A/N: This is the chapter that the story gets it's name from.
Chapter nine:
Godric and Freyda tell us that they are going out for the night again and we will not see them until morning. The house was ours. Eric tells Alcide that he is taking me to dinner to apologize and we will meet him, Sam and Pam at the club. I go to start the process of making me look half way decent. I had packed some skimpier clothes for the club. Pam had told me that the boys go from time to time. Eric just sits and listens to the music, pining away for me while everyone dances. Alcide told me that every girl will be green when he walks in with me. Great, I'm going to be a pariah in two states, forty-eight to go.
Three hours later, Eric knocks on the guest room's door. I got ready here because I didn't want him to be out his bathroom all day. When I open it, his mouth drops to his toes. 'I want you, but I will wait until we are back to stable ground before I have my wicked way with you.' When I step back, he walks in. "You look great baby. I don't want to share you with all those guys. These are for you." He holds out a large shoe box. I take it from him and notice the Justin logo, I squint up at him. Eric rolls his eyes. "Just open it, Sookie." He sighs.
I open the box, inside are the most beautiful white cowboy boots. They are kid leather with snakeskin insets. I jump into his arms. "Thank you Eric, I love them." I pull off my dress shoes. The boots go great with my denim skirt and eyelet lace wrap blouse. "You know how I told you I bought two hats?" I nod, wondering where he is going. If he is about to say one is mine, I'm going to plotz.
"Here's yours, Babe." He places it on my head, and then he looks nervous. "I didn't think about your hair, I'm sorry." I laugh. "Don't worry. There is so much hairspray on this braid and bangs that Mr. Gore is probably going to show up in a few minutes to rip me a new one." Eric cracks up.
"Come on, let's go. If we don't leave soon, I am going to drag you into my bedroom and peel all of this off your sweet little body. I do want to see Sam and I am sure you want to see Pam." He growls in my ear as he trails his nose up my neck. He takes my hand and we walk out to the truck. He drives to a little Italian bistro. The host seats us at a wraparound booth in the back. We move to the middle and sit together. I am scanning the menu, when he grasps my hand. I look up to see him staring at me.
"Think of this night as the beginning of me making it up to you. Before you say anything, I want to give you the world. I want to be the one who you say 'I do' to, you have children with, you grow old with. I am not proposing yet, but I want you to know that I plan to, once I build up enough courage to ask your family. I want to do it right. I am going to treat you like a queen for the rest of your life." 'Please God; let her see that I want her and only her for my wife. Sookie, I love you so much. Please don't give up on us. I need you; I love you and only you. I will convince you if it is the last thing I do.'
I tear up and lean against him. Our waitress comes for our order. Our eyes meet again.
"Will you let me?" He asks.
"Eric, your mother told me to make you work for it, but I can't stay mad at anyone for long, unless it's a major infraction. I have never dreamed that someone like you would want to be with me. You are the only guy who has shown any real interest in me. Even though you were in that crazy get up, and my grandfather and uncle didn't understand the idea. They liked you." Our food comes and we eat without saying much more.
I can't get my head around it, he wants to marry me. Me! The girl no one else wanted. He pays and we walk out. As we ride to the club, he starts to chuckle.
"What did I drop something on myself again?" I scan my clothes for any stains.
"No baby, still spotless. I was just thinking about having to fight the guys off. I'm going to have a bad enough time controlling the jealously if you dance with Alcide and Sam. What happens if another asks you? I know I think you'll be the best looking there. The other girls are skinny skanks for lack of a better word." I blush at his praise. I am trying to calm myself down when we arrive. Pam runs over to me as Eric closes my door.
"Sook, you are hot tonight! Let's get in there, I want to dance." She grabs my arm and pulls me inside. Sam and Alcide give me double thumbs up as we pass. The guys follow us in and find a table big enough for the five of us to sit at. The minute the music hits my ears, my hips start to sway on their own. I can dance to almost anything, but my body dances to country all by itself. I have never told anyone.
I set my purse down on the table. "Hey Pam, I'll meet you out there if you can keep up." I laugh as I sashay to the floor. The music changes as she dances up to me. 'Boondocks" comes on and my body takes off. Pam and I are dancing back to back and around each other. The bar is in an uproar when the song ends. Pam and I look at each other and laugh that is until we look over to our table. I tap her on the shoulder and motion to the bar. I order a water. Someone clears their throat. I look to see a guy about my age. He must think he's God's gift or something, the way he's checking me out and licking his lips. 'Finally, something worth coming to this hole in the wall. She is the finest thing in here. I bet I can take her from that loser Northman. It would be a favor to Sophie also. She is hot for that guy.'
