AN: Thanks for the alerts and reviews. :D
I'm sorry for not replying, but there's something wrong on the site so I just can't. But just know I've read them and thank you.
Next chapter after this will be an EPOV. I think a peek in his mind will be very interesting.
Enjoy!

"I didn't know you could cook." He simply stated. Was he actually trying to have a conversation with me? I put the chicken in the pan and washed my hands, and in my mind I wondered for what reason he acted nice to me. This was a game I did not want to play.

"Look, Eric. You don't have to do this ok? We had a scene, and hopefully we won't in a long time. I know we don't get along and you don't have to get to know me, because I know Sophie-Anne probably forced you to do this. You can go home."

Being the brave person I am I avoided eyecontact and focused my attention on the vegetables on the plate in front of me. Eric hadn't moved at all.

"Sophie-Anne already left. And I'm not forced to do anything. Maybe I just want to make us both feel a bit more comfortable when we have more scenes. Because we will." He backfired. He wanted to feel more comfortable? Did I make him uncomfortable? Did he just say that he came here because he wanted to and not because he was being blackmailed?

"Oh."

Eric smiled, a real smile after my one syllable reply. Not the cocky asshole smile that he has plastered on his face most of the time, but a genuine smile. It took me no effort at all to smile back. Maybe this whole 'get comfortable'-thing would be easier than I thought.

"Yeah, I cook. I love it actually. My gran and I always were in the kitchen and just trying out new recipes and everything." My smile faded. I still missed gran, even though we talked over the phone a lot. Talking over the phone wasn't as satisfying as seeing the other in person. Eric sat down on one of the black fake-leather barstools, his expression more serious. A side I had never seen before.

"Do you miss your family a lot?"

"I miss my Gran, yes." I threw the vegetables in with the chicken and stirred.

"I don't miss my brother as much as I should. He's never been around much. And my parents died when I was young. My Gran took care of me and my brother."

Why was I even telling him this? Even though he said he wanted us to be more comfortable, he could easily be lying. I know how easy it is for him to lie, I've been watching him doing it for months now.

"I'm sorry about that." He sounded sincere and his eyes were filled with understanding, it surprised me. Here I was, cooking dinner and having a conversation with Eric Northman, who actually was capable of having emotions. The world is full of surprises. When I finished cooking dinner, my Southern charms took over.

"Are you hungry? I cooked for two persons." I asked as I walked over to the cupboard where the plates were stowed away. I always cooked for two, so Amelia had something to eat when she came back from wherever she would go without me. Amelia couldn't cook at all, she even has trouble making toast. She would have to make a sandwich now, if she came back tonight. She probably will sleep at Tray's.

"Yeah, that would be nice." The 'yeah' was spoken with a surprised tone in his voice, hell, I was surprised too. But the rest of the sentence was accompanied with his genuine smile again.

"It smells amazing." He smiled, I smiled. Things were going great so far.

I put his plate in front of him and asked if he wanted some wine. He accepted. Soon we were done eating and had finished a bottle of wine together making small talk, I avoided getting personal. Maybe he just wanted to dig up dirt.

I looked at the empty bottle of wine. I'm not used to drinking that much, and I felt tipsy and giggled more than usual. Even when going out, I kept my drinking to a minimum, because I know how stupid people can act when they're drunk. Bill being an example.

"I should go. It's getting pretty late." Eric said and stood up to clean up our plates. He also has manners, weird.

"How are you going home? Since you've been drinking and all."

"By foot. It's a nice walk and you don't have to deal with drunk driving." He grabbed his jacket and cellphone that has been going off non-stop. Probably all his girlfriends wanting to get laid, he must be a busy man. Even though we actually can have a conversation now, I'm not going to forget how he can be. He's still a manwhore and I'm still keeping my guards up around him.

I walked him to the front door and we said our goodbyes. Que the awkward do we hug or do we kiss on the cheeck or do we just shake hands. While my mind was anatomizing the social etiquette, Eric wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. In response, I wrapped my arms around him as well. The difference in height was uncomfortable at first, but now it felt perfect. He smells so great. He has nice muscles. Thank you God for creating this human being. I shocked myself while thinking like that and gently pushed him away, my body crying out over the loss of his heat. We were hugging way too long, and too tight. This isn't how you act with the friend of your boyfriend, even if it is a fake friendship. Oh my god, I have a boyfriend. I shouldn't think about any guy at all. Bill is the one I should be thinking about, besides Eric was just attractive. No attraction on any other front.

"I have a party next week on Saturday. If you would like to come that would be nice. Here's my number," he handed me a little card,"and just text me for details ok?"

I nodded and examined the little card. It was just his name and number printed on a white background, I hoped he didn't have stacks of this saved up to hand out to his flings.

