Chapter 5
"I'm telling you, she was making eyes at me all night," Kelso insisted.
"Yeah, right," Eric retorted. "How would you know? You couldn't even see her eyes behind those glasses."
"Hey guys," a voice that had been long absent from the basement sounded.
"Jackie!" Kelso and Fez cried together joyfully. Before she could avoid them they had her sandwiched in a hug. When she started making squeaking noises of protest, Hyde intervened and prised her two admirers apart.
"Nice way to send her right back out the door, dill holes," he reprimanded. "Hey Jackie," he greeted her coolly.
"Ah, the demon has returned to her rightful place and good is now balanced by evil," Eric contributed by way of welcome.
"Missed you too, Eric," Jackie answered with a half smile. "So where's your better half?"
"Donna should be here anytime. So where have you been keeping yourself? I haven't seen you in light years.. I mean ages," Eric amended as Hyde made a threatening move towards him.
"Oh, I've just been busy with some extra curricular things," Jackie answered evasively.
"That's right. Jackie has been dating up a storm," Hyde said with a smarmy smile directed at Kelso. His words had the desired effect on the good looking doofus.
"Who is he?" he asked, his eyes narrowed in jealousy. "So help me I'll rearrange the dirtbag's face!"
"OK, I'm definitely not telling you now," Jackie answered, finding Kelso's jealousy a convenient excuse to hold back her mythical boyfriend's name. "All you need to know is that he is better than you in every possible way."
"Hey, that's what you once said about Hyde when he took you to prom," Kelso cried as wheels turned in his head. "Are you two - ?"
"Hell, no," Hyde jumped in, quick to squash this kind of supposition. "God, Jackie and me? That's like blasphemy, Man. Don't even go there."
Jackie turned a cool stare upon Hyde. "Blasphemy, Steven? Wow, with that kind of smooth talking it's no wonder you have girls dripping off you – oh wait – you don't."
"Burn!" Kelso shouted gleefully, his jealousy easily sidetracked.
Hyde raised an amused eyebrow at Jackie; truth be told he preferred to have Jackie burning him than mooning over him. Still, the grasshopper burning the master? He could not let that kind of disrespect go unpunished.
"Did I say blasphemy? I meant to say felony. Seeing as how you have the maturity of an 8 year old."
"Whatever," Jackie said in a bored voice, in lieu of not having a good come back. "So who were you guys talking about when I came in?"
"There was the most radiant goddess at the Juice Box Club last night," Fez said eagerly.
"Yeah, and she was coming onto me like crazy all night," Kelso bragged.
"Would you shut up, Kelso," Hyde ground out (he had obviously lost patience with Kelso's delusions). "Blue never once looked in your direction all night."
"Blue?" Eric repeated with a smile. "You remembered a girl's name? You must really like her."
"Give Hyde some credit, Eric," Fez said. "He doesn't forget their names until after he's done it with them."
"It's too bad, Hyde, falling for the chick that I have made the target of the Kelso love vibe," Kelso commiserated. "You should just bow out gracefully while you still can."
"Well, considering I was the only guy in that club who made any kind of connection with her last night, I'm not feeling too insecure, thanks anyway," Hyde replied. "Besides, don't you have a girlfriend now?"
"Who? Oh, Laurie! Well, yeah but you know I always like to keep a back-up just in case," Kelso answered, forgetting who was in the room. He was shortly reminded when she planted a forceful kick on his shin. "OWWW! Damn, Jackie!"
"I really do like the way you blend zen and ass-kicking, Jackie," Hyde said with an approving smile that gave her tingles. Damn, Jackie thought. Sometimes it's hard to remember he isn't worth me making a fool of myself. It was difficult when one minute he was handing out a stinging put down that made her temper boil and the next he was smiling at her in a way that made her yo-yo from despair to hope. Her emotions were a see-saw that wanted both to bring Steven Hyde to his knees so she could spurn his undying love as heartlessly as he had hers, and at the same time she wanted to throw herself into his arms and be his lifeline to happiness. Two sides, Jackie speculated. Two people. Blue and Jackie.
"Sooo, Steven," she said casually, "What's all this about you falling for a girl? Has true love found you at last?"
"True love?" he replied. "True lust more likely. That drummer chick was so hot her clothes should be made of asbestos. One more visit to the club, two at the most and we'll be finding a rhythm of our own – in the flat bed of the El Camino." Fez high-fived this cocky prediction with an appreciative guffaw.
"What? All you want is to – to have sex with her?" Jackie cried, horrified.
"Well, what else would I want? Besides, everyone knows chicks who play in rock bands are easier than Eric's sister."
"Hey," Eric said, pointing an angry finger at Hyde. "Take that back, Hyde. That is an insult to female musicians everywhere!"
"For your information, Blue is not that kind of girl," Jackie defended herself hotly. "In fact, she's only ever slept with one other guy and she was in love with him when she did so to call her a slut is gross slander." Jackie suddenly realised from the electric silence in the room that she may have been indiscreet.
