Author Notes: ...just a fun little chapter moving the story along...
T7S
Chapter 07 – Slips and Oops!
T7S
Jackie looked out behind the studio doors to make sure Kathleen and Tony were gone for the day. When the coast was clear she locked the door. "Okay, we're good." Eric came out from behind the dressing room partition wearing khaki shorts and a tan linen button shirt. He had a large brimmed beige Fedora hat on his head and tennis shoes. "I look ridiculous."
Jackie smiled. "No…you don't. You look like you are on a safari. That's what we want it to look like. Check out the background behind you."
Eric turned and saw a huge stuffed elephant standing in the middle of the palm trees Jackie ordered. Boxes of pre-requisitioned sand recreated a type of sand dune. She threw a bag at him. "It's mosquito netting, just put some over your hat and I'll only take pictures from the knees up. Damn, you have skinny legs!"
"Don't make fun of my knees. They get me where I need to go!" He draped the mosquito netting over his Fedora and stood on a box of sand. "Don't they have yellow sand in Africa?"
Jackie held up the camera. "I don't know and it doesn't matter. I'm shooting this in black and white."
"Oh. Good idea." Eric posed with his hands on his hips. Jackie hollered, "Too fruity. Turn sideways and look at the camera." That was better. Even better was when he fell off the elephant. The last shot was Eric face down in the sand. Jackie started giggling. He rolled over and spit out a mouthful of grit. "You thought that was funny?"
She sat on a spare director's chair. "You will laugh when you get these developed. I promise." Eric glared at his midget menace and stomped over to the dressing divider. "Just wait until I take pictures of you!"
"Oh hurry up; I don't want to get in trouble for using this set."
"Do I get to keep these shorts cuz they're pretty cool." He asked over the wall. Jackie replied, "No, they go back to wardrobe just like Sonny and Cher had too. Hey, did I tell you I called Brooke?"
"Brooke…who?" Eric asked coming back in his street clothes. He handed over the safari suit and hat. "Brooke. You know Kelso's Brooke. I had to call her just in case some of our mail went to her mom's. She invited me to spend the weekend."
Eric locked the set door behind them. "Are you asking me for my permission?" Because that would be ludicrous….no one cared if Eric minded about anything. Jackie touched his arm. "Well, you'd be all alone and well….yeah, if you don't want me to go I won't go." Jackie danced ahead of him through the breezeway of Set F and Set G. Eric smiled. She cared enough to ask.
"Oh, go ahead. I'm sure you have some girlie thing to do like painting toenails or something like that."
Impulsively, Jackie gave him a hug. "Oh thank you!" Then realizing they crossed the invisible we're-just-roommates line, quickly stepped back from each other. "Never happened."
"We did not just hug. Let's go home."
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Eric stood at the giant window panes and looked out at the city awash in rain. The storm began early that Saturday morning and it was still raining. He put his hands in his pockets and rested his forehead against the glass. From fifteen stories up, he was able to follow the path of a single raindrop as it passed his face and fell to the concrete below.
He missed her. That irritating little squirt that always told him what to do. He hated her. No. He hated her in Point Place. Outside of town she was almost a completely different person. Jackie was loud and abrasive and brought color to his life. This journey they were sharing made him feel like a completely different person. This new Eric Forman had confidence and didn't need the constant approval of his friends to make decisions. It was better out here.
It was lonely. Maybe she would call him before he made his calls home. Nah…that made him sound needy. She deserved to visit a friend and this time apart was good.
Eric smiled. Now he had the rear projection TV to himself all weekend! Hell, he could sleep in the middle of the bed! Still it wouldn't be the same without her gentle snoring. He stepped away from the window and got a beer from the fridge. If he had been in Africa he would be alone now. This was just a little taste…and he found he didn't care much for loneliness.
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"Betsy is so adorable! Look how she holds her head up!" Jackie cuddled the infant and pressed kisses all over the little pink cheeks. Betsy smelled like baby powder and love. Brooke smiled at the godmother.
"I'm surprised you actually took the job. I thought for sure that you and Steven were going to evolve into something." Brooke said casually. She always liked this ex-girlfriend of Michael Kelso. When Michael suggested Hyde and Jackie Burkhart become their daughter's godparents he must have had good reasons and Brooke agreed.
"Actually, I wasn't sure. I was waiting for Steven to give me some kind of sign that he loved me enough to share a future with me. I didn't need to get married…I just wanted something from him that let me know. He totally blew me off and thinks I'm just going to run back to his arms."
"Well, from what I understand you have before."
Ouch! That hurt. It hurt because it was true. There was Raquel – the skank he took up with when Jackie couldn't decide between Michael and Steven. There was the nurse…were there others she didn't know about? Probably. Jackie sighed. "I'll never understand guys like Steven. It's been a couple of years and I thought Steven was THE ONE but he just gets all Zen on me."
"Maybe you thought he was the one and he was just filling time until you met the right guy." Brooke suggested. Betsy started to fuss so Brooke took her from Jackie's arms and began to nurse. Jackie smiled, "I want a baby some day. Not too soon but someday."
"So…tell me about your job."
"Oh it's so exciting and before I forget, if you get any mail for Eric Forman just let me know. It's this thing I'm working on."
"Michael told me Eric went to Africa. Isn't he teaching or something like that?"
Jackie hesitated. "Ummm….something like that. Oh, guess whose condo I'm subletting?"
"Haven't a clue." Brooke smiled. She loved that Jackie seemed to bounce with endless energy one minute then settle and be calm and the second. The tiny brunette rubbed her hands and replied. "King Marshall. I don't know who he is, but apparently he's a big TV star."
