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Gabriel slowed down – there. That was his prey. He’d know that car anywhere, and although that wasn’t the usual driver, he could feel the kinship. Its usual driver would be wanting her back, but Gabriel could also feel the pain coming from the current driver. He needed this, and Gabriel wasn’t about to deal out punishment when the kid already felt like crap.
Thankfully, he could freeze time when he zapped himself into the front seat, so Jack’s startled scream couldn’t cause an accident as he let go of the wheel. Sure, he could fix the damage, but Dean would still know somehow. Dean always knew. “Easy there, kiddo, it’s just your uncle Gabe. Relax, okay?”
“Did Dean send you after me for stealing his car?” Jack asked, calming down easily and getting the car under control as Gabriel unfroze time. “Because I just borrowed it, I swear I’m bringing it back with a full tank of gas when I’m done driving.”
“Dean didn’t send me. No one sent me.” Gabriel pulled a candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and offered it to Jack. One thing he and the kid absolutely shared was a love of sweets. “I saw the car, felt your pain, and thought I’d offer you an ear. That’s all. What happened?”
“It’s…” Jack blinked away a tear. “Harper broke up with me. She said that she felt lonely when we were together and that we should break up.”
Gabriel flinched. He’d been on the receiving end of several breakups, and it was never easy. “That sucks, kiddo. Three months, right? About?”
“As of last week. And I hadn’t seen any of this! Even at the baseball game last night, she seemed so happy to be at the game and specifically to be there with me, so I didn’t see this coming at all!” Oof. One of those situations. Gabriel reached into his memories, sifting through recent prayers, and sure enough, he found something.
There was no way he was telling Jack about this, though. Harper’s prayer was for forgiveness for hurting Jack, but her parents had given her a choice: ditch the boyfriend or ditch the college fund. They were sixteen, Harper liked Jack a lot but didn’t see him necessarily being The Forever Guy, so she’d chosen the college fund. In Gabriel’s opinion, that was the smart choice. “That sucks, kiddo, but that’s high school. I know you liked her, but were you planning on forever with her?”
“No… Dean says it’s stupid to tie yourself down at all, and even Dad and Father both said that high school relationships are more about getting experience and figuring out what you want than about finding your life partner. I liked Harper, I could see it lasting long term, but I wasn’t planning on it.” Jack looked over at Gabriel, and Gabriel wanted so badly to tell him that he wasn’t Dean, he wasn’t symbiotically attached to the Impala the way Dean was, so he needed to keep his eyes on the road. Jack’s active powers were on lockdown unless he was training with Gabriel or Castiel, but passive powers like knowing where the road was worked just fine. No humans around to keep up an act for, so he’d let it go. This time. “I’m more confused than anything else. Did she lie to me today? Has she been lying to me all along?”
“You’ll probably never know, kiddo,” Gabriel said heavily. That was one of the worst things about breakups. “Unless you go invading her privacy by listening in on prayers, you’ll just have to wonder. Don’t do that, by the way.”
“I wasn’t going to. I know you did, though.” Gabriel shrugged, not really admitting it, but not denying it either. “Didn’t Dad and Father date in high school? Why would they say high school relationships don’t mean much?”
“Because most high school relationships don’t end up lasting past graduation. Theirs is unusual in that regard… and even they broke up when they went to different universities.” Gabriel shot Jack a wink. “The thing is, it didn’t take them long to realize that what they wanted out of a relationship was exactly what they’d had together. If it weren’t for me and Dean being meddling brothers, they’d have pulled a whole Gift of the Magi thing with surprising each other by transferring to the other’s college. They still got back together, they just talked about where they were going to do that and decided on Stanford so Sam wouldn’t lose his scholarship.”
“So there’s hope that after some time apart, Harper might want to get back with me?”
That was the opposite of what Jack was supposed to get out of the warning that high school relationships didn’t often last. It could happen, but more likely, by the time Harper felt safe trying again, she'd have moved on and would be looking elsewhere. “I wouldn’t wait around for that, not unless you’re discovering you liked Harper a lot more than you ever let on to anyone, including her. Figure out what about her made it good so you know what to look for in a future partner.”
“I know, it’s just… maybe in a few days or weeks, things will look different. It just hurts right now.”
“That’s how it always is with breakups, kiddo. Longer relationships take longer to look different, but they’ll usually get there. It sucks, but you will get through this. I promise.” Jack nodded, so Gabriel let himself relax. “You know what I find usually helps me get on with getting over a breakup?”
“Ice cream?”
Well, Gabriel had been about to say candy, but what the hell. “Damn straight. What do you say we go get some, and then get the Impala back home before Dean notices you took it?”