Ch. 6 Truths and other Reveals

Duluth MN Saturday 12:17 pm

Steven Hyde jumped out of the El Camino chasing behind Jackie Burkhart up the driveway to the now mysterious house on Rosemont Drive. He caught her arm just as she'd rung the doorbell, "Jackie what are you doing?" Hyde exclaimed. "You don't even know who owns this house, if it's your father or not, and if it is-"

He stopped talking abruptly as the door slowly opened. A young girl maybe age 11 or 12 answered the door.

"Uh-hi," Jackie said to the girl. "Do you um happen to live here?" Jackie pointed around the inside of the house.

"Sure," the girl answered, "would you like to come in?"

"Sure ok," Jackie said stepping over the threshold.

"Wait!" Steven said stopping them, he turned to the young girl, "Are your parents home by chance?"

"Of course! I'll go get them." The girl said and ran up the stair leaving Jackie and Hyde alone in the foyer.

"Did you see the name on the mailbox or the mail my dad grabbed?" Jackie asked Hyde anxiously.

"Nah I didn't get a close enough look, what with you running in here like speedy freaking gonzales!" Hyde hissed back at her.

Just as the two began arguing Jackie's dad and a woman appeared at the top of the stairs with the young girl.

"Jackie!? What on Earth are you doing here?" Jack Burkhart Demanded as he descended the stairs.

"I could ask you the same question!" Jackie retorted. "And also who are they?"

"Now Kitten," Jack began, but then the little girl seemed to answer him with a "Yes Daddy?"

"What?!" Jackie began clearly infuriated. "Who is she dad, do you have another daughter?"

"May I intervene?" The blonde woman who had come out with Jack and the girl asked. She was pretty, she had sharp blue eyes and sharp cheekbones which she really needed to make up for the extra thirty-five pounds she was carrying around. Not that she was unattractive, Hyde thought, not in the least, but she was also definitely no competition for Pam Burkhart. "Jack darling, we always knew this day would come," the woman continued coming down the steps to loop her arm through Mr. Burkharts arm. "Maybe we should just tell the kids and explain everything."

"Kids!?" Jackie nearly screeched at her father. "You have kids with this woman?"

"Kitten, please calm down I can explain everything."

"No, you know what I'm done with this, I'm done with you!" Jackie spat and ran out the door.

"Kitten-" Mr. Burkhart called and Hyde stepped in "I think you've broken her heart enough for one day sir." He stood his ground daring Mr. Burkhart to step to him.

"Jackie's friend is right," the blonde lady intervened, "Perhaps Jack, we should let her go collect her feelings and process her emotions then maybe next time when we speak to each other we won't be in such an emotionally charged atmosphere and we can really talk about our feelings, come up with some compromise and maybe end in a better place."

"Fine," Jack sighed. "You," he said pointing to Hyde, "You just take care of my daughter you hear?"

"Of course sir, I would never let anything happen to her."

Hyde opened the driver's door to the El Camino and got in. Jackie was in the passenger side, shaking, as pale as a ghost but not saying anything. Hyde took one look at her and started the car and drove down the street. The two teens drove in silence for about fifteen minutes until Hyde pulled into a parking with a small building that looked like a house in it.

"You stay here, I'll be right back." Hyde told Jackie.

She still didn't respond. Hyde got out of the car and went into the building. He came out a few minutes later and drove them out to an area of small cabins on the beach of Lake Superior. He parked in front of one of them and turned to Jackie smiling "Home sweet home!" he told her.

"What?" Jackie asked confused.

"It's a cabin and it's ours for the night." Hyde answered.

"What do you mean 'ours for the night'?"

"Well I asked the manager if he had any cabins open and he did so here we go..." When she still seemed confuse he said, "Look what we saw back at that house with your dad was...upsetting," he said unsure of the right words to use. "And I'm guessing you'll want time to think about it and to talk to him, and I honestly don't want to drive another four hours back to Point Place tonight."

"Why didn't we just get a motel room?"

"Because this is way cooler, we can hang out on the beach, have a campfire, and its like having our own little house which means we can...uh 'smoke' inside if we want." Hyde told her. "Come on give it a chance."

"Ok,I guess that does sound kind of cool but if we're spending the night then we have to go shopping, I didn't bring any outfits for tomorrow." Jackie said, a little more color returning to her cheeks.

"Probably a good idea," Hyde agreed, "There's really only canned goods in there right now and none of those cans contain beer so yeah we can run to the store quick."

