Edited 2019

AN: Fair warning there is church stuff at the end of the chapter. It is part of the storyline so bear with me. I am still looking for a beta to help me if you are interested, let me know. I also have to prepare you all for when school starts in about two weeks. I will be going back and having a full schedule. If you have not read from my profile I am studying to become a teacher so my grades are very important for me. I am telling you this so that you know I will probably not be updating daily when it starts. My goal will be three times a week. The good news with all of this is that the chapters will most likely be longer to make up for the wait in between. Now that I have made you all sad, if not nervous on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Just in case you all didn't know by now I am not Charlaine Harris or Alan Ball.

Chapter 24

Holly and I were in my room for about ten minutes before there was a knock at the door. I knew it was him and I knew what he was going to say. What I didn't know was if I was ready to hear it.

As if Holly could read my mind she said. "I can make him leave if you want. You don't have to talk to him right now, though, it would probably be better if you just got it over with. If you wait you will get angrier and less likely to want to hear what he has to say."

"Let him in, it's not like it matters." She got up and walked to the door. Eric was pacing in the hallway.

"You can come in but if you screw this up I am not helping you fix it." She told him, leaving the room. He mouthed thank you as she passed him. He came just inside the door. I didn't want to look at him. All I saw was him kissing a girl, a girl that was not me.

"Will, you at least look at me so, I know that you hear what I want to say?" He pleaded with me.

I'm a big girl I could do this, I thought to myself. I turned to face him.

"First let me say that I should not have jumped to the conclusion that I did. I know that you're not the kind of girl to make out with guys in her room, but that is what it looked like. I know what I did was mean, but I was hurt and I wanted you to feel what I did when I thought you had kissed him." He explained.

"So what do you want me to do Eric? Every time I think about or look at you, I see her shoving her tongue down your throat." I asked frustrated.

"You could try to forgive me. I know I haven't shown you compassion, and I don't really deserve it, but I could use some." He pleaded, his eyes begging me to understand.

"So, you want me to forget that you were being hypocritical. It's ok for you to kiss other girls but not ok for me to kiss another guy? How the hell did you think that would work? You want the trust that you could not give me."

"I did not say forget, I said to forgive. You don't have to forget what I did, I just need you to forgive me and then we can move past this."

"The problem with that Eric is I don't know if I can. It is not like we are even dating. You go ahead and kiss who you like." So he did, he kissed me. This one wasn't the sweet one we originally shared. This one was desperate. I almost got lost in it before I remembered that I was mad at him. I jerked back to get away and slapped him across the face.

"I didn't mean me you, idiot! Just leave Eric." I exclaimed pointing to the door. "I need to think. I like you but I don't know if it is enough for me to forgive you right now. So please just leave me alone for a while." I turned to look out my window. I heard him go back downstairs. I stayed in my room for a while until I had calmed down enough. I was being a terrible hostess and need to get back out to the party. I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. Then I walked back downstairs and out to the yard. The guys had resumed their game and some of the girls were dancing to a radio. I spotted Holly standing off to the side with Tara and Lafayette. I went over to go join them.

"Did he apologize or do we still hate him?" Holly asked trying to get me to smile.

"He asked me to forgive him but he did not say that he was sorry. I don't hate him. I just don't know how much I still like him." I responded to her honestly.

"Girl, I am sure it is just as much as you first did, only now, it is tainted by hurt," Lafayette said wisely.

"That might be true but I don't want to talk about it right now. I want to have some fun." I grabbed Tara's hand and drug her over to dance with me. The other two joined us and we danced till we were out of breath.

As the afternoon was winding down people started to take off, by four almost everyone was gone. Amelia came up to me and apologized for being snarky the day before and to thank me for including her in the party. "I don't know why I wouldn't. I mean I think I'll remember your tattoo for a while. Thank you for coming, it wouldn't have been the same without you." I hugged her goodbye. The only people left were Tara, Lala, Holly, and John. I had a feeling they might be staying for dinner. Eric had done what I asked and not bugged me. I hadn't seen or heard him since he left my room.