"Yeah I'll call you. Or text you." I added, not going to make this sound date-like.

"I'll wait by the phone." Eric said in a low voice, that was oozing sex. Why was he doing this to me? He knows I'm off limits, and yet it seems like he's flirting with me. Is his army of skanks not fullfilling his needs? Eric totally was out of line.

Before I could go off on him, he had already walked away. I stole a glance at his ass. Eric did have a nice ass. It's better than Bill's. No. Boyfriend's ass should be better than manwhore's ass. Stop betraying me body, I chastised myself. I managed to peel my eyes away from the view and closed the door and locked it. As I turned around I saw Zazzers glaring at me from the hallway floor with his big green eyes.

"Don't judge me Zazzers." Zazzer didn't move, he just kept glaring at me.

Then I realized I actually went crazy, thinking my cat was judging my behaviour. Eric was messing with my mind, and the worst part was that I didn't even know if he did it on purpose or not. This whole situation was infuriating.

The next morning I was woken by the sound of my ringtone, an annoying sound and it wasn't the way I liked to wake up. As I looked at the caller ID I saw it was Bill, so immediately I picked up.

"What the hell Bill. Where were you?" I spat. Not a morning person, not at all. Team that up with the fact he has been missing all day and stood me up, and that gives you a very annoyed Sookie Stackhouse.

"I was just out." He answered, like it was normal to just disappear.

"Just out? Just out? For a whole day? People are worried about you, I'm worried about you." I shrieked out in a frequency that was unknown to me until now.

Nothing but silence, only his breathing. Suddenly I heard some other sounds, like he was lying in bed. Maybe he was home, at least he got home safely. Then there was a voice, a woman's voice. A voice that told him to hang up and fuck her at least once more before he had to go. It took a while before it dawned on me. This could not be happening. It took everything I had to not drop my phone. Everything was clear; he was cheating on me. I meant nothing to him. He has been lying to me and I don't even know for how long. I should've listened to Amelia, but no, I needed to be naïve and I needed someone to love me. And now it turns out that person never loved me to begin with, or maybe he did love me. Maybe this wasn't his fault. My mind jumped from explanation to explanation, some in Bill's advantage, some in his disadvantage.

Bill kept asking if I was still there, obviously he wasn't aware that I had picked up the sounds of his mistress or whatever she was. Slowly I removed my phone from my ears and clicked on the red button to hang up. Tears were streaming down my face, and my breathing was all messed up. I crawled back under the covers again and cried myself back to sleep.

A week had passed since the cheating incident. Bill has been very persistent in getting me to forgive him and kept trying to call me and texting me 'saying he's sorry and loves me and wants me back'. Right. I deleted them all and only texted him one thing. Amelia was there with me as I send him the message. At that moment I was near to tears, while Amelia was cheering and whistling like she was watching the Superbowl. She just really hated Bill.

We r done. Never want to see or talk to you again.

Even though I always frowned upon not breaking up in person, this was the only way I thought it could be done. I just didn't want to see him. He broke my heart and I've never felt so humiliated.

Amelia was a great help. She said the right things and cheered me up, and I was out of my trainwreck state in no time, which I hadn't expected at all. It felt nice that there was someone to help me. Tara also came over a lot, with a bottle of wine and some snacks which we would drink and eat while watching a movie. On the internet was already a big scandal over me and Bill breaking up, but that he cheated on me wasn't mentioned. Maybe that was for the best, I didn't want the pity of the media just yet. I did however want Bill to get what he deserved. That my personal life was splattered all over tv and the internet was enough, and for now that was more than I had bargained for. I came on the show for Bill, so we could be together, and now there wasn't a reason for me to stay at all. But after I talked with Amelia about it, I decided that I now did this for me and noone else. This was my life, and I was stupid enough to let it get shaped up by a guy who didn't turn out to be the person I thought he was. Sophie-Anne had called me, and she told me that we had to explain our break-up in the show. I was fine with the fact that I had to talk about Bill cheating on me, even if it did hurt. Bill would deny it ofcourse. Hello tv drama.

Now we're mentioning persons who turn out to be different; Eric was very understanding about the Bill-drama and it freaked me out. The day the story broke, he texted me and asked if I was okay and how I handled it. It was sweet and it totally came unexpected, and it feels weird to admit it, but I actually felt my heartbeat pick up. Every time I would get a text from Eric, my stomach was doing this crazy dance. I ignored it, or at least tried to. Sookie wasn't going to get involved with another manwhore. I've learned from Bill, and Eric is just like him, so it's a no-go.

Amelia and Tara forced me to accept his invitation, because I needed the distraction and I needed to go out and have fun. Tonight was his party, and I felt excited.

