saturday night and the moon is out

[feel_human]

Tucked away off the road in Bon Temps, there's a road house. Warm light spills from its windows, and the sound of a jukebox playing drifts out into the muggy Louisiana night. The regular assortment of trucks and Hail-Mary-please-keep-this-lemon-goin'-just-a-little-longer cars sit in the dirt parking lot; what amounts to about half the town's small population... or, at least, of those of the 'drinking age and above' persuasion.

Inside, it's a bar of the type scattered all across the American South: homey, no-nonsense. Booths and tables. A man in a plaid flannel shirt wiping the bar; a crossdresser in the kitchen singing Gospel hymns and rolling his hips in time with the words just to scandalize the prep cook. A handful of waitresses, bustling about.

Sookie makes her way briskly through it all, a tray balanced on her palm and her eyes kept stubbornly front, as voices swarm around her. Aloud, and... less so.

...I’m just going to have one beer tonight Jesus one beer that’s all...

...better not gripe about me eating fries not after what I did for him last night...

...I cannot wait to get the hell out of this podunk town...

 

 "Well, make sure you do, and before it’s too late," she responds, thoughtless, to the young man. "Because every year you wait? You just get more and more stuck here. Believe me, I know."

He stares at her. So do his parents.

So does the other table. And she realizes, too little too late, that he hadn't said that out loud, not at all. She laughs, uncomfortable. "I’ll get y'all some ketchup," she says, brightly, and flees, ponytail swinging against the nape of her neck as she goes.

Stupid, Sookie, she chides herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

Comments

[feel_human]

"Well... alright, then."

His dimples give her the whammies. She smiles, pink-cheeked, at the ground. "Besides, it'll be nice to have a little peace and quiet before I go into work. Closin's always exhaustin'. People's thoughts get so messy when they get drunk."

[gavemea_45]

"I can imagine." They draw near the edge of the trees, winding along the little path.

"I hope it's okay with you that I come by the bar tonight."

[feel_human]

"I wouldn't expect anythin' different, circumstances bein' what they are," she assures him, then smiles. "And, anyhow, it's where most people in town go. So people'd expect you to be there, anyway."

[gavemea_45]

Sam grins at her. "Okay then."

[feel_human]

"Besides..."

That blush just isn't going anywhere at all. "It'll be nice, havin' you there."

[gavemea_45]

"I'm glad." He ducks his head, grinning shyly at the ground, and walks with her out of the trees into the bright Louisiana sunlight.

[feel_human]

The warm calm of the day is shattered just as they're starting to walk up the lawn toward the house, by a large black truck that comes speeding up the drive, radio blasting. Sookie sighs, and turns to look up at Sam.

"I am so sorry," she says. "Just let me handle him, okay?"

[gavemea_45]

"Okay," Sam says, dubiously. The guy in the truck's got hair almost as blonde as Sookie's, and looks about the same age. If he had to guess--

"Your brother?"

[feel_human]

"The one and only."

The truck judders to a halt and Jason comes swinging down out of it, wearing his cut-off work shirt and jeans and a pissed-off attitude. "Sookie!"

He comes stomping up, then shoots a glare at Sam before he fastens his hand, hard, around her arm and drags her off a few steps, ignoring her grimace. "Ow, Jason, that hurts!"

"When were you gonna tell me you brought some stranger back to Gran's house last night?" he demands, shaking her a little.

She shoots him an annoyed glance right back. "I haven't even seen you since then."

[gavemea_45]

His willingness to let Sookie handle her brother goes out the window the second he shakes her and she complains of pain.

"You're gonna want to let go of her." It's very even.

[feel_human]

"I will, huh?" Jason turns to give Sam a heated look, glancing up and down like he's taking his measure. "You don't get to tell me what to do on my fuckin' property and with my own fuckin' sister."

"Oh, shut up, Jason," Sookie snaps, twisting her arm out of his grip. "You don't have any rights over me. And this isn't your property, it's Gran's. Don't you puff your chest out at him, he's perfectly nice. This is Sam."

She gives her brother an exasperated glance before turning to Sam. "Sam, this is my brother, Jason."

"Older brother," Jason supplies, the look in his eyes still hard.

[gavemea_45]

"Got one of those myself." Sam eyes Jason back for a second, then gives an inward sigh and takes a step forward, holding out a hand to shake.

