Formans Basement June 3, 1978 11:30AM
"Where were you last night, man?" Hyde said, sitting in his chair "Fez and I went to vandalize the water tower, and we needed you there"
"I went to Katherine's party last night" Eric answered
"You went to that lame party?" Hyde scoffed
"It wasn't lame, believe me"
"Whatever, you'd go with?" Hyde curiously asked.
"Jackie" Eric replied.
"Seriously? You went with Jackie? Man the world really is coming to an end"
"Yeah, I did, And you know what? I had a good time" Eric said
"Forman, I mean this with all due respect, please get some therapy"
"Why do I need therapy?" Eric frowned.
"Because, fun and Jackie don't mix"
Eric rolled his eyes "Come on man, if Jackie's so bad, then why did you take her to prom?"
Hyde shrugged his shoulders "Because I felt bad"
"Ok, what about the time you went shopping with her, when she and Kelso first broke up?" Eric argued.
"Like I said before, I felt bad for her" Hyde repeated himself
"Come on, Hyde. Just admit Jackie can be cool to hang around with"
"I would rather admit to listening to ABBA" Hyde said sarcastically.
Realizing he wasn't going to convince Hyde, Eric dropped the subject and moved on. "So, what happened at the watertower?"
"Oh, man, you should have been there, you see. When Fez and I were vandalizing the tower. We eventually ran out of spray paint. So, I told Fez to go to the car and get more pain. Just as he started to climb down the ladder. He fell right on his face" Hyde laughed, hitting his knee.
"Wouldn't this be Fez, second time falling from the tower?"
"Which makes it all the more funny" Hyde snickered.
"Man, talk about bad luck" Eric commented.
"I know right. The poor kid broke his wrist"
"Maybe that will teach him not to go up there again"
"Look on the bright side. He had a cute nurse bandage him up" Hyde said.
"I guess" Eric uttered.
"You got plans this weekend" Hyde asked
"No. I haven't had anything planned, why?"
"I know a guy that can get us fake IDs, to this night club, in Milwaukee. You in?"
"Hell yeah, I'm in!"
"Good, that's what I want to hear" Hyde smirked.
"Just know we have to use your car, Red will kick my ass seven ways to sunday, if he finds out I took the Vista Cruiser all the way to Milwaukee"
"Don't worry about it, man. I got it all worked out" Hyde reassured.
~Cut to Jackie's bedroom~
Jackie woke up with a blistering headache. Nothing she has ever felt before. The blinding sun came through the window, hitting Jackie directly in her sensitive, sleepy eyes. She quickly covered her face.
She then got up, stumbling her way to shut her curtains. Jackie sat back down at the edge of her bed, trying to remember how she even got home in the first place. Jackie turned towards her clock. Jackie's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. It was 12:00pm. Jackie let out a gasp. Jackie never slept this late before.
After coming out of her daze. Jackie noticed that her bed and clothes were damp. "Weird" Jackie thought to herself. Did she go swimming last night? But that didn't make any sense. Jackie would never ruin her clothes. Especially a brand new outfit, at that.
Another thought pondered her mind. Where was Eric? Did he take her home last night? Or did she get home herself? Jackie doubted it, considering she barely remembers what happened last night.
Shaking off her countless theories of what happened at the wild party, and how she got home. Jackie decided to take a shower. Once Jackie stepped in the tub, turning the water on. The steaming hot water felt wonderful against her skin.
When Jackie got out of the shower, she slowly got dressed and fixed her hair and makeup. Just because she was hungover didn't mean Jackie was going to go out in public looking like a slob. When she was finished, Jackie picked up the phone and dialed the Formans number. It only had about 3 rings until someone picked up.
"Hello" Kitty answered, in her usual cheerful tone.
"Hi, Mrs Forman" Jackie politely greeted, trying to sound refined.
"Jackie, honey, is that you?" confusion in her tone.
"Yes this is she" Jackie confirmed.
"Are you calling for Steven? I can go get him, but I'm not sure if he's home"
Just as kitty was about to walk away Jackie spoke quickly "No, I'm not calling for Steven. I'm calling for Eric"
Kitty furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Did Jackie just ask to speak to Eric? No, that couldn't be right. "Eric? Why are you calling for him?"
"I need to talk to him" Jackie answered.
Before Kitty could say anything else Eric walked into the kitchen. "Who is it mom?" Eric questioned.
"It's Jackie" Kitty replied, holding her palm down on the receiving end of the phone.
"Here, let me talk to her" Eric motioned his hand towards the phone.
Kitty gave her son a questioning look, but gave him the phone anyway.
"Jackie?"
"Hey Eric"
"Hey Jackie, you alright?" Eric asked.
"My head hurts" Jackie whined.
"I tried to warn you" Eric gloated, trying not to reveal too much in front of Kitty. He didn't need his mom to know about the events of last night.
