IAL Analects by PersianFreak
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Charlaine Harris. Please don't sue.
Rating: M
A/N: Just a bunch of drabble pieces I wrote for In Another Life. They're in chronological order, but they span from chapter five to the epilogue. Just a bit of fun I was having, and I might add more chapters in the form of more collections of drabble pieces. Anyways, comments are always appreciated.
Eric's gift from the last piece: http://www[dot]Christies[dot]com/lotfinder/lot_?intObjectID=5166366
Soon after Eric asks Sookie out
Sookie stepped out onto the porch, closing the door and biting into her bagel as she walked down the driveway, stopping when she saw the green Camaro parked in front of her.
"Hey," Eric smiled.
Sookie swallowed the mouthful of breakfast and found herself smiling back, "Hey."
"Want a ride to school?" Eric gestured at the car he was leaning against.
"Yeah," she nodded, stepping hesitantly towards the passenger door.
Eric quirked a brow, "Do I get a good-morning kiss?"
Sookie felt herself blushing, "Yeah." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, feeling strangely shy.
"Nutella?" He guessed when he straightened and Sookie's blush deepened as she nodded and Eric snagged the bagel from her hand, walking over to his side of the car.
"Hey!" She protested as she got in, Eric smiling angelically before biting into her breakfast and returning it to her.
"Thanks," he mumbled through a mouthful of bagel and chocolate, pulling out of the parking spot and heading to the school.
"That was my breakfast," Sookie grumbled.
"I'm your boyfriend," he defended and Sookie smiled privately. Eric glanced over, "What, aren't I?"
"Yeah, you are," she nodded, sliding down to make herself more comfortable in the seat.
Eric nodded, satisfied, "What are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Going to the hospital," Sookie smiled a little bitterly.
"Oh." Eric pulled into the parking lot and found a spot right by the door: they were early.
"Why, did you want to hang out?" Sookie asked when neither one of them moved to get out.
"It's Friday night, Sook. I was going to ask you out." He smiled and opened his door, Sookie following his lead.
"I-... Well, how about another time?" Sookie had to walk fast to keep up with Eric's long legs and he seemed to notice because he slowed down and took her hand.
"How about I wait until your mom is out of the hospital?" He suggested easily.
"That would be sweet," Sookie decided, stopping to pull him close and kiss him, this time letting it deepen until the catcalls started and Sookie broke away.
"Come on, you're gonna be late for class and we wouldn't want to put a smear on your spotless attendance record." Eric's eyes widened innocently when Sookie smacked him.
The next morning, Sookie packed an extra bagel for herself and carried another in her hand, protesting only half-heartedly when Eric stole it from her hands and finished it for her.
Pool party – high school
Eric could not care less about how many hickeys he has showing. It amazes Sookie, really, that he has no problem taking off his shirt when his neck and shoulders are marked with the bruise-like circles that her mouth has left on him. She watches him from where she's sitting on the edge of Amelia's pool, watches him talk to Bill and Tray even though she can tell by the way they're smirking that the other two boys are teasing him about the marks, but he shrugs and laughs it off, shooting Sookie a strangely sheepish look over his tanned shoulder. Hickeys always look grim to Sookie after the moment has passed. The multi-coloured marks change in colour and remind her of exactly how she felt when she made them, but there's always a tiny part of her that feels guilty about causing things that look so painful, though in reality they didn't hurt at all.
It's kind of a turn-on, actually. Sookie is almost tempted to take him back to his car and have her way with him, maybe even leave a few more marks on his body... Snap out of it, she tells herself, blushing.
Looking down at her own body, Sookie makes sure that there are no telltale marks on her skin. It's embarrassing, she thinks, to have her friends see hickeys on her body so Eric obliges and rarely reciprocates, save for the places that nobody but him would see. It's some sort of a power trip to him, leaving little reminders of what he gets to do with her body on the parts of her that he gets to see: what nobody else gets to see or do with her. Glancing up, Sookie notices the look Bill is giving her while Tray and Eric discuss something; that betrayed look he gets when she shows affection towards a boy other than him that makes her feel like she killed his puppy instead of break up with him. She blushes again and looks back down, swinging her legs and splashing the pool water that her legs are submerged in. The water splashes onto her sun-warmed legs and raises goosebumps on her skin as Sookie smiles privately to herself. It seems so strange to be in love with Eric. Strange because he should be the last person she could fall in love with, with his inflated ego and womanizing behaviour that he has been forced to abandon. He has adapted well, though. He always does, but there's always a part of her that expects him to disappoint her in some way, to betray her. He doesn't; he is better at being a good boyfriend than he gave himself credit for in the beginning. The fact that they have practically known each other all their lives works in his favour; he knows her pet peeves and habits, her favourite colours and personality. Eric finally breaks away from his friends and dives into the pool, Sookie smiling when he remains underwater as he makes his way to where her feet float under the water. She shrieks when he grabs her ankles and tries to reclaim her feet but he holds on tight and pulls himself up, releasing her only when he needs his hands to brace himself on the mosaic tiles on either side of her as he hoists himself out of the water to press his wet lips to hers.
