Edited 2019

AN: As you might know from reading earlier chapters I am moving into my new shoebox of an apartment this weekend. I know that it is bad to say but I think I already hate my apartment after having spent a few hours moving stuff in. The only bright side with the tiny, tiny place is that it is a fraction of what I had to pay at my old apartment. I think at the very least I will be sleeping there. I grew up in an old house with a micro kitchen but this one is so small that I can barely turn around in it. On the upside, the bathroom is kind of big. Thank you all for reading and putting up with my rant. On with the story.

Disclaimer: If any of this was mine I would not be living in a shoebox apartment.

Chapter 30

Prior to Saturday, Amelia and I had made plans to get "the works" done at the local salon, which was owned by Alcide's older sister Janice. Janice was in her early twenties married and had a baby on the way. After a lot of humming and hawing (and several assuring comments from Holly and me), Amelia finally decided on the dark blue dress. When we got to the salon, we told Janice about our dresses. Amelia had Janice pull her hair back after creating finger waves so she would look like she stepped right out of the silver screen. Janice had done my hair for a few pageants and knew what looked best on me, so I just sat back and let her do what she does best. After letting her work her magic, she had given me an updo with soft curls cascading down at the back. Amelia and I had decided on manicures and pedicures as well. My nails were done in the ever classic French tips but Amelia had hers lacquered in a screaming red. While the two of us waited for our nails to dry, Janice and her assistant moved us behind a screen to do our makeup. Currently, Janice was taking what she called a "this-little-monster-is-jumping-so-hard-I-am-going-to-wet-myself" break. I sat in relative silence, barely registering the chime of a door, alerting the staff that new customer had arrived. Fortunately for me, I was hidden behind the screen as Debbie, Arlene, Tanya, and Daphne walked in. Amelia and I shot each other a look. Neither of us wanted the older girls to see us. But that didn't mean we couldn't eavesdrop.

"I can't believe that you convinced Eric Northman to take you to the dance. Everyone in school knows he's been pining for that Stackhouse bitch," I heard Debbie's unmistakable sneer from where she was taking a seat on the small sofa for waiting costumers.

"I think she had him after the kiss at the first game," Arlene said with a shrill laugh. The other girls shot a look at her, wanting an explanation. "How could he not want to date Daphne? I mean, she is a cheerleader and more experienced. No offense, of course." Arlene added insincerely. Tanya and Debbie smirked at Daphne who just shrugged.

"He asked me to go as friends and nothing more. At least we get to go to a nice restaurant and ride in a limo to the dance." Daphne interjected.

"How did you manage that?" Piped up Tanya, looking at Daphne skeptically.

"Well… I may have hinted to him that it would be fun to go as a group, which the two of us posing as one of his friends' dates who won on Thursday. And he passed the idea along to Quinn and Alcide. Those two ran with it. I am Quinn's pretend date until we get to the dance and Eric gets to have the Stackhouse girl. Alcide is bringing one of her friends, we also have to share with that Broadway girl and her date." Daphne said, her voice filled with arrogance.

"That was rather crafty of you. You get a free meal, flowers, and limo. Now only if Eric were to win homecoming king. You think he'll win?" Debbie said looking at her nails, not really interested but adding to the conversation.

"I hope so because that would mean I would get my picture in the yearbook next to him in his crown. And since I've already planned on wearing a tiara, we'll match!" Daphne said sounding proud of herself and quite smug. The school had a tradition of taking the picture of the homecoming king and queen with their dates and using it as part of the spread for the homecoming pages. I glanced over at Amelia, my stomach clenching hearing the way Daphne talked about her date with Eric. Amelia just shot me a smile and rolled her eyes at the girls' haughtiness.

Just then Janice's assistant came up to help them. "Do you girls have an appointment, or do you need a walk-in for homecoming?" He said, his hand on his hip. Debbie turned her nose up at him. Some people in town still hadn't gotten used to the idea of homosexuality quite yet, and Debbie Pelt was one of those people.

"It is under Pelt. We are getting everything done. These two especially need work done." Debbie answered pointing at Arlene and Tanya. They both scowled at her.

"Alright, Jenny will be right with you." The assistant said walking off to retrieve the stylist.

Janice had come back from the bathroom looking much more comfortable. "I am going to do Amelia first since her eyelash extensions will need to dry. Sookie are you sure you don't want any?" I nodded my head.

"Yes, I want to look natural but polished," I said.

