…

A week passed and the living arrangement was strange but it was doable.

Jackie wasn't any happier and she couldn't tell if Fez was either, but a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, which made it a little better.

Fez made himself even scarcer since the breakup, and Jackie wasn't sure if he was just busier at work now that he was licensed or if he was seeking out things to do so they wouldn't have to be alone in the apartment. She almost appreciated the thought, although she despised the loneliness. For all she knew, he was fooling around with girls from the salon, and that notion didn't make her jealous, it merely made her feel pathetic.

Donna was gone, Michael was gone, and she sure as hell wasn't going to try and hang out with Eric or Steven. She didn't really have friends at work, as she was barely there anyway. The only people she could think to reach out to would be either Kitty Forman or the former members of the cheer squad, and those options made her feel even more pathetic.

Impulsively, she sprung to her feet as she remembered the mechanic who asked her out. The whole encounter was embarrassing, but he didn't seem to take the situation too seriously, and that gave her hope that if she returned, she may not humiliate herself. She, in a way that she loathed, was desperate.

Jackie looked herself over in the mirror just to make sure she still looked okay. She had this extensive habit of getting totally made up every day despite never having plans. It was just one of the ways she masked her boredom, if only for a couple hours.

Before she could overthink her way out of it, she fled the apartment and headed to the shop that she was at only a week earlier. It was a five minute drive, which was nice, because if it had been ten minutes away, she most certainly would've convinced herself that she was being a loser and would make herself turn around.

She pulled in a parking space and drew in a deep breath, gritting her teeth as she became more and more aware of how stupid she was being. She couldn't do this. This was a new low for her. She didn't even know this guy, and he would definitely see how pathetic she was.

She breathed out and slid her sunglasses up on her nose, eager to back out of this parking lot and to never return to this specific shop again for fear of remembering this ridiculous moment.

There was a tap on her window before she could put her car in reverse, and Jackie gasped loudly. It was Nathaniel. Her cheeks heated up and she rolled down the window.

"Don't tell me you're having car trouble now?" Nathaniel said, a small grin on his face as he crouched down to be at her level. "I thought I checked it all out last week."

"Oh, um, yeah, it's just… it's been making this weird noise and it just… it's making me paranoid," Jackie stammered.

"Where's the noise coming from?" Nathaniel asked, giving the car a once-over.

"The hood," Jackie squeaked, feeling so humiliated that she could die right there.

"Pop it for me?" Nathaniel asked.

Jackie reached for the lever and stopped herself before she could pull it. This was torture and even though she had only been there a minute at most, it was lasting forever.

"No, I… I can't," Jackie admitted, dropping her hand on her thigh.

The smirk appeared on Nathaniel's face despite his confusion. "Sure you can," he said encouragingly. "Your hand was right there."

"No, I…" Jackie bit her lip and remembered she had lip-gloss on. "God, this is embarrassing… I…" She couldn't even figure out what the hell she was supposed to say without sounding like a complete idiot.

"You change your mind about that date?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She felt a sweep of relief rush through her body. "Um, yeah, something like that," she said, finally feeling like she could make eye contact with him.

"So, why'd you lie about the boyfriend?" He grinned as though he were teasing her. "I didn't scare you, did I? You got a little squirrelly at the end there."

Jackie blushed again. "I didn't lie. I did have a boyfriend, and I felt dumb about it, especially because I knew things weren't going to work out… and they didn't."

"Hmm. Well, it worked out for me." He winked at her. "You wanna give me your number?"

"Um…" Jackie thought about the potential of Fez answering the phone and felt awful, but she also didn't feel like explaining the fact that she lived with her ex-boyfriend to Nathaniel. "How about I just make it easy on you and tell you that I only work weekends, and because I don't really have any friends in the area anymore, I never have plans otherwise?"

"You only work weekends?" Nathaniel inquired. "What are you, like, a nurse?"

Jackie snorted and shook her head. "I work on Weekends with Wendy on channel seven."

"Oh. Cool." Nathaniel nodded. "Well, I'm usually work during the week, but I do happen to be off tomorrow… so we could go out tonight, if that's cool."

"Sure," Jackie said. "I'll give you my address and I'll just meet you outside at… seven? Does that work?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Nathaniel said, and she began scrawling her address on an old receipt. "So I really left that lasting of an impression on ya, huh?"

Jackie smiled flirtatiously and handed him the piece of paper. "Don't flatter yourself… maybe I just don't know that many people."

Nathaniel cracked a grin. "You're feisty." He tucked the receipt in his pocket. "Uh, where do you wanna go?"

"Let's just figure it out when you get there," Jackie mentioned. "Just… I'll meet you outside, okay?"

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes a little bit but his grin was still in tact. "Feisty and mysterious," he pondered aloud as he tapped the hood of her car. "Well, alright, angel eyes, I'll see you at seven." He stood upright and started walking backwards so she could still see him.

"See you then," Jackie replied, feeling slightly giddy.

"Outside," Nathaniel emphasized jokingly as he walked away.

Jackie shifted her car in reverse and exited the parking lot. That had gone much, much better than she had anticipated.