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jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Laura was never a fan of hanging around The Hub, preferring the mall or some other local hangout. But most of those were outdoors and frigid winter temps with the falling snow didn't allow for it, and the guys refused to be at the mall.

She was Laura Hurston, her best friend Tammy Dunst, they shouldn't be seen at such a shabby place. How could their boyfriends think to take them here for a double date? Surrounded by the losers they often made fun of.

"I'm not a fan of this color," she told her best friend, looking at her deep red nails, as her boyfriend and Tammy's flavor of the week talked about football.

"Red is your color!" thrilled Tammy, who always sucked up to her, it's what made their friendship work so well.

And as long as Tammy kept her slutty mitts off of her Scott, it probably always would.

"The shade is too dark, almost a burgundy," Laura said. Taking a sip of her hot chocolate, she grimaced, it was cheap and lacked marshmallows or whipped cream.

"Not a chance, doll," a new deep voice said, "you're not putting snow down my shirt."

Looking over, she sneered and shared a disgusted look with Tammy. It was her; Jackie Burkhart, Laura's rival since starting high school. Nothing she did had ever got her the upper hand—not in looks, not in cheerleading, not by sleeping with Michael Kelso while they'd dated, not even by dating the popular football star Scott when Jackie began slumming it with the dirty hippie. And it was only due to Jackie quitting that Laura was top dog in cheerleading.

"Aw, man! That would been a great burn. A frozen burn!" Michael Kelso's excited shout echoed The Hub. It also drew the gaze of every female in the restaurant, even she couldn't resist checking the ever handsome idiot out.

"You would need a heating pad for that burn!" giggled their pet foreigner, whose name she never cared to learn, said as he went to sit at the table with Jackie and Donna.

Rolling her eyes, Laura shot a look at her friend. "What freaks!"

"I know," Tammy nodded eagerly, "she's so tall, and her hair is so red. It isn't right. Y'know, I bet that's why Jackie likes to be seen in public with her, it makes her look even better."

Well… Nobody ever claimed that Tammy was smart. Just pretty. And easy.

She was unable to stop gawking at this group of losers (if you took away Kelso and Jackie). Laura told herself it was because Tammy was rarely good for conversation and her own boyfriend wasn't entertaining her with any date-like activities to allow her to show off.

In the distraction of the other three putting the food on the table, Donna was able to toss what looked like a slightly melted snowball down her geeky boyfriend's shirt. Everyone in The Hub got a laugh at his girlish shrieks and flails.

"Doing a scene from the Nutcracker, Forman?" Hyde mocked, as he seated himself on the booth next to Jackie, sliding their order closer. Even she couldn't help but giggle, public humiliation was a sport for her.

"Ah-burn!" yelled the foreigner in sync with Kelso's louder "BURN!"

"You, little lady, are in big trouble." Forman said, as he tried to look casual while taking his seat.

"Oh, please Eric," sneered Jackie, now curled into her hippie, with his arm around her. "Like you could do anything about it. If I remember correctly, she's your protector."

Hyde huffed a chuckle and pressed a kiss to the tiny girl's temple. "Good one."

Laura looked away from them. It had always driven her crazy that the town's rebel treated Jackie like she was made of glass and precious, protective and possessive of her in equal measure. When her perfect looking, popular around the town boyfriend, who touted his love for her in public, rarely ever gave physical affection unless it was sexual.

Right this moment his chair was a good distance from her own as he chatted with a teammate about the upcoming football game. His eyes also followed every decent looking female around mostly focusing on their chests and butts. And once alone he'd want to go somewhere to do it. But Jackie? Her hippie boyfriend sat cuddled with her in a booth, bestowing her affection and not once checking out the other girls.

It made her eyes burn with tears she wouldn't shed, and insides burn with envy.

"Oh. Ha, ha, ha! Please, share more of your wit with us, devil!"

"To be fair, Eric, you do hide behind me a lot." Donna teased, making their table laugh or smile.

Pointing a fry at him, Hyde smirked. "She's got a point, Forman."

"Well, that's better than being under Satan's spell!" Forman's voice raised a pitch, not really helping him.

"Eric, just because you wear the skirt in your relationship, doesn't mean you have to get upset that Steven is the man in ours."

Hyde laughed and used his fingers to tilt Jackie's head up to kiss her lips softly. Their foreheads rested together and they seemed to have a conversation with eyes alone.

Gagging and making a disgusted face, Laura turned to Tammy. "God, losers shouldn't be allowed to share PDA. It's ruining the mood."

"I think it's hot…" blurted her ditsy friend.

"No. It's not."

"Where are all the hot girls tonight? Y'know The Hub has been lacking lately," loudly complained Kelso.

"There's two whores over there," the perverted foreign kid said, pointing at her and Tammy, making their whole table turn to look. Making Laura stop her outright staring, and getting her friend to look over and lick her lips.

And, still Scott never wavered in his attention to his teammate. Never even noticing that her honor needed defending.

"I've already done it with both of 'em, little buddy."

The weird foreigner, he glared at him before throwing a fry at him. "You lucky sonovabitch!"

"He's not lucky. Kelso probably caught something from one of them," snarked Hyde. Even though he was no longer looking at Jackie, his fingers still played with her hair.

"Burn!" yelled Kelso, before pausing to blink in confusion. "Wait… Ha, you really got me that time, Hyde."

"Oh, Michael," Jackie sighed pityingly at her ex-idiot. Then tilted her head up to whisper something in her hippie's ear that made him smile and tug on a curl, as she pressed her lips to his jaw.

Laura was officially done with this pathetic excuse for a date. Scott was ignoring her, Tammy was now over in the corner making out with someone other than her date. And she was very much over having Jackie Burkhart's perfect relationship thrown in her face. Being envious of the dark beauty was nothing new, but feeling that way over her relationship with a dirty hippie was a new low.

Maybe it was sad, but Laura would rather be having pleasurable but disconnected sex with Scott until he couldn't get it up and decided to go home than watch this.

"Let's go," she snapped cattily at Scott, at the very least able to show off having some control over him in public.

.

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[End]