For the most part, Sam seemed to be settling into life back at the Formans' pretty easily. Jackie found that if she ignored the fact that Sam was the one who had shown up and thrown her entire life into an upheaval, been the source of so many of her tears and pain, then she could actually be okay with her. But Sam had, so despite her best intentions, she couldn't help that her guard went up the moment Sam came into a room, and despite all her lessons in Zen from Steven, and all the time that had passed, she still couldn't hide her reaction to the both of them. Together.
They were at it again. Hands all over each other. In broad daylight. In front of everyone. She didn't know which she preferred. The nauseating make-out sessions or the migraine inducing violent arguments that occurred all the time.
Fez was staring in fascination at the couple across the room. They were lip-locked in a heavy make-out session which was getting heavier by the minute. Every now and then he would call out suggestions or make lewd comments that didn't seem to bother them in the least. When Jackie saw Steven reach under Sam's skimpy top to unhook her bra she decided she had had enough.
"Oh get a room!"
They either couldn't hear her or chose to ignore her.
Donna threw a disgusted look at the both of them too. "Hyde! Jeez. You've got a room just back there!"
Jackie gave her a grateful smile, happy that Donna was on her side and marveling at how different things were this time around. She didn't know if it was because of Randy's influence, or because Donna had finally remembered the reasons why she and Jackie had been best friends when she was in Africa, but she was thankful that at least she had someone on her side again.
Donna climbed up around Randy and went to the bathroom, coming back with a glass full of water. She caught Jackie's eye with a wicked grin and Jackie stifled a giggle.
She walked over to the groping couple and dumped the water over the both of them.
They came apart with shrieks and howls of protest.
"Ooooh, wet t-shirt." Fez's eyes were glued to Sam's impressive rack. "Sexy," he said with a lascivious smile.
Hyde whipped his sunglasses off his face to flick water off it. He glared at Donna. "They're my favorite pair!"
Donna ignored him and settled herself back on the couch next to Randy, who seemed oblivious to it all. Next to them, Jackie had both hands over her mouth in a desperate attempt to mask her delighted laughter.
Hyde shot her a look of pure distaste, which she did her best to let slide.
"Hyde, honey," Sam cooed, and never really known for being particularly bright or tactful, she continued, "it's probably difficult for them to watch 'cos, y'know, they're probably not getting any." She said the last three words in a loud whisper.
Fez bristled, mortally offended. "Hey, watch what you're saying, lady." He swept a hand down his body in an elaborate arc. "Women always want some of this."
Donna's reaction was interesting. She blushed a bright red and shot a cross glare at Randy.
Jackie wondered if their relationship wasn't as peachy-keen as it appeared. Vivid memories of her own last night with Eric rose unbidden at Sam's words. She felt a sharp pang and swallowed it, staring resolutely at the TV, trying to keep her expression neutral.
Hyde had been watching Jackie closely. "Yeah", he replied, his eyes trained on his ex, "yeah maybe."
Sam was still trying to brush water off her top. "Hyde, look," she whined. "I'm getting cold. My nipples are all peaked." She stuck her chest out in his face.
All the men turned as one to look.
Donna rolled her eyes and grabbed Randy's arm irritatedly. "We're leaving," she muttered.
Sam stared after them with a frown on her face. She turned to Jackie after the basement door slammed shut.
"So you've been single for a long time haven't you?"
Jackie eyed her warily, wondering where she was going with this.
Sam seemed unperturbed by her lack of answer. She continued airily, "'Cos, y'know, I was thinking, that since we're being friends now. You're not un-attractive, I mean, some men actually find black" —she shuddered delicately— "hair attractive, and y'know, since all of us here are getting some, I could, y'know, set you up with someone!"
Jackie's eyes widened.
"You could, y'know, come to the club where I strip! They're tons of guys there. You might, like, meet someone!"
Hyde got up forcefully, nearly sending Sam flying off his lap.
"Shuddup, Sam."
Jackie blinked. For the first time in a very long while, Hyde and her seemed to be on the same page. Sam protested and he grabbed her roughly by the wrist and dragged her off to his room.
The door slammed and they could hear sounds of a big argument start.
Fez got up from the lawn chair and took Donna's vacated seat on the couch. Reaching for the clicker he flipped through some channels.
"Gilligan's?"
Jackie shrugged. "Okay."
Eric was running again.
Sand and stone hit the back of his calves as he pounded his way down the path, with no particular destination or direction in mind. The river rushed and gurgled its way down the channel to his left, and he increased his pace to keep up with the flow of the current.
It had taken him a lot of courage to come back here to Ethiopia, courage he didn't know that he had possessed before Jackie.
It was so surreal how the village was exactly as it was when he had first saw it; before he knew that it could house so much of the horror that he had witnessed in his last memory of the place.
Without the headdress and loin cloth, the village shaman was only a middle-aged African man.
Without the gleaming knife and the dance of firelight on his skin, Kwame was once again the young man he had harvested corn with.
The villagers recognized him, but their smiles, where once they were open and friendly, were stilted and guarded now. They remembered him from the last night he had been there, when he had tried to interfere with their sacred practices and long-held beliefs, and most were afraid that his presence was a portend to doom.
If it wasn't for the very same shaman and his hospitality, Eric wouldn't have been fed and housed as he was.
Why the man humbly offered him a bed to sleep on and food to fill his belly remained a mystery to Eric, and as uncomfortable and wary as he was of the man, Eric steadfastly refused to leave.
He needed to learn to live with his guilt. He needed to find closure. He needed to be whole.
For Jackie.
"Get rid of it!"
"No!"
"Sam, I'm warnin' you…"
"But Hyde, it's our room!"
"I can't sleep with that freakin' hoodoo crap starin' at me!"
"But it's a dream-catcher, it'll give us good dreams!"
She waved the ornate piece at him. It had an eyeball woven in the middle and crossbones at the base of it. "It's art!"
They continued screaming back and forth. It had been like this for about a month now, huge fights and a lot of yelling. Jackie was getting a serious migraine. The only reason why she had been over as often as she had was because it seemed to make it easier for Eric's parents when she was there.
It had started to rain.
She could hear the crash and bang of it outside. A kind of longing filled her and she quietly left the basement to head upstairs to sit on the lounge chairs by the patio, held by the ceaseless cascade of pouring water.
All that is good in the world.
She stared out at it and remembered the rough mud of a wall behind her back and the feel of a warm body next to hers. She sat and closed her eyes, lifting her face so she could catch the light misting of moisture that coated her skin.
She breathed it in, and swore she could smell wood and spice and earth.
She was startled as the sliding door opened, and Hyde shuffled out, pulling her reluctantly out of her little world.
He lit up a cigarette and the air started to smell like smoke instead. Jackie sighed, feeling memories wisp and fade away like an elusive dream.
Hyde took a seat on the chair next to her, staring at her strangely.
"Since when do you like thunderstorms?"
She stared out at the pouring rain, and took her time with her answer.
"Since I grew to love the smell of the rain."