Before I put down a single word of this story, I have to say a super gianormous thank you to LindsayK for allowing me to borrow her widely beloved NerdStud for this piece. She's a fuckawesome writer and StudyBuddies has become one of my favorite SVM stories. If you haven't read it, you most definitely should. Without her wonderful story this one might not be possible.

http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5170187/1/Studybuddies

And to A Red Head Thing, I know you're next in line for him. I promise I treated him well all through the writing process.

I hope I've done you both proud *crosses fingers*

Eric & Sookie 7 Deadly Sins Contest

Title: And We Lean In

Your Pen name: makesmyheadspin

Characters: Eric & Sookie

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Ms. Harris owns the originals and NerdStud is property of LindsayK. I'm just corrupting them for a little bit.

I plucked a piece of paper from the beaker and looked down at the name that was scrawled on it. Eric Northman. I looked around trying to figure out which one of the guys standing on the other side of the lab was Eric Northman. Being the new girl in school certainly wasn't going to help me. Over the summer my Dad had been transferred to the Shreveport office of the company he worked for, so we'd moved from a small town called Bon Temps to save Dad from an hour-long commute everyday. We were a week into the new school year and I was still testing the waters to see which clique I'd be falling into at my new school.

For my brother, it was easy. He was a football player so he fell right in with the jocks. For me, it wasn't so simple. I wasn't especially outgoing or talented in any given area. I was considerate and kind to just about everyone I met. If there was any truth to the idea that there are five universal categories for students to fall into, I considered myself to be one of the girls that fell into the geek category. I wasn't a jock. I wasn't a criminal. I wasn't a basketcase (in spite of what Jason might tell you). I sure as hell wasn't a princess. For me school was more about a good education than it was about the social aspect. Friends were nice, but they weren't my main objective when I walked into school each day.

After graduation I was planning on going to LSU. I wanted to be a doctor, which was the reason I was taking AP Biology in the first place. There was no time for slacking off my senior year the way a lot of kids did. I wouldn't be taking any easy classes or filling my schedule with as many study hall periods as possible. No sir. I had one hell of a schedule on my hands. It was going to be murder, but I was determined to get through it. Med school was going to be much harder so I might as well get used to a rigorous course load.

Miss Lindsay, my AP Bio teacher, sat on one of the lab tables and watched as the beaker was passed from one female student to another. The class was split almost completely even between boys and girls at a 49/51 ratio. A tall blond guy with long hair and bright blue eyes caught my attention. He looked awkward standing there at the end, almost like he was trying not to be seen. How he thought he could possibly fade into the background was beyond me. Simply stated, he was gorgeous. He had about as much chance of blending in as my brother did of winning a quilting bee.

As soon as all of the names had been pulled from the beaker, Miss Lindsay hopped off her desk with a notepad in hand. I was holding the name of my lab partner for the rest of the year. I sincerely hoped that whomever Eric Northman was, he wasn't a lazy moron. I really wasn't looking to carry anyone. Although, I assumed if he was taking AP Bio, he had to be somewhat smart since there was testing involved in order to get into the class. One by one Miss Lindsay went down the line to pair us up with our partners.

"Sookie, who've you got?" Miss Lindsay asked without looking up from her notepad.

The name was burned in my brain but I looked down anyway. The tall blond that looked like the love child of Elvis Costello and a Viking was still pressing himself against the wall. In my brain I was chanting, "Please be Eric Northman. Please be Eric Northman." But then things rarely went my way, so I assumed Eric Northman was probably the smaller dark haired boy next to him. The boy who, might I add, was staring at my breasts with absolutely no intention of looking at any other part of my anatomy. Pig.

"Eric Northman." I said in as normal a tone of voice as I could muster.

The blond boy's head snapped up and his eyes met mine. I gulped in realization. Just once, my prayers had been answered. Eric Northman was my lab partner.

I used my new kid status in attempts to learn anything about Eric, my strangely silent lab partner. He didn't talk a whole lot other than to say, "I'll get the bunsen burner going." or some such lab related mumbling. He didn't offer much information about himself and he didn't ask me any questions that weren't related to class. I didn't want to be curious about him. First of all, I couldn't afford the distraction. School was too important to get caught up in a boy, especially one who couldn't seem less interested in me than he already did. But I found the more he 'ignored' me, the more I wanted to know about him. So I asked around here and there, hoping to learn something.

