Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

ONE DIFFERENCE:
HYDE GOES TO KELSO'S ICE SHACK

Part III

Jackie kept glancing at the ice shack's door. Steven had left a half-hour ago, and the place seemed twice as small without his presence … and twice as empty. Between rounds of Fez's game, Eric went outside to check on him. Apparently, Steven was napping in Michael's van. Whatever his intentions were today, they didn't include her.

"Well, the score is horribly close," Fez said. He was pacing in his little corner of the ice shack and looked absolutely miserably. What had he expected? That Michael wouldn't know important details about her life? She'd trained Michael well since their first date together. He hadn't been a faithful boyfriend, but at least he was interested in her.

She mustered a smile. "I'm very impressed, Michael."

"Yeah..." Michael gazed into her eyes, and her skin prickled, not unpleasantly. "I guess you just remember things about those you care about."

"Oh, please." Fez's face twisted with disgust. "I'm gonna puke. Let's get this nightmare over with." He propped a foot upon his crate, "This question is for all the marbles," and he smoothed his last index card on his knee. "You each had to answer this one, and we'll start with Donna. Donna, who gave Eric his best kiss?"

"Gee, I don't know..." Donna tapped her chin, obviously feigning confusion. Then her brows furrowed. "Well, he did learn French kissing from his sister's slutty college friend—"

"Yeah, no need to make this game artificially dramatic," Eric said. "Just tell us your answer." His fingers gripped his notebook. He seemed eager to raise it, but Donna wasn't finished.

"Not so fast," she said. "You were also kissed by Buddy Mor—"

"What?" Jackie, Michael, and Fez said collectively.

"You kissed Buddy Morgan?" Jackie leaned forward on the bench, but the fishing hole was right by her feet and large enough to swallow her, so she sat back again. "Donna, what are you talking about?"

"She's talking about nothing!" Eric thrust his notebook into the air, as if to show off his answer, but it slipped from his fingers. It dropped into the fishing hole and sunk faster than he could get to the floor. "Damn it! I wrote down 'Donna,' all right? Donna, you've always been my best kiss."

"That's sweet," Fez said, "but we don't have proof, so no points for you."

"But, Fez—"

"I said, 'No points,' you game-sabotaging sonuvabitch!"

Fez leaned against the wall, by the frost-covered window. The sky had become overcast with clouds, and it darkened the ice shack considerably. Michael stood up and pulled a lantern off the wall. He lit it with his lighter—and remarkably didn't set anything else on fire— and placed it on an upside-down pail.

"Okay, missy, what about you?" Eric said to Donna. He was sitting on the bench again. "You kissed Hyde—"

"No, he kissed me."

"Still, maybe part of you liked it."

"And you liked kissing Buddy?" Donna said.

"He kissed me," Eric said, "which you brought up, so ... people shoving their tongues down our throats is fair game. So how about it?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Hyde's kiss? Did it do anything for ya?"

"Oh, my God. I don't believe this." Donna shoved herself off the bench and narrowly avoided the fishing hole. "I didn't want him to kiss me, but you actually enjoyed kissing that skanky college girl—and maybe Buddy, too."

"Come on, Donna." Eric grabbed her notebook and stood. Then he read her answer aloud. "'Eric.' So … I'm a better kisser than Hyde, huh?"

His back was facing Jackie now, but his tone indicated an arrogant grin and more obnoxious eyebrow-waggling. "Eric," she said, "Donna didn't let Steven really kiss her, so she's can't judge."

"Jackie," Donna said, "not helping."

"Actually, Jackie has a point," Eric said.

"Many points," Michael said. "We're totally gonna win this game."

"No," Eric gestured to the ice shack's door, "I mean maybe we should wake Hyde up and squash this question—"

"Gent bent!" Donna shoved him toward the fishing hole, but he landed in Michael's lap. She left the shack without closing the door, allowing a cold gust of wind to sweep in.

"Donna?" Eric followed her outside. "Are you going somewhere, honey?"

Fez closed the door after him. "Okay, this is it." His gaze landed on Jackie, and she shuddered. An emotion she couldn't identify was simmering beneath his skin. "Jackie, who was Kelso's best kiss? Think carefully."

"Me," she said. "If he and Laurie left slobber all over the basement blanket, she's got no technique at all."

"What?" Fez clawed at his cheeks as if he wanted to rip them off. "He's still sleeping with Laurie. How can you be so—so—damn it! I don't know the word in English, but in my native tongue it's xtalco."

"Fez, me and Laurie are over as of three days ago." Michael slapped his notebook on his knees. "God! I already told you that."