Gran came out and with Jason trailing behind her. "I am going to have the boys take everything out here down but I need some help cleaning the dishes you four think you can help me with that?" Gran asked even though we all knew that it was not an option to say no. It took us a good hour to get everything cleaned up and up away. Everyone squeezed back into the kitchen. "Dinner is going to be leftovers so when you all get hungry help your selves. I am going to go have a soak in my tub." Gran left us to our own devices. I went and put a movie in this time it was Gone with the Wind. I needed some drama that was not my own.

"You know I always hated this movie, I have no idea why my mama named me after a plantation. Why would you do that?" Tara asked plopping down next to me.

"Maybe she thought that it was a pretty name. Anyway shh, you don't have to like it, I do, and I am going to watch it." I turned my attention back to the screen. The others slowly filtered in to join us. John took up residence on my other side putting his arm around me. I leaned into him to get comfy. I heard an agitated cough from my right. I looked over to see a jealous yet sad-looking Eric. I just shook my head and went back to watching. At the halfway point, we stopped to get some food. I piled my plate with meat and beans. I knew that I might regret the choice later but I was hungry and it tasted fantastic. We started the movie up again. I fell asleep and woke, being carried up to bed again. This time I was awake enough to see that it was John doing the carrying. He laid me down on the bed and kissed my forehead. Before he could stand up I pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for being so chivalrous today and standing up for me."

"I was my pleasure, though I wish I was the one to deck Eric. Goodnight Sookie. I will see you tomorrow. I think everyone had a good time today even with the show your brother gave them."

"G'night John," I said rolling over. I lay there for a while just thinking. I knew that I needed to get up and get cleaned before I went to sleep. So I trotted over to the bathroom and took a shower. It felt nice to get clean. I used my relaxing lavender vanilla shampoo. It smelled amazing and relaxed when I got out and dried off. I went back to my room and got into a nightgown. I fell back to sleep pretty quickly. I dreamed that I was Scarlett and Eric was Ashley and that I married Preston to spite him. I never could see the face of who was Rhett. His face was coming into view right when I woke up.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was a quarter to eight. Gran would be up making breakfast before we would go to church. We were going to be sitting up front with the Reverend's family on account of Jason dating Crystal. According to Gran, that meant that I needed to dress extra nice. I picked out one of my nicer sundresses. It was white with little red flowers all over. I paired it with my white cardigan and a pair of white pumps. I took extra time to curl my hair and then pin it back off my face with a set of antique silver hair combs Gran had given me for my birthday. I also put on the bare minimum of makeup because Gran would send me up to take it off if it was too heavy. I walked downstairs to the kitchen to see that Gran had already gotten the boys up. They were both dressed like they had been on Friday only they also had on spots jackets. Gran was real spiffy, she had on her best light blue blouse and her navy pencil skirt. She had put on her heels and was wearing her pearls. She also had one of her fancier hats and hatpins setting on the counter next to her purse. The hat was various shades of blue with a fine netting at the front and delicate white flowers on the right side. The hatpin had a pearl that matched her necklace and was made of gold.

"Hurry up and eat, I want to get to the church early, so we need to leave in the next ten minutes," Gran said plopping a plate of eggs and sausage down in front of me. I ate as quickly as I could without spilling down my front or choking. Gran had us leave the plates in the sink so we could get going. She also made Jason drive, that left me in the back with Eric. I did my best to ignore him. Every few minutes, I would see him open his mouth to say something, out of the corner of my eye. He would always close it, just as quickly, losing his nerve to say what he wanted.

After the sixth time, he did it, Gran intervened. "Just say what you want to Eric before a bird lands in your mouth thinking your tongue is a worm."

"I'm sorry." He muttered and looked out the window sheepishly. I didn't know if he was sorry for the way he had treated me or sorry for trying to say something.

At the church, Jason offered Gran his arm to get to the door. Reverend Norris greeted us as we entered. Gran let me set on the end of the pew with her in between Eric and me. Jason was sitting with Crystal and it was kind of hard to not laugh at just how nervous he looked sitting there. His posture was ridged. It was like he was afraid to breathe too loud because God would hear him or something, if not the Reverend.

As the service, went on I felt that God was giving me a big sign, because Reverend Norris' sermon was about forgiveness. That we need to forgive people when they hurt us so, that when we mess up too, God will forgive us as well. I needed to forgive Eric. When it was time for silent prayer, I asked God to help me to forgive Eric. I asked to be more patient and understanding. I only hoped that he would hear me.