Chapter Twenty-Eight: New Lesson Plans

As Sookie's eyes opened, she could only stare straight ahead and hold her breath. Memories of her actions the previous night came back in all their technicolor glory, and she feared what would happen when she turned over in bed. She knew Eric was there from the tilt in the mattress trying to force her into his side. How angry is he? She wondered as she swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. She couldn't remember a single time he had been mad at her and had no idea what to expect.

I've only seen him mad at others, and that was scary enough!

"I-I'm so-orry," Sookie squeaked.

"S'okay," was Eric's half-conscious reply. "At least it was in the sink."

"What?" Sookie was confused.

"I already rinsed it off," Eric yawned and pulled Sookie against his body.

"What are you talking about?" Sookie asked and turned in her husband's arms to watch his eyes open and squint in the light penetrating the draperies.

Eric smiled at his wife. "After how much you drank and then guzzling that water, of course, you threw up."

Sookie grimaced as that memory came back. She'd gagged herself brushing her teeth before bed, and immediately projectile vomited all over their bathroom. Now she felt even sorrier.

"I was talking about the scene I caused last night," Sookie mumbled. "I don't remember coming back from the bar. What happened?"

"After you slugged Naomi?" Eric asked with a smirk. "You fell asleep at the bar. I told everyone why you hit her and then I hailed a taxi to take us back to the hotel."

"You told them?" Sookie asked with a strange combination of dismay and admiration.

"I did," Eric smiled reassuringly. "And you gave me the courage to do it."

"I did?" Sookie asked in wonderment.

"When I thought of everyone believing you to be some short-tempered bitch, I had to set them straight," Eric grinned at her. "It felt good to get it out."

"Do you wish you knew what all happened?" Sookie asked.

"It doesn't matter," Eric assured her. "All the repercussions are gone. I didn't contract anything, Naomi didn't get pregnant, and all my relationships have been fixed. I owe that last one entirely to you. It's a thing that may or may not have happened, and it doesn't hurt me anymore… Well, I still don't think I'll ever enjoy drinking, but I was a control freak before Naomi."

Sookie snorted, "You're hardly a control freak."

"You only say that because I rarely freak out on you," Eric chuckled as he pulled Sookie closer to his chest.

"I think," Sookie gave his lips a gentle kiss, "you value and trust my opinion more than most. Maybe that's why you don't freak out with me?"

Rolling above her, Eric returned her kiss with more passion, "That's sound reasoning."

Sookie's legs wrapped around her husband's hips as he hovered above her. Reaching between their bodies, Sookie took his cock into her hand and gave it a firm stroke.

Eric gasped as Sookie's wedding band applied a slightly harder amount of pressure against his staff. It wasn't the sensation that made it heart pound, but the implication of the feeling's presence.

"Whoa," Sookie giggled as the member in her hand swelled quickly. "You're ready to go!"

In reply to her proclamation, Eric took Sookie's hands in his own and pushed them above her head where their fingers laced near the headboard. Sookie's breath caught as her hands were pinned against the mattress and Eric's chest was pressed tightly against her own. A quick contraction in her womb made Sookie's hips twist slightly before her husband's cock pressed against her opening.

"You drank too much," Eric laughed as his rod suddenly stopped at the gates of his own, personal paradise.

"Huh?" Sookie mumbled.

"You're turned on, but you're not as wet as usual," Eric told her as he released her hands and slid down her body. "I can help with that."

Sookie groaned as Eric's tongue began lapping between her folds. It was one more reason that Sookie was now less than fond of drinking. Sure, an opportunity to get Eric's mouth against her slit was always pleasurable, but the only excuse her husband needed to eat her out was if the day ended in the letter 'y.'

"Ah!" Sookie tangled her fingers in Eric's hair. "Stay in bed today?"

Eric's mouth steadied a moment. "No touristy shit?"

Pushing his mouth back against her sex, Sookie mumbled. "No. Just this. All day."

Eric laughed as he grabbed his wife's hips and let his tongue loose around her clit. Sookie moaned, and her legs bowed open. She gasped and groaned as his fingers worked their way inside her.

As her juices finally began to flow, Eric became captivated with her noisy enthusiasm. At least, Sookie was being loud for her. Anyone else might think she was near silent, but Eric had been learning her body and sounds for over a year. Despite their time being separated, Eric had still memorized more about his future wife than most could have learned of their own partners in a consecutive year.

