Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Whoa! I made it! It's Friday and I have a new chapter up for the story! Aren't you guys proud? I know I am. Oo and it's not a filler chapter! Now it's pretty late over here, but it's still Friday, so I'll make this author's note short. I just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews and alerts, and favorites. I am so glad you guys are enjoying the story. It really makes me happy and keeps me motivated to write more chapters! So because I have to get to sleep soon, I'm off to a little weekend vacation tomorrow to see George Strait ( Woo hoo!) I'll just say this, thanks for reading and Enjoy!
"And so my junior year and Steven's senior year, the two of us were practically inseparable." Jackie explained to her guests.
The four of them were still in the living room. Annie and Phil remained on the sofa, while Jackie continued to sit on the arm of Red's chair where Hyde had re-taken his seat.
"And Steven was so worried about leaving me alone in the school for a whole year." She went on, "He didn't want to graduate!"
Annie's eyes widened slightly. She had found a hole in her cousin's 'perfect life.' Phil had finished high school, college, and law school.
"You didn't graduate from high school?" Annie asked, directing her question to Hyde.
"Uh, no I did." Hyde nodded as he looked over at Jackie, hoping she would jump in. Instead the other woman in the room did.
"But you graduated a year later, to graduate with Jackie?" Annie asked, "You flunked your senior year?"
"No!" Jackie practically shouted.
She saw what Annie was up to and was not going to let her get any points for it. Realizing how quickly and loudly she had answered the blonde woman's question, Jackie smiled innocently at her before speaking.
"I mean no. Don't be silly, Annie." She said to her cousin before wrapping her arms around Hyde's shoulders, "Steven here would never do that. He was valedictorian."
Annie lifted an eyebrow as she looked at her supposed cousin-in-law, "Really?"
Hyde nodded, "Yup. Made the speech and everything."
"And" Jackie began to add, "Steven was also voted 'Best All Around' his senior year."
"Hey that's like me!" Phil shared excitedly.
Jackie and Hyde frowned as they turned toward Phil who was smiling away. Annie meanwhile, seemed to ignore Phil and focus on some more questions.
Hyde face showed his disbelief as he asked, "Really?"
"Yeah." Phil nodded his head with a big smile on his face, "Well I wasn't voted 'Best All Around.' I was voted 'Best Dancer.'"
"'Best Dancer?'" Jackie asked, trying her best not to laugh.
Annie, having overheard the conversation, rolled her eyes, "He was a cheer leader."
"Go Bulldogs!" Phil cheered from his seat as he lifted both his arms in the air.
Hyde nodded, as he bit the inside of his cheek, "Um Phil man, how's that the same as what I was voted for?"
"They both had the word 'Best' in them." He replied as if it were obvious.
Together Hyde and Jackie nodded their heads, showing that they understood what Phil was talking about. Neither one of them noticed the swinging door had been pushed open until they saw Eric and Donna make their way to Annie and Phil.
Hyde scowled slightly at the couple; he couldn't believe they had come out here and probably to make the whole situation even worse. A small smirk appeared on his face, he'd taught them well.
Sitting beside Hyde, Jackie watched her now ex-best friend near her cousin. She resisted the urge to jump up and tackle the large woman onto the floor—because that would cause several questions from Annie—and instead tried to figure out what she could tell Annie and Phil Donna was. An exterminator maybe. Maybe a gardener. Or a mental neighbor.
"Hi, you must be Jackie's cousin." Donna greeted as she stuck her hand out to Annie and Phil.
Annie smiled and 'politely' declined Donna's handshake, "Yes, I'm Annie and this is my husband Phil. Who are you?"
"Oh I'm Donna." The redhead said with a slight smile, "I'm…"
"She's Eric's ex-wife!"
The five occupants in the room turned their heads to the voice as saw Jackie Burk…Hyde smiling and trying not to look disbelieving. It didn't cause any of the five frowns to vanish especially one in particular.
"Jackie, what the hell?" Donna asked angrily.