What I found was that it wasn't just me that Eric ignored. It seemed he had a bit of a following where girls were concerned and he never paid attention to a single one of them. The most infamous of his followers was a girl by the name of Sophie-Anne who had been relentlessly pursuing him since junior high. Eric had never given her the time of day. What information I could learn about him, I wasn't sure I could trust to be accurate and the last thing I wanted was for him to think I believed anything that was floating around the rumor mill. He was entitled to his privacy and it seemed to me that Eric had gone to pretty extensive lengths to keep his life to himself.

I'd heard various things about him from various sources, some of it more tragic than anything else. I'd been told that his parents had died when he was young, leaving him to be raised by some distant relative who saw him as a burden when the monthly support stipend ran out. He was an only child. I also heard that he was taking two different language classes and was well on the road to being fluent in both French and Italian. People liked to speculate that he always wore sweaters to conceal hideous scars on his body. Someone even went so far as to tell me he'd been trapped in a house fire once. I had no way of knowing whether or not that was true, but I certainly wasn't going to bring it up on the off chance that it was. It simply wasn't any of my business, whether I liked it or not.

So yes, Eric Northman became one hell of a distraction. As if it wasn't annoying enough to have this mystery hanging over my head all day long, he started to follow me into my dreams. The dreams started out innocently enough. At first we would just bump into one another in the hall or at my locker. We'd laugh over it or just smile and apologize to one another for being clumsy. Sometimes he'd find me in a crowded lunch room and we'd talk while we ate. Sometimes we'd reach for the same book in the library at school. You know, innocent stuff like that. But the longer my quest for knowledge about him went on, the more wild my imagination became.

What had started out as little moments that could happen to any two people in the course of a day became far more heated. We went from little getting-to-know-you situations to finding dark hallways to make out. In my dreams we were always touching each other, or looking for an excuse to touch each other. I'd wake up feeling anything but rested and I started to resent him for it. My concentration was thrown off and working with him became a bit of a problem. So, in attempts to ease my own mind, I decided to take the bull by the horns and do something about my problem instead of silently berating myself.

I decided that the next time we had lab together, I was going to finally say something to him that was completely unrelated to our work. I was going to ask him a question or just tell him something about myself. Maybe if I got the conversation going, he'd be more open to talk. I even contemplated the idea of saying it in French, since maybe the anonymity of speaking in a foreign tongue would help him loosen up a little. But I figured that might be cliché. Or worse, he'd say something that was a little too advanced since I'd only taken one French class.

I gathered up my courage and the day of our next lab, I finally said something. Eric was sitting on one of two stools at our lab table. He was making notes on the worksheet we were supposed to hand in at the end of class. His glasses had slipped down his nose and I watched him push them up by the frames. I smiled faintly at the familiar gesture. When some of his hair fell forward I had to restrain myself from reaching out to tuck it back into place. If he couldn't say something to me, I could only imagine his reaction if I tried to touch him.

"So, Eric, how come you're always so quiet?" I asked him.

He didn't say anything, at first, and just kept writing. I had about given up when he finally deigned to answer me. "I don't really have much to say."

"We all have something to say." I moved just a half step closer.

"I'm just not a social person, Sookie. But for what it's worth, it's nothing personal against you." His head finally raised and there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. "I like you very much."

Well shit. You could have knocked me over with a feather just then. He liked me? He liked me? He had a hell of a way of showing it. Before I could get too far ahead of myself, I slowed down and reconsidered what he most likely meant when he said he liked me. He probably just meant that I was a nice person, or someone he could get along with. It didn't mean he wanted to date me, or marry me, as my crazy brain was suddenly starting to picture. Just where in the hell did that come from anyway?

I tried to think of something to say to him to fill the awkward silence that had settled between us. I didn't want to scare him off but I didn't want to discourage him from ever speaking of himself again either. I remembered my plan to go to the John Steinbeck double feature the local movie theater was having a few days later and decided to toss out a quasi invitation to it.

"Well, if you're in the mood to be not social but not alone, there's a John Steinbeck double feature playing on Friday night at LoBrano's. I'll be there if you want some company." I didn't look at him when I said it for two reasons. First, I was afraid he'd get spooked and run screaming from the room. Second, I was afraid he'd look at me like I was nuts for even making the suggestion.

In my peripheral vision I thought I saw a hint of a smile on his face but he said nothing else. The fact that he gave me a genuine smile at the end of our lab and said goodbye to me made me think the conversation was a success. Perhaps I'd just taken a step in the right direction after all. So, I waited eagerly for Friday to come.

My gutsy move of initiating a conversation with Eric paid off quite a bit. It may not sound like much but he was saying hello to me in the halls after that. He would smile at me if we saw each other in the lunch room. We were a long way from being what anyone would consider friends but it was better than nothing. I was still constantly thinking about him and wondering what he was thinking about. He'd said he liked me very much but if that were true, why wouldn't he try to talk to me more? I couldn't quite fathom his reasons for being so silent. Okay, so he wasn't social. That didn't mean he had to be mute. And having a one on one conversation with me was just barely being social at all.

