AN: Here it is, an EPOV. Well, after a short SPOV.
Sorry there is almost no progress, Eric had a lot of catching up to do.
It's still a bit (maybe not a bit, but a lot) of angst. But bear with them, they're just stubborn.
Give them time, they'll come around. For now enjoy their overload on feelings.

Thanks for the reviews, if I could respond I would. The site still acts all craycray.
Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Even though I fell asleep within no time, the night was restless. I kept tossing and turning and cursed Eric. He was the reason why my mind wouldn't calm down. Every interaction we had shared that evening was analyzed, and it ended up in me feeling even more confused than I already was.

When I saw the first rays of sunshine shine through my curtains I gave up and walked into the kitchen. On my way there I carefully avoided mirrors. I was sure that my face showed the signs of crying and my eyes would be puffy and red.

After making some coffee –I am a total addict, and without my morning coffee I could barely function- I decided to make a breakfast feast to keep myself from going crazy. I still needed to figure out a way to get my stuff that was probably still lying at Eric's, because I hadn't seen it in the house. There also wasn't a black clutch lying around in Amelia's room, so she didn't bring it with her. My blackberry was in there, texting Eric wasn't an option.

When I was busy making a fruitsalad the white card with his number came back to mind. The little white card had to be here somewhere. Well, actually I knew exactly where it was. On my dresser in my room. Now I was debating wether or not I should call him. God, even when he wasn't here to push my buttons he still managed to make me feel frustrated.

The morning hours flew by quickly, so did almost all the food in my fridge. I'm sure there would've been flour in my hair and on my face and the kitchen was a mess, but I didn't care. My attention was focused on cooking. And Eric. No scrap that, just cooking. Not Eric. Definitely not Eric.

God, I'm so hopeless, I thought to myself again and again.

When the first signs of a waking Amelia were showing (a short moment of mumbled curses and shortly after a running shower. She also wasn't a morning person.) I started making pancakes with blueberries. Something Amelia and I enjoyed very often after a night of partying. She entered the kitchen after 10 minutes and headed straight for the coffeepot, mumbling a good morning, not taking in the scene around her. Only after her first sip she noticed the mess that I had managed to make in the kitchen. The expression on her face should've made me laugh, but now it just made me feel sorry for myself. Crazy Sookie at your service, please have a seat and enjoy the breakfast that I made because my thoughts combined with a lack off sleep made me go all cuckoo.

"What the fuck Sooks?" she stammered as she grabbed on of the pancakes and threw it on a plate. "You must have something bothering you. And because left yesterday without telling I assume it must've happened then? Am I getting warm here?" she took a big bite, chewed and kept talking with her mouth stuffed. Rich girl, yet no table manners.

"Alcide was worried about you." Was added after she swallowed the way too big bite of pancake. I groaned internally. She was still playing matchmaker.

"Alcide and I are friends." She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Seriously Ames. I don't want to be in a relationship and I don't feel any attraction to Alcide at all. It's just..."

I wanted to tell her about Eric so badly, but I couldn't get it out. Amelia is my best friend and we share everything, however I couldn't share this problem with her. Maybe I was afraid she would judge me, maybe it was because she might think I had feelings for him. I didn't want her to name the feelings I was trying to ignore so badly. So I lied.

"My clutch is still there. I miss my blackberry."

Lame excuse, and Amelia's brown eyes followed me suspiciously. Thankfully she had no comments. I grabbed a pancake and added some fruit salad on the side.

"Riiiight. Eric mentioned something like that to me," she started giggling, "I don't really remember, I wasn't exactly sober. You should call him and ask if you can pick it up. You still have his card lying on your dresser." She purred.

Maybe I should do that, I thought to myself ignoring the teasing tone in her voice. Even if it's just to show him how he didn't destroy me and he wouldn't get me down.

Amelia helped me clean up the mess I had made, and eventually shooed me to the bathroom to take a shower. The warm water felt soothing on my skin as well as soothing for my mind, and I ended up taking a shower for 20 minutes.

