Here is the shopping trip. Let's see how Pam does it!
Chapter 31: Think Pink! –Funny Face Soundtrack
Sookie
Sookie swung the door open and smiled at Pam, who returned it with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"Hi there, Pam!" she said cheerily. She waved her in and Pam raised her eyebrow again. "Nice, Sookie."
Sookie could have smacked herself and she blushed furiously. "Oh, duh. Sorry, come on in."
Pam walked through the door and her eyes immediately scanned the house looking for Eric. "Sookie, I absolutely love what Eric has done to the place," she sneered.
Sookie flushed this time, but for a different reason. This was her home and she didn't appreciate Pam insulting Sookie in her own home. Eric suddenly walked in slowly and stood there ominously. He then stood next to Sookie.
"Hello Pamela, what are your objectives for this trip?" he asked.
"To bond with Sookie while picking out non-hideous clothing for the summit."
Sookie sensed she was implying that Sookie normally dressed hideously and she clenched her jaw. She would not explode. She would hold her tongue.
"Would you like a blood before we go, Pam?" she asked politely. Pam made a disgusted sound and shook her head. "No, I cannot stomach that vile crap."
Sookie gave a curt nod. She walked to the dining room to say goodbye to Lafayette and Jason. She also wanted to give Eric and Pam a moment alone in case there was any business for the area or for the bar.
Considering how it was going so far, hopefully Pam could shop quickly. Sookie would agree to almost anything. Suddenly, dread filled Sookie. What if Pam intentionally bought hideous clothing for Sookie, saying it was what would be appropriate?
"Breath, suga," Lafayette said. "You ain't walkin' to yo death. It's shoppin'."
Sookie gave a nervous smile and pecked Lafayette on the cheek and then gave one to Jason as well. She walked back out into the foyer where Pam and Eric seemed to be having a fierce conversation. Sookie grabbed her purse and cleared her throat.
"Ready when you are Pam."
Pam glanced her way and back to Eric before turning and walking out the front door. Sookie looked to Eric and he walked slowly towards her.
"Do you know how hard it is to let you out of my sight?" he asked softly. "Please be careful Sookie, and stick with Pam. She will protect you if anything goes wrong."
"Nothin' will go wrong. Except Pam might kill me," she teased. Eric shook his head, "No I have commanded her not to."
Sookie's mouth dropped open in shock. Pam would really consider killing her? "No, she wouldn't kill you. I was kidding Sookie. Have fun. And don't give Pam lip about paying. I have given her my card."
Sookie opened her mouth to argue, but Eric placed a finger on her lips, "I will be reimbursed by Bill. Because your contract says 'all travel expenses' that includes wardrobe. So have fun. And please stop by the lingerie section with me in mind."
Sookie only smirked and stood on her tip toes placing a soft kiss on his lips. She began to break off the kiss, but Eric wrapped one arm around her waist and his other hand held the back of her head in place as he deepened the kiss and savagely kissed her as if it was the last kiss they would share.
Sookie's heart was beating frantically and she almost wanted to say 'To hell with Pam, take me back to bed Viking'. But Eric suddenly broke off the kiss.
"I won't be seeing you for a few hours so that is to remember what you are coming home to and to encourage you to come home sooner."
Sookie chuckled and inhaled deeply. He kissed her forehead and spun her around toward the front door. "I will miss you, my love."
She nodded and walked out to where Pam was waiting in a pink minivan. She smiled and walked toward the passenger side and climbed in. As she buckled in, she glanced up to see Eric standing in the doorway watching Pam turn the car around and pull out of her driveway.
Sookie then turned to Pam and asked, "So where are we goin'?"
Pam glanced at her and said, "Somewhere you certainly have never shopped."
Sookie flushed in embarrassment and looked out the window. If Pam was just going to be a brat, Sookie wasn't going to engage her.
Pam pulled onto the freeway and she clicked around on the radio, selecting a station that played a variety of music. Pam was heading to Monroe, Sookie guess, which thankfully wasn't far.
When Pam parked in front of a plain building with no signs and no other cars in the lot, Sookie wondered if Pam hadn't in fact concocted some elaborate plan where Sookie would meet her death at the hands of another.
"Relax. I am not having you killed, cupcake. This is how I shop," she said in a bored tone. Sookie unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out, leaving her purse in the car. She followed Pam to the door and instead of going in, Pam rang a bell, waiting with her hand on her hip.
