That 70s Trip

Part 1

…

(Guitar riff)

Point Place, Wisconsin

Aug 2014.

...

Austin stepped out of the tour bus as they had arrived in the town of Point Place, Wisconsin. It was one of the winners of his contest's home town. He wondered what type of gig this would be. He walked up to the house that the contest winner gave him & rang the doorbell. The door opened & he saw an older guy answer.

"Who are you?" the guy asked.

"Austin Moon. Someone who gave this as their address won my contest to give some people a free concert."

"Is that him?" a girl's voice was heard asking from behind the guy. He turned out of the way to reveal the girl. "It is!"

"Uh, hi," Austin said.

(Guitar Riff)

Hangin' out
Down the street
The same old thing
We did last week

Not a thing to do
But talk to you

We're all alright
We're all alright

Hello Wisconsin!

"Uncle Eric, let him in," she said.

"Fine. Come in, Austin," Eric said, letting Austin walk past him.

"Come to the kitchen," she said & Austin followed.

"So, you're Michelle?"

"Yep. Now, I entered this contest because me & my friends were planning an 'end of summer' party at the beach."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah, so we're going to need you to make a setlist. Here's the songs our school class made when we sent a Facebook message to everyone to suggest songs & we took a song each from everyone, so you can pick from these," she said, handing him a piece of paper. He took a look.

"Hmm…" he said, looking at the list, seeing it was mostly pop songs, but also seeing rock & other types of songs. "I'll see what I can do," he said, looking up at her.

"Great! Now, the party is in two days & we've already set up the part of the each you're going to be performing at, if you wanna set up early & practice."

"Ok, great. I'll head there right away. Though I might need directions."

"I'll go with you. I give the BEST directions."

"All right then," Austin said as he & Michelle walked through the door.

"Michelle, where are you going?" said her mother as she walked up the stairs from the basement.

"I'm going to show Austin here where the beach is so he can set up & practice for the party on Friday."

"Come in the kitchen with me for a second. Excuse us, Austin," she said, dragging her off.

"So, you're here to perform at her party?" Eric asked as he was sitting on the couch.

"Yeah. What's that woman's problem?"

"Oh, Betsy? Not much. Not much. She had Michelle at 19 after her first year of college, so she couldn't go back right away. Not only that, but she doesn't want Michelle to get into a similar situation, so she gives her the speech every time she has a crush, or any boy over to not 'try anything,' or she could get pregnant."

"Ugh," Austin said in slight disgust. "You could've just said that it was a woman thing & be done with that."

"Right. Sorry."

"So, she was a teen mom, huh?"

"Yeah. Plus, when she did the math years ago & found out her parents were in a similar situation, thus she definitely didn't want the trend to continue."

"I see."

Just then, a few guys came up the stairs from the basement.

"Hey, Forman," Hyde said. "What's up? Who's this douche?" he said, then took a sip of his beer.

"I'm not a douche!" Austin retaliated.

"This is Austin Moon. He's going to perform at Michelle's class' party at the beach on Friday."

"Oh. Hey," Hyde said, sitting on the chair next to the couch Eric was on.

"Hey," Austin said, a bit pissed.

"You still pouting over Jackie, Forman? Face it. She moved to California. You lost your one and only shot. Just go back to Donna, suck it up, & marry her already. Shit, we thought you would be by now."

"I know, Hyde, but I can't. It didn't work out with Donna. I can't just regress like that. Besides, I like Jackie better."

"Yeah, but you had a good chance after Fez died, but you didn't take it. Then you squandered your moments with her so when it came time for her to want to stay, but she didn't want to miss that job opportunity, you didn't speak up. Grow a pair, man. Get hitched already. For god sakes, you're 54 years old, never been married, & the last time you had sex was in your early 20's. Get your act together. Hell, we've all been married at least once. I married that stripper & hell, even Kelso tied the not after he knocked up Brooke."

"Oh, so you're Michelle's grandfather."

"(Snickers) Michelle," Hyde whispered loudly.

"You met her?"

"Of course. Didn't you hear Forman here?"

"Hey, don't you dare lay a hand on my her," Kelso said.

"Kelso, chill out," Hyde said.

"Yeah, I'm 18. Trust me, I don't want to hook up with a 16-year-old."