But, I respected his space and only attempted to pursuit a conversation with him on lab days. By the time Friday rolled around we'd exchanged plenty of greetings and smiles with one another. I wanted to corner him and find out if he would be at the theater later but I knew that would be asking for him to stay home. Imagine my surprise when Eric was waiting for me in the hall after class. We were alone in the hall since Miss Lindsay's classroom was sort of out of the way from one of the main halls of the school.

"Hi, Eric." I stopped in my tracks when I saw him standing there looking down at his feet.

His head snapped up and he smiled at me. "I was just wondering what time the movies are starting later on?"

An involuntary smile sprang up on my face and I could get it to go away no matter how hard I tried. When his smile didn't fade I took that as a positive sign. "Uh, I think The Grapes of Wrath starts at seven."

"And you'll be there?"

"I will." I wanted to ask if he would.

He nodded and said, "I guess I'll see you later, then."

I wondered, just for a moment, if I'd had a stroke. "Okay. Later." I gave a small wave and headed off towards my locker. Did I have a date with Eric Northman?

I wasn't too surprised when I arrived at the theater later to find there were only a few other people inside. I was obviously the only teenager in attendance in spite of the extra credit offered by Miss Leelan for anyone who brought in their movie stub. I would have gone to see the movies anyway because they were great but the added incentive of extra credit didn't deter me. I got a small popcorn and pulled a box of junior mints from my purse to mix them together once I was in my seat. A small orange soda sat at my feet. I tried not to look too nervous while I waited for Eric to appear.

I'd gotten to the theater ten minutes early. The movie would be starting any minute. An old news reel started to play as the lights went down. I felt a sinking sensation in my chest. Of course Eric wasn't coming. I'd just assumed he meant he'd be here. He hadn't actually said he would be. I'd picked a seat in the back to ensure we'd have a little more privacy if he showed but since it was becoming more and more clear me that wasn't happening, I started to gather my stuff to move more towards the middle. I had just stood up to change seats when the thick velvet curtain opened to reveal a wide-eyed Eric.

Relief flooded my body. When his eyes settled on me he smiled and started toward me. I flopped back into my seat and near bonked my head on the wall behind me. I put my soda down along with my purse. Eric settled into the seat next to me even though it made him look like even more of a giant than he normally did. He reached into the pocket of his jacket before removing it and pulled out a small bag. He opened it as quietly as he could and then pulled a chip from it. Kettle cooked potato chips. Interesting. The news reel ended and we settled into our seats to watch the movie. Neither of us spoke. We just sat there, glancing at one another from time to time. Even with my eyes trained on the screen I could feel when he looked at me. The weight of his stare pressed on me and I wondered why he didn't just say something to me.

"Want some?" I offered my popcorn to Eric who held up his chips.

"Have my own." He smiled gently.

"Yes, but does yours have junior mints in it?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

"You put junior mints in your popcorn? Why?"

"Because it's delicious, that's why. Try it." I thrust the bag toward him.

He looked pensive for a moment, as if weighing the repercussions of putting his hand in my bag. Like maybe I had a rabid pit bull waiting in the bottom to eat his hand, or something. I gave him a smile of encouragement. After only another seconds' hesitation, his hand slipped into the bag. A few seconds after that his long fingers were grasping at popcorn and traveling back to his mouth. His lips parted to reveal perfectly straight, white teeth. He dropped the snack into his mouth and chewed nervously, bracing himself for something disgusting.

I tried to keep my face blank so as not to force a reaction from him one way or another. He already knew what I thought. He mulled it over, clearly putting way too much thought into the snack before rendering his verdict.

"You're right. It's delicious." He smiled at me.

"I told you so." I stuck my tongue out at him.

I leaned down to get my soda and when I came up, Eric's face was much closer than it had been just seconds before. My heart skipped a beat before going into overtime and my breath caught in my throat. My eyes locked on his and before I knew what was happening, his lips brushed mine. Huh. Eric was nothing if not a conundrum. He couldn't tell me what kind of music he liked or what he wanted to do with his life after high school but he could kiss me in a dark movie theater. What was that about? Not that I was complaining, mind you, but it took me by surprise.