Sookie was getting more and more curious by the second. A friendly woman smiled warmly at Sookie and Pam as she unlocked and opened the front door.
"Miss Swynford De Beaufort, how nice to see you again. And Miss Stackhouse is it?" she asked politely.
Sookie nodded and said, "You can call me Sookie."
The woman nodded and ushered Pam and Sookie in. They walked into a strange open room. There was a sofa in the middle of the room and the woman gestured for them to take their seats.
"Now, my understanding from your message was that we would be specifically catering to the needs for Miss Sookie to attend a summit for about a week. We have pulled, based on the photos and the descriptors, a number of items for you to view this evening. They range from business casual to formal. We also have some sleepwear, casual wear, and lingerie for your perusal."
Pam nodded, looking bored,
Suddenly the lights dimmed and Sookie looked around. Then the lights in the front of the room were lit brightly and a woman walked out in very smart business suit. The woman was very beautiful in a black pencil skirt and black blazer. This was a good basic for any woman in the workplace and Sookie sighed in relief, knowing now that Pam was not trying anything funny.
Pam nodded to the woman who pressed a button signaling the next woman to come out. The women were paid to model all the garments for Sookie and Pam, showing them how they fit and how they moved.
Sookie gasped as the outfits got more and more beautiful. There were a lot of clothes. Way more than a week's worth. Sookie simply let Pam be the one in control, making small notes in her heads of the ones she had absolutely fallen in love with.
Sookie realized that the women coming in and out of the room were getting less and less formal. She noticed they were in nightwear and lingerie and Sookie couldn't help gasp at some of the risqué pieces she was being shown.
She simply could not pull off some of these pieces. They looked gorgeous on the models, but Sookie Stackhouse was no model. The lights on the stage dimmed and Pam turned to the woman and said, "Take her measurements, Magda. We will take everything and have them shipped directly to Rhodes."
Sookie cut in, "Pam there is no way I will need all that for Rhodes."
Pam waved her off and looked to Magda again, "She will also need accessories for all the clothing and shoes. Sookie what is your size? She looks like an 8 or an 8.5. Make sure you send those as well. Cost doesn't matter. It is imperative she looks splendid from the moment she touches ground there."
Sookie's head swam and she felt like she was about to pass out. Some of the clothing she knew she would cost Eric thousands. She felt like she was hyperventilating. She needed to get to Magda when Pam was looking and insist on the business suit and a few other pieces, but that was it.
"Sookie, do you have anything else you think you might need?" Pam asked.
Sookie's mouth fell open and Pam rolled her eyes and said to Magda, "Thank you for your assistance. I never leave unsatisfied. Where did you find the vintage Chanel? I have been in love with it since I met Coco, but alas it never fit me like it should."
Sookie's head was spinning still and suddenly she was handed a phone. "Eric for you, Sookie," Pam said, her attention still intent on Magda.
"Sookie, breath. I feel your head spinning and it is making me feel ill," Eric said. Sookie gasped in relief at hearing his voice and walked away from Pam and Magda.
"Eric, I think Pam and I went overboard. I don't think I need even half the clothes I saw today."
Eric chuckled. "Then the shopping went well. Pam always goes overboard. At least it's for you this time. Was there lingerie Sookie?" he asked in a sexy growl.
Sookie blushed and then she looked to Pam. She was not wearing some of those pieces.
"No. No lingerie," she responded. Eric laughed. "Yes, I can feel there was and I look forward to seeing it."
Sookie shook her head, knowing he couldn't see her. Suddenly a woman came up and began measuring every inch of her body.
"I think I have to go now, Eric. I am being measured."
"I am at Fangtasia and will meet you back at your home when you are done."
She told him she loved him and goodbye and hung up the phone.
Pam held her hand out for her phone and Sookie placed it in her hand gently.
"I think everything will look splendid on you," Pam said. "Especially the lingerie."
Sookie blushed and the woman with the tape measurer seemed to finish scribbling everything down. She then said roughly, "We are going to get sample shoes for you to try on that tells us what will feel comfortable to you. Wait here."
Sookie nodded and she looked at Pam who was regarding her.
"Sookie, we need to have a girl chat."
Sookie looked at her and nodded. She knew what was coming. She was a piece of backwater trash that didn't deserve Eric and she was also probably going to get both Pam and Eric killed along with herself.
