Tuesday, October 17, 1981

Hyde stood out front of Jackie's office building wearing the suit he had worn to work. He felt overdressed for lunch but maybe if she was dressed nicely he'd take her to one of those French places she'd always talked about in high school, if they had the time of course.

He watched as she stepped outside talking to a scrawny guy who reminded him of Eric in his build but Fez in his mannerisms. She threw her head back and laughed before scanning for him. He watched as her face lit up when she saw him. He waited as she said goodbye to the guy then walked up to him.

"Hi," she said. "You know its customary to bring flowers to a girl on the first date."

"I'm not buying you flowers. You ready?"

"Whatever Steven. And yes I'm ready. Where are we going?"

"Well how long is your lunch?"

"I have an hour. What about you?"

"I'm the boss. I get to take as long of a lunch as I want."

"I forgot about that. How is it that you're only a year older than me but you're the boss of your company and I'm still an intern?"

"I'm just that good," he laughed.

"Oh please," Jackie responded rolling her eyes.

"You're just jealous. We can go grab something to eat in Little Italy if you want."

"That's great," she nodded.

Hyde reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He pulled her against him then pressed a kiss to her mouth. He pulled away before leading her towards the end of the block, his arm still around her shoulder and her arm around his waist.

"So how'd your meeting go yesterday?"

"Fine. We were looking to set up a new store but the realtor was only finding really crappy buildings that have all these problems but he's a young kid so I don't want to screw him over so I keep having one-on-one sit downs with him trying to help him out and all but he's kind of useless. I had to tell him that if he doesn't start showing me better locations then I'm going to have to fire him as our advisor."

"I'm sorry baby," Jackie offered running her free hand over his chest.

"It's whatever. I just hope that he finds something good by next week. How did all those phone calls go?"

"They went well. They were just worried since I kind of fell off the face of the earth for a few days. You're a bad influence on me Steven Hyde."

"You're the one who seduced me," he argued.

"I did no such thing."

"Show me the bedroom first Steven," Hyde said breathily, imitating Jackie that first night. His voice went back to normal to add, "Just admit that you have dirty urges that you can't control."

"Shut up!" she yelped smacking his chest. She looked around, assessing the crowd around them. "You're terrible."

"That's true," he agreed leading her into a small Italian restaurant. He leaned in close to her before whispering, "but you can't control your dirty urges."

"Steven! Shh. People might hear you."

Hyde glanced around the restaurant which was empty except for them and the host and the waiters.

"Jacks there's no one here."

"Still," she hissed as the host approached them.

"Hello. Just two?"

"Yes, thank you."

Hyde and Jackie followed him to a table. At the table Hyde pulled out her chair for her, something he normally wouldn't do. The look on her face was priceless though. She looked up at him like he'd just bought her the moon. He grinned back before moving to his chair next to her.

The waiter walked up and took their orders, promising the food would be ready in a few minutes. Left alone Hyde turned back to Jackie.

"So how is everyone doing at home?" he asked hesitantly.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear about how great everyone was and how much they missed him. But at the same time he missed them and it was nice to not have to wonder what was going on with them.

"Well let's see. When I left Fez was dating a girl named Candy and he seemed to really like her even though she looked like Big Rhonda and dressed like Eric. But her name was Candy and she put out so they'll probably last forever. Kelso likes Brooke but I don't know how she feels about him. She's a little hesitant to date him but I think they'd be good for each other."

"How would Kelso be good for her?"

"She's really uptight so I think he'll make her have more fun."

"Yeah okay I could see that. Continue."

"Um okay Eric and Donna are doing well but I already told you that. They got engaged a couple of years ago, during senior year but Eric flaked out and didn't show. They broke up for a while after that. But everything's fine between them now."

"Forman ran from the wedding? I would have thought for sure it would have been Donna."

"I thought the same thing. I mean if there was one of them who would have something to hesitate about it would be Donna."

Hyde chuckled and Jackie continued talking.

"I told you Red had a heart attack so he had to take it easy for a while. Well PriceMart ended up firing him so Red opened his own muffler shop, which I worked at with him until he sold out to the competitors and had enough to retire."

