Chapter Two
The Clean Up

It was twelve o'clock the next afternoon when Hyde woke up. He had a moment of confusion when he woke in the bright, pink room. He groaned, shaking his head. What had he done?
The bed was empty apart from him. It was a warm, sunny day outside, making up for the cold night before. There was nothing left behind of Jackie. No note. Not a thing. He felt it best to get dressed and head home. Mrs Forman was probably worried sick. He pulled himself to the small side bathroom, picking up his shirt and jacket on the way. The sink was wet and the soap had been used. It smelled strongly of perfume and hair products. She couldn't have been gone any more than an hour.

He dressed and washed, picking up a cigarette from the pack by the window sill before making his way to the Forman's. The sun made him squint but he couldn't stop trying to piece together what had happened. He was in Jackie's bed. His shirt and jacket were tossed aside. Had it happened? Hyde had no idea. He woke up with his jeans still on so he hoped and prayed that is was nothing more than heavy petting. He lit the cigarette before he made it to the basement stairs. Kelso was just at the bottom of the stairs with Donna. Hyde felt a flush of red burn up his neck and all over his back. He remained calm.

"Hey, guys!" Hyde chirped and took to the stairs, pushing into the basement. Jackie was sitting, flicking through a magazine on her lap with a cup of fresh tea in her hand. Fez sat with Eric on the back of the couch, trying to find a show to watch on TV. "Jackie. Guys." Hyde greeted them and put the cigarette out in the shower as he made a beeline for his bedroom. The minute he was inside the confines of his room, he stripped down and changed into fresh clothes. She seemed so unbothered. Had nothing happened?!

Later in the afternoon, everybody was eventually rounded up in the basement. There was a deafening silence between them all. It was Mrs Forman to break the silence.
"Well, Steven, now you're home I can grab your ironing, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Where were you last night?!" Mrs Forman was chuckling, making her way to the back bedroom and rifling through the washing basket. Hyde fumbled but ended up just shrugging. "I left the back door unlocked, we could've well been robbed!" She laughed again and Hyde darted a look over to Jackie who had immediately looked away from him to look at the ceiling.
"Sorry, Mrs Forman. I wasn't thinking." Hyde didn't dare look away from Jackie but she looked at him.

"Maybe you should've thought..." Jackie said, crossing her arms across her chest. Eric looked at Fez and Donna, his lips pressed together.

"Well... I'm going to grab dinner. It's weird down here today. Donna, you want to eat? Hyde?"

"I'll be up later." Hyde then eventually pulled away from Jackie's fluttering look. Fez grabbed his jacket and made his plans for the evening known before disappearing. Kelso sat between Hyde and Jackie now. He nodded his head back and forth at the silence.

"Yeah, I got a date with Laurie so I'll be seein' ya, guys!" Kelso jumped up and ran upstairs to the kitchen where everybody else was. The two were alone.

"Jackie, man..."

"Don't even go there, Steven. I know I'm irresistible but come on. Contain yourself." Jackie warned. Hyde just chuckled and shook his head,

"You wish, Burkhart. I'm over it. And you were looking at me first." Hyde slapped his thighs, getting up from his stool to grab a soda can from the crate on top of the dryer.

"Oh, so what? I look at everybody."

"Yeah, right. Look, Jackie, it was a one-time thing. If last night wasn't enough then that's just too damn bad. Looking at me when you think I don't notice isn't going to change my mind!"

"Oh, you're so full of crap, Steven!"

"Alright, alright. It's even. It happened. That's it. It's just like any other day. I still hate you-"

"And I still find you disgusting."

Hyde shrugged and cracked open his can, watching Jackie as she pulled out a Popsicle from the deep freeze.

"Good."

"Yeah. Good."

Hyde started to walk upstairs for dinner, taking a look back at Jackie who now sat in his chair with the TV Guide. He shook his head, knowing the mistake he had made.


That night, Donna and Eric snuggled on the couch and Jackie was gathering her things to head for home. Her father was back home and was eager to see his little girl. She hastily grabbed her coat and purse. Hyde gnawed on a toothpick, trying to satisfy his cravings.

"Will I see you tomorrow? To go shopping?" Donna asked when Jackie grabbed the door handle. She stopped and turned. She thought about what day it was and nodded,

"Yeah! I'll be here for eleven. We can grab lunch too!"

"Okay, yeah, cool!" Donna agreed, settling back into Eric's side. Jackie smiled and opened up the door to the basement. She said her goodbyes and made her way home. Hyde could finally breathe. That was until the clicking of her boots came back down the stairs. His sweaty palms were pressed down onto his knees and Jackie poked her head back in the door.

"Oh, Steven. I forgot to tell you," Jackie came fully back into the basement and inched past Donna and Eric's intertwined leg to whisper in Hyde's ear. Donna and Eric watched with curiosity. Jackie laughed and bent down to Hyde's ear. "I was there the whole time. Right with you."

Hyde cleared his throat almost immediately and rubbed his fingers against his palms, nodding and sighing. Jackie left again and left the three sitting with the buzz of television. Hyde was staring, pieces of the night flooding back to him. He nodded and slapped his thighs, just like he had done earlier in the day and made his way for his back room. He lay on his cot with his hands behind his head, remembering everything that happened second by second. Before long, an hour had passed and he had tired himself out just by thinking.

"Hey, Hyde?! You okay back there?! You're not snoring!" Eric called and Hyde laughed. He got up from his cot, fanning his shirt and laughing. He grabbed his heavy denim jacket from the pile of clean laundry and stepped into his boots. He re-entered the basement, heading straight for the door,

"I'm fine, man. I'm fine."