Hey everybody! Sorry for the delay, I've had a bunch of tests this week and of course that takes priority (even if I don't want it to!) This one's a filler, but the next two chapters will be out soon, and they are definitely not fillers. By the way, it's my birthday! Reviews are always the best presents! Enjoy as always!

That following day Eric had off of work, but since everyone else was busy with one thing or another, he had the whole day to himself. He'd intended to take another one of his walks along Lake Michigan, but unfortunately it was storming outside, and the resulting waves lapped too close to the walkway for comfort, warding off even the craziest of regulars.

The rain kept him away from the lake, but it didn't keep him inside. The teen was strolling down the street looking for something to do when he spotted a small movie theater. Eric had passed it several times over the past few weeks, but never went in, and figured this was a perfect time to give it a try.

The last movie he'd seen had been Star Wars, which was now his favorite film of all time, so his standards for movie-going were at an all-time high. (The last movie he'd seen before that was Annie Hall, during that interesting night out with his mother. Needless to say, he preferred Star Wars.)

Eric ducked in to the theater and glanced over the available movie titles. Nothing really caught his eye until he saw the board for the replay-movie, which was usually a film from the past few years, back for a limited time of showing. The throwback of the day was Three Days of the Condor, a Robert Redford thriller. He'd heard of it, and had wanted to see it, but never got around to it, since it came out when he was fifteen and his mother had insisted he see something less "violent."

Well, now was as good a time as ever, right? Pulling a few bills out of his wallet, he paid for the movie and popcorn and found a seat. Since it was the middle of the workday, on a rainy Monday, there was hardly anyone else in the theater with him. There was a young couple down in the front, but based on their current behavior Eric safely assumed that they had just come to make out in semi-privacy. A young girl, who must have been just a couple years older, sat a few rows in front of him by herself. Other than that, the place was empty when the lights dimmed and the film rolled.

Eric watched Robert Redford elude death time after time, but found himself staring at the landscape behind the actors. They were in New York City, which, according to his friends, was a heck of a lot different than Chicago. He'd taken this to mean it wasn't nearly as exciting as the Windy City, but they assured him that this was certainly not the case. New York was allegedly the utopia of exciting living: it was where music, art, television and business all happened. Donna had spoken of going there many times, and Hyde had even considered running away to New York with that punk chick Chrissy. Once again it hit Eric just how bizarre it was that he was the first one to run away from Point Place. It made more sense for Kelso to accidentally get lost and wind up out of the town's limits than for Eric to ever step foot over the Wisconsin state line…. and yet here he was in this little theater in Chicago, watching spellbound as Redford somehow managed to seduce Faye Dunaway despite having taken her as a prisoner.

It made him think of Donna, but he was somewhat pleased to note that thoughts of her no longer depressed him or made him want to hop the next bus to Point Place. It was with a sort of fondness that he thought of his ex-girlfriend. While he wasn't completely over her, he had certainly reached a turning point, and was beginning to notice other women around him with interest. Valerie was right- a lot of girls came in to the record shop, often wanting his advice on what to buy. Eric was absolutely hopeless with girls; it wasn't just the "lippiness" or "twitchiness" that Red had insisted were his greatest flaws, but also the fact that he couldn't for the life of him determine the difference between politeness and flirtation. Once a nice female customer would check out and leave the store, Aaron and Ritch often turned on Eric in exasperation, informing their young friend that the customer had been trying to flirt with him. Valerie and Joy quickly found out that Eric certainly wasn't going to make the first move, so they would bring girls to him at parties and clubs, introduce the two, then conveniently excuse themselves from the conversation. It wasn't necessarily that the four friends were forcing him to find a girlfriend, they just hoped that if Eric would at least talk to girls, he might get over Donna faster.

When the movie was over, the Point Place teen stood and stretched. Three Days of the Condor was great, he concluded, but it was no Star Wars.

The couple down in front didn't seem to understand that the credits were rolling, and continued their very intense game of tonsil hockey. The girl in front of him had shuffled her way out of her aisle and was walking towards the doors. He followed, hoping that the rain might have died down.

It hadn't. Water was pouring over the outside awning in a waterfall. Sighing, Eric sidestepped a young man with an impressive afro and pulled the collar of his denim jacket up over his neck as a sort of windbreaker. Just as he was about to go back out in to the pouring rain, a young female voice stopped him.

"Eric?"

The teen in question turned to face the girl who had been sitting in front of him in the movie. Now that he could see her face, he recognized her. Joy had introduced her to him almost a month prior, promising that the two had a lot in common. But what was her name…? He couldn't remember. As she walked closer to him, Eric concealed his panic. She knew his name, why couldn't he remember hers?!

The girl smiled when she stopped in front of him, and he nervously smiled back.

"Hey….you," he said, hoping she wouldn't notice. Lucky for him, she didn't.

"Hi, I thought that was you. Did you like the movie?"

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "Did you?"

She nodded. "I love Robert Redford. All of his movies are great."

Eric took a calculated risk, saying "You know, I've been told I look a bit like him."

The risk paid off when she laughed. "I don't know about that. You are cute, though."

This was going so well considering he could not remember what her name was.

His ears tinged red at her compliment, and he ducked his head with a laugh, embarrassed. "So, uhm…what brings you... I mean-"

"What brings me here on a Monday, by myself?" she smiled, saving him from further chagrin. "Just killing time before my brother gets off work. We're having a party at my place tonight- hey, you should come!"

Not giving him time to accept or decline, she continued. "Here, I'll write down the address. Oh, tell Joy and Aaron to come, too! It's nothing too big, but it should be fun."

