AN: All mistakes are my own.
Enjoy the chapter. :]
Next stop will be the launch party. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.
My heart was beating in my throat when I knocked on Eric's huge front door. During the walk over here my mind was working hard at figuring out what I should say and do. A part of me was still mad at him for calling me.. that word. Another part of me wanted to jump his bones. I forced myself to go with the first idea, and still be mad at him, or at least telling him how it hurt me, and that he shouldn't ever call me that again. Sookie Stackhouse will stand her ground, and she will not let anyone speak about her that way. It wasn't even true.
Eric smiled nervously at me when he opened the door, his hair was damp and strands of it fell in front of his blue eyes. He also wasn't wearing a shirt. Holy mother of... those abs. I refrained myself from running my hands over them. Letting them dip between the dells of his muscles.
"Hey," he moved aside and gestured for me to enter the house, "come in."
I mumbled a hello and entered his hallway and walked into his living area. There were no signs that there was a party here last night, everything was clean and straightened. Eric padded behind me on his bare feet.
"Did I interrupt something?" referring to the fact he was only wearing jeans. It was distracting me from hating him. I kept my tone as bussinesslike as possible, not wanting to sound affected by his lack of clothing.
"No. You didn't. I just put this on because you were coming to get your purse..."
"Clutch." I corrected. Eric rolled his eyes at me for correcting.
"Whatever. If you weren't coming over, I would walk around in the same outfit I sleep in." He threw in a mischievous grin.
Do. Not. Imagine. It. That became my personal mantra for the moment, and it was repeated over and over in my head. To bad my stupid blushing had to ruin it. Eric left the room with a low chuckle, to get my clutch/purse.
Operation 'Do not get distracted by Eric's charms' was failing. Operation 'be mad at Eric' was still running according to plan. I was still annoyed with his attitude. He had mood swings like a teenage girl, and the fact he acted like everything was fine right now made me even more irritated.
At least now I was alone I could have a good look around his house, well, the living room. The couches were huge –they needed to be since Eric is a giant- and dark grey. The darkwood floors had a huge white rug covering it. White walls lined with dark shelves, filled with dvd's and cd's, to watch on the huge tv and to listen on his expensive stereo installation. There were no pictures, not on the shelves and not hanging on the walls. While my apartment was decorated with pictures of friends and Gran, Eric's house wasn't decorated at all. Eric's home was a good mirror image of his personality, empty and blank. I don't think anyone knew the real Eric, and he just adapted his behaviour like a chameleon adapts his skin to protect himself.
My fingers were tapping a nervous rythm on my thighs. Why was it taking so long? I had stuff to do. Important stuff. Like... doing laundry and... stuff.
My head snapped up as I heard Eric's bare feet on the floor, entering the living area, walking like a model walks down the catwalk. He let his hand go through his shoulder length blond hair, removing it from his face. This would be so good to watch in slowmotion.
The only reason I noticed he had found my red clutch is because he was waving it in front of my eyes, with a big smirk on his face. My hand reached out to grab it, but Eric pulled it back.
"I don't want to play your childish games. Just give it to me so I can go home."
Eric took a deep breath and let his hand wander through his hair again. The calm and cold Eric was now taking in deep breaths, only to let them escape as a sigh. His mouth opened up a couple of times, but closed again. Was Eric nervous? What the hell did he have to be nervous about? Even though he now resembled a lost puppy, I was still set on getting the hell out of here and whatever Eric was doing right now, it got in my way.
"Eric. I would like to have my clutch back. Now." I sighed out exasperated.
With a slow nod of his head he handed the red thing over to me. His behaviour was still fidgety, and it started to get on my nerves. This isn't how Eric usually acted, and I can handle the normal Eric. The one that was arrogant and lazy. But this Eric was something else, now he made me think of the shy nerdy boy, instead of the arrogant jock. I didn't know what to expect from him, and it scared me a little.
Our fingers brushed when handing the clutch over. Involuntarily, my breathing hitched in my throath and I let out a soft gasp. My body never had responded so strongly with such a light touch. Eric seemed even more restless now. And was staring at my hands.
