Chapter 5 – SPOV

Eric loves me! I thought as I woke up Squee!

Amelia greeted me in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a smile. I don't know how she managed to be functional in the mornings, but at least she didn't expect me to be.

"What do you think of going home to Bon Temps for the weekend?" she asked after I had started behaving more like a human being.

"I think it's a great idea" I said "I could really use some time with Gran and we can help her with getting ready for Thanksgiving, can you believe it's come up so fast!"

"I know right!" she exclaimed "just under two weeks. So…we'll head down on Friday afternoon and come back about lunchtime Sunday?"

"Sounds good to me!" I said perking up, I couldn't wait to tell Gran about Eric, I'd have to print off the photos to show her. "Not that I'm complaining of course, but what bought this on?"

"Eh… Yet another epic fail in my quest for love." She admitted with a grin "I have to stop dating these losers and I need a couple of days to get my head on straight again"

"So Bob turned out to be a complete weirdo?" I asked sympathetically.

"Ah…yes" she said with a smile "Bob's room was covered in Hello Kitty"

I sputtered into my coffee and coughed in surprise "Hello Kitty? What do you mean covered? Are you shitting me?"

"I swear I'm not… it was covered" she said with a laugh "He has a collection of figurines, posters on the wall, soft toys on his bed, a Hello Kitty comforter, lamp, phone, toaster, coffee maker… it just goes on and on. He has a closet full of stuff that he was actually proud to show me!" She was laughing so hard now I thought she was going to fall off her chair.

"Oh no!" I gasped in between bursts of laughter "no more, I'm gonna pee my pants…"

Poor Amelia, she can sure pick them. I don't know how she attracted these weirdoes, but Bob was by far the weirdest, she definitely needed some couch time with Gran.

Gran was the reason I was getting into psychology, she was the 'go to' person in Bon Temps. She had helped people with their marriages, talked many teenagers into going to college and helped me over the sadness of being betrayed and used by Alcide. I hoped she would like Eric and not be too worried about the way I met him.

Amelia and I chatted a little more then went about our separate days. I was lucky to have her in my life. I wish she had a little more sense when it came to dating… she deserved the best after everything she went through with her parents, but was always underestimating herself and what she had to offer.

I called Eric quickly… just because I could.

"Hello my love!" he answered, sounding relieved and happy to hear from me.

"Hi honey" I cooed "I just wanted to tell you I love you, and I'm thinking about you"

"I'm always thinking about you" he smiled "I love you too"

"I'm never going to get tired of hearing that." I sighed

"Then I'll never stop saying it" He smirked "Love you"

I giggled like the complete loon I was "I love you too"

"So what are you up to today?" I asked

"Oh… groan. I decided to be a good brother so I'm out around the antique stores with Pam. She's all about the vintage stuff. We're apparently watching classic movies later while she grills me about you."

"Oh crap" I gasped "Seriously? What are you going to say?"

"Whatever I want him to" a new voice crooned in my ear "I am a master manipulator when it comes to my brother."

"Eeep… Pam?" I squeaked

"Yes, Sookie" she answered "Nice to kinda meet you, when are you coming to Cali?"

I laughed "Uh, maybe after I meet your brother"

"It's a date. Make sure you bring your dancing shoes. Here's Eric" she said firmly handing the phone back to Eric.

"I'm sorry, love." Eric said, sounding worried "I was buying something and couldn't…"

"Don't worry honey" I smiled "I had to meet her eventually"

"And she wasn't serious about Cali, you don't need to worry about it" he added sounding so nervous it was funny

"Yes you do!" I heard Pam yell in the background

"Yes I do love" I giggled "I want to… I want to meet everyone who is important to you"

"Really?" he asked, obviously surprised "You'd do that?"

"Of course! I'd like to meet you first, so maybe we can talk about it later?" I said with a smile.

"Sure Sookie," He said soothingly "We'll talk about it later. Have a good day, love you"

"Love you too honey" I said.

I'm going to meet the family! Squee!