"Jackie, don't you care that Kelso's a two-timing whore?"

"Of course I do." Jackie slouched, a lousy attempt to hide herself. If only her jacket were three sizes bigger. "But maybe he's changed—"

"Oh, I have, baby." Michael lifted his notebook. Her name was written on the page in capital letters and an exclamation mark. "You've always been my best kiss."

"You're just copying what Eric said." Fez reached across Jackie and snatched the notebook from Michael's hands. He dropped it into the fishing hole, and ice-cold water splashed onto Jackie's jeans. "If Jackie takes you back, will you sleep with other women?"

"That question wasn't on one of the index cards," Michael said, but it was something Jackie should've asked herself. She needed to ask him lots of questions, not about her family or obscure things she'd said to him, but about their potential relationship.

A deer skull hung on the wall farthest from her, above the snowshoes. Michael's answers could be like the skull's antlers, sharp and cutting. Even if he told her what she wanted to hear, would it be the truth?

"Ask Michael the last question," she said.

"Why?" Fez had ripped up his last index card and tossed the pieces to the floor. "You two have already won."

"Not necessarily."

The corner of Fez's mouth twitched up, a hint of a smile. "All right. Kelso, who was Jackie's best kiss?"

"Easy." Michael slid his hand over Jackie's and squeezed it. She didn't squeeze back, but she didn't remove her hand either. "I'm her best kiss."

"Jackie?" Fez said.

Michael let her go, and she picked up her notebook. An indignant shriek left Michael's throat, and Fez squinted at her answer, as if he couldn't read it.

"No, you spelled my name wrong," Michael said. "It starts with an M."

Fez gestured for the notebook. Jackie gave it to him, and he pointed to the first letter of her answer. "That is an S. The next letter is a T—"

"Hyde?" Michael shook his head. "When did you kiss Hyde?"

"On our date," she said.

"But—but he said nothing happened!"

Fez hit Michael's shoulder with the notebook. "He lied, you idiot!"

"Hyde?" Michael shouted again.

Jackie went to the ice shack door. Steven had lied about kissing her. Did that mean he'd lied about the kiss in other ways, too? Her thoughts had grown too big for her mind. She needed to talk to Donna, and as she escaped into the cold, she heard Michael say to Fez, "So, who won?"

"Donna, I don't know what to feel." Jackie was whispering. Only a pair of metal doors separated her from Steven's ears. She and Donna were talking by Michael's van, but she didn't have the courage to peek inside the window. Steven was probably still asleep, but she couldn't risk him overhearing.

"Jackie, I can't read your lips," Donna said. "You don't have to turn your volume up to its normal hundred, but try, like, a four."

"Okay, then can we please go somewhere else? Eric's sulking on the other side of the shack, and Michael and Fez are arguing in the shack." Jackie pointed to a flat expanse of snow beyond the van. "Let's go over there."

Donna didn't budge. "We're on a frozen lake, remember? We have no idea how thick the ice is over there. At least here, it's bearing the weight of the van. We should be safe."

Jackie groaned. "Fine."

"What is Eric's problem?" Donna said a few moments later. "Okay, Buddy kissed him the same way Hyde kissed me, but he liked Frenching Laurie's slutty friend. I've never willingly kissed anyone else."

"Maybe you should."

"Excuse me?"

"No, I just mean..." Jackie's mind drifted. The threads of the conversation had frayed. "It's like I'm on The Dating Game, and Michael, Fez, and Steven are my choice in bachelors. One's a cheater, one I'm not attracted to, and one isn't attracted to me."

"Yeah, Eric has no idea how lucky he is," Donna said. "I could be kissing guys left and right. I get hit on, like, all the time—by jocks, by geeks—but I'm in love with him." She stood on her toes, as if she could see over the shack and into Eric's brain. "And I've never felt the need to French my brother's slutty college friend!"

"Donna, there is so much wrong with that you said." Jackie counted off on her fingers. "First of all, jocks don't hit on you. They hit on me. Second, you don't have a brother. Third, you and Eric weren't exclusive yet when he kissed that other girl. You had barely begun to make-out, and fourth, you should thank that girl because Eric's kissing got a lot better afterward, right?"

"Right, but—"

Jackie put up a hand to stop her. "But Eric loves you and is faithful and would never cheat on you. You find him attractive—for some reason—and he's head-over-heels in love with you. You've got nothing to complain about." She pressed her back hard into the van's door. The cold metal reached through her jacket, combining with the frigid winter air, and she shivered. "All you had was a misunderstanding, so get over it."

