Disclaimer: I own nothing.
sorry for the wait, my muse had PMS, you know, she was all "I'm not going to inspire you 'cause you're real and I'm not! and where is my Long Island Tea!" she is such a spoiled little brat sometimes
Ok, after discussing old songs with my drumming teach and realising he didn't know about "Gloomy Sunday," it occurred to me that I may want to explain a little bit about it. It's a song written in 1933 by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezso Seress after his fiancée left him. The song it's about how his lover died and he can't live anymore and wants to kill himself. The song came to be known as "the Hungarian Suicide Song" after being involved in more than dozen of suicides. One of those ones was Seress' ex-fiancée who killed herself after hearing it apparently, and ironically in 1968 Seress himself killed himself because he could never write another hit. But the suicide spree doesn't end there, which resulted in the song being banned by most radio stations. However, the song is continually being recorded in various languages including English. For a list of the different versions recorded go to .org/wiki/Gloomy_Sunday
Yeap, I'm a music geek.
Old Love
Chapter III: Little Girl Blue
"So let me get this right: You got fired for shooting a bunny down a cliff?" a bewildered Randy said while passing the joint to Fez who was eating his way into a candy/pot induced coma.
"No" Kelso answered as he was talking to a kid "I got fired for shooting a paintball to a Bunny, future Miss July actually, and the cliff just appeared out of nowhere" he finished rolling his eyes.
"I'm sorry. Am I the only one that wants to discuss how my best friend used me as a punching bag for no good reason" Eric complained while holding a raw steak to his cheek and eye.
"Hey, I said I was sorry, Esmeralda" Hyde said taking his own hit. "I thought, we all did, that you cheated on Donna with Jackie" even in his doped state when he said it like that, it sounded, well, far-stretched.
"How could anyone think I'll sleep with Jackie?" the steak did a twitchy arch over the table, "She is like the slightly less evil sister I never had"
"But you do have a sister, a whorey one that married me"
"I said a less evil one, Fez" Eric paused to take a hit "slightly, but less evil nonetheless."
"Someone actually agreed to marry you?" Randy asked even more bewildered
"Laurie doesn't discriminate against different races, sexes or species" Hyde quipped with a smirk "no wonder she likes Canada"
Loud steps on the stairs made them jump on their seats. In a hurry Eric hid the joint, Fez opened and closed the door while Kelso and Randy fanned the smoke out with their magazines and Hyde emptied a can of air freshener.
"And that's how we became independent from the British" Eric said with his best teacher tone.
"Thank you, my good professor friend" Fez nodded towards Forman
"Oh, look at you being... all patriotic" Kitty Forman smiled at the sight of all her boys together again. Now if only that fluffy-haired one would just leave, everything would be perfect. "Aren't they cute, Red? Discussing historic things?" Mrs. Forman finished with her signature laugh. Her husband snorted and glared at them. When the tribe of dumbasses he had living in his basement tried to look innocent, it meant that they were doing something that deserved a foot in ass. He set the heavy tool box on top of the deep freezer and took the laundry basket from Kitty. He frowned, that box didn't use to be so heavy; he was really getting old.
"I already taught all that to the foreign kid" his frown deepened. The tall, stupid one was singing 'ipsy, tipsy spider,' which, ok, wasn't exactly abnormal for him, but the fact that Randy was doing the hand motions for the song while Eric tapped his foot in perfect rhythm was weird; his son was never in rhythm with anything. "What are you morons doing?" Steven smiled at them trying his best to look innocent, he failed miserably. "and what is that smell?" everyone froze for a second or two and then all started talking at the same time.
"uhh.."
"mm..."
"eek!"
"..mmm.."
"Randy scratched the paint job of the Toyota with his drumsticks the other day" Eric threw in desperately. Sink. Hook. Pull.
"What?!" we have a big, scary, angry Red.
"I..mmm... Sorry..." Randy trembled.
"Upstairs now, Farrah! you'll show me that scratch and then I would determine how far up your ass is my foot going to go" when the door closed after them, Hyde looked at Forman with almost pride.
"Forman, you managed to avoid a foot in the ass and burn Randy in the same sentence. Nice"
"The tiny evil one is a great teacher in arts of diversion of the enemy" Hyde frowned at that. It seemed that Jackie and Forman were spending a lot of time together. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"So, you and Jackie seem very chummy lately, huh?"
"She's a nice girl" Eric shrugged
"Nice? Jackie?" Hyde raised an eyebrow amused
"Ok, fine. She's not always nice" he rolled his eyes "but she is a good friend" Hyde couldn't argue with that, it was true, "which is why she is right now fixing this mess with Donna" So that's why there was a minimum of whinnying."It also helps her to distract herself about Pam, you know"
"Yeah. So, what's the mess anyways?"
"I screwed up. What else?"
