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]

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.

[feel_human]

Tara gives him an unfriendly eye back, leaning against the back counter without making a move to pour or mix a drink. "Who you noddin' at, white bread?"

[gavemea_45]

"Um," he starts. "Hi. Sookie said you were a friend of hers? I'm Sam. Nice to meet you."

[feel_human]

"Oh, Christ." Tara sighs her exasperation up to the ceiling. "That is all I need."

Which part of what he'd said falls under that category, she doesn't deign to explain.

Sookie bustles by and reaches over to grab a cold bottle of beer, not taking any mind of Tara's expression or annoyance. "I promised you'd be nice," she says, reproachfully, and tips her head meaningfully at Sam. "You gonna make a liar out of me?"

"Goddamn, Sook, I wish you'd stop thinkin' I can be nice," Tara grumbles, but her friend's already gone, in a whisk of ponytail.

She glares at the guy. "You drinkin', or what?"

[gavemea_45]

"Another Bud, please." He smiles, trying for friendly despite the glare. "Don't worry, I won't be any trouble."

[feel_human]

"Yeah, right."

Grumbled as she shoves a glass under the tap and starts filling it. "Guys like you are always trouble."

[gavemea_45]

"Well, I'll try not to be." He downs part of the drink Sookie brought him, and takes another careful look around the room. "You from here too?"

[feel_human]

Tara gives him an unimpressed look. "You think that 'aw shucks' charm is gonna work on me? Get me to tell you my life story, so you can find somethin' we got in common, somethin' to sympathize with, somethin' to pity me about?"

One of the construction workers comes bellying up to the bar. "Tara, can you – "

"Fuck off," she snaps. "I'm busy."

The guy lifts his hands and backs off, and she deposits the new beer in front of this new Sam. "Let me tell you somethin' about Sookie," she says, giving him a warning stare. "Sookie trusts easy. Me? I don't."

[gavemea_45]

"Okay," he says. "I hear you." Loud and clear, for that matter. "Should I just..."

He tips his head at the pool table, asking if she'd rather he move the hell away.

[feel_human]

Lafayette comes swanning out of the kitchen, do-rag slung over his shoulder like a braid, and reaches past Tara for a glass. "Don't let her scare you off, big man," he drawls, letting his heavily-lashed gaze drop and climb slowly right back up the newcomer, and makes a sound of approval. "Mm."

Tara scowls. "Bitch, get outta my bar."

"This ain't your bar," Lafayette tells her, breezy, and drops one lined and sparkling eyelid in a droll wink at Sam.

[gavemea_45]

"I don't scare that easy," Sam says, amused. It's been a while since he's been flirted with quite that hard, but it's not like it bothers him - as long as people don't think he's dating his brother, anyway.

"So is this your bar?"

[feel_human]

"White boy, do I look like my name's Sam Merlotte?"

Unlike Tara, his question is all sly amusement. He tips a healthy measure of vodka into his glass and sips at it. "You look like your name is Liberace," Tara grumbles, but the heat's mostly gone out of it.

Lafayette ignores her and holds out one graceful, perfectly manicured hand to the newcomer. "I'm Lafayette. The cook. This sour-ass over here's my cousin, Tara."