"Hey, I am Bill. How about I get you a drink and we go out to my truck?" He purrs in my ear. 'I will fuck you so hard.' I am repulsed. "No, my drinks are paid for by either someone in my group or myself. Thank you for the offer. As for your other offer, I think my boyfriend, his brother or our friend would take offense to that. Now please excuse me sir." I walk away with my water.
Pam and I devise a plan to help our guys out. Our empty chairs have been taken by some girls who look like they're on the make. Alcide, I'm sorry but you're on your own. We walk over to the table and I put my change in my purse. The girls glare at us, trying to scare us off. I chuckle to myself and sit down, on Eric's lap. Pam does the same with Sam.
"Sorry about that baby, but we just had to dance to that." I apologize to him, nuzzling his ear. I can feel him stirring under me. He whispers "thanks". The strawberry blonde girl almost growls at me. 'What the hell bitch, he is mine. My parents are in talks with his about getting us together, seeing as he has never shown any interest. ERIC IS MINE!'
"Eric are you going to introduce me to your friends? I did." I drag a finger down his neck. 'More of that please. You make me feel so good. I love you, baby.'
"You're right, honey. Sook, this is Sophie and her twin sister Hadley." pointing to the strawberry blonde and her blonde companion.
"That's right! I'm his girlfriend. So please get off of him you fat skank." She growls openly. I turn to Eric and our group. He pleads for help silently.
"Is that so? Eric who knew you had such a following?" He shrugs. "Well Sophie, you are at best the second girl who has claimed to be his girlfriend, this week even.
I find it funny because he flew me down from Maine, to spend the Holidays with him and his family. I sleep in his bed at night. I'm the one he jets off to see. You see, I am his girlfriend. I have been since before they moved here. Oh yeah, and I am the one that he practically proposed to just an hour ago. I'm sorry but you don't stand a chance. Bye now." I wave and turn back to the table.
"Pam, do you have any sanitizer, I need to clean that chair. Who knows what is catching a ride on that?" I motion to the red head slut.
When the girls leave in a huff, I apologize to Eric. He beams at me. "That was amazing!" No, it wasn't. This was supposed to be us and our friends not, "Hey, let's see if Sook will chase away another for me." My face falls as I look away and around the club.
"At least these girls want to actually get with you. Back home, the guys just want to humiliate me." I mutter. 'They are fools.' All three of the guys think at the same time. I smile at the praise.
Pam yells over the music, "Still?" to which I nod glumly. "I don't care as much, now that I have Eric, but yes." 'I think I have him, hell I don't even know if I want him now.' She tells me we are going shopping while we are down here. I look around, starting to feel awkward, there are many girls glaring at me. I had been warned, but this is ridiculous, they are foaming at the mouth for him. This whole week, I have been chasing off girls while he just sits there. I excuse myself to the bathroom. I need to think about this.
Pam follows me. "Need help thinking about it?" She asks. "I could tell that he made you feel uncomfortable with that. That Hadley girl was only sitting there; she offered to move for me."
"Sophie isn't the first this week to pull this shit. I want to believe that he is being loyal, but tonight I have gotten these flashes that tell me that he is just using our relationship to chase away the others. He's said all the right things, but this night was supposed to be him making it up to me for getting mad about what I spent on him and his family. I ripped him a new one last night and with this, I am feeling worse. For the first time, I don't know if I want to put up with this." Pam hugs me as I break down crying for the second night in a row.
"Honey, he should have chased them away the minute that they sat down or came to us, instead of having you do it. He knew that you were already shaky about him. Why don't you go outside and get some air? There is a door just outside the bathroom doors. Come on, we'll go outside and get your bearings." She ushers me outside. We sit out there for a bit, talking about what has happened since we last saw each other this summer. Sam comes out looking for us. I snort; I am not going to let this ruin their night. 'At least one of our boyfriends cares enough to come looking for us.' Pam looks at me, knowing what I am thinking. She frowns as I bite my lip. They both convince me to go back inside and make the most of the rest of the night. "Just ignore him, you still owe me and Alcide a dance. He'll get the picture if you only dance with us." Sam hugs me and leads Pam and I back to the door.
