The following day was a Sunday, and despite it being the Lord's Day, or perhaps because of it, Red served up a punishment of biblical proportions.
"No car unless I specifically give you permission," he said, taking Eric's car key from his key ring (which was now sporting two new additions; one silver and one copper).
"Yes, sir."
"And you're grounded until school starts. No leaving the neighborhood unless your mother or I say it's okay."
Eric nodded. That was going to be a pain, but most of the time, the gang just hung around the Forman basement anyway.
Neither Hyde nor Eric bothered to call Jackie, Kelso, Donna or Fez, knowing they'd come over anyway. None of them knew Eric had returned to Point Place, but they would soon enough.
In the meantime, Eric settled back into his room and unbacked his bags. He retrieved his list of phone numbers from the front pocket of his backpack and headed down to the kitchen to place a call.
It rang only once before a feminine voice answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Joy."
"Eric!" she cried out, and the teen could hear other voices in the background. "Did you make it home alright?"
"Yeah, sorry I didn't call last night, it was sort of crazy over here."
"Hey, man," Aaron's voice came over a second phone.
"Didn't I call Valerie and Ritch's place?" Eric joked, knowing full well that they would all be over in the married couple's apartment on a lazy Sunday like today.
"You must have, 'cause our place only has one line."
"So were your parents pissed?" Ritch's voice asked, as the older man wrestled his phone away from Aaron. The two men leaned in so that they could hear Eric talk. Joy and Valerie listened in on the other phone, which was downstairs in back room of the record store.
"That doesn't even begin to describe it. The only reason I'm able to call you guys is because my mom's at the store and my dad's in the garage."
"It's just their way of showing love," Valerie said.
"Tough love," Ritch agreed.
"Hell, if I went back home my parents would ground me," Aaron laughed.
"So are you as miserable as you thought you would be?" Joy asked.
Eric responded with, "I haven't been back a whole day yet," but quickly amended his statement.
"No, it's not that bad. Just wait 'till school starts, though."
"I told, you, we're going to visit some time this year. It'll make things less boring."
"Just remember, none of your teachers will ever be as cool as me," Aaron said in mock seriousness.
"Trust me, there's no question."
Suddenly, the sound of the Vista Cruiser could be heard pulling into the driveway.
"Crap, I gotta go," Eric said in a panic, knowing that while Kitty would let a phone call slide, Red would not. And if Kitty had groceries, Red would be helping her bring them in.
"Okay, take care of yourself, kid," Ritch said.
"Call us again soon," Joy commanded.
"I will."
"Good luck with your parents," Aaron signed off.
"Thanks."
"And Eric," Valerie said, keeping her point short and sweet. "Talk to Donna. Closure, remember?"
The teen wanted to avoid the question, but he heard the car door close, and knew he was out of time.
"Okay. Bye Val."
He quickly hung up the phone and rushed down to the basement before his parents were even in the house.
...
Some time after lunch, Eric and Hyde were in the basement watching TV; Eric on the couch, Steven in his chair. The curly-haired teen had been asking his friend for more details on the Pink Floyd concert when the basement door opened and Jackie, Fez, and Kelso appeared.
"Hello Hyde, do you want to-" Fez was beginning when a loud, high pitched screech filled the basement.
Jackie, having entered the basement last, thought it was Fez who had made the sound, and Fez looked at Jackie, thinking she was the culprit. But no, it was in fact Michael Kelso who had screamed. The two other newcomers were at first too distracted by Kelso's girlish shriek to notice Eric sitting on the couch, but the tall young man was staring in delight and awe at Eric, who grinned and waved, then stood.
"Hey guys-" he said, but the words and wind were knocked out of him when Kelso tackled him in a bear hug. They fell to the couch, and Michael released his skinny friend.
"Eric!" Fez exclaimed at the same time that Jackie said, "Oh my god, Eric?"
"Yeah, it's me," Eric smiled, as Fez too hugged him in excitement.
