Rated T for Teen.

This is a "follow up" to The Girl Who Got It.


The Goodnight Kiss

She wasn't supposed to be there. And he wasn't supposed to feel this way. And yet she was there, and he was feeling things that he shouldn't. Donna was his girlfriend. And Jackie was her best friend. It was wrong to get those butterfly-in-the-tummy feelings for his girlfriend's best friend.

She had fallen silently asleep on the couch, waiting for her boyfriend to return from his boy's night out with Hyde and Fez.

Eric suspected she must have been there for hours. He checked his watch. He had to be right, it was 11:46 pm.

He sighed, shaking his head. He had just gotten off work, pulling another late shift as usual for Price-Mart. He saw the basement light on and thought Hyde was home. But when he came downstairs, he saw a sleeping Jackie, curled up on the couch in such a vulnerable position that made him wonder if Sleeping Beauty looked so good.

He usually didn't think about fairy tales. He always laughed at the ridiculousness of them all. But as he stared at her sleeping form, his mind began to think of them. She made him want to think about them. What if there really was a time when the good guys were the hero, fought the battles and won the girl?

Won the girl.

But, he told himself, there was no such girl. But then his eyes lingered back over to Jackie.

And yet, there she was. And there he was. Two people, alone in the emptiness of the basement, alone in the emptiness of the world, hidden between the wedges of time. In a hundred years, would anyone really care they were alone together? Probably not, but Eric liked to think that if he lived to a hundred years, he would. So there he stood, committing every last bit of Jackie Burkhart to his memory.

She must've slipped off her shoes when she realized it was going to be a long night. Her tiny feet, covered only by thin knee-high white socks, moved slightly. Her toes crinkled. Eric wondered if she knew he was watching her in her sleep.

He inched forward, his head light in a sort of trance. He wasn't thinking much of what he was doing, other than how good it would be to touch her soft skin. His eyes instinctively moved to graze the bit of skin exposed between her knees and her thighs. His left hand had a strange tingling in it, almost as it desired to touch such bare skin, the desire to feel a delicate woman under his fingertips.

When he looked down, he realized his hand was reaching for her. His elbow was locked in place by his side, but the hand itself, bent at a forty-five degree angle, his middle and index fingers both pointing to her like a compass whispering: This is the one.

He shook his head, sweat sliding from his forehead to the side of his cheek. Jackie was not the one. Donna was the one. Donna was his everything, he had to remember that. He needed to remind himself that Donna was beautiful. Donna was his confidant. Donna wasn't there. And Jackie was sleeping. Jackie was open. Jackie was breathtaking. And Jackie was the everything he could never have.

Why would she even want the likes of him?

Her boyfriend was attractive, hilarious Michael Kelso. At the thought of it, his chest ached more than it ever had before. How could Kelso squander such a precious creature such as the sleeping spectacle right in front of his very eyes? How could Kelso just run around, sleep with a different woman every other week, and claimed he loved her? Eric's head began to throb, the pain in his chest intensifying. His father was right. Life wasn't fair.

He wished for nothing more than his torment to be over, for his legs to bolt up the basement steps and forget all about the tragic beauty simply lying in his wake, but his green eyes continued with the punishment. They examined that checkered mini skirt she was wearing. His mind raced with idea of how easy it would be to lift it up just a bit more.

He took a step back, cursing his urges. He told himself that a true gentleman wouldn't conduct themselves in such a manner, but his hormones were getting the better of him. His dangerous thoughts cooed in his ear that she would never even know it. He could just take a peek. What harm could it do?

"No." He muttered to himself, getting a grip of his own thoughts and impulses.

He stepped back, wanting to distance himself from Jackie, less he do something he would regret. Or worse, something he wouldn't.

His eyes continued to trace her torso. It must've been lean, and gentle, just like the exposed skin of her legs. At the thought of it, his sweat dripped down his nose, his heart thumping against his chest. He blinked, but it did no good. He was already under her spell. Without his permission, his feet edged closer to her, wanting to be closer to her resting body.

