*Disclaimer*

Not my characters. They belong to HBO or Charlaine Harris.

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Later that evening, I made my way to Merlotte's. When I got there, I headed back towards Sam's office to drop my stuff off. I heard Sam's thought's which stopped me from opening the door. In his mind, Sam was looking at a man. I had never seen this man before. From what I could gather from Sam's mind, he had dark hair, blue eyes. and was dressed in dark brown pants and a white shirt with 3 buttons on the top. He looked like he was angry about something. But I wasn't sure what it could be. Then I heard in Sam's mind, that the guy had been asking about me, and Sam was telling him that he wasn't about to give information about his workers to some stranger.

I realized, while standing in the hallway, that I could not hear the other man. I decided to just leave my stuff behind the bar. I walked back into the seating area and I saw that Arlene, another waitress, was just about to head back there and collect her things, so I asked her for her notepad.

I got started with my tables and I soon noticed that the man from Sam's office was now sitting in my section, staring at me. It made me super uncomfortable. Again, I couldn't hear him and for some reason, he seemed to remind me of Eric, even though he looked nothing like him. I wondered if maybe I should ask Sam to take his order, seeing as how he was making me so uncomfortable, but I wanted to see what this guy was all about, especially considering that he was asking about me before.

I walked across the room and ended up standing right beside him, my eyes not leaving his. I was not going to show this creep that I was intimidated.

"Hello, my name is Sookie and I will be your waitress tonight. Can I get you something to drink to start with?" I asked him, but before he could answer, I heard everyone's thought's all drift to the same thing.

Who's that tall guy? Who's that blonde? I saw him at Church the other day...etc..

I stood up straighter and looked over towards the door to see Eric standing there staring over at me and the strange man. I gave him a small smile, my heart beginning to race. He returned it and walked over to the table and sat down. I actually was glad to see him. He made me feel so much more safer now.

"Good Evening Sookie. Bill." He said, shucking off his coat. "I didn't know you worked here. I'll take a Bloody Mary to start with, if it is not too much trouble?"

He seemed way more sure of himself than our previously encounters had shown him to be. I suppose it was because he was having a meeting of some sort.

"Hi Eric!" I said, still smiling like a loon. "Yep! I've worked here for almost 4 years actually."

He no longer had a smile on his face and looked at Bill expectantly with a glare. I was unsure what I had said to make him look so angry, but I felt my face redden. Maybe Eric wanted me gone so I turned to Bill.

"And for you?" I was wondering how Eric knew him, but I wasn't about to ask, because that would have been very rude. I wanted to show Eric that I was a lot nicer than I had previously shown him. I also didn't want that cold look turned onto me.

"I'll take a Red Wine, thanks." Bill said, still eyeing me up and down, making me feel dirty with just a look.

"Ok, I'll be right back with your drinks. Let me know when you're ready to order." I walked away and told Sam, who was bartending for the evening, the order. While I was waiting for the drinks, I turned back around and watched Eric and Bill talking. They seemed to not like each other very much.

I returned with their drinks and whatever was being said between the two of them was heated. They both looked frustrated and annoyed. Although, Eric looked somewhat smug as well.

"Here are your drinks. Do you know what you want yet? If not, I can just come back in a bit." I said, not wanting either of them to turn their anger onto me.

"Actually this will be all for me, so if you could just give me the bill, that would be great." Eric said, flashing me a smile, but when he turned back to Bill, he had that stony expression once more.

"I'll take mine too." Bill said. I ripped off both tickets and handed them over.

"Ok, well if you change your mind, just holler for me." I said.

As soon as I left, they went right back to talking about whatever it was that was making them both mad. The only reason I knew this was because I couldn't help but look over at them from time to time. I noticed that every time I looked at them, I saw one, if not both of them staring at me while continuing to talk to one another.

I continued on for the rest of the night serving the patrons of Merlotte's and I guess I didn't notice when Eric and Bill left. It was time for me to go home, so I got my things together and walked out into the parking lot, only to find Bill leaning against my car. I felt chills erupt all over my body.

"I never got the chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Bill Compton." He said, as he held his hand out to me when I was close enough.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. Have you been waiting here for long?" It was only about 9pm, but I was sure that they had left at least a half hour ago. I shook his hand and noticed they were very, very cold.

"No, not at all. I just wanted to introduce myself, but you were very busy and I was also occupied." He straightened up from leaning on my car and circled around to stand in front of me with my back to the car. "We are neighbors, did you know?"

