Valentine's Diner

Chapter 43 - December 28th, 2003

Sookie nervously walks up and down the sidewalk across Valentine's Diner. She sees her friends sitting there, talking and laughing. Maybe she shouldn't go in there and ruin the moment? But she missed them, even Clara. 'C'mon,' Thomas says and hooks his arm in Sookie's. 'Where did you come from?' Sookie asks surprised, trying to not go with her brother. 'I live here,' Thomas says. 'No, you live in Rose Mount.' Thomas looks his sister death in the eye. 'Go inside, talk to them, they missed you.'

Sookie looks at the door with the OPEN sign. 'Do I need to push you inside?' Thomas asks seriously. 'No,' Sookie sadly says and lets go of her brother's arm. She opens the door and looks around. Valentine looks up surprised, so do her friends. Maia jumps in her best friends arms. 'Finally!' She says loudly and relieved. Sookie hugs her best friend back. Maia starts crying. 'I missed you so much,' she says and looks at her friend. She takes Sookie's face in her hands to check if she's real. 'I missed you too,' Sookie says crying. 'Oh!' Maia sighs and hugs her friend again.

'Sookie,' Valentine says as the girls stop hugging. 'My child, come here,' Val starts crying and spreads his arms to hug his third "child". They give each other a firm hug. 'Do you like the aprons?' Sookie asks. 'Like? I love them!' Valentine lets out and twirls around in his Donut apron. 'I have a new cat, her name is Donut,' Valentine smiles. 'I know,' Sookie smiles. 'I'd love to meet her later.' 'Go on up whenever you want,' Valentine smiles, lays a hand on her shoulder and then greets another costumer.

Sookie looks at Mateo, Clara and the other young man she couldn't identify earlier. 'Mateo,' Sookie says with a smile. 'I might as well hug you. Thank you for your kind letter,' he says and hugs Sookie. 'Thank you for being the best boyfriend to my best friend,' Sookie says. 'I don't need to get all the credit. Maia is the best girlfriend,' Mateo smiles happily. 'Aww,' Maia says and kisses the guy on the cheek.

'You got a letter?' Clara asks surprised after the sentence registered in her brain. 'Yeah, didn't I tell you?' Maia says a little confused. 'No.' 'I wrote letters to explain why I left,' Sookie says akwardly. 'Oh,' Clara says disappointed. 'Why did you leave?' Caleb asks. 'I'm sorry, who are you?' 'Caleb, Clara's fiancé.' Caleb extends a hand. 'Fiancé?' Sookie asks a bit confused, leaving Caleb's hand hanging in the air. 'Yes!' Clara happily says and show her the ring. 'Oh well, congratulations.' 'Thanks!' Clara smiles.

'So why did you leave? Clara seemed very upset about it. Is that how you treat your best friend?' Caleb asks. Sookie looks at him. Is that young man serious? 'I didn't feel right in my mind. If I would've stayed, I'd probably jumped of a bridge,' Sookie says with a dark tone in her voice. 'Jeez, you don't have to tell every dark detail of your life,' Caleb rolls his eyes. What an ass.

Maia takes a seat while Mateo and Sookie wait at the counter for a coffee. 'I'm glad you are back. Maia talked about you a lot when you where gone and I really want to get to know her best friend better,' Mateo kindly says. 'Likewise,' Sookie smiles. She hears Clara laugh and looks over her shoulder to look at her. 'What do we think about Caleb?' Sookie whispers to Mateo. 'Oh, I think he's an ass. When they first met, he was flirting with Maia,' Mateo says. 'So we are on the same team.' 'Yep.'

Sookie thanks Valentine for the coffee and then leaves. On her way home she hears someone calling her. 'Sookie, wait!' Clara shouts. Sookie sighs and turns around to look at her friend. 'Thank you,' Clara says. 'For what?' 'For not telling Maia I broke up with you.' Sookie hums and looks at her feet. 'What? Are you mad I'm with someone else?' Clara asks with a frown, studying her friend. 'No, I'm with someone else too,' Sookie says and rises her chin. 'Oh, good for you,' Clara says a little jealous.

They are silent for a while. 'Do you ... Do you think we can be friends again?' Clara carefully asks. 'Sure,' Sookie smiles. 'Can I have a hug? I, too, missed my friend,' Clara carefully asks. Sookie hugs the girl she once loved very much. 'Bye, have fun with your fiancé,' Sookie says pronouncing the last word in a fancy way. 'Ha, I will,' Clara smiles and walks away.

Once Sookie is home, she decides to call her father. 'Hey, kiddo! How are you?' Robert asks on the other side of the ocean. 'Fine. How are you? Aren't you bored with me gone?' Sookie chuckles. 'No, not at all. Adrian made me make an American christmas dinner, because his big sister would have had one.' 'Ah and mom made Greek food,' Sookie jokes. They both laugh.

'Adrian misses you, we all do.' 'I miss you too, but it was time to come back. I'll come visit in a few months if that's okay?' 'Of course!' It's silent for a moment. 'How is Alexei?' 'Good, good. He's here if you want to talk to him?' 'No, no, that's alright.' It silent again. 'Dad? Is he?' 'No... He left as soon as he came back from the airport. Alexei said he looked miserable. He tried to offer him to stay, but Erik was to upset to even hear the words.' 'Oh,' Sookie says a little disappointed. 'You'll see him again. If you are meant to be, then you are meant to be.' 'Since when are you a romantic?' Sookie asks ignoring the subject. 'I don't know.'

They talk about some little things and then hang up the phone. 'It's good that you two bonded,' Anna says, sitting on a kitchen chair. 'Were you listening, mom?' Sookie asks with a grin and takes a seat across her mother. 'No,' Anna smiles michieviously. Then there is an awkward silence. 'So no word from Erik?' Anna asks. 'Nope,' Sookie says and tries to hold back her tears. 'What happened, honey? Why didn't he come with you?' Sookie just shrugs and goes to her room where her eyes let out some waterfalls.