I took his popcorn and set it on the floor next to mine. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed up again. I put my palm on his cheek and he froze. My hand slipped down to his neck and pulled him closer to me. When our lips met a second time, there was no brushing. It was a full on lip lock and for someone who never had a girlfriend (at least according to public record), Eric was a damn good kisser. His lips were soft and full. He tasted like minty popcorn and something else that had to be just him. His long hair was unrestrained and smelled of milk and honey with just a hint of sweat. We kissed until we had to pull apart to breathe but rather than sitting back in our seats, our lips just found other places to land on each other.

I somehow ended up straddling Eric's knees. His hands settled on my hips and tried to pull me closer to him but the arm rests were blocking me from moving in any further. We stayed like that, kissing, nipping and trying to devour one another until the lights came up just a bit in between movies. I pulled back to find his lips swollen and I wondered if they were a little sore like mine were. His eyes were clouded over with lust and I was curious to see what his next move was going to be. We were both struggling to catch our breath. I was about to lean back into him when the velvet curtain opened again and an older couple walked into the theater.

I quickly moved back to my own seat and tried not to look like I'd just spent he last two hours making out with the boy sitting next to me. It's a good thing I'd already seen East of Eden before or I would have been disappointed to have missed it. I couldn't get my mind to focus on the movie and Eric holding my hand the whole time didn't really help. He attempted to relieve some of my tension by rubbing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb but that only made me think of what it would be like to have his hands on other parts of my body.

By the time the movie was over I felt like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point. Being that close to Eric for that long was both wonderful and torturous. I'd had the last two hours to consider whether or not this was a one time thing. I wanted more but his self-proclaimed loner status had me wondering if he was interested in something more than a smokin' hot make out session in the back of an old movie theater. My question was answered when we walked out of the theater together.

"This was fun. We should do it again sometime." Eric said once we were out on the street.

I zipped up my sweatshirt and stuffed my hands in my pockets. "You mean the movie part or the making out part?"

"Both."

I nibbled my lower lip and smiled. "I'd like that. Next week is Stephen King."

"I'll be here." Eric promised me as he took a step closer.

"Me too." I looked up at him, wondering if he was going to kiss me goodnight.

He surprised me again by raising my hand and kissing the back of it. "Goodnight, Sookie."

"Goodnight, Eric." I barely whispered.

I walked home floating on air.

I was just grabbing my book bag on Monday morning when the doorbell rang. It wasn't even seven thirty yet. Who would be coming over so early? I will admit my heart thumped a little harder at the prospect that Eric had come by to walk me to school. I would gladly forgo my usual ride with Jason to spend some alone time with the boy who made my toes curl when he kissed me. I slung the bag over my shoulder and went to the front door to see who was there.

"Alcide!" My eyes about popped out of my head. He was the last person I expected to see.

"Hey doll." He grinned at me with those big sparkling green eyes of his clearly happy to see me.

"What are you doing here?" Dumbfounded. Mystified. Stumped. Befuddled. Confused.

"Pop got transferred. He's going to be working in your Dad's division from now on." Alcide explained.

"That's great." I was genuinely happy to see a friendly face. "So then we'll be back in the same school, huh?"

"You know it. I was hoping you'd walk with me."

"Yeah, sure. Let me get my jacket and we'll head out." I went to the coat rack and got my coat.

Alcide Herveaux had been my next door neighbor back in Bon Temps. He was the very definition of the boy next door. He was polite, kind, well-mannered, studious, athletic and charismatic. He was the one friend I was sorry to leave behind when we moved. We'd dated for a short time when we were sophomores but had realized we were better off being just friends. We had chemistry with one another, no doubt about it, but that wasn't reason enough for either of us to stick together. Not to mention, we were both too focused on our goals beyond high school to really make one another a priority. I had dreams of medical school and Alcide was hoping for a football scholarship that would ultimately lead to him ending up in the NFL.

Because the split had been mutual we were able to salvage our friendship. We were still more affectionate with one another than we were with most people. I didn't think anything of it when his hand reached for mine. We walked to school hand in hand and I filled him in on the local gossip. It would be nice to have someone to confide in again. I hadn't realized how lonely I was until I saw Alcide's face. We laughed and joked and he regaled me with stories of the nonsense that had been going on back in Bon Temps.

"Arlene Fowler dropped out of school." Alcide announced to me.

"No she didn't!" I gasped.

"Yep. Word is she's got a bun in the oven."

I shook my head and said, "Well, that's not surprising. Every time you turn around she's with a new guy."

"I wish you could have seen the look on Rene's face when he found out. Apparently, he's the only guy she's ever dated who wouldn't give it up right away so there's a bit of a mystery as to who her baby's daddy is." Alcide explained.

"That's just awful." I came to a stop outside the school and pulled my hand from his. "You know, I never much cared for Arlene but I wouldn't wish that sort of trouble on a possum."

