"Steven, I don't even want to hear it. Just leave." Jackie tried to keep her anger from showing on her face, but she failed.
"Jackie… I know you're mad at me. Can we just talk about it…or something?"
"A tear slid down Jackie's cheek. "No, Steven. I don't want to talk about tit. I just want you to go away." Hyde and Jackie were in the main room of the basement. Fez had tried to intrude a couple of times, hoping they were doing something other than talking, but Hyde yelled at him enough that Fez wasn't going to try again.
Realizing that Jackie wasn't going to talk to him any more, Hyde got up and left the basement. When he went into the kitchen, Eric and Donna were sitting at the table and Kitty was taking something out of the oven. Eric and Donna knew that Hyde and Jackie had been fighting, but Kitty didn't.
"Oh, Steven, Samantha called you again!" Kitty told Hyde in her cheery voice. Eric shook his fervently at his mother.
"Thanks Mrs Forman, but I really have no interest in talking to her." Jackie had caught Hyde talking to her the day before. She had called him to ask if he would take her back, because her latest husband left her even quicker than Hyde had. Hyde had of course said no, but Jackie didn't believe him.
Hyde had thought about letting Jackie talk to Sam herself, but he knew she wouldn't want to. Hyde felt stuck. He knew he couldn't buy Jackie presents or take her to fancy restaurants to make her feel better like Kelso had when they were dating, but he wanted to make it up to her somehow.
When Eric and Donna left, Hyde sat down at the table.
"Well, Steven, I can tell something's troubling you. Is it Samantha?" Kitty asked gently.
Hyde signed. "No, Sam is…Sam's fine. She left a month ago and I don't want anything to do with her anymore. But I talked to her yesterday because she wanted to get back together. I mean, I made it clear I didn't want to, but I don't know… I don't know what Jackie heard. I don't know if she heard me tell Sam no, she only knows why I was talking to her, and she's upset. Mrs Forman… now that Jackie and I are back together, I don't want something like this to come between us." Hyde didn't normally talk to people about his problems, but he felt comfortable telling Kitty. She wouldn't go and tell everyone else like his friends would if he confided in one of them.
Kitty didn't give particularly helpful advice, but she tried, and Hyde talked to her more just to be able to talk than to get input. Kitty went back to baking, and Hyde was on his way to the basement when he saw Jackie crying onto the shoulder of a bewildered Kelso.
When Hyde saw Jackie crying, he retreated slowly back up the stairs and walked out of the house to his car. He was worried about Jackie. There was no reason for her to be crying to Kelso and refusing to talk to Hyde. There was nothing wrong with the conversation he'd had with Sam, seeing as he said no to Sam's proposition. Hyde knew Jackie tended to overreact, but there was no way this was that big of deal. At least that's what Hyde was telling himself.
Hyde drove to the Hub and sat down with Eric, Donna, and Fez. Eric was trying to talk to Donna about something geeky and annoying, and Fez was focused on eating candy. Donna looked away from Eric and up at Hyde.
"Hey, what's going on?" she asked. Hyde signed.
"I don't know," he told Donna, "Jackie's overreacting, and…whatever." Donna nodded. Eric looked over.
"Sorry, man." Hyde shrugged. Really, he knew that Jackie wasn't completely overreacting. She was as upset as he would be if Kelso asked to get back together with Jackie, thought he'd never admit it if he was upset. He had to keep his zen.
Eric and Donna were talking, Fez was still eating candy, and Hyde was thinking. He honestly didn't know what to do to convince jackie that he loved her, not Sam or anyone else. He had never loved Sam. The whole time he had been with her, it was Jackie he loved. He just didn't know how to make her believe it.
Later that day, Hyde called Jackie. She picked up on the first ring.
"Hello?" She sounded fine. She didn't sound upset or angry at all. That could be just because she didn't know it was Hyde who had called, but he hoped it was because she had calmed down about the conversation he'd had with Sam.
"Hey, Jackie… Listen, I really don't know what to say. I don't know what you think is going on with me and Sam, but really, it's nothing. And I know you're probably not going to believe me, but I wish you would, because that's the truth. Nothing's going on. I don't even know why Sam thought it was worth calling me, because she knows I'm with you…" Hyde could tell he was rambling just a bit, but he wanted Jackie to understand that nothing was happening. He wanted Jackie to be happy, and he wanted Jackie to know that he wasn't going to hurt her again.
"Steven… I want to believe you. But I've had other girls chosen over me before, and I feel like I can't…I can't be sure that you really mean what you're saying." Jackie sighed. "I'm sorry, Steven." Then she hung up. Steven laid the receiver back in its cradle and went back to the basement. He got a beer out of the shower and turned on the TV. The Price is Right was on, the first of many seemingly meaningless things to come that would surely remind him of Jackie.
Hyde turned off the television. He didn't want to lose Jackie again. He ran his hand through his curly mass of hair. He wasn't going to let himself screw this up.
The next day, everyone was in the basement watching someone on television. Jackie, who would normally sit on Hyde's lap, was on the couch next to Donna. Her eyes were faintly red from crying, but she had mostly masked her pain.
Hyde felt terrible. He could understand why Jackie felt like she couldn't trust him, but he wanted to convince her that he was not going to leave her. He felt like he blew whatever chance he had with Jackie. He shouldn't have even picked up the phone when Sam called.
Hyde, in the midst of his thinking, remembered he had to go to work. He got up and walked to his bedroom to get his keys. Kelso looked up.