"Where've you been, man?"
"I was in Chicago."
"No way!" Michael shouted in excitement.
"Yeah, but thanks for telling everyone I was out banging the Charlie's Angels."
"Hey, anything for a friend," Kelso said sincerely, smiling his goofy smile.
"So what did you do in Chicago?" Fez asked, and everyone sat.
Eric again told his story, carefully leaving out the drugs and sex.
Jackie inquired after the clothes, Kelso asked about the chicks, and Fez wanted to know about the clubs and the dancing.
"Man, that is so cool," Kelso said.
"Yeah, Eric, I never would have thought you'd do something like that. You're usually so…boring."
This was one of Jackie's signature compliments; the type she truly meant as praise, but which ended up as an insult.
Eric stared at her for a moment, then said, "I missed you, Jackie."
She brightened up. "Really?"
"So have you seen Donna yet?" Fez asked.
"No, not yet."
"Well she might not even recognize you. I mean your hair has really improved. Your clothes, too." Another stellar compliment from Jackie.
"So are your parents really mad?" Kelso asked.
"Mad? Do you remember how my dad was after Hyde got busted? This makes that look like a church picnic."
Nobody asked him why he actually decided to run away to Chicago, and for that Eric was grateful. He had been worried about how his parents would understand; he couldn't imaging trying to explain to Jackie or Fez, much less Kelso.
"Well, can we play basketball?" Michael asked.
A few minutes later, the four boys were in the driveway, Jackie leaning against the car filing her nails. Soon enough, she grew tired of this and went inside to talk Kitty's ear off.
After an hour into their game, which had broken down into a round of HORSE, the basketball got away from the guys and rolled down the driveway.
"I'll get it," Eric said, jogging after the ball.
At the same time, Donna was going down her own drive to take out the trash. Because of the bushes that bordered the Forman's property, the two teenagers didn't see each other until it was too late.
Eric bent down to pick up the ball when a pair of shoes came into his line of sight. Looking up to determine their owner, Eric's heart leapt when he saw that it was Donna.
"Eric!" she said in surprise. "Oh my god."
"Hey Donna," Eric said sheepishly, straightening up but forgetting the basketball on the ground.
"Oh my god," she said again, hugging him in excitement. It occurred to her that this hug might be awkward, considering the way that they'd parted the last time, and she immediately pulled back and looked Eric up and down.
"Your hair…" she smiled, and he self-consciously ran his fingers through it.
"Yeah…" he grinned. "I've been getting that a lot."
"Wait, how long have you been back?"
"Oh I got back last night."
"Cool," she said, trying to sound nonchalant. In truth, it would have hurt her if he'd been back for a few days and hadn't come to see her. "Where were you?"
"Chicago."
This stunned the redhead immensely. She'd assumed Eric was just a couple of towns over, or at the beach or something like that. But Chicago? That was unexpected of the mild and unassuming Eric. At a loss for words, Donna just shook her head.
"Wow. So'd you like meet any rock stars?"
"No but I did meet someone who knew a bunch of rockstars."
He didn't feel right saying Joy's name to Donna, even though it shouldn't have mattered in the slightest. He was just friends with Joy, and what's more, as he studied Donna, Eric realized that he felt very little for her. Of course, this was a good friend standing in front of him, and he still cared for her, loved her even, but with a hint of satisfaction, Eric realized that he wasn't pining after her- that seeing her didn't hurt anymore.
However, it was incredibly awkward. They stood there, nodding like a bunch of dorks, as the rest of their friends watched on from a distance.
"You, uh…" Eric coughed. "You look great."
"Thanks, you really look great too," she said. And she meant it. Eric looked like a movie star. She didn't know why there was a different look in his eyes, or why he had a scar up his arm, but she did know that he looked handsome and young and still very grown up.
"Eric, Steven, dinner!" Kitty called from the sliding glass door.
