A few days later, Fez's friend Andrew Davis flew in from... where ever, bringing with him a very strong contribution to the circle. Naturally, Hyde jumped at the opportunity. Things hadn't been going well with Jackie seeing as how she was still angry about the ugly comment Fez made, and his day only got worse when he read the letter from his dad stating that WB had sold the record stores to a dry-cleaning chain. That was the first day Steven Hyde overdid it.
Temporary insanity took over and he quit the circle the next day, giving him more time for model car building and jogging. It was while he was painting one of the model cars that Jackie came down to the basement and Hyde told her that he quit the circle.
"You quit the circle!? What are you... high!?"
"I don't do that anymore, Jackie. I don't need to." He finished painting the model car and ran outside for a jog after asking Jackie to tell Mrs. Foreman he would fix the salad for dinner. Jackie could tell that there was something obviously wrong with Hyde, but she didn't have enough time to really contemplate it since some weird unknown foreigner with a huge British accent came down the stairs. He said something about the man whose heart she broke was packing and leaving. This really didn't bother her, seeing as how she was Jackie Burkhart and had broken men's hearts before, but the next sentence was what caught her off guard, strange one to do so, though.
"Now who is this Kitty and where is her underwear?"
It was now plainly obvious to whom this man was referring to. "Wait, wait, wait, Fez is leaving?" The foreign guy went on to explain how Fez regretted calling Jackie ugly knowing he had hurt her.
Jackie's head was swimming with the new information she had just received. It seemed that everyone around her had gone insane. She left the basement and headed for the park.
The park was perhaps one of the few places where she could be alone to think and it had been her unofficial sanctuary for years, ever since she moved out of her parents' house the first time, when she started spending the night in the basement with Hyde. She sat on the swing, rocking herself back and forth.
Jackie's mind, after the initial shock of multiple situations coming upon her at once, seemed to have settled down and was now thinking nothing at all. She was trying to make sense of Fez leaving, but also trying to make sense of Hyde's current state of mind. Eventually her mind led her to think of the easier problem, thought the subject was more difficult and of less urgency.
Hyde was obviously not himself. She had heard from Donna of his dad firing him and his overdoing it yesterday, but she didn't think of contributing his change of character to those events alone. Was it really her business what Hyde did or didn't do, though? Granted, it was strange, but it shouldn't be any concern of hers. She then wondered briefly why she was concerned at all before resolving not to think of it anymore.
So, ignoring the easier problem left her with the more difficult one. Fez was leaving the country, undoubtedly because of her. But this was for the best, wasn't it? She didn't want to see him. He didn't want to see her, so what did it matter that he was leaving. She guessed the problem was that he felt bad about what he did to her. He was going back to his home country, but was that really what he wanted?
Jackie noticed the sun sinking in the sky and realized it was probably close to dinner time. She headed back to the Piciotti's where she had been staying since she left the apartment. She planned to have her own place by the time Bob moved to Florida, but until then she was eating frozen dinners with him and Donna every night.
For the next couple of days Jackie's mind went over everything that had happened in the past few years, like a recap of part of her life. It was soon realized that everyone in her life was leaving or had left already. Her father was in prison and her mother was hell knows where. Eric was in Africa. Kelso was in Chicago. Donna was going to college and Fez was probably packing his things at the apartment right now. Even Bob and Mr. and Mrs. Forman where moving to Florida. That means the only person she would know in a month would be... Hyde? Hyde?! Of all the people to be stuck with in this stupid little town, it had to be Hyde! The one person she was trying just to forget about, forget that she ever had a relationship with. And if she was left alone with him what would happen? If she was forced to face their previous relationship, would it hurt? No sooner did she ask herself the question did her eyes swell up with tears and her chest sink in pain. The answer was brutally clear. She couldn't be left with him nor did she have the ability to leave. If she was left with him, her heart would shatter. It would hurt more than all the break-ups she had with him in the past because she would no longer have anything to distract her from it.
Why Fez? Why did he want to go back to his home country? Truly she knew that it was because she broke his heart but she had given him every opportunity and he had turned her down. They blamed each other for not being together. If I made it perfectly clear to him that I really want to be with him, maybe he'll stay. It was a long shot, but it was the only way she could think of so she wasn't alone with Hyde. I can't stay here with him. I would drive myself mad.
