Better As a Memory – Kenny Chesney

I move on like a sinners prayer
And letting go like a levee breaks
Walk away as if I don't care
Learn to shoulder my mistakes
Or built to fade like your favorite song
Get reckless when there's no need
Laugh as your stories ramble on
Break my heart, but it won't bleed
My only friends are pirates
That's just who I am
But I'm better as a memory than as your man

Never sure when the truth won't do
And pretty good on a lonely night
Or move on the way a storm blows through
And never stay, but then again, I might.
I struggle sometimes to find the words
Always sure until I doubt
Walk a line until it blurs
Build walls too high to climb out
But I'm honest to a fault
That's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man

,

"Ah…this is the life…" Bela sighed.

"Yeah…you have one amazing mother in law…" Ruby exhaled and tipped her head back against her chair.

"This feels absolutely fantastic…what do you say we make a weekly appointment for this?" Jo moaned in near ecstasy.

"Oh…yeah, that's a great idea. Too bad we can't afford it!" Ruby giggled.

"Oh right. I forgot we're poor college students." Jo agreed.

"Well, you're forgetting that I'm no longer a poor college student. I'm a poor newly married woman but I'm not sure which is worse." Bela laughed as she leaned back into her chair.

"So ladies," Jo began as the woman sitting at her feet started her pedicure. "What are the plans for tonight? I was thinking maybe we could just keep this a girls' night…I'm having so much fun with you girls today and always go to the club. Maybe we can try something different tonight?"

Ruby and Bela exchanged a glance before Ruby answered carefully.

"Well, Joanna, I kind of already promised Sam that I would come to the club tonight since he's filling in for Dani and you know nervous he gets before a gig…if I'm not there, especially when I said I would be, that's only going to skyrocket his nerves."

Bela nodded in agreement.

"Yeah okay, " Jo replied "I guess…Dean owes me a drink for that stupid mistletoe crap and I'm not going to wait to get him to pay up."

Ruby rolled her eyes up at that. "I have to admit that was pretty funny."

Jo narrowed her eyes playfully at her tiny friend, whose eyes were now glinting evilly. "You listen here, Ruby, that was a nasty little trick Gabriel pulled. And you guys encouraged it. I may never forgive you all for it."

Ruby scoffed while Bela laughed merrily. "Haven't forgiven us for for what?"

Jo eyebrows rose in annoyance.

"Oh, you mean how Gabriel pointed out that you and your roomie were conveniently underneath the mistletoe and made you kiss in front of everyone?" Ruby shrugged innocently.

Jo exhaled angrily and opened her mouth to snap something evil but Bela quickly intervened.

"Alright children, that's quite enough of that. I do have to say though, Jo, it was about time you hooked up with one of your roommates."

Jo frowned as her mouth dropped open in shock. "What?"

Ruby chuckled softly. "You could cut the sexual tension between you and Dean with a plastic spoon."

"True Joanna, you've been a nervous wreck about him ever since you moved in…It's about time you two hooked up,"Bela agreed with a smile.

Jo shook her head furiously. "First of all, saying Dean and I 'hooked up' makes it sound like it was worse than it actually was, if that's even really possible, and just because I hate that he brings skanks home every night doesn't mean there is sexual tension. I can't believe I'm hearing this from you guys…I don't want to hear this shit anymore!"

Ruby smirked and bit her lip. "Alright, I'll give you the 'hooking up' thing but I could tell that dean definitely liked your little lip-lock on Christmas."

"Oooo! Amour! I knew it! Jo, you little minx…you know, now that I'm an old married lady, I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through you now…" Bela sighed wistfully.

Jo punched her on the arm.

"Hey!" Bela cried out.

"I can't believe you two! There is no love. There is no sexual tension. Just let it alone guys, please!" Jo pleaded. Sure she was attracted to him but there was no way she was going to admit that to these girls right now...and it sure as hell wasn't love.

"Uh huh, sure Jo. Keep telling yourself that." Bela managed to get out.

"You know, if I was a betting woman, I would put my money on Dean. The way you two have been fighting lately, the way he was beat the hell out of Rick…man, and the look on his face after he kissed you...I mean before he went all stoic." Ruby reasoned practically.

