Vacation

Chapter Three: The Attack

God, I really should've eaten breakfast today.

Jackie clutched her growling stomach as she fiddled with the lock on the airplane bathroom's door. She didn't hear the lock click in place, but she was too nauseated to care. She sat down on the metal toilet bowl, holding her face in her palms as she tapped her foot against the floor erratically.

I hate flying.

When she was younger, some of her parent's worst fights were on airplanes. Maybe that's why she truly hated flying; it reminded her of those public quarrels and what they led to. Jackie pulled her hair back, inhaling slowly, trying to calm her nerves. She hugged herself tightly, knowing the real reason she was so upset and that there was little she could do to change it.

Jackie's ears popped, like they usually did when she flew.

She wrapped her arms tighter around her body, curling up in a ball as she covered her ears with her hands, shutting her eyes tightly as well.

Damn it.

All the bathrooms were full. He saw a big guy slip into the last free one as he finally approached the bathrooms of the plane. That guy didn't look like he'd be out soon. Hyde tried knocking on the other doors, rolling his eyes as he found each one to have an occupant inside. There was one door left, the one directly in front of him now. The door was closed, but he could tell it wasn't locked. He gently tapped his knuckles against the door, waiting for any sound to come from within. Nothing. His hand went for the doorknob, turning slightly. He opened the door cautiously, finally deciding it was safe to go in. He practically had to push himself into the tiny space they called a bathroom before he locked the door behind him.

His jaw dropped as he turned around, catching a glimpse of brown hair. He knew that hair. His nose picked up on that familiar lavender scent. He knew that scent.

Hyde's breathing had seemingly come to a halt as he leaned against the locked door of the tiny bathroom, absorbing the view in front of him. Jackie's eyes were closed and she was humming to herself, her hands covering her ears. Her foot was tapping neurotically, her fingers were twitching, and beads of sweat were forming on her neck, but her face was stunningly calm. Hyde couldn't take his eyes off her. He hadn't seen her in a few days, not since their messy breakup. He wanted to reach out to her so bad. She licked her lips nonchalantly, taking her hands away from her ears as she opened her eyes, registering the fact that she was now sharing the bathroom with another person.

Jackie stared at him, wide-eyed.

Jackie's lips separated, trying to produce some sort of sentence to capture her shock. Hyde focused on her lips, wet with saliva and dried lip gloss. Strawberry lip gloss. Jackie had started wearing that lip gloss a few months ago, after he had casually mentioned that he liked the taste of strawberries. He never let her know that he noticed the switch of lip products, but he loved the way she'd do little things like that, to impress him.

He loved so many little things about her, completely insignificant things.

But he'd never let her know.

"I..." Jackie stood up, nervously twiddling her fingers in front of her. Hyde stepped aside as she tried to open the door, stammering as it wouldn't budge.

She was locked in here, with him.

Their bodies were so close, too close in this enclosing space.

"Let me..." Hyde mumbled, brushing her hand away from the knob, trying at it himself. He knew that in order to unlock the door, he'd simply have to lift the tiny lever, but he wouldn't let himself unlock it. He wanted to be near her. In fact, he was almost sure that if he spent the rest of his life, locked in this airplane bathroom with her, well, he wouldn't really mind.

Hyde let go of the doorknob, shrugging hopelessly at Jackie, who took a step back and leaned against the wall, almost as if she was trying as hard as she could to get as far away from his as possible.

"Why are you here?" She asked, her voice cracking with despair.

"Why are you here?" Hyde counter attacked.

Jackie dismissed this, pinching herself. Was she imagining all this? It would explain a lot. She pictured Hyde in her mind all the time, doing things that he would never do in real life, like let's say, follow her to Florida in an attempt to win her back. He couldn't be real, she was hallucinating.

"You're not real." Jackie said loudly, waiting for 'Hyde' to magically disappear.

Hyde stared at her blankly, not sure how to respond. She looked really tired and pale, like she hadn't slept in days. And he was the cause of that, as well. So much pain, he made Jackie endure. He hated himself for it.

"Go away," Jackie said quietly, her voice wavering with determination. "You're not real." She closed her eyes, willing for him to just vanish, disappointed when she realized he was still there. She could feel his breath against her neck, she could faintly hear his pulse, which raced quicker as she stepped forward, sighing in defeat.