Maybe he felt it too, I thought. But those thoughts were dismissed from my mind immediately, this wasn't why I was coming over. With that in mind, I popped up on my feet and pulled down my tshirt, that was now showing my lovehandles to the world. I called them my lovehandles, but right now I didn't love them at all, instead I wanted to make them magically disappear. Eric would be disgusted by me, since he was more into the barbie wasteline. Now I was disgusted with myself, for even caring what Eric thought and doubting my figure.
Eric was staring down at the area I had just covered up. But his eyes were showing something else than disgust. If I had to guess it would've been hunger or lust, but that was just crazy. Eric would never be attracted to someone as plain like me, and his staring just made me feel uncomfortable.
"I should go," he closed his eyes and nodded, then offered to walk me out.
God, he is acting weird today. Probably hungover.
Eric opened the front door and held it open for me. It was still clear as day his mind wasn't where his body was. With a small smile I thanked him for watching over my clutch, at which he smiled back softly.
"Soo.. Have a nice day."
And with that I walked out of Eric's house and down the stone steps, my clutch in my left hand.
"Sookie.." I turned around with feeling a little uncomfortable, last night was still fresh in my memories and if this would go the same way.. well.. I don't think I have any more tears left in me. Thankfully, Eric didn't look upset or angry. Still nervous. There was a long pause, with both of us just staring at eachother.
"You have a nice day too." And he closed the door.
EPOV
Have a nice day too. I told her to have a nice day too. There went my balls. Normally, I wouldn't have backed out on situations like this. Normally, I wouldn't even be in situations like this. But my mind was playing out all the possible outcomes, and to be honest I dreaded some of them, so I chose to tell her to have a nice day. Which is a translation for 'I like you very much, please don't hate me'. I felt like Tenth Doctor, but at least I got to see my compagnion again. If she wasn't creeped out by me right now.
When Sookie was standing at my front door, looking amazing even in tshirt and jeans, it made me feel all warm inside. All the irritation of last night had dissappeared, because it didn't take me long to realize that Sookie just wouldn't do that. Not even to her worst enemy. A big chance that biggest enemy would be me. Plus, she actually didn't do it. It still pissed me off that Alcide had asked her out, but it pleased me that she just wanted to be friends. She can be friends with Alcide, but I want her, being friends with her won't do.
She sat down on my couch and it made her look so small. I needed a big couch, because otherwise I wouldn't be comfortable. It would be amazing to just take her on this couch. But not now. I don't think she would like me going all cavemen on her, and she probably was still mad.
She didn't snap when I teased her about little slip on the phone, and she didn't shout at me for being an asshole. So maybe, just maybe, we could still patch things up.
With high hopes I ran up my stairs to grab her clutch. Sometimes I don't get women with their silly names for everything. To me, it was still a purse and that wouldn't change. I walked into my bedroom and over to my nightstand. Yes, I had left her purse on my nightstand. That wasn't a completely psycho thing to do right? I mean, I didn't look in it. It just lied there during the night, making me think about how it matched that red of her perfect dress. That dress was a gift from God, just like the curves it covered.
Before my pants got a little too fit for comfort I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Sookie was downstairs, waiting. Now was the time for me to give her my 'I'm sorry'-speech that I had been preparing in the shower, which was the reason why I only had time to throw on my jeans. My mind had drifted off a little, and that left me with less than 5 minutes to get dressed, tidy and calming down. At least she didn't mind. Her eyes were all over my body, and she only looked up because I invited her inside, my voice reeling her back to reality.
As I walked over to her sitting on the couch in the livingroom, with her purse in my hand, I caught her staring again. Just to tease her some more; I put some more swagger in my step and let my hand go through my hair. It proved effective, because she didn't even notice her purse in the beginning. I may have teased her a little again by waving the red thing in front of her face. Now she did notice it. Awkward silence followed.
Say you're sorry. Say it. Say it.
Her hand went for her purse, but without even thinking about it I pulled it back from her.
"I don't want to play your childish games. Just give it to me so I can go home."
