When Blue meets Green - chapter 4

*after sealing myself in panic room* *peeking through its small window* I hope you guys aren’t mad for taking forever to update it.

This is the new chapter (which was supposed to chapter 3 but anyway...). I had lost my will to write it for some time and I was busy in college too.

Excuses, excuses ;-P but I’m back in business now and I present you this!

‘Italics’ – thoughts, “Normal” – talking

xxx

Previously :

Castiel reached the hotel, paid the driver and went inside. He had already booked a room so he asked for the key to his room from the reception and took the elevator, thinking about Dean and thanking his luck that Gabriel at least didn’t mess with his hotel arrangements.

xxx

Castiel took the elevator as his room was on the fifth floor. Once the elevator reached fifth floor, he stepped out dragging his luggage with him. He went to his room and opened it while adjusting his backpack on the shoulder. He went in, locking the door behind him.

The room had a spacious bed, a kitchenette, a small fridge that had chocolates and beer when he looked into it, and an attached bathroom. He put his luggage in one corner besides his bed, dropped the backpack unceremoniously and flopped onto the bed, sighing contently.

‘Finally, I have a bed to sleep on’, he thought. It was eight in the morning, so he still had some time for sleep before he needs to start the preparation work. He set the alarm to ring after three hours and went to sleep.

The sound of alarm blaring woke Castiel up. He shut the damn thing off and lazily sat up in bed. He grimaced realizing he was still wearing the clothes he had worn yesterday. He rummaged through his backpack and muttered an ‘Aha!’ when he found his brush. He took out a fresh set of clothes and went to the bathroom.

When he was freshened up and had taken shower, he called his agent to check on the progress of gallery show. It was supposed to be tomorrow evening and he needed everything to be perfect, as usual. He dialed the number and waited for his agent to pick up. After fourth ring, one groggy voice answered, “Hello?”

“Hello Balthazar” he greeted.

“Cassy? Care to tell me why you have called me at this god forsaken early hour?”

He sighed; he was getting tired of this ridiculous nickname. A memory of smiling Dean flashed in his mind, “So we meet again, Cas”. He sighed happily; he had liked the nickname that Dean had given him. ‘At least, this one isn’t ridiculous as the one Gabriel and Balthazar call me’, he thought.

He checked his watch again and saw it was almost midday and frowned, “Balthazar! Are you still sleeping?” The show was tomorrow, roughly more than twenty-four hours away and his agent (who was also his childhood friend) was freaking sleeping! ‘I’m going to kill him’, he thought.

“What time is it?” asked the still groggy voice.

“Its midday now Balthazar!” he almost screamed, “Wake up this instant!”

“With you screaming, who wouldn’t?” he could hear the voice sigh and ruffling of sheets. “I’m awake now. Happy?”

“So very much”, he said, “Now tell me how are the arrangements going?”

“They are going great, Castiel. Stop worrying yourself. It’s not like this is your first art show.”

“I do know that Balthazar”, he said, “but I still want it to be perfect.”

“And it will be, as usual.”

He heard dial tone after that. His art work was already sent few days beforehand and it was now being arranged at the venue as we speak. He was supposed to go there few hours prior to the show time. ‘I wonder if I’ll see Dean there’, he thought. It was a long shot, he knew that but he couldn’t help but wish for it.

His stomach grumbled and reminded him that he hadn’t eaten anything since last night and even that he couldn’t keep in his stomach. He heard another rumbling; he needed to eat something like right now. He ordered up room service and after two cheeseburgers, a large portion of fries and a glass of orange juice later, he was satisfied.

After he had done eating, he was again in the elevator; only this time he was going down and to go check on the venue. He had checked himself once in mirror to make sure he looked presentable and then went out, locking the door after him. He stepped out the hotel after handing his key at the reception.

He started walking in the direction of venue. It was a good thing that he chose hotel near it and he knew Stanford so well with his many trips here to visit Balthazar. The guy was practically his best friend. They grew up together till Balthazar’s family had to move away here. Even then, they had kept contact and in holidays they would visit each other.

While Castiel himself was interested in art, his best friend Balthazar was interested in event planning. Both were excellent in their works and now they were very successful. After Castiel had majored in arts, it was Balthazar who had forced him to host art shows. It took a little persuasion and you really can’t say no to the guy when he pulls the whole ‘pouty-yet-hurt-look’.

