At least his joke wasn’t taken poorly. Cas was glad to see that Iris seemed to perk up a little when he teased about his chair. She didn’t look as hopeless as before, and it was a nice change. He relaxed more too. Maybe he’d been overthinking the situation since he’d thought she was going to be completely devastated all night. He didn’t know how to comfort a new amnesiac, but he did know how to converse with another human being. Looking at her that way made it easier to think of things to say.

[color=b97703]“Don’t worry about it,”[/color] he shook his head dismissively when Iris apologized for causing him to be late. [color=b97703]“Making sure you didn’t die was way more important than being home by midnight. My dad should understand that.”[/color] He didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t been nearby when she’d gotten hurt. There hadn’t been anyone else around to hear her cry of pain. As much as he hated to admit it, maybe he owed Jay and Miles for making him take that extra shot at the party. He never would have noticed her if he’d been in his car with the music blasting on high volume as he always had it set. She could have died if he hadn’t been walking off the alcohol instead.

As Iris approved the idea of asking a nurse for a blanket, Cas nodded and got up again to press the pager on the back wall. It was close to the patient’s bed so she could ask for a nurse without assistance if she needed one, but knowing she was probably uncomfortable with the fresh wounds in her leg and head, he figured he could do it for her this time while she rested.

Once that was done, he turned to walk back to his chair, glancing at Iris as he passed by. He noticed that she was toying with her dress. In the dark, he hadn’t been able to see much, but now that they were in the white lights of the hospital room, he could see that she was dressed up for a night out. He wondered what she had been doing before she’d stumbled into the woods. Maybe she’d been at a party? He didn’t remember seeing her at the one he’d been at, but there could have been another going on that same night.

Or maybe she had been on a date with her boyfriend. She was definitely attractive enough that he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had one. Still, that scenario seemed a little strange to him. If she [i]had[/i] been on a date, why would she have been walking home alone? It would have been pretty scummy of any guy to just ditch her once the night was over. He found himself hoping she’d been at a party, just so she wouldn’t get her memories back only to remember being abandoned by a jerk.

Settling back down in his chair, he looked up at Iris as she asked him to tell her about himself. He shifted his weight. [i]That[/i] was a touchy subject. On one hand, he really liked the fact that he could talk to her without worrying about being fawned over for being a prince, but on the other hand, maybe it would help her get her memories back if she knew who he was. Maybe he could find a happy medium somewhere in between.

[color=b97703]“Well, I can say for sure that I don’t know you, but why not?”[/color] he shrugged, letting his brown eyes wander up to the gypsum ceiling in thought. Perhaps listing the names of some well-known places around the city would jog her memory. [color=b97703]“Let’s see… I’m from the center of the capital, which is where we are now. I went to Oak Ridge Academy when I was in high school… Never went to college, but I’ve got a couple friends who graduated from Grand Park University, which is the most popular school in the city. Maybe either of those are familiar to you?”[/color]

He paused as a nurse entered the room with a blanket for the girl, waiting for her to leave before he would continue. However, before he could go on, she spoke first. [color=b97703]“Oh yeah?”[/color] he laughed at her joke about the blanket, happy to hear that she was in a good enough mood to return a little banter. [color=b97703]“I’ll keep that in mind, just in case my chair becomes not-so-comfortable anymore.”[/color]

Leaning forward, he went on, [color=b97703]“Anyway, I like to hang out at some of the bars around the city too. Goodlife Brewery, Hop of the Hour and Full Moon, to name a few.”[/color] He tried to list names of places that most high borns in the capital knew about. [color=b97703]“Recognize any of them?”[/color]