Not wanting to give Donna the chance to say anything else, Jackie leaped off the green chair and hurriedly walked over to Donna. The minute she was infront of the Amazon sized woman, Jackie pulled Donna into a hug pressing Donna's head against her shoulder so she could talk to her.
"Don't worry honey, you'll always be part of this family." Jackie said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, before lowering her voice to a whisper, "Go along with this and I'll give you fifty dollars."
Donna continued to furrow her brow; there were many things she was mad at now. First Eric was gay, now she was divorced from him, and when the hell did the midget get so strong? But as angry as she was, having some extra pocket money did sound pretty good.
"Make it a hundred." She whispered back.
Jackie nodded, "Deal."
And just like that Donna was released from Jackie's grip and just about pushed away. However, Jackie soon caught what she had done and tried to make up for it by comforting Donna again.
"And remember." the tiny brunette began as she reached her arm up to place her hand on Donna's shoulder, "You did not make Eric gay."
Eric's frown deepened, but the reason behind it was no longer about what Jackie had said about Donna. It was about what she was still saying about him.
"What? Jackie…"
"Eric, I need to talk to you." Donna interrupted, "In the den. Now."
Before Eric could protest against his 'ex-wife' or say anything more to Jackie, Donna had her hand wrapped around his wrist and was dragging him into Red's den…um Hyde's den.
Jackie waited until both Donna and Eric were out of sight before she took her place by Hyde.
"Those two were married?" Annie asked with a frown.
"Yeah," Hyde nodded, "But now they're divorced"
Phil was still abit confused, he raised his hand a bit before asking his own question, "Then why did she take him into the other room with her?"
Jackie tuned out Annie's compliment about that being a good question and turned to Hyde for help. Hyde just shrugged his shoulders, as if telling her, 'I'm in charge of the Eric being gay thing. You made Donna his ex-wife.'
"Oh that poor girl." Jackie said with much emotion in her voice as she shook her head sadly, "She still refuses to admit that it's over between them."
Hyde nodded his head before adding to Jackie's story line, "Yeah, and she still thinks he's straight too."
"Donna wants Eric to still feel attracted to her," Jackie put in, "so she dresses like a man."
Annie slowly nodded her head, actually believing her cousin for once. "That does explain all the plaid."
For the first time in almost ever, Jackie smiled happily at her cousin, agreeing with what she said. Her happiness didn't last too long though, but it wasn't Annie who'd ruined the moment. It was the 'divorced' couple who reentered the room for a surprise visit.
"Ok, we're back." Donna announced as she and Eric walked over the sitting area.
"And we're ready to chat." Eric added and then took a seat next to Phil crossing his left leg over his right then placing his hands on top of his knee.
Hyde watched his adoptive brother with a confused frown, was he really going along with this? Jackie wore her own scowl, but her expression showed more surprise than confusion. When she told Donna to go along with it, she meant at that moment, not join in on the charade!
"Sorry we left like that." Donna apologized to Annie and Phil, "We had some divorce stuff to talk about."
"Yea you know how…" Eric began to explain but then drifted off, "Oh my God."
"What?"
"Your shirt, Phil." He said and Phil looked down at his stripe, button down shirt, "I love it!"
A grin soon appeared on Phil's face, "Thank you!"
"You are welcome!" Eric replied, "That color just really makes your eyes pop."
Phil laughed abit at the hand gesture Eric made when he said the word 'pop,' before returning the compliment, "I like your shirt too. Green's a really good color on you."
"Oh please." Eric said with a wave his hand, "Green makes me look like a leprechaun."
"But leprechauns have pots of gold." Phil pointed out.
"Okay!" Annie shouted stopping Eric from speaking again, "Let's talk about something else."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Donna agreed as she stared at her boyfriend, him pretending to be gay was really starting to freak her out, "What were you guys talking about before?"
"Jackie and Steven's high school years." Annie informed.
Jackie smiled, deciding it would be best if she just went with the flow instead of fighting it, "And how cute we were."
"And still are." Hyde added, noticing that Annie was about to make a comment.
