[Part Two]
The wind felt good on Eric's face as he stood on the balcony. It was eleven
o'clock at night and he had no idea where Jackie was. She wasn't answering her
cell phone and she wasn't in her room. It must have been a damn good shoe sale.
He finally got Jacen settled in bed a half hour ago. Eric let him stay up late so they
could watch Jodie Foster in Freaky Friday.
He took the sheet off his bed and wrapped it around his body like a cape.
It was easy to cry when the first tear allowed itself to fall down his face. He didn't
want to wake his son. He wasn't aware of the hands on his shoulders for a good five
minutes.
"Jackie, how did you get in?" Eric asked, his voice the most quiet she had ever
heard it.
"I had another key. Come with me, Eric." She held his hand and she sat him on his
bed facing his sleeping son in the opposite bed.
"Look at him and tell me if you can justify your thoughts."
Eric stood up and wiped his eyes before he bent down to kiss his son on the
forehead and fix his blankets.
Jackie motioned for him to come into the bathroom with her.
He closed the door softly.
"Are you going to yell at me?" He sat on the toilet.
"No, Eric, you are going though too much inner Hell for me to yell at you.
Please don't think those thoughts you are a great person."
"Yeah, I'm so great Donna has to write a book for teenage girls to stay away from
Eric Forman like guys."
"You know about the book?"
"Yeah, I was in and out of sleep in the car and I heard the commercial, but I knew
about it before then when I saw that it was on my recommend list!"
"But I must be a wicked and terrible person…."
"You aren't. Donna is a bitter woman," She turned on the bathtub. "And quite dumb
for what she let slip those fingers…which I don't know how anything could
considering they are so huge and all."
"Who's taking a bath?"
"You are. I'll be right back."
Eric was still fully clothed when Jackie returned with her beauty ambulance.
"When was the last time you had a bubble bath?"
"When I was a kid?"
"That's unacceptable," She filled the tube with the clear blue gel bubble bath that had
a unisex woodsy scent and turned on the Jacuzzi jets.
"Jackie, I can't get undressed with you here."
"Why not? I've seen you naked lots of times. The reservoir, when Steven
pulled your pants down, when you streaked at the rally for President Ford."
He took off his light green button down shirt and threw it on the floor.
"I remember."
"Remember this all of the other guys chickened out that night even the 'oh so tough
rebel' Steven, but you went through with it."
"For Donna." He took off his white t-shirt.
"You can't worry about that." She took her mint green foam pillow that was shaped
like a seashell and set it up at the end of the bathtub.
"I know." He slid his jeans off and stood there in his socks and boxer shorts.
"And I already know about Woodstock on your ass. You better get in before the
water gets cold."
"Will you turn around please, Jackie?"
She smiled. "Okay if it'll make you feel better."
She waited until he was in the bubble bath before she turned around.
"It does. Leo plus sake equals don't mix. It could've been worse it could have been
her name. God bless that dirty hippie."
"Me too. He had the best film."
"Jackie," She lit four tea candles and put them in the corners of the tub.
"Yes, Eric?"
"I can't believe I was thinking of---my son---Maybe, my father was right and I am a
dumbass."
"You're nothing of the kind. You were having a vulnerable moment caused by
memories you really need to control better. I don't think you would have."
"I used to think about it in high school sometimes."
"Eric, if you need to cry, cry. It's okay. It helps. But don't ever think that you are a
bad person or a bad father, because you are not. You love Jacen with all of your
heart. I never saw a man so happy to be a father then I do you."
"Thank you, Jackie."
She took a tube of facial cleanser out of her bag.
"You know it's funny, we always want the people who treat us like shit. We never
stop to think, why are we doing this? Everything must be our fault. Granted we all
say and do stupid things—it makes us human. I used to hate it when everyone was
like 'How did Eric get lucky?'. The question was 'How did Donna get lucky?'
Followed by 'she had the hottest guy in Point Place and lost him'. You were the
catch not her. Close your eyes."
She washed his face for him.
"We never see ourselves the way others see us. What's that smell?"
"Lavender." She rinsed the cleanser off his face with a white terry washcloth.
"And I always thought you could do better than Steven Hyde but I know you think
about him sometimes."
"Each time I do it is less and less."
She put some pink liquid on a cotton ball.
"What's that?"
"Alcohol free toner."
"What does that do?"
"Gets the stuff off your face the cleanser doesn't catch."
She threw the cotton ball in the garbage pail when she was done.
"Hey---what's that?"
Eric asked when he saw Jackie and the big jar coming towards him.
"My facial mask. Leave this on for fifteen minutes. Then you must put this
moisturizer on afterwards or your face will get dry." Jackie put a thick layer on his
face and neck.
She set up a bunch of towels on the counter like he did for Jacen.
"You're leaving?"
"You won't start to heal otherwise. I'll see you and Jacen tomorrow for breakfast."
"Okay. I love you, Jackie. Thank you for being my real friend."
"I love you too, Eric," she kissed him on the cheek despite his face being covered in
beauty treatment, "and the feeling is mutual."
Eric couldn't find the words to describe the feelings he felt. He did have his
good cry. Not just the little bits of sobbing one sometimes does at night in the
privacy of their own pillow but he let every regret pour out. Donna's breaking of his
heart, his father treating him like a sub human being, the ups and downs of having a
friend with a use and abuse philosophy like Hyde. The terrible office job, the woman
he didn't love, and just forty years of general bad choices. But there was one choice
that he made, well there were two choices that he made that he would always be
most grateful for. He put on a fresh pair of boxer shorts and a worn out University of
Wisconsin t-shirt that he liked to sleep in. He liked how soft and clean his skin felt.
Eric didn't want to sleep alone tonight and wished there was some secret universal
powder that would keep children small. He picked the sheet he wrapped himself up
earlier off the floor and went around the bed to sleep with his son. He would always
feel guilt that he even thought about ending his life.
"I love you, Jacen, and you too Jackie thank you so much."
This time the sleep would not be restless.