"Oh! Gran and I were wondering who lived in the Compton House now. Was Mr. Compton your Uncle?" I asked him, backing away towards my door, ready to jump in. I was talking to distract him, but something told me he wasn't easily distracted. I really just wanted to get away from him and get into my car. This guy was just weird.

"Yes, he was. Well, I'll let you get on home now. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other." And I felt that strange tickling behind my eyes again. I really wanted to get out of there now.

"Yeah, sure. My Grandmother would probably want to meet our new neighbor." I said, opening up my car door and climbing in. "Goodnight Mr. Compton."

"Bill. Call me Bill." He said and flashed me a toothy grin.

"Sure. Bye, Bill." I closed my door and he walked away. I wondered how close I had been to being violated and I was happy I was finally in my car alone and locked in.

"Oh, no! You have got to be kidding me. Why does this always happen to me? What did I ever do?" I said as my felt my car stopping in the middle of nowhere. I was 2 miles from home and my old yellow car decided to stop.

I didn't have a cell phone and while I knew how to change a flat, I also knew that I would be the perfect victim to anyone who happened to be driving past and I was sure that was not what was wrong with my car. But I had no other choice, so I got out of the car after popping the hood to see if there was an easy fix, but there wasn't anything I could see. I had no idea what to do. I got back in my car and locked the doors, grabbing the old quilt off my back seat that I used when I went to the park to read. I was glad that I had left it in there, even though it was November.

I was just about to start crying from frustration, when I saw a familiar car make it's way down the road. My face lit up with a smile.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" I shouted to myself. It was Eric. I was so relieved and stunned.

He pulled over and got out of his car, leaving it running. I don't think he realized it was me.

I opened my door and got out, the quilt still wrapped around me against the cold air.

"Hi," He said, smiling at me seeming pleasantly surprised to see it was me. Seems like all I've been doing is saving you lately." He joked and it made me lips twitch into a small smile.

"Yeah," I trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Do you know anything about cars?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"Yes, I do. If you would pop your hood, I can take a look." I did as he asked and he told me all I needed was a jump start. He went and got cables out of his car and gave me a jump start.

"Thanks so much for stopping." I said, after my car was running again. I felt the urge to give him a hug, but thought that might be too weird, seeing as we had only known each other for two days.

"It was no problem. I wasn't sure if anyone was actually in the car, but I thought to stop just in case. I'm glad it was me that found you." I nodded in agreement.

"You might want to take it somewhere to have it looked at, but this should get you home. I'll give you my cell number encase you get stuck again." He said, reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, well, I don't have a cell phone so it's really unnecessary." I told him, somewhat embarrassed about not having one. I could tell that he was well off by his car, phone and clothing.

"Well, take it anyways and call me when you get home. Otherwise I'll be worried about whether you made it home ok. Maybe I should follow you?" He said, almost sounding like he was talking to himself on that last part.

"Sure, I'll call you when I get home. But you don't have to follow me home." I told him and he gave me his number which I wrote down on my hand with a pen I found in my purse.

"Okay, don't forget to call me." he said, as we both got into our own cars.

I headed home and he headed in the opposite direction. I called him when I got in, and he seemed glad that I did, almost like he thought I might not of.

"Hello Eric. I'm home." I said into the phone.

"Good. Thanks for calling me. Sookie?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think that I could maybe see you this weekend?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, him, worried that he was asking me out. I was starting to like him, but I still was unsure about dating because of my disability.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out to eat or something with me?" He sounded very hopeful, but I didn't know if I should. I wanted to say yes, but I did not feel like it was such a good idea.

"That's very nice of you to ask, but I don't think so. I have to work every day this week. Closing shifts." I said, not exactly lying...I was working, but they weren't all closing shifts.

"Oh. Well another time then." He sounded disappointed and I felt bad.

"I could go after work on Saturday. I just remembered that someone asked me to switch. Would you be able then?" I asked, my heart beating faster again. This man had to ability to make me so nervous!

"Yes!" He all but yelled into the phone, causing a huge smile to form on my face. "That would be perfect! I will call you later this week and we can figure out what we will do?"

"Okay!" I agreed. "Bye now." I said, hoping to go take a shower and climb into bed.

"Goodnight, Min fru." He hung up and I couldn't help but wonder why that thing he called me sounded so familiar.