"Oh now she's not good enough for you?"

"What?"

"Whatever. Listen, I don't care what you do with her friends, just keep your hands off of her!"

Just then, the two females came out of the kitchen into the room where the guys were.

"Oh hey, guys," he said, backing away all nonchalantly then sat down.

"All right, can we go now?" Michelle said.

"You'll remember what we talked about?" Betty asked.

"Yes!"

"Then go on."

Michelle grabbed Austin by the arm & started to walk him out. Michael looked at him with a menacing stare. Austin just stared at him, trying to show he had no malicious intent. They walked outside towards his tour bus.

"Well, that was awkward," Austin said.

"I know. They're so embarrassing. She thinks I can't control myself because of her & granddad's libido being passed on in our genes."

"Wow. That's gotta suck. Bringing home guy friends then getting scolded each time."

"Yeah. I've had to be friends with guys just at school. I've been afraid of having any guys over because of that."

"I see," he said as they reached the bus.

"Don't worry about my grandpa. He may be threatening, but he's also old and stupid, so don't mind him."

"Ah. I see," he said as they got on.

A few days later at the beach…

Austin was on the stage they set up. Well, it wasn't so much a stage, as a picnic area under a canopy, but it was still serviceable as he & his band set up. Dez, who came with him to videotape his performances for future use, was setting up the audio to be level.

"All right, Austin. Got the audio setup. All we need is a sound check."

"All right, Dez. Guys, let's take it easy," he said as he picked up his acoustic. The drums then kicked in a steady beat as he started playing the acoustic, then sang & the other few band members joined in as well.

I wish the couple on the corner would just get a room
Seems like everyone around me's on their honeymoon
I'd love to take a pin to a heart-shaped balloon
Everybody's got somebody but me

Well I don't know how I landed on this movie set
It's like a casting call for 'Romeo and Juliet'
I never would have noticed if we'd never met
But everybody's got somebody but me

And I miss you
Without you I just don't fit in
I know we're through
But I'm wishing we could try it again

I hear loves songs playing on the radio
People slow dancing everywhere I go
Well I'm a good slow dancer but you'd never know
Cause everybody's got somebody but me
Yeah they do

Everybody's got somebody...

And I miss you
Without you I just don't fit in
I know we're through
But I'm wishing we could try it again

Sitting here lonely at a table for two
Watching lovers being lovers in the corner booth
Seems like even cupid don't know what to do
Everybody's got somebody but me

Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever find another you

But everybody's got somebody but me

Everybody, got somebody
Oh everybody, everybody, everybody but me now

(Everybody's got somebody)
Everybody has got somebody
(Everybody but me)
Everybody but me
(Everybody's got somebody)
Everybody
I miss you
(Everybody but me)
Everybody's got somebody but me

"All right, man. That should do it until the show. We're done for right now, so what should we do now till it's time?" Dez asked.

"Not sure," Austin said, rubbing his eyes.

"You ok, man?"

"Yeah, just haven't slept well the last few nights. I keep waking up thinking I hear voices talking."

"Huh. Weird."

"Hey, you should definitely do that song at the concert," Michelle said.

"All right. I'm going to take a nap on the tour bus. Wake me an hour before show time," Austin said & then walked towards the bus.

"What's with him?" she asked.

"He's really tired," Dez said & he went to the playground. "Huh. Is that a pot leaf on the water tower over there?" he asked, looking towards it.

"Yeah. My grandpa & his friends painted that back in the 70s & no one's bothered to wash it off, so it faded into the metal of it."

"Huh. Cool."

Austin got on the bus, closed the door & the blinds to the windows, then went to the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket, & tried to go to sleep. He thought he heard voices again, but he ignored them & they faded away, so he went right to sleep. Next time he awoke, it was night time & he was outside on the ground.

"What in the hell?" he asked & went to check his phone for the time, but couldn't find it, so he got up. He went over to the beach, but the electronics weren't there, nor did it seem there was ever a party there recently. "Did I miss the party? And since when are teenagers this cleanly?" he walked to the road then walked down it until he came to Michelle's house. It was after dawn when he got there, so it was morning. He walked up to the house & knocked on the door & rang the doorbell.

"Yeah?" asked Eric as he answered the door. Austin just looked confused.

"You look younger."

…