"Leo, man, you gotta wake up." Hyde was in the store early only to find Leo asleep on the couch. The aged hippy stirred and stared up at Hyde.
"How long was I out, man?" Leo blinked hard.
"No idea, man." Hyde laughed a little to himself. "But we gotta get the store ready. This is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, man. Everyone starts buying their Christmas stuff now."
"Is it December already, man?" Leo sat up on the couch. "It's amazing how time flies."
"Nah, it's the day after Thanksgiving." Hyde ducked in behind the counter and started counting the float in the till. "Pretty soon, the radio station is going to be setting up in here. We've got to be ready for the traffic. Why were you crashing on the couch anyway?"
"Randy was using the cot in the stock room when I showed up, man." Leo headed over to the stock room door. "Which was weird because I thought he had a place." Hyde thought so, too. He pushed open the door to the stock room and headed back through the inventory to the place where he kept the napping cot, near the back door.
Sure enough, sprawled out on the cot face down was Randy. The back of the stock room stunk of bourbon and beer. Hyde crouched down next to the cot and shoved Randy's shoulder. "Get up. I'm the only one allowed to pass out back here."
"Hyde?" When Randy opened his mouth, the unmistakable smell of tobacco smoke came wafting out. Randy completed the bender trifecta last night. "What time is it?"
"7:30." It was early for Hyde, too. But it was the only day of the year he was actually expected to do this. "Want to tell me what you got into last night?"
"I think her name was hyphenated…Betty-Lou…Billie-Joe, something like that." Randy rubbed his eyes hard.
"Why didn't you stay at her place then?" Hyde took a seat at the desk they kept at the back of the stock room so that they could keep the paperwork far away from the customers.
"Because it probably would have been like playing pool with a rope." Randy sat up on the edge of the cot. "I haven't exactly been at my best since Donna and I broke up."
"Memory serves, you broke up with her though?" Hyde's confusion was palpable. "Listen, man, I've done the bender thing and once you're fully sobered up, you can tell me about this one. It sounds like a hell of a story. Get out of here, shower and down some coffee. Then get back here quick."
"Sure." Randy groaned as he got to his feet. "I don't know how the country singers do it. This is like a regular Tuesday for them."
"There's actual pain going on there. Not just some teenage girl who broke up with them." Hyde got to his feet so that he could head back up to the front of the store. "Normally, someone shot their dog and busted their truck as well."
"I'll go get myself cleaned up." Randy headed out the back door.
"How's Randy doing?" Leo asked as Hyde came back to the front of the store. Say what you want about the former hippy, he definitely cared about people. "He looked pretty rough when I saw him last night."
"He'll be fine, man." Hyde went to a corner and grabbed the folding table they usually used for the radio set up when Donna came by. "Come on, Leo, help me set this up." They pulled the heavy folding table up and set it up next to the till. The last thing that they had to do before turning over the 'OPEN' sign for the days was to just check the stock at the front of the store.
BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW
The locker rooms at the department store were attached to the store room. Eric had put the suit and the belly pad; the boots and the wig on a number of time. Because he was so young, the store decided to go with some really costume make up facial hair that adhered to his skin instead of the beard wig that wrapped around his head with an elastic band. But he needed help putting the facial hair on.
So, he stood in the stock room waiting for Jackie who he could trust to help him put this on straight. When she came out of the women's locker room, she definitely caught his attention. Her green elf's tunic was cut very slim and the oversized belt they used to tie it off in the middle really accentuated her waist. The horizontally striped red and white leggings clung to her long legs almost like they were painted on. She carried the elf hat under one arm.
"Eric!" Jackie almost screamed at him. "We've got to get out there really soon and you're not ready."
"Jackie, this facial hair is really tough." Eric held it up. "I'm not sure I trust myself to get this right and you do make up all the time so…"
"Hand it over." Jackie waved at him with her hands and her palms face up. She dealt with the moustache first. She peeled the adhesive protection off the fake moustache and lined it up under Eric's nose. "Stay still. Stop being so twitchy for once."
"I'll try." Eric attempted to restrain a grin.
"No talking." She directed. The moustache went on straight. Stepping back, she took a look at him and thought for a second. She ran back into the ladies' locker room and grabbed her purse. "Santa is supposed to happy rosy cheeks. I figured you could use a little blush to rosy them up a little bit."
"Make up?" Eric was hesitant.
"Do you trust me or not?" She was getting right to the point. They were short on time.
"Fine." He groaned. She lightly ran the brush over his cheeks just to put a little extra pink in them. After putting her make up back in her purse, she turned her attention to the prosthetic beard. Luckily they didn't pick anything too Civil War-like in length for Eric. It was long, but not ridiculously so. Enough to look realistic actually. She took the adhesive protection off and line it up with his jawline.