"Hey," Sookie giggles, still feeling the adrenaline in her veins.
Returning to the water, Eric presses a kiss into her thigh and grins brilliantly. "Come in the water," he suggests, letting Sookie push his wet locks away from his face before she obliges. They are pretty close to the deep end of the pool so the only thing keeping Sookie from sinking is her legs hitching on Eric's hips. He presses her into the wall of the pool and she tenses.
"Eric, not here," she warns.
"I'm just kissing my girlfriend," he counters softly, kissing her again. "My hands aren't even on you." He's right; his hands are still on the poolside tiles. Sookie nudges his nose with hers before kissing him back, deepening the kiss until she realizes how close they are to being publicly indecent and pulls away with a smile. She lightly fingers the marks on his neck and blushes.
"You're too shy," he grins.
"But they're like neon signs telling everyone that we had sex," Sookie complains.
Eric looks down at one particular mark on his shoulder, "We didn't have sex when you gave me this one." Sookie laughs and brings him closer in the water.
"If you have sex in my pool, I will kill you both," Amelia calls as she walks past them with a tray full of coloured drinks.
"You said the same thing when we had sex in your parents' bed," Eric mutters but Amelia hears him and proceeds to dump a glass of lemonade on them both, leaving them sputtering and shocked. Amelia continues walking, now humming cheerfully to herself.
"We kind of deserved that," Sookie observes with an amused grin.
"So we can't have sex in her pool but lemonade in the water is fine?" Eric scowls. "Lemonade is better than that other thing," she points out and Eric bursts out laughing.
In the time-gap after Eric comes back (epilogue)
The first time Eric told her he loved her, Sookie fought the urge to laugh. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that he would be colossally offended if she did and that was not her intention, not at all. And besides, it wasn't like he had gotten down on one knee or produced a bouquet of roses out of nowhere in order to confess his undying affections towards her; he'd been watching her get dressed, arm curled under his head and the sheets Sookie had removed herself from still covering his naked form when he had come out with. Not blurting it out, no, because it hadn't surprised him; casually mentioned it like he was suggesting Chinese for dinner that night or helping her find her bra (which had been, incidentally, hanging from his dresser at the moment) was more like it. So instead of laughing, Sookie had found herself sighing in relief because he'd taken a crack at the wall separating them since he had come back to Palo Alto and had succeeded, in part. It wasn't all gone though, because the warm familiarity of the two of them together that had been formed over their many years of friendship and dating had yet to fully return. They would joke and tease and fuck on the floor but these incidents were isolated by quiet moments when their eyes would lock and they would remember how long it had been, how much they had wanted and not had in order to reach this moment only to find that having it was not enough. Somehow, having Eric didn't ease the pain because it was different. This thing they had was different and they were different people who were trying to squeeze themselves into roles that they could no longer fill and who couldn't comprehend what the problem was, that it was trying to make something amazing happen when time was the only thing that could make it so. So when Eric said 'I love you' while Sookie buttoned her jeans and turned to look for her bra, the wall half-collapsed but at least now she knew how to get rid of the other half, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She had clung on to the memories for so long that to let them go and focus on now was just shy of too much and maybe, just maybe, this wasn't good enough and never would be because she's already experienced 'amazing' and this was just a cheap knock-off.
Except that then Eric had gotten up, not caring that he was naked and not realizing how devastatingly beautiful he was when he told her that she didn't have to say it, that he didn't need to hear it because he already had everything he needed, and she only had to say it if she wanted to and that was enough because it let Sookie understand that she was the only one trying to fit herself into a role she could no longer play and that this was Eric letting her out, letting her go without abandoning her.
So when he asked her to marry him, she said 'yes' and let the wall crumble, entirely confident in the knowledge that this was the real thing and not some cheap knock-off.
After a fight
Sookie's throat is still raw, bloody half-moon shapes embedded in the palms of her hands when she opens the door and finds Eric there, take-out bag in one hand. Amelia and Tatiana are in Louisiana visiting Amelia's parents so the house is empty and nobody comes asking who rang the doorbell, which means that Sookie has time to just stand there, to wonder why he's back when just last night they were screaming at each other, forming sentences that neither one of them meant and eyes blazing with anger as they took the frustration of traffic and living in different towns and God knows what else out on each other. He looks even worse than she feels, and she feels pretty shitty because apparently fighting with your significant other leads to a sleepless night spent tossing and turning and mentally bitching about God and life and the aforementioned significant other, so Sookie softens at the slightly wild look in his sapphire eyes and the bags under them. He holds up the bag and Sookie can tell by the logo that it's Vietnamese, her favourite, and that he went out of his way to pick it up and that's enough for her to let him in and head to kitchen to get cutlery and iced tea. He's already set up the food in the living room when she gets back, Styrofoam containers set out with the napkins beside them and she hands him his cutlery wordlessly, setting down two cups and returning a moment later with iced tea. They sit down too close, legs aligned and feet tingling with the closeness of the other as they begin eating without looking at anything other than the food and without making sounds other than the glass hitting the table because words, as calm as they start out, will surely break this fragile peace they've made and they're both far too exhausted to start that again. Besides, when neither side is willing to back down, the only option is to walk away or to put things off for a little while, and walking away is not an option so they will move past it, come back to the same old argument once they have gained back their strength and defiance. For the time being however, they push aside the remnants of their food and lean into each other, slumping against familiar curves and placing light kisses on familiar places and eventually fall asleep, lulled by the rise and fall of familiar bodies.
