white blankness again.

Caleb wandered into class a tiny bit late. This was due to the fact that he'd gotten a note tacked to his front door, which had been--weirdly enough--from Lullaby. Who had a request for him. One that, considering his opinion on Dean's love life, he had been more than happy to do. Therefore--lateness. He figured he and Dean should probably get together sometime soon, where it was less public, just to catch up and re-assess, but for now...there was art class. He walked up and dropped down into the chair on the opposite side of the table, eyeing Dean critically. "You look...broody." he observed.

Dean eyes flipped up to meet Caleb's gaze and he shrugged. "Monday morning," he told his friend, brushing it off as he started drawing a little angel with black eyes - the style that Thia had liked so much. He'd been working on developing more like that and half way through he turned the angel into a little devil with wings instead.

Caleb made half an effort to take out his own drawing pad, though he flipped it to the picture he'd done of Dean, Leija and in the far background, Lullaby. He tipped it over to Dean to show him without a word about it as he tugged another book out of his bag. "So it is." he said helpfully. He dropped the book on the table, and old, hard cover, heavy monstrosity that he'd dug up at Nevermore.

Dean took the pad and looked at the drawing, a hint of a smile appearing as he noted who was in it. He looked up again. "Nice," he said, before his gaze alighted on the books on the table. He blocked out the whispers from the next table, the giggles that had started when Caleb took out the heavier book as he looked at what his friend had put down. Zombies - that was the obvious theme, though the two books were very difference. The large book Dean hefted up and looked at briefly - that looked fairly factual, none mainstream, definitely a Nevermore text. And it went straight into his bag because of it, which set the whispers from the three girls at the next table going again. The smaller book was a paperback and Dean picked it up, reading the title and then opening it up. It looked fairly mainstream, but it took him a minute to realise that 'The Zombie Survival Guide' was actually a complete work of fiction, which got a little chuckle from him.

Caleb propped his chin on his hand, taking his drawing back before he opened up to a new page. "The first one--as you requested." he said. "The second...a gift. And not from me." he clarified. "There's a note in there somewhere.

What the note, clearly in Lullaby's handwriting, said was:
Dean,
I thought you might like this. We need a better plan just in case. ;p either way, enjoy.
<3 Love,
Thia

Dean took the note, reading it over several times, short though it was, that slight smile appearing on his face again, before he looked up at Caleb. "How...?" he asked, not getting how Caleb had come to be the delivery boy for a present from Thia.

"Don't ask me--there was a note on my front door when I left for school this morning from her. Asked me to get that for you, from her, and to put the note with it. So...there you have it. You know as much as I do now." Caleb explained. "If I would have seen her, I would have suggested she get you World War Z, too." he added.

Dean looked back down at the note, touched by the gesture. He didn't often get random presents. In fact, he figured that the last one he'd received was actually from her as well - the chain and cross he wore round his neck, though that chain now also held the ring she'd asked him to keep safe for her, though she didn't know that. Or, at least, he didn't think she did. He hoped she didn't. His eyes ran back and forth over the words again and again until he realised that Caleb was still speaking and he looked up. "..Huh?"

Caleb smirked and shook his head. Yeah. Dean just...had it so, so incredibly bad. "Yeah, welcome back." he said. "I said, if I'd seen her, I would have suggested she get you World War Z too. Same author as that one. It was great." he explained. Yeah, he didn't mind playing messenger boy. Especially since he knew the girl couldn't go out herself to get shit. Actually...for the first time he wondered when she'd done that, and why she'd been out in what had to have been the middle of the night, because other wise it was a logistical nightmare...

Dean caught the look and put the note very firmly back in the book and then the book into his bag, knowing he'd been drifting again. He kept doing that, his mind wandering off down happy little trails of completely inappropriate things that were never. going. to. happen. "Sorry," he apologised, sitting up and leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table and shaking it off.

"Don't apologize to me, I don't care. You just got a gift. Enjoying it for ten seconds is fine by me." Caleb informed him. He started loosely sketching, not sure what he was going to be coming up with today. He told himself he probably shouldn't draw Leija yet again, even if she didn't seem to mind that she was his favorite subject. "You know...getting gifts..." he started, trailing that off.