Alcide pulled me into a hug as he laughed and my arms went around him easily. "God, I missed you, Sook."

"I missed you, too." I pulled back and didn't try to dodge out of the way when he kissed me. It was a friendly peck, nothing more.

We smiled at each other and then resumed holding hands as we walked toward the school. I looked to my left just in time to see Eric standing on the corner, looking for all the world like I had just crushed him. Shit.

Eric wouldn't look at me in the hall when we passed each other. I didn't get a single smile or acknowledgment of my presence. By the time I got to AP Bio that afternoon, I felt terrible. I'd tried to flag him down more than once so I could explain my situation with Alcide. I could understand how he would misunderstand what he'd seen. I hadn't even considered the possibility that Eric might see us and think I had been hiding a boyfriend somewhere.

Yet, in just a few seconds I had managed to undo several weeks worth of progress with Eric. He completely ignored me in class and wouldn't give me the chance to explain anything to him. Usually he lingered a little when the bell rang on the hopes that we would walk out of the room together. Even if we didn't say anything to each other, I knew we both enjoyed the close proximity. That afternoon, though, Eric was out of his seat like someone had shot at him when the bell rang. He made a beeline for the door and with his long legs, there was no way for me to easily catch up to him.

I went by his locker, hoping to find him there but he was nowhere to be seen. Feeling defeated, I went to my own locker and deposited my books. I didn't have any homework for a change. I did, however, have an extra credit assignment to do for Miss Lindsay. I'd jumped at the chance to put together the trays we would need for our dissection lab the following week. So after I stopped in the lunch room for a soda, I headed back to her classroom to get started on the project I'd agreed to.

Miss Lindsay showed me where to put the trays when I was finished and I was just about to get started when Eric walked into the room looking crestfallen and angry at the same time. Miss Lindsay walked him through the same procedure she'd just gone over with me and then left her key for the supply closet so we could lock up the trays when we were finished. I had no idea Eric had volunteered for the project as well.

"You two stay out of trouble." Miss Lindsay winked at us before leaving the classroom.

Eric pulled an iPod from his book bag and began to unwind the ear buds. "Eric, wait." I reached for his hand before he could put the buds in. When I touched him he jerked away like my hand was on fire.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about. You're clearly with that other guy. What else is there to say?"

"You could let me explain what you saw. It's not what you think."

"So I didn't see you holding hands? I didn't see you hugging him? I didn't see you kiss him? I made all of that up in my own head, right?" Eric glared at me, his blue eyes blazing.

"No, you didn't make that up." I whispered, my eyes dropping to the floor.

"Then there's nothing to talk about, Sookie. You have a boyfriend."

"Eric, I don't have a boyfriend!" I yanked his iPod out of his hands when he moved to put his ear buds in. "He's a friend from my hometown. His father works for the same company as mine. We've been neighbors for most of our lives until my Dad got transferred over the summer. Yes, Alcide and I are friends. Yes, we did date for a little while a few years ago but I promise you there is nothing like that going on between us now. We're just friends."

"Like how we're just friends, Sookie? Do you take him to movie theaters and make out with him, too?" Eric accused.

I was back to being dumbfounded with a side of hurt. "Now you're just being mean."

"This is exactly why I don't get involved with other people, Sookie. You can't trust anyone and it's always the people you think you can who end up hurting you the most."

"Well I'm sorry I hurt you, Eric. That wasn't what I was trying to do. I like you. Friday meant something to me. It meant everything to me. Please believe me." I pleaded with him, holding his iPod hostage.

But rather than saying anything, Eric just started to assemble the trays we'd agreed to put together. We had a 120 of them to make and the next couple of days to get it done. I surrendered his iPod to him but he just left it on the table. We worked in silence with a thick tension between us. It wasn't eased any when Alcide made an appearance.

"Hey doll. I'm heading home. You want an escort?" Alcide offered from the doorway. I didn't know how he'd found me but I was wishing he hadn't.

I looked to Eric who was clenching his large hand into a fist. His face was flushed with anger. Part of me wanted to prove the point that Alcide and I were just friends and there was nothing more to it. The other part, the part that wanted to be sure Eric would show up for movie night on Friday, didn't want to chance angering him any further.

"Thanks for the offer, Alcide, but Eric and I have work to do here." I smiled at him with a hint of sadness in my eyes.

Alcide looked about as conflicted as I felt but then he must have flashed on the things I'd told him earlier in the day. "This is Eric?"

"Yep, this is Eric. Eric, this is Alcide Herveaux, my friend from Bon Temps." I nudged Eric. He refused to turn around.

"Nice to meet you, man. Sookie was talking my ear off about you this morning."

