Disclaimer: That '70s Show copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

Author's Note: This story was written for the 2022 Zenmasters Anthology on tumblr.

CHAPTER THREE
SHARP CURVE

Hyde stood in the vestibule outside the school gym, on full alert. Why a school needed two proms a year made no sense to him, but little made sense to him lately. Giant paper and tinsel snowflakes decorated the walls. Students, singles like him and couples like Jackie and Kelso, loitered the area. They were angling for votes to be Point Place High's Snow Prom queen and king.

The whole concept was archaic and stupid. Hyde only came to this dance to spark a couple of joints in Coach Ferguson's office. He'd bought a higher quality stash than usual from Leo. Wore a higher quality of clothes, too: a dress shirt, gray tie, slacks, and a slate-blue suit jacket—all of which Mrs. Forman insisted on buying him.

Dressing well for this shindig wasn't necessary, but wearing his dad's ill-fitting suit jacket felt wrong. Maybe because the asshole quit on him a few months ago, sticking him with a rent payment as part of a goodbye letter.

His one act of fashion rebellion was not to tuck in the dress shirt. Hiding a baggie of joints inside his suit jacket also counted as rebellion but a different kind. He was dead if Coach Ferguson, or another teacher-chaperone, caught him with it.

Students were still schmoozing outside the gym. Of his friends, only Fez had gone inside with his girlfriend, Rhonda. Forman was bolting in the opposite direction; he'd forgotten to pick Donna up from the radio station. Without him around, though, Hyde's gaze fixed on Jackie and Kelso. They clung to each other's side, giggling between him and the gym entrance.

The sickening image of happiness, but Hyde couldn't look away. He crossed his arms over his chest, like that would cure his nausea or shut off his feelings.

Jackie had been working at The Cheese Palace for three weeks. Despite her complaints about the job, she indicated no interest in leaving. Kelso hadn't found steady work for himself yet, but he continued to search. Those two were freakin' dedicated to their relationship. Hyde's brain accepted it, but his heart used his rib cage as a punching bag. He'd be bruised by the end of the night.

His own damn fault for having no clue how to fall out of love.


Jackie busied herself by looking through Eric's record albums. They were lined up on the shelves beneath his record player. Everyone but Michael was hanging out in the Formans' basement, watching TV. Jackie, however, crouched near the back door with the albums. Michael would show up soon. He needed to.

Six weeks had passed since her parents cut her off financially. Five weeks since she'd been hired at The Cheese Palace. Earning her own money was great, but the job hadn't become any less humiliating. Men of all ages leered at her daily. Preadolescent boys mocked her required statements about the cheese samples: "Try the Swiss; you can't miss. Try the cheddar; it's even better!"

But teenage boys were the worst. Some attempted to lift up her skirt, and a few had the audacity to slap her butt before running off. The latter had happened today, again. She'd finally decided to talk to her friends about it, but she'd say nothing until Michael was here. Telling the story once would be hard enough. .

Barbara Streisand's Superman album stuck out from Eric's collection. It couldn't belong to him. Mrs. Forman must have sneaked the album into the shelf for one reason or another. Jackie's mom loved that album, and Jackie liked more than a few songs on it, too. She considered burning Eric by bringing Superman to Donna, Fez, and Steven's attention,but she pushed it into the shelf. Michael might appear any second, and she could afford him being distracted.

She also couldn't afford quitting her job. The Cheese Palace's work hours let her study for tests and finish homework. She'd raised her grade-point average from a B-minus to an A-minus. Her dad was right. She had been dumbing herself down to protect Michael's self-esteem, but being a "cheese maiden" was lowering her own. A career where she wasn't objectified and mortified would be preferable, and that meant going to college.

After another long minute, Michael burst into the basement but rushed past her. She must not have been in his eyeline. He removed his jacket and addressed everyone else present. "Hey, you guys, great news! I was walking around Halverson's Department Store, and the owner comes right up to me, and he offered me a modeling job!"

Jackie's legs shook when she stood up behind him. The news couldn't be true. As of yesterday, he still hadn't found a viable job. He'd sold his "love nectar" to a sperm bank last week, and she demanded he get his "special men" back. She hadn't chosen a future with him so he could sell off part of it. No one else but her would be having his kids..

"Wait, wait," she said, and he turned around. His face contorted like he was surprised to see her. "Some guy just offered you a modeling job? Sounds a little suspicious. I mean, how do you know it was the owner?"

"Because it was Mr. Halverson."

"How do you know it was Mr. Halverson?"

"Because I said, 'Aren't you Mr. Halverson?' And he said, 'Yeah.'"

Donna, Eric, and Steven teased Michael about the situation, but it was a nightmare. Michael offered a modeling job while Jackie toiled in that embarrassing dirndl. Him starting one of her dream careers while she hawked cheese. And, perhaps worst of all, him acting less than interested in sharing that information with her.

An absolute nightmare, and she slapped his back. "Michael!"

"What?" he shouted, sounding more startled than angry, but he returned his focus to her.

"If you actually have this job—"

"I do."

"Then you need to introduce me to Mr. Halverson so I can model for him, too."

"I do?"

Jackie's shoulder muscles were tight, and so was her voice. "Yes."

"Okay."

"Good."

Michael frowned. "Are you mad at me?"

She was. "I haven't decided yet."

"But I got this job for you!"

A sensation of guilt spread from her stomach to her fingertips, but expressing her true feelings would invite burns from Eric, Donna, Fez, and maybe Steven. Steven, the boy who'd knocked another boy unconscious for calling her a bitch. Except they barely interacted with each other anymore. They weren't friends, and they weren't enemies. They were nothing.

"Let's go to your van to talk," she said to Michael.

"And make out in celebration?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Michael followed her outside to where his van was parked on the street. His V.W. Microbus was huge and impractical, but he'd won it in a contest thanks to her—and her insecurity about not being pretty enough.

Being beautiful was a financial safety net. Her mom had to show off her long, shapely legs at the realty company where her career began. She'd been the only woman there, and the men either dismissed or couldn't recognize her intelligence and talent. So Mom used what they did pay attention to, and it worked to get her assignments. Just as Jackie's beauty got her the job at The Cheese Palace and attracted male customers to the shop.

"Have you decided yet?" Michael said and tried to sit beside her in his van. She put up her hands, insisting they sit across from each other on seats near the front. "Damn."

"Why did you blow right past me when came into the basement?" she said.

"I was so excited about my awesome new job that I wanted to tell everyone."

"And I'm not everyone? You got that job for me, like you said."

He gestured in the air. "But I didn't see you. You were by Eric's record player, and I wasn't looking there when I came in. I was looking at everyone else."

"Fine, but you do know I've been carrying the brunt of our finances the last six weeks—" she huffed out a breath—"and you've asked me to give you money during that time."

He reached across the divide between them and cupped her knee. "And now that's over! With both of us working, we'll be rich!"

"I'm selling cheese, Michael... I smell like cheese."

He scooted to the edge of his seat. He cupped her cheek like he had her knee and caressed her skin with his thumb. "Hey, if I'm good at modeling, you'll never have to work again." He cradled her other cheek, drew her in for a kiss, and she accepted it. "We won't have to go to college, either," he said afterward. "I'll make enough money to support us and our kids, and you can have the life you've always wanted!"

She mustered a weak smile. He'd become a famous model while she had none of the careers she'd dreamed of her whole life. She'd be defined as Model Michael Kelso's wife instead of Jackie Burkhart.

Her gaze rose from his face to the window behind him. The trees lining the street were stripped of leaves because of winter, immobile towers of wood with bare sticks jutting from the top. They'd probably be so happy if they never grew leaves again.