"That's everything. Ready?"
Alex frowns and looks at her mother. "No, Matt was supposed to come say bye. He must be held up doing something."
"Yeah, well… did you say bye to your dad and Justin?" Jackie asks.
"Not Justin, no," Alex states.
Jackie gives her a knowing look.
"Wh—Mom, he doesn't care!"
The look continues.
"Fine."
Alex stomps into the house right past her father who was coming outside.
"She forget something?" Daniel asks, walking up to his wife.
"She didn't say goodbye to her brother," Jackie says. "We're killing time anyway. Matthew should be over here any second to say goodbye to her."
Daniel tries to hide the look of disgust that appears on his face, but not very well. "Well, I'd like to miss that part."
Jackie laughs at him. "Oh, I know you do." She wraps her arms around him and he leans his forehead against hers. "This doesn't gross you out, does it?" she asks teasingly.
"Quite the opposite," Daniel says, grinning at her. "I'm gonna miss you, babe."
Jackie nodded. "Yeah, I'll miss you, too, but… maybe this week apart will be good for us, you know?"
"Don't say that," Daniel says. "Don't act like we have these awful problems. I love you and you love me and we're fine." He gives her a long kiss. "I see Matthew on his bike. Be careful, okay? Call me when you get there."
"Okay," Jackie says, letting go of his hand as he walks away from her.
"Bye, Dad," Alex says, walking past him again. "Oh, Matt!" She runs up to where he stands, his bike dropped on the grass because of his broken kickstand. Her mother has gotten into the car, good.
"This is gonna be the longest we've gone without seeing each other since we started dating," Matthew says.
"Yeah," Alex agrees sadly. "I usually can't even stand it when you go to your dad's for the weekend."
They stand there in silence for a moment, holding hands.
"Okay," Matthew finally says. "I love you. Call me eventually, okay?"
"I will," Alex says, giving him a quick kiss. "I love you, too."
"Oh, come on," Matthew says. He grabs her and gives her a good, long kiss.
"Matt," Alex says, laughing as she pulls away. "We're like, in front of my house."
"I don't care," Matthew says, a smile on his face. "Bye, Alex. Be careful."
"I will," she says. "Bye." She gets in the passenger side of her mother's car.
"No tears, huh?" Jackie asks teasingly. "I'm surprised."
Alex rolls her eyes. "Duh, Mom, I'm not a wimp." She groans, realizing that her mother is playing the same mix tape that she always has on in her car. "Please tell me we aren't listening to this on repeat the whole ride."
"What, you aren't a big Hall and Oates fan?" Jackie asks sarcastically. "I'll tell you what, when the tape is finished and we're out of the zone where I know the radio stations, you can pick out what we listen to."
"Okay, fair enough," Alex agrees, and they drove off while 'Kiss On My List' continued to play.
…
"Any minute now," Donna says, glancing at the clock. "I hope they didn't get stuck in traffic or anything."
"Calm down, Mom," Lisa Forman says, tucking her auburn hair behind her ears. "They probably just left late."
Donna raises her eyebrows at her teenaged daughter. "Do I seem un-calm to you?"
"So, who are these people again?" Jimmy Hyde asks Donna. "I know you said I'll remember but I don't."
"Well, you were younger," Donna admits. "That's around the time that you and your dad were taking care of that legal stuff." She pauses. "When you met your mother," she clarifies.
Jimmy makes a face.
"Her name is Jackie and she's one of my best friends. She used to date Kelso, you know, the tall idiot?" Jimmy nods. "Well, she grew up here and moved away because her boyfriend, now husband, whatever, lives in Michigan. They separated some years later and she moved back for about a year, until he came crawling back to her."
"Are her kids our age?" Jimmy asks.
Lisa clears her throat and speaks up. "Her daughter is a year older than me, so your age."
"Yeah, and her son isn't coming apparently," Donna says. "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing because we always need extra room for you, you leech." She gives him a playful smile so he knows she's joking.
Jimmy Hyde has been under his father's care since he was two years old. His mother Samantha, a Las Vegas stripper, decided she'd tried the mom thing and it just wasn't working out. Therefore, she dropped the curly-haired toddler on the Formans front porch, surprising the hell out of Hyde when Eric called him upstairs to talk to Samantha. Jimmy is very similar to his father, with a super laidback attitude. He lives with his father officially, but most nights, he crashes with the Formans. He and Lisa are best friends and Donna's always acted as though she were his real mother.
A knock is heard on the door, and Donna stands up. "Guess they're here." She exits the kitchen.
Jimmy looks at Lisa. "So, like, are you friends with the daughter?"
Lisa shrugs. "Not really."
