Three - Beers With A Friend

Hyde leaned against one of the marble pillars in the hotel lobby. Fez was helping Forman readjust his tie for the billionth time in half an hour. Red and Bob were chatting by one of the fancy potted plants.

"Yeah, she pretty much slapped a restraining order on me. I'm not allowed to touch her or flirt with her or sit with her. Sucks for me, but whatever," Kelso said.

"Uh-huh. Did she say why?" Hyde asked.

"She said us doing it in Chicago didn't mean anything, that it only happened 'cause she thought you were done with her forever. That's fine by me. Meaningless sex is the best kind of sex."

Hyde didn't say anything. Clearly, Kelso had never been in love with a girl. Sex with the chick you loved was the best kind of sex.

The sound of Mrs. Forman's laugh signalled the girls had come down. Hyde turned and mentally cursed.

Jackie looked really damn good in her sparkly dress. Normally, Hyde wasn't crazy about her fancier outfits, but something about the way she looked tonight was irresistible. Staying away from her was going to be difficult.

"Damn, Jackie!" Kelso and Fez said together.

Jackie giggled and flipped her hair. "You like?"

"You know what I said yesterday about not wanting to kiss you?" Fez asked. "I take it back."

"Thanks, Fezzie." Jackie patted him on the shoulder before walking over to stand by one of the other marble pillars.

"Well, are we all ready to go?" Joanne asked from where she stood with Bob.

Hyde was ready, all right. He was determined to get Jackie off of his mind tonight. It would be difficult, given how good she looked, but he would accomplish it. He was done pining for Jackie freaking Burkhart.

Hyde looked over as Jackie giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Maybe he wasn't totally done pining for her.

The magenta velvet of the booth seat made Jackie's bare legs itch, but she didn't really mind. She was seated between Fez and Donna at their table. The table was low to the ground, coming up to their knees, and the booth wrapped around three fourths of the table.

Too-loud music pumped through speakers by the dance floor. Colorful lights illuminated the entirety of the club. The bar lined almost the whole right side of the club.

A round of beers sat on the tiny table. They'd decided to take turns buying rounds. Steven had helped them all get fake IDs last week in preparation for tonight. The legal drinking age in Nevada was different than Wisconsin, so the IDs were necessary. They were a few rounds in already.

"So, Jackie, when are you starting your mission?" Donna asked.

"What mission?" Steven asked.

"It's a secret mission. None of your business," Jackie said.

Donna cupped the side of her mouth and said loudly, "Her mission to get over you!" She must have been drunk already.

Steven nodded. In the colored lighting of the club, Jackie couldn't really distinguish his expression. Especially with his sunglasses on. She had no idea how he could see anything.

"I'm gonna go get the next round," he said. He stood up and walked over to the bar.

Jackie turned to Donna. "Donna, you weren't supposed to tell Steven about my plan!"

"Why not? He's probably trying to get over you, too," Donna said. She tried to take another sip of her beer. "Hey, my bottle's empty." She stared into the opening forlornly.

Jackie leaned around Donna and got Eric's attention. "Hey, dumbass? Your girlfriend's already drunk! Keep an eye on her!"

"Already?" Eric tapped Donna's leg until she looked up at him. He said something to her Jackie couldn't hear over the music, then Donna leaned in and kissed him. Jackie turned away to find that Fez was gone. So was Michael. She turned back to ask Donna and Eric if they knew where Fez and Michael were, but they were walking away.

Steven came back with another round. "Where'd everyone go?"

"I have no idea," Jackie said honestly.

Steven nodded and set the beers down on the table. Then he sat next to her. "Guess it's just you and me."

"Seriously?" Jackie asked.

"Unless you wanna go flirt with the trashy guys at the bar? 'Cause I don't wanna hold you back from sleeping with some guy that calls you 'little girl' and treats you like an object instead of a human being."

Jackie stared at him for a moment. "I thought you didn't like spending time with me anymore."

"You're the only company I got. Besides, we gotta get used to being just friends." He took a long sip of his beer. "So, what's it gonna be? Beers with a friend or fancy cocktails with the assholes at the bar?"

Jackie picked up one of the beers from the table. "Beers with a friend." She clicked the neck of her bottle against his and he smirked. She took a sip of her beer. "So, what, are you over Chicago or something? 'Cause before you were super distant and now you're offering to keep me company."

"I need to be way drunker if we're gonna have that conversation," Steven said.

"Yeah, me too."

Hyde finished his last beer. He put the empty bottle down on the table with the others. Jackie giggled and leaned closer to him.

"Truth or dare?" she asked.

"Since when are we playing truth or dare?" Hyde asked.

Jackie laughed. "We have been for, like, hours! Or maybe it was only a few minutes. I don't know. Anyway, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Why did you come to Chicago that night?" Jackie asked.

Hyde looked at her. The words were out of his mouth before he could process them. "To propose to you."

"Really?" Jackie asked. "Oh my God. Stupid Michael. If he hadn't been there, we could be engaged right now!"

