(Head held down in shame.) ….. Guys, I would firstly just like to apologize for keeping you hanging for so long. Close to a month. ): And that, I promise you, is not my style. In my defense, life has been busy, and I hope you can forgive. And please enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Charlaine Harris owns this stuff.

Sookie POV:

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face. For some reason, I knew I had gained just a bit of control over Eric. Even though he still made me nervous, and took me right back to when I was an awkward chubby teen, I was finally starting to get some confidence and I realized maybe I could make him feel the same way. But until then, I was going to pretend as if I didn't even look at him in that way.

I smelled some bacon cooking downstairs and my legs automatically took me to the bathroom, so that I could quickly shower and get some bacon before Jason ate it all.

I was in and out of the shower in 10 minutes and had the towel wrapped around my body and one wrapping up my hair on top of my head. I reached into my bag for a pair of panties when I heard some talking down the stairs.

It was Eric, and another brilliant plan popped into my head. I wrapped the towel tighter around me, making sure it didn't look bunchy around my rather large endowment, took my hair out of the towel, and spread it over my shoulders, making it look as sexy as possible.

Then I slowly descended the stairs, careful to make sure I didn't trip and was swaying my hips as seductively as possible. As soon as I was down the stairs, Eric's eyes were on me, and he was not hiding his ogling one bit. I smiled inwardly. "Hey Eric." He nodded and it seemed his eyes were glazing over.

I went over to the fridge and opened the door, bending over to grab the orange juice. Don't worry, I wasn't acting slutty. I knew the towel was long enough to cover my butt, but it did show off my legs. I slowly bent down and popped back up, turning around quickly to see Eric's reaction. He smiled and blushed. THAT'S RIGHT. ERIC NORTHMAN BLUSHED. I giggled and grabbed the bacon out of his hand and bit it, staring into his eyes, smiling. He seemed speechless and grabbed another piece, and we both began to chew, laughing. Right as I swallowed, Jason walked in, with Hoyt in tow.

"Sis, what the hell? Get some clothes on!" I laughed and put my hand on my hip and struck a pose. "You shut up Jason Stackhouse, they're like my brothers. And I'm sure they don't mind!" I smirked and walked out of the room, not before turning, winking at Eric and saying, "Right Eric?"

He cleared his throat and mumbled out, "Yeah, Jase. It's fine."

I ran back up the steps and threw on a bra, a red spaghetti strap tank, and some cut off denim shorts.

I walked back into the kitchen where everyone was gathered. I leaned up against the counter and said, "So what's the agenda for today?" Everyone just stared at me. "I know you boys don't plan on me just sitting around the house today? It's my first day back! Show me a good time!"

"Sorry Sook, I gotta go over to Hoyt's to work on his truck, but I'm sure you and Eric can do something."

"So, whatcha think, Eric?" I spoke, smiling.

"That's what I was planning on."

"So where do you wanna go?"

He smiled and I felt my heart begin to melt. "It's a surprise."

I laughed and said, "Alright, whatever you say. I'll go get my shoes on, then you wanna go? I know it's early, but what else is there to do?"

"Yeah Sook."

I ran up and brushed out my hair, putting it in a pony tail on top of my head, and adding a little mascara and bronzer to my cheeks.

I slipped on my Ked's and ran back down the steps. Eric was sitting in the living room and waiting on me.

"Ready?"

"Yep!"

He started walking out the door, but I skipped ahead. "Race you to the car!"

I took a run for it, and was half way down the drive way when he was almost beating me. I started laughing hysterically and pushed him out of the way when we were nearing the car.

I grabbed the door handle to his corvette and called out, "I win!"

He laughed a deep chuckle and came around and opened my door for me. "Yes, I suppose you do. But I'll have to keep in mind that you play dirty."

"Oh, do I ever."

He looked over at me, seeming surprised at my rather dirty joke. I busted out laughing, and settled into the seat, and before I knew it we were driving down the road.

He kept looking over at me with a serious look on his face, and the fourth time he had done it, I said, "Yes, Eric?"

He smiled rather awkwardly and spoke up, "It's just, I find it hard to believe you never dated anyone at school."

"Why is that?"

"You're very beautiful, you know. And of course smart. I mean you went to Yale. And fun. And…" He trailed off but then started again, "But of course you knew all of that."

I laughed, "You're really great too."

He smiled.

"But, I guess since you've asked me so nicely, I will admit to you that I have had a few love interests over the years. Nothing that special though."

He didn't speak so I continued. "Why don't you tell me about some of your love interests. I'm sure with your charisma there have been more than a few."

We both laughed and he spoke slowly and said, "Maybe another time, okay?"

I was a bit taken aback, but I just smiled and shook my head.

I was so involved in our conversation, that I didn't notice that we were in the parking lot of the mall and he was looking for a parking spot.

"This is the surprise? I hate to break it you Eric, but I have been to a mall before."

"I know, I know. But your surprise doesn't open up for another hour, so I thought we'd get a smoothie or something."

We walked through the doors and I could see Eric was seething because of all the men doing double takes at me.

"Yeah. That's one thing I miss about being fat."

"What?"

"Getting checked out. It happens a lot now. Men are gross sometimes. It's like they've never seen a woman."

"Not all men are like that. But in our defense, we don't often see women like you."

I became silent and we walked into a little smoothie shop where I ordered a banana pineapple blend and I went to get our seat. He paid and sat down across from me handing me my drink.

"So, tell me about your bar."

"Well, I co-own it with my friend, Pam. I do the business aspect and she's the face of it. It's actually doing pretty great. "

"Was it like your life-long dream to have a bar? I don't remember you ever talking about that growing up."

"No, it definitely wasn't. Before everything that happened, I wanted to be a lawyer. And I was actually going to go to Columbia for law school."

"Everything that happened? And why didn't you go?"

"We can talk about that another time. All you should know, is that I'm very happy. Exactly where I am, right now."

I smiled and asked for a drink of his smoothie. He nodded and leaned across the table, taking a big gulp.

"Hey! Don't take so much! " He laughed.

"Just take a drink of mine to even it out."

He did and looked up to smile at me, and reached his thumb to wipe something off my face.

"Whipped cream?"

He nodded and licked it off his thumb.

Mmmmmm. I thought to myself. I WANT YOU IN MY BED. I mentally screamed at him.

"So I thought you said someone was coming to stay at Gran's next week?"

I nodded vigorously and took another drink before saying, "Yeah, my best friend Amelia. She's that one that helped me lose all this weight."

He shook his head, "So, is she a trainer or something?"

"No, she's just like hippie-ish. You know, really into healthy living, organic stuff and yoga. Haha, you know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. Listen, I'd love for you to meet my best friend, Pam. I think you'd really like each other."

"Sure Eric, I'd love that."

"Are you almost done?"

"Yep."

He grabbed my hand and we left, on our way to my surprise.

So, there you go guys! I hope you liked it! I am aware that most of this was dialogue, but I wanted to cover a lot. I already have an idea of what the surprise destination is, but it's pretty simple. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them! Just leave it in a review. Actually if you have any ideas, for ANYTHING, I'd love to hear it! And I was really hoping I could break 200 reviews last time, but I didn't. ): Please review! I love to know your opinions! And even though I mainly want reviews so that I can get better, I still enjoy getting random nice ones, because they make me happy and feel great about my writing. PLEASE review. I love you guys. I'll try to update asap! It won't be as long this time, I promise. OH, and sorry about any grammatical errors. While I have known for a while what I want this chapter to be about, I wrote it in a rush and I don't actually have a beta.