November 11th, 1982

1:04pm

Forman's backyard

"Oh, I'm so glad you could take tomorrow off" said Kitty for the fifth time. Red had refused to move his Veteran's Day barbecue to the weekend even though most people from out of town would not be able to come in the middle of the week.

WB, Angie and Layla had gotten to the Forman's a little over half an hour before Steven, Jackie, Eric and Donna. They had come in the Vista Cruiser, and it had been just like old times, riding the old car, singing, and teasing each other.

Luckily for Eric and Donna, UW had decided to give them Friday off and they'd been able to move their shifts at work. Jackie had had to use one of her vacation days and Steven had taken advantage of the fact that his father– a.k.a. his boss – was also invited to the barbecue.

Kelso was on duty until mid-afternoon, but as soon as they got off the car Jackie had snatched the keys of the Cruiser and went to pick up Brooke and Betsy. As soon as they got to the Forman's house, the little girl was climbing to the top of Steven's head and there was nothing he could do to avoid it. Bob was also present. He had flown in from Florida that same morning and would be staying for a couple of weeks.

The only ones missing were Fez and Rachel, who had gone on a small vacation to New York to celebrate their two-year anniversary.

/-/-/-/

5:13pm

Just like every year, Red had not left the side of the grill for most of the day. People came in and out of the party, but WB had spent most of the afternoon near the grill, talking with Red and taking over whenever Red took a break.

A couple of Eric's friends from school who were also from Point Place stopped by some time in the afternoon and they all went downstairs to the basement for a quick circle and a moment away from the rest of the adults. Brooke had not been able to stay downstairs long though, hearing Betsy calling her from the kitchen.

Not long after Brooke had left – followed soon by Kelso, Jackie had gone upstairs too, to help Kitty and Layla with the baking. After a while, the only ones left downstairs were Steven and Angie. Donna and Eric having snuck up to Eric's room to fool around.

"So, how come Jackson didn't come?" asked Steven handing Angie a popsicle from the deep freeze.

Even though it wasn't easy to distinguish the change on her face whenever she blushed, because of the color of her skin, Steven knew his sister well enough to know she was blushing furiously. Jackson was Angie's boyfriend, and he had only just met him briefly a couple of times.

Angie was a very private person and hadn't said much about her boyfriend neither to her brother nor her father. The only thing that Jackie had told him was that Angie had been dating this Jackson guy since the winter and besides her, only Layla knew him.

"What makes you think he should be here today?" asked Angie, not doing a great job at feigning nonchalance.

"Well… Jackie sort of let it slip that you met his family a couple of weeks ago" Steven shrugged.

Such a big mouth for such a tiny person, Angie thought, more amused than irritated. Truth is she had invited Jackson to the barbecue. But he could not miss his grandfather's own Veteran's Day party.

"He's coming on Saturday" she said, after a small silence.

"Cool" Steven replied, noncommittally and aloof.

And even though it wasn't easy to distinguish the difference on his face whenever he was really aloof or when he was forcing the Zen mode, Angie knew her brother well enough to know he was actually really happy for her

/-/-/-/

6:28 pm

Jackie was taking a tray of cookies out of the oven when Steven came in through the sliding door with a mischievous smile on his face and hiding something on his left hand behind his back.

"You done with those?" he asked, reaching to her with his free hand.

"Yes… why?" asked her, slightly suspicious.

"We're going on a freaking date" he replied, presenting her with a small box wrapped in shiny paper and a furious pink bow.

"Aaaww, Steven!" she exclaimed, happily taking the present and unwrapping it.

Inside the box she found a very familiar set of keys. Keys that she had not seen in almost four years. She looked between him and the keys, speechless.

"Are these…?"

"Yup" he replied, shortly. She glared at him, waiting for an explanation. "Apparently it sat on a warehouse all this time until some judge or something decided to make a big auction a couple of months ago. Kelso saw it and told me and well… here it is"

/-/-/-/

8:01pm

Mount Hump

They were sitting close together on the back hood of Jack Burkhart's old Lincon, looking at the landscape. They had just finished the pizza and were sharing a pop in companionable silence, until Jackie gave a deep sigh and gave him back the pop, fixing him with her eyes.

"Did you just buy this car to re-enact our first date?" she asked him, amused.

"Maybe" he replied, averting his gaze.

"Oh, Steven you're such a romantic"

He buffed at that, dismissing the idea of romanticism, though deep down she knew it was just an act. He let it slide for a little while and then commented off-handedly

"Well… you do need something better than that crappy old car of yours… I'm sure it'll break into pieces any day now"

She smacked him in the arm, feigning outrage.

"Oh, you very well know that I keep my car in better shape than you keep yours!"

"Hey! That was a low blow and the burn goes right back at you because you're the one fixing the El Camino"

"That's how I know, dummy!"

They kept the banter for a while until Steven decided it was too much mocking for her own good so he turned the teasing into a tickle fight that ended on both of them panting and giggling and almost sliding off the hood of the car.

After taking a long sip of the soda Jackie turned serious again.

"But really, why did you buy it?"

"Because of that date five years ago" he said, shrugging. "Did you really feel nothing?"

There was an eagerness in his eyes that she'd only seen once before: that evening in the apartment after they had a long talk and decided to get back together.

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "I felt more stuff in that one kiss than all of what I'd ever felt with Michael put together"

He just smiled knowingly, softly caressing her face with one hand. "I love you, Doll"

"I love you too, Pudding Pop"

They kissed again, and unlike that first date on that very same spot and sitting on top of that very same car, they both could tell exactly how the other one felt. They broke apart after a little while.

"Did you really just call me 'Pudding Pop'?" asked him, bemused. It had been a while since he'd heard her call him that.

"Yeah… it doesn't sound right anymore, though" she replied, thoughtful.