His swallowed a difficult lump down his throat. His eyes had just caught sight of her blouse. It only had three buttons, but all three were unclipped. He slowly slid to the right. His whole body both tensed and relaxed at the sight of her slight cleavage. He had to strain his eyes to see it, but it was enough to make his hands tingle again. It was enough to make every part of tingle.

"Oh God." He mumbled. He was helpless. What was he going to do? He wanted so desperately to run his hands all over her, to caress her, to pepper her body in his burning kisses, and heaven help him, to make sweet love to her.

His body just took off without his command. He knelt right by her, his eyes now loving the part of her he wanted to caress the most: Her face. Such a beautiful face. With lips that slightly pouted in her sleep, cheeks that rounded as if displaying her youth, and eyes so sensual that even closed made his knees go weak.

Without realizing what he was doing, his hand slowly reached out, and touched her dark locks of hair. He didn't trust himself to even touch her skin, partly afraid of the wild frenzy it would give him. And before he could stop himself, he called out to her in low whisper, "Jackie…"

Her eyes fluttered in her sleep. He couldn't help but dare hope that she was dreaming of him. Before he could stop himself and remind himself not to do it, he inched forward and lightly pressed his burning lips to her unconscious ones. He closed his eyes. He half expected her to open hers, but she never did. And for a brief moment, he wondered if Sleeping Beauty was exactly like this. And then, something unexpected happened. Her lips opened just a bit, and moved ever so slightly, silently kissing him back. His heart stopped to the point he wondered if he died. But so what if he did? If one had to go out, kissing the person of their desire was the way to go.

With a soft tug of her lips, Eric leaned back, opening his eyes. To both his disappointment and relief, Jackie was still asleep. Though, it gave him some comfort, to know the ends of her mouth were tucked slightly upwards.

He couldn't help but admire her, "It's such a shame that you'll never know."

At that moment, a thundering pounding crashed down the basement steps and Eric jumped as far back from Jackie as he physically could. Yelping from her sleep, Jackie tumbled out of the couch, shrieking. The cause of the noise, none other than Michael Kelso himself, jumped onto the couch before scooping up Jackie like a rag doll and plopping her on his lap. With a goofy grin plastered to his face, and his trucker cap facing one side of his face, he laughed heartily, "Oh man! Jackie, wait 'til I tell you all about tonight! It had all the elements! Love! Tragedy! Desire! As in, Fez loved a girl, but then it turned into a tragedy when she already had a boyfriend, and then to desire when her boyfriend desired to kick Fez's butt!" He laughed, going on and on about how Hyde was interested in a woman, only to discover in the men's restroom that she was underage and extremely unexperienced. Then he joked about how they had a flat tire on their way home, and how Hyde chased him around with a wrench in the middle of the freeway in pure darkness. He joked that he almost got ran over a couple times. He showed a very annoyed Jackie a bruise on his arm, saying Hyde threw the wrench at him. As soon as he was through, he laughed, "So what about you?"

Jackie glared at him, stating a matter-of-factly, "I was having this dream!"

Kelso readjusted her on his lap, asking with an amused look, still thinking about his night, "About what?"

Jackie shrugged, thinking, a confused look on her face, "I don't know." But then a small smile worked its way up to her face, one that warmed Eric's lovesick heart as she giggled, "But I think I was kissed by a prince."

Kelso arched an eyebrow, "Was it me?"

Jackie looked over at him, confused once more, "I don't know. I forgot."

Eric's hopeful heart sunk to his feet. He felt like a complete idiot. And then Kelso looked over at him indifferently, "Oh! Hey, Eric! Did you hear about Fez and Hyde?" He started laughing at the thought of it.

With a tense look, Jackie turned her head to see Eric. Judging from the look over her face, it was obvious she had never even noticed he was there. The two locked eyes. And out of nowhere, her cheeks flushed a pinkish hue that lightened Eric's heart. Kelso didn't catch any of it as he got up, picking up Jackie as he did so. He laughed, "Well, I'll see you later Eric! Right now, Jackie needs her prince charming…" He added to what he thought was slyly, "and prince charming wants to do her good!"

