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]

He keeps one arm around her and tucks the other under his head, watching the sunlight play through the branches of the trees and listening to the world around them while she sleeps.

It's not likely that they'll be disturbed, all things considered, but just in case... he'll stay awake and watch out for anything unexpected.

[feel_human]

Impossible to say how much time has passed before she shifts again, starting to wake up, drifting up out of her light sleep as easily as she'd drifted into it.

But she's not quite ready to give it up just yet. She clings to it, curling her arm around him as she nudges her face into the crook of his neck.

[gavemea_45]

He looks down at her as she shifts and smiles. "Hi. You awake?"

[feel_human]

"Gettin' there," she murmurs, thick and drowsy. "How long was I asleep?"

[gavemea_45]

"Just a little while," he reassures her. "Did you have a nice nap?"

[feel_human]

"Uh-huh."

She can't even remember the last time she'd allowed herself to nap in the sun like this, like a cat. Reaching up, she rubs sleep out of her eyes. "Did you stay awake that whole time? I hope you didn't get bored."

[gavemea_45]

"Not bored at all." Sam smiles down at her. "Mostly I was just watching the trees and listening to the birds."

[feel_human]

"It's nice out here, huh?"

She rolls to her back and stretches, long and languid, then rests her hands on her stomach and looks up at the sheltering leaves.

[gavemea_45]

"It is." He props himself up on his elbows and looks around, then at her.

"This is a really nice place."

[feel_human]

She smiles at him, pleased that he's enjoying himself, and reaches up a hand to cup his cheek. "I can show you that swimmin' hole, too, if you want."

[gavemea_45]

"That sounds nice. When you're ready," he hastens to add. "There's no rush."

[feel_human]

"Okay."

It's coming on the afternoon now, and it'll probably feel nice for him to take a dip in the cool, deep water. "In a minute, then."

[gavemea_45]

He turns to the side and runs a hand over her hair, smoothing it down as he smiles at her.

"No rush," he repeats.

[feel_human]

She yawns and smiles back at him.

"You want that pie before, or after?"

[gavemea_45]

"After," he decides. "It'll be nice to come back to. If that's okay with you?"

[feel_human]

"'Course."

She leans up to kiss him, then rolls over to reach for her bag, pulling out a towel and her suit, red strawberries printed on white.

[gavemea_45]

While she's getting ready, he retrieves the small bundle of towel-and-trunks he'd picked up in town from where he'd dropped them by the picnic basket when he set it down. Sam pulls his clothes on, makes sure the knives are safely wrapped in the towel, and comes back to offer her a hand up.

[feel_human]

She ties her bikini on and runs her fingers through her hair to untangle it and fluff it out, then takes his hand to pull herself up, holding onto the towel with her other hand.

Despite having just lain here together bare as anything, she still glances appreciatively at the way the trunks hang from his slim hips. "This way," she tells him, lacing their fingers together and tugging him off the blanket and onto the grass.

[gavemea_45]

There's something about the way those scraps of cloth look on her that draws his attention to the curves he'd just caressed. Sam somehow manages not to trip over his own feet, and follows after her willingly.

"That's a pretty suit." Appreciation rings through each word. "You look amazing."

[feel_human]

Sookie gives him a shy, amused grin. "Thanks. I like yours, too." She likes the way it looks on him even more, but surely that much is obvious.

She leads him down the little slope and into the stand of trees, where the scent of water comes much more strongly. The swimming hole is really just a large pond, fed by a wandering stream, with a slightly rickety dock leading out into the water.

[gavemea_45]

"I wouldn't have known this was here," he marvels.

[feel_human]

"It's a little hidden treasure, isn't it?"

She lets go of his hand and spreads her towel on the edge of the pier, then sits down and looks up at him, encouraging. "Go on, see how the water is."

[gavemea_45]

"How deep is it?" He sets his towel down near hers, still bundled up, and wanders to the end of the pier to test the temperature with his foot.

[feel_human]

"Maybe eight, nine feet?"

She leans back on her hands, enjoying the sun. "At the deepest."

[gavemea_45]

So probably safe to dive, but only if he's careful about it. Sam decides discretion is the better part of valor and jumps off the pier instead, then comes up and slings his wet hair back from his face and swims over alongside it to reach for her ankle.

"Aren't you coming in?" Mischief is in his eyes as he gives a light tug. "It's nice and cool."