The next morning, I woke up in a rather unexpected place, the couch in the Foreman's basement. Looking around I noticed Hyde watching the TV from his chair, the volume turned way down. He was awake but obviously tired because he was watching This is Your Life, a thirty minute Lutheran drama only shown on Sunday mornings and this show was not his type of show.
"Thank you," I said quietly. Hyde looked at me, seeming somewhat surprised I had awakened. "For picking me up last night and all."
"No problem," He said.
Later that night, Eric and Donna sat to the left of me on the couch. Jackie was resting on the lawn chair. The deep-freezer was being used as a chair for Kelso and Fez. Hyde sat in his usual spot to my right.
As we sat watching Three's Company (Jackie's Choice), I could feel Hyde's eyes watching me. Every so often, I would look over at him and smile uncomfortably, then quickly turn back toward the T.V.
"Donna, your parents are waiting for us to come over for dinner," Eric said after glancing down at his watch.
"Okay," she agreed, rising to her feet.
"Fez, let's go see if there's any hot girls wandering around, looking for something good to do," Kelso suggested.
"I'd love to Kelso," Fez nodded. The two of them then followed Eric and Donna out the back basement door.
That left just Jackie, Hyde, and I sitting down in the Foreman's basement watching Three's Company. Hyde's eyes shifted from watching me to glaring at Jackie.
"What?" Jackie demanded, noticing Hyde's fierce look.
"Nothin'," Hyde shrugged turning back toward the T.V.
At just that moment, on the T.V., Crissy realized that Jack and Lana wanted to talk so she uncomfortably excused herself from the room, almost tripping over the armchair on her way out.
Once the scene was over, Hyde turned once again to glare at Jackie.
"Okay, okay, I get it," Jackie surrendered. "I have to go wash my hair anyways." She got up and left me sitting alone with Hyde.
I had acutely been trying to avoid this very situation. I knew that the very moment that Hyde could get me alone, he would want to talk. I did not want to talk; especially about the subjects I knew that would be brought up. Hyde would want to talk about my past and about what happened during the date I was on with Jordan.
Hyde didn't say anything though; he just turned back and continued watching the show. After a little while he looked at me.
"So," Hyde said. "We never completed our conversation from the other night."
"What conversation?" I tried to play dumb. Hyde immediately caught on and tossed me a lop-sided grin.
"A few days ago you were telling me about yourself," he reminded.
"Right, that one," I looked down at my hands.
"Listen," Hyde said, leaning forward with him elbows on his knees. "You don't have to tell me. It's just that I'm a pretty good listener and I've had my share of hard times. That's why I'm here at the Foremen's. My dad left before I could really ever get to know him. My mom took off with some guy when I was like sixteen. After she left, I lived off of Saltines and Ketchup."
"Are you serious?" I let out a little laugh.
"Yeah, it wasn't pleasant," Hyde reassured me.
"Okay," I gave in. "I had told you that my dad died when I was like four, so I'm the youngest in my family. My mom remarried almost immediately. She married this real jerk, but she would never believe me when I told her I didn't like him. She always thought I was making in up because I missed my dad. My brothers believed me, but my stepfather would threaten them to keep quiet. As soon as they could, my brothers tried to help me run away, but my stepfather caught us. That's when my oldest brother joined the army. He was instantly sent to over to 'Nam and before his first letter could be sent to us, he was killed. The day my surviving brother turned eighteen, he packed his bags and took off for Canada. My stepfather notified the authorities who caught him at the border. That left just me, my mom, and my stepfather. My stepfather… he… um…"
"He made you do things you didn't want to, right?" Hyde searched my face and when I looked up, my eyes met his and for the first time since my dad died that I looked any male in the eyes. In his blue eyes, I saw true sincerity and care.
"Yeah, at first it was only about every other month, soon it was once a month," I paused, realizing I was saying things I had never told anyone outside of my family. "I couldn't stop him, I didn't know what to do, what to say; I would just lie there, thinking of nothing and of everything all at once. Soon he began coming after me once a week, when my mom would go to the store."
"Last night, Jordan wanted you to do things you didn't want to, right?" Hyde continued.
"Why else would we have been at a hotel?" I tried to laugh my tears away. Hyde smiled understanding my need to laugh at this point.
He motioned for me to slide toward the middle of the couch and as I did so, he moved over next to me. He put his hand over the back of the couch. Slowly I leaned over toward him and as soon as my head touched his shoulder, I collapsed into his arms where I began to weep.