Donna didn't respond, and Jackie shoved her icy hands into her jacket pockets. She balled them into fists, but the silence became more painful than the cold. "Maybe I'm just lonely," she said. "Or I need a sign from, like, God. Or ... I don't know. Maybe I just need someone to tell me if I'm crazy."

"If you're even thinking about taking Kelso back," Donna said, "you are crazy. Look at where we are, Jackie. He hasn't stopped lying to you."

Jackie's foot shoved snow into a small pile. "I guess he hasn't."

"And he didn't invite Fez and Hyde on this trip. They invited themselves. Kelso thinks they're his rivals for your affection."

"He's an idiot," Jackie said, "and lying has its place," but not when a boy did it to hurt her. She slammed her hands against the van. The impact shot up her arms, the nerve-endings in her elbows tingled sharply, but she slammed the van again. Maybe it would wake Steven up. If he'd lied about their kiss, if he were concealing feelings for her … but she was fantasizing again. "Do you think Michael could actually change?"

"A tire? Sure." Donna's attention was elsewhere. Eric had returned to the ice shack.

A low growl burned Jackie's throat. Donna had to see Eric truthfully, just as Jackie had to see Steven truthfully. Her feelings for him would never be requited, and she curled her fingers around Donna's wrist. "Let's go get our men."

Hyde had been awake for some time, thanks to Jackie and Donna's muffled voices. They came through the van's closed doors, but he couldn't make out more than a few distinct words. His eyes remained closed. Sleep refused to take him back, though, even after silence returned.

The discussion must have been a doozy. It ended after someone punched the van a few times. Probably Donna. Forman had screwed up somehow … typical.

Hyde yawned and scratched fingers through his curls, and the van doors flew open. Cold air rushed in, along with Kelso and Jackie. She was holding onto one of Kelso's hands with both of hers.

"Hyde, get out," Kelso said. "Jackie and I have some reconciling to do … if you know what I mean."

Jackie's grip on his hand was strong, but she looked anything but happy. In fact, she seemed downright frightened.

"No, I don't know what you mean," Hyde said and made no effort to leave. He stayed where he was, against the back of the van's seats, and crossed his outstretched legs at the ankles. "Why don't you let me in on it?"

Kelso grinned. "I won, and Fez lost."

A quiet but shuddering breath left escaped Jackie's lungs. Her head was down, and her fingers adjusted their grip, as if she didn't want to touch him. Maybe she felt like she had no choice. Fear was rising off her like smoke.

"Cool," Hyde said. "How'd ya do it?" No way in hell was he leaving the two of them alone.

"Oh, it was awesome." Kelso disentangled himself from Jackie's grasp—that was surprise number one. Surprise number two: he shut the van's doors without trying to force Hyde out.

Surprise number three, though, made Hyde's muscles stiffen. Jackie slumped down next to him, close enough for their bodies to touch.

"Jackie came rushing back into the shack, right?" Kelso said. "She told me to guess a number between one and ten, and I got it."

"No, your first guess was wrong," Jackie said, "and your second guess was two numbers off."

"Yeah, but you're with me now, not Fez." Kelso sat on a leather hump extending from the van floor. It served as a chair, but Hyde never used it anymore. Too much of a risk with that plastic tarp covering the missing back door. Getting hurled from the van into on-coming traffic? Not his idea of a good time.

The missing door was Jackie's fault. She'd driven the van recklessly once, to chauffeur that asshole Chip and his band to a gig. Her choices in potential boyfriends sucked. Maybe they reflected how she truly felt about herself. Or she was just naïve.

"Hyde, you should've heard him," Kelso continued. "Fez was all, 'Jackie, if you go out that door with him, whatever we might have had between us is over forever.' And Jackie totally left!"

Kelso's ego had taken over. He was laughing, and his hands pressed against the van's ceiling. He started to dance—more like convulse—and the van rocked with him.

"I won, and Fez lost," he sang. "I won, and Fez l—"

A loud crack! shook the van. They were parked on a frozen lake...

Kelso stopped dancing and barreled through the van's plastic tarp. Hyde stood up while softer but more menacing cracks! rattled the metal doors, and he grabbed Jackie's hand. He yanked her up and outside—and didn't let go until they were back at the shack, a safe distance from the van.

Forman, Donna, and Fez were waiting for them, and Forman said, "You guys, what happened?"

"I don't know!" Kelso said. "All of a sudden the van just started shaking."

"'All of a sudden'?" Hyde scowled. "Man, you were having a freakin' self-congratulatory one-man orgy in there."

"Uh, guys?" Donna pointed to the van. It was slowly sinking into the frozen lake.

"Quick! Everyone give me your belts," Kelso said as he unbuckled his own belt. "Together we can pull it out."