Later, Eric notices the cuts on the palms of her hands and kisses them, bringing her naked body closer to his in the bed so he can kiss her lips.
During Eric's deployment
Sometimes Sookie rolls over in the middle of the night and reaches out towards Eric's side of the bed, her fingers curling, empty and desolate. These are the nights when she buries her face into the pillow and pretends Eric is right there, lying just beside her, sprawled out. Sometimes she rests her hand on her stomach and pretends it is Eric's hand, but the pain of knowing it's a fantasy is worse than the hurt it eases to just pretend. When Eric calls - the rare phone call that gets through - Sookie slumps in her seat and closes her eyes, absorbing the very tenor of his voice and imagines that he is closer.
"Hey, you okay?" Eric asks when she's been quiet for too long.
"Yeah, I'm good. I just miss you." She sniffles and sits up straight, her muscles tensing. "You're staying safe, right?"
Eric chuckles because it's hard to stay safe in a battle zone, but he assures her that he's okay, that he's being careful even when they both know he would sacrifice his life in a second if he deemed it crucial. "You need to talk," he complains. "Don't be greedy, I want to hear your voice." Sookie laughs and obliges, telling him about school and work, about Amelia and Tat's desperate attempts at adopting a child, and how much she misses him, just to make sure he knows. When he whispers that he has to go, Sookie bites her lip and nods before remembering he can't see her.
"Be careful, okay? Be safe."
"I promise," he laughs.
"I want my fiancée back," she continues and smiles at her engagement ring, the commitment still fresh with Eric's absence.
"I'll be back soon."
"Seven months is not soon, Eric."
"I know."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Sookie squeezes her eyes shut. "Love you," she repeats softly.
"Bye, Sook."
"Bye, honey."
Sometimes when the phone rings, Sookie opens her mouth to ask Eric to get it before realizing that she is alone, that it's just her now. But as unlikely as it may seem, the weeks go by faster when she hasn't spoken to Eric. The few days after his calls, Sookie drags herself out of bed by sheer force of will and somehow manages to make it through the day until she falls into her routine again; the routine that keeps her from losing her mind worrying about Eric. Life finds its groove without Eric; Sookie would almost be grateful for the long gaps between his phone calls if they didn't mean his safety and health.
After Eric's deployment
"What's this?" Sookie asked, looking curiously down at the little box.
"A gift." He grinned, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. They were tangled in the sheets, their bodies cooling after the heat from their earlier romantic evening. Eric had driven her to an honest-to-God restaurant with a dress code and had been a gentleman all night, though he did let his eyes wander down to the v-neck of her cocktail dress every now and then without the slightest hint of shame. He had even employed Amelia to light candles and sprinkle rose petals onto their bed, and then to clear out with Tatiana for the night. Sookie had been worried about any offense Amelia or Tatiana might have taken before Eric's mouth found hers and her mind started going a little bit fuzzy.
That had been two hours ago, and they had made love non-stop save for the occasional five-minute breaks during which Eric had grumbled about the fourteen months he had endured without sex and how cruel she could be to withhold it now while laying naked next to him. The box had been retrieved from where it had been stowed a mere hours before, Sookie assumed, in her bedside drawer.
"But what's the occasion?" She hated expensive gifts because Eric rarely spent any money on indulgences, save for the cherry red Corvette he had blown a considerable chunk of his long-saved college fund on before being deployed.
"Uh, merry Christmas, happy birthday, happy anniversary, and merry Christmas, lover." He grinned.
"Aww," Sookie felt her face soften. "You compounded all my gifts into one?"
"Open it," Eric nodded at the box. Sookie pressed her lips to his briefly before obeying, retrieving the gorgeous bracelet.
"Oh my God, Eric," she breathed and ran a hand over the piece of jewellery, admiring the delicate band set with rubies and diamonds. "This is gorgeous! And very expensive-looking. I wish you hadn't-"
"It's four gifts into one, love," he interrupted. "May I?" Sookie handed it to him and held out her hand so Eric could fasten it around her wrist. It was surprisingly flexible, settling comfortably on her hand, and Sookie chuckled. "What?"
"Always with the red," she shook her head.
Eric pressed a kiss into her temple, "I like red. And it doesn't help that you look fantastic wearing it."
"Or, y'know, not wearing it," she teased, nodding at the discarded red lacy set tossed onto the floor.
"True," her fiancée agreed easily. "You look the best when you're not wearing much of anything." Tilting his face towards hers, Sookie kissed him lightly and let it deepen when he made to move on top of her.