Donna watched as Jackie shared a smile with Hyde. If she didn't know better, they could pass for being a married couple. Well sorta, there were still a few things missing.
"Did they tell you how they got engaged senior year?" she asked Phil and Annie.
"You got engaged senior year, Jackie?" Annie asked in disbelief, but soon she shrugged off that feeling and spoke again, "Well I guess that's understandable, you were probably worried you'd never get asked again. Which could've been true. Still it's so…"
"Actually," Hyde interrupted not wanting to hear another one of Annie's insults, "It was Jackie's senior year. I had already graduated."
Jackie eagerly nodded her head, "Right and it was on graduation night, so technically I was out of high school too."
"Oo Oo! Tell the story!" Eric practically pleaded to Hyde and Jackie and then turned to Phil, "It is the cutest engagement story ever."
Phil was quickly persuaded and excited about the story, "I wanna hear it."
"Me too." Annie said with a wicked smile playing on her lips.
"Hyde, you should tell it." Donna said to the curly haired man, "I like the way he tells it."
Hyde stared back at the smirking redhead. He now knew this was part of the payback for making her boyfriend gay.
"But I like the way Jackie tells it." Eric shared out loud.
Jackie's smile fell as she heard nerd boy's words. She looked over at Hyde who was now smiling at her. He was obviously happy about not having to tell an engagement story.
"I have a wonderful idea." Annie announced looking at the couple, "Why don't you both say it together?"
Hyde's face went back to it's normal, Zen like face as he stared at Jackie. They looked at each other for several seconds, mentally discussing if they could do it or not. They both were very uncertain if they could pull it off, yet still the words left Jackie's mouth.
"Sure." she smiled, ignoring Hyde's—luckily shaded—shocked expression, "Steven honey, why don't I tell the beginning and you can finish it off?"
"Um…ok." He replied, knowing he had no other choice.
"Alright then." Jackie said happily as she clapped her hands together before placing them under chin, quickly thinking over all her dream proposals.
"Ok, well as you know it was the night of my graduation and so we were having a big party. In my honor of course." The petite woman started her story with a smile, "But before the party Steven wanted me to meet him at a restaurant for an early dinner. A very big, fancy and very expensive restaurant."
"Aw." Phil cried earning him several frowns.
Jackie shook her scowl off and went on, "So I got to the restaurant, only to find that Steven had reserved the whole restaurant for just the two of us. I walked in and found him sitting at a small little table right in the middle of the room. It was so romantic." She gushed to her family, "We had a delicious five course meal, which I gained no wait from, because after all I have a high metabolism."
The other two women rolled their eyes at the words, but made no comment.
"And right when we were finishing the best piece of chocolate cake, Steven got out of his chair and bent down on one knee and…" she drifted off and looked over at Hyde who looked deep in thought. She gave him a slight shove, "Steven, you finish off."
"Oh right, so I got down on one knee and tied my shoe." He said earning him four confused looks and one angry one from his 'wife.'
"She had you guys thinking I was gonna propose then, right?" Hyde asked with a smirk, "I did the same thing to her that night."
"Ha ha!" Phil laughed as he pointed his finger at Hyde, "That's a good one."
"Um thanks Phil. Anyways, after I tied my shoe we finished the cake and left the restaurant. We got in my car and I started driving her to her uh party. But I didn't take her there right away. I made a little detour stop in the woods."
Annie scrunched up her nose a bit, "The woods?"
"Shh! Let him finish." Jackie ordered, caught up in the story herself.
Hyde smirked abit at her actions, before explaining the woods to Annie and Phil, "The woods is where we had out first date."
"I know it doesn't sound too romantic, but it kinda is." He continued, "It was just the two of us sitting on the hood of a car with the radio playing and the moon and stars shinning. So that night I did my best to recreate that whole thing, only this time instead of ending the night with our first kiss…I got down on one knee and…"
"Aww!" both Phil and Eric cried this time.
"Shh!" Jackie hissed again.