He should have known that any shopping trip with Jackie Burkhart would not be quick. Buying a new outfit for tomorrow had included her trying on jeans, tops, dresses, shoes, accessories and more. She even insisted on buying him new clothes as well. The one highlight had been that apparently she needed a bikini even though he told her the water was probably still way too cold to swim in, she still insisted on getting one, and buying one meant she had to try them on first, modeling them in front of the mirrors and him before she settled on one. After that they bought some food to make grilled chicken and veggies for supper, and he went to buy beer since he was the only one of them with a fake ID. She told him to get her something fancy as well so he grabbed what he thought looked like a "fancy" bottle of champagne while he was there. Jackie paid for everything. Hyde had protested at first but then Jackie said with a serious face, "My dad owes me and I think he can start today."

When they got back to the cabin Hyde started unloading the car and Jackie surveyed the cabin. It was a small cabin with an open kitchen and living room. There was a small metal and formica table with four chairs that looked like they were right out of the 1950s. In fact the whole cabin kind of gave off that feel. The kitchen had a butter yellow, white, and chrome theme going on, while the living room looked more like the waiting room at a dentist's office. There was a brown couch with yellow flowers held up by wooden legs, an orange sitting chair that also had wooden legs, a green and orange rug in the middle of the floor, a small coffee table, and a small TV; the center focus of the room. Behind the TV was a large picture window overlooking the lake. Off to the side was a small pink bathroom and a small bedroom with a queen sized bed, and white dressers.

"Good thing I bought new sheets." Jackie said looking into the bedroom. "I don't want to sleep on anything anyone else has."

"Good idea," Hyde said looking around the cabin as well, "I'll unpack the groceries if you want to check out the beach or something."

"Really? You don't want any help?"

"Nah its cool you can help with supper later."

"Ok if you're sure." Jackie said already heading for the bathroom to change clothes.

She came out a few minutes later in her new little bikini, a white flowered sun dress over the top. She gave Hyde a quick smile and left for the beach. He smiled back at her knowing the rest of the night would be spent picturing her in said bikini. As she walked along the shore the events of today's nightmare ran through her head. The look on her father's face when he'd seen her this morning, shocked, angry and a little worried. Although what he was worried for she had no idea, that she judged him? That he'd hurt her? Or that she'd tell her mother? Suddenly it was all too much. She ran back to the cabin and slammed the door shut.k

"Jackie, what's going on!?" Hyde asked looking concerned.

"Its just..." Jackie tried to get out while trying to catch her breath and not start crying at the same time. "Its...I can't...Why would he do this!?" she screamed and then when she couldn't hold it back anymore she fell to the floor sobs of pain and anger choking her as the tears rolled down her face. Hyde ran over to her and sat down on the floor next to her. He pulled her into his arms and held her as her body shook with sobs. He sat with her for a minute and then picked her up and carried her to the bed setting her down gently. He laid down next to her never letting her leave his arms and he let her cry.

Finally after what felt like hours, but really wasn't quite that long, Jackie grew quiet, she had seemed to run out of steam. More than that she had fallen asleep. Hyde stood up and grabbed a blanket to drape over her. He looked down at her sleeping soundly on the bed and thought for the first time in his life two things; one that Jackie Burkhart was truly beautiful and two that she had a life that clearly wasn't all peaches and cream. The snobby cheerleading princess had real raw problems just like anybody else. It made her seem more human, more breakable, more flawed, and more beautiful than ever before. He stepped out of the room gently closing the door behind him, and went to the kitchen and started cooking supper.

It was almost 6 o'clock in the evening. In the tiny cabin #18, on the shore of Lake Superior, Steven Hyde was just finishing cooking supper. The smell of grilled chicken, and grilled vegetables, wafted into the bedroom where Jackie was in an exhausted sleep. She wasn't sure if it was the noise of pots and pans banging, or the smell of supper, but she was suddenly awake. At first she smiled at the smell of a delicious supper, but as she looked around the bedroom she was in she started to get a panicky feeling, forgetting where she was. Then the day came back to her, and it felt like an unbearable weight inside her. How could he do this to mom? to me? He has another entirely complete family, that he appears to really care about, maybe even more than us! The pain of this betrayal clung to her like a heavy storm cloud that showed no sign of letting up anytime soon. Jackie took a deep breath and stood up. Her legs were shaky but she walked out to the kitchen determined not to let this break her.

Hyde was setting the table when Jackie walked into the living room/kitchen. "Hey sleepy," he called to her.

"You made supper?" She asked surprised.

"Yeah, don't worry, you'll be doing the dishes." He winked at her.

"Steven you didn't have to do all this for me."

"Yeah you're probably right, but then again I got hungry."

They sat down at the table and ate their supper, which Jackie had to admit was pretty good. Then Hyde suggested an after dinner tradition circle time. So they moved to the couch and Jackie told Hyde to open the champagne as well.