The three of us walk into the club and head to our table again. There are a flock of girls around the twins and I have had enough. I plan to grab my purse and get a hotel room for the rest of the week. I mentally calculate my funds and square my shoulders for the walk over to Eric. I gather the rest of my pride and launch into my best stride. Alcide winces when he sees my face. I reach the table and the group of girls sneer at me, this time I grab my purse, glare at Eric, even though he doesn't see it as he is flirting with one of the other girls, and turn to walk away. 'I knew it was too good to be true. I should have told him no when he asked me out. I am way too plain.' "She is beyond pissed. Eric, you just lost her, man. For the second time tonight, you have floozies vying for your attention. You just lost a good woman. She was crying in Pam's arms out there, it took the both of us to convince her to come back in." I hear Sam cursing at his buddy. I get out of the door and dig my phone out to call a cab.
"Crazy Girl" by Eli Young Band comes on inside and someone grabs my wrist before I can dial a cab company. "You want to dance?" I look up at Eric, with tears in my eyes, which he wipes away. He takes my hand, leads me back inside and we head to the floor, amid the outraged cries of the pack of floozies.
'Baby why you wanna cry?
You oughta know that I
Just have to walk away sometimes
We're gonna do what lovers do
We're gonna have a fight or two
But I ain't ever changin' my mind
Crazy girl, don't you know I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Haven't I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Wouldn't last a single day
I'd probably just fade away
Without you, I'd lose my mind
Before you ever came along
I was livin' life all wrong
Smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine
Crazy girl, don't you know I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Haven't I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Crazy girl
Crazy girl, don't you know I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Haven't I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Crazy girl, don't you know I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Haven't I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
It feels good to dance with him again. "I am sorry about that. You are right, you know. No one else stands a chance with me. You are my world. Please don't leave me, baby. I will do anything to keep you." He whispers to me with tears in his voice and pulls me closer. I lay my head on his collarbone and close my eyes as my tears flow down my face. This is where I should be, in his arms forever. We stay out on the floor through the next two songs. When the third song ends, Eric tips my face up to him and kisses me. "There is only one person that I will ever want in my arms and that is you." I tell him that we will talk about all of this later. I don't want to ruin Pam and Sam's visit with my humiliation. We sit down at the table and talk with our friends. The night flies by dancing, laughing and relaxing with our group. It's like we were back in N.H. I ignore Eric for most of the night, dancing with Alcide and Sam and Pam too, a few more times. I sit across the table from him and try to shove my broken heart away for the time being.
"So, Sook and I are busy tomorrow, Mr. Northman. I am changing her image for school. She is fine around us, like she is, but she needs to step it up a notch at school. I want those dogs baying by Valentine's." Pam tells Eric, deviously rubbing her hands together. "We all know she's yours. They just need to realize that they passed up the best thing out there. When I'm done, even the gay guys will be sniffing." I laugh at the idea of me turning the gay guys at my school straight.
"Don't worry Eric, I'm just going to sink to their level a bit." I smirk. Eric relaxes when I say that nothing is going to change between us yet.
"Okay, I want in. I'm going to show those yahoos how to woo a woman." He grins up at me. 'I will show you that you can trust me. I refuse to lose you over something like this. You are stuck with me. Don't give up; I am yours until I die.'
We head home around one in the morning. Eric and I crawl into bed and pass out in each other's arms. I wake up to a smiling blue eyed half naked god. "Morning baby. I need to do quite a lot of work on the ranch today. It's a good thing you and Pam are going shopping. I'm serious about helping. Take my debit card, have fun. "
I start to protest until he silences me with his lips. "No, we are getting these pricks back." He swears. "No one should do that to someone else, and no one messes with my woman. I am sorry about last night. I thought that we would have fun if I brought you there and it turned into a big mess. Both of our dates down here have. I admit that there are many girls at school that want to date me, but I keep telling them that I have been taken for some time now." He climbs out of bed and gets dressed. "I'll see you later, even if I have to hunt you down." I get up and head to the shower.
'We'll see about that. I have never been so humiliated in my life and that includes the assholes at school. Here I thought our relationship meant a lot to him and I find out that it only means enough to get the masses off his back.' I start crying again. Once I get myself under control, I shut the water off and dry my eyes. Pam has seen enough of my water works for one visit.