You and Sarah are sitting in her living room, watching a dumb sitcom that was already on when she turned on the TV. She's flipping through a magazine she got in the mail earlier this morning, with a random famous person you don't care about on the cover. You read magazines too, not really, you just flip through and look at the pictures. The only things to read are ads and brands you can't afford. She just got home from work, she'll probably be going to bed soon judging by how much she yawned in the last 30 minutes. You didn't have work today so you spent your time outside, pulling weeds and mowing the lawn. It was nice, but your arms are sore and you're more tired than you usually are in the afternoon. Not abnormal, after work your arms were often sore.
A loud thud echoes through the house and you whirl around, looking over at the front door from over the top of the couch. The door opened so hard that it closed itself after smashing into the wall. It's Pam, and she seems irritated. Judging by the dent in Sarah's wall, you know for a fact that she's irritated, "Eric fired your replacement," She huffs out, dropping onto the couch beside you. You're surprised, but not entirely. He fired you, of course, he would fire her. You're just confused as to why Pam cares so much, "That was the third one this month." She shakes her head, staring up at the TV. That's why Pam cares.
You didn't even realize the sun went down already, the curtains are closed and they have been since you woke up this morning. Sarah usually keeps them closed, especially after Deb broke into her house and stole her necklace. A situation that still hasn't been resolved. Nobody found it at the place she was kidnapped at. So you don't have a clue where it is. But you're sure you'll find out soon enough, you hope so anyway. Sarah wouldn't be happy if it was lost forever.
Sarah sighs and turns the TV off, causing Pam to glance over at the two of you. Her eyes linger on you for a moment too long, "Why?" Sarah asks, glancing over at you as well. You raise your eyebrows. You wanted to know why too, but you also want to know why both of them just looked at you strangely. It made you a little uncomfortable and it annoyed you as well, which made you feel bad for feeling that way. Overall a very strange mix of emotions but that was normal to you, especially recently after everything that's happened. There's never one way to feel about anything, the situation is like a grey area or something.
"All I know is that every assistant he's hired has looked like you," She says, staring at you from behind Sarah's shoulder. You furrow your eyebrows, but she's right and you know it. The girl you met two days ago looked sort of like you, mostly just her hair though. Maybe the same eyes too, but it was too dark in the bar to tell. But she probably looked exactly like you, you're surprised Sarah didn't say anything to you sooner. She's an observant person. Maybe she was waiting for you to put the pieces together yourself. You weren't able to, Pam had to do it for you. You should've realized it before, but you refuse to believe he wants anything to do with you. You're happy working for Earl anyway, you don't care if he wants you to be his assistant, "He's eating less and less..." She mutters to herself, shaking her head and glancing down at her hands resting in her lap. This doesn't concern you much, he looked well-fed judging by the lady with the scarf wrapped around her neck. He could just eat more of your lookalikes for all you cared.
"That's not creepy or anything," You say sarcastically, not knowing what else to say. You're creeped out and flattered at the same time, it's hard to balance the two of those feelings. You're ready for Pam to beg you to come back to the bar, that's clearly what Eric wants. But it's not what you want, not after he fired you. It felt like the time your first boyfriend broke up with you. You grieved over your job longer than that relationship, not a surprise considering how it went, "He'll get over it." You shrug, pulling at a loose thread on the sleeve of your baggy long-sleeved grey T-shirt. You don't have to look up to know Pam's rolling her eyes at you.
"Why don't you just go work for him again?" Sarah asks, and you look up at her, surprised. You didn't expect her to be the one to tell you to go back. You thought for sure Pam would be the one asking you this question. But you know why you don't want to work for him again, and you think it's a good enough reason not to quit after just a month of work. That wouldn't look good on your resume. But you suppose that doesn't matter, not if you could work for vampires. They won't care about your qualifications as long as you benefit them in some way. You'd probably even let them drink your blood in exchange for payment. But you'd do a job as well, it's like prostitution, but you're not having sex with anyone. And you're doing more than providing blood. Eric never asked to drink your blood, that surprised you. Nobody has.
"I'd prefer if you did work for him, he wouldn't be so annoying," Pam adds, sighing as she does. You don't care if he's annoying Pam, you don't know if you want to work for him again. What happened last time could happen again. He could just fire you or something, that would hurt all over again.
