He watched her brush past him, and as he did his eyes closed with a sigh. This might be even harder than he thought. He waited a beat, considering that maybe it would be best to give her some more time to cool off, but considering that conversation was months ago, and he still hadn't made it right yet, he knew waiting was not going to help.

He turned on his heel and started to walk after her, catching up to her in a few quick strides -- long legs can be helpful on occasion. "Jo, wait." He started to reach for her arm. "Can we talk?"

"Fine," he sighed, keeping pace with her as he started to talk. "About what I said a couple months ago, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. I don't -- I honestly don't know what's been up with me the past couple months, but I think it was some kind of loss."

He wasn't entirely sure what he lost, but he knew that he lost something.

"Not that that's an excuse. It's not. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm sorry."

"Stranger things have happened," he pointed out. This would have been easier if he had just fallen into a coma. At least then he would have kept his mouth shut. Or kept it in his pants.

Or any other number of important things that he screwed up.

"Look, I don't even know what it was that I lost, but I just ... I didn't care. I don't know why I didn't care, but I didn't. And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the Pie Hole right away, but I wasn't sure how to say it."

Of course he read it wrong. He was reading everything wrong lately, and he knew that he needed to fix it. Whatever it was the castle did to him, any instinct he had with regards to how people were feeling was gone. So Sam just took a breath as she let it out, and let her finish before getting ready to get out what he needed to say.

"It wasn't weird. I don't know why I said what I did, or did what I did, but this is me trying to fix it." This was either going to work, or blow up in his face, but at least he was going to try.

He sighed. "And honestly? It wasn't really okay either. Because you dump me, but you still want me in your life, which at first I thought was fine because that was what I wanted too, but aside from the fact that we weren't sleeping together, nothing changed. We never got any space from each other, and I didn't know how to ask for it, so I didn't try. And I didn't want to have to. That's why I got the job in town. I needed to get some distance. My whole life in the castle couldn't be dependent on you." He exhaled slowly, letting his shoulders drop a bit as he looked at her. "After all, that's why we weren't together anymore in the first place."

"So again. I'm sorry for just letting things go, and I'm sorry for the things I said. I don't know how to fix things, but at least this is me making an effort to try."

"No, you didn't ask. I did it because I wanted to. I'm not trying to blame you, Jo. I know that this is probably more my fault than anything else, but I didn't want to have this fight, and I didn't want to lose you as a friend. I didn't force myself to do anything, but at the same time, I didn't do what was right for me."

His jaw set as he looked back at her, trying to not to explode and really screw things up. "You wanted me to tell you how I felt? This is me doing it. I'm just being honest with you, Jo. I don't want to lose you, but I needed to give myself a little distance. And I'm sorry that I didn't handle things well before."

"I'm not trying to wipe it away, Jo. I'm trying to apologize and say that this wasn't your fault. This is mine, and the reason I'm trying to fix it is because we have all that history. And maybe I'm doing a crappy job of it, but I don't know why I did it. I honestly don't."

He took a breath before running a hand over his face. "You mean so much to me. You're not the only one who only has this left. I don't want to lose you over a stupid loss when I don't even know what that was." Which he realized made it infinitely harder to apologize for.

"I was taking my space. And things were fine. And then I had to open my stupid mouth and not do anything about it, so yeah. That's on me. But I'm honestly trying to make it better now."

He was really hoping that this is something that better late than never can apply on.

"I don't need any more space than I'm already getting," Sam replied, looking her dead in the eye and not flinching. She already knew that he was a good liar, but he'd like to think that she knew him well enough to know when he was telling the truth as well. "Before my mouth was stupid."

"Alright," he said softly, some of the tension leaving his shoulders at this. He knew that that wasn't perfect, but she at least seems like she doesn't want to bite his head off anymore. That's progress, at least? "So ... we're okay? Or we will be, at least?"

"I know." And he did. Losses like this don't really make things easier on anyone in the long run, but they have a way of getting things out there. It had a way of people finding out things sooner or later.

"Do you need me to give you space?"

"Okay."

He didn't really know what to say after that, but at least it wasn't another boundary he needed to add. And to be honest, he didn't want to tiptoe around her -- especially now that Dean was back, and he might want them to actually do things together.

"So ... I'll see you around?" That seemed like the right thing to say, more or less.

He hated how awkward this felt, but he would take it for now. Hopefully that would pass, and they could fall back into the way things used to be again, sooner or later.

"Okay. I'll see you around."

Which was ... almost exactly what he said five minutes ago, but he wasn't sure there was much else that he could say that wouldn't dig him in deeper.