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]

"I don't mind at all." Sam drapes the phone charger cable along the back of the headboard, glad it's long enough to not be a bother to her.

"I'll look at a few things too, while you're at it." He nudges his shoulder against hers and smiles at her.

[feel_human]

"Okay."

His nudge at her shoulder makes her smile, and she leans up to kiss his cheek. "I can't believe I only met you a few days ago," she murmurs, marveling. "Now I can't even imagine you bein' a stranger again."

[gavemea_45]

"Me either," he says, just as soft. Sam deliberately pushes away all thoughts of the fall and of California to concentrate on the now.

"You're a really amazing person, Sookie Stackhouse."

[feel_human]

She smiles at that, again. "So are you," she murmurs, and curls against his side, leaning her head on his shoulder as she sets her book against her knees.

"The most amazin' person I've ever met."

[gavemea_45]

He slips his arm around her and draws her in, deftly managing his phone with his other hand.

"I don't know about that," he protests, quietly, as a message from Bobby pops up on his screen.

You bet I will. And when I do you better have some answers for me.

[feel_human]

"Well, I do."

She snuggles comfortably against him and resumes her reading, not looking over at his phone.

[gavemea_45]

Sam kisses the top of her head and sends Bobby a one-word response.

OK

That done, he calls up a few things to look at, just to pass the time while she reads.

[feel_human]

She reads until her eyelids grow heavy and she starts having to backtrack over first words, then full paragraphs. Finally, when she finds she's been dozing more than reading for ten minutes or more, she sets the book aside and reaches to turn out her light, then snuggles down under her sheets and reaches for him.

"Night, honey," she murmurs.

[gavemea_45]

Sam leans across her to set his phone down on her bedside table, then curls up beside her and coaxes her to cuddle against him.

"Night," he whispers. "Sleep well, okay?"

[feel_human]

"You too," she mumbles, content to let him draw her into his arms. She settles her head on him rather than the pillow and exhales, relaxing.

"Sweet dreams."