I'm back! Thanks for all the reviews. This update is slightly earlier than usual – it's probably Wednesday in the US but it's Thursday here in Australia.

Chapter 14

Eric and Donna were not the only young couple in Point Place that night sitting on the hood of a car, although they were probably more at ease with each other than Hyde and Jackie were at that time. Hyde was sitting next to Jackie, shivering in the cold night air because of course she hadn't brought a coat with her and so he had to offer her his. He wondered what the hell he was doing; even if he was his usual chick-free self the notion of dating Jackie Burkhart seemed pretty far fetched. The fact that he was strongly attracted to another girl who he was finally making satisfactory progress with in the making-out department escalated this "date" from far fetched to ludicrous. Why was he risking his relationship with Blue to date Jackie? Bad enough to do that with some anonymous female, but choosing the girl who seemed to be Blue's closest confidant was suicidal. He looked over at the small brunette cuddled underneath his arm which she had wrapped around her, and searched for the right words to let her down easy.

Just then Jackie turned shining eyes towards him and smiled. "So...our first date's almost over."

"Yep."

"What'd you think?" Jackie asked curiously.

Stop this, his inner angel urged, trying to shout down the devil on his other shoulder that was prodding him to screw right and wrong and just kiss the hell out of her.

"Jackie," Hyde began.

"Steven, you're shivering," Jackie interrupted in a concerned voice. "Do you want your jacket back?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You can put your arms around me inside the jacket if you like," Jackie offered shyly. "I'll warm you up."

"Jackie, I said I'm fine," Hyde said brusquely, removing his arm from around her shoulders.

"You don't need to be rude about it," Jackie reproved. "You know, Steven, it seems like every time someone offers you any kind of human warmth you brush it off."

"As usual, you make as much sense as a math teacher. I told you, I'm not cold!"

"I'm talking emotional temperature, Steven. I'm talking about letting another person into your icy heart." Jackie took Hyde's hand between her own small hands. "Look, you're probably sitting there thinking, "I'm on this date with this girl who really, really likes me, and she's so beautiful that – "

"Jackie –"

Jackie put her finger to Hyde's lips to silence him. "Shhh... And you're wondering, "How can I open up to her, when everyone I have ever loved have abandoned me. Am I even worthy of love?" Well...you are, Steven. You are."

Hyde's radar started screaming warning sirens as soon as Jackie said "love". He dismissed her summation of himself as just more of her rosy-eyed romantic twaddle and decided to nip this attraction in the bud.

"Jackie, stop it. This isn't a date."

The smile on Jackie's face froze at his words. "What? But you said… back at the house - "

"I know what I said." Hyde ran a hand through his curly hair in frustration. "I didn't mean it. I was confused and people were looking at me – I just wanted to get out of there."

"So why did you take me with you?" Jackie asked incredulously.

"Because if I didn't take you after punching that guy out, people would have thought I was running away or some crap like that. They'd have said I had a thing for you but was too chicken to act on it. I just wanted to get you alone somewhere so we could put this whole schoolgirl crush of yours to rest." Hyde thought his story sounded pretty plausible – he almost believed it himself. Unfortunately, Jackie was not buying it. Her eyes narrowed, a warning sign of the storm to come.

"Schoolgirl crush? You still think of me that way after all the time we've spent together? How can you look at me day after day and never really see me?"

"Don't go pitching that line that I don't really know you," Hyde retorted. "I know more about the facts of life than you ever will, princess. I know you cannot cross a guy like me with a girl like you and get some corny happy ever after. It doesn't work that way." Hyde moderated his tone as he watched her eyes start to tear. "Jackie, I like you a lot better than I did a few months ago. But I just could never be the kind of guy you're looking for. And I think you know I've already found the kind of girl I'm looking for."

"You mean Blue?" Jackie said in a small voice, avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah," Hyde admitted. "Jacks, me and Blue make sense in a way you and I never could. I've never felt about a girl the way I do about her and I don't want to screw it up just because I keep having these crazy feelings…"

Jackie captured his gaze with her sapphire and emerald eyes, pulling him into her very soul like a Star Trek tractor beam. "What kind of feelings, Steven?"

"Just… sometimes… I want to…" Hyde stumbled, his heart beat rising.

"Want to what?" Their heads drew closer, lips parting, breath panting.

"Just…" Suddenly their lips merged into a kiss so hot, so passionate that Hyde became lost in it, like he had wandered into a strange new country without map or compass. Jackie gave herself up to the sweetness tingling through every nerve in her body, the only coherent thought in her mind being Now he'll know. How could he fail to recognise that the girl he was kissing tonight was the same girl he had lip-locked at the Club last night? This would be the perfect way to finally reveal the truth to him. It was therefore like having a bucket of cold water dumped over her when he abruptly broke the kiss off.

"What?" she asked, dazed.

"Huh," Hyde said. "Ok, I didn't feel anything."

"Nothing?" Jackie could not believe this. It was like Prince Charming kissing the princess and turning her into a frog.

"No, I mean the kiss was hot, but...well, did you feel something?"

What was she supposed to say to that? That it was the most earth-shattering kiss she had ever received (at least since last night) and have him smirk at her in amused pity?

"No," she answered woodenly. "I didn't feel anything."

"Well, there you go, then. I guess we were meant to be just friends after all." Hyde figured he should get an Oscar nomination for this performance. His head was still spinning from their kiss but he was somehow able to appear unaffected by it. He supposed he had his glasses and years of experience disguising when he was high to thank for that. Even now, his hands itched to cup themselves around her sweet face and finish what he had started. Stop it, man he berated himself. You can't do this to Blue.

"Yes. Just friends," Jackie agreed, touching her fingertips to where her lips still buzzed. She considered for a moment telling him the truth, that the perfect girl he was dumping her for was none other than herself. But the thought of having her true self rejected in favour of a fantasy tasted bitter to her. Nothing had changed then since chapter 1 of this crazy love story – she still wasn't cool enough to be seen with him. Sure, if he knew the truth she would be elevated to the heights of coolness with him, but she didn't want him to love her because she was 'worthy', but just because she was Jackie; girly, shallow, pink-loving, Donny Osmond obsessed Jackie.

"Well, I guess we should be getting back home, huh?" Hyde suggested. He felt strangely empty but he kept telling himself it was for the best. He had committed himself to Blue and he would not be the kind of low-life heel like Kelso who kissed every girl he was drawn to, no matter how strong the attraction. Jackie handed him back his jacket as she climbed into her car, but even though when he put it on it felt warm from her body heat, he could not repress the small shivers that ran through his body as he drove her home.