After stepping back, she had to smile. No doubt she had been skeptical about his ability to be Santa Claus, but now that she was looking at him, she had to admit he could pull it off. Eric naturally had Santa's wholesome magical twinkle in his eye. And, of course, that was her Elf name at work. She was 'Twinkle'. "Alright, give me a nice, deep Santa laugh. Something that's going to show those reindeer who's boss."
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Eric lowered his voice considerably, using his Darth Vader imitation as his Santa voice, ironically.
"Let's go to the North Pole!" Jackie turned the two of them and they headed out the big double doors of the department store to Santa's workshop.
BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW
Donna was getting ready to do her first of two Hot Donna shows from the floor of Grooves that afternoon. As much as she was hoping to have time to talk to hide, the poor guy seemed run off his feet. "It's the Eagles, man." Hyde said with frustration. "It's all 'Heartache Tonight'. Guys like it, girls like it, rockers like it and country fans like it. It's playing everywhere."
She already knew that. It had been a Billboard Number One two weeks ago. It was by far one of the most requested songs that the station got. She'd never really been an Eagles fan but she couldn't deny that they were selling. The store was humming. She could tell that Hyde did everything he could to avoid letting Leo behind the counter to actually sell anything, or more likely, count change.
"Hey, I'm on lunch for the next half hour." Hyde walked over to where the radio gear was set up. "You wanna go talk?"
"I've got like fifteen minutes, but yeah." Donna walked back into the stock room with Hyde. "So, is it just me or has Randy seemed a little off today?"
"Yeah, he's pretty hungover." Hyde laughed a little to himself. "He's been on a bender since the two of you split."
"You don't think that's my fault, do you?" Donna instantly got her back up. "He's the one who broke up with me as I was getting off work like a total dill-hole."
"No doubt." Hyde nodded slowly. "At the same time, things have been a little weird since your scrawny little neighbour boy got back from Africa and you got caught with your hand in the Randy-jar."
Donna gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "This isn't about Eric."
"This is entirely about Eric." Hyde cut her off. "If Eric hadn't come back, you'd still be trying to make things work with a guy who has hair like he spends his nights as a Steve Nicks impersonator in drag."
"Okay, so maybe it is a little bit about Eric." Donna leaned back on one of the inventory shelves. "Ever since he's been back, he's been there but not there. You know? It's a bit like when we broke up after the promise ring thing except back then, I never doubted that Eric still wanted me. He kept paying attention to me. Now, it's just like he's disappeared and then last night I…" She paused when she realized who she was talking to.
"Last night you what?" Hyde was suddenly super interested. "You were acting kind of awkward after you showed up last night."
"When I was walking across the driveway, I saw Eric and Jackie cleaning in the kitchen and…I mean, I don't know, but it looked like they were flirting." Donna sounded genuinely concerned.
"Jackie and Eric?" Hyde sounded amused more than anything. "The two of them can't even watch TV together without trading insults. Forman once said he wanted to throw her out of a moving car back when she was dating Kelso."
"Yeah, and Jackie's said that any woman who dates Eric is basically half-lesbian." A statement that made Donna laugh to remember. "But I know what I saw. I know Eric when he's happy and interested and I know Jackie when she's prepared to think the next guy is the guy. Last night was…not the Eric and Jackie I know."
"I wouldn't worry about it." Hyde brushed her off. "Jackie's been hanging around a lot lately and she's barely left the Forman's since Sam and I got divorced."
"You know who you sound like right now?" Donna started laughing to herself. "Kelso."
"Take it back." Hyde instantly got really serious.
"No, think about it." Donna was still laughing. "When you were first with Jackie, Kelso was convinced that she was going to come back to him. He really thought she was just using you to make him jealous."
"This isn't funny, Donna." Hyde started to pace.
"It's a little funny." Donna was enjoying making Hyde sweat.
"Oh yeah, well if Jackie's interested in Eric, he might just end up being interested in her." Hyde decided to turn the tables. "After all, you said yourself, he hasn't exactly been chasing after you since he got home."
"Come on." Donna shook it off. "Eric's been in love with me since he was seven years old. I don't think you just brush that off. He's never even dated anyone else for more than one date. Remember when he kissed Laurie's college friend and he just had to tell me. Eric's too good a guy and too loyal."
"Yeah, but maybe he's sick of seeing you with other guys." Hyde shot back. "Casey Kelso might have been one thing, but he might think you were sneaking around with Randy before the two of you broke up. Being cheated on screws with your head."
"Well, I wasn't." Donna protested. "You told him that, right?"
"I told him that I didn't know." Hyde answered. "And I don't."
"Whatever, I've got to get on the air." Donna breezed past Hyde. "And I've got my first song, just for you."
She settled in behind the desk and put the headphones on. "This is Hot Donna coming to you live from Grooves record store in lovely downtown Point Place. We're going to be live on location all day with me and Vanessa's Vixen Hour later on. To kick off today's show we've got the Eagles with 'Heartache Tonight'."
