When we dance…
"Tell me, do you love him? If you do, I will walk away in shame. I'd move town; I'd change my name. Just say the words and I will leave"
"Eric, Bill and I just started going out. Why are you here, and now?"
"Because I love you, Sookie Stackhouse"
"You love me? You left me remember, I wasn't the one who asked you to leave"
"I know, I'm sorry, I was confused, Sookie, I just needed to get my act together, otherwise I would have hurt you. I didn't want that, neither do you"
"You never called, you just went AWOL, ergo I had to just let go and go on, no calls, no emails, you just disappeared"
"Yes but, I kept track you know?"
"You kept track? You kept track!"
All of the sudden I forgot about the southern manners, and noticed that my voice was quite loud.
"I knew you got that job, at Lafayette's designs, I knew you got a promotion a while ago, and I knew you went to Paris with your new boss, Lafayette, to look for the new designs for the fall clothes line"
"How?"
"Pam, kept me up-dated"
"Pam? Should've know better, she kept on calling me after you left. She was so on your side, but never talked to me about you much, just that you left town. But her calls never stopped. Every day, sometimes twice. She almost slapped my butt when I left for Paris and didn't tell her when I was coming back. Why should I trust you again, after three months away from me? How do I know you won't get scared again and leave me?"
"I love you, plain and simple, I was wrong to leave you the way I did, but I needed to stay away from you. I felt like. A priest once told me my soul's salvation is in the balance of the angels, but taken care of."
"You talked to a priest?"
"I wanted to be sure of what I was doing, Sooks. He won't love you like I loved you. I left, but I'm here now."
I was in awe, speechless. I met Bill a week after Eric left, he was charming, and handsome. But he wasn't Eric. He didn't laugh at my jokes, (Eric would crack up all the time) just a bit of a twitch in his lips and that was it. But, he treated me like a lady, so that got me. When he finally asked me out I just... I said yes (Pam slapped me, punched me, you name it she did it). We went out a few times, he called every day to see how I was doing, sent me flowers, took me to expensive places. The whole works. But something was missing. I was pseudo happy with him, but to tell you the truth, I missed Eric still.
"Eric, I just..."
"Listen to me, marry me. Come and live with me, we'll have children of our own. I would love you more than life. If you'll come and be my wife."
That was one thing, Bill wasn't too fond about kids or marriage, he was a lonesome ranger. On the contrary, Eric never got tired of playing with his niece, Claudine. Pam, his sister, was a single mother, and he just fell in love with Claudine from the start. Bill wasn't a bad man, but he didn't show his emotions much, and hardly, well let's say he wasn't a PDA fan.
"Eric, I just don't know, you left all of a sudden and didn't call or write me, nothing, for three months. I decided to go out with Bill and you decide to show up? Marry you?"
"Yes, we've known each other for what? Four years now? It's more than enough, don't you think?"
And he got me on that one, we met while working at Merlotte's, Sam's bar, he was a cook and I was a waitress. He was an ass, and me a southern belle like bitch.
We got off on the wrong foot; he complained about my handwriting, and I complained about his attitude. That went on for weeks. Until Sam called us to his office and told us he was firing both of us if we didn't get our shit together and learn to work together.
Of course I wasn't going to back down so I quit on the spot. I still remember their faces, but Eric stood up and said, "Sookie that's not necessary, I can work the night shift when you work day or morning and vice versa. We don't have to work the same shift. I need this job and so do you"
Smart ass, I thought, but he was right, Sam looked at me, I hated it to the core, but, Mr. High Handed was right, so I had to agree.
"Well it's settled then, but this agreement will start next week, I have no intentions of changing the schedule just because you two are too hot headed to work your shit out. So for now. DEAL. WITH IT. And please behave, you are both acting like kindergartners." With that he left us alone in his office.
"Sookie?"
"Save it." Talk to the hand, because the face don't care.
"Sookie, listen to me."
I took a deep breath. "What?"
"I'm sorry I've been an ass, my sister is pregnant. Mom doesn't know. She will kick her out. So I have to work extra shifts to try and come up with the money for an apartment down payment. I can't leave her out on the street on her own. Cooking is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I need this job, for her, and her child"
"Your sister is pregnant? The snobby one?"
"Yes, the one and only. Please don't tell anyone. Victor left her, he is marrying some rich girl from out of state, New York, I think, Ginger is her name. Pam is almost four months along now and starting to show, so she won't be able to hide it for long"
"Okay, I won't tell. By the way, Sam owns some places, houses too. They are like trailers, but it would be a safe place and not that expensive. Why don't you ask him about it?"
"I didn't know that."
"Yes, Tara and JB live there. They just decided to move in together so one apartment is going to be vacant. Tara told me last night."
"I'll ask Sam."
"You should do it now before he puts the sign on it. One of then had a two year contract so he'll be pretty mad when he get the news."
"Can you call Tara and ask her when does she plan on telling him? So I can find a way to tell him right away. That way he won't be too mad, I'll have a place to live with Pam, and he will have a new tenant, and we won't have to work the same shift."
Boy could he make plan. Without even noticing we were chatting without screaming or calling each other names.
"Will do, I'll meet you in the parking lot after we close. Tara is picking me up."
"Sure thing."
Sam came back, "You two finally make up? Did either of you have plans on working here today, or do I have to fire your asses now?"
"Sorry Sam, we were just leaving."
With that, I started to understand Eric a bit more. He was under such stress, and I was being a bitch. A man that cared about his family, earned quite a few points in my books.