You look at both of them before finally confessing, "I'm trying not to like him anymore," You say, it's sort of vague. You think telling them it's a crush would sound childish. And you're not in love with him, that's never happened to you before. You'd know if you did love him, or if you ever did at any point. But how could you, you didn't get much time alone with him. Pam smirks, something you haven't seen in a while. You missed it, even if she looks like she's plotting something, "If I work for him again, I'll just like him more and more." You feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders after telling Pam, she's Eric's progeny. She probably understood more than anyone how alluring Eric could be. Hell, they were probably in a relationship at some point.
"Alright, well, it was nice talking to you guys," Pam stands up, wiping off the invisible dust on her lap as she does. You share a look with Sarah, one of confusion, "Bye." She says, disappearing. That was suspicious and weird. She's never that nice, and she left so abruptly after hearing you say that. It worries you. She might tell Eric or something. That makes you so anxious, you'd resort to biting your fingernails if they weren't painted. That's the only thing stopping you from doing it now. You don't think Eric's ever been invited into Sarah's house, but Pam had and you didn't know. You would remember if you ever invited him in.
Sarah's just as confused as you, "What the hell was that?" Her brows are still furrowed and she's staring over her shoulder at the dent in her wall. She looks back at you, waiting for an answer. The truth is, you have no idea what that was and you'll tell her as much. The dent isn't that bad, you could just put spackle on it or something. Sarah has some in the garage. You'd do it this weekend. And you wouldn't have to paint it after you finished, the walls are white so it'll just blend in. You can't see how big the dent is from here. It'll probably look worse the closer you got, so you won't look at it now. It'll just irritate you if you see it.
"I don't know," You shrug, you glance over at the coffee table, you don't want to sit around and watch TV, after Pam came you wanted to go outside or something. Maybe get a movie or buy some booze. You don't care, as long as you're out of the house for a while, "Wanna go do something?" You ask, looking at her from across the couch. You have no idea what to do, but you're sure Sarah can come up with something. She's lived here a lot longer than you. She doesn't seem like she wants to leave though, she glances up at you through her dark lashes. You figured she wouldn't want to go out, she came home from work exhausted. But it didn't hurt to ask. But now that she doesn't want to go, some part of you doesn't want to go anymore either.
But it doesn't matter to you, "Nah I'm gonna go to bed." Sarah says, standing up and taking her blanket with her down the hallway to her bedroom. You shrug and stand as well, grabbing your keys from the coffee table. You usually keep them there, it's more convenient, and you won't forget them because they're out in the open. Sarah has some hooks on the wall for that, but you don't use them much anymore. Whenever you did, you'd walk out the door without your keys because you would assume they were in your pocket. When they were really on a hook in the kitchen next to the calendar. Sarah uses the hooks though.
"Goodnight!" You call into the house before you leave, locking the door behind you. The new car, courtesy of Eric's credit card, is a black Nissan. It wouldn't have mattered if you bought one that was more expensive, but that's impolite and disrespectful. So you bought a cheaper car instead of the Lamborghini you were looking at. You start the car and when you reverse out of the driveway and start to drive down the road, you realize that you have no idea where you're going. You shrug, you could just go over to LeBlanc's and get some food or something. You haven't had dinner yet anyway, you could bring Sarah some leftovers too. She would appreciate that, she didn't eat much when she came home, just a sandwich she made. She was too tired to do anything else, and you spent most of the day making the outside of her house look nice so you couldn't make dinner. You don't know what Sarah likes at her grandpa's place so you would get her something you like hoping she likes it too. She's not picky though so you're not worried about it.
When you arrive at the restaurant, it's busy, like you expected. It usually is on the weekends. You don't care though, nobody would pay you any mind. Some of your regulars would recognize you probably, but that's about it. You sit in a booth near the back, where Bill sat when you were at work. Of course, he's not here, and you hope he won't be again. After the warning he left you with, you're not keen on seeing him again. But you thought more about it while you waited for a waitress or a waiter to take your order. Maybe he was right, you were thinking the same thing yesterday, but now you sort of believe it. Eric employed 3 women that looked like you, anybody would find that strange. And now he probably wants you to work for him again. What would change about your relationship? You won't be doing anything special now that you know about this, this doesn't change anything for you. He's still attractive, yet creepy. He was creepy before, but now he's even creepier than you thought. You wouldn't be surprised if he had someone watching you in case you almost died or something. But that's probably just your imagination getting the better of you.