She pulled a notepad and pen out of her purse and scribbled down the address, handing it to him. "Well, I gotta go. See you tonight," she said, opening an umbrella and walking the opposite direction down the street.

Eric looked at the address of her apartment and smiled, hoping that Aaron and Joy were free tonight. Glory of glories, the girl had written her name above her address: Amanda.

…..

That evening, Eric followed Joy and Aaron through the doors of the swanky apartment complex. The three were dressed to party- Aaron was sporting his signature fringed jacket, and Joy had changed from her work-dress to wide-legged pants and a colorful top. Eric was just trying to get the rain out of his hair before they made it to the party- as proud as he was of his Nesmith-esque haircut, the wave of hair over his forehead ran all of the rain directly into this face.

"It's too bad Ritch and Val couldn't come," Eric said as they rode the elevator up to the seventh floor of the building.

Joy smiled. "Trust me, they're happy just to close the shop for the night. As long as they're together."

They stepped off the elevator and quickly located the right door, which Aaron opened without knocking. The party was going on in full-swing, as dozens of couples socialized and danced to the music.

Amanda came into view, her green eyes flashing in delight. "You guys made it!" she said, hugging Joy enthusiastically. The two friends began to chat before a man who must have been a year or two older than Ritch came in to view.

"Oh, guys," she began, turning to Eric and his friends. "This is my brother, Max. Max, this is Eric, Aaron, and Joy."

Amanda's brother was a muscular guy with a curly perm and the rough beginnings of a beard. He seemed very friendly, but gave off the vibe that he was capable of dangerous things. That evening he wore a dark red shirt that was just tight enough on his chest to let any ladies nearby know that he was in excellent shape. With that he wore a standard grey jacket and pants ensemble that was the mode of the times. A couple of golden medallions hung around his neck, making him look like a member of the Bee Gees. The only difference was the set of dog tags that rested with them.

Aaron nodded toward the tags. "You serve in Vietnam?"

foreshadowing

Max nodded. "For a while. You?"

Aaron shook his head. He didn't want to admit that he had been too young to serve at the height of the fighting ten years prior, nor did he want to say that he disapproved of the Vietnam conflict. But he did respect the soldiers who fought, which he indicated by saying, "No, but my brother did."

Eric looked at his friend in surprise. The grim expression on Joy's face told the teen not to ask about it.

Max seemed to understand by Aaron's tone that his brother never made it home, and nodded. Before the pause could become awkward, the veteran turned to Joy

and his sister. "So, how do you two know each other?"

"We toured with Ted Nugent together," Amanda giggled, sharing a conspiratorial smile with Joy.

Aaron smiled and put an arm around his girlfriend. Glancing between Eric and Amanda, he grinned.

"Amanda," he began, smirking at Eric. "Eric here has had a really rough week. He could use a good dancing partner."

Eric tried to give his friend a death glare, but Aaron was immune.

"Sure!" Amanda agreed, grabbing Eric's hand and leading him to the center of the room with the other couples. They danced for a while, and had a lot of fun. Eric found himself developing quite a crush on this exciting girl, who had seen and done so much in her short life.

At the end of the party, Eric and his friends were among the last to leave. The Wisconsinite had finished saying goodbye to Amanda and her brother and was about to exit the apartment when Aaron and Joy each grabbed one of his arms.

"Where're we going?" he feigned nonchalance as his friends turned him around.

"We are going to wait here while you ask her out," Joy encouraged.

"What? No, I don't-"

"We saw the way you were looking at her, man," Aaron said. "And she was looking at you the same way."

"Yeah, right."

"I promise she'll say yes," Joy said gently. "You've worked hard at the store for weeks, you've moved on from Donna, and you got arrested this past week for a crime you didn't commit. You deserve to have some fun."

Eric realized she was right. Turning to find Amanda, he said. "You're right."

Aaron and Joy shared a triumphant smile before he added, "Just for the record, I've had fun every day since I've gotten here. Even when he got arrested."

They smiled, and Aaron spoke. "This was gonna be a surprise, but we got five tickets to go see Pink Floyd on Thursday. We got you an extra, so you could bring a girl."

Before Eric could even express his surprise or happiness, they poked him forward. "Go invite her!" Joy said.

The seventeen year old strode forward, but lost all of his bravado once Amanda turned towards him.

"Hey…Amanda…"

She waited patiently for him to continue.

"I, uh, I have these tickets for Pink Floyd on Thursday, and I was wondering if you'd maybe want to come?"

It certainly felt as awkward as it sounded, but it really wasn't Eric's fault- he hadn't really asked out a girl since Donna, years before.

"I'd love to," she smiled sweetly, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you Thursday."

Eric smiled and opened his mouth to say something else, but Aaron cleared his throat from across the room, warning him to end on a high note.

"Okay, I'll…I'll see you Thursday!" he said, telling her goodbye once more, and following his friends out of the apartment.

….

"This calls for a celebration!" Aaron called into the empty record shop. Ritch appeared, preparing to tell the new customers that they were closed, but he brightened when he saw that it was his friends.

"What does?" Valerie asked in interest, walking out from behind her husband.

"Eric just got a date."

"Alright!" Ritch said, clapping his friend on the back. "It's about time."

"Thanks, guys," Eric said at their teasing, but he was at least partially sincere. Looking around at his friends, he felt so at home. For the first time, he sincerely considered staying in Chicago for good. Who needed Point Place when you were this happy without it?

Joy noticed the thoughtful expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said. In this moment, absolutely nothing was wrong.