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]

Her grin flashes out, free of restraint. She'd been right, before; there's a sort of strangeness to the space around him, but after dealing with the Rattrays, it's downright pleasant. Kind of relaxing, even.

"That's right. Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse."

[gavemea_45]

She's got a really pretty smile, he notices. He can't not.

"Nice to meet you, Sookie. I'm Sam. Winchester," he tells her, and doesn't let himself think about how not using false ID'll make it easier for Dean to find him... if he wants to.

[feel_human]

"Well, hi there, Sam Winchester."

Her smile only gets bigger as he introduces himself. "Just so happens, my boss is a Sam, too."

She nods over at the bar, where the shaggy-haired man in a checked shirt leans, watching them. She doesn't appear to notice how his gaze lingers on her as she turns back to Sam, the customer. "Maybe I oughta give you a discount."

[gavemea_45]

"I'd've thought you'd charge me double, given that it's your boss." Her boss who's watching pretty closely, Sam can't help but notice that, too. Waiting to see if he's going to start trouble, maybe. He does his best not to let it show that he's caught it.

[feel_human]

She laughs, just a little. "Nah," she says, loyally. "Sam's a nice guy. And it's a nice name," she adds, grinning at him.

"Well... anything else you wanna know? I've lived in Bon Temps all my life. I can tell you about just about anythin' in it."

[gavemea_45]

He ducks his head, smiling shyly down at his beer.

"Anything I should know? If I were gonna stick around for a couple of days?"

[feel_human]

"Um – " When he smiles, a dimple tucks into his cheek. "Well – "

She's smiling, herself, almost as bashfully as him. "There's a... a real nice swimming hole nearby. And the town center's real pretty, especially this time of year. There are some historical sites, back from the war..."

She casts about, trying to think of something, anything, that might entice somebody to stay who hadn't already put down roots, and has to laugh at herself. "But it's... it's a pretty quiet place, Bon Temps. I guess there's probably not much here you'd be interested in."

[gavemea_45]

"Hey, quiet's worth a lot," he protests. Even though most of the small towns they'd been in were anything but, not everywhere's like that, right? "And I happen to like history."

[feel_human]

"Well, there's plenty of both, here."

For most people, anyway – which is when it hits her like a bolt out of the blue: quiet. It's quiet. She doesn't know if he's lying or not, if he really means to stay, what he wants to know.

She can't... she can't hear him. Not clearly.

It just about knocks her flat onto her ass, and for a second she just stares at him, her smile evaporated into astonishment.

[gavemea_45]

She's looking at him in shock, but he has no idea why. His expression turns uncertain.

"Was it something I said?"

[feel_human]

Her mouth opens, but she has no idea what to say. How is it possible, what kind of miracle –

"Don't mind Sookie none, mister." Mack Rattray leans back over the booth divider, ugly yellow teeth bared in a conspiratorial grin. "She's crazy as a bedbug. Allus has been."

Embarrassed color floods into her cheeks, and she turns, all confusion. "I'll just – I'll go check on that burger for you."

[gavemea_45]

"Don't believe I asked your opinion," Sam retorts, coolly, staring the guy down as Sookie retreats. "Can't see that it's worth much, either."

[feel_human]

Mack's grin fades and turns into a scowl. "Yankee," he grumbles derisively to Denise, as he slinks back into his booth seat.

For her part, Sookie's catching her breath by the bar, her mind awhirl – for once with her own thoughts, more than anyone else's, until Lafayette dings to bell. "Order up," he calls to her, then peers past her into the bar. "This for that tall drink of water? Oh, he cute."

Sookie draws herself back together and gives him an exasperated glance as she collects the plates. "Oh, button it, Lafayette."

[gavemea_45]

Sam rolls his eyes at the attempted insult and picks up his beer. Asshole or not, the guy's a local, and Sookie's boss apparently tolerates him. It's not going to do her any favors if he causes a ruckus. No matter how tempting it is.

Glancing around, he catches the exasperated look from the redheaded waitress, directed at the booth next to him, and figures that at least Sookie's coworkers have her back.

[feel_human]

She takes a moment to center herself, to build her walls back up, then sets the plates on her tray and lifts it to her shoulder. She moves among the tables and chairs like a dancer, the choreography so ingrained in her she hardly notices it anymore, and tries not to mind the cacophony of thoughts that swirl through the room like a miasma –

tomorrow, I'll start bein' good tomorrow
Dawn's sure lookin' good tonight, not that she'll give me the time of day
that Stackhouse girl sure is strange, too bad

– and can't help breathing a sigh of relief as she gets to his table and the bubble of quiet there. "Here y'are," she says, setting first the plate with the burger and black-eyed peas down, then the small side plate with the collard greens. "Fresh off the grill."

[gavemea_45]

"Thanks. It looks great." Sam searches her face as he lowers his voice. "Hey. You okay? You didn't take that guy's bull to heart, did you?"

[feel_human]

Sookie ducks her head under his serious glance. "I'm – "

She pulls her smile onto her lips, bright and fake, and meets his eyes again. "I'm fine. Don't you worry about me. People have been callin' me – well, worse'n that my whole life."

The corners of her smile are brittle enough to shatter. "Sticks and stones, right?"

[gavemea_45]

"So they say." She doesn't look fine. She looks upset. With feeling, Sam adds, "Sometimes people suck. I'm sorry."

[feel_human]

Her expression softens a little. "Nothin' for you to be sorry for." She can't hear his thoughts to tell if he's speaking the truth, but he has an earnest face.

Her smile gentles into something soft and shy. "I'm glad you came in tonight, Sam Winchester. It's been... real nice talkin' with you."

[gavemea_45]

"It's nice talking with you too, Sookie. I mean that." He puts all the sincerity he feels into his voice.

[feel_human]

She glances down, her smile bashful. "So... do you think you will? Stick around a couple days?"

[gavemea_45]

He hears Dean's You sly dog as clearly as if his brother were sitting right across the table from him. Partly to drown it out, Sam says, "Sure, why not? From what you've said, it sounds like a nice place to explore."

The people might not be so great, present company excepted, but the town's probably nice enough.

[feel_human]

"Oh, it is," she says, earnest. Cutting a glance toward the Rattrays, she lowers her voice.

"Don't let a few negative Nellies make you think otherwise."

[gavemea_45]

"Don't worry about it. They're not the first like that I've run into." Sam gives her a quick smile. "So I won't if you don't."

[feel_human]

Her smile widens. "Deal."

She doesn't understand how this could be happening. What is it about him that's muffling her disability so much? Curious, she reaches tentatively toward his mind, but backs off before she can make contact, scolding herself silently for even thinking about invading the privacy he's so happily been given.

Sookie casts a glance at his burger. "Well... I better leave you to it. If you need anything else, just holler, okay? I'll come on by to check on you in a bit."