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Not my characters. They belong to HBO or Charlaine Harris.

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It was a week later when I saw Eric again at church. He was sitting in the spot that he had sat in last week. I led the way with Gran right behind me. When we were a few feet away, Eric looked up and smiled brightly, jumping out of his seat to let us in the pew.

We had, had our date the night before and it had went wonderfully. He had taken me to a new restaurant in Shreveport and it had been so wonderful, I never wanted it to end. I was so disappointed when he dropped me off, though, because I had wanted him to kiss me. I think he wanted to kiss me as well, but he told me my Gran was looking through the blinds. She looked sheepish when I came in and I was still annoyed with her today. But my annoyance faded when I reached the pew.

"Good Morning Mrs. Stackhouse. Sookie, you look beautiful today." He said, while we passed him and took our seats. He gave me his beautiful, breath taking smile. I smiled in return and Gran moved to sit down, but left room for me to sit next to Eric.

"Good Morning Eric! How are you today?" She asked him.

"Very well. How about you? Sookie?" He asked, looking down at me from his seat.

"Oh fine." I said, blushing again, but before I could say anymore, the Pastor was already making his way to start the service.

"Good Morning everyone. First off, I would just like to remind everyone about the social that's directly after the service today in the church basement. All are welcome to attend and I hope to see every one of you there. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone more and all of the great food that everyone has brought."

The church lit up with excitement while everyone asked their neighbors and family members if they were going, what they brought. Gran and I had made 12 pecan pies!

"Eric, are you going to go to the luncheon?" Gran said, leaning over me to ask Eric.

"Oh, no. I didn't know about it and I didn't bring anything to share." He said, once again running his hand through his hair.

"Eric! You must come! Sookie here can introduce you to everyone. You will be Sookie's guest." She leaned over to pat him on the knee and then sat back up to turn her attention back to the service that was just getting started.

I couldn't believe my Gran, putting me on the spot like that. I was now forced to make introductions for him when I don't even talk to these people. Honestly, I didn't mind having to spend a few hours with him. It was everyone else I was worried about.

I don't know why she did things like that, when she knew that I didn't get along with others. I think it made her sad that I did not have many friends.

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The basement was huge. The church had a school as well, so the basement was used as the cafeteria and the gym. Everything had been pushed towards the walls and there were rows and rows of tables set up everywhere. Gran, of course chose to sit with her friends, and I usually just sat with her as well. But when I went to sit next to her, I wasn't allowed.

"Sookie dear, why don't you go sit with all those girls over there, the ones you work with. You can introduce Eric to them." She turned back to her table and that was that.

I took a deep breath and made my way over to the table that she was talking about, Eric following behind me, his hand on the small of my back. It felt so natural.

I had been fine just introducing Eric to others, but now I was going to have to sit with people who hated me.

"Hi Dawn, Hi Tara. How are you guy's today? Mind if we join you?" Please say no, please say no.

"Oh sure, sure. But who's we?" Dawn asked, wondering why on earth I was talking to her and who was the hot guy standing next to me. I took that right out of her head. She was a very loud broadcaster.

Dawn and I worked together but we were not friends. She didn't like that I always got better tips than her. The rest of the girls at the table were girls I knew from high school, Tara being one of them. Tara and I had never really clicked. She was very negative about everything and I just didn't need that kind of vibe in my life. She was nice enough to me and we would talk at work from time to time.

"Oh, well, this is Eric. He just moved here from…" I trailed off not knowing the answer.

"Sweden." He supplied. I had been wondering where that accent was from…

"Oh, well any friend of Sookie's is a friend of mine." She said, fishing to see if we were more than friends.

"That's very kind of you." He said, and he moved to pull out my chair right as I put my hand on it. I thanked him and we sat down. I smiled to myself because I knew he was not fooled by her "charming" ways.

"So, are you married Eric?" Dawn asked, hoping he was not married. At all. Not even a little bit. She was screaming it into my head. Uh, no, sorry Dawn! He was dating me! HA! I bet that would piss her off.

"Uh, no. I was married for about 4 years, but my wife passed away about 8 years ago." He said, looking down at his hands that were resting on the table. He looked so sad and for a moment I felt bad about thinking that he was mine. I had no right to even think that. I barely even knew him.

"I'm so sorry. I know what it's like to lose loved ones." I said to him, and his eyes shot up to mine as if shocked I would say that.

"Yes, I understand you lost your parents when you were young." He said, looking deeply in my eyes reminding me of something that I couldn't quite place my finger on. "So, you all work together?"

"Yeah we do. I bartend, and they waitress." Tara said, almost as if asking Eric to question her employment.

"I'm actually opening a bar in Shreveport in a few weeks. I've bartended a lot and I finally wanted to own my own place." He looked very excited, but also amused.

"You are? I'll just have to come by and visit it!" Dawn was getting on my nerves and I was just about to get up when I saw Eric look over at me.

"Sure. All of you are welcome. I'm not sure what to name it yet, but I will let you all know when we are closer to opening, if you are interested."