"I know, I know. You were right. No need to rub it in" Jackie groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Anything else you wanted to say?" Eric questioned.
"Yeah, but I want to talk in person. Meet me at the Hub?"
"Sure, Do you need a ride?" Eric questioned.
"Umm, no. I'll meet there" Jackie answered.
"Ok, When?" Eric asked.
"Be there in an hour. Ok?"
"Yeah, sure, I'll meet you there. Bye" Eric said, hanging up the phone.
"What?" Eric asked his mom, who was currently giving him a strange look.
"Nothing" Kitty said, crossing her arms. "I just find it odd that Jackie would call for you, and not for Steven. I thought she liked him"
Eric shrugged his shoulders "Well, I guess she doesn't anymore"
"Well, what changed? Jackie was obsessed with getting Steven to agree to go on a date with her"
"I guess the spark just wasn't there" Eric replied, remembering how Jackie put it.
"So, are you and Jackie friends now?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, I guess" Eric answered.
"Mhmm. Ok, well" Kitty looked around the kitchen awkwardly "Well, I'll see you later. Have a nice day" Kitty kissed her son on the forehead.
~Cut to the Hub~
When Eric walked into the hub it was busy, which was no surprise, it was summer, which means there would be even more teenagers than usual. After observing the area, He spotted Jackie. Sitting at the table with her head hung low, drinking a cup of coffee.
"I see your hangover hasn't gone away yet" Eric assumed, pulling the chair out from the table.
"Ugh, I know right. I can't believe how wasted I got last night" Jackie spoke, with remorse in her voice.
"Don't feel too bad, you've been under a lot of stress" Eric said, trying to make Jackie feel better.
"Oh, God" Jackie threw her head back "Did I look like a complete drunk idiot last night?"
"Well, I don't know. What's your definition of "Drunk Idiot"
"Just tell me what I did!" Jackie snapped
"It's no big deal. But you did fall into the pool"
Jackie leaned back, biting her lip "I wondered why woke up with wet clothes"
"You also pushed me into the pool as well" Eric mentioned.
"I did?" Jackie had a worried expression on her face.
"You seriously don't remember anything from last night?"
"Bits and pieces" Jackie's eyes wandered around the room "How did I get home again?" Jackie asked.
"I drove you" Eric answered.
"You did? Oh, thank God" Jackie let out a sigh of relief. "I was seriously worried there for a minute"
"Yeah, I drove you home. And we actually had a little bit of a conversation" Eric brought up.
"We did?" Jackie said, trying hard to remember. Jackie thought about it for a moment. Then realization hit her like a truck.
"Oh, my God. You said something about a girl and that something went wrong. And that you wouldn't tell me"
"Oh course that's the part you would remember '' Eric whispered.
"What did you say?" Jackie narrowed her eyes
"Nothing" Eric said quickly "So did you want to know what happened between me and that girl I was telling you about?"
"Of course, tell me everything, and don't leave out any details"
"Well, for starters the girl was Katherine" Eric revealed.
Jackie's mouth opened wide in shock "Katherine as in Katherine manning?"
"Yep, that's the one" Eric confirmed.
"Well, what happened?" Jackie asked, eagerly.
Eric looked down at the table. He wasn't sure if wanted to tell Jackie the whole story. He debated whether or not he should come with a lie. But he decided against it.
"Well, you see. There was this fight" Eric began.
"There was a fight?" Jackie gasps, interrupting Eric "who was it?"
"I'm not sure" Eric answered "I don't think they go to Point Place High, Which is incredibly good for me"
"Why?" Jackie aked, putting her elbows on the table
"Because I broke it up, by dumping the big bowl of "punch" on them" Eric cringed at the memory.
Jackie jaw dropped to the floor upon hearing this "Oh, my God you didn't"
"I did" Eric nodded his head "Don't look at me like that, I know it was incredibly stupid of me to do that"
"You're damn right it was! You're lucky they didn't beat you up" Jackie exclaimed.
"I know, thankfully they didn't see it was me"
"It's good to know, I wasn't the only one who made stupids decisions last night" Jackie said, taking a drink of her coffee. "Anyways, continue"
"Alright" Eric leaned up closer to the table "So, anyways. Katherine thought that was brave of me"
"Which it was" Jackie added.
"Then we started to talk, and it was going well. Katherine is a cool girl"
"Then what happened?" Jackie tilted her head to the side.
Eric held up is index finger "Hold on we're getting there"
"Katherine and I were outside talking. It was going really well, and all of a sudden she asked if I wanted to up to her room" Eric smiled at the memory.
"Wait, I have to stop you there. Katherine wants to have sex with you, and you somehow screw it up?"
"Maybe you were too drunk to remember, but I told you I wasn't the one to screw up"
Jackie gave Eric a glare but said nothing.
"Anyways we're talking everything is going great, she invites me to her room. I was going to say yes believe me"
Jackie furrowed her eyebrows confused "What stopped you then?"