"Donna" Donna looked up from her furiously diary scribing surprised. There was a time when having Jackie barge into her room was a common occurrence and a certainty when Eric did something stupid. Nowadays it was an exception. "Eric is a moron, which you already knew, and you're an hypocrite, which you may not have known. Now make up already!" she finished with a cheer. "Seriously, he is whinnying like a spoiled little girl; it's beyond annoying"
"No, he hurt me. He lied to me, Jackie. You have no idea-
"How it feels?" Jackie snorted "having your boyfriend lie to you? being hurt? feeling cheated? tell me when I said something that I haven't experienced firsthand, multiple times, Donna" her voice was cold and Donna looked at her like seeing her for the first time; everything about Jackie was cold now. "The difference is that Eric didn't cheat. He would never even think about it. He's better than that and you know it" Jackie Burkhart was defending Eric, Donna wondered what was next: flying monkeys? Hyde dancing ballet? "So Eric dated another girl in Africa, big deal"
"Eric dated another girl in Africa!" Everyone looked at Fez, and then Hyde and Kelso turned to Eric with surprise
"Way to go man!" Kelso made a toast to him with his lollipop, "wait, was she hot?"
"That's not the point, Kelso" Eric said around a mouth full of chips "but if you must know, yes she was very hot"
"You are so screwed, man" Hyde looked at him with mock pity and then laughed
"We were broken up" Eric defended
"You broke up with her" this came from Fez
"She was dating Randy"
"You broke up with her in a letter" Kelso laughed "that was cold, a good burn, but cold"
"She started dating him before I dated Addie"
"Forman, man, you broke up with her in a letter and then turned around and started dating this hot chick in Africa" Hyde tasked amused
"I'm screwed"
"You are screwed"
"You are so screwed you'll be lucky if Big Red ever lets you touch her again" Kelso laughed again
"This bag of sweets has more chance of surviving a day than you have with Donna" Fez munched the rest of the bag
"You are defending him? You are supposed to be my friend!" She expected that Jackie would be on her side, that she would offer to emotionally destroy Eric or something along those lines. It's what best friends do. Yeah, because that's what you did after Laurie or after the nurse or after Sam said an annoying little voice in her head, she choose to ignore it.
"Which is why I'm telling you the truth. Because friends tell each other when they are being gigantic morons about to throw their life down the tubes" Jackie gave a sigh and came into the room. "You two were broken up and you were dating Randy before he even met Addie"
"And how do you know so much about it?"
A sigh "Eric wrote to me about it"
"What, you were pen-pals or something?" the idea was ludicrous; Eric and Jackie hated each other.
"Yeah, something like that" Jackie gave a step forward, so that she was inside the room but still by the door. "He met Addie when he took one of his students, Muhammad, to the hospital where she volunteered. The kid didn't make it, malaria, and he wasn't the only one of his students with the disease," Donna was looking at her stunned, Eric never told her any of this "Addie helped him cope and helped him keep his sanity" another step forward, she was by her desk now "Africa wasn't just another country; it was another life, a lot harder and crueler than any of us could imagine. Addie gave him peace of mind and something to hold on in all that madness" Donna never tough about it that way, she liked to pretend that she was tough and strong because of her parents' divorce, and that she knew about pain and loss. But every once in a while she would realize that she didn't know, at least not to that degree, because she had lived a safe and guarded life; there were things about pain and loss that she didn't known and hoped to never known. "He felt so guilty for liking her. You have no idea how it ate at him"
"So she was your Florence Nightingale?" Hyde went to the deep freezer to get a pop-stick.
"Mostly, yeah" a sad smile crossed his face "she was sweet and tender with everyone. I tried very hard not to like her. It didn't work"
"What I want to know is why was Donna mad at me" The ice-cream was partially melted for being inside the broken freezer, but he didn't care.
"I think she thinks that you gave me an advice about going out with other girls in Africa"
A blink "that sounds more like something Kelso would say"
"Hey!" Kelso yelled "wait, yes it does sound like me" he laughed
"Oh, she thinks that Hyde is your 'evil-best-friend'" Fez added from the sidelines
"And how do you know what she said?" Eric glared at him
"Oh, I was there"
=== flashback ===
So I, Fez, was enjoying some quality alone time on the old shower with lovely miss June when the basement door crashed open. I didn't need to see her to know that Donna was pissed, you could practically feel the air cracking.
"Eric!" she yelled "Eric, where are you?" oh, she was pissed alright. I trembled in my hiding place and tried to think of a way to warn my good friend without risking my life. Nothing came to mind.
"Donna? are you ok?" oh, Eric, no, do not approach the furious Amazon "You look ummm are you mad about something?" at that moment I had no idea how did Eric survived to adulthood. I mean, one did not go against mad women that could bench press you.
