Catfight Redux.
Jackie struggles to remain Zen in the midst of the aftermath of Catfight Club.
This came out of the need to write something not based around season 8. That's it, plain and simple.
Jackie stood in front of his door with her fist just inches away from it, ready to knock.
Except she still wasn't sure what she wanted to say. Thank you seemed like a safe bet, but she felt like she should say more.
'You can say a lot by saying very little.'
Maybe she should just stick with a simple thank you. Get in, get out, leave with her dignity intact.
The door opened up before she could even knock though.
"Jackie, I know you've been standing there for over five minutes now. What do you want?"
He was wearing nothing more than a wife beater and a pair of sweatpants. His sunglasses were off and his gaze seemed to be burning a hole though her skin.
"I just wanted to say thank you."
He leaned against the doorway. "You're welcome."
She knew he could tell she was nervous, and was enjoying her reaction. When did Steven suddenly become hot?
And when did he go from being Hyde to Steven?
"Was there something more you wanted to say?" He asked. He seemed to be completely focused on her.
"No." She said, rather abruptly. "I mean, no, just uh, thanks."
He nodded. "Well, that's good."
She knew that was her cue to leave. "So uh, I'll just, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Whatever." The door shut again and Jackie was left standing there wondering what had just happened.
As she walked home she replayed the day in her mind. He spent the day with her, teaching her to be Zen, to be cool. But she wasn't cool. Sure, she was fun, peppy and popular, but there was nothing 'cool' about her.
She had kicked Laurie's ass. Part of her felt proud of herself, but at the same time, she knew she had failed.
She needed to write about this in her diary.
"Jackie, you're finally home." Her mother's voice called to her from the kitchen.
"Hi mom!" Jackie ran up to hug her.
"Did you have a nice time with Margritte?"
"You fired Margritte, mom, remember?"
"I did?" Pam laughed. "That's right, it was so long ago that I practically forgot."
Jackie sighed. "Mom, it was last week, before you went on your trip. You haven't hired anyone yet."
Pam looked around. "Well then who cleaned while I and your dad were gone?"
"I did mom. I also made my own dinner." She was actually quite proud of herself for it.
"Oh, Jackie, you're getting so grown up. Tell me, are you still dating that Michael boy?"
Jackie shook her head. "No mom, we broke up." She paused, "He cheated on me."
Her mom gave a little laugh. "Oh, Jackie, boys do that."
Jackie never knew how to respond when her mother said things like that, so she moved on. "So, where's daddy?"
"He's still in Chicago." She took a drink of her wine. "You have school tomorrow, so go up stairs and get ready for bed."
"Okay mom." They gave each other a kiss on the cheek and Jackie went upstairs to her room where she brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas. She climbed onto her bed and dug her diary out from under the mattress.
"Dear Diary,
Today Steven, I mean, Hyde, taught me how to be Zen. I still think he made the word up, but I guess it means cool. He's really fun to be around with, and he is nice and sweet.
For a poor boy of course."
Jackie stopped writing and tapped her pen the diary. She took a look around her room. It was pink and filled with stuffed animals. Maybe Laurie was right and she was immature.
An hour later, Jackie could feel herself getting tired. She put her diary away, turned off her lamp and rolled onto her favorite pillow.
The next morning she found her mom asleep in her parent's bed room, sprawled out on the bed, still in her dress. Jackie quietly closed the door on her and went to find some breakfast.
It used to be that Michael would pick her up in her van and take her to school, but ever since their break up, Jackie would have to walk the two miles to school. She didn't mind that much, as she was in shape and it gave her time to day dream. Most of the time she thought about Michael, but lately the lead man in her fantasies was taking on a much different appearance.
She rarely ran into the gang at school due to them being in different gangs, but for some reason, today was different. As she walked down the hallway to her science class, she passed by Eric and Hyde who seemed to be in a deep conversation about something. Part of her was curious to know what they were talking about; she guessed though that it had something to do with Donna. She made a mental note to ask Donna what Eric did to piss her off again. Jackie decided against stopping though, party because she didn't want detention for being late to class, and also because she was afraid that they weren't talking about Donna at all, but about Michael.
She just wasn't in the mood to deal with him and his idiocy.
Jackie knew the moment that Eric spotted her, he gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement and she smiled and waved at him as she breezed past the two of them. She had no way of knowing for sure, but she could have sworn she felt someone's eyes watch her as she passed them.
"Jackie!" Jackie stopped and turned around at the familiar voice. She titled her head in a questioning manner at Eric's voice.
"Come here." He gestured towards her. She gave a glance to Hyde and he gave her a slight nod, signaling that he wanted her to come as well.
