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]

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."

[gavemea_45]

He laughs and shakes hands. "Nice to meet you, Lafayette. I'm a Sam too, but my last name's Winchester."

"Cousins, huh?" he asks Tara.

[feel_human]

She scowls at him and folds her arms over her chest, aggravated. Lafayette rolls his eyes, exaggerated, and winks once more.

Over on the bar floor, Sookie goes from table to table, her ponytail swinging cheerfully. Tara keeps a sharp eye on her, on the times when she frowns and rubs at her head, or startles, flustered.

She doesn't straighten from off the back counter until Sookie heads back to the table with that dark-haired newcomer once more, her smile shining out like sunrise as Tara's worried scowl deepens.

[gavemea_45]

Sam gives Lafayette a quick grin and takes a swallow of his beer. As he notices Tara's deepening scowl, he follows her glance and looks back.

"You know that guy?" he murmurs.

[feel_human]

"No," says Tara, aggravated. "But I don't like him."

"You don't like anyone," Lafayette points out, but she shakes her head.

"He gives me the creeps."

[gavemea_45]

Suspicious of the world or not, Tara's got good instincts. The problem is they've also got no reason to trust him, and he's already seen how well it went to try to advise Sookie.

"He seems a little weird."

[feel_human]

Tara snorts, but she doesn't relax until the dark-haired newcomer reaches for his wallet and takes out a couple of bills. "Looks like he's headed out, at least."

He's waving off what's apparently Sookie's attempt to get him his tab or change, standing up from the table. Tara doesn't like the look on Sookie's face as the guy gets near her, but at least he's on the way out.

[gavemea_45]

"So it does," he murmurs. Although how much good that's going to do if he's laired up near Sookie's place, he's not sure. Still, it's something.

Arlene hurries over and hisses at Lafayette, "I've got orders. Are you gonna be much longer?"

Sam lifts his drink to them all. "I'll get out of the way and go see if I can get in on the pool game. Looks like it could be fun to try."

[feel_human]

Lafayette lifts his own glass in a toast, and nudges Tara. "Better get them pitchers goin'," he murmurs, as he slides past her and sashays back to the kitchen.

On the floor, Sookie lifts a hand in farewell to Bill, who strolls as calmly out of Merlotte's as he had stalked in. There's a moment where she stands, eyes closed and frowning like she's trying to focus, before she opens them again and slips back into motion.

Tara sighs, but at least that's nothing new... exactly. "Here." She shoves a pitcher of beer Sam's way. "Take this over with you. Arlene'll be all night gettin' to it."

[gavemea_45]

"You got it." He hefts the pitcher to her in silent thanks and heads for the end of the pool table where the construction workers are huddled. "Hey, guys - Tara sent this over," Sam says, friendly-like. "Can I get in on the game?"

He decides it's probably best not to run the tables - not since he's going to be around for a while. Still, there's nothing wrong with making back a little bit of cash, and it gives him a reason to stick around and keep an eye out.

[feel_human]

Without Bill, the bar seems to expand like a mouth to swallow her up. Her defenses are in ruins, and she spends the next hour or so in a haze of confusion, trying to keep what people are saying and what they're thinking straight.

At least Sam seems to be doing all right; when she looks over, she finds him playing pool with a bunch of guys from Jason's road crew. No Hoyt or Rene tonight, but she knows the boys he's playing with, and they're mostly a good bunch.

Sam Merlotte comes back in after half an hour or so and busies himself with stocking drinks and wiping down tables; Tara meets Sookie's eyes and gives her a meaningful glance that Sookie opts to ignore. Is it her fault if Sam's got his feelings hurt?