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]

"Well, not a vampire savin' someone, that's for sure," Bobby says. "Not unless, uh..."

"It's not that," Sam says, steadily. "Already went there. If he'd meant to turn her we'd be having a different conversation."

"Okay." Bobby sounds relieved. "As for the blood... most of what I know comes from the underground of addicts. Those idjits who drink the stuff deliberately. Uh, I have to ask -- how much did you swallow?"

[feel_human]

"I don't know," she says, her voice soft and a little ashamed. "I was... but I think it was kind of a lot."

[gavemea_45]

Sam sets the phone on the table where Bobby can still hear them and the other way around, and comes around to lean down and wrap his arms around Sookie where she sits.

"Assume it was at least a glass full," he says. "More than a drug-type dose, for sure."

"Well." Bobby blows out a breath. "I'll have to look a few things up. See what I can find. I'll do it as quick as I can. Sam, you need any help over-- where the heck are you, anyway?"

"I'll let you know if I do," he says, and doesn't answer where. "Appreciate the information, though. A lot."

[feel_human]

She puts a hand on Sam's arm and leans back into his embrace. "So do I," she says, soft. "Thanks, Bobby."

[gavemea_45]

"You're welcome," Bobby says, a little gruff, but gentle. Sam thinks he's not sure how to deal with Sookie's quiet, sincere thanks. "Sam, I'll call you soon. Stay out of trouble, y'hear?"

"Loud and clear," he says. "Thanks, Bobby."

[feel_human]

She hears the click of Sam's contact hanging up the line, and looks up over her shoulder at Sam. "Sorry to get you in trouble with your friend."

[gavemea_45]

"You didn't," Sam assures her. He gives her another hug, then shifts to an easy crouch beside her chair.

"He really is just like that, all the time."

[feel_human]

He's so tall that even crouching by her chair puts him only just below eye level. She keeps her hands in her lap and studies him, solemn.

"You think he'll be able to find somethin'?"

[gavemea_45]

"I've never had a question Bobby wasn't able to find something about," Sam says. "Sometimes it's not a lot, but if there's anything to find, he'll find it. Someone will know, Sookie. We'll find out."

[feel_human]

She nods, opting to trust him. Goodness knows she doesn't know enough about what's happening not to.

"I gettin' kinda tired," she murmurs. "Do you mind if we call it a night?"

[gavemea_45]

"I don't mind," he says, softly. Sam stands, reclaims his phone and shoves it in a pocket, then offers her both hands to help her up.

[feel_human]

She takes his hands and keeps one as she gets to her feet, lacing their fingers together before she turns out the kitchen light and they walk toward the stairs.

Up by her room, she turns to look at him. "Do you want to stay with me? Again?"

[gavemea_45]

"Do you want me to?" he asks, gently. "It's okay if you don't, what with your grandmother and all."

[feel_human]

"Yes," she murmurs. "I know it's selfish. If you don't, you don't have to."

[gavemea_45]

He blinks, eyes wide and startled. "It's not selfish at all." Sam squeezes her fingers. "I just didn't want to assume."

[feel_human]

"Well, you're not."

Her hand feels small and safe in his, and it is selfish, whatever he might say. She needs to feel safe, and he does that for her. "I'm askin'."

[gavemea_45]

"Then yes," he says, softly. "I will. I want to."

[feel_human]

"Okay," she says, just as a soft, and comes up onto her tiptoes to kiss him gently. "Come on, then."

[gavemea_45]

He kisses her back and cups his hand to her cheek for a moment.

"Go ahead and get cleaned up," he murmurs. "I'll grab a change of clothes from the other room."

[feel_human]

She nods and lets go of him, then slips into her room to find some pajamas before she goes to brush her teeth and wash her face. Sitting at the little vanity in her room once she's finished, she brushes out her hair, and tries not to think about Bill, sitting alone in that great empty house half a mile off.

[gavemea_45]

He grabs a T-shirt and sleep shorts from his things and ducks into the bathroom to wash up once she's done. Once finished, he slips back and picks up a clean change of clothes for the morning so that he won't need to wander down the hall and risk getting caught by Adele, then grabs his phone charger.

Sam pauses to text Bobby before he goes back to join Sookie.

Thanks again. Call me AM anytime.

[feel_human]

She looks up from where she's tucked herself into bed, sitting up against a pillow braced on the headboard, a book in her lap. "All set?"

[gavemea_45]

"All set." He holds up his phone and charger. "Is there somewhere I can plug this in?"

[feel_human]

"Uh-huh."

She nods to the bedside table next to her, where her lamp sits. "There's an outlet just behind there."

[gavemea_45]

He leans down and plugs it in, then sets his folded clothes neatly on a chair and settles on the bed beside her.

Sam nods to the book. "Want to read for a while?"