"I gotta go," Eric said, awkwardly bending down to finally retrieve the basketball. This reminded Donna that she'd put the trash bag on the ground, and she picked it up and put it in the bin.
"Yeah, right. My dad's probably got dinner ready too, so…"
"I'll see you around?" Eric asked, hoping that their last conversation would smooth over if they started hanging out again.
"Definitely."
With a little smile, Eric turned towards his house. Jackie outside, having missed the whole exchange.
"I have to go home for dinner."
"I will walk you home," Fez volunteered.
"I'll go with you guys," Michael said enthusiastically. Even though he and Jackie were currently broken up, he was eager to get back on her good side.
As the three bid their friends goodnight and left the driveway, Donna waited to talk to them.
"Oh my god, Donna, did you see Eric?" Jackie asked, unaware of just how uncomfortable the last few minutes had been.
"Yeah."
"He looks so different," Jackie said, practically gushing. Despite the fact that she and Eric rarely got along in the past, the cheerleader always approved when one of her friends got even marginally better looking or more stylish.
"He seems different, too," Fez said, always able to hone in on what everyone else didn't notice.
"You're just imagining things, Fez," Kelso said.
"No, Michael, he's totally right. Did you notice it, Donna?"
"Yeah…" the young woman answered, before bidding her friends goodnight and walking back up to her house.
...
A hearty meal of mashed potatoes, meatloaf and corn-on-the-cob awaited the boys when they came in. Kitty wasn't going to be satisfied until Eric had eaten several full meals, despite his promise that he had eaten just fine in Chicago.
"How is that?" Red asked skeptically as he took a bite of meatloaf.
"What?"
"How could you afford food the entire time you were in Chicago?"
"I got a job," Eric said simply, realizing his parents were completely unaware of how he'd survived away from home. This annoyed him just a little- did they think he was completely helpless? But he didn't let it show.
"What kind of job?" Red asked.
"I worked at a record store."
"Well isn't that nice," Kitty tried to shift the topic, as she really didn't want to think about her son growing up and getting a job outside of Point Place, even now that he was back.
"Where did you stay?" Red continued to interrogate.
"In a Holiday-Inn. It was cheap but still safe." He added that last part for his mother's benefit.
Mr. Forman studied his son while they ate. He wouldn't admit it, but the fact that Eric was able to keep himself afloat for a couple of months alone was rather impressive. Eric still may not have been able to parachute onto a desert island and survive, but this little stint of independence was a good start. Of course, he could under no circumstances reveal his appreciation, so he instead said, "You know, I had to give away your job. Lot of kids were looking for summer work."
Eric wasn't sure how he felt about that. He would need a new job eventually, but he couldn't imagine going back to Price-Mart after working at the record store anyway.
Kitty once again attempted to change the subject.
"I made chocolate cake for dessert tonight," she said, giving Hyde a look that demanded he help before an argument broke out.
"Thanks, Mrs. Forman," Hyde said, grasping at straws. In his defense, 'I made chocolate cake' was not a lot of material to improvise on.
"After dinner I thought we might all watch some TV," Kitty said, giving Red a look that said the conversation was closed.
...
Much later that night, when the Forman parents were in bed, Kitty snuggled up to Red and quietly said. "Please don't fight with Eric this time. He ran off once, he could do it again."
"Kitty, he didn't leave because of us," her husband assured her.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, he called you twice a week so that you wouldn't worry, for one thing. And the fact that he came back. If he had a big enough problem with you and me that he would go all the way to Chicago, he wouldn't have come back."
"So why did he go?" Kitty asked, putting her head on his shoulder as they stared up at the ceiling.
"I don't know," Red said in full honesty.
A moment of quiet passed between them before Kitty asked, "Does he seem different to you?"
"Yes," Mr. Forman admitted.
"And his hair is so long," she added, even though it was really only a couple inches longer than it had been. They both laughed a little.
"I'll take him to the barber some time this week," Red said.
Kitty didn't say anything, knowing that the trip to the barber was a fight waiting to happen.