Three days in a row now this man had done my head in and turned my brain to mush...I was so in love it was almost disgusting…thinking back on the conversation we just had I realized we were one of those couples that grossed everyone out.

I mentally shook myself and made myself concentrate on my classes again. During the day my mind kept drifting to Eric and the plans we would be making tonight. I wondered when I would meet him, where it would be, if it would be weird or wonderful or both.

There were so many things that I wanted to share with him… Now that I knew he was looking forward to introducing me to his family, I couldn't wait to introduce him to mine. I'd have to call Gran and check if it was ok to ask him down for the New Year break.

I got home and put together a quick dinner for myself and Amelia. I raised the subject of meeting with her and she couldn't contain her glee.

"Sookie!" she squealed "He is so in to you! He wants you to meet his family! His sister wants to meet you! I knew you were worried about nothing yesterday!"

I felt kind of stupid for being so worried about nothing. Eric was behaving completely differently to Alcide so I don't know why I was expecting any of his reactions to be the same.

"What would you think about inviting him down to meet Gran and Jason over New Year?" I asked "Should I wait until we meet each other first or…"

"I think you should invite him" she said firmly. "If you haven't met before then, it will give you a few days to hang out and get to know each other in person, and if you have, it will give you a few days to work out if he is a good kisser!" she teased with a grin

"You're so good with advice" I said "How are you so bad at picking boys?"

"I really don't know" she said laughing "I'm swearing off dating until New Year" she then said decisively "No flirting, no kissing, no dates… nothing that could be remotely thought of as being anything other than platonic. I'm going to start a new year with a new me… internal make over" she said "Thank god for battery operated appliances" she added with a grin, knowing it would embarrass the crap out of me.

I blushed brightly and dished out some ice-cream for us both.

"I'm so glad you met Eric, Sookie." She said hugging me with one arm. "You were so hard on yourself when you were with Alcide and it's nice to see you getting your confidence back, you're so sassy and cute and he was trying to turn you into a Stepford Wife."

"I'm glad too" I said softly "I never realized how controlling he was until we broke up. I feel sorry for whoever ends up being the next project"

"Have you talked to Eric about him at all?" she asked

"Mostly, he knows the stuff about the money, but he doesn't know the other stuff" I said, blushing. "I think I should probably tell him sooner rather than later."

"I think you really should" she said. After a short pause she asked "If I tell you something will you promise not to be mad?"

"I can't promise not to be mad" I replied, getting a little worried "I will promise to listen to your reasoning and try to keep my temper though."

"Ok so…" she started, sitting down and staring into her bowl "I called Eric last night while you were in the shower" she confessed.

"Um… ok… why?" I asked, confused and just a little peeved. I gathered up the dishes and started washing. Amelia grabbed a towel so she could dry.

"I wanted to let him know that you had a bit of an emo day, so if you acted weird he knew it wasn't his fault." She said awkwardly "I made mention of Alcide and he knew what I meant so I didn't go into specifics. I know I overstepped… I'm sorry" she said blushing unhappily

"Its ok Amelia" I said, giving her a hug "I'm glad I have friends who worry about me, and a man with enough sense to listen to them."

She chuckled a little at that and we went back to the dishes.

"We've been completely honest from the start;" I continued "he knows a lot more about me from being a friend online than he would know if we had met in person and were dating straight away. I've kept some things to myself, but only because it wouldn't have been an appropriate conversation to have with a straight male friend."

"Oh… Phew." Amelia sighed "I was worried. He said he was going to talk to you about it and I knew that if you heard it from him first and were blindsided by the conversation you'd probably smother me in my sleep so… phew…" she said, back to her playful self and wiping her brow with the back of her hand "just know that I'll try really hard not to stick my nose in any more… unless you ask me to."

"I'll hold you to that" I said in a threatening voice, but followed it up with a giggle so she knew I was… mostly… joking. Amelia was so eager to help people get their happily ever after she sometimes forgot to let them do things for themselves.