But the van continued to submerge itself in the icy water. Fez stayed put behind Kelso, but Donna and Forman moved farther away, beside the shack's rusty oil barrel.

A good idea. Hyde reached for Jackie's hand again, but she grabbed hold of his arm first. She pushed him forward, and they joined Forman and Donna.

"Come on!" Kelso shouted. "Give me—"

"Michael, this is it!" Jackie said and hugged herself to Hyde's arm. "This is the sign I was looking for!"

A warm buzz traveled deep into Hyde's skin, through his coat. Wool couldn't protect him from Jackie, from what she brought out in him.

"God doesn't want us to be together, Michael!" she shouted.

Kelso barely looked in her direction. "Who cares?" His belt was in his hands, and he gestured to the roof of his van. Water was seeping over it. "I'm losing my van!"

"See?" Jackie released Hyde's arm. His instinct was to hold onto her, but he let her take a step toward Kelso. "That was the problem with us," she said. "It was always about you!"

"Jackie, are you losing your van?" Kelso said.

She took few more steps toward him. "No!"

"Then shut up!"

The van disappeared completely under the water. It would probably rust there as the lake froze over it, as Hyde hoped Jackie's heart wasn't rusting now. She was barely moving, standing in the swathe of distance between himself and Kelso.

Fez, though, was laughing. His glee hung in the air like fog. He'd gotten a badass consolation prize, watching Kelso lose his van.

"Wow," Donna said to Forman, "Kelso's treatment of Jackie puts your dumbassery into perspective."

"Donna," he said, "if the Vista Cruiser sank to the bottom of a frozen lake, my first priority would be keeping you safe."

"I know." She slung an arm around his shoulders. "You aren't strong enough to haul the Vista Cruiser out of a frozen lake."

He chuckled, and his breath came out as white smoke. "That's ... yeah. There's my sweet girl."

Whatever had gone on between them, they'd be fine. But Jackie was another story. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was shivering. Kelso didn't appear to notice, or maybe he simply didn't care. His eyes were fixed on the watery hole where his van used to be.

Jackie looked to Fez. She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and said, "I'm cold."

Fez matched her body language, crossing his arms over his chest. His amusement had clearly evaporated, and he said,. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a rat's ass!" Then he went back inside the shack .

Jackie's arms fell limply to her sides. Hyde expected her to look to him next, but her gaze moved over the frozen lake.

"Well, we've got a long, freezing walk ahead of us," Forman said, "and the sun's not going to stay in the sky forever."

"Fortunately for us," Donna patted her coat pocket, "I brought a map."

"Is that what that is? I thought you were just happy to see me."

She grabbed his hand. "No way in hell I'd trust Kelso with directions. Let's go." She tugged him toward the ice shack. They disappeared inside, leaving Hyde, Jackie, and Kelso alone.

"This is your fault, Hyde," Kelso said after a moment. His belt was partially wrapped around his fist. The dangling remainder whipped his leg as he gestured wildly, first to Hyde then to the van's watery grave. "Your. FAULT!"

"My fault?" Hyde stayed by the oil barrel. "Who asked you to jump around in the van?"

"I wouldn't have had to jump around if you hadn't gotten in the way."

"Whatever."

"No, not 'whatever'." Kelso stomped through the snow and pushed past Jackie in the process. She stumbled backward and crashed to the ground, but Kelso didn't stop. He advanced on Hyde, as if Jackie was a pile of books that had been in his way.

"Shit—" Hyde hurtled forward, shoved Kelso into the snow, and rushed to Jackie's side. He stuck his hands under her arms and lifted her to her feet. "You all right?"

"No!" Bits of snow clung to her palms. She wiped them on her jeans. "I can't believe I almost took you back, Michael!" Her eyes were growing wet, but she didn't cry. "You pushed me down on purpose!"

"I did not!" Kelso got to his feet and shook the snow from his hands. Then he pointed at Hyde. "See? You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?" Hyde said. He was close to kicking Kelso's ass, but he inhaled a few deep, cold breaths.

"Getting in the way! How am I supposed to have a chance when you're holding onto her?"

Hyde glanced down at himself. One of his arms was hooked protectively around Jackie's back, and she was hugging his waist with both arms. To outside eyes, they must have looked cozy. Too cozy, but he couldn't make himself let go.

"If you'd stayed out of the way after she and I broke up," Kelso said, "so she could suffer properly—"

"We didn't break up," Jackie said. "I dumped you!"

