Chapter 4. Bend.
The rest of the weekend I decided to spend in the solitude and comfort of my own home. While I found it very sweet that Jackie wanted to go to the mall with me…. I didn't feel like hanging out with her at all in any way, shape, or form. She seemed like she could be sweet, but honestly I found her to be a complete vain dumbass. As idiotic as her boyfriend, Kelso, seemed, I figured that he'd eventually have the common sense to leave her for someone at least with a kinder heart.
Monday came after spending Sunday drinking coffee and reading and I remembered that we had an extra day off because of some monumental holiday, so I decided that I'd get off my ass and do something. Donna said that she was going to be out with Jackie all day, because Jackie forced her instead of me to spend time with thankfully, so that meant that the guys would probably be chilling at Foreman's. Even though I wasn't particularly close with the gang yet, I figured that I could at least stop by for a few minutes to say hi.
After drinking a cup of tea, I shimmied back upstairs, got dressed in a black tank top and green bellbottoms, straightened my hair, and walked a few houses down to the Foremans' residence where I slipped in through the basement door. The door was, unsurprisingly, unlocked and I walked in to find Eric, Kelso, Hyde, and Fez circled around the table with incense lit in front of them. I didn't think they were high yet, but Hyde seemed to be preparing for it. When I closed the door behind me, they all looked up simultaneously towards the sound – they probably feared it was Foreman's father or someone else ready to bust them.
"Hey," I waved, kind of timidly and awkwardly. "Bad timing?"
"Yeah," Hyde spat. "No girls allowed in the circle."
"Oh, c'mon, Hyde; she's hot, man," Kelso retaliated. Hot?
"Yeah, Hyde. Do you not find her to be beautiful?" Fez inquired. Beautiful?
"Guys, shut up!" Eric insisted, getting annoyed with the morons. "You can stay, Saige."
"Yes, would you like to join us beautiful?" Fez requested.
I grinned. Score.
"Yeah, sure, guys. Thanks."
I purposely sat down next to Hyde to aggravate him. After a minute of passing around the blunt – or at least it felt like a minute, I couldn't tell – I was already in nirvana. My mind was soaked with radical ideas and schemes and my filter was gone. We were talking about the weirdest shit.
"So, Hyde, man, what's your problem with Saige?" Foreman asked, kind of chuckling a bit.
"Eh, I don't know man," Hyde seemed oblivious to the fact that I was right next to him, which was honestly hilarious. He must've taken a stronger hit than I did since I was coherent enough to know I'd be remembering some of it later. "I mean, she's kind of hot. But I don't want to date someone who's a hard ass, yknow?"
"Hyde, man, you know she's right next to you right?" Kelso was laughing his ass off.
"Oh, really? Weird, man." Hyde started chuckling to himself.
I didn't really say much, I was kind of just looking around in a daze. I couldn't particularly move – it had been a while since my last buzz and I wasn't used to the effects as much anymore. I was hungry, though…
I woke up the next morning a bit confused of my surroundings. It wasn't where I would ever expect to be and it wasn't home. Now trust me when I say that I've woken up in various odd spots but they're usually…. Hygienic. I woke up on a dirty cot in a room filled with clothes, beer cans, and food. Fear set in as I realized that I must've fallen asleep at Foreman's, but…. This place wasn't Foreman's, since I'd been upstairs once and it looked nothing like this. I was definitely in a bedroom by the looks of it, but whoevers it was it was someone with a lower income or responsibilities, because of the looks. After a moment of speculating, fear set in. Where the hell am I? I thought, internally panicking. I wanted to get up to investigate but I was too scared to do so. Shit, it was Tuesday, which meant that I had school. I felt around my pants pockets for my watch. It read 7:27. School begins at 8:30 every day and it is a twelve minute drive. Wait…. What about dad? He's probably worried….. Unless he worked double shift and that's why he didn't come looking.
Eventually, the bedroom door opened and in the doorway stood Steven Hyde. He had a beer in his hand and looked at me without words.
"Where the hell am I, Hyde?" I insisted, sitting up on the bed and running my fingers through the knots in my hair.
"My house." Before I could ask why, he continued. "You passed out. I don't know where you live and if Red caught you he would've beat Foreman's ass. Sorry, I tried waking you, man, but you were just too out of it."
I nodded. After a moment, I asked, "So, um, beer in the morning?"
He smirked, "You want one, don't you?"
I smiled, "Well, if you insist, man."
He guided me through the clutter into his living room and let me sit down on the sofa while he went to go grab another beer from the kitchen. When he returned, he sat next to me and handed me a beer.
"Look, I just want to get things clear. I'm only being nice to you for the sake of the fact that you're in my house right now. Once you leave, I go back to avoiding you, man."
Well, damn, shots fired.
"Get bent, Hyde." Was my response. It was clearly clever too, because it caught him off guard. He looked agitated but smirked anyways. I took a big sip of my beer and chilled for a few minutes before asking, "So, do you have a car, because we have school today, man."
"I'm not letting the government force me to go to a place that corrupts my mind and wastes my time," He muttered. Damn, that's something I'd say…. I wondered if he was mocking me but didn't dare ask.
I thought for a moment, "Well, then I should probably get home. My father will be worried."
I stood up and was ready to leave until I heard a response from Hyde.
"But you just started your beer, dude. Stay for a while. This might be your only chance to talk to someone this cool. Maybe we can go in the bedroom afterwards, too, if you're lucky."
"Get bent, Hyde."