"Sam Winchester."

It's worth a try, at least.

[feel_human]

Jason looks sullen, until Sookie swats him swiftly on the shoulder. He gives her an aggrieved glance, then reaches out to shake hands – though he attempts a short trial of strength. "Jason Stackhouse," he says, sulky, but Sookie grins, pleased.

"What're you doin' here, anyhow?" she asks, as Jason releases Sam's hand.

"Came for lunch," is the answer, before Jason shoots another glance at Sam. "And to check up on things."

Sookie rolls her eyes at him. "Well, things are just fine, as you can see."

[gavemea_45]

"Word gets around," Sam says, dryly. "Your grandmother was kind enough to offer me a place to stay that wasn't the motel."

[feel_human]

"Uh-huh," says Jason, giving him a suspicious look. "Gran's nice like that. Trustin', too."

He looks back at Sookie. "Where is Gran, anyway?"

Sookie shrugs. "Must be inside, I guess. We were just headin' in, ourselves."

[gavemea_45]

"She's very nice," Sam agrees, neutral. He supposes he can't blame the guy for being protective over his family.

He knows a little bit about how that kind of thing works, after all.

[feel_human]

Jason's expression shifts like sun breaking through the clouds as they come in and Gran's delight at his arrival washes over him. She extorts a hug from him before greeting Sam kindly and with real warmth and accepting a kiss from Sookie as she shoos them all toward the table, already set for lunch.

The phone rings as she's serving out chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes and green beans. "I got it, Gran," Sookie tells her, taking the bowl of gravy out of her hands. "Go on."

She offers the gravy to Sam, first, then sips at her glass of iced tea as Jason starts sawing at his food. "That your bike out front?" her brother asks, a little rudely but with real interest.

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah," he confirms, with a quick smile of thanks to Sookie. Sam dollops some gravy on his plate and passes it along. "Had it for a little while now. You know bikes?"

[feel_human]

"Sure," Jason bluffs, as Sookie gets up to put away the gravy once he's served himself. She looks at Sam over Jason's head and shakes her own, mouthing nope! with an amused grin. "But I prefer trucks, myself."

She sits back down and digs into her own lunch, her appetite whetted by the chores and the walk. "Jason works for Renard Parish," she tells Sam. "He oversees the road crew and such."

[gavemea_45]

“Sure,” Sam echoes, easily. “I can see that. That truck you drove up in’s a nice one.”

They’ve come across guys like Jason before in any number of places on the road. Sam can just imagine how Dean would be reacting right about now, but he really doesn’t want to antagonize Sookie’s brother. He nods to her and tells Jason, “Think I ran into some of your crew last night, over at the bar. Good guys.”

[feel_human]

Jason smiles, wide and pleased, his mouth full of steak. "Good 'nough, I guess."

He casts an avaricious glance over Sookie's plate and her own half-eaten steak. "You gonna eat that?"

"Yes," she laughs, and bats his questing fork away. "Leave it, Jason!"

[gavemea_45]

“It’s really good,” Sam says, making inroads on his own plate. “Your grandmother is an amazing cook.”

[feel_human]

"Best in the parish," Sookie agrees, though her teasing smile fades as Gran comes back into the kitchen, phone pressed to her chest, looking shell-shocked. "Gran?"

"That was Everlee Mason," Adele tells them. "Guess who they found strangled to death in her apartment last night? Maudette Perkins."

"Oh my lord," Sookie breathes, horrified. Across the table, Jason shifts, uncomfortable. "I went to high school with Maudette."

[gavemea_45]

“I’m so sorry,” Sam says, even as everything deep inside goes cold and still.

“She was strangled?” A great way to hide other marks, if someone wanted to.

Or some thing.

[feel_human]

"Can you believe it?" Gran marvels. "A murder, right here in Bon Temps."

"Well, I don't know why you're surprised." Jason gets up and brings his plate to the sink. It's not quite cleaned all the way, and Sookie frowns at him. "There's things worse 'n that happens even here. Stuff you'd never have guessed at, not in a million years."

Sookie's frown deepens. "How do you know that?"

"I don't know, Sookie!" He turns, a flash of anger and something else in his eyes as he lashes out at her. "The way you just know things, sometimes!"