Title: That Long Hot Summer
Notes: Where to start? I am very, very sorry for the length of time between posting chapter 6 and 7. It won't happen again, I promise. I would like to thank everyone who commented and left feedback, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that people are reading and are anxious to know what happens next. Just to let you know, I've never entertained the idea of not finishing this fic. I like the ending too much to let that happen. As always, thanks to Annie for reading this over and making it better.
~*~
On the surface, nothing had changed; Eric was still a wreck, Fez bemoaned his lack of love life, Hyde didn't care about anything and Jackie pretended to only grace their presence out of the goodness of her heart. But beyond the surface, where nobody thought to look, everything had changed.
After the drive-in, a curious pattern started to emerge; If Hyde left a room, Jackie would soon follow, and if they were ever found by themselves, there was a strange quiet that surrounded them, and the air seemed to be supercharged, electric. But even more telling, if one was so inclined to notice, was the shift from innocent put downs to innuendo-laden remarks. Never enough to hurt, but just enough to make the blood boil.
And they would always leave the room soon after.
But no one noticed, which only added fuel to a situation that was threatening to explode.
~*~
The couch springs groaned slightly as the two figures shifted to a more comfortable position. Stolen moments in the middle of the day were the norm now and they considered themselves lucky that the rest of the household was busy for at least a couple of hours.
"This doesn't change anything." She whispered in between kisses.
"Jackie, I have no idea what you're talking about." Hyde replied.
"You and me. This thing we have between us."
"The only thing between us, is too many clothes." He said as he tried to lift the shirt over her head.
She placed a hand on his chest in an attempt to stop him, "Steven! I'm serious. I think we need to agree, right away; whatever this is we can't let anyone know."
"Why, you don't think Forman would be happy for us?"
"And it's only for the summer." She finished, leaving the 'until Michael comes back' implied.
"Right." He nodded, and reached under her shirt once again. "Only for the summer, and no one finds out. Sounds like a plan."
His attempt to divest Jackie from her shirt was halted by a sudden thump coming from upstairs. They paused a second, and when a similar noise followed they quickly parted and straightened themselves up.
"I thought you said no one was home." Jackie whispered as she smoothed her hair down.
"I lied. Forman's been upstairs the whole time." He smiled as she whipped her head around and glared at him. "Oh come on." He said and lifted her chin up to look at him, a mix of fury and desire clouding her eyes. "If you're quiet, he'll never know we're down here."
She wavered, but footsteps on the stairs brought her back to her senses. With an indignant shove, she forced him to the end of the sofa and tried to focus on the television.
"What are you guys watching?" Eric asked disinterestedly and stepped over the couch to sit between them.
Hyde hesitated when he looked over at the television and saw what he thought were insects mating. "Uhh…National Geographic Special."
"Oh." Eric replied half-heartedly and focused on the show. Hyde leaned back and shrugged at Jackie's astonished look. What else was he supposed to say? That an hour ago, before Jackie showed up, he was watching game shows and at some point during the last hour he had been too preoccupied to notice the program had changed. Somehow he didn't think she would appreciate that.
"Wait a minute. You two weren't watching this." Eric looked at them accusingly.
Hyde turned towards Jackie, who was looking at Eric with a wide-eyed, stunned expression, and decided not to let her try and explain. "Normally I wouldn't, but turns out our Jackie is quite the little pervert."
Jackie shot him a murderous look, but didn't retaliate.
"Look at them," Eric pointed towards the television, once again caught up in his own problems. "Happy together, without a care in the world. That's the life."
"Yeah, until the male gets eaten for being a whiny cry-baby." Jackie muttered under her breath.
The three of them sat in silence and watched the images flicker over the screen. Jackie kept glancing over at Eric, partly worried that he would come to his senses and realize nobody would willingly watch this show, but mostly in hopes that he would get up and leave so they could continue where they were before they were so rudely interrupted.
As soon as the credits started to roll Hyde slapped the arm of the couch and declared he was late for work. Jackie shot him an evil look and slumped back into the cushions, until she remembered he wasn't supposed to be at work for another two hours. The casual brush of his fingertips along the base of her neck as he walked by made her bolt upright and convinced her that she should get out of there. Fast.
"You know, Eric. I just remembered, I have to go to the mall." She gave him a secretive smile and a small wink, "Women stuff."
Hyde was waiting for her, leaning against his car, as she rounded the side of the house. Skidding to a stop in front of him, she tried to give him her most disapproving look. "That wasn't very nice."
"Wasn't it?" he asked with a mock innocence.
She stepped forward, took a cursory look over her shoulder, and kissed him quickly. "It's a good thing you have a couple hours to make it up to me."
~*~
Jackie was in a foul mood. Two weeks of unseasonably hot temperatures, combined with her father's sudden need to take the car and tour Wisconsin had left her cranky. If one more old person told her it wasn't the heat that was so bad, but the humidity; she was going to poke them in the eye with one of the cheese sample toothpicks. No amount of money was worth putting up with crazy freaks who flock to the mall in order to escape the heat.
She glanced up at the sky and noticed dark black clouds were starting to roll in. "Hmm." She thought. "That old lady was right. Who knew?"