"E-Eric," Sookie gasped as his mouth became more vigorous. She could tell he had something to prove, and her body was reacting to his need. "Umm, uh," she found herself holding her breath, taking small, hiccupping gasps of air until her body coiled just before the release.

Finally, her lungs broke into a pant, and she arched off the bed with a guttural moan. Eric's hand slipped back so that he could feel his wife's muscles flex around the tips of his fingers.

"I love feeling you squeeze me, Love," Eric mumbled as he kissed his way back up her body.

As she recovered her breath, Sookie moaned as she felt Eric pushing her hip so that she rolled onto her stomach. With a deep, steadying breath, Sookie clambered onto her knees and elbows before balancing her weight onto her right shoulder. With her hand freed, Sookie reached back between her legs to rub her momentarily satiated pussy.

Eric groaned as her left hand reached back to spread herself open, and there were her wedding bands reflecting the morning light from the diamond of her engagement ring.

Without much remaining control, Eric thrust into his wife's invitation, reveling in the grunt it tore from her lips. Her fingers remained busy, rubbing her swollen clit and occasionally grazing his balls with her nails. Eric's hand came down upon her right cheek with the force of a firm high-five, and Sookie's channel tightened in surprise which was followed by a moan.

Repeating the gentle spanking, Eric found that he was greatly enjoying the way her body reacted to it. The way her legs jumped and walls clenched was part of the reason. Mostly, though, Eric found that Sookie would lean into the contact and briefly increase the force of their coupling.

As Sookie sucked in a short breath and held it, Eric grinned to himself as he felt her walls tightening on their own. Grabbing her hips, Eric managed to create quick, shallow thrusts that drove his wife over the edge before burying himself deeply and filling her with his own passion.

Remaining frozen and still deep inside of Sookie, Eric held his wife tightly as he continued pulsing. Finally, with the last twitch of his hips, Eric felt his orgasm end.

"Are you done?" Sookie teased with a groggy laugh. "You're gonna make me slosh when I walk."

Eric snorted at her joke and pulled away, at last, marveling at the fluid that dribbled out of his lover as he did so.

"Hmm," Eric tempered his growing arousal. They still hadn't eaten anything since early yesterday evening, and he knew Sookie was probably famished.

Falling onto his side upon the bed, Eric's arms around Sookie's waist brought her along for the tumble.

"Room Service?" he asked.

"Room Service," she agreed.

{†}

Sookie carefully followed behind Eric on the narrow staircase up to their flat. Although they had been staying in Sussex for a few days now, the steep climb to their third-floor apartment was still tedious as other tenants came flying down the steps like they were being chased by the devil.

"Alright, Love?" Sookie still swooned when he called her that, and when Eric admitted he didn't realize he was doing it, she assured him the pet name was more than acceptable to her. Apparently being in England again had brought the mannerism back, and Sookie was content with it as long as he didn't use the endearment on anyone else!

Eric sighed as they finally arrived in their own lodging, "We have train and bus schedules, we found a church for the next two months, we've found the local shopping, and we officially have all our missing necessities." He carefully placed the heavy bags on the small kitchen counter. Their temporary housing had included essential kitchen appliances, but no pots, pans, dishes, cooking utensils or flatware.

"Classes start tomorrow," Eric reminded his wife, "are you sure you won't be lonely here by yourself all day?"

It was true that Sookie had grown accustomed to the constant company of Pam and Tara over the past year, but she was confident it would be easy to fall into her old habits of solitude.

Her biggest goal during this part of their stay in England was to show Eric that she could have a social life while being a housewife. She knew Eric's biggest concern was that she would never have friends of her own if she didn't attend school or get a job.

"I'll be fine," Sookie assured him. "By the time you get home from class tomorrow, you'll see!"

Eric smiled at Sookie's enthusiasm. This semester abroad, although a trying journey, was a perfect trial run before they returned home. They would be able to find a routine and with any luck, discover a balance in how they worked together as a married couple.

For the three days they had spent in their apartment, Sookie and Eric had mostly eaten takeaway or bought prepared food that they ate out of the containers from the nearby grocery store. Now, with their kitchen stocked with food and cookware, Sookie was ready to show off her culinary expertise.

As Eric went over his schedule at the kitchen table, Sookie began preparing a nice big lunch for the two of them. They ate together, talking about their plans for the following day, and Sookie was pleasantly surprised when her husband helped her clear their dishes and wash them.

"You're going to spoil me if you make a habit of this," Sookie teased as she washed and he dried the dishes.

"It's already ingrained in me," Eric assured her. "Mom always made me clear the dishes and wash them. I figure I'll be off the hook when our first kid is tall enough to reach the sink.

