[Author's Note: I know, I know I told you guys last time that I'll be posting two chapters per week but university is really testing me, and it took me the whole WEEK to finish writing this chapter. I'm going to try to post Day 4 soon, though, so! Keep posting reviews and favoriting and following! On that note, I would like to thank everyone who posted reviews so far, they fuel me to write more! So, thank you! This is Day 3/12 of That 70's 12 Days of Christmas- I hope you guys like it!]
Early mornings were going to be a thing, then, Jackie thought as she stalked begrudgingly to her bathroom.
She decided that she might as well get up and get ready for the day since she couldn't go back to sleep. Jackie was going to pick up Donna after she finished getting ready. They were gonna go Christmas decor shopping as promised, and, she figured, if she was going to force Donna to buying a new outfit, she would need all day.
As soon as she got dressed, she drove up to the Forman's (to park her car, not because she was trying to catch a glimpse of someone), and got off the car. Sure enough, Hyde was by the porch, sitting back on one of the chairs with his legs crossed.
"Hey." Hyde said casually, giving a small nod in her direction
"'Morning," Jackie's heart started to raise a little as she realised she wasn't going to getting the silent treatment today, "Isn't it a little too early for you to be up?"
"I should say the same to you." Hyde's lips quirked up a bit to one side. "You're not grumpy today… not having breakfast here, then?"
She was going to pretend that she didn't see Hyde almost smile at her, because if she didn't, she'd be a bigger blabbering mess than she already was becoming. "Yeah, uh, well. I woke up too early today, so."
Hyde nodded slowly, and looked away. He wasn't wearing his sunglasses today, and Jackie could see his tired eyes. She knew he only wore them because Hyde thinks he looked too naked without them. He had told Jackie once that he hated it when other people looked him directly in the eye. It made him feel uneasy, Hyde had said, like they can see right through me.
She started rocking back and forth on her heels. Jackie couldn't breathe, she rarely gets tongue tied. What was this, high school? She needed to get herself together and she needed to get out of there fast.
"Well," Jackie pursed her lips "I was, uh, I'm gonna go to Donna's to pick her up so we can go shopping."
"Ah, I see that the devil is here to ruin this beautiful… fine, fine morning." Eric greeted Jackie as he stepped out of the kitchen, and place his mug on top of the ledge. Only noticing Hyde then, he wiggled his finger between Hyde and Jackie and continued, "Wait, I didn't interrupt you two killing each other, right?"
Jackie huffed and swatted Eric's hand away, "No, we were just talking."
"Exactly," he replied.
"Man, it's too early to be pissing me off, Forman." Hyde clicked his tongue, stood up and looked at Jackie "See you later, Jacks."
With that, Hyde walked away. Both Eric and Jackie's eyes followed him as he disappeared to the kitchen.
Jackie sighed in frustration as she crossed her arms at "You really had to ruin mine and Hyde's conversation, didn't you, you twitchy moron?"
She couldn't believe this. She and Hyde rarely engaged in conversation unless they were snapping at or burning each other, and as much as Jackie was convincing herself that she so did not care anymore, she wanted to at least be able to have a decent exchange with him every once in a while, if not always. None of them would be leaving the group anytime soon, so.
See you later, Jacks.
Jackie's eyes bulged as Hyde's words finally registered in her brain. He had called her Jacks again! What did that mean? Were they okay again? Did he think she looked hot? She wouldn't blame him if he did, Jackie did spend an extra fifteen minutes on her hair this morning. Maybe he was finally ready to be friends again? That was all there was left for them to be, right?
She was never going to find out what the hell Hyde calling her 'Jacks' again meant, and this was all Eric's fault. So, she did the only rational thing she could think of to release her frustration with the situation.
She kicked Eric on his shin.
"Ow!" Eric cried and bent over to inspect his knee.
"He called me Jacks, you- " Jackie exclaimed with such intensity that made Eric take a step back.
"Uh, what is that, Mom?" he blurted out as he slowly limped and retreated back to the kitchen, "You need help fixing dinner? Yeah, I'm coming!"
"It's 9 o'clock in the morning, Eric! I'm not stupid!" Jackie called out after him "And I know Mrs. Forman's not home!"
She let out a groan and sighed. Trust Eric to ruin what could possibly be hers and Hyde's only conversation where they didn't breathe fire down each other's throats. She would have to find a way to get back at him. But seeing as Jackie won't be seeing him until later in the afternoon because she had to go buy a few things for the basement, Donna would have to pay for Eric instead.
I'm not the one making the decisions here, Jackie thought as she made her way over to the Pinciotti's.
"Jackie, they're the same freakin' color!" Donna whined as Jackie held up two Christmas balls in front of her. Jackie shook her head in disappointment. They have been trying to choose the right ornaments for the Christmas tree they had first bought, and Donna kept complaining because Jackie was taking too long in choosing what christmas balls they should get. She just didn't get it!