I was sitting on the bed, watching Amelia and Tara go through my closet. I dodged a little dress, that Tara so carefully threw away. After a while of mumbling 'no' and pulling out every piece of clothing I owned Amelia squeeled and jumped up and down.

"I found the dress." she squeeled and jumped up and down.

"You'll definitely get laid wearing that." Tara added with a knowing smirk.

"I don't want to get laid. I want to have fun." I defended myself. Tara and Amelia were trying to get me back in the field again, but I thought it was too soon.

"But isn't getting laid fun?" the expression on her face was priceless, like I had three heads all of a sudden.

"Fine. Just let a cobweb grow down there." Tara dramatically rolled her eyes at me when I stuck my tongue out, and handed me the red dress. I shooed them away and changed into it. It actually looked great on me, if I may say so myself. It hugged all my curves and was just perfect. Not too dressy, but not too casual. I topped it all off with some black pumps. I looked at myself in the mirror. My long blond hair was falling over my shoulders in loose curls. For the first times since the break-up I felt fine with myself again. I was curvy, but I liked it and even though I wasn't a covergirl it could've been worse. A smile appeared on my face and with that smile I walked out in the hallway. Amelia and Tara approved of my outfit with cat calls and whistles. They also looked great, they always did. Amelia was always over the top, but it suited her. Tonight she was wearing a purple dress with ruffles around the neckline, huge ruffles. Only Amelia could pull that off. Tara was wearing a simple white dress, that made her chocolate coloured skin stand out perfectly. I gave Zazzers a kiss and then we were walking to Eric's condo. Our arms were hooked, and we laughed and joked the whole way. The walk really was nice, and Eric was right about the distance, it wasn't far and took us only 10 minutes.

Eric's condo was really nice, Amelia even let out a little gasp when first laying eyes on it. He had a house that was built on the side of a small a hill, so it looked like it stuck out of the hill, floating in mid-air. Very sleek and modern. Just like I had expected from him. It probably looks like Barney Stinson's appartment, I thought, maybe he also has a life size stormtrooper. Tara gave me a strange look when I giggled at my own thoughts.

Amelia ran to the gate and we were buzzed in, the garden was just as modern as the house. As soon as we set foot in the house, there were voices and music playing in the background, a party was definitely going on here. And I was right about the interior, a true bachelor living here. Everything was modern and in earthy tones, no personal stuff spotted and there were old movie posters decorating the walls, framed ofcourse. A neat bachelor he was. There weren't even plastic cups lying around and the only thing that was messy was the big pile of coats lying in the hallway.

When we walked into the house we were greeted by Eric, who was looking very fine in a blue shirt that matched his eyes perfectly. It was paired with fitted light washed jeans. Thank you Levi's for creating those jeans. I felt his eyes roam my body as he gave me a once over, a very slow one. I couldn't help but blush. This man will be the death of me, no doubt. Amelia and Tara greeted him with enthusiasm, not noticing the way Eric looked me up and down, and went to the kitchen, because that's where they kept the booze.

Eric walked over to me, and gave me a quick hug.

"You look amazing." he said softly as he let go off me.

Girls around the world would've melted after hearing that and seeing the way his eyes were roaming my body, but I'm not your standard girl. I'm just stubborn and ignored the way my body heated up.
"I'm going to get something to drink." I sputtered and walked passed him to the alcohol. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a large gulp. This wasn't good. I shouldn't have come. I heard footsteps coming from the hall, it was Eric. He looked very confused, but said or asked nothing and also grabbed a beer, opened it, turned to me like he was going to say something but didn't, instead he left the room. Now leaving me confused.

Why are we even playing this stupid game? Shouldn't this be simple and easy and breezy? Instead, we're circeling around eachother and taking baby steps forward, only to get back to our original spot. I don't even know what his deal is. I don't know that much about him, I don't even know if he's dating someone. Or if one of his bedwarmers is here. He knows I'm single, the whole world knows it. So if he wanted to make a move he already would have done so, not that I wanted him to. I'm wasting my time on thinking about something that won't work anyway. Eric was still Eric. Eric was still Bill's friend. Off-limits. And I probably was just lonely. The comfort of having someone was gone now.

Great. Now I was down again. Bill was still capable of ruining my mood, but I flicked a switch in my head, telling myself that I shouldn't let him. And so I followed the sounds of voices and music into the living room. It was a big open room, with glass surrounding you, except for the wall that separated the room and the rest of the house. A huge sliding door was opened, and people walked through it to sit on the terrace, which was illuminated with small garden lights. I scanned the faces in search of my friends, who I found sitting outside on the couches. I walked over to them with a smile, a fake one but still.