"Don't. Just... don't," Dean told him, warningly, holding up a finger. he knew what Caleb was insinuating and he really didn't need that kind of thing right now. He knew that he was right on this one - the sensible, objective part of him, anyway. Not the part that kept losing himself on flights of fancy. No, that part needed to be pinned back down again - and he'd been doing so well with it up until last week as well.

Caleb chuckled a little. "Okay--just saying." he said. "You know, I keep forgetting to mention to you that things with Leija and I sort of...evolved." he said, not sure quite how to word that one. It was something in his head he knew. Kind of like he didn't necessarily think the word 'dating' applied. Dating just seemed to him to be so...1950's.

"Yeah?" Dean asked, looking across, wondering how he felt about that. There was at least a part of him that was concerned about that. After all, it was one of the things that he was trying to avoid with Thia. Even if there was the slightest chance she was interested, he knew that she'd fall in his estimation if she could move on that quickly from Joshua. Or worse, he could find himself as the rebound guy. Neither was a particularly enticing prospect, but he knew that Leija had been dating that other guy not that long ago. Then again, he also knew Caleb's situation was slightly different from his own, so, he kept his concerns to himself.

Caleb nodded. "Yeah." he confirmed. "I guess you could say we hooked up." he said. Yeah. He and labels weren't necessarily friends. "It's...new. Interesting." And a little strange, but he couldn't tell if it was because of the situation it was born from, or because he was twitchy. He even knew some of his twitchyness was due directly to what happened with Jamie, and had nothing to do with Leija at all, but that didn't stop the twitch.

Dean raised an eyebrow at that. "'Interesting'? That's a... an interesting way of putting it," he said as the whispers at the table next to them betrayed that the girls there had obviously been seeking actual confirmation of that point. He heard Caleb's name mentioned, then Leija's and he looked round and gave them a Look, before turning back to Caleb again.

Caleb rolled his eyes at the girls. Whatever. "I'm slightly twitchy over anything girlfriendly after my last one went batshit insane." he said, voice much lower, so he wouldn't be overheard. Hopefully. "Or maybe just the title. I don't know. But yeah. It's interesting. I still have some things to think about with it, but so far it seems to be working out fine." In the way that he'd gotten to do things to her that he'd been wanting to for months now.

"Well, here's to a lack of insanity - they say it's a plan," Dean told him, leaning in a bit more and dropping his voice equally. He wondered about the ex there, but figured that art class was not the place for discussing something like that. Art class really wasn't the place for discussing anything except that which you didn't mind being common gossip in about 0.3 seconds. "Hope it goes okay for you though," Dean told him, honest with that. He might have some concerns about the whole thing, but he really did hope it worked out for his friend.

"Thank you." Caleb said. "Me too." He wasn't sure it would...wasn't sure it wasn't doomed from the get go what with what they were respectively, but then again, he always had those reservations. They just tended not to be at the front of his mind when Leija was actually around. She tended to take his mind off of things. In that wholly distracted sort of way. "I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a real lack of insanity. It's levels that are dealable or not."

Dean chuckled a little at that. "Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed after a moment. "Especially round here. Everything's just... Yeah, levels of insanity," he admitted. It just didn't seem to stop - it was just one thing after another, covering all subjects, all aspects of life. Or that's what it felt like. And some of it was dealable. And some of it was... not.

"Pretty much." Caleb agreed, starting to let his drawing take shape. It happened to be Melia, looking back over her shoulder out of the dark, a light smear of blood on her bottom lip. He half understood he was thinking about her because he'd been figuring on giving her a body. So...yeah. He should probably go see her anyhow, even if he didn't have a corpse to give her as a 'present'.

Dean watched Caleb's drawing develop for a few moments, before going back to his own, finishing off the little winged devil and starting on an angel to go with it, the two standing side by side, holding hands. "So... I don't have a plan B yet," he said, conversationally, aware that they couldn't really get into the subject, but wanting to cover that. "But plan A has very firmly been shelved..." Very firmly, given Thia's reaction and his own mini-breakdown in the aftermath.

Caleb glanced over and found Dean's drawing weirdly appropriate, considering they'd just been talking about he and Leija. But he didn't say anything about it. Instead he went back to shading Melia's eyes. "Very firmly, huh?" he asked. "Did you talk to her about it?" There was a light thread of doubt in his tone, considering how Dean had kept speaking like he knew what Lullaby's reaction would be, as opposed to entertaining much of the notion of speaking with her.