"Ok, I just wanted to check. Amelia, I think I'm going to give you a light shimmery lid and bright lips to match your polish. You will look uber glamorous I think." She said turning her full attention to Amelia. After spending twenty minutes to do Amelia's makeup, Janice moved onto me. We were finally done about half an hour later, looking ready for the dance. We would be getting dressed back at home later into the evening. Amelia called her dad to pick us up while Janice was working on me and he was waiting in the car to take drop me off at my house before everyone gathered there later today. Everyone had decided to take pictures at our house because Gran had such a lovely garden to use as a backdrop. I walked up to the back door through to the kitchen. Gran was sitting at the table with Jason and Eric, beaming at me when I came through the door.

"You are going to look so nice tonight." She said. My heart swelled at her kind words.

"Sookie you look kind of grown-up. I am going to have to make sure that Quinn doesn't leave you alone tonight." Jason said cautiously, eyeing me like he missed that I was now in high school and not seven.

"I think you look perfect Sookie," Eric told me sadly, reaching out and stroking an errant curl. "Too bad you are not really my date. I don't think I would let you out of my sight if you were." I tried to shrug off the slight feeling of guilt I had for turning him down.

"Watch it Northman! That's my sister you are ogling." Jason said defensively.

"Thank you," I told them collectively. Jason for his protectiveness, Eric for his compliment and still apparent want to attend the dance with me, and Gran for the huge smile she had given me. I then departed upstairs to finish getting ready.

There was an hour left to get my dress and shoes on while mentally preparing for my first homecoming. For a bit, I just sat on my bed, thinking. It was times like this that I missed Mama and Daddy the most. They would never see me go on a date. Daddy would not get to interrogate my date, while Mama helped me get ready. I focused on not crying. I sat, taking in several deep gulps of air, counting to ten. I did not want to redo my makeup and have puffy eyes for the pictures. When I had about fifteen minutes left I finally put on my dress and shoes. As I had been slipping on my dress, I heard Eric close the door of his room, most likely putting on his tux. I snuck downstairs to have Gran zip the gown for me. Her eyes were bright and her face looked ten years younger when she saw me, her pride evident.

"You look so pretty Sookie. Your Mama and Daddy would have loved to see you like this." Gran said in a wobbly voice as she pulled my zipper up. I gulped back tears again.

"Gran please don't cry. If you start, then I will and I have been trying not to cry for the last forty-five minutes." I turned around, hugging her. She hugged me back just as tight.

"You are right," she told me, straightening up, dabbing a handkerchief to her eyes. "I want you to look nice for the pictures. Eric told me how he gets to be your pretend date till you get to the dance." I nodded slowly, thinking back to what the cheerleaders had been talking about before. I tried my best to shake those thoughts away. "I want a picture of you with both boys and your brother," Gran said helping me to straighten my dress out, fluffing the tulle underneath just slightly, Eric came down the stairs and lost his footing. Gran and I ran over to him making sure that he was ok.

"I fine, I just missed a step." He assured us, a bright blush on his face, standing. I drank in all 6'4" of him in his crispy navy tuxedo, making his eyes twinkle. "Can I talk to you for a minute Sookie?" I stammered something of an agreement as he took my hand, leading me to the living room. He stopped in front of the sofa, gesturing for me to sit. I was careful to make sure that my dress did not crease. "I wanted to say that you look absolutely beautiful. I wish I was taking you." He reached his hand out to stroke my cheek. I leaned into him just slightly, taking in the warmth of his hand.

"Thank you, Eric, you look nice too." I looked into his eyes, giving him my most genuine smile, hoping to send him through my eyes what I couldn't say.

At five on the dot, everyone started to show up. We took pictures for a good hour, taking group and couples shots. The group photos where fun, but the ones of just girls or boys were better. Us girls did the typical Charlie's Angels thing and the boys James Bond. Then we did the individual couple photos. The ones of me and John were sweet but funny. Since I am so much shorter than him, even in heels, Jason found a footstool for me to stand on, so we were closer in height. We took another one where he was sitting on a chair and I was on his lap, that one was my favorite. We looked so nice and happy. I had a hard time taking the ones with Eric. When he would touch me, my stomach would tighten. It didn't help that Daphne was staring daggers at me the entire time. One of the last ones was of Amelia, Holly and me. The picture was hilarious since we could not quit laughing, clutching our sides as the boys had made the goofiest faces they could at us. The final photograph was a group shot of all of us. Years later I would view that photo in a very different light. By the time we finished our photos, the limo had arrived to take us to the restaurant.