"You" Eric admitted.
"Me?" Jackie pointed a finger at her chest "What does this have to do with me?"
"Jackie, you were there too. You were by the pool, you were so wasted, I thought you were going to drop any second. I couldn't leave you by yourself" Eric stated.
"Oh, my God. I'm the reason why you two didn't hook up!" Jackie shrieked, causing looks from customers "Eric I'm so sorry" Jackie buried her face in her hands.
"Jackie, it's ok. You have nothing to apologize for" Eric patted her on the back "Except, maybe for pushing me into the pool. But other than not, there's nothing"
"Seriously, how could you not be mad at me?" Jackie snapped, slamming her hands down on the table.
"Jackie, it's not the end of the world" Eric commented.
"Sure it is! The whole point of last night was for you to move on. And I ruined it"
"How did you ruin it? Because I didn't get to have sex with Katherine?"
"Well, yeah" Jackie replied.
"Jackie, it's ok. I'm glad it didn't happen"
"What? Why?" Jackie furrowed her eyebrows confused.
"See now, this is the best part. Katherine told me I should leave you alone. Maybe you'll get "lucky" too" Eric explained.
"Why did that upset you?" asked confused
"Jackie! You were drunk. I wasn't gonna let you get taken advantage of by some loser" Eric responded, slightly raising his voice.
"So you missed out on an opportunity to sleep with one of the hottest girls in school, to save me?"
Eric said nothing, he only nodded.
"Thanks Eric" Jackie smiled.
"It's no problem" Eric smiled back.
"Is there anything else I should know about last night?" Jackie tiredly asked.
"There is something" Eric replied.
"What? And don't you dare withhold on me" Jackie warned.
"Ok, Ok, When I took you back to your house. And we talked for a little bit" Eric admitted.
"Ok, and. What did we talk about?"
Before answering Eric looked down at the table "All kinds of things"
Jackie had an impatient look at her face, Eric knew he had to spill the beans, before Jackie imploded on him.
"We talked about relationships, and stuff. Then you brought up that the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were going to have their first redhead"
"Ew" Jackie interrupted
"That's what you said last night" Eric chuckled. Anyways then you said and I quote "You know something Eric? For a star wars loving geek, you're pretty cute"
"I said that?" Jackie asked, clearly embarrassed.
"Yup" Eric confirmed
"Ok, that's it I'm never drinking alcohol again" Jackie said disgusted with herself and how she acted.
"Aww, it's ok. I think it's absolutely adorable that you think I'm cute" Eric teased.
Jackie squinted her eyes at Eric "shut up" she crossed her arms, a pout forming on her lips.
"Jackie, I'm just messing around" Eric playfully punched her shoulder.
Jackie glared at him "Well, stop it" Jackie pinched him.
"Ow, Damn, Jackie" Eric rubbed the spot of his arm where Jackie pitched it. "You gotta find other ways to express your anger" Eric proclaimed.
"You're fine" Jackie said without any sign of care in her voice "You know, I can pitch much harder" Jackie warned.
"Well, then reminded me to never piss you off again" Eric noted.
"But in all seriousness" Jackie made direct eye contact with Eric "Thanks for saving me last night, It means a lot, truly."
"It's no problem. And I would do it again, even if it meant turning down a hot girl"
Jackie had a warm smile plastered on her face. It felt good knowing someone gave a damn about her. Truth be told, she hasn't genuinely cared about, for a long time. Not even by her parents. So it felt amazing knowing at least she had one person she could count on.
"So, Hyde, Fez and I are going to Milwaukee this weekend. You want to come?"
"Milwaukee? What for?"
"We're going to a nightclub. Hyde got us some fake IDs"
"I don't know. I don't think Steven would like if I went"
"Don't worry, Hyde will get over it. Besides, I'm pretty sure Fez will be ecstatic that you're coming along"
"You know what? I'm in"
"Good" Eric grinned "But we'll have to get an ID" Eric suddenly remembered.
"Don't worry about it. I already have one"
"You do?" Eric said, with pure shock.
"Yeah, last year me and the cheer team went to this frat party" Jackie explained.
"Well, aren't you just full of surprises" Eric observed.
"I know right!" Jackie acknowledged "I'm just down right, amazing" Jackie gushed.
"Yeah, yeah" Eric groaned"Just don't drink like you did last night"
"Oh, believe me, I won't ever do that again, trust me"
"If you say so" Replied in an unsure voice.
"It's going to be so much fun, Eric!" Jackie clapped her hands "I can't wait to pick out an outfit" Jackie babbled.
"Speaking of outfits" Eric suddenly spoke up "You don't expect me to go shopping with you again? Do you?"
"No" Jackie rolled her eyes "You get a free pass this time"
"Oh, thank God" Eric said.
"So, who's driving?"
"Hyde" Eric answered "I'll have him stop by your house to pick you up"
"Alright, sounds like a plan to me" Jackie replied.