"Oh, I'm mad alright" her voice came in a contained whisper "Do you know why?" don't ask, run, run
"Why?" No, bad Eric! She's gonna kill you, and she'll find me here and then kill me. I don't wanna die now that I'm finally getting some.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm mad because of this!" She threw something at him, I think. But I couldn't see what it was and was too afraid to peek.
"Where did you get this? Did you go through my stuff?" Even I knew that that was the wrong thing to say and I didn't know what she threw at him. Oh, Eric!
"Is that all you have to say for yourself? 'did you go through my stuff' ?" her voice came in a low hissing, like a big anaconda. Aiii, I hate anacondas. "What about you explain to me why did you have a picture of you and another girl in OUR suitcase, in OUR stuff! And what the hell did you mean by the caption 'to my evil-best-friend, thanks for the advice, you were right, E'! So what? Now our friends are advising you to cheat on me?" Aiii! That's when I started to pray for our lives. I mean, I've know Eric for five years, I knew he was going to put both feet and legs into his mouth.
"I didn't cheat on you! I would never!" so far so good, I breathed a little. Now if Eric could only remember how Kelso always got out of these situations, we could get out of these with our lives and our bodies intact. "I dated her in Africa, when we were broken up" Aiii, didn't he know anything? You are supposed to lie, Eric! Negate, negate! That's the first rule!
==== end of flashback====
"It's true, you have negate everything, right Hyde"
"Complete denial, Watergate, man"
Kelso pointed at himself "I mean look at me, I survived cheating on Jackie! They should make monuments on my genius!"
"I didn't cheat on her!" Eric yelled
"Besides, didn't she found you out and then broke up with you and leaving, you now, impotent?"
"Ahh uh!!! I wasn't... it didn't... Hyde! you promised you wouldn't bring that up again!"
"yeah, it is not nice of you to remind friends when they were having problems performing" Fez and Hyde smiled evilly
"hey! I don't have any problems! I'm..
"flaccid" Eric added. They all laughed except Kelso
"Wait. You are his 'evil-best friend,' not Hyde" She stud up to tower over the small brunette. "What the hell?!!"
"Huh? What does Steven Hyde got to do with this?"
"That stupid picture had 'to my evil-best friend, thanks for the advice, you were right, E' written at the back" Any normal person would be cowering from the towering blond with the angry flush, but Jackie didn't step back. She did lower her head a tab though. "You! you, my best friend advised my boyfriend to date other girls!! what kind of bitch does that!! how could you?!!"
Anger flashed in those mismatched eyes "Ok, first of all Donna, he wasn't your boyfriend anymore. Hell, you were dating another guy!! one who had better hair than you do, if I may add." Jackie gave one step closer to her and her eyes were like chips of ice "and 'your best friend', ha! I thought your best friend was that bimbo with the trans am. You know, the slutty one that married the guy I loved and gave up my future to be with? yeah, what kind of bitch does that?"
"Don't make this about you! and you told me that you were over Hyde, and I just wanted to make her feel welcome. It wasn't her fault" weak! Donna shooed that stupid voice inside her head.
"Yes, Donna. I was over Hyde, I didn't got drunk and flashed a bunch of people in a bar, I didn't spent nights and nights crying myself to sleep, I didn't expected my bestfriend to be there for me, I wanted to make the bitch who destroyed my life feel welcome! And of course it wasn't her fault, she just 'forgot' to inform her new husband that she was already married!" The petite brunette took a deep breath "but you're right this isn't about me; it's about you and Eric. He loves you, it's a simple as that. He broke up with Addie because he was still in love with you and didn't think it was fair for any of you. So he came back! For you! Do you even know how lucky you are? How rare it is to find someone who loves you that much? Well, I'm not going to let you ruin something that great" Wide green eyes stared at her with shock, "so now, you're going to put on something pretty—that means no plead—and you're going to go next door and make up with the boy who've worshiped you since the first grade, understood?" Donna blinked "good! Now hurry up before Eric starts mopping again." And with that the ex-cheerleader started a hunt for the perfect outfit on Donna's closet.
"I can't believe Jackie's mom tried to kill herself" They were all watching Randy who was carrying heavy box after heavy box from the garage
"I can't believe Donna actually broke up with me"
"Here we go" Hyde rolled his eyes at his friend.
"I mean she was hot! If she was depressed, all she had to do was come to me. All of this," Kelso motioned towards his face and body "makes the ladies very happy"
"That's not what I heard from Jackie, man" Hyde smiled evilly taking a swing from his beer.
"Uh!! Ah!!" Eric chuckled at Kelso's indignant face
"Hello! Help? Someone? Anyone?" Randy stumbled under the weight of a particular large box. The four friends ignored him. Fez looked especially happy.