"Hey, where you going, Hyde?" Kelso asked.
"Work."
"Oh, yeah!" Kelso grinned. "You have a job! I forgot 'cause you always look like a bum... Oh, BURN!" Hyde leaned over and hit Kelso on the arm. "Ow!" Kelso put a hand to his bruised arm. Hyde walked out of the basement and over to his work. He just wanted to drive and drive until he figured out what to do.
Jackie was confused. And angry. And hurt. But mainly, she was confused. She wanted so much to believe Steven, to trust that he was hers and only hers. But she had been hurt before, and she wasn't prepared to let that happen anymore. She wanted to know that Steven really, truly, honestly loved her.
Steven had been telling her that he and Sam had nothing going on between them. But she couldn't believe that. The scene a couple days ago had been playing over and over in her mind.
Steven picked up the phone on the second ring. "Hello?" His back was turned to the door and he didn't see Jackie open it. He said nothing for a few seconds. Jackie wondered who was talking on the other end of the call. After a pause, Steven distinctly said, "You want to get back together...?" Jackie didn't wait to her the rest of the conversation. She turned and ran, leaving the door wide open.
If she had stayed at the door, she would've heard Hyde tell Sam he loved Jackie, not her. But she was too quick to leave. And now she was buried in her past and present pain, and she couldn't see a way out. She wanted to believe that she wasn't so scarred that she couldn't trust anyone again, or that she was just exaggerating her feelings about what happened. But in truth, she just didn't know if she could believe that Hyde loved only her.
Jackie felt weight lift off the couch, and that pulled her back to reality. She looked around at everyone getting up to leave. "Where are you guys going?" she asked.
"The Hub," Donna told her, "Didn't you hear us talking about it?"
"Oh...yeah..." Donna looked at Jackie expectantly, waiting for her to get up and join the group.
"Are...are you coming?" she asked.
Jackie looked around. "Um, no... I think I'm just going to stay here for a while." Donna shrugged and walked out the door behind Eric. Jackie sighed as the door swung shut. She just felt lost. Jackie had honestly hoped that when she agreed to get back together with Steven, he was going to be with just her. No one else. But she was stupid to have thought that. She couldn't trust Steven.
Jackie leaned over and laid down on the couch. She closed her eyes and almost fell asleep when Steven walked in. She sat upright and looked at him standing in the doorway.
"Hey," he said softly. Jackie shook her head slightly and laid back down. She listened to Steven's footsteps as he walked back to his bedroom. He reemerged seconds later. "You need a ride to the Hub?" he asked. Jackie shook her head.
"No," she told him. She didn't want to be with people right now. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts.
Jackie stood up and walked over to the deep freeze. She reached a hand into the cold and pulled out a popsicle. It turned out to be a fudgesicle. The Formans rarely bought them, and when they did, Steven normally claimed them for himself or for Jackie. Jackie looked down and saw the bright wrapper labeled "Jackie." She threw it back into the deep freeze and stomped back over to the couch.
She didn't know why she had even cared for Steven at all. It was foolish to think that he was different now, that he really loved her. She wished that she didn't still love him.
Jackie walked back to where Steven kept his beer. It would annoy him that she took a can, but she wanted just one. She wasn't going to drink a lot, as she felt like doing, as she knew Steven did when he was upset. She just wanted one. Or two.
No, no. Just one. Jackie Burkhart didn't drink her sadness away. She just buried it inside.
Hyde was zoning out at the Hub. He didn't know why he'd come. He didn't care about anything happening there. He would've been just fine in his bedroom in the basement while Jackie threw her pity party on the couch. Except that it killed him to be so close to her and not be able to comfort her.
Jackie was lost in her thoughts on the couch in the basement. She wished she could know what Steven was thinking. Did he know how much he was hurting her? Did he care? Did he still want Sam, that boyfriend-stealing bitch? Would he tell Jackie if she asked?
Hyde stood up from the table. "I'll see you guys later..." he mumbled as he walked towards the door. No one seemed to care that he was leaving. He got into his El Camino and drove away from the Hub, hoping Jackie would still be there. He had nothing to say to her that he hadn't already said, but he was done not talking with her.
Jackie rolled over on the couch. She wished Steven could prove to her that he loved her and only her, but she had convinced herself that Steven didn't feel anything for her anymore. Jackie was lying on the couch feeling sorry for herself when she heard the door creak open. She lifted her head up off the couch and saw Steven walking over to her.
"Jackie. I'm sorry. I know...I know how awful you must feel, because I feel the same way. And I know that it's hard for you to trust me after how I've treated you in the past, but-" Hyde took off his glasses and sat down next to Jackie. "-you've got to realize how much I love you and how terrible I feel that I ever hurt you." It seemed like Jackie didn't believe him, and while that killed Hyde, he knew that Jackie had every right to be so upset with him. He just hoped that she could find it in her heart to forgive him.
Jackie looked into Steven's eyes. His eyes could betray how he felt, and after listening to Steven talk, Jackie felt it becoming easier to trust him. She thought about how she had reacted to the conversation he'd had with Sam. It wasn't fair to Steven that she assumed the worst. While Jackie's pain wasn't completely healed, and she didn't know if it ever would be, she knew that she had to give Steven another chance.
"Steven...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did. I love you, too, and I don't want to let Sam get in the way of that."
After hearing Jackie respond, Hyde leaned over and kissed her. He knew that he still had to prove to Jackie that she could trust him, but for now, it was okay. Hyde was just glad that, hopefully, the worst was over.