"Who's we?" Dawn asked him. I hope not some girlfriend. She thought.

"My business partner Pam." I felt a flash of jealousy. I wondered what sort of past these two had.

"Oh, is she your girlfriend?" Dawn said. At that, Eric laughed. I wanted to know as well.

"No, no. She's more like a sister and she's also gay." He said, still laughing.

"Oh! Well, I would love to come see your bar sometime. But I'm sure Sookie here won't want to go. She's a goodie-two-shoes kind of girl. Kind of a loner too." Dawn said, acting like I wasn't there. I just stared at her, my eyebrows pulled together. She must really hate me. I went to listen to her thoughts and soon found out how much she did.

How did Sookie meet this guy? He's so handsome and she's so nasty. I wonder if she finally gave it up or something… Why does he keep looking at her. He should be looking at my girls. I mean, HELLO I just unbuttoned 2 buttons without anyone noticing. OH! He must be gay….I hope not.

"Uh, excuse me." I said, standing up. "I'm going to go get some food."

I quickly walked away from the table, leaving Eric and that bitch Dawn. I was standing in line, when I felt someone come up behind me.

"Sookie? Are you alright?" Of course it was him. I had never had anyone come after me when I was upset before. It made me feel important and I realized how lonely my life had been.

"Oh yeah. Fine. Just hungry." I said, motioning towards the food.

"Your friends seem..nice." He said, amused again.

"They aren't my friends." I snapped at him.

"Oh, sorry. I just assumed." He said, running his hand through his hair again.

"I'm sorry too. Dawn just...she doesn't like me very much, and I just can only take so much." I said. He looked at me concerned.

"I understand." He said, and moved a bit closer to me.

"So, what are you doing in Bon Temps anyway. If you are opening a bar in Shreveport, why on earth would you want to live here?" I asked him, trying to lift some of the awkward tension. I wondered why this topic hadn't come up the night before on our date.

"I don't like living in big cities." He said, running his hand through his hair once more. "But I was also looking for a...girlfriend I guess."

That made me stop for a moment. I felt bad for him. He lost his wife and was looking for someone new and here of all places.

"What? In Bon Temps? Who would you find here of all places?" I said, trying to talk some sense is this strange man. I had blurted this out without thinking and felt bad. We had gone out the night before and I was asking who he would met here? Like, did I want him to think our date meant nothing to me?

"Well, I already have." That surprised me, but also made me concerned. What if it wasn't me?

"Oh...well what's her name? Is she here? Maybe I know her? Probably do, everyone knows everyone here." I asked him, thinking on who he could possibly be involved with, while looking around at everyone. I felt so sad and depressed in that moment. Now I knew he thought of me as just a friend.

"I'm looking at her." He said, lifting up his hand to tuck some stray hairs behind my ear, smiling slightly at me. "Will you go out with me again on Tuesday?" He said, changing the subject quickly.

"Um, wait, what?" I said, feeling like I was getting some serious whiplash from this guy, but smiling like a loon again.

"Will you? I want to take you out and get to know you better. Sookie, I have been on my own for a long time now and I don't want to be alone anymore. I never really expected to find anyone here in this town, especially at church. Sookie, you are so spirited and beautiful and when I saw you, I just had to talk to you, get to know you. I know that this is all strange and weird." Uh, YEAH. "But I really do want to get to know you better."

"Yes, I will go out with you again! I work the lunch shift so I wouldn't be able to go until at least 6 if not later." I said.

"I will call you Tuesday and we can make plan's then. Let's get you some food and then go sit down again, Min Fru." He said, grabbing a plate and handing it to me.

"What does that mean?" I asked him, assuming it was another language.

"Just a term of endearment." He said, looking flustered for a moment.

"Oh, okay. Aren't you going to eat too?" I asked him when I noticed he didn't get a plate for himself.

"I'm not hungry, but you go ahead." He said, motioning towards all the food.

"So you were married before…" I said, opening up a new can or worms. I hoped I didn't offend him.

"Yes, I was. She was actually from around here. She was beautiful, kind, wonderful. I was very lucky to have known her." He said, looking sad, his eyes somewhat glassy as they stared deeply into my eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't of said anything." I felt bad for bringing it up now.

"No, it's ok. I don't mind talking about it with you. It was hard for a while. I miss her a lot, but it's been such a long time that I've decided to start dating again." He said. "I'm going to go get something from my car, if you'll excuse me." He looked very sad and I hadn't meant to upset him. I left my plate at our table and went out looking for him after he had left.

We had been there for a few hours now and I noticed the sun was setting. I walked outside and looked around. I saw him sitting on a bench that was near a clove of trees, his shoulders slumped. He looked so sad and I wanted to go and comfort him, but I didn't know him that well. I knew that from where I was, he couldn't see me so I just went back inside, but when I glanced back I saw that Eric was wiping something off of his face that looked dark.

"Weird." I mumbled, and made my way back into the church.