Jackie let out a small huff and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in front of the mall entrance. He was late. It wasn't bad enough she had to beg a ride from him, but she had to do it in front of Eric and Fez, so there was no way he was giving in easily. What made it even worse was they hadn't been able to steal away for a week. The closest they got to privacy was an occasional grope in the hallway on the pretence of getting sodas. To tell the truth, she was craving a little…attention. She even rushed to change out of her uniform, so he wouldn't have to wait for her. Not that she would ever tell him that. But she did have to admit it would have been way too hot to wear ten layers of ruffles, not to mention that uncomfortable corset.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his black El Camino turn into the mall parking lot. Despite her annoyance at the wait, she could feel a smile start to form as she watched the car pull up to the sidewalk. That was happening more and more often and she was sure someone would call her on it one day. Instead, she focused on her annoyance at him being late and frustration of the last week. By the time the car pulled up beside her, she was well on her way to being very upset with him.
She schooled her features and leaned towards the open window. "What took you so long?"
"What?"
"We agreed, eight thirty in front of the doors. It's—" She consulted her watch. "Eight forty five, I was just wondering what happened." She tried to make it sound innocent, but even to her it came out bitchy.
His jaw dropped and he looked at her incredulously. "I'm sorry Your Highness, I had things to do." He didn't mention that he had purposely went out of his way to drop Fez off at his house before coming to pick up Jackie. He was all too aware of the amount of time they hadn't been spending together.
"And what was so important?" She cut through his thoughts, "Lounging around the house?"
He didn't show any emotion, just looked over the steering wheel. "Are you going to get in the car? 'Cause I can leave you here if you're going to be a bitch."
She stepped back a bit. "Excuse me?"
"Quit. Being. A. Bitch." He looked at her pointedly.
She glared at him and seriously considered turning around and walking back into the mall, but that would mean having to beg, borrow or steal another ride home. And she would be going home alone. Again.
"Fine," she said primly and slipped into the seat. Once the door was closed she promptly faced the open window, effectively cutting off any chance of conversation.
"Goody," he said sarcastically, before pulling the car away from the curb.
Before long they were driving through the centre of town, and she was grateful for the breeze, albeit warm, that drifted through the car. Occasionally she felt him glance over at her, but she continued to watch the scenery pass by, the normally short drive seemed to take forever tonight. A flash of lightning off in the distance caught her eye and she mentally counted the seconds before she heard the thunder.
"What was that about back there?"
"Nothing." She muttered, still looking out the window.
He tapped the steering wheel with his fingertips and let out a huff of breath. "Whatever."
A minute had passed before Jackie quickly turned her head and looked at him. "You know, Michael would have been there on time." She didn't know if it was supposed to be a joke or if the heat had finally got to her, but the look on his face immediately told her it was the wrong thing to say.
"No. Michael would have been making out with some random chick behind the Hub," he said with disgust. "And you never would have known about it."
She stared at him in shock. In all of the years she had known him, this was the first time she threw Kelso's behaviour in her face. Struck by an uncontrollable urge to make it worse, she tossed her hair and sneered at him, "Kind of like what we're doing right now?"
He gave her a challenging look, "Yeah, except I'm much better at it."
"Really?" she asked warily.
"No one's found out yet," he pointed out.
She glanced out of the window and noticed they had pulled into her street. Knowing escape was close she couldn't resist baiting him. "And they won't have a chance. You know Steven, I think maybe we should back off for a bit. Wouldn't want you to get too confident and accidentally let anything slip." She smirked and floated out of the car.
Baffled, he stared at the steering wheel for a split second. She had some nerve. Not wanting her to get the last word he got out of the car, slammed the door and followed her up the driveway. The clouds had blocked the evening sun, leaving the driveway under cover of darkness; and a breeze ruffled the leaves on the large trees, giving the evening a more ominous feel.
She had already reached the front steps and before she could get out her keys to unlock the door he reached out to stop her. Startled, she spun around, backing him up a few steps and shaking his arm off in the process.
"God, would you leave me alone?"
"Because you've got big plans for tonight?"
She tucked a wind-tossed strand of hair behind her ear. "None that include you. I thought I might write my fiancée a letter."
His patience finally broke, "You know what Jackie? Why don't you just can it with your high and mighty routine. Because I'm not buying it anymore. You want this, just as much as I do, so don't go using your non-existent relationship with Kelso as an excuse."
"Excuse?"
"Yeah, excuse." He pointed at her accusingly. "When was the last time you actually thought about him? 'Cause I can tell you right now it hasn't been when we've been together."
Another flash of lighting momentarily distracted her as she clearly saw the exasperation in his eyes.
"Steven, you know it's just a summer thing. No big deal."
"You keep saying that. And I believe it less and less each time it comes out of your annoying mouth. Look, Jackie, if this was just a fling, why did I drive ten minutes out of my way to drop Fez off? And if it really doesn't mean anything to you, why are you all dressed up?" He started to move closer and noticed her eyes grow wide as she took a quick gasp of breath. Then, by accident or grand design, the wind stopped, creating an eerie stillness that surrounded them. She watched him advance on her and her skin tingled, like the electricity that hovered in the air had found a way into her body.
"I think we need to quit deluding ourselves." He stated.
She cocked her head and looked at him. "Steven…I don't-"
He didn't wait for her response, and as the skies opened up in a thunderous explosion, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a bruising kiss.
TBC…