I threw on jeans and a tshirt taking choosing comfort for the day. While Amelia always went all-out with her outfits, I stayed a jeans and tshirt-girl. My hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and I only put on a little mascara.

Now there was only one thing to be done; call Eric.

I don't remember how long I was staring at the phone, but that Amelia grabbed the phone from my hands and pushed the call-button said enough. She did provide me with the kick in the butt I needed, but I still gave her a scowling look. Amelia just laughed and skipped out of the room.

Eric picked up after the second ring. His masculine voice that now sounded raspy vibrated over the line.

"Yes?"

I swallowed and after a long silence I managed to force a sentence out of my throat.

"Hey. It's Sookie." The fake calmness was obvious, and my greeting sounded everything but airy. It sounded as if there was a gun pointed to my head.

"Hey." There was a crackling of sheets. Yes, he was still in bed. Was he a person that slept naked? Or with just bottoms? A chuckle from Eric's side of the line interrupted my daydreaming.

"If I sleep naked or with just bottoms?" he sounded very amused. At least one of us thought it was funny that I accidently said it out loud. I just hoped there would form a huge hole in my living room floor that would swallow me whole. My face was burning from the blood that rushed to my cheeks.

"I mean.. no.. I left my clutch at your place."
"Yeah.. You can pick it up if you want? I'm not going anywhere today." He replied, still amused. I just wanted this conversation to end, so I said I would pop over in an hour or so. Eric approved and managed to make me blush once again before hanging up.

"To answer your burning question; I sleep naked. See you in an hour Sookie."

EPOV

Pushing Sookie's buttons was too easy, and I enjoyed winding her up. I still felt bad though, for snapping at her. We were getting somewhere and now we were back to square one. When she said her name on the phone the events of last night replayed in my mind for the millionth time. Even though I knew I was way out off line, the anger in me overran every other emotion. The way that asshole touched her and whispered in her ear just made me feel so powerless. Sookie was not mine and if she would be it wouldn't be a walk in the park. Even though Bill had treated her like shit, I am still his friend, sort of. I hated the dick for what he did to Sookie. The worst part was that I knew what he was doing for a long time. When it was just us going out this girl Lorena would never leave his side, and before he drove home drunk they would 'head out'. Trying to act like the good friend I let him, and then I would be glad to be rid of them. They disgusted me.

Bill had always been that way, but managed to fool everyone with his Southern gentleman act. Sookie had fallen for it, eating it all up with no questions.

In the beginning I saw her as a naïve, innocent girl. Too innocent to be on the show. To me, it was suspicious and I was sure she was just like all the other girls; desperate for attention. It surprised me that she wasn't an actress or a wannabe model. However, her attitude annoyed me in the beginning. My attitude annoyed her too, that much was clear.

It didn't bother me –at first- and I kept doing what I always did. Eric Northman always got what he wanted and I have a hard time dealing with people who don't accept that. Maybe I'm cocky, but I have the right to be. Men want to be me, women want to be with me. And why would I say no to women who threw themselves at me, I didn't have any reason not to. Dating someone never appealed to me and relationships creeped me out. To me, women were nothing more than a nice way to spend my time and to keep me satisfied. Just sex. Most of them weren't even capable of making good conversation anyway and were total airheads, desperate for attention that I would supply them with for only one night. Most of the time they just wanted to be on the show. I didn't care. As long as I had what I wanted I was one happy guy. Until Sookie decided to ruin it all.

After a while you knew that she wasn't on the show for the attention or money. She genuinly didn't care about any of that. To me that was something new and refreshing. Just like Sookie herself. Her long, blond wavy hair. Her big sapphire eyes. Her radiating smile. Her smell. Her laugh. No, I'm not a sick obsessed fuck. She just haunted my dreams and thoughts. The dreams were both the best thing and pure torture. The raging morning wood wasn't the worse part, the worst was wanting what I couldn't have.

