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

[gavemea_45]

“Were you close?” He makes it as gentle as he can.

[feel_human]

She thinks back to high school, to making herself as small as she could by her locker while the cheerleaders walked by. Thinks of one of them, dark-haired and haughty.

- don’t stare at me you creepy little bitch of a freak can you hear me you suck Sookie Stackhouse you suck like a goddamn Hoover can you hear me -

"Not even a little. She hated me." She leans on the table and looks over at him. "But she didn't deserve this."

[gavemea_45]

“No,” Sam agrees. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess things like this don’t usually happen around here?”

[feel_human]

"Never, that I've heard of."

Her appetite's gone completely. She gets up and clears her plate, then leans back against the counter. "This has always been a real safe place. Sam, you don't think..."

She glances at the back door and lowers her voice. "A vampire wouldn't strangle somebody, would they?"

[gavemea_45]

“If they were trying to hide fang marks, they might.” He keeps his voice just as low, and as gentle as he can. Following her lead, he clears his own plate, then turns his chair around to face her and resumes his seat so that she doesn’t have to look up at him.

[feel_human]

"Yeah, but... you'd think the cops mighta noticed if she didn't have any blood, right?"

She blows out a breath and folds her arms over her stomach. "We better talk to Gran," she decides, quiet but firm. "Right away. I don't want to leave her alone tonight without her knowin' about Bill."

[gavemea_45]

“Not if he didn’t take all of it.”

He can’t see the way she holds herself and not try to do something. He’s on his feet before he realizes he’s moving, and holds out both hands to her. “Come here?”

[feel_human]

She comes off the counter and uncrosses her arms, then sets her small hands in his big ones. Her fingers look so delicate, next to his, as she takes a step closer to look up into his face, her eyes big and dark and solemn.

[gavemea_45]

He pulls her a little closer and wraps both arms around her in a warm embrace, trying to comfort.

“It’ll be okay,” he promises. “If it’s him, I’ll stop him.”

[feel_human]

He's so tall that she can't even put her head on his shoulder, just his chest, and it makes her feel more petite than ever. But she likes it, she decides, after the first thrill of surprise and uncertainty has run through her and gone. She can hear his heart beating, steady and reassuring. "I know," she whispers, and allows herself a moment to close her eyes, feeling his warmth and arms around her and the quiet murmur of his thoughts, before she looks up at him.

"I believe you."

[gavemea_45]

Sam searches her face, trying to put all the sincerity he feels in his own. “Good,” he whispers. “Because I mean it.”

[feel_human]

Her smile flickers and her eyes turn warm. "I know you do," she reminds him, low. "I can tell, remember?"

[gavemea_45]

“I know, but I felt like I should say it, too,” Sam tells her. “Instead of assuming.”

[feel_human]

"You're sweet," she murmurs.

He is, sweet as honey, from his shaggy hair to his kind, earnest eyes to the dimples that tuck into his cheeks when he smiles. They're as close now as they were when he kissed her good night, and her glance can't help but drop to his mouth before she meets his gaze again and blushes, gently extricating herself from his arms. "Gran'll be back in a minute. We should... should probably figure out what to tell her."

[gavemea_45]

He lets her step away without resisting and goes to lean against the wall. “Do you want to tell her the truth?”

[feel_human]

"Yes."

He doesn't tell her they need to lie; doesn't tell her what to say at all, and her expression softens with surprised gratitude. It is so refreshing, to meet a man who doesn't instantly think he knows better than she does. "I always tell her the truth. Even last night, I told her the truth... I just left out the part about Bill bein' a vampire, that's all."

[gavemea_45]

“Okay,” Sam says, quietly. “We can leave that out again. I’ve…had some experience explaining weird things in normal terms.”

He glances away to make sure Adele isn’t approaching yet, then continues, “But if you want to, we can tell her that part too. If it’ll make it more likely that she won’t change her mind and invite him in if he shows up, or go outside after dark, or something.”

[feel_human]

“Well, that’s what I mean,” Sookie tells him. “I wanna tell her the truth. The whole truth, not just part of it.”

The thought hits her, and she adds, quickly: “But we don’t have to tell her everythin’ about you. I know it’s a secret.”

[gavemea_45]

"It's okay," Sam says. He's come this far, after all. John had drilled it into them to keep it secret, but John talked to other people who knew, now didn't he? Every hunter learns the truth somehow.

The thought sits in his head like betrayal, and he pushes it away.

"It might make it easier for her. To ask questions, and to - to know how you found out. It's okay, Sookie, it really is."

[feel_human]

“Only if we have to,” Sookie says, firm. “And it’s your decision, Sam. Whatever you wanna tell her, I’ll back you up, okay?”

[gavemea_45]

"It's okay," he insists. "I promise."

[feel_human]

She studies him, but nothing in his face or thoughts argues with what he’s saying, so she nods.

“Okay,” she says, quiet. “Thanks.”

[gavemea_45]

"Of course." He glances in the direction of the door again. "Should we go out and find her?"

[feel_human]

“She’ll be in in a second,” she tells him, and, sure enough, a moment later the back door opens and Adele calls through.

“Sookie, honey, would you come get this door for me?”

[gavemea_45]

"I've got it," Sam says, and moves to the door in a couple of long strides. He pulls it open, braces it with his leg, and reaches to take the laundry from Adele.

"Here, let me, Mrs. Stackhouse."