H: Won't your mom get mad that you're not home tonight?

J: If she even notices; she's home just about as often as my dad, she has spa weekends, and trips away from the girls or just random parties she has to go to. I think this weekend she was going to mexico, probably for more plastic surgery. She works so hard to look good and keep my dad happy and then he cheats on her like this? Ugh!

H: Yeah I don't think my parents ever tried to impress each other, but I think think they must've cared about each other at one time, since they had me and stayed together nine whole years!

J: What was it like when your dad left?

H: Tons of fun, my mom went ballistic, blamed me, blamed her mother, blamed the neighbor girl, anyone in sight besides herself. Then she decided she was going to go after him. She left me with the neighbors, and came back two weeks later with 'uncle Chet' who definitely wasn't related to either one of us.

J: How did you get over it?

H: Well I was pretty angry for a long time, and I took a lot of it out on my mom which is probably why she ran off with that trucker, but mostly it just took time, eventually I just stopped caring...about either one of them.

J: Steven it is not your fault she left.

H: I know, I just know I didn't help matters. Anyway what are you going to do about your dad?

J: I don't know.

H: We should probably go talk to him tomorrow.

J: You'll stay with me and help me talk to him?!

H: I'll drive you there, and wait while you talk with him but I am not getting in the middle of this.

J: Ok yeah I suppose, Thank you for doing this for me Steven.

H: Of course, you know I don't want to lose my cheerleader lookout spot.

J: Oh right of course.

H: Jackie I was kidding, really I didn't mind coming here with you today, besides the driving and the stuff with your dad I had a pretty good time.

J: Thanks Steven...hey! You know what would be fun right now? Night swimming!

H: Yeah...the water's going to be like 30 degrees, we'll either freeze and drown or freeze and get pneumonia.

J: Come on let's go!

Jackie jumped up and headed into the bedroom, she came out 20 minutes later in her new bikini.

"How does it take you that long to put on a swimsuit?" Hyde asked bewildered.

"Well I looked in the mirror and saw all my makeup cried off and I had to fix it. I can't believe you didn't say anything I look hideous!" Jackie exclaimed.

"I guess I hadn't noticed you weren't wearing makeup or had cried it off." Hyde answered her.

Jackie gave him a strange confused look like she was trying to figure out if that was the truth or a compliment or an insult. "Hey where's your swimsuit?" She asked him.

"Oh I'm not going in, that water is freezing, I'm just coming with to make sure you don't drown and I get blamed for your murder."

"Well isn't that...nice of you."

Jackie grabbed her towel and ran out the door. Hyde followed her down to the beach and took her towel as she went down to the water. She took a few steps into the water and screamed "It's freezing!" "I told you!" Hyde yelled back to her, and then a big wave rolled in and nearly drenched her. She ran up the beach and grabbed her towel from Hyde and they both ran back into the cabin. The was a fire pit outside by the beach but they were lucky because there was a fireplace inside the cabin as well. Hyde told a shivering Jackie to go change into dry clothes and then sat her down down in front of the fireplace and started a fire with some wood from the wood pile outside. She was still shivering so he put his arms arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a while and then Jackie looked up at him and smiled slightly. He looked into her eyes, she was so beautiful he thought and he leaned down and kissed her. She kissed him back, softly at first, but then with more passion as the kiss grew deeper. The kiss was so hot it was burning both of them from the inside out and Jackie was no longer shivering from the cold but from the fire of their passion. Their hands pulled at each other's clothes, Jackie felt her shirt being pulled off as Hyde's kisses mover from her lips to her neck moving swiftly south. "Wait..." She said and he pulled away. "Maybe we should..." She looked into his beautiful blue eyes seeing love, trust, and more desire than she had ever seen before and she thought to herself screw it. "Let's go to the bedroom."

"Jackie are you sure? I don't want to do something tonight while you're feeling hurt or vulnerable." Hyde said searching her eyes for what she was feeling.

"Steven, it's ok. Look I know today was emotional for me but I'm a big girl and I can make my own decisions."

"Are you sure you're judgement isn't impaired from the champagne?" Hyde asked.

"Uh no, I'm pretty sure getting soaked in freezing sobered me up pretty fast." She answered laughing and tossing back her hair. "I like you Steven, and even if it's just tonight I need you right now." She unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor, then she leaned over pulling his face closer and kissed like she meant it. Like she knew exactly what she was doing and exactly what she wanted.

He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom and laid her down gently on the bed. They made love for what felt like the rest of the night. He made her come the first time and everytime after that, and in a way that neither michael nor herself had ever achieved and it made her want to give just as much as she received which she felt he greatly appreciated. They fell asleep in a tangle of each other's arms.