That seemed to get Eric's attention. He looked at me and I smiled. Eric's demeanor brightened some and he finally turned to face Alcide. "It's nice to meet you." Eric offered his hand.

Alcide stepped forward and shook it. "Look, Sook, I gotta be getting home but I can walk with you in the morning if you want?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. I'll call you later." I promised him.

"Cool. See you around, Eric." Alcide turned to walk out. "Oh, and just so you know, I love this girl. You break you heart and I'll break your neck."

Typical Alcide. I shook my head in awe as he walked out. I hadn't even fully recovered from his friendly threat when my head was being turned so I was facing Eric. His lips crashed down on mine and I felt like I was being devoured. I was too stunned to react right away but it became very obvious very quick that my body would be calling all the shots. My head was still a little pissed off at Eric for not giving me the benefit of the doubt but that voice was quickly silenced by the rest of me. The rest of me very much wanted Eric as much as he wanted me. If I was to be completely honest with myself, there was something reassuring about the jealousy that had risen up in him. At least he cared enough to not want to see me with someone else.

Eric picked me up and set me on the lab table behind me so we were evenly matched in height. My legs wrapped around his waist and his hands started traveling my body. Our lips stayed locked while our tongues battled until we had to take a break to breathe. His hands slid up my shirt and kneaded my breasts. I gasped against his skin and nibbled his earlobe before pressing kisses to his neck. He pulled me closer to him and I could feel the definition of his stomach muscles under his sweater. My breath caught when I realized all I could think of was getting us naked somewhere.

His hands pushed down the lacy cups of my bra and my heart hammered in my chest. "Eric, not here." I whispered to him.

He picked me up off the table and carried me to the closet we were supposed to stack the trays in. Was I really going to have sex in a supply closet at school? The answer that seemed to be yes, since I couldn't seem to tell my body to stop. Alcide and I had slept together a few times before we called it quits. I don't think it was about love or this burning need for one another, so much as we were curious. I trusted him and I loved him as a friend. I knew he would stop if I told him I wasn't comfortable with it and he knew I would do the same for him. There wasn't anything really magical about it and it certainly hadn't made me fall in love with him or crave him. It had just been an experience.

But then I realized I didn't want this to be just another experience. I wanted it to mean something with Eric. "Eric, wait." I tugged on his hair to get him away from my neck, as much as I liked having him there.

"What? What's wrong?" He looked at me all dazed and confused.

"It's not that I don't want you because I do. I just don't want it to be here." I looked around at all of the bottles full of deadly chemicals and the dirty desk he'd had to put me on if we were really going to do it. It wasn't appealing.

He surprised me by saying, "You're right. I'm sorry. I've just wanted this since the minute I saw you on the first day of school."

"You did?" I was shocked. I never would have known.

"Of course I did. Sookie, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. When I saw that I made you nervous it was weird for me. Most girls sort of throw themselves at me but you didn't."

"Modest much?" I teased him and he smiled.

"For what it's worth, I never paid any attention to the rest of them." Eric shrugged, ignoring my jab at his ego.

"So what makes me so special?" I really wondered what it was about me that had caught Eric's eye.

"You're going to think this is lame." Eric set me down and looked embarrassed.

"No I won't." I grabbed his hand and squeezed.

He hesitated for a minute before saying, "That first lab we did together, do you remember when you handed me that slide we were studying?"

Oh, yes, I remembered it only too well. "Yes, I remember."

"When you touched me it felt like my skin was on fire. It was all I could think about for days afterward. That had never happened to me before. Any other girl who had put her hand on my arm or tried to touch me just made me cringe and recoil but not you. You're different. You're smart and funny and you're patient. You don't pressure me for anything and I appreciate that very much."

Eric was definitely a different breed of teenage male. "You know, I think I like all the same things about you?"

We smiled at each other and his head dipped down to mine to kiss me. We stayed there in the supply closet for a while just making out before we decided we'd better get back to work on the trays we'd promised to put together. Eric walked me home afterward.

"Where do you live, Eric?" I asked once I was on my front porch.

"Just a few blocks that way." He pointed to the south, which was completely opposite of the direction we'd walked in.

"So you live closer to the school?"

"The block behind it, actually."

My mouth hung open for a second. "You should have said so. I could have walked home by myself."

"I would haven't asked if I didn't want the honor."

Gah! He was the cutest thing in the world. He was standing on the walkway while I was perched on the top step. I leaned forward and grabbed his face to kiss him. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes and I promise not to freak out if I see you with Alcide."

"I promise not to kiss him anymore."

