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]

"No kiddin'!"

College had never been in the cards for her, and she accepted it long ago, but that doesn't mean she can't be thrilled for someone who does get the chance – and who doesn't toss it away, like Jason had.

Her grins shines huge and delighted. "That's amazin'. Congratulations, Sam."

[gavemea_45]

He ducks his head as a bashful smile appears. "Thanks. That's nice of you to say."

She sounds absolutely thrilled for him, a hell of a lot more than his own family had been.

[feel_human]

She likes that shy smile of his, and how it dimples his cheeks. She likes it a lot. Almost as much as she likes the quiet of his mind.

He seems like a sweet guy. "A scholarship and everythin'. You must be a pretty bright guy."

[gavemea_45]

"I tried to study hard, anyway." He shrugs. "Anyway, school doesn't start until fall, so I thought I'd take the summer to make my way there at my own pace, you know?"

[feel_human]

"Makes sense."

She lifts her shoulders, digging her hands deeper into her back pockets. "It sounds incredible, a trip like that. California. I've never even been further than Shreveport."

[gavemea_45]

"I don't know - having a place like this to call home sounds pretty good, too," Sam points out. "Any particular reason why you haven't?"

[feel_human]

"Oh, well – "

She shuffles her feet and glances down, conscious of how her life – her job, her town – must look to someone like Sam, with the world wide open in front of him. "I live with my Gran," she says, finally, and glances up with a wry, self-conscious smile. "Somebody's gotta take care of her and Jason – my brother. Lord knows he can't seem to manage it himself."

[gavemea_45]

"That sounds nice." There's a shade of wistfulness to his tone before he snatches it back toward something more casual. "You're right about older brothers, though. They take a lot of looking after."

[feel_human]

"It is nice," she agrees.

"Still, I've always wanted to travel. I love Bon Temps, but... there's a lot out there to see."

[gavemea_45]

"I grew up traveling," he says, and shifts to offer her a seat on the bike if she doesn't want to stand anymore. "You're right, there's a lot, but sometimes it all feels... I don't know."

He shrugs a little. "Where would you go first?"

[feel_human]

She slips her hands out of her pocket and comes to sit on the bike, ladylike even in her waitress uniform, here in the parking lot of Merlotte's Bar & Grill. There's a moment where she gives his question some thought, before she laughs at herself.

"I don't even know," she tells him, shaking her head. "I think... I'd like to see the ocean?"

Not to swim in – just the thought gives her the willies – but to see. "To look out, and see nothing but sunlight and sky and water... I think that would be really somethin'."

[gavemea_45]

She hasn't even been further than Shreveport, he remembers, and doesn't ask about the Gulf of Mexico.

"Which one would you pick first?" he asks instead.

[feel_human]

"Gosh, how could I choose?"

She smiles up at him. "You've probably seen 'em both. Which would you pick?"

[gavemea_45]

"The Atlantic's warmer in the summertime," Sam muses. "The further south you go, anyway. Florida's got nice beaches. But California -- the Pacific goes on forever. You can stand in the middle of white sand and watch the sun set, like a ball of fire, and the way it makes everything look..."

He shakes his head. "It's incredible. Really incredible."

[feel_human]

"It sounds just beautiful."

The sound of someone thumping the jukebox to life brings her back to earth; she checks her watch and grimaces. "I'm sorry, Sam, I gotta go back in, in a minute. It's only gonna get busier tonight."

She drops her hand and gives him a rueful smile. "But thank you. For this lil' moment of peace'n quiet."

In more ways than one.

[gavemea_45]

"Thank you. For spending it with me." Sam shifts back and forth on his feet.

"Would you mind if I came back in? Had another round, maybe? I don't want you to think I'm pushy, or anything like that. It's just ... it's nice talking with you."

Not to mention he's got no intention of leaving her under the malicious eye of a vampire. If she says no, he'll have to think of something else.

[feel_human]

She laughs, and gets up off the bike. "It's a bar, Sam," she tells him, amused. "I'm just a waitress. You don't need my permission to come back in and have a drink."

Her glance drops and her smile turns a little shy. "But... I'd like that. It's real nice talkin' with you, too."

[gavemea_45]

"Maybe not, but I don't want to cause you any trouble. Or bother you, or--"

But then her voice goes softer, and her smile too, and Sam trips over his own words. "Oh. Good. I'm - I'm glad you think so, too."

He tips his head toward the door, ready to walk her in. "Um. At risk of sounding a little like a jerk, can I ask you to be careful around that Bill guy?"

[feel_human]

"Bill? Why?" She gives him a puzzled smile and tips her head, sending her ponytail falling over her shoulder as her glance turns slightly teasing.

"You gonna come protect me from all the big bad strangers just like that ol' dog?"

[gavemea_45]

"Woof," Sam says, dryly, and manages a chuckle. "No, I just - I mentioned he reminded me of someone?"

He's thinking fast, but this kind of thing they've been doing as long as he can remember, so it comes easily. "The people I was thinking of, from back then - they're not good people. And they're a tight-knit group. Pretty dangerous. If he's related, he could be trouble. Just be careful, okay?"

[feel_human]

Her teasing smile slowly disappears, replaced by wary puzzlement. "You said that someone was in Kentucky," she points out.

"You think they'd come all the way out here? What for?"

She can almost hear Sheriff Dearborne now. This is a nice town. We don't want no trouble.

And – well – he's a stranger, too. And one she can't hear, not clearly. But there's something, something in that quiet, muffled space of his thoughts that doesn't seem to quite line up with what he's saying.

[gavemea_45]

"I did. They are."

Were, not to put too fine a point on it.

"But they're like - a clan, I guess. A, a family, with branches? The kind that gets mean and holds grudges. I don't know why any of them'd be here in particular, though. But he really, really looks like he could be related."

[feel_human]

She watches him, her expression careful. "And how exactly were you involved, Sam?"

Before anyone can say anything else, the front door bangs open and Arlene sticks her head out. "Sookie!" she yells. "Will you get your butt back in here? My babysitter's on the phone and Sam won't let me on it 'til you get back."

Sookie sighs and turns. "I'm comin', Arlene, hold your horses."

[gavemea_45]

"My brother, Dean... he got in a bar fight with some of them. A big one. And like I said, they--"

He cuts himself off there as the redheaded waitress comes out, and moves to hold the door for them both.

[feel_human]

She can't ask him anymore about it just now, but she gives him a terse nod that's as much as she's willing to offer just now.

The truth is, she doesn't know either him or Bill from Adam, and she's starting to wonder how much of a coincidence it all really is.

And how much of him deciding to stick around for another beer is because he likes talking to her, and not because he's keeping an eye on Bill.

She's so caught up in her thoughts she walks right past the bar on the way to retrieve her apron before she pauses and backs up to stare at Tara, now working the bar. "What the heck are you doin'?"