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]

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."

[feel_human]

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Adele says, pleased. She allows Sam to take the basket of clean laundry, then bustles after him, taking down the ironing board from where it hangs in the pantry, chuckling.

“Keep makin’ yourself so useful and we’ll never let you go.”

[gavemea_45]

A breath of startled laughter escapes him at that, and he gives Sookie a quick glance. "It's no trouble, really."

[feel_human]

Sookie comes to intercept her as she reaches for the iron, taking both board and iron out of her hands. “Here, Gran, I’ll do that,” she says, and glances at Sam.

“Why don’t you have a seat over at the table? Sam and I wanna… we got some things to tell you.”

Adele looks mystified, then claps her hands together, delighted. “You’re datin’!”

“Um.” Sookie blushes. “Not that.”

[gavemea_45]

He feels the back of his neck heat up even as he guesses that answers the question of whether or not Adele Stackhouse would approve of a stranger from out of town taking her granddaughter out for coffee, or going on a picnic, or anything else. Sam settles the basket on a chair, and struggles for something to say.

"Um," he starts. "Not that she's - not that I'm not - anyway, it's not that."

[feel_human]

“Oh, I see.” Adele glances from one to the other of them, noting their matching flushed faces, and wisely decides to say nothing more. She takes a seat and looks at them, expectant. “Then what is it?”

Sookie flicks a look at Sam, then goes to fill the iron with water, trying to decide how to start. “It’s about… about that man at the bar last night. The one who came after me in the parking lot?”

[gavemea_45]

"He called himself Bill," Sam offers. "It's as good a name as any, I guess. The thing is, Mrs. Stackhouse--"

He's turned to face her, keeping back so as not to crowd her.

"-- he's trouble. Real trouble."

[feel_human]

“What sort of trouble?” Adele asks, disturbed. “Why, you don’t think he’s responsible for Maudette, do you?”

Sookie lifts the basket of laundry off the chair and nods for Sam to sit. “We don’t know, Gran,” she says, quiet. “But… the thing is, we’re not sure Bill is, exactly… human.”

[gavemea_45]

He takes the seat she indicates and promptly leans forward in the chair, elbows on his knees and an earnest look on his face.

"I know it sounds crazy. It'd be hard to believe if we hadn't seen it."

[feel_human]

“Sookie,” Gran says, distressed. “What are you sayin’?”

Sookie exchanges a glance with Sam, then comes over to take her grandmother’s hand. “Gran… he’s a vampire. They’re real, honest to goodness. I saw his fangs and everything.”

[gavemea_45]

He wishes there was a way to ease the shock. As it is, all he can do is back Sookie up.

"It's true," Sam murmurs. "I'm sorry."