Chapter 9

He noticed she still had her dark glasses on and reached out to take them off.

"No," she cried, backing up.

"What's wrong? I was just going to take your glasses off."

Blue stood frozen before Hyde, her body language plainly indicating her panic, and then turned around and bolted out the stage door. Hyde was stunned at her reaction. Ten minutes ago she had been an ice queen, then she had burst into flames in his arms and now she fled like a frightened child.

"I can see why her and Jackie are such good friends," he muttered. "They're both nuts!" He went to follow her through the door she had run through but it was locked. He kicked the door in frustration, which drew the attention of the Club bouncer so that he soon found himself shoved onto the sidewalk outside the Club. Hyde walked slowly towards his car, reluctantly admitting defeat – for now.

The next day he was hanging in the basement with his friends, with the exception of Jackie. He was surprised at the disappointment he felt at her absence – he had been looking forward to talking over last night with her. Blue had been much more of an enigma than he had expected and the kiss they had shared made him hungry to solve the puzzle. He had a feeling that Jackie held the key.

"Where the hell is Jackie with your van, man?" Hyde asked Kelso impatiently.

"Ah, she had to help her aunt move a couch."

"Why did you lend Jackie your van? She hates you, man." Fez asked.

"Well, I'm trying to get on her good side, Fez. I mean, this is a small town with a limited number of women. And I've already gone all the way through 'em once, and now I'm back to Jackie. Oh. And I love her."

Jackie then returned, tossed the keys to Kelso and eventually admitted that she had crashed Kelso's van. "But other than that, everything went cool."

The scene shifted to the Foreman driveway where the gang inspected the damaged van, with one rear door crumpled and the other missing. It was Kelso who discovered Jackie's drumsticks.

"Jackie, what are these?" he asked in disbelief.

"Uh...Van sticks."

"No. Jackie, these...these are not van sticks. These are drumsticks. Whose drumsticks are they?"

"Oh, wow, Jackie." Donna piped in. "What's up?"

Jackie dodged Kelso's question by confessing how she had used the van. "Okay. Fine. You know what? I used your van to drive Chip and his band to a gig."

"Jackie...is Chip a girl?" Kelso questioned.

"Uh, no."

"You had other guys in my van?"

"You're dating a band?" Hyde asked. His insinuation was partly to poke a little fun at Jackie but also to prod her into revealing which one of the band she was involved with.

Jackie avoided the question. "It wasn't a date. It was a gig."

"Whatever it was, it was a gross misuse of van. And, uh-And you owe me money- big-time!" Kelso stated.

"I owe you money?" Jackie repeated incredulously. "What about all the stuff I bought you while we were together?"

"That does not count. You gave me those things so I would love you."

Their fight was carried back into the basement, Jackie and her ex flinging recriminations at each other. Hyde rolled his eyes at Kelso's nerve demanding money from Jackie, considering all the cash Jackie had lavished on him while they were dating. He had a strong impulse to burn Kelso and help Jackie at the same time, but he told himself it was the burning Kelso part that was his motivation.

"All right. All right. Let's just act like adults and treat this like what it really is: A divorce. Let's just figure out what you guys owe each other." Hyde outlined the plan to "do the math" of who owed who more money. This was unfortunate for Kelso, who had never been very good at math which was why 30 minutes later he was sitting curled up on a chair in nothing but his underwear, having surrendered everything he had as part payment for the huge debt he owed Jackie. After he had stormed out of the basement with Fez trailing after him, laughing and pointing, Jackie turned to Hyde with grateful eyes.

"Thank you so much, Steven," she said sincerely.

"What? I was just revealing Kelso's true dumbass colours. You know that's my favourite sport."

"You can't fool me, Steven. Spin it how you want, but you just came to my defence," Jackie said stubbornly. "You spoke up for me. That's a pretty rare thing in my life so – thank you."

"Don't mention it," Hyde said, made uncomfortable by the warmth in Jackie's smile. Who was he kidding, 3 months ago he never would have stood up for Jackie like that. When did he start feeling so protective of her?

"So, um – how did meeting Blue go?" Jackie asked.

"Good, then bad, then great, then weird," Hyde answered, realising he now had the alone-time with Jackie he had been hoping for. Hyde outlined some of the events of that night (omitting Blue's derogatory remarks about his age). "…so after we had this sizzling hot kiss, she just bolts from me like a scared rabbit. It's so weird because earlier on she'd acted like the kind of girl who would light her cigarette from a bomb blast, and then she goes all schizo because I tried to take her glasses off! I mean if it was her belt buckle I was reaching for I'd understand, but to take off like that over a pair of glasses!"

Jackie considered Hyde with a smirk. "Watch what stones you throw from your glass house, Steven."

"Hey, I wear my glasses because they're cool, not as some kind of shield to hide behind."

"Yeah, you just need to tell yourself that a couple of million more times and one day you might even believe it."

"Whatever, Jackie. Point is, I wouldn't freak out if someone took them off me."

"Really? Good," Jackie said, whipping them off his face before he knew what hit him.

"Give those back," he protested, feeling her mismatched eyes burning through his retinas into his very soul. She laughingly held them away from him, but as her arms were much shorter than his he had soon reached across her to pull them from her grasp. Much like a few days ago, he again found himself in a situation where his face was a hairsbreadth from her face, his body stretched across hers in an arousing position.

"Steven," she said huskily in a voice that sounded strangely familiar. "Are you going to take the glasses or not?" He suddenly realised that his hand had been frozen around her small hand for several pulse-accelerating moments. Quickly he retrieved his glasses and put them on.

"Yeah, you sure are cool as a cucumber without your glasses, Steven," Jackie chuckled. "Tell me, do you sleep with them at night? Or do you wrap them in your security blanket and put them under your pillow?"

"Great, Jackie, your smartass remarks are a big help," Steven grumbled.

"Sorry. My point is, out of everybody on this planet you should know better than anyone why those glasses are so important to Blue."

"Have you ever seen her without them?" Hyde asked. "Hey, she's not cross-eyed or something, is she? Has she got pink eye?"

"Her eyes are limpid pools of beauty," Jackie cried angrily.

"No need to take it personally, Jackie."

"Look, I will tell you this much – you're only chance of getting anywhere with Blue is to respect her boundaries. I think she has some trust issues going on and is afraid of letting herself be vulnerable with you."

"Why with me?"

"You won't understand this yet, but you have the power to hurt her," Jackie said seriously. "Until you give her reason to trust you, to convince her you would not hurt or… or betray her in any way, those glasses will stay on and you mustn't try to get them off her. Oh, and she probably will only meet with you after performances at the clubs she plays."

"Why?"

Because of the bad lighting, Jackie thought. "Because it's where she feels safe," Jackie said. "If you can accept those terms, I think I can talk Blue into meeting you again." Jackie shot him a sidelong look. "So, are you interested?"

This is crazy, Hyde thought. No chick is worth this much trouble. Just because kissing Blue was like having mild electric shock therapy… "Yeah, I'm in." Hyde surrendered.