"Yeah, I did." He paused. "Or.. kinda. She might have come to talk to me about it, or... Anyway. We talked. There was talking. And a whole world of no. And..." He took a breath. "I feel better for that," he admitted. He'd been coming round to that - the relief had been immediate, but he'd had to work to rid himself of the lingering feelings of guilt and failure that he hadn't been able to step up and do what was necessary. But he had been working at that and they'd mostly gone away now, leaving him with just the feeling that the right decision had been made and that he was allowed to be okay with that decision. The downside of that was, of course, that it left that much more room in his brain for other thoughts. Did I tell you that she was in my bed when we went hunting? he thought at his friend. That I'd left her there, all curled up and asleep. Did I tell you how beautiful she looked there? How I'd never for.... Stop. It. he told himself firmly, feeling himself beginning to drift again. Seriously, he needed to get a grip.

"Good." Caleb said seriously. "I didn't think it was the best idea." Which he'd said. "There'll be something else that'll come up. Though...speaking of other shit that has to do with her...got that list for me? And possibly an idea on the monetary concerns on that?" he asked as delicately as possible. See this was why he was a private person. Even on a normal day, just going to school, he had to talk around murder, and illegal identity acquisition.

Dean shook his head. "Not yet. That all kinda, got sidelined. I'll get it for you though - I need to speak to my cousin, I'm fairly sure she and her partner will finance it. Though - there was some argument about that," he admitted, rolling his eyes. "Apparently I do too much..."

Caleb arched an eyebrow and went back to propping his head on his hand. "You do too much?" he asked. "How's that work exactly?" he asked. He had one idea, which was he'd been contemplating fucking murder for the girl, but he didn't figure that had anything to do with what he was talking about. So, he just waited for Dean to explain.

Dean went back to his drawing, shading in detail and occasionally glancing at Caleb as he spoke. "Just... Too much. I kinda... She called me on the fact that I tend to automatically make her problems my problems. She needs things, I get them for her. And apparently that's a bad thing. or something," he shrugged. "Like, I dunno, she'd rather have the problems or something, I dunno."

Caleb opened his mouth, then shut it again as he thought about that. "That's..." he started, trailing off. "No idea. Do you do that? Kind of...what. Cater to her every need and all that shit?"

Dean frowned, automatically opening his mouth to object to the way that was put. "No, I... There's no 'catering'. I just... I do what I can, y'know? Anybody would. It's nothing..." He trailed off, having been told enough times by different people that what he assumed 'anyone would do' wasn't the case and that his views of the world were skewed in that respect. "I just do what I can," he finished, a little lamely.

There was a bit of a 'you're shitting me, right?' look on Caleb's face at the whole 'anybody would' thing. He sure as shit knew not everyone did anything. In fact, he had family members who were great examples. They weren't talking about his mother, however. Or his father for that matter. He opened his mouth again to comment, then thought better of it and shrugged. "Whatever you say, man."

And there it was again, he Dean thought as he added another opinion to the list of people who thought that his world view was off. "Okay, fine, not what anyone would do - what anyone should do," Dean amended. "It's mostly little things - I got her a new phone, I went and got her things from where she'd been staying when I arranged for her to move in and stay with us." I'm financing her new identity, I'm learning first aid for her, I planned to kill her father... he added in there and cringed slightly. Was that catering?

Hearing it all listed out like that, Caleb had to wonder where Dean missed things. Because he could also add in two of the silent bits. The identity and the whole murder thing. Even if he hadn't actually done it--and thankfully wasn't continuing to plot it--he'd been willing to. Which y'know. said a whole lot. "New phone is a purchase, something you can measure. How much was it? And moving her in?" he shook his head slightly. "Yeah, that's kind of over the top. Above and beyond as it were."

"She wasn't safe where she was and she had nowhere else to go," Dean averred, slightly defensive and standing by his decision on that one. "And I could afford the phone - you were with me when I bought it," Dean shrugged, not mentioning that it had taken basically all of his savings.

"Oh yeah." Caleb said, thinking back. And if he remembered it hadn't been cheap. "I remember you got her a nice one. And I never said that it was the wrong thing to do or shit like that, but--it's still taking care of her. Which I get. I'm not arguing with you or anything. I mean, if she doesn't want to be taken care of..." he shrugged one shoulder.