"Is she hot?" Jimmy asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Jim, how should I know?" Lisa asks, annoyed. "I haven't seen her since I was nine."
"Hmm."
Jimmy's only fifteen, but he's turning into a little playboy. He's like a mini Kelso, but with brains. The only girl he hasn't gone after, in fact, is the one sitting right next to him. He and Lisa are too much like brother and sister, both being only children.
Donna enters the kitchen with the two short, raven-haired women.
"Guys, say hi to Jackie and Alex," Donna instructs.
Lisa says hello. Jimmy nervously clears his throat and says hi.
"Well, do you guys want to unpack? I can take you upstairs," Donna offers.
"I should probably call Daniel first," Jackie says.
"Alex, you can take the guest room in the basement, but I'm warning you, it's not super fancy," Donna says. "I'll just have Jimmy sleep on the couch if he stays here."
Alex nods and grabs her bags and heads to the basement while Jackie grabs the phone to call her husband.
Donna gives Lisa and Jimmy a disapproving stare.
"What?" Lisa asks.
"Go talk to her, you guys," Donna says quietly.
Lisa shrugs and she and Jimmy stand up and go downstairs.
"So…" Lisa stands awkwardly in the doorway of what is usually Jimmy's room. "How's Michigan?"
"Um, it's good," Alex says, a phony smile on her face. "I haven't seen you since we were kids. How's… life?"
"Great, just… great," Lisa says. She elbows Jimmy in attempt to get the heat off of her.
"Uh…" Jimmy trails off. "So… your mom's from here, huh?"
"Yes," Alex says with a slight laugh. "You know, you guys can go do whatever you were doing before. You don't have to feel obligated to hang out with me."
"My mom told us to come down here," Lisa admits. "To be honest, I know it's only eleven but I'm pretty tired."
"Not me," Alex says. "I can't lie down after sitting in that car all day."
"Well, I'm gonna go to bed and we can… catch up or whatever tomorrow," Lisa says. She gives Jimmy a threatening look. "Behave," she mouths to him before going upstairs.
"You don't mind if I hang out down here for a while, do you?" Jimmy asks. "I usually watch TV down here before I go to bed."
"Nah, that's fine by me," Alex says. "I'll appreciate the company." She pauses as Jimmy flops on the couch. "I'm gonna go upstairs and say goodnight to my mom and Aunt Donna really quick."
She goes upstairs to see Donna's arm around her mother as she weeps at the kitchen table.
"Mom?" Alex asks.
Jackie's head snaps up and she wipes her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I… I didn't think you were gonna be up here, at least not for a while."
"What's wrong?" Alex asks.
"Nothing," Jackie says. "Really, nothing. I'm just… you know, talking about your father and everything."
Alex bites her lip. "Okay. I was just coming to say goodnight."
"All right," Jackie says.
"Goodnight, sweetie," Donna says. "You're okay with Jimmy down there, right?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Alex says. "Night, Mom."
"Goodnight," Jackie says, and Alex goes back down the stairs.
"What are you watching?" she asks, sitting on the opposite end of the couch.
"Oh, uh, Mad TV," Jimmy says. "We can watch whatever, though."
"This is fine by me," Alex says.
"So, you're fifteen, right?" Alex looks at him and nods. "Yeah, me too."
"Cool," Alex says. "What kind of music do you like?"
"Oh, well, definitely Nirvana… uh, I like the Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth." He stops to think more. "My dad got me into Led Zeppelin. They aren't bad, you know, for old stuff."
"Wow, good taste in music," Alex says. "My dad likes Led Zeppelin, too, I think."
"Yeah, I play guitar," Jimmy brags.
"No way, me too," Alex says. "I'm in a band. Are you?"
"Oh, uh, no," Jimmy says. "That's crazy, though. Do you sing, too?"
"Sometimes," Alex says. "Me and my friend Ben switch."
"That's awesome."
This information is all that Jimmy needed to hear to confirm that Alex is indeed the coolest girl he'd ever met. Sure, he thought she was hot when he saw her, but hearing that she's in a band and has an awesome taste in music? All the girls he messed around with were pretty but had nothing to them. This made him decide to take it slow with this girl. No need to try and hook up tonight.
"How good are you at guitar?" Alex asks Jimmy.
"Um…" Jimmy trails off. "I mean I know your basic chords. I can play Stairway to Heaven pretty good."
"I'm sure you're just being modest," Alex says with a smile.
They watch TV and chat a little longer before Alex starts to feel tired.
"I'm gonna head to bed," Alex says. "Thanks for the company."
"Oh, uh, okay. I'll keep the volume down," Jimmy offers.
"You don't have to do that," Alex declares. "I mean, don't have it blasting, but… it's fine. Goodnight."