Sookie laughed at his plan. "Is that why you're open to starting a family so soon?"

"Maybe," Eric teased as he dried the last plate and put it in the cabinet.

{†}

The first day of classes, Eric found himself distracted, wondering what Sookie had managed to fill her day with. When there was a break in his classes, he came home to eat lunch with Sookie and was excited to see that she'd been to the library since he'd left and made copies of new recipes to try out. They ate, they washed dishes and Eric happily made love to his wife over the kitchen sink afterward before rushing back to campus to finish his day.

Every day of the summer semester seemed to pass like that. Eric would return home from classes and study as Sookie hummed in the kitchen. They ate their evening meal together, cleaned up, and then Eric would continue studying while Sookie read a book and rested her feet on her husband's lap.

On Fridays, Eric would bring home takeout from a nearby restaurant, and the pair would find a movie to watch on the crummy little TV screen that had come with the apartment.

Saturdays involved a train ride to London and explorations of the beautiful city where they'd spend the night and then attend church before taking the train back to Sussex. It was on one of their long train rides back to Sussex that Sookie finally asked, "Why do you go to church with me?"

Eric glanced down at his wife, "What do you mean?"

"You don't believe in any of it," Sookie explained. "Why do you come?"

"Because it's important to you," Eric shrugged. "And I figure you'll want to raise our kids in the church. I wouldn't dream of sending my family off without me every Sunday."

Sookie smiled and snuggled against her husband's arm, "You seem to make a lot of concessions for me."

"An hour out of my Sunday isn't a sacrifice," Eric laughed. "As long as it's important to you, that's what matters."

"It is important to me," Sookie nodded. "Thank you." She wondered what she could possibly give to him in return. "If I went to culinary school, would that be important to you?"

Eric glanced at his wife in surprise. He thought this conversation had been closed months ago. "It would only be important to me if it was something you wanted."

A smile tugged at Sookie's lips, "I don't know that I'd ever want to work in a restaurant or anything, but the more cookbooks I read, the more recipes I try, I still feel like a home cook. It feels like there's a lot more out there for me to learn and that excites me."

"There are still four weeks left of my semester," Eric pointed out. "I'm sure you could find a couple cooking classes to try out before enrolling in a culinary school."

Sookie nodded in agreement. "I wonder if they have classes start more often in cooking academies than they do for traditional universities since it's only an eighteen-month program instead of four years?"

"I don't know. It's something we could look into. Let's see how you like cooking classes before we start filling out enrollment forms for some culinary institute." Eric was smiling the remainder of the ride back to Sussex. Even if Sookie decided not to go to a formal school, she might enjoy the occasional class.

Later that week, the couple found a culinary school that did single classes, but Sookie was disappointed when she saw the available courses were things she already knew how to make. Still, she signed up for a bread baking class, wondering if it would bring her some new depth to her knowledge.

"Are you sure you'll be okay going by yourself?" Eric asked nervously as he walked with his wife to the train station. The school was in London, and Eric had his own classes to attend.

"I'll be fine, " Sookie reassured him. "I will call the apartment when I head for the train home."

"I'll meet you here, " Eric told her, and Sookie laughed at his worrying. As she boarded the train, Sookie waved goodbye to her husband and then settled in for the long train ride to London. Alone.

All in all, the trip by herself was no big deal. The young woman read most of the time and ignored the other commuters. No one bothered her, and Sookie felt relieved that she could just attend a class like anyone else.

In some respects, Sookie dreaded taking the cooking class because her experience with school was less than encouraging. Her entire academic career thus far was riddled with physical and psychological attacks. Part of her feared that she was like a wounded animal and predators could sniff her out from a mile away. This concerned her because she wasn't sure how long that stench would linger on her. However, she had decided that she would always be a victim if she didn't try to overcome what others perceived as her weakness.

As the train pulled into her stop, Sookie gathered her things and stood as the car lurched forward with the brakes. Once she was on the city streets by herself, some of her courage began to drip away.

By the time Sookie arrived at the London Culinary Academy, she was clutching her purse to her chest. Her legs felt like Jell-O as she walked up the obnoxiously tall steps in front of the building, but she continued to push forward.

When Sookie found the classroom for her course, a sense of relief washed over her. There were grandmothers everywhere. She was the youngest person in the entire class by several decades.

"Hello, there," a hunched woman with a cane greeted her.

"Hi," Sookie returned the acknowledgment.

"I've never seen a youngster at one of these. I'm Martha," the woman introduced herself.