Eric's face lit up just a bit and then he pressed a kiss to my forehead before leaving. I waved to him once more before he disappeared around the corner and I went inside my house.

Over the next couple of days rumors started to swirl that Eric and I were a couple. We hadn't changed our routine very much at school, although he did come sit next to me at lunch one day. Some of those dreams I'd been having started coming true and I started to wonder if I was psychic, or just the luckiest girl in the world. Eric would find a way to sneak up on me in the hallway and pull me into an alcove or a dark spot where no one would see us and we'd stand there kissing like he was going off to war until we had to pull apart to get to class.

Our lab on Thursday was like fifty minutes of foreplay that had me climbing the walls by the time the bell rang. The fact that we were dissecting fetal pigs really didn't seem to bother either one of us. We focused less on the autopsy we were doing and more on the fact that we had to stand so close together. I brushed up against him on purpose and he would stand behind me, pressing against my back. More than once I wiggled against him and heard him try to stifle a groan. The build up of tension between us we reaching a fever pitch and I had no doubt that by the time we got to the movie theater the following night, we would both be ready to explode.

To take some of the edge off I invited Eric over to my house after school. He was a bit nervous about meeting my parents but it was going to happen sooner or later. My big mouth brother had already blabbed to Mom that he'd seen Eric and I kissing on the porch on Monday and Mom had been nagging me to bring Eric around so she could meet him herself. Thursday was the perfect day for Eric to drop by because Mom would be at the library doing volunteer work until at least five. She did a children's story hour on those days. Jason would be at football practice and Dad didn't get home from work until six. We would have about an hour and a half to ourselves before we had to look presentable and keep our hands and lips off one another.

I lead Eric into the house through the kitchen door and dropped my bookbag there. We kicked off our shoes and I showed him around the house. It wasn't anything special but it was home. I missed our farmhouse back in Bon Temps and I told Eric as much.

"That house has been in my family for generations. Living here with someone else's history just feels weird." I explained to him.

"My sister travels a lot. I don't know how she does it." Eric offered.

"A sister? You have a sister?"

"Don't look so surprised."

"It's just... well, I heard that you were an only child." I was ashamed to admit it and Eric looked might pleased with himself to find out I'd asked around about him.

"You heard, huh? What else did you hear?"

"A lot of things that are obviously not true, so can we please just skip it?"

"Oh, I don't think so. In fact, I am prepared to torture it out of you if necessary." There was the devious glint in his eyes and I took off running.

He chased me all around my house and up the stairs until we were enclosed in my bedroom. He tackled me back on my bed and proceeded to tickle me until I was begging for mercy. I was either going to throw up or pee my pants if he didn't stop, I was laughing so hard. All of the wiggling certainly had an affect on both of us and before long he had his hands on me for a very different reason. Our clothes came off at an alarming rate and before either of us knew it, we were naked on my bed.

I took in his body and trailed my fingers up and down his chiseled chest and stomach. "Someone told me that you always wore sweaters because you were all scarred from being trapped in a house fire."

Eric laughed loudly and said, "Obviously that's not true."

"Obviously." I agreed, feeling oddly comfortable being naked underneath him like I was.

"What else did they say?"

"Do you really want to talk about that right now?" I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him closer to me.

"It can wait." He ascended and then lowered himself to kiss me. "Sookie, wait a second." He pulled back suddenly.

"Is something wrong?" I sucked in as much air as I could before he attacked me again.

"I've never done this before." He looked down at my body with an interesting blend of want and anxiety in his eyes.

"So the part I heard about you never having a girlfriend was true?" I touched his cheek gently.

"Never met a girl that mattered before you." He looked me in the eyes when he said it.

I suddenly felt a little bit like a floozy for having sex with Alcide when I wasn't in love with him. Wait, did that mean I loved Eric? I couldn't process that at the moment. I would have to think about it later. If I didn't, I knew it was very possible that I would. If I did, it was too soon to say it. Better to just let the idea float around in my head.

"Have you?" Eric asked me.

I bit my lip, feeling guilty for not being able to say I was in the same boat as him. "I have." He deflated a little bit at my confession and then pulled back. "Hey, don't do that."

"I don't want to disappoint you." Eric muttered as he sat on the edge of my bed.

"You won't, Eric, I promise. You just being you is enough for me." I got up on my knees behind him and hugged him around his neck.

I kissed the side of his face and tried to will him back to lie down beside me. He was stubborn about it, though, and it wasn't until my hand gripped his erection and started to stroke that I really got his attention back. He groaned and relaxed a little bit against me.

"Sookie, you have to stop." He finally panted and I did as he asked.

"Do you want this, Eric? You and me? Is that what you want?" I whispered in his ear.