Hyde had barely heard her after she said she worked in a muffler shop with Red. The thought of her covered in grease from working on the car was a hard image to get out of his head. He stared at her.

"You worked on cars?" She nodded. "That's so hot."

Hyde leaned over and kissed her, sliding his hand over her thigh as he did. She kissed him back for a moment before pulling away.

"Now who can't control their dirty urges?"

"Damn it."

Hyde looked around the room and saw their waiter walking towards them with their food. He set it down in front of them then turned to leave.

"I say we get this wrapped up to go then head back to your place. It's only a few blocks from here, right?"

"It's like ten blocks west. We won't have enough time."

"The bathrooms are nice here."

"Steven no. I'm not doing it in a bathroom."

"Come on Jacks."

"No that's so gross," she insisted as she began to eat.

"Fine what are you doing after work?"

He was desperate. He had missed her yesterday and now she was here with him and he just wanted her.

"I'm going out for drinks with a few people from work. You should come too."

"Same girls from the bar?"

"Yeah. They're the only people here that I know besides you."

"I don't think they liked me."

That was understatement of the year. The one chick hated him. He could tell. Jackie's mouth twitched in amusement.

"Lucy liked you. Or well she thought you were hot."

"Of course she did."

"So are you going to come with me? It'll be fun. We're just grabbing a few drinks then leaving. Then we can go back to your place."

"I don't know Jackie."

"Pwease," she pouted.

"That pout won't always work on me," he warned.

"Yes it will," she smirked.

She was right. It probably would almost always work. He was a sucker for her though he wasn't sure why.

She leaned into him pressing a lingering kiss to his mouth. She pulled back so her mouth was only inches away. "I missed you yesterday."

He groaned. "Isn't it supposed to be girl time or something?"

"No. Lucy's boyfriend is coming too. It'll be fun."

"Fine. But two drinks."

"Yay! Thank you baby," she grinned before kissing him again.

"Can we do it in the bathroom now?"

"You pig."

Hyde kissed her again.

"Tonight," she promised.

"Whatever," he said before leaning away. He winked at her though so she knew he didn't really care.

She grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his then continued eating. Hyde did the same, making sure to keep an eye on the time. He didn't want her getting in trouble at work because of him.

"So you said Red was able to retire? How's that going for him? He doesn't seem like the retirement type."

"Oh he's going stir crazy and it's driving Kitty insane. He goes around fixing everything that's not broken. I swear Kitty's going to kill him if he touches one more of her kitchen appliances."

"Things never change do they?" Hyde laughed thinking back to when Red was first laid off.

"Nope. And Kitty is still working even though she could retire too. She said she couldn't stand spending all day at home with Red. Plus she loves being a nurse and taking care of people."

"I'm glad they're happy."

"You miss them," she said. It hadn't been a question. She was just stating a fact.

"Yeah I do."

"Well they miss you too. You should call them," she insisted before squeezing his hand. He looked her in the eyes. "They miss you so much Steven. They'd love to hear from you."

Hyde just shrugged and looked away again. Jackie moved her hand to the side of his face guiding him to look her in the eye.

"But it's your choice. I'm not going to say anything else okay?"

"I get why you want me to call them."

"I won't say anything else. I just want you to call them soon and tell them you're alive, okay?"

"I will."

"Okay. So what are you doing at work today?"

"Well I have a conference call with my dad and sister about the crap this decade's calling music and what we do and don't want later today."

"The music isn't that bad."

"Says the chick who loves disco."

"What's wrong with disco?"

"It's crap."

"Is not!"

"Is to. We better go though or else you'll be late."

Hyde laid down a few bills on the table before pulling Jackie's chair out then helping her up.

"So you'll meet me outside of my work at like six?"

"That's cool."

They stopped in front of the building where Jackie worked.

"So what'd you think of our first date?"

"It was no worse than bowling," he replied with a wink. She looked confused so he added "I don't hate bowling."

She smiled and nodded. "Well I had fun too."

Hyde leaned down and kissed her. Jackie slid her tongue into his mouth until someone cleared their throat from behind her.

"Oh hi Kevin," Jackie greeted the guy she had walked out with.

"Hi Jackie. You ready to go back in?"

"Yup. I'll see you tonight?"

Hyde nodded once then Jackie kissed him again.