It took me a while to hand it over, since my mind was in overdrive. Everytime I had finally built of enough courage to spill it out, I would look down in her eyes and thought she wouldn't want me. Then the circle started all over again. I was never speechless, but now (I even had a fucking speech) I was at a loss for words.
"Eric. I would like to have my clutch back. Now."
Sookie obviously was getting irritated right now, and if I acted like a mute any longer she would think I was crazy. I nodded slowly, and held it out for her to take it.
Our fingers touched, barely. But still it set me on fire. Sookie surprised me by letting a soft gasp escape. I couldn't help but stare at the skin I had just touched. Nobody's touch ever did that to me, and Sookie and I barely touched at all. The tension went through the roof, and it wasn't hard to see that Sookie was also affected by our touch.
Suddenly, Sookie jumped up to her feet. Her tshirt had crawled up, and showed the skin that I longed to touch. Too bad she pulled her tshirt down, and even dared to look embarrassed. She shouldn't be, her body was perfect. Her sweet southern accent broke me from my musings. I didn't tell her that, even though I should've. And if this wasn't Sookie I was dealing with I would've. But this was Sookie, and I had no idea what to expect from her. I had no clue how to get through her and make her like me. I just know she's attracted to me, and I'm attracted to her. That wouldn't seal the deal.
"I should go."
Instead of begging her to stay and hear me out, I nodded defeated. I did walk her out, just to see if my courage wouldn't fail me. We stood at the front door for a moment, waiting for the other to start talking.
"Soo.. Have a nice day." Sookie said, insecurity defining the fine features of her face.
And with that she walked out of my house, down the steps with her red purse in her hand. It was now, or never. In the spur of the moment I called out her name, without thinking of something to follow up my stupid call.
"You have a nice day too."
I'm a pathetic human being. And I felt to stupid I immediately closed the door, only to bang my head on it softly. What the fuck happened to the old Eric Northman? I don't even understand myself anymore. I won't let myself go down like this, this whole situation needed closure. Wasn't it Phoebe from Friends that said; I don't want me to be the reason I'm unhappy? Some shit like that. Fitting quote for this moment. My own pussy-like behaviour annoyed me. Sookie was still close, I could still do it.
With my newfound courage I had ran outside, not bothering (well, more like forgetting) to put on shoes and a shirt. I was pretty sure my neighbours wouldn't mind, so I kept running in the direction of Sookie's appartment, just wearing jeans that needed to be pulled up after a couple of steps. After running for a minute, I finally caught up with her. Her ponytail was swaying side to side just like her hips. It took another three big steps to reach her, and I placed a soft tap on her shoulder. Slowly, she turned around and eyed me with suspicon.
"I'm sorry. I really am." No reaction. So I took it to the next level.
"It was wrong of me to call you.. that. And I'm sorry for acting like a dick."
She was now staring at me, like a deer caught in the headlights. That expression only lasted a couple of seconds before her face became emotionless. There was a silence, filled only with the chirping of the birds and the distant noise of cars riding on the road nearby. I was on the edge of giving up and going home, until Sookie spoke up.
"Ok. Thanks." She said with a flat voice, and she turned around. Walking away from me for the second time in 10 minutes. And for the third time in 24 hours. Letting me stand in the middle of the street, in nothing but jeans, my mind boggled and my pride hurt. I just apologized to her and she said 'thanks'. Just 'thanks'. What the fuck?
"No problem." I mumbled to her back. At least I had the last word in this now one-sided conversation. The funniest part is; I wasn't hurt, just shocked. I wasn't going to let her go this easily, no, this little moment just made me want her so much more. The chase that I never had to be bothered with was now driving me crazy, but in a good way. Sookie will yield to me. I will make sure of that. I also apologized and I meant every word of it, that was a rare thing when it comes to me. Progress was made, even if it were teeny tiny baby steps.
With a smile on my face I walked home, the warmth of the road burning under my feet and the wind blowing through my tousled hair. Sookie sure is a frustrating, nervous and uptight girl, but also the most beautiful, fresh and intriguing one I have ever made contact with.
Now I had something to look forward to, and that was the launch party that we had to attend. That was three days from now, which gives me enough time to figure out a plan. This isn't over.