"What are you talking about? I thought you were over me. That's why you slept with Kelso, right? 'Cause I was a dumbass who wouldn't marry you?"

"No! I slept with Michael because… because… I can't remember! Ask me again tomorrow. But it's not 'cause I'm over you. I still love you. So much." Jackie's words were slurring, but Hyde could still understand her.

"But I was such a dick to you! I waited until the very last second to give you an answer. Before that, I couldn't even give you hope for a possible future. Jackie, man, you could do so much better than me."

"But I don't want to. Well, okay, it would be nice to fall in love with a guy who has a lot of money and buys me flowers all the time and tells me he loves me every day. But instead I fell in love with you, someone who has only ever bought me plastic flowers and told me he loved me five times in two years of dating. And I'm okay with that."

Hyde stared at her. The club's colorful lights were reflecting off her sparkly dress and making her eyes shine. "Jackie, I'm in love with you."

Jackie grinned. "You are?"

"Yeah, man. I never fell out of love with you. Sorry I stopped saying it. And showing it. And I'm sorry for driving you to sleep with Kelso. I'm sorry for a lot of things."

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have given you an ultimatum. And I shouldn't have left before you gave me an answer. And I really shouldn't have slept with Michael," Jackie said.

They stared at each other for a minute. The rest of the club seemed to fade away, leaving just the two of them. They both started leaning in until their mouths met in a thought-shattering kiss.

Jackie's hands found his hair and she scooted closer to him on the booth seat. His hand settled on her waist, pulling her flush against his body. They fell back into their special rhythm, their mouths moving against each other in sync. It had been a month since Hyde had been able to kiss her. He had missed it so badly.

When they eventually parted, Hyde said, "Let's get married."

"What?" Jackie asked. She looked dazed and her lipstick was smudged. Some of that lipstick was no doubt staining Hyde's lips.

"Let's get married," Hyde repeated.

"You mean it?" Jackie asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I mean it. We're in Las Vegas. We're both old enough. Let's get hitched."

Jackie squealed. "Oh my God, Steven, I love you so much!" She kissed him again. He could feel her lipstick rubbing off on him and she tasted like beer, but it was one of the best kisses he'd ever had.

"I have an engagement ring for you, but it's in Wisconsin," Hyde said.

"Our engagement's only gonna be, like, an hour long, so it doesn't matter," Jackie said. "Let's go get married!"

"Do you wanna fix your makeup first?" Hyde asked.

"Oh, yeah. Come on." Jackie grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from the table. He slipped his arm around her waist as they left the club and walked toward the hotel.

"Did you bring a tie with you?" Jackie asked as she cleaned up her makeup. She had removed all her lipstick and was fixing the makeup around her mouth. Steven had washed all the lipstick off of his face.

"What, a button-down and vest isn't fancy enough for a wedding?" Steven asked.

"No. But whatever. It's not like this is a big, fancy wedding." Jackie fluffed her hair in the mirror.

"Are you cool with that? Y'know, not having a fancy wedding." Steven leaned against the counter next to her.

"We could always do a vow renewal. Right now, I just really want to be married to you," Jackie said. She wrapped her arms around his middle, clasping her fingers on his back. He smiled down at her.

"I really hope we don't regret this in the morning. 'Cause we're both so drunk right now," he said.

"Yeah, we really are drunk," Jackie said. "But I know what I want."

Steven leaned in and kissed her softly. "I know what I want, too. What was the name of that church? Weddings and… weed? Wheels? Weebles?"

"Weebles wobble and they don't fall down," Jackie added helpfully.

"That's actually not true. I made a Weeble fall down once," Steven said.

"You did not! I've tried it a bunch! They don't fall down."

"I broke it. Then it fell down."

"That's cheating!"

"It's only cheating if it's against the rules. There are no rules to Weebles." Steven's eyes lit up. "Waffles!"

"What?"

"Weddings and Waffles. That was the name of the church," Steven said. "Are you sure you wanna get married tonight?"

"Of course. Steven, I pestered you for months about getting married. If anything, I should be asking if you're sure you want to get married tonight," Jackie said.

"I really want to get married. Jackie, I love you. I don't care about marriage, 'cause it's not a guarantee and most marriages don't last. But I think we could make it work."

Jackie looked up at him. "I have never been more attracted to you than right this very moment."

Steven smiled. "Well, you're gonna have to wait until after we get married. But until then…" He cupped the sides of her face and kissed her deeply. She rested her hands on his forearms. She'd gone so long without his kisses, without his touch. Now, it was very possible she would never go without them again.

"Let's go get married," Jackie said breathlessly when they parted. "Wait. I don't wanna get married at the same place Bob and Joanne are getting married."

"We don't know any other churches," Steven pointed out.

"We can find one. We're in Las Vegas. I'm sure there are others."

"All right. I would go get my tie from my room, but Forman and Donna are in there and I don't need to see that," Steven said.

"Ew, no. Besides, you look foxy." She smoothed down the front of his shirt. "And it's good that Donna is with Eric, because it means you can stay with me after our wedding."

Steven kissed her again. She could not wait to be married to him.