"Sookie," she replied as her concerns eased.

Martha looked at the younger girl's nervously clasped hands and smiled. "Newly married?"

"Five weeks and two days," Sookie whispered.

The old woman's smile split wider into a grin. "Did you come to learn to cook for him?"

"I already know how to cook," Sookie explained. "I just want to learn more."

Martha nodded in understanding, "These are great classes for those of us that want to learn new tricks, but know how to boil an egg."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Sookie agreed. "I've never been able to reach the level of a professional it seems like."

"Is that what you want o to be? A chef?" Martha asked delightedly.

Sookie shook her head, "I don't think so. I don't know."

"Well, you have all the time in the world," Martha assured her. "It's good you're trying things and not just settling in."

"Ladies, ladies!" A young man entered the classroom, clapping his hands to get the students' attention. "Is everyone ready to begin? Choose a workstation!"

"That's Victor, or Chef Madden as he makes all the new students call him," Martha whispered as Sookie stuck to her side and chose the station next to the old woman.

"Is he strict?" Sookie wondered.

"He's an obnoxious little bugger," Martha chuckled. "Quite the ego for a kid that seems stuck teaching old biddies like me."

Sookie smiled amusedly as they began listening to Chef Madden's introduction to the class. The ingredients and methods seemed pretty straightforward, but Sookie was used to plain white bread or sourdough bread. She'd never made authentic baguettes, Italian, or Rye. Currently, they were simultaneously making all three!

As Sookie began to wonder if she'd gotten in over her head, she remembered the confections and treats she'd made non-stop last year to pay for Eric's guitar. When she reminded herself that she'd baked in bulk plenty of times, Sookie's nerves settled, and she refocused.

"Take that jewelry off before you begin kneading the dough," Chef Madden demanded. "No one wants to chip a tooth on cheap zirconia."

There was no time to feel outraged that Madden had implied her engagement ring was costume jewelry. Sookie was too distracted by the idea of removing her wedding band and engagement ring. She hadn't taken either of them off before. The thought of removing them made her nervous.

"It's alright, Dear," Martha encouraged, "we all take them off when we cook." She pointed to her own rings at the top of the table, away from harm.

Taking a deep breath, Sookie removed her rings and flexed her hand experimentally. A callous had already begun to form near her engagement ring the past year, and her thumb ran over the rough spot, mesmerized.

After the initial paranoia abated, Sookie concentrated on her work once again. She slammed the dough expertly against the table, sending small puffs of flour into the air. Slowly, she grew engrossed in the environment, chatting animatedly with Martha and making bread.

This is what I'd like, Sookie realized. If she were to bake for others, she'd want it to feel like a community. Kneading dough side by side with someone, out in the open, talking to customers as they ate the goodies she made. She didn't want to be trapped in a hot kitchen alone or with people screaming all around at each other.

I want to be a baker, Sookie discovered when she pulled out her first loaf of French bread and placed it out to cool.

"That looks better than anyone's," Martha whispered proudly as she nodded at the three loaves of bread Sookie had set out. The color, the smell, the warmth radiating from each mound called to all of them to pull them apart and enjoy.

Chef Madden sampled each loaf, telling the women what they did wrong and how to do it right the next time. When it was Sookie's turn to be judged, she was disappointed to hear that even though hers were the best in class, she still had a long way to go.

"Being best in class for your first lesson is a huge accomplishment, Sookie," Martha assured. "I'll be taking the pasta class next week. Will you be there?"

"That sounds nice," Sookie smiled as they all began packing up.

While the women headed for the door, Sookie subconsciously swiped her finger over her callous and felt her heart thump loudly like a screaming reminder.

Twirling around on her heel, Sookie dashed back to her workstation to grab her wedding bands. As she approached and realized they weren't there, Sookie felt her throat tighten, and her heart drop into her stomach.

Falling to her hands and knees, the young wife searched beneath the table and felt hot tears building in her eyes. OH my GOD!

"Lose something?" Chef Madden's voice called above her, and Sookie sprung up from the floor.

"Ma, m-y we-wedding ri-ing," Sookie choked around her tight throat. It was the first time she'd had difficulty speaking during their entire trip abroad.

"Well, it couldn't have gone far," Madden gestured to the classroom as he stooped down to look underneath another workstation.

"Tha-ank you," Sookie garbled as she felt her hands shaking in the frantic search for her rings. What if someone took them while I wasn't looking? When's the last time I checked to be sure they were on the table?