"I can't just let her be though," Dean told him. "I mean - would you? If it was Leija who needed something," he added without really thinking about it, then pulled a face and thunked his head against the table. "Different, that's different," he moaned, without lifting his head. He really needed to get his brain in line and back on the right track about this whole thing.

"I'm probably not the best judge." Caleb said honestly. "Leija went missing for a while and when she did, I damn near broke the fuck out of the psych ward to go find her. And that would have involved using...talents I have that shouldn't necessarily be employed in a hospital." he said, voice very low. It only occurred to him after he'd said it that he didn't think Dean had known that he'd been in the psych ward. Fuck. Had he told him? He was losing it, clearly. He honestly didn't remember, things had been so fucked recently, on all sorts of levels.

Dean kept his head down against the table, thinking that he really, really had to do something here - he couldn't keep making little slips like that, like comparing his treatment of his friend to the treatment of someone's girlfriend which was another league entirely. Stupid, stupid, stupid... he thought to himself as Caleb thankfully didn't pull him up on it, which he was grateful for. He stopped his mental litany though as Caleb recounted to him what had happened because, no, he didn't know his friend had been in the psychiatric ward and he lifted his head slightly, automatically half turning, listening for any sign that the girls on the next table had found out anything they didn't already know.

Caleb was listening too. He knew that it was already heavily speculated that he'd been in the psych ward, so it wouldn't necessarily be new, he just didn't usually go mentioning it. Sort of at all. Not if he couldn't help it. He already probably had a bad enough reputation without adding to that. And yet. He was sort of wondering if Dean was going to ask about it, or sort of go about pretending he hadn't heard.

One of the girls caught his look as Dean turned and gave him a wide smile, before turning back to her friends to whisper something hurriedly, though he couldn't work out whether they were talking about Caleb or not, since they were all talking at once. Great. He turned back once again and shrugged. At least it got his mind off of Thia for a moment or two. He'd take that. "So... That's where you were then?" he asked, quietly, but not willing to push about anything here.

Caleb ducked down a little bit, but nodded. "That's where I was." he said very quietly again. He supposed he could backtrack, but it wouldn't come off as anything but backtracking. So...whatever. And he already had a big secret he was keeping from dean, he wouldn't feel that right about having another one. Particularly when it probably shouldn't matter. It might, but it shouldn't. "Went in about a week before school started. I think." he said. Something like that. He'd been there for two goddamn weeks and hey look! He still never wanted to go back there ever again.

Dean nodded. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime," he said. 'Sometime' meaning 'sometime not here' where there were ears listening. Those girls took far too much interest in them. He didn't show any signs of suddenly deciding that he was going to ditch Caleb because of the new information though - and the thought that he might do never even crossed his mind. That just wasn't the kind of thing Dean did, after all.

Caleb sort of gave him a half nod, accepting he'd probably have to wind up telling the story in some form, and yeah. Not here. He glanced over Dean's shoulder at the girls as well, and noticed the one he always seemed to see staring at Dean. "...I think you have a fan club." he commented.

Dean didn't even look round. "I think we're just classed as 'interesting'," he shrugged. "Maybe we should make efforts to be dull and boring and they can find someone else to talk about," he suggested, putting the finishing touches to his sketch and turning it round for Caleb to see.

Looking at it, Caleb was amused. Of course he was also amused because Dean seemed to be missing something. "Sure." he said. "That's why the blonde one keeps staring at you." he commented. "That's good. Angels and demons, huh?" he added.

Dean did turn to look then and the blonde, the girl who'd smiled at him earlier, was, in fact, looking his way fairly blatantly, her chin resting in her hands as her two friends watched, then burst into badly smothered giggles. Dean turned back to Caleb. "Oh. Right. I, erm... I..." he tried, finally catching on to the point. Right. Shit. "Erm, it's just something new I was trying - drew some little angel characters for her the other day and she really liked them, so I've been kinda developing a whole line of them," Dean told him, with a growing awareness that everything in his life right now was Thia-centric and that was probably part of the problem. Except with less 'probably' in there. She filled his world now and they were spending more and more time together. He should just... take a step back. Except that was easier said than done when it was so much easier not to do that.

