Donna was sitting alone in the booth at WFPP near the end of her shift. It was two days since Eric had come home. Two days since she'd last seen him. Two days since the only thing she did was scream his name in surprise. It had also been two days since she last saw Randy. He walked into her kitchen, spoke to her and then seemed to just disappear. He called her yesterday just to tell her that he still had his job at the record store. But things over there seemed to have gotten a little chilly since.
She ran a hand through her hair. That last two days felt like the beginning of the Cold War. She had Randy and her Dad in her corner. Eric had his parents and Hyde. That one felt like a real loss. She figured Hyde would always be a friend – a close friend. No one seemed to have seen Fez in a couple days. Kelso was still in Chicago. Jackie had talked to her over the phone but hadn't dropped by yet.
Her show was on right after Jerry Thunder did drive time. Max still hung around the station at this time of night – mostly to avoid his wife. Vanessa would be in pretty soon to set for her Vixen Hour show that followed Hot Donna on the schedule. Max told her that given Hot Donna trailed only Jerry Thunder as far as the station's ad revenue went, it only made sense to build on something that was working. Imitation, she told herself, was the sincerest form of flattery.
"You don't look that enthused about ending your shift." Max stuck his head into the booth. "No big plans for that night. That kid who looks pretty enough to be one of my daughters isn't going to come by and take you out?"
Donna laughed and hung her head for a second. "Surprisingly, no." She tapped the eraser of her pencil on the desk. "Hey Max, tell me something. When do boys stop being cowards?"
"Usually," Max took another step into the booth. "When someone has scared the hell out of them and they've got nowhere to turn." He gave Donna a quick smile and went to turn out of the booth before pausing and turning back. "Or when they stop listening to Styx and start listening to Springsteen."
Donna laughed. It was hard not to think about the men in her life and the boys in her life and wonder when some of them would start to make the transition. She wondered when Randy would stop pretending everything was some kind of big joke or some kind of game that he could play. She wondered when Eric would finally give up the G.I. Joes and the X-Wing Fighters. To this point, the two guys who had done the most growing up had been Kelso and Hyde. Probably the two that you least would have bet on.
Sure, in most ways, Hyde was the same old Hyde. But having to go in and manage the store every day had grounded him. In some ways, it kind of reminded her of her Dad when he was younger. That wasn't a comparison she figured Hyde would love. But they could both be a little goofy. In different ways, of course. But when her Dad owned Bargain Bob's, he always got out of bed and got his butt into work. He didn't let people down.
And Kelso…well, having Betsy, graduating from the police academy and moving to Chicago, he'd definitely gotten beyond the guy who annually fell off the water tower. What was it Max said about getting the hell scared out of you and having nowhere to run? Was there a better description of Kelso after he found out that Brooke was pregnant?
The song spun to its end and Donna took over at the mic again. "That was "Good Girls Don't" by the Knack. And as I like to say when I hear that tune, just because good girls don't doesn't mean that I'm a good girl." Donna let her voice drop just a little at the end of that flirtation. "I've got one more song for you before Vanessa's Vixen Hour takes over at the top of the hour. Isn't that a great show? I really think Vanessa puts together some of the sexiest soundtracks you'll hear on radio anywhere. It's music to love somebody to."
Donna smiled through the glass of the booth at her co-worker who just walked in. In spite of the fact that Vanessa tried to melt the microphone, she didn't dress like she was some kind of temptress and, for that, she got Donna's respect. "It doesn't matter what I'm actually wearing." Vanessa would say, sometimes while wearing a baggy Milwaukee Bucks sweatshirt. "It matters what I can make the guy behind the wheel think I'm wearing."
"Here's J.D. Souther with a hot hit this week and 'You're Only Lonely'." Donna popped the headphones off and stepped out of the booth, running he fingers through her hair in an attempt to unflatten it. "Hey, Vanessa."
"Hey, Donna." Vanessa chimed in as she dug her set list for the night out of her purse. "I liked your riff on The Knack. Nice take." Vanessa eyes her list. "I love this song, don't you?"
"You like this song?" Donna sounded a little shocked. It wasn't something that she expected to hear from the girl whose show took over at 9pm.
"It's a great crier." Vanessa smiled reflectively in a kind of sad way. "One of those songs that, if you hear it too late at night or right after you've gotten off the phone with someone you really miss or you really want to say something to and you chicken out."