She made me so nervous every time we had a scene together and I reminded myself she was with that asshole Bill. That he had the chance to be with her and didn't even cherish it. In my struggle to push Sookie away from me I acted like a dick. My usual technique, and it appeared to work. She even got to the point where she hated me. I had accomplished my goal, but didn't feel any triumph. So I drank, went out and hooked up with girls only to push them of me as soon as we got to the good stuff. Somehow I just couldn't do it. I have been in a relationship with my left hand for two months now. All the fake breasts and fake personalities weren't doing it for me anymore, and the distance I always enjoyed so much was now getting on my nerves. I was turning into a sap.

Pam found my sexual frustration very entertaining (I can't believe I told her everything in a drunken haze) and teased me endlessly. If I had to endure one more month of her calling me 'smitten kitten' I would snap.

Since I'm such a lucky guy, the director thought it would be an amazing idea to shoot a scene at her house with me, Bill and Sookie. In which I had to act all friendly and not strangle Bill. He had left with his cheap fuck Lorena again last night, leaving Sookie completely in the dark and feeling loved by her cheating boyfriend. It was infuriating.

On the drive to her house I gritted my teeth and gripped the steering wheel, causing my knuckles to whiten. Meet Eric Northman, now on a 2 month dry spell who wanted nothing more than to fuck the girlfriend of his 'best' friend who was cheating on her. People had to know what actually went on behind all the lunches and parties and designer sunglasses. The big lines were correct, we lived our lives on tv. But there were moments where there would be a script, since some of us had a reputation to keep up or to keep very personal stuff in the dark. We also had our own agents who tried to act in our best interests, who made sure that nothing would happen behind our back. At least mine did. My reputation would be worse if it wasn't for Chow.

I parked my red corvette in the parking lot of Sookie's apartmentbuilding. The van of the crew was already there, Sookie's black Volvo xc90 not. Maybe she was out. With Bill? Asshole.

I walked up the stairs and into her apartment. She shared it with her roommate Amelia, a spunky girl with short hair. Amelia was nice, but always very excited and being subtle wasn't one of her strong points, same goes for Pam. Amelia sat in the kitchen, reading a magazine that by the looks of her face wasn't interesting. I mumbled a greeting, which was answered with a short wave but she didn't care enough to look up from her page filled with lipstickcolours. Amelia didn't really like me, probably because Sookie didn't. At least she was a true friend and it made me glad that she had someone she could rely on.

I didn't want to feel like an intruder, and because Sookie wouldn't be too happy with me walking around her house I decided to wait outside with the rest of the crew. 20 minutes passed slowly, and still no sign of Sookie. Amelia said she was lunching with Bill just as irritated as I asked her.

There was a commotion at the front door and I opened it to find Sookie trying to grab something out of her huge bag, while balancing some other stuff. It looked adorable, but before I lost my cool I stayed true to my act.

"You're late. And where the fuck is Bill?"

Her lack of a response made me feel worried, and I even followed her to apologize for my harsh tone. But then I realized she probably would even feel worse. Bill wasn't here with her, and she felt like shit anyway.

So I sat down outside, standing up again, walk to the more secluded side of the terrace and sat down again. The crew were having fun, but I wasn't in the mood for dealing with that right now. Bill fucked up, again. Sookie didn't break up with him, again. How much bullshit can she deal with before she finally kicks his ass on the street?

"You and Sookie need to do this alone. We need material. Sit down there, Sookie will be here soon." Sophie-Anne's voice broke my eyefuck with the tiles. Like a little lapdog I complied and sat down on the picked spot. The fire made this feel so cozy and romantic. Shit.

A very nervous Sookie sat down next to me, well, on the other side of the couch. It actually took her 3 minutes to finally sit down close to me. I couldn't help but smile over her stubborness.