Jackie shrugged, decided that detention wouldn't be too bad, and that whatever Michael had done, she should probably know about it first. It was funny, but even though they were no longer dating, she was still in charge of fixing his messes. The popular crowd still considered them to be a 'couple' and whatever Michael did would ultimately effect Jackie's social standing.
"Hi, Eric, Hi… Hyde." He raised his eyebrow briefly at her pause.
"Jackie." He always said her name the same way. For some reason, it made her want to confess her deepest secrets to him.
"Hyde and I were just thinking about cutting class, want to come with us?"
"I shouldn't, I've got science."
"Skip it." Hyde told her. "You don't need science anyway. I can teach you everything you know about science."
Eric laughed. "What do you know about science?"
"I know there's a car that runs on water!" Hyde replied testily. Both Eric and Jackie rolled their eyes.
"So what do you say, Jackie?" Eric asked.
"Okay." She could miss one day of class. "But I have to be back for cheerleading practice. We have a game this Friday."
"Yeah, okay." Eric told her as the three started to walk down the hallway and through the doors that lead to the parking lot. They climbed into Eric's Vista Cruiser, all three of them in the front seat.
She was squished in between the two of them and she tried to ignore the fact that Hyde's jeans were touching her bare leg.
"Where are we going?" Jackie asked, breaking the silence.
"Hub?" Eric seemed to be asking Hyde.
Hyde shrugged. "Not hungry."
"Well, we can't go to the basement." Eric said.
"Water tower." Jackie blurted out.
Both Hyde and Eric looked over Jackie's head. "Sounds good." Eric replied.
"It still looks like a hand giving a finger." Hyde shook his head at the pot leaf they had painted on the tower.
"Michael's an idiot."
Eric rolled his eyes. "Here we go." He muttered.
"Well he is!" Jackie exclaimed. She gestured to the leaf. "He can't even paint a decent pot leaf!"
Hyde chuckled and Eric just shrugged and started to climb the tower's ladder.
They stayed up on the tower, talking until it was time for them to go. Well, mostly Eric talked, about Donna, and Hyde listened just enough to give him advice. Jackie, however, stayed uncharacteristically quiet. For whatever reason, she didn't feel like talking about her hair, or her clothes, or even cheerleading. Instead she found herself watching a Robin hop from branch to branch, in search of a new mate.
"You're taking me back to the school right?" Jackie asked as they climbed back into Eric's car.
"Yeah, I have to pick up Donna and Fez anyway." Eric told her, turning on the engine.
"JACKIE!" The shrill voice of her captain broke through Jackie's thoughts.
"What?" Jackie asked, annoyed.
"You're not focusing. We've got a game this Friday and if you can't concentrate, then I'm going to have to replace you."
Jackie rolled her eyes. "First of all, you can't replace me and we both know it, and secondly, I'm the best girl on this squad."
Tasha got into her face. "I'm head cheerleader."
"Only because your mother slept with the Principal."
Tasha reacted just like Jackie thought she would, stalking off in a huff. Jackie smiled to herself and resumed her routine. Tasha was right though, she wasn't concentrating. Her mind was still transfixed on Hyde and how her feelings were gradually starting to shift for him.
They remained on Hyde as she walked to the basement.
"Where is everyone?" She asked, looking around for their friends before settling on the couch.
"Eric and Donna are doing 'homework' over at her house and Kelso is helping Fez pick up chicks." Hyde told her.
"Oh." She looked around again. "So what are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I live here."
"I know that." She replied. "I meant, why are you here alone?"
His mouth titled up slightly. "I thought I would wait for you. You've been acting strange
lately."
"No I haven't." Jackie knew she was lying, and she knew Hyde knew that as well.
"Yeah, okay. Whatever."
She stared at him. "Hey, you're forgetting you taught me Zen, I know what that whatever means."
He smirked. "What does it mean?" He put his feet on the table and waited for her answer. His shirt rode up slightly so that Jackie could see the soft dusting of hair on his flat stomach. All coherent thought left her head.
"It's um…"
He laughed. "Amateur."
For some reason, this offended her. "I am not."
He chuckled again. "I knew you were going to say that, not only are you an amateur, but you're also predictable."
"I am not!" She replied, aghast at his statement.
He stood up to go get a Popsicle. "Eventually Kelso is going to either get tired of or get dumped by Laurie and is going to want you back. I bet you a whole day of you not speaking that you'll take him back."
Jackie shook her head. "I will not."
Hyde laughed at her. "Jackie, I noticed that you've been jumpy and distracted lately, it's obvious you're thinking about him."
"I'm not thinking about him." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He raised his eyebrow. "Then who are you thinking about?"