Jackie upon that thought, instantly decided to drive to the apartment but there was no sign of Fez. In fact his room had been stripped of anything Fez-like. The closet was empty, the walls were bare and it smelled of cardboard boxes and dust rather than the expensive, over applied cologne that had resided there for so long. The definiteness of the empty apartment was overwhelming. She had spent the past few days not caring, but to actually see him disappearing from her life caused her more pain than she thought. She took a minute to recollect herself and thought of the only places Fez could be. He had come into the solon yesterday to quit so she knew he couldn't be there. That left her with The Grooves, The Hub, and Foreman's Basement. Since The Grooves was the closest to the apartment, she went there first.
Jackie knew that the store would be closed by this time but she was hoping someone else would be there besides Hyde. He walked out of his office with some records in his hands and Leo was over in a corner doing something, Jackie never tried to figure out Leo and most of the time just ignored him since he usually forgot the conversation anyways. Other than that, the place was empty.
"Oh, Steven! Is Fez here?" she asked.
"Uh," Hyde was caught off guard by her appearance in the store, and looking for Fez! He knew for the past few days he had been going through a faze of insanity and he lost valuable time in which he could have been trying to win Jackie back, especially now that Fez was leaving. And here she was looking for him. It made him nervous, the look of desperation in her eyes as she said Fez's name. "No, you just missed him. He already left for the airport with Andrew."
Her features sunk a little as she heard this, but her personality, being so determined, clung to any tiny hopes. "Maybe the plane hasn't left yet. They have to get there early to get through security. They haven't left yet!" She started heading for the door. "They were going to Brazil first, right?"
A strong hand grabbed her forearm before she could run out. She turned around to see Hyde. "Jackie," his sunglasses covered his eyes per usual, but there was something in his stillness which caused her to be anxious. "Why are you running after him? He wants to leave. You both rejected each other. What more do you have to say to him?"
Jackie's hand twitched from nervousness as she listened to Hyde's words. She could tell in his tone of voice that he didn't want to say what he was saying. Did he know it would hurt him to have this conversation with her? Was he merely setting himself up for disappointment, or could he possibly have a chance at redeeming himself to her?
Jackie couldn't find any way of avoiding the question. She could tell in his manner that he wasn't going to let her leave without an answer. "I have to tell him," she started reluctantly, "that I'm sorry and I know he's sorry and then I'm going to hope he'll stay."
"You've accepted that he's sorry for what he's done in a few days but you still haven't forgiven me?"
"You did a lot worse then turning my hair green."
"Yeah, I know that," He let go of her arm, fairly sure she wasn't going to run out the door. She stood there with a saddened expression on her face. "Look, Jackie. Do you think I'm not really, really sorry, or something? Because I don't know what I can do."
"Steven, you don't have to do anything. I forgave you a long time ago."
"Then why can't you give me another chance."
"Because I don't want to get hurt by you again." Her sentence silenced him and they both stood there in the impending quietness until she spoke again. "I've been hurt by a lot of people, but when you hurt me, I¾" her voice cracked as she tried to tell him. "I lost myself. I became this totally different person and I can't be with someone who can ruin me that way. I forgave you because I know it was my own fault for getting involved with you, with a tin man without a heart. Forgive and forget, right? I forgave, now I'm going to forget."
She turned and headed to the door. "Jackie." she walked out the door. He started to follow. "Jackie!"
"What?" She had turned around quickly, putting them face to face. He could see the pain in her eyes, the tired distress. Her jaw was clenched and her voice hard but her eyes, they were weak. He was hurting her again, again without meaning to. If I hurt her this much just by being here, he thought, she's better off with Fez. It was at this point that he gave up. He always knew that Jackie was out of his league, but she always cared for him so he was able to forget about his inferiority. It didn't work if she cared about someone else.
"Fez said he was going by the basement before he went to the airport." Every syllable was causing him pain. "He only left about ten minutes ago. He should still be there."
Jackie was expecting more of a fight from Hyde. Her features softened a little bit. Her eyes grew less tired and her jaw more relaxed. She looked, not like her usual happy self, but a little less upset.
"Thanks," she said and gave him a little smile before she left. Hyde sat on the couch and waited for the walls of the world to crash in on him.
