a/n: I know! I'm terrible and have not posted in forever for you guys! Life has just gotten very hectic. First my grandfather got sick, but he's doing better now, and then it's just been the regular craziness of the holiday season. So I can't promise any regular posting until after New Year's I'd say. Anywho here is another chapter, finally, hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! Also I didn't reread for spelling errors. So my apologies if this chapter is painfully full of typos!

CHAPTER 10

Eric's POV

I went for the more casual look tonight. I had on a black v-neck tee with blue jeans. When I got to the screen door Sookie yelled for me to come inside. I immediately went and stood under the fan in her small living room. I hated summer sometimes. Then Sookie came out of the bathroom and I changed my mind. Summer meant Sookie in a little red top with white shorts that barely covered her ass. Someone was definitely dressing like a single woman. My eyes were glued to her every movement and I didn't care if she knew it.

"Eric!" Sookie was standing at my feet in front of the couch. "I've said your name three times."

"Oh….sorry?" I stood up slowly so I was standing right in front of her. "I was busy appreciating the view." I grinned then led the way to the door. She seemed a bit stunned and I bet you fifty bucks she was blushing. I knew she still needed time to get over what Sam did but flirting was harmless right?

We ended up taking Sookie's car to meet Quinn at the bar. She voted against the hassle of climbing into my truck tonight. I didn't really understand why since she wasn't wearing a dress or insanely high heels. But whatever it didn't really matter. I pulled into the parking lot and found a spot fairly close to the entrance. It wasn't too busy yet but there was a steady amount of people entering the parking lot. The place would be packed soon enough.

We got to the door and since it wasn't a weekend they were not charging cover. Sookie and I headed inside. Quinn spotted us from across the bar and waved me over. I could see Arlene sipping on some fruity drink next to him. Sookie was at my side so I put my hand on the small of her back and led her towards Quinn. Now I just needed her to be mine again so I would never have to take my hands off of her.

"Eric! What's up?" Quinn yelled over the music and we gave each other one of those half hugs men always do. Quinn was shorter than me but stocky and muscular. He started to lose his hair in college so now he just shaved his head. Sometimes I called him but overall the look actually suited him. It would be weird to him with spiky hair now.

"Is this Sookie?" He held his hand out to her and gave me one of those looks that says 'dude she's hot'. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Nice to meet you, Quinn right?" As usual Sookie was a bit shy at first and just gave him a small smile after shaking his hand.

"Yep and this is my girl Arlene" Arlene smiled and waved. "I'm an old college friend of Eric's. But from what I hear you've known him longer than me." Quinn had this evil look in his eye. I was sure he was digging for embarrassing stories about me. Bastard.

Sookie gave him a real smile then. "I've known Eric a long time. We met on the school bus."

"Damn, that is a long time. You got pictures of this guy when he was a kid? He claims he was tiny but I don't believe it for a second." Quinn had never believed me when I told him that. He thought I was born 6'4" or something.

I was standing right behind Sookie now, leaning against the bar with one arm. We probably looked like a couple to everyone else in the place. That was fine by me. Then Sookie was digging into her purse. My jaw dropped when she produced a very worn out photo. It was creased from being folded before and she flattened it out before handing it to Quinn.

"That's Eric at 15." She grinned. It was the damn photo from Bill Compton's Halloween party all those years ago. I was in my Clark Kent costume and Sookie was a cowgirl. God I looked goofy as hell with my floppy hair.

"Holy shit! Haha! Arlene check this kid out! He wasn't lying!" Quinn was laughing his ass off and busy showing off the photo.

"You kept that all this time?" I wondered what else she kept from our past, and why, since she had a boyfriend a few days ago. Maybe I wasn't the only one thinking about us after all this time.

She snatched the picture back from Quinn and put it safely into her purse. "Of course I did. Even if we weren't together, I never wanted to forget anything about us, Eric."

I wanted to kiss her so badly right then.

"And I don't think you looked scrawny, you were cute." She smiled a little at me then looked down at the drink she had ordered. Maybe I could kiss her right now? She certainly seemed to be over Sam.

