Disclaimer: I do not own That 70s Show.
Days since Donna and Kelso Left: 1
Their reactions are polar opposite.
Eric goes numb. Hyde and Fez can see the life slowly drain out of him. His face pales. His already-waning smile drops completely. His shoulders sag. And evidently, his legs become weak, because he sinks so deep into the couch it looks like he wants to be swallowed by it.
"California?" He's staring straight ahead, and Hyde feels pity for his friend, which isn't something he feels often. "She left?"
Hyde and Fez nod silently.
"California?" Her voice is sharp as ever. Instead of sinking into sadness, she looks like she gets taller. "He went to California? Oh, I am going to kill him. What a jerk! What a total, complete, stupid, spineless, lying, vindictive, stupid asshole!"
"Ran out of adjectives?" Hyde asks, but shuts up when he sees the glare sent his way. Jackie's anger radiates in waves, and he doesn't blame Fez when he takes a tiny step back, as if afraid of the tiny woman in front of him. Hell, Hyde probably would too if he didn't think it was all bullshit. After all the times he's comforted her over Kelso, he's just waiting for the waterworks to come.
"Shut up, Hyde!" she snaps.
Ignoring her, Hyde turns back to his best friend, who was looking increasingly lost and sort of sick now. "Forman, man," he nudgeds. "She'll be back. It's only for the summer."
His words don't have the desire effect. Eric looks up at Hyde from the couch with heartbroken eyes. "The whole summer. I should've just taken her back. Why didn't I take her back? I love her and I didn't take her back! And now she's gone and when she's back she won't want me anymore."
Jackie, taking the ruthless route, squints her eyes at him and spits, "Yeah, maybe she'll finally come to her senses."
"Oh, you mean like Kelso finally came to his? Him running away from you - that's the smartest thing he's ever done. God knows how he could even tolerate you for this long."
Hyde knows Jackie and Eric are taking their anger out on each other, even though they're both going through pretty much the same thing. But he also knows as cruel as Eric wants to be, he could never match Jackie's vicious bitchiness, and he doesn't want to see her rip his best friend to shreds and then kick him while he's down. And the glint that comes to her eyes after hearing the words that hit where it hurt most, he knows that's exactly what's coming.
"All right, enough," he stops her before she can get a word in. "Forman, why don't you head upstairs? Your mom's waiting up there for you with some nice hot comfort food."
Giving into defeat and shooting Jackie one more loathing look, he leaves the basement wordlessly. Now it's just Jackie, Hyde, and Fez, standing silently in the basement. They keep waiting for Jackie to talk but nothing comes. Her silence is frightening. Fez clears his throat and reluctantly speaks. "Er, Jackie? Are you okay? Do you need a hug?"
He steps forward, his arms slightly open, but Jackie snaps. "A hug? A hug? Do I look like I need a hug? The guy who said he was going to marry me just split with my best friend because he was too coward to be a real man. I don't need a hug, I need-I need..." She looks around the room like a crazy person and Hyde has no idea what's coming. He's never seen Jackie like this before. She looks crazed. Mad beyond reason. She really doesn't look like she needs a hug. She looks like she needs to break something.
"Here," he offers, going over to their shared stack of records. He pulls one of Kelso's favourite out from the middle of it and hands it to Jackie.
Recognizing it instantly she pulls it out of its sleeve and hurls it against the wall. When it clatters to the floor she goes after it, she picks it up, she breaks it on her knee, then she throws it back on the floor and stomps on it. It's like a scene from a cartoon that would be hilarious under other circumstances. In fact, it actually is kind of funny in these circumstances, but if Hyde laughs, he wouldn't put it past Jackie to murder him. And summer's only just started. He doesn't plan on spending it dead.
Fez seems to have the same thoughts, as he looks at Jackie with genuine fear in his eyes.
"I hate him!" she yells, her voice strong and clear. "I have never hated anyone more right now, and I hate a lot of people! Hyde, give me something else to throw."