The shift was over now that we were on better terms, he even make a few funny comments about Arlene and her orange like hair color.
We met at the parking lot and Tara was late.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself."
"Where's Tara?"
"Late."
"Need a ride home?"
"No she is just late."
"She never shows up late, I mean you are never here when I close up."
"True, let me just call her."
And indeed I needed a ride home. She had a flat tire and was not coming for me any time soon.
"Well I will need a ride. By the way, she is talking to Sam tomorrow. I told her to hold it until the afternoon so you don't have much time"
"Thanks Sooks, I owe you. Come on let's get going this place gives me the creeps when closed"
That was the way things started between us. He gave me a ride home every now and then. He got the apartment Tara vacated, and moved in with his sister. We became good friends. I even planned Pam's baby shower. We started to spend time together, more and more, never worked the same shift though, Sam was true to his word. But we always found a way to see each other.
He asked me out one day, dinner and a movie. We went for a walk afterward. I was glad I lived alone, Gran had passed a few years before, and Jason had gone to college on football scholarship. So no one was waiting for me.
"Well this was fun, you think we can go out again?"
"Sure."
Right there he just took my face, and kissed me. I swear I felt like, angels ran and hid their wings.
We dated for the next year, until he decided to leave. He just came by after his day shift, I cooked for him, and waited for him to arrive.
"Hey, how was work?"
"Sookie, we need to talk."
He didn't even answer my question, and his face was as pale as a ghost.
"Eric what's wrong, something happen to Pam or Claudine? You okay?"
"No Sookie, I'm not okay. I have to go away for a while."
"What are you talking about?"
"I just need to be away from here, please, I need some time."
"Eric, but.."
"I need to go."
With that he just left. Pam called me the next day to check on me. But didn't say much about him. He called a few weeks later to let me know he was okay, and living in Florida with his mother. He apologized once more, and then I didn't hear from him again.
Pam told me he was just not himself.
"Eric, why you leave?"
"You remember Victor?"
"Yes he was Pam's boyfriend and Claudine's dad, what about him?"
"He showed up that day I left. He told Pam he was taking Claudine with him. Pam was mad, and they started arguing. He slapped Pam in front of Claudine. He left, but threatened Pam with taking Claudine with him so she could be raised by a good family. Pam called me, she was so upset. When I was leaving to check on her I bumped into him in the parking lot and beat the crap out of him.
"Andy got there, he didn't arrest me because Victor decided not to press charges. But Sooks if I ran into him one more time, I swear I would have killed him. I knew he wasn't going anywhere soon, so I left before I did something stupid. Pam tried to persuade me, but she knew better.
"That's why I left, that and the fact that I needed to find his wife, so she could know what Victor was up to. I later found out she didn't know about Pam or Claudine, since neither of them had his last name. I knew if she found out she would leave him penniless, so, I got their home address and showed up to her door.
"Ginger's family is very rich and very powerful. So I got to make her a deal. She wanted to leave Victor, he wasn't a great catch after all. Victor of course was the least beneficiary in the arrangement. She left him, without a penny."
"Where is he now?"
"He is dead. He was killed while in jail. He tried to frame Ginger's dad, and well, he got it wrong. He went to prison for fraud. He got into a fight and was killed. Ginger's dad gave Pam some money, he knew how hard it was for a single woman to raise a child. His mother was a single mom too, so he just gave her some money."
"That's why she moved out and got the old Compton house?"
"See, Sooks, I needed to do what I did alone. I wouldn't ever drag you into something like that. I called Pam every day, sometimes twice, and asked about you, she kept me posted. I was going to wait a bit more, but she told me about Bill, and that was it. I had to be back before it was too late."
"You should have told me, I would've understood."
"I know Sooks, I'm sorry. Please, if you love him, if you do, I will walk away in shame. I'd move town; I'd change my name. Just say the words and I will leave. I'm still in love with you."
I just looked at him, he walked up to me, held my face with his hands and kissed me again
"He won't love you, like I love you. He won't care for you this way, I promise, I won't leave again. I'm gonna love you more than life. I promise I will laugh at your jokes, no matter how bad or silly they are."
With that he got me, my jokes were bad, but he always laughed at them.
"Promise you'll never leave me again?"
"I promise, you know, I had a recurring dream while away. You were by my side, walking with me babe, my heart was filled with pride."
"You were right. I don't love him, like I love you. I am scared, but I don't know how or why, I just can tell this isn't wrong."
It's to be expected Sooks, I just... I was mad, Pam went through a lot. Mom kicked her out, a week after I talked to you. She just didn't have enough money to pull through living by herself, and pay for medical expenses, and after all we went through, she had Claudine. She found a job, that helped her pay for her and the baby's basic needs. Then this a-hole showed up out of nowhere and hit my sister, in front of his own daughter. Sookie, Pam and Claudine and of course you too, are my life. I was blinded with rage."
"I understand. Eric, just don't ever leave like that. Don't ever leave period. I wanted to be with you."
"I promise."
"Scout's honor?"
"Something better than that."
"What?"
"We don't have to work the same shift."
FIN
AN:
This was originally and I write the songs contest entry, but due to some difficulties with the email it wasn't. So here is the story, I want to thank evenflo78, she was the beta reader. I hope you guys enjoy it.
BTW, none of these characters belongs to me, they all belong to Ms. Charlaine Harris. And the song, When we dance, by Sting, he takes all the credit for it.