Something Around the Corner
Give Me

forty nine hours, twenty three minutes and eighteen seconds earlier…
the Foremans' basement…

Jackie sashayed though the door, at the very moment defining the word "sashayed". Warning bells went off in Michael Kelso's head. Eric looked up once, then went back to staring blankly at the TV set. Hyde grinned from his chair and settled back to watch the show; it was easily like seeing a train wreck just waiting to happen.

"Um, hey, Jackie," she smiled prettily at him, and he swallowed nervously, "Did you get a new haircut?"

The smile faltered a bit.

"Oh, no, now that I see it, it's definitely the same, and just a beautiful as ever!" He thought frantically as he looked her over, "That is a gorgeous new dress you're wearing!"

The smile fell a bit more, "Michael, this is the dress you bought me last week."

He began to gnaw nervously at his lower lip, "Oh, right, yeah… But those are… great… new… shoes?"

The smile disappeared.

Eric rolled his eyes. This was getting embarrassing. "It's her birthday, moron," he said quietly in a singsong voice.

Michael's face froze for a moment in time, and then quickly recovered. He leaped up deftly, grabbing her by the waste and swinging her around once. "Of course I remembered your birthday!" She looked at him doubtfully, but he continued without hesitation, "Let me go grab your present!"

"Oh, really, Michael?" Her eyes filled up with tears, "You got me a present? You really remembered?"

"Jackie," Kelso said with false patience, "Of course I remembered your birthday." And with that he kissed her and then walked with timed steps to the door, grabbed his coat, and exited. The three watched though the window as, the moment the door closed, Kelso shot up the stairs like a bullet.

Jackie, undaunted, sat down on the couch.

Eric and Hyde looked at her for a moment.

"He forgot, didn't he?"

"Of course he did."

Jackie sighed and smoothed out the fabric of her dress. It really was nice. White, lacey, with a red sash. Eric watched her carefully.

"Anyway, Jackie, me an' Hyde got you presents."

Her head shot up in surprise. "What?"

"Uh, well, you've been talking about this for about a month, so we figured we might be in trouble if we didn't."

The smile was suddenly back on her face, and Eric had to concentrate hard not to blush.

Hyde presented her unceremoniously with a thin, rectangular shaped box. She ripped off the newspaper wrapping quickly and pulled the lid of the cardboard off.

She pulled out a pair of very suggestive, red underwear. "Um…. Thanks, Hyde."

Hyde chuckled and Eric whipped around to glare at him.

"You told me you got her something nice!"

"They are nice, man."

Eric looked down at the small box in his hand and winced. Jackie looked at him expectantly. He grudgingly handed her the box.

Jackie, made curious by his behavior, opened the box carefully. Her eyes widened upon seeing what was inside.

"Oh…"

She pulled out the small circular locket on the false gold chain and felt her heart began to pound.

"Er… I just remembered that day when you said that about your grandmother… and I knew Kelso wouldn't get it for you, he's so thick…"

She remembered that day, too. Walking through downtown with Michael, Eric tagging along with them. She had known at the time that Michael didn't often have a lot of money to spend, and with her birthday in mind, she kept throwing suggestions at him. So far she had pointed out a nice pair of shoes and a beautiful five dollar pair of elbow long white gloves that would go perfectly with her most formal dress. He seemed passive about everything that she said so far. Suddenly, her eye caught something in the window and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh, Michael!" She gasped. The gold locket winked at her conspiratorially through the window, as though it had meant to catch her attention at that moment. And it must have, because she had walked past this store at least a thousand times and never once noticed it. "That necklace!"

"Um… yeah?" he asked quizzically, glancing once at Eric who shrugged.

"It's exactly like the one my grandmother used to wear! She always told me she'd give it to me someday because I loved it so much. But then she died and my aunt took it and pawned it off at some shop in New York. I was so sad, I never thought I'd see it again."

Michael nodded, putting an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him.

"It's just what I want," she said very clearly, "And very inexpensive."

"Okay…" He replied, slow as ever, "You wanna go in and buy it?"

Jackie pursed her lips and glared at him, "No, I'm sure someone is going to buy it for me for my birthday," she said, emphasizing certain words loudly.

"Oh, right, okay," and they continued their walk.

Jackie bit the inside of her lip, holding back real tears. She had gone back to the shop about a week ago to find that the necklace was gone. She had hoped that Michael had bought it for her, and then, as the week progressed, and, finally, as her suspicions that he had forgotten were confirmed, she had lost hope that she would really ever get to have that beautiful thing, like her grandmother had promised.

This was… a strange awakening. She had never known that Eric had cared for her at all, and when she finally found out, it was a gesture like this that made her realize. What was she missing out on? Dating a guy like Michael Kelso based solely on looks. Why not someone like Eric, who remembered your birthday and what you wanted for it, and to say I Love You for things other then wanting sex?

"Eric, I… don't know what to… say…"

"Hey, look, just don't, don't say anything, okay?" Eric was blushing furiously while Hyde looked on in amusement. "I was going to give it to Kelso to give to you, but me an' Hyde thought it'd be funny to see him panic like that, so…"

She wanted to kiss him. And she honestly might have if Michael hadn't burst through the door at that very moment, panting, red faced and holding a badly wrapped box.

He approached Jackie and handed her the gift, "H-h-here…" he heaved.

Pulling at the over taped wrapping paper took quite some time, but she eventually threw the last bit on the ground and pulled the lid open. She leaned back against the sofa and sighed. Eric, who could see into the box as well, closed his eyes as though in pain. Hyde waited curiously for what he knew would be the punch line.

Kelso grinned, "I though it would be a present we could both enjoy."

Jackie put her hand in the box and withdrew the exact same pair of red panties that she had just received. Hyde howled with laughter.

"You like 'em?" Kelso grinned from ear-to-ear, and suddenly Jackie was enraged. Before she even knew what was happening, her hand was swinging through the air, seeming, to her, to be in slow motion. She was able to think several very clear thoughts before her hand met its destination.

He forgets my birthday, and then this?

That bastard! Today was supposed to be my day!

How could he? How could he how could he how could he!

That gift was more sincere from Hyde!

Why can't he be more like Eric!

And with that, the slap resounded across the basement, greeted by shocked silence.

Fuming, Jackie stood up, turned her back on Michael and gathered both Eric and Hyde's gifts. "Thank you for the presents, you guys." She did another 180 degree turn and threw Michael's present in his face. "Michael, it is over between us." And with that, she stormed out of the basement.

Later that day she received the dressy pair of gloves she'd wanted from Donna, and Fes had apologetically told her that he hadn't been sure what she'd wanted, so he'd gotten her a funny card instead. She liked it. Two days later she would realize that even though spats like that hardly mattered compared to real life, even if her boyfriend was an idiot at least she knew she had good friends.

TBC