"Found them!" Madden called from beneath the station two down from Sookie. "They must have rolled down here."

Both of them? Sookie wondered. Her wedding band made enough sense since it was just a simple, smooth gold. Her engagement ring, however, had a marquise cut diamond mounted on it and couldn't roll for anything.

Chef Madden approached, holding Sookie's rings up triumphantly. "Here you go," he tried to take her hand and place the rings back where they belonged, but Sookie snatched her hand away and took the bands to put on herself.

"Thank you," Sookie whispered as she reached for her purse.

"No, thank you for attending my class," Madden smiled at her sudden switch to caution. "You really have a gift, you know? You've been baking a third of the time as the rest of the class, and you outshone every one of them."

"Thank you," Sookie repeated nervously as Madden smoothly placed himself between her and the door.

"Are you staying in London long? You should take more classes," Madden encouraged.

He's just trying to get more money out of you, Sookie told herself calmly, but something in his actions felt false. She was reminded how Bill Compton would be really nice to her right before he was utterly horrible to her. This felt a bit different, though. She felt like she was being lulled into something, but she wasn't sure what it was.

"My husband's summer semester is another three and a half weeks, and then we go home to Louisiana," Sookie explained, hoping that mentioning her husband would remind Madden about the rings he found and what they signified.

"How long have you been married?" Madden asked, and Sookie felt relief at the interest he was taking.

"Five weeks and two days," Sookie told him more boldly.

"And he's already letting you run around town without him?" Madden laughed.

"He had classes. He doesn't want me to get bored," Sookie defended.

"And are you bored?" Madden asked, and Sookie took a step back. The insincere aura had returned in full volume.

"No," Sookie assured. "I'm more than happy."

"That's why you came all the way to London from Sussex to take a cooking class that you don't need? Because you're so not bored?" Madden laughed again, but it was much more condescending. "There are classes in Sussex. Much closer courses you could take to fill your time."

"Maybe I'll take one of those next time," Sookie tried to put a group of tables between herself and Madden.

"Are you sure you came out to London to fill time and not something else?" Madden leered at her, and Sookie realized exactly what was happening. Madden wasn't trying to hurt her. He was trying to seduce her.

"I'm plenty fulfilled. Thank you. I'm leaving now," Sookie hoped that would end the discussion, and she felt relieved when Madden didn't try to approach her again. He seemed put off as she practically ran out of the classroom, and Sookie dashed all the way through the front doors of the academy.

As the young woman jogged toward the train station, she barely remembered to stop in a phone booth to call Eric at the apartment. She knew by her short, brusque call that he would be waiting, suspiciously, at the Sussex station.

The entire trip back home, Sookie tried to think of the least alarming way to tell Eric why she had no intention of going back to the academy. She figured the best way to start the conversation would be with the surprise that she planned on enrolling in culinary school and wanting to open her own bakery once their children were old enough to start school. That would give them plenty of time to find a location for the bakery and decide how to juggle a business and family.

For the first time, the trip from London to Sussex didn't seem like an eternity. Instead, it passed by in the blink of an eye, and soon Sookie was departing the train and falling under the concerned gaze of her husband on the platform.

"What happened?" Eric demanded.

"I, uh," Sookie fumbled, unprepared for his anxiety despite having anticipated it. She was used to being the nervous one. "I want to enroll in culinary school."

Eric froze in his distress momentarily as he was overcome with surprise. "Really?"

"Yes," Sookie nodded. "I want to open a pastry shop with an open kitchen, and get to watch people light up when they eat the cookies and cupcakes and all the other sweets."

"I wasn't expecting this," Eric shook his head, still absorbing that he might have overreacted at her quick call. Still, he knew Sookie, and her tone over the phone hadn't been one of excited distraction. She'd been agitated and distressed. "What else happened?"

Sookie took a deep breath, "The instructor was untoward after class. I think he believed I was a bored housewife looking for… uh… Extramarital activities."

Eric's lip curled. "I'll-"

"Do nothing," Sookie stopped him. "I told him I wasn't interested, and he let me leave without any problems. It was a misunderstanding, and I don't plan on taking any more classes there. I'll wait until we're back home and see if I can't get some enrollment applications to fill out for school while we're here. For now, I'm happy as is."

Letting out a long sigh, Eric couldn't help but accept Sookie's decision. Although he was angry at this mystery teacher, it wouldn't do any good to cause a scene. Sookie didn't appear shook up, nor did she seem altered in any other way. He reminded himself that Sookie had her own strengths, and took comfort in that.