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]

His smile is sweet and gentle. "I know. But it doesn't always make a difference, when you're a stranger in town. Don't worry, it'll be fine. I just need a cover for why I'm here and why I'm asking questions."

His expression shifts a little. "I hate to ask you to lie."

[feel_human]

She gives him a slightly wary glance.

"Lie how?"

[gavemea_45]

"I thought I'd tell people I'm a travel writer," Sam says. "Doing a story on spec for a magazine - the kind of thing where they don't commit up front but they agree to look it over and buy it if they like it. That way I'd have a reason to be asking about all kinds of things and checking out everywhere we need to check."

Wryly, he adds, "If it helps, I can write and submit an actual article later."

[feel_human]

She thinks it over, then chuckles, a little wry.

"That would work," she agrees. "Maybe better than you think. You'll have to beat off the town gossips with a stick. Everybody'd be excited about the idea of Bon Temps gettin' featured in a magazine."

[gavemea_45]

He sets his empty plate aside and reaches for her hand. "You can learn a lot of things from gossip, when it comes to - to this kind of stuff." Sam rubs his thumb lightly back and forth over her fingers.

"Is that okay with you?"

[feel_human]

"I reckon it'll have to be," she says, practical. "You need a reason to ask around, after all. And folks will want to believe that one. It's a good idea, Sam."

[gavemea_45]

"It'll make people more comfortable with having me around, too." He keeps up the gentle caress, almost absently.

"Usually it doesn't matter so much, but this is different."

[feel_human]

"I understand, Sam."

She says it gently, but firmly. He'll need to do it whether she likes it or not, and it'll only be successful if she supports him in it. And that means she needs to do it, too.

Which means lying to her friends and neighbors. To Tara. To Sam Merlotte. A half-smile flickers on her lips. "At least Gran already knows, some of it. I'd rather not lie to her, if we can help it."

[gavemea_45]

"I think we can manage that." His smile is rueful, but warm. "I really can write an article, too. Maybe we can make it true."

[feel_human]

"That would sure be somethin'."

She squeezes his fingers, then lets go. "Want anymore to eat?"

[gavemea_45]

"Maybe in a while." Sam smiles at her. "It's really good."

[feel_human]

She smiles back at him, pink-cheeked and pleased, and clears away the food for the moment, setting it back into the basket so can clear off the blanket enough to stretch out on it.

Patting the blanket next to her, she looks up at him. "Come lie down with me."

[gavemea_45]

Sam moves the basket to the very corner of the blanket and stretches out beside her, propped on his elbow and smiling at her.

"Hi," he murmurs, and leans up to kiss her.

[feel_human]

She curves her hand at his cheek and kisses him back, sweet and soft.

"Hi," she murmurs back. "I'm so happy you're here."

[gavemea_45]

"That makes two of us." He skims his hand lightly over her side to her hip. "Feeling okay?"

[feel_human]

"Uh-huh."

She lies down on her side next to him, pillowing her head on her arm so she can look at him. "A little sore, maybe, but not too bad."

[gavemea_45]

He drapes his arm over her waist and scoots closer. "I'm glad. That it's not too bad, I mean."

Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth as he adds, "I could kiss it all better."

[feel_human]

It takes a second, but then her face floods with embarrassed color. "Sam."

[gavemea_45]

He leans in and kisses her cheek, then lies back on the blanket and coaxes her to come back into his arms and let him hold her again. "Shh. Only if you want."

[feel_human]

She curls into his arms without hesitation, still blushing furiously.

"What do you want?"

[gavemea_45]

He takes the question seriously, pressing a kiss to her hair as he thinks for a second.

"Mostly I just want to spend time with you," he says, softly. "Like this, I mean, but also in general. But I don't - there's not, I don't have, like, things that, um, I want to do necessarily when we're together? I figure we can figure out what works for us."

[feel_human]

She slips her arm over his bare stomach, tracing her fingers along his skin, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

"I don't even know enough yet to say what I might like or not," she murmurs. "But I'd like to figure it out with you."

[gavemea_45]

He curls his arm around her, running his fingers into her hair and brushing them lightly over the nape of her neck.

"I'd like that too."

[feel_human]

It feels so nice just to lie here with him, the leaf-dappled light fluttering over her bare legs and his jeans and stomach, feeling him breathe, listening to the low, comforting rumble of his voice in his chest.

"I want to spend time with you, too," she murmurs. "As much as I can. Like this, and however else I can."

[gavemea_45]

Sam hugs her a little closer. "Your boss is going to get sick of seeing me at his bar," he teases. "Because if you'll let me, I'll stick pretty close."