"Eric, your dad is an evil genius" the foreigner munched on a cupcake
"But seriously, no stupid comment to Jackie about her mom. She is having a hard enough time without having to deal with stupid 1 and 2 here" Hyde gestured to Fez and Kelso.
Eric raised an eyebrow, "that's very considerate of you Hyde, didn't think you cared"
Before Hyde could respond to that, the telltale clunks of clogs hitting the pavement came from his left. He knew that walk. Jackie.
"Hey, what're you doing?" four pair of eyes turned towards the raspy voice.
"Jackie! my dark princess!"
"Hi, Fezzie" she gave a little laugh. Hyde hated that stupid nickname.
"You know Jackie if you're feeling down I'll always be here in case you need someone to make you feel better" a bit "physically, you know" Jackie raised an eyebrow and looked questionably to Hyde. He shook his head. No he didn't say anything about that night and like hell he was going to give that info to Kelso.
"I'm fine Michael, really"
"Because if your mom should have come to me, I would ha-ow! Damn Hyde! What was that for?"
"I just missed you, man" he gives a smartass smile and Kelso shrugs.
"Jackie, did you talk to Donna?" Eric looked at her hopefully. Also, if there was something he learned by being her close friend these two years is that when it really hurt, Jackie preferred not to talk or think about it, which is why she offered to help him.
"I'm sorry Eric, I really tried" Eric swallowed nervously and tried to keep from crying or something equally embarrassing. "but really there is only so much even I can do with a horrible clothes collection and that lumberjack body type of her"
"What?"
"I mean look at her" she gestured towards the basketball basket were Donna was standing in a pair of jeans and a cute top "is a dress so much to ask for?" She rolled her eyes at the awed expression in Eric's face "What are you waiting for? Go, kiss and make up already"
Eric smiled at her and run to Donna.
"Hey"
"Hey"
"I'm sorry" they both said at the same time, and they smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry, Donna"
"No, I'm sorry." she took a deep breath "No, let me speak. I over reacted. We were broken up; of course you could date other people. I was dating Randy, for Pete's sake. I just… It's just… You never really dated anyone but me, you went to California to be with me, and then suddenly you leave and break up with me, in a friggin' letter, and now I found out you dated another girl. It's like you were always mine and then you weren't. Why didn't you tell me about it? Why did you kept that picture?"
"Donna, I kept the picture because" he gives a sight "I cared about Addie, but I didn't love her. I only ever loved you; you are the only girl I want to love." He took a step closer to her "I didn't tell you because I'm a moron." She chuckles at that "things were working between us again and I just didn't want to upset you. I knew it was going to bother you, so I didn't tell you. Jackie told me I was being stupid but I didn't listen to her, I'm sorry"
"That's another thing. Why did Jackie knew? She told how you met her, why didn't you tell me how things were really in Africa?"
"Ok, remember when you had me shopping for our wedding stuff with Jackie?"
"Yes, you had more fun with her. You said that she didn't ask you questions. She just told you what to do"
"Yeah, well sometimes she doesn't tell me what to do, but she listens. And, somewhere under all that evil devil spawny thing she has going on, she is… nice. She is a good friend"
"Yeah, she is" she looked at the girl in question. She was looking at them with a sad smile. She was the only that was pressing attention to them. Fez and Kelso were sword fighting with their lollipops. And Hyde was hovering over Jackie's side stealing glances at her while trying to appear not to. He always did that, as long as Donna could remember Hyde always watched Jackie. She felt a pang of guilt when the idea that maybe she had been wrong about them, about Sam and all that.
"So, we're good? Donna?" Eric asked nervously. He silently promised to himself to not do anything stupid that could mean losing her.
"Yeah, we are good" She smiled. "I love you, Eric"
"I love you, Donna" they kissed.
Hyde looked at them with envy. The idiots made it look so easy. Of course, Forman wasn't him. He didn't marry a striper or anything even close. He glanced at the tiny brunette again. She was beautiful, smart and had an evil streak that made him weak on knees. She loved him. She took care of him and let him take care of her. And fuck he wanted that back.
Jackie turned around at the sound of someone clearing his throat at her shoulder. Steven Hyde was there offering her a can of beer. "Huh?"
"In case you're thirsty or something" his voice sounded normal and his face was blank, but she noticed the wobbling of his Adam's apple. Years of careful study of all his mannerism was a hard habit to break. She used to think she could read him like a book; these last two years, however, left her doubting that she ever really could.
"Thanks" she took the can and stared at it. Steven Hyde was trying to mess with her head, again. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the can again, opened it, and gave it to her again. He remembered that she hated to open cans, she always ended up breaking her nails. She resisted the urge of beating him up over the head with the stupid drink. She could see where this was going, and like hell was she going to walk down that road again. With that decided she turned around to watch the golden couple make up.
so, what do you think?