"Ok well… now I have that off my chest I'm going to go and watch a movie. Tell Eric I said hi" she said, hugging me again.

"Ok sweetie" I said hugging her back, she drove me nuts sometimes, but I loved her anyway "See you in the morning"

I finished up in the kitchen then bounced off to my room to call Eric...

"Lucy… you have some 'splainin' to do" I said with a laugh as he answered the phone.

"Hello dear one" he chuckled "What did I do, tell me how to make it up to you"

"You didn't do anything honey" I said with a giggle "I just had a talk with Amelia and she cracked and told me she called you last night."

"Yeah" he said easily "I was going to talk to you about that last night, but then you told me you loved me and it turned my brain to mush" he laughed

"We seem to have that effect on each other" I giggled "Do you realize, if we carried on like this in person, we would be one of those couples that gross other couples out."

"I did think that actually" He laughed loudly "Pam was pretending to puke the whole time I was talking to you… so I made her ride the mechanical pony in the mall we were in and took photos for blackmail purposes.

I laughed at the idea of Pam on the tiny pony and then laughed even harder when I realized she would be retaliating big time.

"You realize you signed your own death warrant there" I asked with another laugh "She'll get you back."

"I know…" he said a little louder than necessary "it's how she shows love"

"SHUT UP DOUCHE!" I heard her yell in the back ground.

We laughed together and I decided it was time to bite the bullet.

"So" I said "We have a lot to get through tonight… I want to meet you" I blurted out

"I was going to talk to you about that too" he said "Are you sure you're not reading my mind or something?"

"No Eric" I laughed "Like I said yesterday, great minds think alike"

"Ok well… I was wondering if Thanksgiving was too soon for you" he asked quickly, almost like he expected me to react badly.

"Well… I always go home for Thanksgiving, but I'm sure Gran wouldn't mind if I missed one year… I'll have to organize flights and stuff pretty quickly, but I…"

"No that's just it!" He interrupted "You wouldn't have to miss it! I'll be in Shreveport!"

"WHAT! Are you shitting with me?" I squealed.

Amelia crashed into my room petrified "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Eric is going to be in Shreveport for Thanksgiving and wants to meet up!" I said, so excited I couldn't help but jump up and crush Amelia into a hug.

"SQUEE!" we screamed together jumping up and down holding hands and acting like complete morons

I could hear Eric laughing his ass off at us through the phone, but I couldn't care less. I was going to meet him in just over a week! AHHHH!

"Well…" said Amelia "Now I know you're not dead, I'll let you get back to your phone sex" she laughed evilly as she ran back out of my room. Bitch… I thought with a smile.

"My friend Trey lives in Shreveport and invited me down." He said, ignoring the phone sex comment "So because my family doesn't celebrate it, being Swedish and all and it's only a short break I figured I'd take a few days to hang out with him, get to meet you and then go back to N.Y."

"That sounds fantastic Eric" I squeaked again "I was going to ask you to come here, for a couple of days, to Bon Temps to meet Gran and everyone at New Years."

"I'd love to, Sookie." He said gently, sounding really happy "If you change your mind after Thanksgiving, that's ok, but I'd really like to meet everyone."

"I'm not going to change my mind, Eric" I said confidently "We're perfect together, so it's only natural to meet the important people in your life"

"Do you mean that?" he asked, surprised and smiling.

"Of course I do!" I replied "I don't say 'I love you' to just anyone."

"Me either… In fact, you're the first person I've ever said it to that wasn't family." He admitted

"Awww…" I swooned a little and collapsed back against my pillows with a stupid grin on my face.

"You're doing it again…" I heard Pam yell in the background again.

"Håll käften ko!" Eric yelled

"Gör mig jävel!" she yelled back

Eric growled a little and I laughed "You're such a brother."

"I know" he chuckled "but she loves giving me crap as much as I love giving her crap, so it all works out in the end"

I laughed, knowing exactly what he meant. Jason and I were the same.