For dinner, everyone had decided on Superior's Steakhouse. The boys had decided that if they did not have to pay for it then we were going to eat big, as we wouldn't have been able to eat there otherwise because it was so expensive. The restaurant had grouped our tables together, pushing two four-tops together. I was sitting at one end with John, Eric, and Daphne and the other end sat Amelia, Tray, Holly, and Alcide. My eyes almost bugged out of my head when I saw the prices of each menu item, relieved none of us were paying for dinner. I ordered the most modest size of the steak, a 6 oz. filet mignon, which I had never had before. I was able to order my sides, so being a proper southern girl I order whipped sweet potatoes and creamed spinach. Daphne ordered a Maytag Bleu Cheese salad with walnuts and grilled shrimp. Holly ordered what I had ordered, with the exception of a salad to my spinach. Amelia, on the other hand, ordered Grilled Salmon with sweet potato chips, as she decided earlier this week, she was going to not eat red meat any longer. The guys had gotten the idea into their heads that they were going to see just how much food they could eat. John ordered a jumbo onion ring, a 24 oz. prime bone-in-rib eye and potato au gratin. Eric, not to be outdone, ordered jumbo lump crab cakes, the 24 oz. porterhouse with a bacon demi-glace and macaroni and cheese. Alcide toned it down a bit by ordering a 14 oz. prime dry-aged ribeye (quite bloody I might add) with gravy, a giant baked potato including all the fixings and braised wild mushrooms. Tray got Surf and Turf which consisted of an 8 oz. Filet & a 4 oz. broiled Australian Lobster Tail. It came with whipped potatoes and asparagus. I was sure that if they tried to eat all they ordered, then they were going to puke on the way to the dance. When I asked what they were planning to do with all that food, John laughed.

"Don't worry about it Babe, we got the driver to agree to put the leftover food in the mini-fridge so we can have it to take home." He assured me, squeezing my hand.

"I thought we only had the limo to get to the dance." I looked between him and Eric for confirmation. I noticed Eric staring at my hand, which was still in John's. I tried ignoring him as his eyes met mine.

"We pooled our money so we have him the whole night. We couldn't let you lovely ladies huff it home." Eric said, attempting to hide his devastated smile.

"That was very magnanimous of you, but I bet you just did not want to call Mrs. Quinn to come and get us." I postulated, sending Eric a smile, trying to cheer him up.

"That may have been part of it." He admitted looking down at his plate, his eyes still looking sad. I frowned, a small crease of worry in my forehead.

Daphne, not able to stand to have Eric's attention on me any longer, redirected the conversation, ending up on the topic of the homecoming court. "I bet you are going to win. I mean you are just so nice and really tall." She simpered at Eric, trailing her fingers down the side of his arm. I gagged internally and I saw Amelia and Holly giggling, mocking Daphne's actions on the other side of the table where she couldn't see them from where she was. I laughed, turning my back to Daphne.

"If they vote based on being nice and tall, I think John might just beat him," I said jokingly, poking John in the side as he grinned down at me. It was true though, John was known to be nicer than Eric and he was taller, if only by an inch or two. Daphne sneered at me.

"You just don't get it, do you? Eric is nice to everyone even when they aren't popular." Daphne said, leaning over to me, moving her eyes from me to Amelia and Holly who stopped mocking her when Daphne glanced toward them. An awkward silence fell over the table. "He is just sure to win." She finished, squinting her eyes at me before turning to Eric, fluttering her eyelashes at him. I let out a sigh.

"I know Eric is nice, I've known him for years," I told her pointedly. "I mean he was kind enough to talk to you," I said under my breath. I was getting meaner by the minute. She was driving me nuts. How could he stand to be around her? She has no brain and only thought of her popularity. I could tell she heard me when her face soured and she got quiet. Daphne slouched down into her seat and every once in a while would send me a glare. If looks could kill…

John leaned over to me and whispered. "I was thinking the same thing." I suppressed a giggle. "I don't know if I have said it or not but you are stunning and I am glad you came with me." He kissed my cheek. I sat there blushing picking at my food, stomach twisting in knots.

We were finishing our entrees and when our waiter came back to ask us if we had room for dessert, I was going to say no but the guys ordered for us. They wanted to try everything that they could. Collectively they ordered a blueberry turnover, hot buttered pecan pie, southern comfort bread pudding, and chocolate cake, all served with French vanilla bean ice cream. I was so full when we left the restaurant I was sure that I would have to be carried into the dance. Again we piled into the limo, Daphne as far away from me but as close to Eric as possible, as we headed to the dance which was being held at the Silver Lake Ballroom.