Both girls were laughing hysterically by this point and Jo was shooting daggers at them.

"I hate you all." she hissed.

"Oh come on, Jo. I'm just kidding around with you. I didn't really mean all that…you know that, right?" Ruby announced.

"Yeah, Jo, we're just messing around…God knows I probably won't live to see the day that Dean Winchester actually settles down with one woman…" Bela laughed.

Jo scowled angrily, still not ready to forgive them for mercilessly taunting her about a subject they knew was sensitive. "You guys are assholes."

The girls laughed good-naturedly and shook their heads.

"Settle down, Jo. Why are you so defensive about this anyway?" Bela asked curiously.

Jo chose to just roll her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"Ugh…it's packed tonight. I hate when it's this busy!" Jo yelled above the noise as her, as they pushed and pulled their way over to the bar.

The band was already up on stage and going strong, groupies in all. Sam was jamming on his guitar, his head bobbing to the beat and nodded to the girls when he saw them, a bright smile on his face; Gilda was seated at her stool, with her guitar perched against him as she crooned out the lyrics for "Scar Tissue" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"I know! We'll still have a good time tonight though!" Ruby yelled back cheerfully.

Bela frowned at her before turning to the bar and ordering the girls a round of drinks from Dean, who seemed happier than usual .

"Hey girls! I'm glad you made it out here tonight." He said as he handed them their drinks.

"Yeah, thanks Dean," Ruby responded through her frown, taking the drinks from the bar and handing them to her friends.

Her brow furrowed in suspicion and Bela quickly jumped to get her mind off of anything that could potentially ruin the night for her friend.

"Hey, Ruby…do you know what our plans are for New Year's yet?" Isabel asked hastily.

"I don't know,"Ruby replied slowly. "I guess that all depends on Jo."

Jo almost choked on her drink. "Why is that?"

Ruby shrugged. "Well, I guess we just have to wait to see if you have a date or not."

"Why would that matter?"

Bela rolled her eyes. "You have to wear that hot dress we gave you for someone, Joanna. Why do you think we gave it to you?"

"I don't know…so I would look hot on New Year's?"Jo asked hopefully.

"Yes, to look hot for someone, Jo…"

Now it was Jo's turn to roll her eyes. She caught Bela's gaze and she nudged her head toward the direction of the stage. Jo's eyes immediately flew to the stage and collided with Gilda, who was playfully tossing her microphone up in the air as the band got ready to start a new song. She caught her gaze and nodded to her, signaling that it was time.

Jo quickly turned to the girls. "Hey, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back!"

She immediately turned on her heel and took off in the direction of the bathroom. Gilda waited until Jo was out of sight before announcing over the microphone.

"Well, it's that time of the night for me to take a little break. Ladies and gentleman, Jo Harvelle!"

The crowd started clapping and whistling at Jo's name and everyone in the crowd started anxiously looking for her. Gilda pretended to scan the crowd for Jo before locking eyes with Ruby, who was furiously waving and trying to yell: "She left!"

She tried to hide her smile as she cast a quick glance toward Sam, who was putting on his best poker face.

"Jo!" Sam called from his microphone. "I swear I just saw her…Bela, Rubes where did she go?"

Bela just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head while Ruby looked around for Jo desperately.

"She went to the bathroom!"Ruby yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Gilda frowned and nodded. "Well, I need to take a break…hey, I have an idea…Ruby, you've never gotten up on stage before. Why don't you give it a try tonight?"

Ruby's eyes widened in horror and she started to shake her furiously from side to side as Bela began to push her towards the stage.

"No, no, no…I'm not going up there. No way, no how, not happening!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as Bela continued to gently push her to the stage.

"Oh come on, Ruby," Gilda coaxed from the stage. "It's no big deal. If Jo can do it, so can you."

The crowd was clapping for Ruby now in encouragement but she still furiously pushed back against Isabel, who now had her about halfway to the stage.

"No, please…Bel, what are you doing? Don't make me do this…I swear to God…" Ruby pleaded desperately.