Glancing around the room, Hyde tries to find something of Kelso's that was easily destroyable. The nearest thing is a Playboy Magazine. He tosses it to her. She catches it and rips into it with ease. "Stupid men and their stupid playboys. I can't even look at this." She throws the torn magazine against the wall, causing Fez to flinch as it sails past him.
"I am done with him. You hear me? Done. This-this was the last straw."
"But-"
"Fez, if you try to defend him right now, I swear to God I will kick you until you bleed."
Fez's eyes widen, and Hyde suggests, "Fez, why don't you go upstairs and check on Forman?" Fez doesn't complain. He dashes upstairs as quickly as he can, slamming the door loudly behind him.
Jackie folds her arms and glares at Hyde as if he was the one who put the idea of running away into Kelso's head. He raises an eyebrow at her. "What, are you gonna make fun of me now? Tell me how stupid I am and how this is all my fault?"
Hyde shakes his head. "Nah, I'm saving that for later. For now I think I'm gonna make note of all the promises you're making so I can throw them back in your face when you inevitably break them."
"Oh no, Hyde, I was serious. I can't be with him after this. I can never forgive him. He left without even saying goodbye. I mean what kind of person does that?"
"Someone who doesn't really love you?" Hyde knows it's the wrong answer as soon as he says it. But he's never been good with words and he's so used to taunting Jackie it just came out.
Her mouth opens a little in shock before she launches herself at him. He hardly has time to duck and shield himself before her hands start barreling themselves all over him. She was saying things with each beat. "How dare you?" she was asking, and "You insensitive moron," she was screaming, and "I hate you!" she was promising.
One punch comes down particularly hard and Hyde winces. Getting enough of it, he tries to grab her hands. It proves a little difficult, seeing as she's fast and angry and ducks and dodges all his attempts. But finally he gets hold of her wrists and holds them tightly in the air, freezing her movement. "Would you relax?" he scolds, snapping at her harshly.
He softens when he sees the tears lining down her face. There they were. Hidden behind well-deserved anger and frustration, her sadness finally comes out of hiding, and just like every other time, Hyde hates to see it. Sadness doesn't suit her. She's always pretty, of course, but she doesn't look right when the lights behind her eyes go out. It's hard to even see her eyes when she's crying, because she likes to close them, as if she's trying to squeeze out all the tears at once. She's doing that right now.
"All right," he mumbles softly, tugging on her hands so she steps closer to him. Reluctantly, he lets go of her wrists and uses his thumbs to wipe the tears off her face.
"I don't want to cry over him," she says softly. She sounds as heartbroken as she looks and suddenly, Hyde gets the urge to break some of Kelso's records himself.
"Then don't," he tells her.
She shakes her head, eyes still closed. "Why doesn't anyone love me?"
Hyde is torn between feeling guilt, pity, and exasperation. Everything is the end of the world to Jackie, and to treat it like it isn't is like adding insult to injury for her. Luckily, he doesn't care much about adding insults. "Ah, come on, Jackie, don't be a drama queen. There are plenty of people who love you. Kelso's a jackass. I tell you over and over he's not worth it."
"I thought he changed." She finally opens her eyes and looks at him with them. He wishes she kept them closed. She's looking at him as if he holds all the answers. As if he knows how to say the right thing. He doesn't.
He shrugs. "Now you know."
"Steven," she sobs and closes her eyes again, putting her hands around his neck.
She's not wearing heels today, so she has to stand on her tip toes to reach him. He knows because as she squeezes him he decides to hug her back for real this time, and holds her softly, tucking his head against her shoulder so that his eyes are facing the floor and he can see her toenails, painted a bright, hopeful pink.
They stay like that for a little while, Hyde praying that no one decides to come down and check on Jackie right now. He hears Jackie sniff and take her head from out of the crook of his neck and rest it against his shoulder. Like a kid. Jackie's still just like a kid. Sure she was only a year or so younger, but he'd been forced to grow up long before any of the rest of their friends. And Jackie, the most protected of the bunch, brought up the rear, still acting like a spoiled little kid half of the time. Her immaturity was both her most annoying and endearing quality.
"You good now?" he asks quietly.