The thought did in fact cross Caleb's mind that it seemed like everything Dean was doing had something to do with the girl in question. Apparently, even his doodles had to do with her. He maintained Dean had probably the worst crush he'd ever seen. Caleb classed his own thing with Leija as more of a blantant, creepy obsession. Then again, Dean had been willing to murder someone for the girl. ...maybe it wasn't that different. It was just weird to think about, considering Caleb had an excuse for the creepy obsessive stalker behavior. He wasn't sure Dean did. Besides that whole 'has it worse than anyone ever' part of the equation. "I'm sure she'll like them."

He was obsessing. He knew he was obsessing. And although it hadn't affected his friendship with Thia as of yet, it was really only a matter of time before he put his foot in it and ruined everything. It had been fine when she'd been dating Joshua, that had put an outside stopper on everything. He liked rules, he could deal with rules. Or he thought he could, but... He needed to do something here, he really, really did. "This is insane," he muttered, though it wasn't entirely clear what he was referring to as he put both hands flat against the table top and pushed himself up, turning and crossing the couple of paces to the next table, stepping in behind the chair of the blonde girl and resting a hand on the back of it as he leaned down and in.

Caleb blinked, not sure what Dean was referring to, before he shut it again. He watched Dean in something akin to traffic-accident morbid fascination, considering it looked really suspiciously like he was talking to the chick who clearly had at least a bit of a thing for him. Caleb wasn't entirely sure he was following. Because insane? He could definitely mark what he was seeing currently as insane. Definitely.

The conversation was short, just a quick exchange between the two of them before Dean pulled back and returned to his chair, accompanied by the sound of mile and hour whispering from the three girls as Dean collapsed back into his seat and ran a hand over his face before pushing his hair back and staring, blankly across the room, his back to the table next to them.

Staring himself, Caleb looked around Dean at the girls, who started whispering more when they noticed, and they all huddled in closer to continue. Then he looked back at Dean, pushed his drawing aside and leaned lower to the table and closer to dean as he lowered his voice. "...did you just ask her out?" he asked. Because that's what it looked like. "Are you insane?"

Dean nodded and looked across, it already hitting home what he'd just done. "Yeah, I'm.. taking her to see a movie tomorrow night," he admitted, his voice low, but sounding a little shocked. "I just..." No, he had no words, Caleb was right - this was insane, kinda.

"What is the matter with you?" Caleb asked. "I've been suggesting you ask a girl out, it wasn't that one." he pointed out. "You--you're seriously taking her out. Her. A freshman girl, who's whisper already ranks up there with nails on a chalkboard since she can't seem to shut up for two seconds all hour?"

"It... One date, just one that's all. I just..." Was desperate. "And it's a movie - you know, go sit in front of a film, no talking required. It'll be fine," Dean told him, hopefully. Since he didn't actually know. God, this was his first ever date and it was with some girl he'd only asked out to get his mind off the girl he couldn't have. His life was insane. Truly, honestly insane.

Now Dean was getting a look like he was stupid as well as crazy. "...sitting in front of a film, huh?" he asked. He shook his head. "...whatever you do, don't bring your piece...because you are going to want to shoot her within the first fifteen minutes..." he said, almost too low to hear at all. Caleb was wondering if this was just Dean being intensely masochistic. Because seriously.

Dean just gave him a Look for that. "Come on, seriously now," he said, sure that Caleb was massively exaggerating. Then again, that whispering was still going on and Dean could pick up enough of it to know they were talking clothes. Oh good god, were they planning her an outfit? It was just a bloody film, not the damn Oscars...

"Don't say you weren't warned." Caleb said, shaking his head. "And for the record, you're a moron, and going to regret this." Then he paused. "...or, well, maybe not all of it, depending." he added thoughtfully. Thinking about the way he knew that girl stared at Dean during class and the like, she might be the kind of girl who didn't spend the whole movie talking because she wanted to be doing other things. Which, in Caleb's humble opinion, Dean was in desperate need of...

Dean looked at him for that comment, then caught on with the way Caleb was thinking and he smirked a little. "Well, yeah, that did actually factor in a bit," he admitted, picking up his pencil and tapping it against his art pad quietly. He was desperate, he'd needed a distraction, but that distraction worked on a number of levels, after all. "And if... If she's that bad, it'll be a one off," he added with a shrug. Single, random date - how hard could that be?

