He knew
Steven Hyde knew all the games that Michael Kelso played on Jackie. He pretended that he didn't care last year that Kelso was cheating on Jackie with Laurie…but it bothered him. He had never been the perfect boyfriend, in fact he had never been a boyfriend. He was the guy the girl dated once or twice, but nothing more. People thought there was nothing that bothered him, which was mostly right in fact in the past year only one thing seemed to bother him, Jackie's broken heart.
Steven walked into the basement and was somewhat surprised to see Jackie sitting on the couch watching TV. He ignored her, like always he sat in his chair, like always he looked at her and smiled…that was new.
"Hey." He said softly, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses, so no one really knew what he was looking at.
"Hi Steven." Jackie whispered softly, allowing him a glimpse of her perfect, but faint smile.
Steven pretended to not be effected by the way she said his name. It wasn't the way she said it as much as that…she said it, Steven…not Hyde.
That sat in silence for a little while, both of them chuckled when the ball hit Marsha in the arm…but she screamed about her nose. They looked at each other when the other wasn't looking.
"My parents went away again." Jackie whispered softly on the commercial.
"Two weeks in Paris." She continued softly. "First Michael broke up with me to be with Laurie, and now my own parents don't even want to be with me." She whispered softly.
It was then that Steven turned to her. "Isn't your birthday on Friday?" he asked turning towards her.
She nodded. "Yep, but they don't care…it's not that special anyway, it's just seventeen."
Steven shook his head in disbelieve…he would have never believed that the two of them had parents who weren't there.
"Hey, look why don't you and I do something on your birthday." Steven said, before he could really think it through. "If you wanted-I mean." He said trying to recapture his Zen.
Jackie smiled again. "Really? Just the two of us?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
Steven nodded. "Can't do much, but I can take you somewhere…anywhere you pick." again, he said this without thinking.
Jackie looked away and blushed a little. "Um…well, I'd love to go dancing in Kenosha." She whispered softly. "But we could…go somewhere else, I know that you don't like to dance."
Steven was quiet for a moment. It was true he hated dancing, but it would make Jackie smile and after he had learned…some truths about her he wanted her to smile more then anything in the world, so if he had to suffer a night of dancing just to see her smile…and maybe even giggle…it would be worth it.
"Dancing on Friday it is." He said turning back to the TV. He stole a glance at Jackie a few minutes later and noticed that a smile was playing on her lips…but she was unsure if she should show it.