"You know her?" Hyde asked incredulously.
"Um," Jackie stalled, thinking furiously. "Kind of." What have I done? She railed at herself. They must never know I am Blue. Steven won't think I'm cool, he'll think I'm like Laurie and my reputation will go up in flames. It was then inspiration hit her. "I'm dating one of the band," she declared.
"What, Head Cheerleader Jackie Ra-Ra Burkhart dating a rocker? What kind of crazy mismatch is that?" Hyde derided.
"I don't know. I've been attracted to more unsuitable types," Jackie replied with a knowing look just for Hyde.
"Has she got a boyfriend?"
"What's her phone number?"
"Does she like candy?"
"Which Charlie's Angel does she identify with?"
"Stop it!" Jackie ordered. "I'm not telling you guys anything. Blue is a lovely girl and not one of you perverts is good enough for her." Jackie made her way to the basement door. "Now, since the main entertainment planned for this Saturday afternoon seems to be thinking of ways to prey on innocent females, I'm going to go find Donna and rescue her from another dull afternoon in this dump."
Jackie was just approaching the Pinciotti front door when she heard someone run up behind her.
"Jackie," Hyde said, touching her arm to turn her towards him.
"What do you want, Hyde?" she said, deliberately using the impersonal version of his name. Hyde was irritated that he noticed and that he actually didn't like it. But he brushed this detail aside.
"Is it true? Do you really know this Blue girl?" Hyde asked, a little awkwardly.
"Yes, it's true."
Hyde motioned Jackie to sit down next to him on the porch step. After a moment's hesitation she did so.
"Look, Jackie, I didn't want to say anything in front of the guys but, well, I really did like that girl last night. And I think she liked me too."
"Maybe she did," Jackie said, studying her shoes as she spoke. "All the more reason you should stay away from her. I mean it, Steven, she's not one of your one-night-stand sex buddies. I… I don't want her to get hurt."
"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you protective of another person before," Hyde said in surprise.
"Well, we're pretty close," Jackie answered. "I mean, I hang out at the band's rehearsals so I've got to know her quite well," she elaborated. "We actually have a lot in common." Jackie was starting to enjoy playing with the truth.
"Somehow I find that hard to believe," Hyde said with a laugh. "Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is it's not just about lust. I mean, there is that as well but I'd kind of like to get to know her. Hell, I might even be willing to get into one of those relationship deals if she's as cool as I think she is." He nodded his head at Jackie's look of surprise. "I know, there's a first for everything."
"So what do you want from me?"
"From what I saw at the club last night, this girl is going to have every horny guy in Point Place after her. That's some heavy competition, even for a guy with zen. But if I've got her best friend on my side putting in a good word for me, then that will give me an edge over them." Hyde explained.
Jackie was torn. On the one hand she had Hyde showing more interest in her than he had in any other girl he had ever known, only problem being he didn't know it was Jackie he was attracted to. Plus the more she thought about it the more disastrous the notion of Hyde learning her secret identity would be. He regularly burned his best friend by revealing information to get him in trouble with his parents. What would he do to someone who ranked much further down his popularity list? So the rational, sensible decision was to refuse to help him. Right? Right. She turned her head, looked deep into his blue eyes, drew a breath and blurted, "OK, I'll do it."
Hyde grinned happily. "That's my grasshopper," he said approvingly.
"There's one catch," Jackie qualified before Hyde could get too confident. "If I do this favour for you, then you have to do something for me." She refused to be a complete pushover.
"Like what?" Hyde asked suspiciously.
"Weelll, I couldn't help but notice that you have a new car," Jackie said.
"Yeah, Leo gave it to me a couple of weeks ago. Totally burned Kelso at the same time. Man, that was a sweet moment," Hyde reminisced.
"Since I won't have a car until my report card comes in to impress my Daddy, I could really use someone to drive me around."
"What, you expect to bum rides with me in exchange for getting me in with Blue?" Hyde said with a frown.
"I don't like the expression 'bum rides'. I believe the term 'chauffeur' would be more accurate," Jackie replied, tilting her perfect little nose in the air.
"Chauffeur?" Hyde gasped. "Are you out of your easy-bake oven mind? It'll be a cold day in Hell before I'd ever become your… your…"
"I believe 'servant' is the word you're looking for," Jackie replied sweetly. "Too bad, but it's probably all for the best. You're not really Blue's type anyway." Jackie blithely stood up, dusted the back of her skirt and put her finger on the Pinciotti doorbell. Just as Donna opened the door to usher her through, she heard behind her in a strangled voice, "Wait!" She turned around and raised her eyebrows at his stormy expression.
"Fine, I'll drive you around," he said through clenched teeth. "But if you think you're choosing the radio stations, princess, think again!" As he marched across her front garden, stomping on the marigolds, Donna asked, mystified "What was that all about?"
Jackie gave a canary-stuffed cat's smile. "Oh, that's just Steven. We're best friends now."