"Am I that repulsive?" I whispered while leaning in a bit. Nobody said I can't take advantage of the opportunity. Sookie spat back a 'yes', but didn't sound so convinced of herself. It made me smug to see her inner struggle so clearly on her face. I was doing something to her and she didn't like it. Or tried not to like it.

For the whole shooting I forgot to play my little role as a total douchebag. She was so close to me, and her smell was so distracting. The blush that started around her neck and slowly crept up to her face left me wondering if maybe the blush started lower, and if I could witness that to prove my theory. Everytime her gaze met mine I locked it, and tried not to break it off. She didn't even know she had bewitched me. Body and soul. And now I just quoted Jane Austen. Damn. I don't even remember what the scene was about, much less what I had said. The way Sookie licked her lips before speaking and just everything she did made me hot and bothered and I kept willing my hard away. It was torture.

When the scene was finally complete, and we were allowed to go, Sookie practically ran to the kitchen. If it was to get away from me it wouldn't work, because without even thinking I ended up leaning against the kitchen doorframe. Sookie had pulled out some ingredients to make dinner. She moved so naturally, that was untill she noticed I had been staring at her from a distance. Again my body had it's own will, and now I was standing at the kitchen island trying to think of something to say.

"I didn't know you could cook."

Wow. You should write Obama's speeches. I didn't know you could cook. Years of practice, and still you can't come up with someting better.

Stupid voice in my head. Go away.

Sookie was suddenly ranting to me about how I was forced to do this, and that I should go home. If only I was forced, and if only I could make my body listen to me and go home.

"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."

That explanation was accepted with a dumbfounded "Oh."

I was also dumbfounded, because I managed to say 'we needed to be more comfortable with eachother instead of saying 'I totally think about you all the time and how amazing sex with you would be by the way you smell amazing'.

Then it all got weirder and weirder, but in a good way. We ate dinner together and even had amazing conversations. She confided in me about her family and that was something I had never expected her to do. For me the evening ended way too quickly, but Bill kept sending me texts about why he couldn't be on the set today and to make sure I wouldn't tell Sookie. In the end it bothered me so much that I just had to leave. And when saying goodbye I had hugged her without even thinking if it would be okay. We both lingered. Que the internal 12 year old to squeal in a high pitched tone. While I tried to remain calm I invited her over to the party I was throwing next saturay. She said she would call, or text me and she stared at my ass while I was walking away. The stupid grin that decorated my face stayed there for the whole walk home.

For the whole week I felt giddy. Sookie had texted me that she would be there, together with Amelia and Tara. Hell, she could bring anyone. Except for a date, or Bill. But I figured she wouldn't bring him since it was all over the tabloids they broke up. Even though I was pleased to read/hear/see it, I still texted Sookie to see how she was handling things.

Pam was all in my bussiness, teasing me endlessly. She had seen the scene that Sookie and I shared, and apparently I was 'eye-fucking her like a psychopath' and 'swooning like a 12-year old watching a Justin Bieber video'.

Saturday came by quickly. And after a long shower (my shower's became longer after.. Sookie walked into my dreams) I changed into my favorite shirt and jeans and had some breakfast. Pam called to tell me she wouldn't be at my party, which made me feel better. Pam would grill Sookie with questions and let her on about my feelings. Feelings. Did I have feelings for Sookie?

People started to walk in and soon my home was filled with voices and laughter. Someone had plugged his Ipod in the dock, which made the party complete. My head kept shooting to the frontdoor everytime someone entered. Finally, after the tenth time it was the person I was expecting. Sookie looked like a dream, dressed in a red dress that made her features stand out perfectly. Did she even know how sexy she was?