"I'm not sure that the greatest crying songs in Rock'n'Roll is a good theme for The Vixen Hour." Donna chuckled just a little. "I don't know I like great breakup songs, too but this one…"
"It's a good burn." Vanessa sucked a cold breath between her teeth. "Sometimes, you gotta love a good, slow burn."
When the world is ready to fall on your little shoulders
And, when you're feeling lonely and small,
You need somebody there to hold you;
You can call out my name
When you're only lonely
Donna walked out of the station and saw Randy leaning back on the hood of his car with his hands stuffed rigidly into the pockets of his jacket. He clearly had WFPP playing in the car and it was still running as he waited for her. She wondered if she'd ever stop looking at him in moments like this and stop seeing Eric. Tepidly, she walked over and came face to face with him.
"I didn't expect to see you out here." She admitted with a little hesitance.
"I was literally driving by right when you started playing this song." Randy shifted uncomfortably. "Figured if I didn't take that as a sign then I wasn't ever going to get one."
"Haven't seen you in a couple days." Donna folded her arms in front of her chest.
"In the last couple of days, I've lost a lot of friends and barely held on to my job." Randy avoided her gaze. "I wasn't exactly on what you'd call a winning streak."
"Yeah, but those are the times when we're supposed to talk and be there for each other." Donna pressed him just a little harder.
"To be honest, I didn't figure that there was much runway left for us." Randy shrugged. "Ever since Eric came back, you just seem kind of distant. There's too much going on there."
"So what? You just want to give up on me?" Donna accused, starting to feel a little bit of what Vanessa was trying to explain about this song rise in her chest. "On us?"
"I just don't think I want to hang around and see if you get back together with Eric or not." Randy stood up straight and sort of his angled his body back toward the driver's side door. He waited for Donna to say something. She waited for something to come to mind. But she couldn't sum up the situation any better than he just had.
In the silence, Randy felt like he had his answer. He opened the driver's side door to his car and slid in behind the wheel. As the car pulled away, Donna thought once again of Max's words. When does a boy become a man? When he's got the hell scared out of him and nowhere else to turn.
Randy turned. Again.
BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW
Even the Star Wars geek in Eric never thought he'd say this: but it was a long day helping interview elves. While he was locked in to play Santa and Shelly was locked in to play Mrs. Claus when she wasn't working on other Christmas events at the store. But they still needed some elves for Santa's workshop to take the pictures and hand out the candy canes. Unlike his gig as Santa, the Elves were part-time. Some of them were high school girls or community college students.
He plodded down the outside stairs to the basement and threw the door open. When he stepped into the basement, he found Jackie lounging on the couch watching Donohue. She was another person that he hadn't seen since he'd gotten back to Wisconsin. "Jackie." Eric tossed his jacket over Fez's chair near the door. "What are you doing here?"
"When I sit around my apartment, I'm just reminded of all the things I don't have." Jackie answered. "Over here, I feel like I get to hide."
Eric sat down next to her on the couch. "I know what you mean. In the last few days, I've had to be evacuated from a country by the US Marines; I've walked in on a woman I once thought was the love of my life kissing another guy and I need a job to get through the next few months until I go off to school."
Jackie stuck out her lower lip, slightly impressed by Eric's run of bad luck before deciding she could beat it. "Yeah, well, I had my boyfriend run off to Vegas and marry a stripper; I got my dream job at Wake Up Wisconsin before being fired because my boss turned out to be a witch; my father is in prison; my mother is in Mexico and to top it all off, today Fez tried to offer me a job at the salon as the girl who sweeps the hair."
"Okay." Eric paused. "Yeah, you win."
"At least I finally win something." Jackie gave a rueful chuckle. Silence hung between them. It was only kind of companionable. He wasn't sure if the reason that they said nothing was because they had nothing to say or if it was because what they had to say to each other was too awkward to get out. "So, uh, are you going to take the job?"
"I can't think of anything that I'd hate more." Jackie crossed her arms and huffed. "I know so many women who go to that salon. Pretty women, rich women and the idea that they'd see me sweeping…"
"But you need a job, right?" Eric gulped and turned to face her.
"Yeah, but does it have to be this one?" Jackie couldn't really express the amount of disappointment she felt.