Brooke's eyes got big. "King? Wow, I just loved him in Precious Pearls. That made for TV movie about the man that lived on the beach and beaded seashell necklaces while he mourned his wife's death…"
"…and the runaway girl found him and they made love on the beach? I DO know who King Marshall is. Wow, I live in a famous guy's condo. I mean Eric was telling me he was this ninja cowboy thing."
Brooke frowned. "Eric Forman?"
"Of course, oops!" Jackie covered her mouth with her hand. She was always reminding Eric not to give away the secret and she just did that with her own big mouth.
Brook put Betsy into the frilly laced bassinet. "I think there's something you should tell me. Don't you?"
"No?" Jackie answered in a small voice.
Brooke looked sternly as she said. "Just say it. I won't judge you and I won't say anything."
Jackie's mind was racing. She was about to give away the biggest secret that could ruin her. Yet, she felt she could trust this older girl. "Okay, so Eric's trip was cancelled and he couldn't go home. I asked him to come to Chicago and work with me. He got a job as a gaffe for a couple television shows and a movie that's in production and nobody in Point Place knows because he's saving the money to go to Madison next year with Donna only Donna missed the first semester so that totally screws up his college plans." Somehow Jackie managed to say the entire sentence in one breath.
"Okay. So you and Eric are lying to everyone. His parents…your friends…and you're living together?"
"Yeah – that about sums it up."
Brooke pinched the bridge of her nose. "How are you going to keep his mom and dad from suspecting he's not in Africa? I mean his friends are like a dim bulb sometimes but his parents?"
"Well…he calls collect and those are untraceable and the mail they send him gets forwarded to the condo."
"What about mail he sends them supposedly from Africa?"
"Er…well…he's never sent anything yet." Jackie confessed. "Wait, we have some photographs that we're going to pretend he sent me and I'm going to give them to Fez to give to the Forman's."
"You are such a bad liar. You really think you can keep this up for an entire year?" Brooke asked incredulously. Jackie looked at her tall friend. "We've been doing it for a few weeks now and its working."
Brooke shook her head. "Man, I'd hate to be on the other side of the conversation with this comes out."
Hopefully, Jackie asked, "So you won't say anything to Michael?"
Brooke replied. "No. But I want you to bring Eric next time so I can see for myself that he's good with this. Plus Steven never visits his goddaughter and Eric was my choice."
Jackie clapped her hands happily. "Okay, I'm going to make popcorn now that your mom's gone and we can watch Love Boat."
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Eric was watching Love Boat and bored to tears. The phone calls home were tedious and Donna passed the telephone to Fez. His mom was busy making him a cookie box and it was just a regular night of doing nothing in the basement. "So I said to her…you're lovely but I'm only interesting in doing it! And do you know what she said to me?"
"No Fez, what did she say to you." Eric replied stifling a yawn.
"She said that a chili dog was spicier than I was. Me! I'm hot and spicy. Why would a girl say that to me?" Kelso must have grabbed the telephone, "Yeah, he's spicy like hot mustard cuz the wiener wasn't!"
Fez came back on the line. "Kelso is so rude sometimes." There was some noise in the background that sounded like a tussle and Kelso shouted, "Ow!" and Fez shouted, "Purple Nerple!" Then Hyde picked up the line.
"Forman, you are not missing a thing. I'm going to hang up so I can kick some ass." He promptly hung up the phone.
Nobody missed him.
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When Jackie came back Sunday afternoon, Eric almost shouted with joy. "How's Brooke and Betsy?" Jackie put her coat over the back of the chair. "Eric, I have to talk to you."
The seriousness in her voice did not sound good. He waited until she sat in her favorite part of the sofa then he sat in the recliner. "First, I want to apologize. I kept complaining that you were going to screw things up but you didn't and I did."
Eric gripped the arm of the chair. "What did you do?"
She looked at him with such sorrow. "I accidently let it slip that you were living with me."
Eric felt relief. He thought she said that she told the secret. Wait – living with Jackie WAS the secret. "Okay. Maybe it's not as bad as we think. How did you let it slip?"
"I was telling Brooke about King Marshall and she remembered a movie he was in…something call Precious Pearls and that we were living in his apartment."
"Precious Pearls was a great movie. Did you see that scene with the chick in the surf…wait – WE were living in his apartment? You said that?"
"No! Don't be an idiot!" she snapped. "I just admitted that I finally realized who King was and that you told me about the ninja cowboy thing and when I said your name she assumed Eric Forman and she wondered why we were living together when you're supposed to be in freaking Africa!"
Eric was trying to assess damage control. "Well, all we have to do is put a muzzle on Brooke for the next year and everything will be okay." Eric replied.
Jackie glared at him. "We're not muzzling my friend you dink. I trust Brooke not to say anything and she already made me feel terrible so don't you do it too!" Jackie stood up wringing her hands. "Eric, if you have to leave because of something stupid I did, then I won't have this beautiful condo or live only three blocks from my job. We are doing good here aren't we?"
Eric nodded. "Better than I thought we would."
Jackie stood in front of the recliner. "And we can do this until your year is up. Right?"
He shrugged. "I thought our plan was good. Just as long as Brooke doesn't tell Kelso, we can keep making good money and you have your career and I finally have some skills I can show my dad."
"Okay. The thing is…Brooke wants you to come over because she needs to see that you're okay with this. Like I'm twisting your scrawny arm or something – so will you go back and visit with me next weekend?"
"I will if it convinces her not to tell." Eric replied. Brooke was cool, he felt like he could trust the mother of Kelso's baby gir.
Jackie breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thanks Eric, I really owe you one and I promise to watch what I say from now on."
"That's good. Now would you sit here and watch TV with me? This place was freaking boring without you."
Jackie smiled.
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