"Ruby Elizabeth, get your ass up here right now…I'm not going to take no for answer. You've been a closet karaoke lover for years…now's your big chance…get up here, now!" Sam's voice boomed from the stage.

The crowd started chanting: "Ruby! Ruby! Ruby!"

Everyone was wildly clapping and whistling for her and she threw up her hands as she allowed Bela to drag her the rest of the way to the stage.

"I hate you!" She hissed under her breath to her friend, who just chuckled.

Sam reached down to help Ruby up to the stage and for the first time, Ruby noticed Dani side stage smiling. "What the hell?" she asked Sam.

"Ruby Benton, everybody…her very first time up here!" He said to the crowd as they clapped for her.

Ruby was turning a deep shade of red from a comical mixture of embarrassment and sheer rage. She was practically fuming and Gilda and Charlie had to bite their lips to keep from laughing.

"I'm going to kill you all when this is over…" She muttered lividly to them as they stood next to her.

The girls and Chuck grinned widely as Sam handed his guitar to Dani and dropped to on one knee in front of her. Gilda handed him the microphone and stood behind him next to Charlie who was motioning to the crowd to listen.

Ruby's mouth dropped open and her eyes quickly flew out in the crowd to her girlfriends who were smiling happily and clapping their hands.

Ruby turned back to Sam, who was fumbling with something in his pocket. When he finally retrieved it, he held out the small black box to her which she took with trembling hands.

He took a shaky breath as he watched her open the box. Her eyes widened with shock and her eyes flew back to meet his, shining with happy tears.

"Ruby Benton…I've been in love with you since the moment I saw you. Ever since the day you waltzed into my life, you've brought me nothing but happiness and all I want is to spend the rest of my life doing the same for you. Would you let me do that for you? Will you marry me, Ruby?"

Her mouth opened slightly, a wave of joy washing over her face. She started nodding and flung herself into his arms, kissing him furiously. A loud roar of applause erupted from the crowd as they cheered the happy couple.

Gilda smiled as she stepped forward to take the microphone from Sam.

"Give it up for the newly engaged Sam and Ruby!"

The crowd cheered again as the happy couple jumped down from the stage and made their way over to the bar, where Dean and Garth were waiting with a congratulatory round of shots.

"So, in honor of this happy occasion, we're going to change it up a little tonight. Jo, would you please join me on stage…this one's for Sam and Ruby!"

Jo grinned and jumped on stage as Gilda handed her a microphone and motioned for her to join in. Dani started strumming the opening chords.

Gilda and Jo both sang together:

"Hey, where did we go
Days when the rains came?
Down in the hollow
Playing a new game,
Laughing and a-running, hey, hey,
Skipping and a-jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our, our hearts a-thumping
And you, my brown-eyed girl,

You, my brown-eyed girl.
Whatever happened
To tuesday and so slow
Going down to the old mine with a
Transistor radio.
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hide behind a rainbows wall,
Slipping and a-sliding
All along the waterfall
With you, my brown-eyed girl,
You, my brown-eyed girl.

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah
La dee dah.

Sam twirled Ruby round and bent her down to kiss her deeply as the girls sang their duet.

When the song was over, Jo jumped down from the stage and sprinted over to the bar to pounce on the happy couple. She hugged them both fiercely to her and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Jo!" Ruby exclaimed when she finally released them. "You all knew about this the whole time, didn't you?"

Jo just smirked and nodded. Bela had made it over to them by now and they exchanged happy hugs.

"Yep," Bela answered for Jo. "Everyone was in on it."

Ruby laughed as Jo nudged her playfully with her elbow.

"You know it was nice to finally know something you didn't," Jo smirked.

Ruby smacked her teasingly on the arm as Sam wrapped his arm lovingly around her shoulders.

"I love you to death but I gotta run to the bathroom." he whispered softly to Ruby before kissing her gently on the lips.

She watched him run off and she smiled.

"That man is going to marry me." She finally said after a few long moments.

"Awww!" the girls chimed in together.

They grabbed Ruby's hand and dragged her closer the stage to dance while the band knocked out "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by The Georgia Satellites. Ruby twirled around in circles while Bela was bobbing up and down to the beat. Jo, however, was desperately trying not to notice that Anna Milton was standing several feet away from them, with her eyes securely rooted to Dean. She was swaying seductively to music and Jo's eyes widened in disgust when she saw her walk up to the bar and mouth something to him. She wished she had been close enough to make out what was being said but by Dean's cocky expression it had to be something dirty and most definitely had something to do with sex after the night was over. She rolled her eyes and decided to ignore the bitch, just barely missing the evil glare Anna shot her way when she caught her staring.

"Ugh…skanky whore." Bela muttered under her breath, making zero effort to hide her disdain for Ms. Milton.

"Yeah! He's not still hooking up with her is he, Jo?" Ruby asked frantically.

Jo shrugged her shoulders with indifference. "How should I know?"

Bela raised an eyebrow and bit her lip. "Well, you do live with him…so, you would know."

Jo exhaled in frustration and shook her head furiously from side to side. "Don't start that shit again. Let's just enjoy the rest of the night, ok?"

The girls nodded content to just ignore the pathetic annoyance only a few feet away from them.

When the band was done for the night, Jo made a mad dash for the bathroom before they all left. Thankfully, there wasn't much of a line so she was in and out faster than usual at the club. She was just turning on her heel to head back through the hallway to find her friends when a hand shot out and pulled her back deeper into the hallway.

She turned in surprise to meet the green eyes of Dean, who had a very serious look that was both incredibly shocking and unsettling.

"Dean? What's up…" she trailed off as he led her further down the hallway and away from the rest of the crowd of people until they had reached a quieter place to talk.

He bit his lip and glanced quickly above her head into the crowd at the end of the hallway. She instinctively turned to see what he was looking at, half expecting to see Anna there waiting for him but there was no one there. She looked back up at him and there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. He wasn't looking at her but instead had his eyes trained on the wall they were leaning against.

"Dean?" She questioned again. "What's going on…is everything alright?"

He sighed deeply and roughly ran a shaky hand through his tousled hair.

"Well," he began unsteadily. "I've been thinking a lot about everything you said at Christmas and…"

"Dean," she hastily interrupted. "You don't have to…"

He held up a hand to cut her off. "Just let me say this, alright?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion, having no idea where this was going on and nodded slowly.

He sighed again and looked away briefly before speaking again. "Like I said, I've been thinking a lot about everything you said and you were completely right. About everything. It's made me realize that I've taken too much for granted, especially about some things that have probably been there for longer than I care to admit. I guess what I'm trying to say is, awkwardly…I know, but…I'll never be perfect the way you want and it's never going to work.."

"Wait, what? I don't want you to be perfect." Jo said confused at what he was trying to tell her.

"Yeah, yeah you do. And that's just not me...So I'm going to let go and try to move on since you don't…"

"I don't what? I do…"Jo began but her voice failed her and she couldn't get the words out.

"Hey, Dean! There you are!" Garth called from the end of the hallway, effectively interrupting whatever it was that Dean was trying to say.

Dean's head whipped around and he swore under his breath.

"What do you want, Garth?" He asked harshly.

"Rob said need you help getting the boxes in the front into the storage room." Garth responded easily.

Dean sighed "Alright, I'll be right there."

He turned back to Jo, who was watching him expectantly feeling the tears build up. He opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it. Instead, he smacked the wall next to him with his hand before wordlessly turning and following Garth back out into the club.

Jo stared after him in shock, having no idea what really had just happened. She had never seen him do or say anything like he just had and she didn't know what to make of it. He had definitely been acting strangely lately, especially after everything that had happened over Christmas, and she felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach. She should have said something about how she felt but for some reason, the determined look on his face stopped her. She exhaled deeply to get herself together before walking back out of the hallway..

Ruby smiled at her as Jo walked up. "Everything okay?"

Jo shook herself out of her shock and gave her newly engaged friend a grin "Everything is great."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Anna slinking up to Dean and wrapping an arm seductively around his waist. He looked down at her in surprise and Jo shuddered slightly as she watched him throw an arm around her shoulders.

She turned back to Ruby, who was watching her intently. "Are you sure, Jo?"

"Oh yeah… everything is just great."