"Um, so I might be able to help." Eric was tepid. "Keep in mind, it'd only be part time and I'm just saying you should come in and apply for it."
"Yeah, yeah whatever Eric, what is it?" Jackie suddenly seemed slightly more enthusiastic.
"Well, you know the department store at the mall?" Eric decided that the roundabout way was the best way to approach this one. Jackie nodded along. "So, I kind of got a job there a couple days ago…as the store Santa for Christmas."
"Ha!" Jackie threw her head back revealing a full horseshoe of glistening white teeth. "You? You barely weigh more than I do."
"It's called a belly pad and I actually look good in it." Eric's eyes got wide.
"So, how do I fit into this picture?" Jackie was curious. "Or do I even want to know?" Then she suddenly started thinking about all the ways he could possibly answer that question. "Please tell me that they need a new girl at the counter in perfume or cosmetics."
"Not exactly." Eric suddenly felt an urge to move out of screaming range. "I need elves at Santa's workshop."
"You want me to be an elf?" Jackie's look of disbelief was almost comical. "Like pointy ears and Christmas carols?"
"Well, there's no singing." Eric tried to explain sarcastically. "And I've seen the costume, the only pointy thing is your shoes and they're really more curled than pointy."
She thought about it for a second. Anyone she ever saw doing this job always looked happy. They were always smiling and enjoying themselves. No one ever looked down on them. It was almost like people thought they were doing a community service by helping set the Christmas atmosphere in Point Place. Besides, a part of her wanted to see Eric in a Santa Claus costume.
"What does this pay?" Jackie asked.
"Actually it's better than you'd think and we get a bonus if the store makes its sales target by Christmas Eve." Eric explained as he slid away from her, turned and sat up on the arm of the couch. "We also get an in-store discount for Christmas so…"
"Less expensive shopping is a major selling point." Jackie grinned but only a little, like she was afraid to admit that she was enjoying this. She could tell that a little part of Eric was enjoying this as well. "So, I just walk in there tomorrow and tell them that I'm interested in becoming an elf?"
"You remember Shelly Wessler from High School?" Eric had a slight glint of mischief in his eye. "She's running everything Christmas for the store, just talk to her. I'm sure that she'll give you the job."
That last bit of information caught Jackie off guard. A blind person could see that Shelly had a thing for Eric when the two of them were lab partners in high school. A part of her wondered if, given what happened with Donna, that was a part of Eric's reason for taking the job. But that wasn't Eric. He was almost oblivious to Shelly's attention until she put the moves on him in school. The Eric she knew was probably silently stewing over what happened with Donna and would for a while.
"You actually want to work with me?" That was the final question that she kind of wanted answered.
"You should have seen the elves that I spent the day helping interview." Eric laughed nervously, hoping to brush off the serious question about what he actually wanted. "You'd be a major improvement on any of them."
It didn't escape Jackie's notice that he didn't exactly answer the question. "Eric, I asked you if you actually wanted to work with me."
"I don't think I would have suggested it if I didn't want to." Eric tried to stay as blindly non-committal as he could. His attention turned to the radio, playing lowly in the background. He heard Donna's voice as she introduced the next song.
"I've got one more song for you before Vanessa's Vixen Hour takes over at the top of the hour. Isn't that a great show? I really think Vanessa puts together some of the sexiest soundtracks you'll hear on radio anywhere. It's music to love somebody to. Here's J.D. Souther with a hot hit this week and 'You're Only Lonely'."
"Listen, Jackie…" Eric let his voice drift for a second. "When I was in Africa, I thought about the goodbye moments that really surprised me. Like Red giving me his knife. And I didn't expect you to call before I left. I figured that I was always the twitchy guy you liked to insult and you were the bratty, screeching girl I tried to ignore."
"Yeah, well…" Jackie let out a hard breath all her own. "I remembered something Leo told us that Christmas when you were trying to direct the play at the Church. He said something about how you were the only one of us with a real moral core. I guess it wasn't until I thought Steven abandoned me that I realized how rare that is in guys."
The look in Eric's eyes softened. "I'm worried we might actually be becoming friends."
"I won't tell anyone if you don't, Santa Claus." Jackie smiled again.
When you need somebody around on the nights that try you
I was there when you were a queen
And I'll be the last one there beside you
So you can call out my name
When you're only lonely