Yes, he was there. It wasn't just her imagination. And now she had made a complete fool of herself. She opened her eyes, searching his expression for a clue, since she didn't have one.

"Forman." Hyde mumbled angrily. "Forman did this."

"Donna helped." Jackie said with a bitter tone.

"Unbelievable." Hyde shook his head. "I should have known he was up to something. He tried to convince me that Donna was allergic to the ocean. You can't be allergic to the ocean." Hyde chuckled slightly at how dumb his friend could be.

Jackie stayed quiet; eyeing the door, hoping a flight attendant would barge in at any moment, demanding that they go back to their seats.

Hyde watched Jackie, who looked simply miserable.

"You look awful," He said quietly, not aware that he had spoken out loud.

"Excuse me?" Jackie pushed her way to the mirror, letting her hair loose and adjusting it mechanically. "I can't believe you locked yourself in here with me. That is so like you." Jackie smiled as her defenses snapped back into place.

So there was the Jackie he knew and loved, returning from her short hiatus.

"For your information, princess," Hyde snorted. "I didn't even know you were in here."

"Yeah, right." Jackie said dryly, her voice slowly gathering momentum. "You obviously found out about our 'girls only' trip and crashed it." Jackie crossed her arms against her chest, gleaming with satisfaction. She pushed him away from the door, trying her best to ignore the spark of intensity she felt radiating from his skin.

He watched her dumbfounded, unsure of how someone could be so vulnerable one minute, and so callous the next.

She banged on the door angrily with one fist, glancing back at Hyde, who rolled his eyes back at her and pulled on the lever, unlocking the door with Jackie nearly falling out as it swung open. She straightened herself out, smoothing down her outfit, threw one last dirty look towards Hyde and made her way back to her seat, without another word. Jackie pushed past Donna angrily, buckling her safety belt and staring out the window, biting her lip before her sadness overwhelmed her again.

"Feeling better?" Donna asked quietly.

Jackie stifled a sharp cry, simply shaking her head in response, and continued to stare out the window, concentrating hard as she felt him pass their row.

Hyde glared at Eric as he sat back down in his seat, gripping the arm rests tightly.

"Something wrong?" Eric asked nervously, his eyes shifting quickly.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong." Hyde laughed dryly, his voice underlined with anger. Eric felt a lump rising in his throat as Hyde turned to face him completely. "Forman," Hyde took a deep breath, his features slowly relaxing. "I'm going to kill you."

Eric felt his hands go limp as Hyde's fingertips gradually turned a pinkish white from holding onto the armrests so tightly.

"Hyde," Eric began, racking his brain for a solution to this new problem.

"You set me up," Hyde stood up, smirking subtlety as Eric sank down in his seat, his face overwhelmed with confusion and slight fear.

"I..." Eric quickly got up, running down the aisle towards Donna and Jackie. Jackie was staring out the window, trying her best to ignore Eric as he waved his hands frantically. "Donna, you need to help me."

"Eric!" Donna yelled through her teeth, motioning towards Jackie. "You just blew our cover."

"No," Jackie rolled her eyes. "He didn't."

"What?" Donna looked back at Eric, concerned as Hyde showed up behind him.

"Forman, what the hell?" Hyde screamed angrily. "No one asked you to get involved in my relationship problems!"

"Hyde," Donna stood up, placing a comforting arm on his shoulder. "Eric and I, we couldn't stand to see you both so upset."

"I'm not upset," Hyde snapped, "I'm fine."

Jackie drew her eyes away from the window, wincing at his words as Donna continued to explain their actions.

"Ok..." Donna shook her head sadly. "It's just...well..." Donna looked at Eric for help. Eric skipped a beat, glancing between Jackie and Hyde, finally remembering why they had started this crazy scheme in the first place.

"Ok," Eric cleared his throat, placing an arm around Donna, silencing her. "You two need to get over this, alright? I know that deep down you're both madly in love with each other. Hyde, I mean, you've actually become sort of nice since you started dating Jackie," Hyde rolled his eyes as Eric turned to Jackie, "And Jackie, you're actually kind of tolerable these days." Jackie rolled her eyes as well, biting her tongue to prevent from lashing out at Eric. "You two need each other."