Then her phone started ringing. Sookie checked and sighed in frustration. "It's Sam" She ignored it for awhile but it kept ringing. Finally she caved and told us she'd be right back. I reluctantly stayed where I was and joined in on Quinn and Arlene's conversation.

Sookie's POV

I was actually having a good time flirting with Eric until Sam called. I was never an expert at flirting but with Eric it never felt like I had to be. We just were what we were and that was it. I never had that comfort level with Sam. I remember feeling nervous around him for the first few weeks we were dating and it took me awhile to come out of my shell. And I still wasn't sure I ever completely felt at ease with him. Now that I could directly compare it to how I felt with Eric, I was realizing a lot of things had been lacking.

"What do you want?" I shut the bathroom stall door in hopes of getting some privacy.

"Sook, you gotta hear me out." He didn't even sound all that desperate on the other end of the line.

"Sam you cheated on me, there's nothing to explain. I'm done." I was not going to give him a second chance for a mistake like that. He chose this. I would not be one of those stupid girls who gave the guy another chance and got screwed over.

"I'm not trying to convince you to come back. I just want you to know I didn't mean for this to happen. And once it did I never meant for you to find out in that way." He said calmly.

I was reeling from that. I did not even want Sam back but it stung to hear he wasn't even trying to get me back. He cared that little about me? I told myself it was stupid to care about that since I wasn't in love with him anyway.

"Fine but that's what happened. You're a jackass. Don't call me again." I spat angrily then hung up the phone. I was not going to make him feel better by saying something nicer and let him run off with Daphne guilt free like he wanted to.

I thought I regained my composure but the second I walked out of the bathroom Eric came over. "What's wrong? What did he say to you?"

"It doesn't matter, I just want to go home." I wanted to have a self-pity night and eat ice cream and watch chick flicks.

"Sookie wait, I'll take you home if you want, but don't let Sam ruin your night. He's the prick, he should be the one sitting home alone." Eric's perfect blue eyes were full of concern and that honesty he always seemed to radiate. Why didn't I just stay with him back in high school? He never would have hurt me like this.

"But I want to watch chick flicks… and eat ice cream…." I complained but started to smile a little. He knew he had me when he grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the small dance floor.

"I'll watch one with you later! Promise!" He yelled over the music then pulled me against his body.

Eric was definitely a good dancer for being such a tall guy. He had always been a good dancer when we were kids because he wasn't worried about looking stupid in front of other people. I'm telling you the people who were worried about looking good, were the ones who looked the worst on the dance floor. They were usually stiff and could never find the beat of the song. Eric helped me to quickly forget about Sam. He pulled me back against his body and I could definitely tell that he had packed on a lot more muscle since high school. We were lost in our own little world while the DJ played song after song. All of them were familiar dance beats that had Eric and I singing like idiots along with the music. Thankfully it was loud enough I doubted anyone could hear us.

The song changed again and I felt Eric's grip on my hips suddenly tighten. I don't know what came over him but he wasn't goofing around anymore. His body was glued to mine and I could feel him grinding his hips against me suggestively. Not that I really minded… His nose brushed against the skin just below my ear and a shiver ran down my spine. Good lord, I was going to have a hard time keeping my hands to myself. He was making it very difficult. I tried to remind myself that no matter how interested I was in Eric I should not rush into anything. Eric spun me around so I was facing him and my arms automatically went around his neck. I didn't have to look up at him since he lowered his head, so his forehead was resting against mine. I had to not move those couple inches in order to kiss him but it was getting too tempting.

"Hey! You two!" Quinn yelled at us over the music and woke me up a bit from the haze Eric worked me into.

"We're gonna take off for the night, Arlene has work in the morning." Quinn and Arlene left hand in hand. Eric yelled bye to them over the music.

"You want to get out of here?" Eric asked and I nodded. That was probably a smart idea since if we kept dancing I'd just jump him. Plus I had work tomorrow and so did he.