Eric let a blank expression fall over his face. He didn't want Kelso to touch her. His instinct was to run over and punch Kelso right in the jaw, grab Jackie, and yank her to happily ever after. The only problem was, there was no happily ever after to take her, and if there was, he wouldn't be so bold to go after her.

Jackie managed to wrangle herself out of Kelso's grasp, and hopped out onto the floor, standing on her own two feet. He fixed her hair as best she could and gave Eric an awkward wave.

He returned it, equally as awkward.

Kelso grabbed Jackie's wrist and pulled her toward the door, "Me and Jackie gotta go now!" He then mumbled to his girlfriend, "C'mon! Or do I have to carry you to the car?" A mischievous glint was in his eye.

Again Jackie twisted out of his hold, snapping at him, "I can walk, Michael! I know how your car looks like! Just-just gimme a second, okay?"

He shrugged dopily, "Alright, but hurry up will ya? It's cold out there!" He opened the door and trudged out into the chilled Wisconsin night, heading to his car that was parked in the driveway.

Back in the warmth of the basement, Eric found himself awkwardly rubbing his hands behind his head, his feet refusing to move near or away from Jackie. Jackie herself found that her entire body felt confused as to what exactly she was supposed to do. She didn't know why she yelled at Michael. She didn't know why she let him go off. She didn't know what there was to say to Eric.

Biting on her lower lip, the one that Eric had lightly grazed less than ten minutes ago, Jackie said in a strange voice, "So…you okay?"

He nodded, hoping she couldn't see how he was easily falling apart by the seams. She then nodded, feeling there was nothing else to say or do, "Okay…well, uh, goodnight!" Without thinking of what she was doing, she reached over and planted a small, almost lopsided kiss on his cheek. Eric couldn't help but blush madly. Seeing him had Jackie doing the same.

Aware of how dizzy she was feeling, Jackie backed into the radio by the door and spilled several records out onto the floor. Quickly yanking on her jacket, she sloppily turned around and bent over, yelping, "I'll get them!"

Eric's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as they took in the sight of her rear sticking out at him, less than two feet from his touch. Unable to control his own feet, he walked backwards and spilled onto Kelso's chair, breaking it as he crashed to the floor.

Jackie quickly spun around, placing the records back to their proper shelves and asking urgently, "Are you okay?! What happened?!"

Eric jumped back to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain in his left ankle as he blubbered out, "I-saw…you were-but then-we- I was looking at your….nothing! Nothing happened!"

She pointed at the ground, her eyes wide with shock, "Nothing happened?! You broke a chair!"

Eric forced himself to swallow, shaking his head, "Nah, it-it was already like that!"

Cautiously she walked over to the door, her back seemingly pasted to the wall as if her body suspected that it was the cause of his accident. She nodded unsurely, "Yeah…okay. Well, uh, I'll see you later, Eric."

He waved, the pain now reaching his knee as he said in a high pitched tone, "Yeah! Bye!"

As soon as she left, Eric toppled over to the couch, wanting to scream and cry in agony as he held onto his ankle which was quickly swelling. His hands rubbed his sweaty face, his breath calming as he tried to piece himself back together, "It's okay. It's okay man. Just, just get ahold of yourself…" He thought back to Jackie's bent rear when she was picking up the records. He groaned, his fingers pulling out his hair in frustration, "What's happening to me?!"

He collapsed on the couch, burying his face in the cushions that still held a light trace of Jackie's perfume. Eric rolled over, unable to stand being in his own agitated body. He closed his eyes shut, moaning, "This is not good."


This may or may not continue, I don't know. It was originally conceived as a one-shot, but after typing it, I feel there could be a multi-chapter story in here- somewhere.

Also, I don't own '70s, and I don't own Sleeping Beauty.