feel_human | saturday night and the moon is out

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

feel_human

She runs her hands over her skirt, a little self-conscious, her cheeks pink as he stares at her. "Thanks."

It is a pretty dress, and she'd chosen it for exactly that reason. It's pretty and light and just right for a day spent out in the sunshine, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been hoping for a good reaction.

From:

gavemea_45

He ducks his head and smiles, then finally climbs off the bike and strolls over to her.

"I can carry the things," he says. "Are we walking, or do I need to figure out how to pack them on the bike?"

From:

feel_human

"Walkin'," she tells him, and doesn't come down the steps yet. When she's standing on them, she's at his eye height when he comes up, and that makes it the perfect opportunity to put her arms loose around his neck.

"If that's okay with you."

From:

gavemea_45

Sam puts his arms around her waist and smiles warmly at her. "More than okay," he murmurs, echoing what he'd said the night before. "Hi."

From:

feel_human

"Hi," she whispers back, and leans in to give him a sweet kiss, as light as the breeze toying with the hem of her skirt.

"You ready? Or do you need to go in, first?"

From:

gavemea_45

His arms tighten around her as he leans in to kiss her again.

"Ready when you are."

From:

feel_human

She laughs and leans back, affecting coyness. "Then you can take the basket," she tells him, pert, and lets go of him so she can pick up the bag and sling it over her shoulder.

Edited Date: 2022-09-27 08:55 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

He grins and lifts it in his left hand as he moves to her side. "Where are we going?"

From:

feel_human

"Our family used to have a big farm," she tells him, stepping off the porch and leading him across sun-warm, sweet-scented grass towards a path through the trees. "We've sold of most of it, in bits and pieces, but there are a few spots left. We're goin' to one of those."

From:

gavemea_45

"Speaking of family, I heard in town that Jason's been released," he says. "Although I figure he probably called to let you and your grandmother know. What kinds of things did you farm?"

From:

feel_human

"That was before my time," she tells him, and chooses not to think too much about Jason just yet as they step onto a path neatly bounded by short, gnarled trees. "But part of it was this."

She gestures around them, at the overgrown apple orchard they're walking through. "I used to come here with my granddaddy Earl to pick apples."

From:

gavemea_45

"Dean loves apple pie." Sam looks up at the trees with interest, then gives her a quick smile. "How'd you ever reach them?"

From:

feel_human

"Ladders," she says, laughing at his teasing. "Those of us who weren't born giants need 'em, occasionally."

From:

gavemea_45

"I could carry you on my shoulders, then you could reach everything," he says, easily amused.

From:

feel_human

He'd have to stick around for apple season, which is a thought she doesn't allow to fully manifest. Instead, she just giggles at the mental image and slips her small hand into his bigger one. "I guess that would work, too."

From:

gavemea_45

He smiles down at her and squeezes her fingers, swinging their hands back and forth.

"You guess? Oh ye of little faith."

From:

feel_human

"Ladders don't wanderin' around with minds of their own," she points out, still amused, and tugs him off the path and into the ranks of trees.

"But I'd be happy to pay you back with pie."

From:

gavemea_45

"Sold," he says, instantly, and follows her between the trees. Sunlight dapples the ground around them as it shines through the branches.

"It's pretty here."

From:

feel_human

"Isn't it?"

She can almost see him, if she tries: Granddaddy Earl, smiling at her as he holds a new-picked apple.

Just about ripe.

The orchard slopes ever so slightly downwards, and after a moment the scent of water and wet earth comes floating on the breeze, just before they come out of the old orchard and into a clearing. She points toward the stand of trees on the far side. "There's a nice swimming hole just over there, but I thought this would be a good spot for our picnic."

It's secluded and sunny and lightly dappled with shade, and the breeze rustles the leaves all around them. And there's no one here, no one at all, except them.

From:

gavemea_45

"It's beautiful." Sam sets the basket down at the side of the clearing and turns to smile down at her.

"And so are you."

From:

feel_human

She sets the bag down and blushes at his compliment. "You're sweet."

The picnic blanket is at the top of the bag; she takes it and shakes it out to spread it over the grass before she smiles at him. "Hungry?"

From:

gavemea_45

He moves to the other side of the blanket to help spread it out. "A little, maybe. Are you?"

From:

feel_human

"Gettin' there, but not all that hungry, yet."

She lowers herself to sit on the blanket and toes off her sandals, then curls her legs to sit, ladylike, on her hip before she pats the blanket invitingly. "Come sit?"