When we exited the bar Eric has his arm around my shoulders the entire time. Part of me wanted to step away but then there was the other piece of me thinking this felt close to perfect. So I didn't say anything as we crossed the parking lot, only parting when we got to the car. Eric volunteered to drive again and soon enough we were back at my house.

"So what chick flick are you going to watch?" He smirked as he shut off the engine.

"I don't know yet… maybe the Notebook or Titanic, or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days… that one won't make me cry." I always loved that movie. Matthew McConaughey was gorgeous and the entire story was pretty light hearted and fun. It would definitely keep me in my good mood.

"I think that's the only one I ever sat through with you and wasn't completely bored. And in Titanic she definitely lets the guy die, I mean, how is that true love?" Eric questioned as we walked towards my door.

"Are we still going to have this argument after ten years?" I rolled my eyes. Eric always insisted Rose could have made some room on that door or whatever it was she was floating on.

"Yes, because she said she would never let go, then proceeded to break her promise. And also pry his cold hand off of her and let him sink into the ocean so she could be saved." Eric looked thoroughly disgusted with Rose as usual.

"Wow, I can't believe you still get so upset over that." I laughed and unlocked the door. "You can come in for a bit if you want, I still won't head to bed for a couple hours." I made sure it didn't sound like I was inviting him in for sex. Then again Eric was never a typical guy. I highly doubted he was assuming I'd invite him in at the end of the night just so he could get in my pants.

"Sure, got any of that ice cream?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I just pointed to the fridge. Eric dug around the freezer and found the coffee ice cream.

"How about you make two bowls of ice cream and I'll put on the movie?" I was still watching my chick flick even though he was here.

"As long as it's not Titanic!" He yelled from the kitchen and I popped the DVD into the player. Then I ran off to my room real quick and changed into some comfy clothes. I did not want to watch the movie in tiny shorts and my low cut red top. Instead I put on my favorite sleep shirt and flannel pajama pants. Now this was comfort. When I got back to the living room Eric was already on the couch inhaling his ice cream.

"You're such a pig." I plopped down next to him and hit play for the movie then dug into my own bowl.

"I know" His voice was muffled since he was replying with a mouth full of food. He was such a dork, but in a good way.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back to watch the movie. We were a good half hour into the movie and done with our ice cream before Eric said anything.

"So are you going to tell me what Sam said to you?" He looked over at me and in the darkness I couldn't see the stubble on his face. He looked younger and much like the Eric I remembered. But as each day went by I realized more and more that he was exactly the same person I left behind ten years ago. Neither of us had changed much in that time.

"Just the normal break up stuff. People always feel like they have to call and get some kind of closure…" I muttered and stared at my perfectly polished toe nails. I painted them red to match my shirt this evening.

"So you're definitely done with him?" That was a loaded question. It felt like he was asking if I was done with Sam so he could swoop in.

"Of course, I'm not going to give a cheater a second chance. Not like he wants one anyway…" That caught Eric's attention.

"What do you mean?" His expression said it all, he wasn't giving up on this.

"It means Sam called to apologize for how I found out about Daphne, not because he wanted me back." I gathered up the empty bowls and took them to the kitchen. I could hear Eric following me. "It doesn't matter, I never wanted him back."

I dumped the bowls into the sink and then I felt Eric's strong arms wrap around me. I thought I was fine but I turned around and sank into his chest. I managed to fight off my tears but I still needed a few seconds to regain my composure. It was nice to be in Eric's arms again. It was nice to know someone cared about me. I still felt stupid for even caring about Sam not wanting me, but you can't control how you feel unfortunately.

"He didn't deserve you Sookie." Eric whispered and I hugged him a little tighter. I didn't want to let go of him but we couldn't spend the night standing in the kitchen. So eventually I pulled back and we headed back to the couch. We missed some of the movie but I had it memorized anyway. When we sank back into the couch Eric's arm was around me and I felt much better being able to curl up against him. When I was with him it was easy to forget the pain Sam had caused me.

a/n: Thanks for reading, I'll try my best to get you guys another chapter in a decent amount of time!