"Nuh-uh! See, this is Palatinate Blue," Jackie raised her right hand higher than the other, "And this one is Persian Blue."
Donna squinted her eyes at her and pursed her lips. "Yeah, Jackie, I don't see a difference."
"You never learn, do you?" Jackie shook her head at Donna. "Well, you're lucky you have me because I'll tell you the right answer."
She looked around and called a sales lady, "Excuse me, we'll get three boxes of the Palatinate Blue Christmas Balls, please."
"Good choice!" the sales lady grinned at her, took the ornaments off Jackie's hands, and made her way to the stock room.
Jackie smiled triumphantly at Donna, "See?"
"Whatever, midget."
The saleslady soon returned with their items, and they went to the counter and paid for it. They walked out of the store and wandered around the mall, just chattering about random things. She and Donna squabbled a lot but she was still her best friend. Jackie knew that most of the time, Donna didn't understand how she worked, but she didn't care. She was confident that if something bad happens to her, Donna would be one of the people she could count on. Donna did give her a place to stay when she had nowhere before, even willing to swallow her pride so that Jackie would agree.
Jackie had long forgiven her for the past year. She had felt abandoned by her, she couldn't believe that Donna would actually befriend Samantha. She had been jealous with Sam because she had the two people Jackie used to have by her side all the time. Donna caught on at some point that she hadn't been okay, and she hung out with Jackie more. Donna had hugged Jackie that day, "I'm sorry. I was just trying to make Hyde feel kind of okay about the whole thing, and I guess it kind of made me forgot about you. That was really shitty of me."
Jackie accepted her apology with a hug. They had stood by the doorway for quite sometime before being broken apart by Kelso and Fez gasping. She didn't say anything back, and she wished she had. Jackie knew she hadn't been the besets friend to her either, but she was done thinking solely of herself. She'd rather lose some of her pride than lose the people who she cared about, and in turn, cared about her.
"You know what?" Jackie turned to Donna, "I.. I missed you, you know?"
"Me too" Donna smiled quietly at her, and she smiled back.
It was in those times when Donna understood what Jackie wanted to say without saying a lot that she knew— they may be dysfunctional together, but they really were best friends.
"You guys, hurry up! They might be here any second now!" Kelso said as he stuck his head out of the basement door to check if Brooke and Betsy were there. He had been pestering everyone to keep moving and hang the decorations as fast as they could because it was Betsy's second Christmas, and he wanted everything to be perfect.
"You know, we could use a little help in here!" Jackie said playfully as she turned her head to Kelso's direction. He was pacing around the basement back and forth and opening the door to check every once in a while. He smiled to herself. It was nice seeing Kelso worry about something that so obviously mattered to him.
"I think we lost him, guys." Eric declared with his hands on his hips. Him, Hyde and Fez had just finished putting garlands sprayed with fake snow all over the place.
"Yes," Fez dusted his shirt, "There is no talking to Kelso now, he has not shut up about Betsy and Brooke even when there were two beautiful blondes with big boobs down by Fatso Burger. It is pretty serious."
"Hey, Kelso, man, would you stop swinging the door every 10 seconds?" Hyde handed Donna the last box of christmas balls, and sat down on the couch "It's freezing."
"Sorry," Kelso frowned and plopped down the nearest chair, "I'm just worried. I haven't seen them both in so long."
"Kelso, you were literally down by Chicago a week and a half ago." Donna looked over her shoulder to grin at Kelso and shared a look with Jackie. She knew that Donna was thinking the same thing she was.
Hyde's new favourite Kelso burns were anything that involved Brooke. She thought it was because Kelso always got so defensive and storms off. At first, Jackie felt bad form him. He had already been through enough, but then she started to catch on. Hyde was trying to make Kelso admit that he still had feelings for Brooke. Maybe Kelso doesn't know it yet himself, he wasn't the brightest boy after all. If that was the case, then he was the only one left in the dark.
"There, all done!" Jackie exclaimed proudly "Mrs. Forman is gonna love me! I, once again, save the dull and boring basement and turned it into this… wonderland!"
Everyone rolled their eyes at her— she didn't care because she knew that they were doing it affectionately.
"Eric, your mom's gonna love me more than she loves you!" Jackie's hands shot up to cover her mouth at this realization. She squealed, both in happiness and so that she could spite Eric, before taking a seat on the couch.
The door flew open before Eric could say anything back revealing a smiling Brooke with Betsy waving frantically at everyone in her arms.
"Baby!" Kelso stood abruptly "You're here!" He rushed immediately to hug Brooke, which of course, led the group to exchange knowing looks.
If Brooke noticed this, she chose not to let on. "Hey Michael!" She gave him a hug and turned to the group, "Hey, guys!"