Caleb eyed Dean. "...uh huh. Sure." he said, shaking his head. He didn't think so. But then again, he was glancing over Dean's shoulder at the girls who were quite obviously clearing their entire schedule to plan for a date the next night. For one of them. Girls were weird creatures, he was usually only attracted to the ones who weren't in with the rest of the herd, himself. But then he was kind of not known for being charitable or patient, so maybe that was just him. Not that Dean showed signs of being that. Well. Maybe. If it had to do with Lullaby.

They were talking about hair, they were talking about hair - god, they were talking about hair. What did it matter? Surely it was just a shower and a comb - there was nothing rocket science in there. He kept telling himself that it was just a movie and that it was just a single date, but the whispers behind him seemed to suggest that it was more than that. Girls were weird. "Anyone ever told you you're vastly cynical?" Dean retorted, but not with any venom. "Anyway, by the sounds of things she's going to be completely disappointed anyhow, if she expects anything special from me," he shrugged.

"Usually family members." Caleb said, not at all denying that fact. He was in fact, vastly cynical. That was just truth. Granted, he had reasons to be, but that was hardly the point. "Dean--you just walked over to a girl in the middle of class to ask her out. She's going to be expecting something special. You did it in class, in front of everyone, in front of her friends." Caleb pointed out. Then he grinned at Dean. "Will I be invited to the wedding?" he said, because he couldn't not take the shot.

"Fuck you," Dean told him, giving him the finger lightly. "What - it would have been better if I'd, like, tracked her down or some shit? Whatever - like I said, she'll be disappointed. It's just a movie, that's all." He didn't even know what else she'd be expecting. A trip to the cinema was just that, simple. Maybe with popcorn or chocolate or something, but that was about it, right?

"Why are you doing this again? Is it pure masochism, or are there deeper psychological issues coming up that I haven't seen yet?" Caleb asked, still half smirking and shaking his head.

Dean took a minute and then leaned in really close, keeping his voice low. "I'm doing it because I need something to stop me diving headlong into a really big mistake. Like, say, confusing fantasy with reality where Thia's concerned. And she's really not making it easy for me - you know I woke up in bed with her Saturday morning? It's... I just..." he trailed off, looking a little helpless.

"You did?" Caleb stared at his friend incredulously for a few long moments. There were clear amounts of 'are you NUTS?' in that expression. "...is that a bad thing? Where is the wrong there? Wait, and you came and saw me, you actually left the girl you're obsessing over in your bed and--okay, I'm just going to move on here because we've already established you're insane and make no sense. Because that is insane, and makes no sense." He shook his head. "And I keep telling you that it's probably not a mistake, or...I don't know, but I do know the way to distract yourself from the girl you really want isn't to go hook up with one who...frankly, is probably going to annoy the piss out of you. I mean, if I had to take a guess here, she's probably the polar opposite of Lu. I still haven't ruled out insane amounts of masochism from you, you know."

"She didn't mean it like that," Dean told him, firmly, but quietly. "That's - she never means it like that. So yeah, I left her there - to stop me doing something monumentally stupid. She just wants to be friends and she has no clue what she does to me at times," he groaned, dropping his head back into his hands.

"Maybe she does, and she's trying to give you a hint. And you're too much of a gentleman to take it." Caleb chose the word 'gentleman' as opposed to 'idiot', even if that's kind of what he meant. It was his friend, and he'd already called him an idiot today. "And again--I'm putting it down here right now that I think it's is a stupid idea. And you know, if she did have a thing for you and you were just too blind to see it or anything, if you wind up with a girlfriend--which I'm pretty positive you now officially have--" he glanced at the girls again, who were still in depth in their conversation, but the one he'd asked out kept looking over at Dean and smiling in a disgustingly dreamy manner. Hooboy. "--that might put a kink in the works. And not the fun kind."

Dean shook his head. "No, no way - I know her. There's no hints there at all. Hell, I had to bring up the subject in kinda general terms the other day and... It's never even crossed her mind, in the slightest. I don't even think she realises I'm male. There's nothing there and I just... Need another direction. Or something - I dunno. I mentioned I didn't really think this through, right? It's just a... She's not my girlfriend." Things didn't move that quickly, right?

"Yeah you mentioned that. Next time you have the urge to make a rash decision? Ask me for my opinion first. Might save you trouble..." Caleb said, shaking his head again, before he started sketching once more. "And I guarantee you by the end of the day, she'll be considering herself 'taken'." he added nonchalantly, looking like he wasn't paying attention, though he was. It as actually kind of funny. He supposed he should let up on teasing Dean, but he couldn't help it with this bout of crazy.

