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]

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'?"

[gavemea_45]

Well, that could have gone better. Maybe he should just have kept his mouth shut. Sam stifles a sigh and scans the room. It's busy for sure, but the booth he'd had before's still open. Sam settles back down there, at least for the moment, and waits to see what happens next.

[feel_human]

Apparently Sam had just abandoned ship, leaving Tara to cover, but Sookie doesn't have time to worry about it just now. The boys from the construction crew are jostling in, calling for beers and heading for the pool tables, and she's still got the rest of her section.

Including Bill, who's listening attentively to the Rattrays, of all people. Sookie gives him a sympathetic glance when she can, and swings back to set another pint on Sam's table, with a slight smile for him. "On me," she says, with a crooked little smile that's asking him to forgive her poor manners before. "Puppy dog."

[gavemea_45]

"Woof," he says again, softly, with a warm answering smile. "Need me to clear out to the bar or anything? Take the load off you?"

[feel_human]

"If a group comes in, needs the booth, maybe," she admits, and tips her head toward the bar. "My best friend Tara's bartending tonight. Be nice to her and she'll be nice to you."

She glances at the ruckus of sunburnt young men who whoop and holler as Dawn sashays by to give them their pitchers of Bud. "The boys ain't so bad, either, if you want a lil' company. If you see a real tall one, 'bout your height? That's Hoyt. He's a sweetie."

She winks at him. "He'll take care of you."

[gavemea_45]

Sam laughs. "I'll keep an eye out for him." He gets to his feet and smiles at her. "I'll go say hi to your friend, let her decide if she's going to interrogate me or not."

He hesitates. "Do you have to work tomorrow?"

[feel_human]

"I'm – " Blushing. Again.

For some reason, she thinks she feels that cool bubble of Bill's silence focus towards her. "I'm closing again, yeah."

She bites at her lip and glances up at him. "Why?"

[gavemea_45]

"I was wondering if, maybe, before you have to come in? If you'd want to -- I could take you to lunch or coffee somewhere?"

He has to keep himself from shifting from one foot to the other.

[feel_human]

For a second, as voices bubble around her, she can't hear even a single damn one of them. "... yes," she manages, finally, blushing furiously. "I mean, I'd like that. Um... "

She looks at him, and as the thought hits her eyes shine with her smile. "But I have a better idea. Here – "

Pulling the pad out of her apron, she jots down her number and offers it to him. "Call me in the morning?"

[gavemea_45]

She smiles like a sunbeam, and Sam can't help but smile back. "You bet I will," he promises, and takes out his phone to put her number in it. "I'll text you now, so you have mine too."

[feel_human]

"Okay," she says, almost giddy, and tips her head back to the floor, trying to stay practical. "I, um, oughta get back to work, Sam. Let me know if you need anythin', okay?"

[gavemea_45]

"Okay," he agrees. "I'll be around for a while yet."

He moves to the end of the bar with his drink, where he can keep an eye on Bill - and on Sookie - and nods a friendly hello to Sookie's friend Tara.