He smiled at the memory. Balthazar had come to his graduation ceremony; he graduated a year early seeing he was a year older than Castiel. He had bugged Castiel till he agreed and of course he was Castiel’s first and only choice when he needed a planner for his art shows.

It was a short walk and he reached the place in record time. He walked right into the hall where the show was being held and searched for his friend to have no sight of him anywhere. He spotted Balthazar’s assistant talking to someone and thought ‘At least, ‘someone’ shows up on time’.

He looked around again hoping to see his blonde haired idiot of an agent somewhere with no success. In his search, he didn’t notice that Balthazar’s assistant had come up to him.
“Hello Castiel” greeted a female voice, “how was the flight?”

He turned and saw Anna. Anna was Balthazar’s younger sister who was also an event planner but she was fresh graduate with no experience. So she had been helping his brother as her internship.

He smiled at her and replied, “I came here by bus” and at her confused expression continued, “Gabriel”. He saw she realized immediately that Gabriel must have pulled one of his stunts again. She laughed slightly and patted his shoulder in sympathy.

‘Only his name is enough for people to know something must have gone wrong’, he thought wearily about his brother and his pranks. He sometimes wondered if he really is related to him. But right now, he had more important matters at hand.
“Anna” he asked, “how are the preparations going on?”

He saw her smile and reply, “They are going according to the plan, Castiel. Don’t worry. I and brother have it under control.”

“I see Balthazar still isn’t present here.”

“Well..you know him”, she replied, smiling sheepishly.

He nodded in understanding and then excused himself, “I’ll go check the work around here, if that’s ok.”

“Of course” he heard her reply and he walked away from her.

He looked around, taking note of the color of walls, the way his art was arranged, decorations etc. The walls were blue, just the right shade which was neither too light nor too dark. He saw his art was placed in categories – sketches, paintings, charcoal drawings, portraits, landscapes etc. with appropriate distance between them. There was a barrier with slight distance from the wall that kept people from getting too close.

He observed the decorations as well. They were not much exaverating; each art had small bouquet with three flowers at one of the corners and the door frame of the double door entrance was decorated with gossamer. Also there was one wooden poster stating about his show at the entrance. (A/N: you know, like the movie posters in theatres) ‘Balthazar has done an excellent job, as usual’, he thought.

He saw it was almost evening and he was satisfied with all the preparation. He needed to thank his friend when this show was over. He searched for Anna and asked her if she would like to join for some snack with him. She agreed readily and they went to a small diner.
They catched up on each other’s lives while they ate. After, they bid each other goodbye and he returned back to hotel. He was tired and hungry so he ordered room service again. He ate while thinking about tomorrow’s show. ‘Calm down Castiel’, he thought to himself, ‘this isn’t the first show you held’. He pulled out his iPod from his backpack wondering why he didn’t just tuned in to it during the trip and then remembered just why.

He smiled remembering how easily he had slept in that godforsaken vehicle in a very awkward half-sprawled half-sitting position with Dean’s arm around him even though he was sleeping and then he blushed. He put the earplugs in his ears and played the songs on shuffle. He fell asleep half listening to the song playing and thinking about Dean.

Castiel woke up with a gasp and looked around frantically. He sighed realizing he was in his bed at the hotel he was staying. He had woken up from yet another pre-show nightmare where he humiliates himself in front of the crowd. Well... you can’t really blame him for having bit of a stage fright now, can you?! Even though he had held over dozens of shows by now. He sighed.

He checked the bedside clock and it read 05:00 am in bright neon green color. He climbed out of the bed and headed straight for the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face to wake himself up fully and brushed his teeth. He came back and pulled out a small canvas and oil paints from his luggage.

Yes, he liked to carry around some of his things with him so sue him. He sat on the carpeted floor leaning against the bed with canvas in his lap and oil paints by his side. He stared at the canvas for some time and then his hand started working on his own, picking up color after color and changing brushes every once in a while.

He didn’t even know how much time have passed when he stopped. He wiped at his forehead to remove some sweat that had gathered there and managed to smear some paint across his face. He looked at his finished piece and smiled slightly. He stood up and gently placed canvas on the bed. He saw something bright through the corner of his eyes and the bedside clock caught his attention.