"Because you make such wonderful decisions all the time?" Dean quipped, but there was no harshness there. He was aware that this was far from an ideal situation, but at least it might take his mind off things for a while and that, combined with the growing list of reasons why he shouldn't even be thinking of Thia as anything more than a friend meant that this was a viable option. Not perfect, but worth a try.

"Hey, I can make decisions for other people with no trouble." Caleb said firmly. "When it comes to myself? I've got a bit of a blind spot, but other people, hells yes." Yeah he just had faulty logic on anything concerning his own life. Funny how clarity worked for him for others, though. Maybe he could just see the angles better, because he was separated out from it. Or, he was just fucked in the head. That worked too.

"Whatever. Okay, fine. You that good at this, any tips for what I should do now?" Dean asked him, with a touch of sarcasm.

"Flee?" Caleb said, flashing a quick grin. "Other than that, you're on your own. Have a good time. Try not to get sucked into discussions about what your future children's names are going to be." he added, sketching heavier lines into the drawing he was doing, and he couldn't quite keep the amusement factor out of his tone or expression.

"Ha, ha - very funny," Dean replied, returning the grin, again with the sarcasm. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? You're that sure this is going to be a complete and utter disaster," he added, hoping to god that his friend really was teasing and overstating the whole 'she's going to latch onto you like a limpet' thing. He hadn't planned this as a long term thing - hell, he hadn't planned it at all. Just... a date. Singular. And maybe a bit of a release, frustration-wise. And a girl who he could guarantee 110% would say yes if he asked her out - that bit had been important, since he'd always spectacularly failed at that kind of thing before, losing the ability to speak generally with nerves, if he even got anywhere near actually thinking of getting the balls up to ask a girl out - and hell, if Andy hadn't gotten there first.

"Pretty sure. But then I've been known to be wrong, now and again." Caleb said. "And yes, I'm enjoying this. It's pretty funny. You'll have to let me know how it goes." he added. In reality, Caleb couldn't really decide if he thought it would go fantastically badly or not. He did think that the girl would annoy the shit out of Dean, but well...the guy needed some tension release in his life, and if he didn't have the balls to ask out the girl he did like...whatever. He thought he probably could have picked a less irritating specimen, but whatever. It wasn't like Caleb knew a lot of girls, and non-annoying ones at that. One of the only ones that wasn't Leija that he spoke to much was taken as well, and annoyed him at least half of the time. Just not all the time. Other than that...there was Melia, but he really wasn't suggesting Dean go for the flesh eating mermaid. He would rather keep his friend alive and non-chewed on.

"Sure, I'll let you know how it goes," Dean told him, leaning back to bring an end to their private discussion, which drew looks from the next table and another round of whispers. He caught onto the fact that the girl he'd just asked out thought they'd been discussing the date. And that thought had him leaning back in again. "Shit!" he swore with a hiss. "Shit,fucking bollocksy arse! What's her name?" he asked. He was bad with names - insanely, insanely bad. He couldn't believe though that he'd just asked out a girl and he didn't have any fucking clue what she was called.

Caleb blinked at Dean. "Her name? How the fuck should I know? I just always think of her as 'piss ass annoying blonde freshman chick'." he said. Though he said this after he laughed. A sudden, surprised laugh that he cut back after a second, but he couldn't help it. That was...that was fucking priceless.

"Fuck," Dean swore again, under his breath. "Mate, really - you gotta help me out here. You gotta find out for me. Couldn't you, like - ask Leija to find out? Or... something," he pleaded. God, but it'd be a nightmare if he turned up for a date and he didn't even know the girl's name. Or, worse than that - Thia was bound to ask. Oh hell, he was going to have to tell Thia. And she'd... Dean considered this and came to the conclusion that she'd probably be stupidly excited and really happy for him. The thought of which was actually somewhat disappointing.

"Because Leija's a social butterfly." Caleb said drily. "Fine. I'll bail you out and figure it out for you by the end of the day." he said, rolling his eyes, though he was still having trouble not cracking up over the situation. Peyton might know. "You know, usually? Proper introductions and the faintest bit of interest come before the dating part..." he added in, flipping to a new page in his pad and he started to sketch a rough rendition of Dean and his new girl, with her latched onto a sort of panicked looking Dean's arm. There were of course, exaggerated features on the girl, turning her more into a caricature than anything. He also added little hearts wafting off the top of her head.