"Yes."

"Then what are you waiting for?" I bit his ear and then laid back on the bed.

Eric turned his face to see me waiting there for him. He picked up his pants and grabbed his wallet out of one of the pockets. The appearance of a foil packet told me he was not only prepared but had worked out whatever demons were tormenting him in his head. He put the packet down next to me and arranged himself between my legs. Our lips met again but didn't stay connected for very long. He trailed kisses down my body before setting up camp between my thighs. He looked up at me with a nervous excitement on his face and I nodded for him to continue.

While it was true that Alcide and I had sex, we hadn't been all that creative about it and he'd certainly never done what Eric seemed intent on doing. I couldn't help but watch as his mouth moved from one thigh to the other before finally moving to my center. My hips raised off the bed to feel his tongue flicking against me. One of his hands came up to hold me down while his lips closed around my clit and started to suck. I cried out loudly and as if they had a mind of their own, my hands went into his hair. He growled, sending vibrations through me in the most amazing way. His eyes met mine, watching the expressions on my face as one of his fingers slid inside of me. My hips bucked again but he held me down.

"Oh, God! Eric, don't stop!" I felt my walls starting to pulse around his finger and without warning, he added a second.

His tongue went back to flicking against me and with every move he made I got closer and closer to feeling like I was going to come undone. It didn't take much longer for my orgasm to find me and leave my body tingling so I felt like I was floating there on my bed. Eric kissed his way up my body, pausing at my breasts for a few seconds before moving all the way up to claim my mouth with his. I could barely breathe. The kisses were sloppy and wet and wonderful.

"Eric, please, I'm ready." I locked eyes with him. He reached for the condom he'd left next to me. His eyes didn't leave mine as he tore it open. "Let me?" I took the condom from its wrapper and looked between us.

I gulped at the size of him. I worried for a moment that he might not fit but then just told him he would have to go slowly, something I knew might be difficult for him. I rolled the condom on him and then guided him to me, not that he needed it, I'm sure. He pushed into me slowly, going inch by inch until he was as deep as he could get. Our eyes stayed locked, both of us watching the other as our bodies fit together. It was a roll of my hips that let him know I was ready for him to move. He pulled back slowly with an expression of awe on his face, his eyes drifting down my body to see where we were joined. He pushed back in and I moaned loudly.

I wasn't expecting him to last long. Lord knows Alcide hadn't and he hadn't thoroughly prepared me the way Eric had. I lifted my hips to meet each of his thrusts after that and I was surprised when he reached between us to rub circles on my clit. For someone who claimed to be a virgin, he sure seemed to know what he was doing. Eric still finished before I did, but I didn't mind that one bit. He didn't stop rubbing those circles until I was clamping down around him again. He grunted when he pulled out of me a few seconds later and flopped down next to me on my bed.

"That was..." I didn't even have words for it.

Apparently, Eric didn't either because he decided it pour all of his thoughts into kisses. He pulled me on top of me and kissed me until I heard the garage door open below us. Then we had to scramble to get ourselves dressed and my sex hair tamed down before Mom caught on to what we'd been up to. I was just yanking down my t-shirt when Mom called out to me from the laundry room.

"I'll be down in a minute, Mom! We have company!" I alerted her.

I ran a brush through my hair and then passed it to Eric so he could do the same. I pulled my hair up into a sloppy bun that wouldn't make Mom at all suspicious and then tugged Eric downstairs with me. Mom was in the kitchen pulling out ingredients for dinner but stopped to turn and take in the sight of Eric and me.

"Mom, this is Eric Northman, my-"

"Boyfriend." Eric finished for me and slipped his arm around me waist.

I smiled up at him and said, "Yeah, Eric's my boyfriend."

Mom actually giggled at us and said, "Well, Eric, it's nice to meet you, but no more alone time with my daughter in her bedroom."

"Mom!" I turned bright red even if she had every right to be concerned. After what I'd just done with Eric, there was no way we weren't going to be doing that again or as often as possible.

"Yes, ma'am." Eric agreed with a polite nod and I wanted to elbow him in the ribs.

"Will you be staying for dinner, Eric?" Mom asked.

Eric looked to me to see what I wanted and I nodded. "Yes, I think I will."

"Oh, good. Corbett will be happy to meet you. Just make sure you keep that 'I just got laid smirk' off your face and you'll do fine." Mom laughed at us.

I hoped the floor would open up and swallow me. How did she know what we'd been doing? Maybe it wasn't that hard to figure out but did she have to say something about it? Jesus. It wasn't until I excused Eric and I to go do our homework that I figured out how she knew.

Eric's shirt was on inside out.