I walked over to them in with my confident walk. At least I hope it looked confident. Sookie blushed when we hugged and I told her how great she looked. But every hope of this being the night I had expected was crushed when Sookie mumbled something about getting a drink, walking passed me like she wasn't just eyeing me like a fucking piece of juicy meat. Again my body totally ignored the reasoning of my brain, and I followed her into the kitchen. There was a large part in me that wanted to just grab her and give her the most mindblowing kiss she ever recieved, and yell at her to just admit she thought I was better than she thought. When I stood in front of her, my mind regained power. She wouldn't feel like she was just sweeped of her come-fuck-me heels. Sookie wasn't easy, and the mixed signal she just gave me made me rethink the possibilty of ever claiming her as my own. So I turned on the heel of my sneakers and walked outside with a fake smile on my face. This is why I did one night stands.

Being the host there also was the obligation of mingling with my guests. In the corner of my eye there always would be Sookie, talking to her friends. Our gazes met a couple of times, and there was no way to break it. Only her friends, or mine. Sookie and I were playing some twisted game without even realizing it. At last I had found a reason to go inside and peel my eyes and attention away from Sookie. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a couple of big gulps, feeling a little better but not a lot. So I grabbed a second one, and after downing that one as well I had done enough hiding. Sookie wasn't going to scare me away from enjoying my own party.

I was wrong. So wrong.

There she was, sitting close to a guy who I thought was named Alcide. I renamed him asshole for the moment. He was touching her arm and leaned in closer to her. The asshole whispered in her ear. Why him and not me? What does that dick have what I haven't? Before I could think of a reason her eyes met mine. The look in her eyes had an emotion that I couldn't translate, since my feet only had one gear. And that was turning around and walking away. Seeing Sookie kiss someone else wasn't going to help my mood.

Wanting to be secluded I finally found a spot that was quiet, and my body sat down on one of the stone steps. There was silence, but suddenly my peace was broken by a very familiar voice.

"Are you okay?" No Sookie, no I'm not fucking okay.

"I'm fine. Go back inside. Alcide must be missing you." It took me a lot of effort not to call him Asshole.

"You're not fine and Alcide won't be missing me. We're friends, that's all."

Right. Friends.

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

So yeah, I was acting like a dick and my behaviour hadn't go unnoticed by Sookie. She called me one. We were back where we started, and if that was how things were supposed to go; I should burn it down to the ground. I needed to get my original life back, the one before Sookie. That life wasn't as confusing and frustrating.

"Why are you acting like a total whore?"

It didn't feel good to say it, and I didn't even mean it. But if I wanted to cut Sookie from my life, I had to. However there was an erruption of guilt in my body when Sookie let out a sob and walked passed me. If I wanted Sookie to go I should've felt some sort of triumph, but there wasn't any. Just regret.

"Sookie. Stop walking. Please." I had ran after her. Sookie was now crying and crying women weren't something I could deal with. Especially Sookie. When she didn't stop I tried to grab her arm softly, failing because Sookie wouldn't stop.

"Eric. Leave me alone."

So I did.

The next morning I was awoken by the sound of my cellphone going off. It was already pretty late, but that wasn't new for me. Normally I would've slept like a rose, but last night that wasn't the case. Instead there had been an unhealthy amount of tossing and turning. The fact Sookie now hated me played a large part, that I found her purse made it worse. I had to bring it, or she had to pick it up. Maybe there was some way Amelia could pick it up. Sookie already had plans, since it was her on the phone. My heart did a little jump when she greeted me with her flustered voice.

"Hey." I sat up straight in my bed, my back against the headbord.

"Are you a person that sleeps naked? Or with just bottoms?"

my first reaction was surprisement. She probably had heard the sheets shifting. My second reaction was feeling smug. She thought I was sexy, I knew it. With a grin on my face I repeated her question slowly back to her.

"I mean.. no.. I left my clutch at your place." She stuttered so adorably, and probably she was blushing right now. We arranged that she would come over in an hour, which gave me plenty of time to shower and clean up the mess the partypeople had made. Before hanging up I wanted to give her something to think about. With my –according to Pam- hotline voice I said my goodbye.

"To answer your burning question; I sleep naked. See you in an hour Sookie."

Immediately after hanging up I jumped out of bed and into the shower. No, cutting Sookie from my life wouldn't be an option.