Donna paced back and forth in front of her bed, running a hand through her long, red hair. She kicked a pillow that had fallen off of her bed, causing Jackie to wince. Finally, Donna stopped, sighed, and sat down on the foot of the bed beside Jackie. Jackie scooted over to make room.
"Alright," Donna said, taking a deep breath and folding her hands neatly on top of her crossed legs. "How in the hell did this happen?"
"Sorry, Donna. It's none of your business."
"It's everyone's business when you and Steven cause problems between an entire group of people."
"Thank you very much, Donna, for your interest, but what Steven and I do behind closed doors is no one's business but ours."
"Jackie-"
"No. Don't even preach to me about breaking the group apart because you know what? I'm happy for the first time since Michael left."
"Speaking of Michael," Donna began, waggling a finger at her friend. "How do you think Michael will feel when he finds out that his ex-girlfriend's been foolin' around with his best friend?"
"Hmm," Jackie said, pretending to ponder what Donna had said. "Probably the same way I felt while he cheated on me and ran away to California." Donna was silent, and Jackie looked smug.
"You know that he has to know, right?"
"No, he doesn't. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Jackie said decisively. Donna exhaled loudly and grinned at Jackie.
"How's Hyde?"
"What?" Jackie asked, gathering her hair up in the back for a ponytail.
"How's Hyde in bed?" the redhead clarified. Jackie laughed and wrinkled her nose, tying her hair up with a rubber band.
"Donna!"
"What?" Donna asked, poking Jackie in the side. "At least tell me. If you get your way and Kelso doesn't find out, at least tell me Hyde's worth it."
"God, you know, you sound like Fez." Jackie said, smirking at Donna, who rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's pretty fantastic."
"So, Kelso met a girl in California." Donna said slowly, standing up and walking to her closet. Jackie's nostrils flared.
"Oh, yeah?" she casually asked. Donna peeked her head out of the closet.
"Yeah. Her name's Annette."
"Oh, really." Jackie said shrilly. "It's a good thing she's a whore. Michael can't be too serious about her."
"Actually," Donna said, coming out of the closet with a hoodie on, "She's a virgin and he's pretty serious."
"Key-word, honey." Jackie corrected. "Virgin. Michael wants to pop her cherry, then he'll get tired of her."
"Jackie, if Barbie had a full-size, bigger-boobed sister, it would be Annette."
"Oh, God." Jackie breathed. "Michael loves boobs."
"And Jackie still cares for Kelso!" Donna pointed out. Jackie huffed.
"I do not. I'm just interested in finding out about the girl that Michael left me for."
"Yeah, well, don't expect much from Hyde either." Donna said plainly. Jackie raised a dainty eyebrow. "He's not really famous for being good with commitment."
"I'm not asking him to commit." Jackie sniffed. Donna snorted.
"Jackie Burkhart? Not forcing someone into commitment?"
"Shut up, Donna." Jackie said. "It's just casual sex."
"Yeah, well don't come crying to me or anyone else when he gets tired of your little arrangement. He's not gonna do everything you say and dote on you and act like your little servant like Kelso did." Donna warned. Jackie groaned and covered her face with her hands, falling back onto the bed.
"Come on, Jackie. Now that Kelso's back, you and Hyde probably won't last long anyways."
"Yeah," Jackie sighed. "But I really hoped we would."
Steven closed his eyes, sinking into the pillow. His favorite Aerosmith record was blaring at the highest volume, filling his tiny, basement bedroom with music. He breathed in contentedly; his pillow smelled like her.
He had locked his door, wanting to be alone after everyone had left. Donna had kept quiet while Eric cleverly covered for them to Kelso, but had dragged Jackie next door straight afterword, no doubt to pester her with questions. Steven pushed his aviators up onto his nose when they slipped down.
Did he want Kelso to find out? No.
Yes.
Yes, he did. He wanted his friend to finally see what he had thrown away. To finally see that he couldn't get away with letting his pants fall every time he met a new girl. To finally see that he couldn't walk all over Jackie and just come crawling back every time. To see that Jackie was with someone else because he had walked away.
But was Jackie with someone else? Steven frowned. They weren't even dating, just sleeping with each other. He wasn't about to put his heart on his sleeve if she still loved Kelso, although he doubted she did.
Things hadn't been the same between the two of them lately. Sex had lost it's spark, and the excitement of seeing each other secretly had begun to wear out. Steven still revered her body, tried to make what they did beautiful in a simple way, but as the close of the summer loomed closer, she was beginning to pull away. Was it because she knew Kelso would be back?
Steven sat up and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. His head suddenly throbbed. What was she telling Donna?
He needed to talk to her, but was so afraid of what he'd find out.
He was scared that she wouldn't want him, just like every other person in his life. She was going to leave him, abandon him, just like anyone else who was ever important to him.
She was important to him.
He was beginning to miss her touches during the day when he was sitting alone in the basement. He had an addiction, and she was his own special brand of heroin. She was the monkey on his back that wouldn't seem to let go, no matter what he did. He couldn't get her out of his head. It used to be just her body that would flash through his mind, her breasts, her lips, her legs. But lately, he hadn't been about to stop thinking about her.
He jumped when he heard his door open and close. He looked up, startled to see Jackie standing in front of his bed, biting her lip. He took off his aviators and frowned at her.
"Jackie." he breathed, folding his glasses and setting them on his bedside table. Jackie's brown eyes seemed to glow. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she looked strangely not put together. She fiddled her hands nervously.
"Steven, I gotta talk to you."
Author's Note: Ohhhh, a cliffhanger...kind of. Ha, I hope this is better than the last two chapters, because this one isn't a filler and I spent more time on it.
I also wanna say: THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME REVIEWS! I'm glad that this story is receiving such a positive response, because I'm really enjoying writing it.
In reply to a review from a guest: I do do one-shot requests! Sadly, the person who wrote the review was a guest and I couldn't PM them, but just to let that person know, yes I do.
Thank you guys! I'll try to update soon.
Kay(:
