It was busy at Merlotte's on Thursday night. There were many groups, couples, and people looking for someone to be a couple with.

That night's waitresses, Arlene and Sookie, were breaking in the new girl, Daphne. Daphne was not what you would call "a skillful worker." She was already known for losing tips, writing orders down wrong, and dropping French fries on the floor.

Right now, Sookie was teaching her the table numbers. Daphne kept on counting the tables counter-clockwise instead of the other way around.

"One way to remember the order is to just start from the door and count up around the outside booths, and then start from the table closest to the highest numbered booth, and go on from there," Sookie was explaining.

She couldn't believe it was taking so long for Daphne to get this. It had only taken Sookie three days to learn the order, but Daphne was on her fifth.

"So that booth is number 6?" Daphne asked, pointing to table 2. Sookie shook her head and pointed to the real table 6. "Oh. This is hard," she said to Sookie.

Not really, Sookie thought. But even if Sookie didn't know the orders, she could just read the cook, Lafayette's mind to know what table wanted what.

Sookie didn't like reading her friends' minds, though. It made her feel like she was invading their personal space. And most of the time, what they were thinking about was not something she wanted to hear.

There was one person who's mind did not push against Sookie's mental wall that she had build to keep out peoples' thoughts. That person was Bill Compton, Sookie's vampire boyfriend.

For some reason, Sookie couldn't hear Bill's mind. That was the thing that drew Sookie to Bill.(Other than him being the first local vampire of Bon Temps)

Sookie was never able to truly be herself around any other guy because she could always hear what they were thinking. And what a problem that would be, hearing your date think about what you might look like naked.

But when Sookie was with Bill, his silence was so relaxing, that she could actually let her mental guard down.

As if right on cue, Bill walked into the small restaurant. His eyes wandered around the room until they found Sookie. He smiled and walked over to her.

When Bill reached Sookie, he bent to kiss her lightly. Even that sent shivers down her spine.

"Hello, sweetheart. Are you about ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure. Let me just go get my purse, and I'll be right back." She kissed him on the cheek and skipped off to the bar owner, Sam's office.

"Do you want to sit down while you wait?" Daphne asked Bill.

"Uhh…sure. Thank you," he replied. She led him to table 6. Daphne leaned over to Arlene, who was taking an order from the next table over.

"This is table 4, right?" she whispered.

"No," Arlene whispered, rolling her eyes. Daphne turned back to Bill.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked.

"I'll have a bottle of True Blood, O-negative."

"Coming right up," she replied, cheerfully. She walked away to get his drink. While walking to the bar, Daphne ran into Sookie, who looked like she was going to burst with excitement.

"'night, Sookie! I'll see you tomorrow," she called out, as Sookie passed by her.

"Bye!" she called back, running over to Bill's table. "Hi," she said to him, smiling from ear to ear.

"Hello, Sookie. You are awfully happy tonight. Why is that, Darling?" he replied.

"I don't know. I just feel great."

"That's great, Sookie. Are you ready to go now?"

"Yep," she said, smiling with a special twinkle in her eye.

"Then let's go," Bill said, as he got up and led Sookie away from the table, leaving a winded Daphne holding a bottle of True Blood, unopened.

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Ok, so I hope it wasn't that bad. I know this is a pretty short chapter that doesn't have much happening, but this is just the beginning…