Hyde cursed under his breath-the dress shoes Mrs. Forman had insisted he wear weren't

exactly made for walking any distance. He'd headed towards downtown when he left the church with one goal in mind. To find a bar and get so wasted that this day would cease to exist. Since this was Wisconsin and there was a bar on nearly every corner, he had no trouble finding one.

If the red Camaro parked on the street looked familiar he thought nothing of it until he saw the owner sitting at the bar.

Hyde hesitated, unsure if he should go elsewhere or find out what the hell Jackie's fiancé was doing slamming shots at a bar instead of greeting guests at his wedding. He looked at his watch. The wedding should be starting in about twenty minutes. Not much time to get Bradley out of here and to the church on time.

"Damn" he muttered under his breath, realizing he was planning on getting involved, which he hated. It wasn't his business. Hell, if Bradley had cold feet who was he to interfere? But curiosity and the thought of Jackie getting stood up at the altar forced him to the bar-and the stool next to Jake Bradley.

"Hey," he said to the bartender. "I'll have a beer and he'll have another shot," he pointed to Jake. While it wouldn't be funny if Jake stood Jackie up it might be hilarious if he showed up to the wedding plastered.

Jake glanced up, "Oh, hey. What are you doing here, Hyde?"

"I could ask you the same thing, man. Aren't you supposed to be getting leg shackled for life to a

screechy little cheerleader right about now?"

Jake slumped further down on his bar stool, sighing. "Yeah, I guess."

Hyde took a long slug of his beer. "You guess? You do realize what Jackie will do to you if you're late. I hope you kept your cup from football, 'cause you're going to need it, man." He chucked, picturing a livid Jackie kicking Bradley in the stones.

"What? Oh, yeah. Jackie has a bit of a temper, doesn't she?" Jake frowned.

Hyde's eyes opened wide behind his shades. "Man, that's like saying ABBA sucks. It's a given. Do you even know Jackie?"

Jake laughed-if you could call the strangled sound stuck in his throat a laugh. Neither of them said anything for awhile. Hyde signaled for another beer. It was nearly half gone before he decided to speak again.

"Look, man-you can tell me to go to Hell if you want but what the fuck are you doing?"

Jake's empty shot glass slammed down on the counter. "I don't know what I'm doing, ok? I thought I wanted to get married. I thought-damn it, I thought she was the one. But now, I don't know. I just don't know."

flashback

They were in Forman's basement and Jackie stood in front of him, hands clutched to her chest, tears in her eyes.

"Please, Steven. Please say anything except "I don't know"," she pleaded.

He saw himself shrugging, staring back at her and saying exactly what she didn't want to hear.

"Then I can't be with you anymore," she said and quietly shut the door behind her.

And now here was another asshole besides himself about to break her heart. The rage rose quickly and white hot in his chest. Jake Bradley might be taller and stronger than him but Hyde had the advantage of surprise as he grabbed the former all state quarterback by the neck and threw him off his barstool, halfway to the door.

"Hey, knock it off. We don't want any of that shit in here," the bartender yelled.

"Don't worry, man. We're outta here," Hyde slammed a ten on the bar then hauled a dazzed Jake out the door.

"Hyde, what are you doing?"

"Give me your keys, man." He thrust his hand out.

"What? Why?" Jake asked but he handed them over.

"Because I'm not going to let you wrap that fancy car around a lamppost on the way to your wedding," he snarled, shoving Jake into the passenger seat of the new, red Camaro. Jake resisted, "Wait-no-I said I don't think I can do this!" he protested.

"I know what you said, asshole. Now Jackie needs to hear it. If you don't wanna marry her, you gotta tell her. Man up," and with that he practically tossed the star QB into the car and ran around to the drivers seat. Sliding in and revving the engine he muttered "Nice," and thrust the

eight cylinder into drive. He spun the car around and headed back down Franklin Avenue towards the church.

Jake started out the window. "Its not that I don't want to marry her. I love her. It's just that I

don't think she loves me. At least not the way you're supposed to love the person you're marrying. I shouldn't be talking to you about this-you went out with her. It's just- I always had a thing for her…"

"Yeah, that's what I heard," Hyde ground out, shooting an angry glare at Jake, who pulled back in his seat a little but kept talking, his voice only a little slurred.

"When I had a chance I asked her out. I couldn't believe she said yes. She seemed so happy when we got engaged but something doesn't seem right. She's never looked at me the way she looks at you."

Startled, Hyde jerked the steering wheel a little. "What do you mean? Jackie doesn't look at me-not if she can help it. She sure as hell doesn't look at me in any special way!"

"Yeah, she does. I don't think she even realizes it. It's just like she used to look at you in high school."

flashback

It was Valentines Day and he and Jackie had just made up after she called Kelso her boyfriend. They were at the school dance-not his favorite way to spend an evening-but she was pressed up against him and she smelled fantastic. He buried his face in her hair and breathed her in. She tipped her head back and smiled at him, her eyes glittering like topazes. She didn't need to say anything-it was there in her eyes. She really had meant it when she said she loved him. The words wouldn't come so he kissed her instead and hoped she could tell how he felt about her.

Thinking back, he knew Bradley was right. There had always been a certain way she looked at him. No matter what was going on he could tell he was the one for her. God, he missed that.

He cleared his throat, "I don't know what you mean but it doesn't matter. You need to tell her if you don't wanna get married."

"I know…I know. God," Jake buried his head in his hands. Hyde hit the gas-this was not his thing-all this talking about feelings. Especially when it concerned his ex-girlfriend and telling her fiancé not to hurt her. If only he had followed his own advice years ago.