"Hey! What are you eating?" Layla asks enthusiastically from beside you, you jump and hold your hand against your chest. She's smiling at you, beaming actually. She seems happy to see you and you're glad. You're happy to see her too, just as long as she doesn't ask about Eric or Bill. You don't want to talk about them right now, you already had that conversation with Pam. Besides, she doesn't know them, and it's better if she never does. You don't want Layla or Dalia to be dragged into this mess. She doesn't hand you a menu and it doesn't matter, you already knew it by heart. You could quote it from memory if you wanted to. You'll just get Sarah something simple, something most people would enjoy.
You clear your throat, "Hey Layla," You feel the urge to yawn, but you'll do it when she walks away, yawning mid-sentence seemed rude. Especially while addressing someone, "A hamburger with fries to go and another one of those for here." She nods and heads over to the kitchen, you let out the yawn previously stifled by your need to be polite, lifting your hand to cover your mouth. You let it rest on the table and tap on it, you regret coming here. It's boring and you'd have to work tomorrow night anyway. You'd eat your food here still, but you wish you had someone to sit across from. It would be boring, just eating in silence. Not silence, there are people all around you. But you'll be silent. You haven't tried the burger yet, you opted to try more of the adventurous menu items. Like turtle soup. You didn't like it much. The name of it turned you off from eating it, so doing so filled you with disgust. They should've told you it was just soup, not turtle soup.
By the time Layla returns with your meal, and Sarah's, in a foam box, the packets of ketchup previously in a small wooden container are stacked in front of you on the table. You already tapped the entirety of Bohemian Rhapsody into the wood in front of you 3 times. There are only so many times you can run through the same song without going insane. Stacking ketchup is better than listening to the meaningless conversations going on around you. At least you thought they were meaningless, compared to vampires and other horrible things. Nobody cares about your new wife not wanting to have sex with you. You heard worse while you were waitressing, but you never stuck around for long enough to get the context of those nasty things. It's even worse now. A lot of people in this town are old, but most of the younger population seemed to flock to this restaurant. There's a mixed bag tonight, the young outweigh the old though, "Thanks," You smile at Layla as she sets your food down on the table. She does the same and strolls away over to another table. She seemed to realize you didn't want to talk much. You would if she engaged with you, but she's busy with work right now, no reason to get her in trouble. And you're a little tired. Not as much as Sarah was earlier, but pretty tired.
You reach down and pick up the hamburger, "Hello." Someone says, sliding into the booth in front of you. You sigh and look up at them, setting your burger down on the plate in front of you. It's Eric, your eyebrows raise and your eyes widen in surprise. Not the first person you'd expect to be here of all places. A restaurant for Southern men (that attend church) and their wives. You've never seen him set foot in this place, until now. You don't even think Pam has been inside LeBlanc's. Only Margot and Bill have. And Bill isn't a part of their little group. You wipe your hands off on the napkin in front of you and look up at the man, still in surprise just not as much as before. You still want to eat your burger, and Sarah's food would be cold if he didn't speed this shit up.
"Hi?" You say it like it's a question, leaning away from him, "What are you doing here?" You ask, regarding him carefully. He looks good, again. You don't look nearly as good, nobody could. The man is ethereal but still confusing and irritating. Looks aren't everything you suppose. His vampirism contributes to his good looks, but if he was human he would still look good. He'd be a skeleton, but a good-looking skeleton. Like the character in Nightmare Before Christmas. You had a crush on him when that movie first came out until you thought about it for more than a few seconds and realized that's weird. He's dead. So is Eric though, just in a different way.
"Pam spoke to you earlier?" He asks, tilting his head just a little bit as he looks at you, you nod and he leans back, looking more relaxed now, "Have you made a decision?" You haven't, and you wouldn't for a while. You'd get Sarah's opinion on it, maybe Henry's too. You don't know if he'll have anything good to say but he seems smart enough. He's 300, he's been alive for far too long. And sometimes he was wise, so you trust him with deciding your future. You didn't realize Pam would tell him about the conversation you had earlier, she just seemed like she was ranting. This feels like too much for you right now, you don't know what decision to make.
But the decision you make will ultimately be the right one for you. You'll probably go for the money and work at Fangtasia again, if you saved up enough you could buy that record player you wanted. You could've done it with Eric's credit card, but you weren't thinking about that at the time. You were thinking about hiding under your blankets and sleeping for hours, and the soft couches you sat on while shopping for furniture, "No, but I'll tell you when I do make a decision." You say. All he does is nod and leave. Every interaction you have with him is brief, and you hate it.
"Bye..." You whisper to yourself, looking down at your untouched burger.