‘Oh shit!’ was the only thought running through his head. The clock was showing 01:30 pm and quite smugly at that. The show was going to start at 07:00 pm and he was supposed to be present at the venue at 03:00 pm. ‘What the hell was I thinking?!’ he screamed at himself. He rushed to bathroom for a bath and after hurriedly got dressed. He had picked up his blue suit for this time. He threw a quick glance at the clock to see it was nearing half past two.

He tried to set his hair in a neat style, with ‘tried’ being the keyword. And as usual his hair seemed to be hell-bent on disobeying him. He let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair a few times just to make them look okay. He gave himself an onceover and left for the venue but not before taking the painting with him. ‘Might as well present this one too’, he thought.

He gave his room key at the reception and asked for some wrapping for his canvas. He then started walking; more like slow running, his mind supplied which he promptly ignored (now’s not the time he chastised his mind) and ‘so much for ignoring’ he thought with an eye roll. He reached the venue slightly out of breath.

Balthazar greeted him with a smile and took the painting from his hands. He gave it one of the workers passing by. ‘Thank god Balthazar’s here’, he thought while returning the hug Balthazar gave him. He noticed an addition of two bouquets to the double door at entrance. They looked slightly bigger than the ones near his paintings but not too big either.

“This looks perfect”, he commented while he scanned the room for any more additions or changes.

“As you would have wanted, Cassy” replied Balthazar with a playful grin on his lips.
He rolled his eyes at his best friend and nudged him slightly with a whispered ‘shove it’. They walked around and about discussing about the evening that is in just few hours.

It was nearing seven and Castiel couldn’t stop fidgeting. He walked around nervously, checking and double checking things. He was wringing his hands together unconsciously when Balthazar found him. He sighed and gave a nervous smile to his friend.

“You are impossible Cassy” sighed Balthazar.

He glared half-heartedly and replied, “You know I can’t help it Balthazar. I’m just nervous is all.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be. This isn’t your first art show.”

‘Don’t I know it already’, he thought. He didn’t understand why he gets so nervous. As Balthazar said, it wasn’t his first show, so why did he always get nervous. He took few deep breaths in hopes of calming himself. He thought about the things he loves and makes him feel calm.

He didn’t even realize that he was thinking about Dean’s gorgeous green eyes and the way he looked so peaceful while sleeping and his so full, so pink lips. He opened his eyes to his current surroundings, startled, when he felt someone shake him. He saw Balthazar nudging him towards the entrance where he had to inaugurate the show by cutting the ribbon.

He belatedly realized that he was sporting slight excitement in his suit pants while he was thinking about Dean. ‘So much for calming down’, he thought bitterly.

Soon, Castiel felt himself getting relaxed and about time that had happened. He was always walking around, trying to see people’s reactions to his art and stopping when people approached him, talking with them politely. He loved seeing the reactions people gave and the way their faces lit up when they found something they liked.

It was well past seven thirty when Anna came and told him that it was time for a short interview. God, he always hated these interviews – all those cameras flashing and questions being thrown at him. He followed Anna where a small crowd was formed.

He went to stand nearby one of his art and he noted absently that it was one of the landscapes he painted. He was smiling and answering questions that were asked by interviewers as well as the general audience.

He was about to answer another question when he heard a gasp somewhere to his left. He turned and was shocked to see the object around which his thoughts were revolving some time ago.

‘Is that really Dean?’ ‘What is he doing here?’ ‘Did he know who I was all this time?’ ‘How did he find me?’ His thoughts were running around in crazy circles. But he could see the shocked look in Dean’s eyes and concluded Dean didn’t think he would find Castiel here.

He heard Dean say his name and without his permission, his mouth responded. “Dean?”

xxx

Dun, dun, dun! I finally finally posted this chapter!!!!! I sat myself down today after college and decided I’m going to post this today no matter what! So, did you guys like it?
Btw, is it just me or I’m repeating certain words...? I’m not making the characters too OOC, right?

I apologize for any mistakes or errors. This chapter is unbeta’d. I don’t know where my beta has gone

Is anyone interested in being beta for my stories? I can’t continue without one.
And of course, please REVIEW! Reviews make me very happy!