"To be bonded to Eric is a very big deal. You haven't been around many vampires, but when you go to the Summit and others are informed you are bonded to Eric, you will see that it isn't common and that other vampires will look at you and wonder what it is about you that has caused Eric to bond himself to you."
Sookie waited for her to continue. "We both know it is the fairy blood and your earlier resistance to him that has captured my maker. I am worried about him Sookie. Because I care for Eric more than you can possibly imagine. I don't doubt that he loves you and that you love him, but I simply wish it wasn't so."
Sookie nodded, "I do love him and I understand your concern." She didn't know what else to say to Pam. She loved Eric. When Pam said it was essentially Sookie's blood and her reluctance to enter a relationship with Eric that cause him to love her had stung Sookie more than she liked.
Could that be true? No, she reassured herself, it couldn't. She had felt Eric in the bond. And he loved her for more than her blood.
"Pam, you may have a maker-child bond with Eric, but I am also bonded to him and I have felt him. I know his love for me is more significant than what my blood tastes like to him. I love him. I fear for him. I want him to be happy. I think if you loved him like you claim to you would try and respect what makes him happy, even if it is me."
Pam looked as if Sookie has slapped her, but her eyes turned to slits. Suddenly a woman with piles of boxes came out and sat on the floor in front of Sookie. She studied Sookie's foot and her tongue clicked in her mouth as she turned back to the pile of boxes as eliminated some of them.
She then began slipping shoes on her, telling her to stand. Sookie sat and stood as the woman slipped different shoes on her.
She occasionally asked Sookie to walk in the shoes to see if she could manage the height. When she was done she said she would send Magda out.
Sookie sat on the couch and they waited. "Pam, I love him. I have nothing else to say. I would love to have a closer relationship to you, but I can understand if you don't want one. I just hope that we can have a relationship that doesn't hurt Eric. The ball is in your court, Pam."
Sookie slipped her shoes back on and stood as Magda walked out. "Well we have everything we need to get everything ready. We will ship everything so that it is all there when you arrive."
Pam smiled and nodded as she accepted Eric's Visa Black Card and grabbed her keys out of her purse.
They got in the van and drove through Monroe. Sookie looked out the window. She had said what she needed to say and now it was up to Pam. Sookie felt oddly relieved. She had done everything that she could. She only hoped that her continued presence in Eric's life didn't cause any more damage to their maker child relationship.
As they neared Bon Temps, Pam said, "I do want Eric to be happy, I just never thought this would be what made him happy. I will try and accept it. I will try with you as well."
Sookie looked at Pam and smiled. She felt happiness sweep over her and she knew if it were any other person she would fling her arms them. But this was Pam and she was driving. Sookie shoved her hands under her thighs to calm herself and turned back toward the window.
Soon they were pulling into the driveway of Sookie's home and she noted that Eric was not here with a pang of disappointment.
"Thank you for the shopping, Pam. I feel a lot better going into this knowing I won't be embarrassing Eric."
"I can tell you that nothing you wear would embarrass Eric. In fact, the only piece Eric will notice is the lingerie."
"I hate to break it to you and to Eric, but I am not wearin' those garments! They are lewd," she said, surprised how much like her grandmother she actually sounded.
"That is the point," Pam said dryly.
Sookie shook her head with a smile and a blush creeping up her neck. She opened the car and climbed out, "Goodnight, Pam."
"Goodnight, Sookie."
Sookie walked up her steps and unlocked her door. Just as she walked through, she felt her phone buzz.
Eric. "Hi baby, I just got home and I believe I was promised quite a welcome, but nobody is here."
He growled low. "I am caught up. I will be a while longer than I thought. So I won't be able to make it there tonight. Would you like me to send Pam back to collect you to bring you to me?"
Sookie frowned as she locked her door. Lafayette was here, sleeping upstairs. She couldn't wait to tell him about the shopping.
"No, I have some stuff to get done before we leave for Rhodes. So I better get everything done as long as I have you distracted there. I will miss you tonight as I fall asleep."
Eric was silent, but then he said, "You have no idea how much."
She smiled and hung the phone up. She ran upstairs to change into some sweats. She was going to clean this house top to bottom. Then she was going to go through everything to make sure she was completely ready. She the rest of tonight and tomorrow to prepare and then she would leave with her Louisiana vampires to Rhodes.
Okay, so how do you think it went? Up next: Rhodes departure.