"I don't need him." Jackie snorted.

"Oh, please," Hyde muttered, "I'm the one who doesn't need you."

"Guys..." Donna squeezed Eric's hand. "This isn't working." She whispered into his ear. Eric shrugged, not knowing what else to do.

"Really, Steven?" Jackie stood up, her nostrils flaring out angrily as she spoke, her voice gathering momentum. "If it weren't for me, you'd probably be a homeless burnout." Jackie didn't mean a word she said, but the more his eyes stared into hers, the more she wanted to hurt him.

"Jackie, you are so full of it!" Hyde yelled angrily, sending shivers down Jackie's back. "All you ever gave me was complaints and headaches."

"Well, everyone knows you never gave me a thing!" Jackie snapped back, stepping closer to him, yelling right in his face. "'Cause you're so cheap!"

"Trust me, Jackie," Hyde said coolly, "I'm not the cheap one."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jackie screamed, her eyes bulging out with intense scorn. Everyone on the airplane was silent, watching the couple argue. A flight attendant came rushing over, tapping Hyde's shoulder.

"Is something wrong here?" The flight attendant asked sweetly.

"No!" Jackie and Hyde screamed simultaneously, exchanging infuriated looks.

"I can't stand you," Jackie muttered as Eric and Donna watched in nervous anticipation.

"I can't believe I wasted so much time with you." Hyde muttered bitterly under his breath, his eyes completely void of passion.

Jackie's anger faded as her eyes welled up with belated tears. She sat back down, defeated, wiping at her eyessoftly as Donna sat down next to her.

"Hyde..." Eric said faintly, trying to grip onto his shoulder.

Hyde glared at Jackie, his heart aching in remorse as he brushed Eric's arm away from him and walked back to his seat.

"Jackie, I'm so sorry." Eric said softly as she nodded in understanding, watching him retreat back to his seat.

"Jackie, are you ok?" Donna glanced at her friend nervously.

"I'll be fine, Donna." Jackie grinned between sobs tears. "Steven's just...he's stupid, that's all." Donna nodded unsurely as Jackie went back to staring out the window.

Eric didn't dare open his mouth. He could feel Hyde's anger with every breath he took, every time he cracked his knuckles. Hyde had ordered some alcohol from the flight attendant and had downed the tiny bottle of Jack Daniels as soon as he received it. He was working on his second bottle, barely acknowledging Eric, until he finally spoke up. Eric stirred about his seat as Hyde grunted, slamming the bottle down on the tray in front of him.

"Why does it have to hurt so fuckin' much?" Hyde asked aloud, taking another sip of his drink.

Eric didn't bother to answer the question, figuring that Hyde just needed to let some steam out, rant until he calmed down.

"You know what really sucks, Forman?"

Eric shook his head 'no', waiting for Hyde to continue.

"I really," Hyde leaned back in his chair, his eyes drifting in thought, "I mean, I really love that girl." He dropped his head in his hands, sighing softly as Eric patted his back. "Man, I'm so stupid."

"Hyde, this could be your chance, you know?" Eric offered, "Win her back."

"Eric," Hyde scoffed, "That's not who I am. I don't chase girls."

"You want her back, don't you?" Eric asked, frustrated.

"I guess," Hyde shrugged, taking a sip of his liquor. Eric narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "Yeah, I do."

"Then make her see that." Eric said excitedly, "Remember when you guys made me fly out to California to get Donna?" Eric smiled encouragingly, "It works, man." Eric glanced back at Donna, who smiled at him softly as she continued to comfort Jackie. "And it's so worth it."

Hyde nodded briefly, finally seeing what his friend was talking about.

If he wanted Jackie back, he was going to have to fight for her, just like he had to last year, with Kelso. Except this time, there was no competition. He had to prove to Jackie that he still loved her, that he needed her, even though he denied it.

He needed to apologize to Jackie, to make her see why he acted the way he did, why he had picked that fight. He needed to mend things.

Once they land, he'd figure it out. He'd finally have his chance.

Jackie Burkhardt, you will take me back.