"Hey - I don't know. She might be," Dean pointed out. "I met the girl, like, twice and that was in a group thing, so you never know. And ha bloody ha. But, yeah, a name would be great, as soon as really cos I'm buggered if I get home without it." yeah, he really could have thought this one through better. Or, say, at all.

At first, Caleb wondered why he'd need it when he got home, but it took him all of two seconds to figure it out. "Yeah I'm sure she's going to want to know who you're going out with." he said. "A name would be good. And it's a small town, and she was from here. So...she'll know if you just make one up on the fly..." He wasn't rubbing it in or anything. Noooo. Not him. He wasn't still thinking teasing the shit out of Dean for this entire thing was funny. Not at all.

"Exactly," Dean confirmed, then thought that through a little more. "Shit - she's going to know, isn't she? She knew, like, everyone. So... Oh hell," he groaned, dropping his head back to the table, fairly sure he had wood grain imprinted on his forehead by now.

"I'd say the chances are good." Caleb agreed helpfully. "Journey talked about her a lot...so yeah I'd have to back you on the her having known everyone thing. She was...friendly." She had been when he'd seen her at the movie night thing, and was under the impression she was like that all the time. So it stood to reason that she did, in fact, know everyone. Or at the very least, she knew of them. "Is that a bad thing too? And you might want to stop ramming your face into the desk--you're drawing attention from the little lady."

Dean looked round and, sure enough, he was being stared at. Or possibly just watched - but it was by all three of them with matching looks on their faces, until they saw him looking round, and then it was back into the huddle to gossip furiously. He turned back to Caleb. "You think she's actually gonna turn up alone, or are they, in fact, joined at the hip?" he asked before he could stop himself. Maybe Thia wouldn't be happy for him when she found out. Maybe she'd be aghast. Maybe she'd recognise the name and then... Then she'd conclude that he had the worst taste in women. Because he sure as hell wasn't going to be able to explain why he'd done what he'd done. Even to someone he could explain it to, apparently it only worked in his own head.

Caleb glanced over as well, appearing to really put thought into the matter as he continued his silly sketch. "Well, if they all go together, you could tell everyone that you had a foursome." he suggested in a far too serious tone, just barely able to keep a straight face. It was work. "Maybe they're interchangeable. Like if you get bored with one, you can switch them out every so often...."

"Mate, I don't think there's a guy in the world man enough to take on all three of those girls at the same time," Dean deadpanned in an effort to get his mind off whatever Thia was going to say.

"Oh, I'm positive that there is. I'm sure there's a guy or two in this very school who fantasizes about that on a regular basis. I mean...they're not bad looking...you just have to be able to ignore the personality glitches. And there are guys out there who just wouldn't care. ...you for instance, you're the one who's dating one." Caleb mused, grinning again. "One, three...what's the difference?"

"I am not dating one - you talk about this like it's a done deal. All I did was ask the girl to a movie. A. Movie. One. Singular - unless things work very differently over here than how they do back home." Or how he'd seen them work, not actually having experienced it himself, but that didn't need to be admitted out loud.

Caleb shrugged. "Don't ask me. I never really got with the high school dating scene in the first place, though usually when someone asked someone out, they were dating. At least, that was the impression that I got. ...also, what would be the point if you didn't continue?" he asked curiously. He really was a bit mystified on that one. He was still a firm believer that Dean was making a move he'd regret here, but he didn't quite get why if he was going to do it in the first place, he wouldn't go the whole nine yards and just get himself a girlfriend.

"...Because after one date you realise that no, you can't stand to be in the same room as her for any length of time and this was a stunningly bad idea?" Dean suggested, knowing that was entirely an option he was facing.

"I guess...but I still think it was a bad idea from the get go." Caleb said, shrugging. "Good luck on it...maybe it won't suck entirely." he said. That last bit he meant. If Dean was going to do this, then Caleb did in fact hope it worked out for the guy at least on some levels. Even if he was still going to be teasing him about it on a regular basis. He glanced at the time, then the other table again, where Girly-What-Had-No-Known-Name was back to staring at Dean like he was prince fucking charming. Yeah, that was going to be interesting. In a Chinese Curse sort of way...