Kelso flung his belt to the ground. "Look, the details aren't important. Hyde, you should've let her get arrested for that pot. You should've let Chip manhandle her so she'd see how bad she had it without me. Then I would've been forgiven, and—"

A small shriek escaped Jackie's throat, and she pulled free from Hyde's half-embrace. She reached Kelso with fists and feet swinging. Some of her blows landed, and Kelso began to defend himself.
He could fend her off easily, but her safety today hadn't been a priority. If he caused even the tiniest of bruises...

Hyde charged between them, using his body as both a wedge and barrier. "Let me at him, Steven!" Jackie said and scratched at the back of his coat. Her moxie was admirable, but it outmatched her physical strength.

"Later," Hyde said. He grabbed Kelso's jacket collar and shoved him against the ice shack. "Keep talking, man." Hyde's voice was calmer than he felt. His patience had sunk to the bottom of the lake with the van. "You wanna make a point, then make it already."

"I—I—I'm just saying," Kelso put up his hands, "Jackie's mine. You shouldn't be picking her up off the ground. And—and—" his voice cracked, "quit giving her ideas. I mean, God! She said you're a better kisser than me. You broke the code, man!" He sniffled, and tears rimmed the bottom of his eyes. "And now I've lost my van forever—and maybe my girl, too!"

Hyde looked over his right shoulder at Jackie, only Jackie wasn't there. A tap to his left shoulder told him where she was. "Steven," she said, "please give Michael and me a minute."

"Don't tell me you're fallin' for his pity-crap."

"Steven, let me talk to him."

His fingers stiffened on Kelso's collar. Then they sprang open. "Fine. It's your damn funeral."

Jackie took his place in front of Kelso. She caressed the side of Kelso's face, and nausea billowed in Hyde's stomach. Smoking weed must have given him schizophrenia. It was the only explanation for loving this chick.

"Oh, Michael," she said sweetly. She grasped Kelso's shoulders, and her thumbs continued to caress his cheeks. "You really do try, don't you?"

Kelso nodded as a tear slid down his cheek. "Uh-huh."

"I'm so sorry you lost your van..."

Searing bile rose into Hyde's throat. He had to get away, smash his fist into something. He trudged past the oil barrel, intending to yell at his friends inside the ice shack. They needed to move their asses already, but Kelso grunted behind him. A thud followed, the sound of a body falling into the snow.

Hyde whipped around. Kelso was on the ground, curled in the fetal position, and whimpering.

"And I'm so not sorry for that!" Jackie said. She was standing over him, hands on her hips. A triumphant stance.

Hyde stared at her. "Did you kick him in the stones?"

"Yeah."

"You faked him out?"

"Yeah."

"Holy hell."

"It's not that impressive, Steven. He's never been able to tell when I'm faking things."

He went toward her. "You ever fake anything with me?"

She pressed her lips together. When she released them, they were as red as cherry pop. "Maybe."

A foot of space existed between them, and she clutched his forearms. A new kind of tension was building in his body, but its release wasn't guaranteed. She'd tried to use Fez just a few minutes ago, and with Kelso crumpled in the snow, cupping his 'nads … he was a captive audience.

"If you wanna make Kelso's suffering worse," Hyde said, "I'm sure Fez would slip you his tongue. I'll get him." He tried to leave, but she held him there. Not with her fingers. He could've broken her physical grip, but his emotions were raw, like fresh scabs. They lay beneath her fingers, too. If she picked at them, they'd bleed.

"I do want Michael to suffer," she said, "but I'm more important."

"Huh?"

"Steven, this isn't about stupid Michael."

"What isn't?"

Her hands slipped to his wrists, and she squeezed them. "This. You … and me."

"Bullshit." Pain swelled in his guts, and he shut his eyes against it. It was an old affliction, not physical but an existential disorder. His parents leaving him—at the mall, altogether. His uncle Chet going to prison. … Jackie wasn't his. Would never be his, just like love. He was incapable of holding onto it, but like a fool he kept trying.

Jackie's touch disappeared from his skin, and a few seconds later Kelso groaned loudly. "That should keep him," she said.

Hyde's eyes popped open. Kelso was crying, still crumpled in the snow. "You kicked him again?"

"Yeah, and if you don't follow me, you'll get some of this, too." She swung her foot out. "Understand?"

"I don't respond well to threats, Jackie."

"Then I'll just go where I'm going—and if you have any feelings for me at all, you'll meet me there."

She walked around Kelso, whose moans were so pathetic that Hyde cringed in sympathy. She vanished behind the ice shack, and he gazed at the footprints she'd left in the snow. He wouldn't let himself get screwed over, not by her. But enough doubt remained that his boots turned her footprints into bigger ones.