"Haven't seen much of Jackie this week," Kelso threw out into the circle, flicking a sly look at Hyde. No reaction, of course. Really, of all his friends who could secretly be a robot, Hyde would be his first choice. Come to think of it, his eyes were red in those photos…
"That's because she's got her finals, dumbass" replied Hyde in a bored voice.
It was the excuse he had been clinging to all week; as soon as her finals were finished, she would be back in the basement and eventually things would go back to normal. After all, their break-up had no real cause. They hadn't cheated on each other, he hadn't forgotten her birthday or anything major. And that fight they had was just more of her feminine hysteria crap that he was quite ready to forgive her for as soon as she realized he would not give in to that kind of emotional extortion. He only had to look back at how obsessed she had been with him that day at the Packers football game to know it would not be long before she would see reason. Although the memory of her heartbroken crying that day when she had thought herself alone still made him want to find her and hold onto her like his life depended on it.
"Well, it's Friday night – the finals are over with so we'll probably see her sometime soon," Eric said, while trying not to stare at Fez's shirt – it looked like that squiggly pattern on the shirt was starting to move and migrate in his direction.
At that point the door of the basement flew open, letting in a gust of fresh air to chase the smoke away and also granting entrance to a human breath of fresh air – at least, so she would describe herself. Eric's reputation as a prophet was made – Jackie Burkhart had entered the building.
"Well, hello stranger" volunteered Fez in his smarmiest voice.
"Hey, Fez. How goes life in the foreign lane?" Jackie replied.
"Why don't you put your blinker on and come and find out" he bantered with a sexy wink.
Jackie laughed and shocked Fez so much when she suddenly reached over and gave him a hug that he missed the opportunity to feel her up. But this was her last night with her friends and suddenly it came home to her how much they all meant to her – even Eric.
"Okay, Jackie, we are all here now," Donna said, closing the door behind her. "So come on – what's the big announcement?"
Jackie's eyes skittered over Steven and then promptly avoided him – she could not say this if it meant looking at him.
"Great news" she enthused with all the acting talent she possessed, "my grandmother has invited me to visit her in New York!"
"Well, shock headlines there," Eric said, casting a quick look at his best friend, but of course he was stone faced, as opposed to his stoned face which was much more cheerful. "So, we are going to be deprived of your constant stream of beauty tips for what, a weekend? A week?" The further investigation was more for Hyde's benefit, as Eric knew Hyde would never betray any interest himself.
"Actually", Jackie replied "it's kind of an open-ended visit. I don't know exactly when I'm coming back."
Hyde had the strangest feeling that the ground was moving under his feet, and it had nothing to do with the weed. This was not the way it was supposed to go. She was not allowed to leave him. He was suddenly hit with déjà vu, watching his father leave him when he was nine, yelling at his mother down a telephone line when he was sixteen for abandoning him. This whole scenario felt eerily familiar, only much worse because he was old enough to know that it was nothing he had done that had caused his parents to walk out. But that was not the case here. Suddenly he felt everyone looking at him and realized he had been silent for too long.
"Jackie, we need to talk" he said abruptly. Donna gave a mental sigh. At last he was waking up – one good argument closing with one of their freaky sexual exchanges and her annoying best friend would not be going anywhere.
"I think we have already said all there is to say, Steven" Jackie responded. This was why she had avoided her friends for the past week; the longer Steven knew of her decision, the greater the risk that he would talk her out of it. Talk her into settling for their stuck in the middle relationship and just coast along until one day she woke up and realized she had reached her "expiry date". When that day came, either Steven would leave her for someone younger and prettier or she would get resentful and bitter with him for wasting her youth. She had grown up in a house of angry tension and she refused to continue the cycle.
But Hyde was not taking no for an answer and with his usual flair for cutting through the crap, as he called it, slung her over his shoulder fireman fashion, and stalked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him with a volume which warned others not to follow.