The booze was flowing, just as the conversation and everyone seemed to be having fun. I saw Eric a couple of times, but we didn't talk. It was like old times, except for the glances we gave eachother and the eyecontact. Whenever his blue eyes locked with mine, it was just us. Like there weren't 50 other people here right now having alcohol fueled conversations. However, our little bubble burst every time and real life would step in, since Amelia and Tara would pull me from my little trance with questions and more talking. Within an hour or so, I was updated with the gossip of the last week. Next week there would be more filming, that's what they told me, because the show must go on and soon the latest episode would air. There were some lunches planned, along with a promotion party for a new fragrance. For which we were all invited. At least the week wouldn't be that busy and I could still have some relaxing time.

Amelia went to the kitchen to get some more beers, and returned with a guy. He was tall, but not as tall as Eric, toned and a black scruff. His hair was tousled and curly. A wolf, that was what he reminded me off.

"Alcide, this is Sookie. Sookie, this is a friend of Tray's. He works at the same nightclub." Amelia gently pushed him my way, grinning when we shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Amelia always tried to play matchmaker.

Alcide and I talked for a while. The guy was nice, handsome, great smile, great manners. All in all, he would be considered a great catch. But he did nothing for me. Nothing at all. My insides wouldn't go fuzzy when he smiled, my skin didn't tingle as he touched my arm, my heartbeat stayed normal when he leaned into me to whisper in my ear how pretty I looked. Yes, he said pretty. Normally, I would've squeeled from cuteness. Not tonight. Instead as he whispered in my ear, my eyes scanned the room for Eric's. I found him standing in the dooropening (does he have a thing for dooropenings?), staring at me and he wasn't looking happy. When our eyes met, he turned around and walked into the house. Was he mad at me for being over Bill this soon? Or was he mad at Alcide? Was he jealous? He couldn't be. We didn't even like eachother that much, right?

"Sookie?" Alcide touched my arm. "I asked you something. Do you want to go and meet for drinks sometime or something?" he didn't sound so sure of himself and the smile on his face showed how nervous he actually was.

The thought of dating Alcide wasn't that appealing to me. Not that he wasn't a great guy, because he was, but there wasn't any chemistry. Not from my side at least.

"I'm sorry. I would love to meet up sometime, but just as friends. I just broke up and I need some time alone."

Alcide smiled kindly and nodded.

"It's okay Sookie. We'll have drinks but just as friends. I'll give you my number."

We exchanged numbers, and set up a place and time. After that I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I walked inside again and went into the hallway, found the bathroom and took care of my needs. When I walked out of it, I noticed Eric sitting on the steps in front of his house, alone. His head resting on the palms of his hands. Was he already drunk?

When I opened the front door, his head snapped up and he turned around to face the person who interrupted his solitude.

"Are you okay?" obviously not.

"I'm fine." He said vexed. "Go back inside. Alcide must be missing you."

"You're not fine and Alcide won't be missing me. We're friends, that's all." I couldn't help to sound offended and mentioning the fact Alcide and I were just friends. He can't command me and tell me what to do. Eric huffed at my comeback.

"Do you let all your friends touch you like that?"

"Why are you acting like a total dick right now?"

"Why are you acting like a total whore?"

Bam. That was it. That was Eric's true form and it hurt when he said it. Somehow I thought he had changed and we could be friends. And maybe I felt so good around him when it was just us two. I bit my lip to hold back tears that were on the verge of pouring out. I wanted to shout back at him, and tell him he was the one that acted like a whore, but no. My body had another plan, and that was walking away. As I passed him on the steps a sob escaped my lungs. Great, now he knows I'm crying and he knows his plan of making me feel crap has succeeded. When I reached the end of the street walking faster than ever before on my Jimmy Choo's I heard someone follow me. At first I thought it would be Tara, Amelia or Alcide. But I was mistaken.

"Sookie." It was Eric's voice. The irritated and harsh tone was gone, now it sounded like he was desperate. Yeah right. Eric being desperate would happen if hell freezed over. Or when his sexlife would hit a low point.

"Stop walking. Please." He tried to grab my arm, but I pulled away and angrily rubbed my eyes, hoping that he wouldn't notice the tears.

"Eric. Leave me alone." I managed to choke out in a steady voice. Eric stopped following me, and I kept walking. Finally I had reached my apartment, and was ready to fall asleep and never wake up again. Real life sucks. Guys suck. Eric sucks. Bill sucks. Everything sucks. And if that wasn't bad enough; I had left my clutch at Eric. Great. Just great.

I grabbed the spare key that was hid behind a brick in the wall and opened the door.

The last 20 minutes had drained me, and the last energy I had was used to walk to my bed, change in my pyjama's and fall down. I fell asleep immediately, face down in my pillows.