"And I grabbed her hand and said, Jackie you are the most beautiful girl in the world inside and out." He turned to look at Jackie, knowing that would help convince Annie, "If I could have only have thing in my life, you would be it. You've made me happier than I've ever been before. I've never loved anyone the way I've loved you. Jacqueline Burkhart, will you marry me?"
"Yes!" Jackie shouted jumping up from her seat, then soon noticing the five sets of eyes on her, "Is what I told him."
Feeling very embarrassed and turning a light shade of pink, Jackie sat herself back on the arm of the chair; pretending like nothing had happened.
The room grew quiet, everyone waiting for someone to say something about Jackie's actions, but no one did. Mostly because they didn't know what to say.
"You should've seen the ring." Eric said to their company, "Huge!"
"You're right Eric." Annie nodded at Eric and then looked at Jackie, "I should see the engagement ring, but I've noticed that neither one of you are wearing a ring. Why is that?"
"Um we're getting them engraved." Hyde informed, confident that that would work.
"What are you engraving on them?" Phil asked excitedly and Hyde's confidence faded. He had no idea what you're supposed to put on a ring.
"We can't say." Jackie explained, "It's a surprise. I wrote what I want engraved on his ring and he wrote something for my rings."
"Well, isn't that…" Annie struggled for the right word, "convenient."
"I think it's romantic." Phil grinned largely, "Can you guys get any cuter?"
"Oh they can." Eric nodded, "You should see them kiss. They're cuter than a basket of kittens."
"I've got to see this." Phil smiled.
"Me too." Annie nodded.
Donna shrugged, "I wouldn't mind seeing that."
Jackie turned her head to look at Hyde. They hadn't kissed in years. They couldn't kiss now. It would be too awkward. But they couldn't not kiss, it would make their 'marriage' unbelievable.
Jackie continued to search Hyde's face hoping to find what he thought of the situation, but his face remained Zen. She had no idea what he was thinking until she heard him speak.
"Ok." Hyde nodded, surprising Jackie.
"What?" she asked, trying not to sound too shocked.
"Gotta give the people what the want, babe." He said to her with a shrug.
"Kiss her! Kiss her!" Eric and Phil cheered on together, "Kiss her!"
Jackie looked away from Hyde and over to the couch. There she saw Annie smirking evilly, it was like she knew she was about to find out the truth, that she was going to win. But that was not happening.
Jackie swung her head back to face her 'husband.' And as Eric and Phil continued to chant in the background, Hyde and Jackie moved their faces closer to each other little by little until finally their lips made contact.
The kiss was a bit awkward, and quick—not lasting more than three seconds.
"There you go!" Jackie called out when they broke away.
"Oh come on!" Phil said disapprovingly, "That's not a kiss!"
"Yeah, I kiss Donna better than that." Eric added.
Donna ignored Eric's words and kept her attention on her friends, she smirked. "Come on you two, let's see a real kiss."
Again Jackie and Hyde looked at each other. That peck had been hard enough, they couldn't do more than that…but they had too.
Hyde stared into Jackie's eyes, he'd forgotten just how hypnotizing they could be. Jackie bit her lip as she hoped and prayed this wouldn't backfire; that this kiss wouldn't prove to Annie they weren't married…or worse.
There was no first move made, it was at the same time that they each moved closer to the other. This time faster than the last. And this time when their lips touched, they stayed against each other for several seconds before letting the kiss deepen a little more.
They allowed their tongues to explore the other's mouths, but they both resisted the urge to pull the other closer.
Several seconds past, more than Hyde nor Jackie realized, and they put an end to this kiss.
However, the couple paid no attention to their audience. They tuned out Eric and Phil's clapping. They didn't see Donna's smirk. And they paid not attention to the suspicious face Annie was making. Their minds were concentrated on the feeling they'd felt when they were kissing.
They'd both felt it. They'd both felt it before too. And it freaked them both out.
Author's Note: There you go, Chapter 9 of "Meet the Hydes" Hope you liked!
Little-not-so-interesting-fact: Another inspiration for this story was the movie The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Check it out if you haven't yet. It's one of my favorite Sandra Bullock movies right behind Hope Floats.
Until next time, thanks or reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!