"Hi, Brooke!"
"Hello, baby Bets!"
"Hey, Brooke!"
"How have ya been, man?"
"Nice coat, Brooke." Jackie noted in greeting. Her and Brooke had become increasingly friendly towards each other the past year. She didn't know why, but when Donna ditched her to hang out with the blonde bimbo that Hyde had for a wife, Jackie became angry and restless. It was when she was flipping through her address book as she looked for someone to call that she realised that she was alone. Those five people in the basement— Donna, Eric, Fez, Michael, even Hyde, they were all she had. She flipped through the page one more time, and that was when she had spotted her name.
Brooke Rockwell.
She had been too upset to care. Her past qualms about Brooke were immediately thrown out the window as soon as Brooke picked up the phone and asked Jackie the one question no one had even bothered asking her before, "Are you okay, Jackie?"
Since then, Brooke called her once a week, and it made them closer through the course of time.
"Thanks!" Brooke smiled as she put Betsy down. As soon as her feet touched the ground she bolted straight to Jackie. "Auntie Jackie!"
"Hey, cutie!" Jackie opened her arms, ready for Betsy jump into them. "How's my favourite god daughter?"
"Jackie, she's your only god daughter." Donna argued.
"Do you hear that, Bets?" Jackie cooed at Betsy. "That's the sound of jealousy."
Donna rolled her eyes playfully and threw a pillow at Jackie, earning her a scowl. "Oops!"
Jackie blew Donna a raspberry in which she responded with a shit eating grin. She turned her attention again to Betsy and began playing with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hyde slowly walking towards their direction.
"You're looking cuter and cuter every time I see you!" Jackie's voice rose an octave higher. Hyde was making a move to sit next to Jackie and she was panicking. They never sit next to each other that much anymore, and if they did, the whole conversation would be made up of awkward throat clearing from both of them.
Betsy giggled, completely oblivious to Jackie's panicked expression, and placed both of her small, chubby hands on Jackie's cheeks and frowned in what seemed like deep concentration, "One day, I'll be as cute as yew!"
"You're gonna out-cute her, Bets, trust me." Hyde gave the top of Betsy's head a light tap.
"Unca' Hyde!" she squealed in delight and moved her body towards where he was seated.
Hyde chuckled and pulled her onto his lap before poking her nose, "How are ya, tiny?"
Jackie shifted in her seat uncomfortably and crossed her legs. She could feel the warmth that was emitting from Hyde's body, and seeing him play with Betsy made her heart clench. There was a time when she had dreamt of the very same thing— their own family, where they were all happy and together.
"Jackie, do you think you can maybe stop squirming?" Hyde casted Jackie an annoyed look.
Jackie was immediately pulled out of her thoughts and snapped, "Why don't you move to the other side so you won't feel me squirm?"
"Why don't you get up and move to the other side?"
"Are we playing a game?" Betsy scratched her head with a confused expression on her face.
"Nope," Eric handed her a popsicle, "That's how they usually talk, Betsy."
"Can it, Eric." Brooke scolded. "She's still kid, so she doesn't understand how these two work. Don't go giving her any ideas."
"Brooke, the kid deserves to know the truth." Eric deadpanned.
"What?" Betsy asked, looking around the room.
"Betsy," Fez kneeled until he was face to face with her, "Your Uncle Hyde and Auntie Jackie used to be lovers."
"Huh?"
"Fez!" Brooke cried and turned to Kelso, "Michael, control your friends!"
Everyone was giggling— including Kelso even though he tried to hold back his laughter.
"Alright, everyone, enough. Stop it before Brooke decides to leave m- uh," Kelso immediately backtracked "Point Place again."
Jackie shot Kelso a knowing smile, which he had caught. He made a face at her that made her laugh. Everyone started chattering again, and that was when she realized that she was still sitting next to Hyde, and they were dangerously close to each other. She could smell the musky scent that came from his cologne. Oh my god, she thought. Usually these things end up badly. Mostly with them fighting, much to their friends' horror— or entertainment, she couldn't tell. So, she decided, she should get up before this ruins whatever happy moment was happening in the basement.
She was about to stand until she felt Hyde's knee touch hers. Jackie was frozen in shock. Since when was it acceptable for them to touch in any form? Maybe it wasn't on purpose. The small touch caused her to flash different memories in her head and it made her dizzy. She didn't know if she should, but she the need to look over to him was eating her up. And she did.
Hyde flashed her a soft smile and nudged her knee. She knew it meant that she could stay, and it gave her a flicker of hope. Maybe they could still be okay. Maybe it wasn't too late for them to friends… maybe more? Jackie shrugged the thought away, she wasn't going to ruin it. She flashed him back the softest smile she could muster. Hopefully he understood. She didn't know what this all meant, but maybe this meant that she was finally going to have a good Christmas again.