"So if I come to Bon Temps for a couple of days after Christmas, would you be interested in coming home with me to Cali for a couple of days before classes start up again? Meet my Mom and Pam?" he asked sounding nervous "You don't have to; I don't want to push you if you're not comfortable with it."

"I'd love to meet them" I said soothingly "I know I made a big deal, when we first met, about other people pushing me into things that I wasn't ready for, but you aren't them… I was hoping you'd ask me soon anyway, I guess Pam just sort of brought it up for us." I added, hoping I'd said the right thing.

"I love you, Sookie Stackhouse. My family will love you too" he said tenderly. "I'm really looking forward to meeting you in person."

"I love you too Eric" I whispered "I'd always dreamed I'd have someone that meant as much to me as you do, I can't wait to meet you either"

We backed off the heavy stuff for a little while and I told him about my plans to go home to Bon Temps for the weekend. He told me about his plan to take Pam to NYC for the weekend and then moaned about the pain he went through with Pam today. She was an avid shopper and loved vintage clothing and antiques, so I could understand why Eric was relieved for the distraction this morning when I called him. Despite his growling, I knew he had a good time. He couldn't stop laughing through all the stories he related of their day…

"So then she tried on this huge black hat, and the woman says…Oh you look like a blonde Audrey Hepburn in that hat" he laughed "So Pam looks her straight in the eye grabs her by the face and plants a kiss on her mouth."

I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes… That Pam…

"Then stood back and said… 'It's useful being top banana in the shock department' and walked out" he finished; now laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath. "The woman was so shocked she didn't even remember that Pam hadn't bought the hat until I waved some cash in her face."

We broke into peals of laughter, I laughed until my stomach started hurting and tears were rolling down my face

"I think I'm really going to like Pam" I said after we had calmed down a little.

"I think she'll really like you" he said happily

"You think everyone will like me just because you do!" I teased

"Well… there's that too…I have outstanding taste." he laughed

"Cocky." I teased

He just chuckled

"So, Amelia told me she called you about my attack of emo-ness" I said, needing to confide in him completely in relation to Alcide "and it's probably not the best time, but I want to let you know why I felt that way."

"You know you can always tell me anything Sookie." he said soothingly, instantly serious and ready for anything.

"Thanks baby" I whispered "that means a lot."

I told him all about what happened in my relationship with Alcide. I'd told him about the gold-digger thing ages ago, but not the other stuff. I knew it was a lot to take in, so even though he tried to keep his reactions under control, I knew he was getting really pissed. I felt stupid for keeping this stuff to myself for so long.

"Oh… my Sookie…"he sighed sadly "I wish I could have been there for you. I'm sorry that you had to go through any that stuff with that fucking asshole, and if I could, I would hunt him down and beat the shit out of him." He finished angrily.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself he continued "That said… it doesn't change the fact that I love you, that I can't imagine my world without you in it. I know it's sort of weird to say that because we haven't met face to face yet, but that's just a detail. I need you trust me when I tell you that my knowing all this doesn't change my feelings at all, it may have even made them stronger. I want to protect you from anyone that would even think about removing the smile from your face. I love you so much."

I had tears in my eyes at the emotion in his voice.

"I love you Eric" I said, relieved to have him know everything "and of course I trust you. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you know about all the bad that had happened in my last relationship and still want to be with me."

"I'll never want anyone or anything as much as I want you" he said softly.

"Ditto" I whispered with a sigh, trying to cover up a yawn… I was exhausted after unloading all that emotional baggage.

"You need sleep" he whispered back "Shall I read to you again?"

"I'd like that" I smiled "I'd like that a whole lot"

He chuckled and started reading…Wordsworth this time

I snuggled down into bed and pulled my 'Eric stand-in' pillow into a tight hug. Eric's voice soothed me like nothing else, and before I knew it I was asleep and dreaming of the day just over a week from now when I'd be able to actually hold him. It couldn't come soon enough.

Håll käften ko! – Shut up cow!

Gör mig jävel! – make me fucker!

'It's useful being top banana in the shock department' – one of Audrey's lines as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's