She couldn't very well say 'you' so she tried to search her mind for someone to talk about. She didn't think fast enough however.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He smirked at her.
"I'm telling you, I don't care about Michael anymore." Jackie hadn't realized how true that was until she said it out loud.
"Wow, you move on fast."
She knew he was insulting her, trying to goad her into a reaction. She wasn't sure what his motives were, but she was going to be damned if she let him.
"Whatever."
He smiled. "Good, Grasshopper."
"That's cool."
Their conversation
however, was stopped short by the arrival of Fez and
Michael.
"Oh, hi Jackie." Michael looked around awkwardly. "I was just about to uh, go upstairs."
Jackie sighed. "Tell your new tramp that I said hi."
"I will!" Kelso said cheerfully as he ran up the stairs. Fez sat beside her. "So, Jackie, want to go to The Hub?"
"I though you were just at The Hub." Jackie asked, confused.
"Oh, we were, but we didn't eat." Fez grinned.
Whatever response Jackie had was cut short however by Hyde.
"Actually, I was just about to take Jackie home." Hyde told them both.
"But you don't have a car." Fez said confused. Jackie had to admit she was confused as well.
Hyde shrugged. "Uh, I was going to borrow Forman's car."
Fez appeared to be thinking about it. "Uh, okay. Gilligan is about to come on anyway."
Jackie and Hyde walked outside to see that Eric's car wasn't in the driveway.
"Damn." Hyde muttered.
Jackie smiled slightly. "It's okay, I can just walk home."
"I'll go with you." Hyde left no room for argument.
Jackie, tired of fighting, simply shrugged and allowed Hyde to follow her.
"You gotta let him go, Jackie."
For five minutes they hadn't talked. For five uncomfortable, yet somewhat blissful minutes, she was allowed just an inkling of peace.
"I have."
"Tell your tramp I said hi." He mimicked her.
"First of all, I don't sound like that, and second, shut up."
He laughed at her.
"Are your parents' home?" Hyde asked as Jackie opened the door.
"I doubt it."
The house was dark as she and Hyde entered it.
"I thought you had a maid."
Jackie put her jacket in the closet. "Mom fired her, we're in between maids."
"And where are your parents?"
Of all the things she didn't want to talk about, that was on the top of the list.
"Well, I'm home now… so uh, thanks."
"I'm not leaving." He told her, walking past her and into her kitchen. "Got any beer?"
"What?" Jackie asked, following behind him.
"Do you have any beer?" He asked again.
"In the back." She said, watching him dig into her refrigerator. He pulled out two beers and handed her one.
"Uh thanks, Steven."
She mentally cursed herself. All day she had carefully thought of him as Hyde and the one moment she slipped, it was in front of him.
He didn't react though, or if he did, she couldn't tell.
"So, want to go upstairs?" She asked, knowing she'd feel more secure in her bedroom.
Hyde shrugged. "Sure."
His back was to her as they entered her room; she couldn't help but stare at his back through his black tees shirt. He had nice muscles.
He had nice muscles. She was doomed.
"It's very…. Pink." He seemed to settle on the word.
"Yeah." Watched as he lay on her bed, his arms crossed behind his head. She stayed in the middle where it was safe.
"Come on Jackie, I don't bite."
"Yes you do."
He chuckled. "Well, I haven't had any complaints."
She realized then how comfortable she felt around Steven. She slid onto the bed beside him.
"So, what now?" She asked.
"We could make out."
"Okay." She covered her mouth at her slip.
She was about to say she didn't mean it, but he was flipping her over and covering her with his own body before she could even protest.
"I knew it." He sounded proud. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but he was kissing her instead.
He was kissing her. But before she had time to react, he was jumping up.
"What?" She asked, more than just a little hurt.
"I didn't mean to do that." He told her. He seemed to be panicking.
"Right." She said, sitting up but not looking at him.
"Look, uh, you and Kelso aren't done yet and uh, you need time."
She finally looked at him. "Time?"
"Yeah, to uh, work things out with Kelso."
She glared at him. "But I don't want to work things out with Kelso."
He sighed. "Yeah, but eventually you will." He shrugged and walked back and sat beside her where he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently. "When you're ready." He whispered next to her lips, causing shivers to run down her spine. . He stood up and walked to the door.
"Later."
"Bye." It was the only word she could think to say.
She watched as he walked out of her room, closing the door beside her.
She brought Fluffycakes to her chest. She was definitely doomed.
I'm not marking this as complete because I might… repeat, might continue it in some form or another. This was simply something I needed to write though. It was supposed to be a regular smut fic, but Jackie's conscious took over and well, you just read the result. And please, please go over to the zenmaster boards at fanforum and vote for your top 10 zennie fics.