He can feel the movement of her nod against his shoulder. Slowly, she peels herself off of him. "Yes," she says firmly. "I'm good now. I think I'm all cried out over Michael Kelso."
Hyde clears his throat a little awkwardly. "Good."
"Okay." She curls a strand of hair around her ear. "Now help me break up with him."
Hyde pauses. Did he miss something? "Wh-huh?"
"I am truly done with Michael, Steven. And I am most definitely not going to wait around for him to break up with me. He made the first move and I'll make the last."
"And you need me for...?"
"Moral support," she says brightly, as if she wasn't just crying her eyes out two seconds ago. Insane.
"Right. No thanks."
He heads toward his room, turning his back to her, but she calls back for him, using his first name and stopping him in his tracks. "Steven, come on, you can help me come up with burns."
"Over the phone?"
"No, I'm gonna be way classier than that." When he doesn't respond she smiles at him. "I'll break up with him with a letter! That way I'll be forcing him to read too, and he hates reading." He still says nothing. She juts her bottom lip out. "Please."
"Fine," Hyde relents.
"Yay!" she bubbles excitedly, running to the corner of the room to rip a page out of an old notebook and grab a pen.
He sits on the couch and waits for her to sit next to him and lean over to scribble neatly on the piece of paper. "Dear Michael," she says out loud as she writes the words. "We are so over...what do you think?"
He shrugs carelessly. "It's to the point."
"Well what do you suggest?"
"How about: Dear Kelso, you're a slimy, lying coward, and we are so over."
"Hmmm," she thinks about it for a second. "I like it!"
To his surprise, she writes his words across the paper. Then she studies it and tilts her head to the side. "Needs something more. Oh, I've got it! You are an asshole and I hope no one sleeps with you in California."
"That could work."
Hyde and Jackie spend the better part of an hour trading insults, vetoing some, and laughing at others, until Jackie's break up letter is complete and sealed with a kiss and some red lipstick.
He knows better than to think this attitude will actually last. He had once thought Jackie was really through with Kelso once before and he'd still convinced her to go back to him. Still, there's something about Jackie now, laughing about it only hours after finding out her boyfriend ditched her to run halfway across the country. She looks lighter. She looks almost relieved, like she can breathe a little easier. Hyde watches her from behind his glasses and thinks this summer may be a little more interesting than he anticipated.
Dear Michael,
You are a slimy, lying coward, and we are so over. You're an asshole. And I hope no one sleeps with you in California. And if they do, I hope you catch something serious and painful. I'm glad you left because it made me see the truth. And the truth is I don't even want to marry you. You're immature and lazy and you could never take care of me the way I need you to.
So thank you, Michael, for showing me just how much of a dog you really are. I hope you know this letter is serious and we are never getting back together. Because you're a horrible boyfriend.
See you soon. Love, Jackie (your ex-girlfriend)
A/N: So hey! I'm sure from the description and this first chapter/prologue you can tell exactly what this story is going to be. I know this has been done plenty times before, but I was hit with sudden inspiration and came up with an entire outline for a story about how these two really got together. And I'm really excited about it. I wasn't sure I was going to post this - I wrote it mostly to see if the outline would actually pan out to how I wanted it to be and to see how easy it would be for me to get the ideas out of my head and onto the screen. I also wasn't sure about posting because I have another story I'm doing right now that I'd also like to finish, but I was trying to finish up my next chapter for that and these ideas wouldn't leave my head so I figured I had to get it out of my system. I still do intend to finish that 'story' (it's less of a story and more insight into Hyde and Jackie's relationship throughout seasons 1 and 4, sort of like one-shots), so I'm not sure how often I'll work on this story. But I have a lot of time on my hands so you never know.
This chapter is a little shorter than the rest will be (it is a prologue) and we'll be jumping into Hyde and Jackie's little summer fling in the next chapter and the story will take us up to the end of the summer. Please give it a chance, I am so hopeful for this. My fingers are crossed I can actually bring the story in my head to life. I hope everyone who reads it likes it. And if there's anyone reading this who's also reading Through Their Eyes, don't worry. I will be updating that soon.
Thank you for reading! :)