Somebody's gonna hurt someone before the night is through.
Somebody's gonna come undone; there's nothin' we can do
Everybody wants to touch somebody, if it takes all night
Everybody wants to take a little chance, make it come out right
There's gonna be a heartache tonight, a heartache tonight I know
BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW
Ten hours later, Eric and Jackie were packing up Santa's workshop for the night. The Elves would trade days of the week. Sometimes they would split shifts but Jackie had told Shelly that she wanted to carry as many hours as possible. Eric had to admit that he would rarely have more difficulty doing anything than trying to take a whiz with his Santa suit on.
Peeling the fake beard and moustache off was a bit of a painful trick. He figured out that he take the beard off slowly and rip the moustache off to minimize the amount of pain. It also felt like he was going to have to scrub his face with a scouring pad to get all the glue off.
He threw his bag over his shoulder and made for the back door to the store room. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. Shelly had told him that it wasn't unusual for the really young kids to get nervous or scared and accidentally make a little mistake in Santa's lap. That's why they kept a couple copies of the suit in the back in case Santa had to change on the fly. But, luckily for Eric, he'd made it through his first day without anything like that.
It turned out that he actually really liked kids. He even had a talent for making them smile. A few of the little boys had certainly taken a liking to Twinkle as well. A deep laugh started to form in his chest but it only manifested as a smile by the time it got to his face. He wondered how long he could get away with referring to Jackie as Twinkle when they were off shift before she took a swing at him.
He waited outside in the employee parking behind the store for Jackie. They had an agreement that when they got off shift together, Eric would drive her home. Now he stood waiting for her, his head back against the brick of the store, just staring up at the stars.
"Hey, Eric." Shelly was the next person out of the back door to the store. "How was your first day?"
"A lot of fun, actually." Eric smiled one of those tired, almost exhausted smiles that flashes across your face for only a second.
"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but you killed it." Shelly swung around to stand in front of him. "That was a sales record for a Friday after Thanksgiving. Helped by the fact that you saw over 250 kids on your first day."
"Yeah, well, it turns out that I was better with kids than I thought." Eric gave a nervous laugh as Shelly slowly seemed to be closing the distance between them.
"Trust me, people noticed." Shelly stared down at his chest, trying to avoid his eyes. "That's the most compliments we've gotten about a Santa Claus in one day. I'll have to figure out how you got that apple cheeked look, that was quite the trick."
"Um," Eric swallowed hard. "That was Jackie's idea. She's really…good at that kind of thing."
"Yeah." Shelly let her voice linger. It was late November in Wisconsin and her breath seemed to rise off her lips like steam. She backed off at the last second when she heard the clicking of the back door to the store. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Um, yeah." Eric nodded quickly and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked over to see Jackie standing there.
"Ready to head home?" Eric started walking toward the Vista Cruiser.
"Yeah." Jackie wondered what she had just walked in on. She could feel the tension in the air. "What did Shelly want?"
"She was just telling me the sales results from the day." Eric swung in behind the steering wheel. "Apparently the store set a sales record for today."
"Well, that's good." Jackie landed in the passenger seat up front. "I could really use that bonus come Christmas Eve."
"She also liked the job you did on my cheeks with the makeup." Eric felt like complimenting Jackie would relieve whatever lingering tension there was.
"Really?" Jackie seemed a little unsure. Eric started the car and pulled them out of the mall parking lot. "Was that it?"
"I mean, apparently we saw more than 250 kids today." Eric was trying to overcome his exhaustion. "Can you believe that?"
"Yeah, it was actually kind of fun." Jackie was back to smiling. "I didn't think I'd enjoy spending that kind of time with kids. That was the thing that worried me about this job, but it turns out it's actually kind of fun."
"Yeah, I think some of the little guys definitely had a thing for Twinkle." Eric jousted as they pulled off the main drag toward Jackie's apartment.
"Well, Twinkle's fabulous. How could they not?" Jackie enjoyed this little banter with Eric. More than she thought she ever could given that it was, well, Eric. She definitely looked fabulous in those leggings, Eric thought to himself. And then pinched the bridge of his nose. What the hell was he doing?
"Here we are." Eric pulled up to the curb outside her apartment building. "Want me to pick you up tomorrow on the way to work?"
"When does your shift start tomorrow?" Jackie asked as she popped the passenger side door open.
"The workshop is open from 10am until 6:30pm tomorrow." Eric searched his memory. "I've got to go in a little early to get ready, obviously."
"My shift doesn't start until two tomorrow." Jackie felt a little disappointed at that when she had to say it out loud. "I guess we'll have to apple up your cheeks on your lunch break when I get in."
"I guess so." Eric smiled weakly. "See you tomorrow, Twinkle."
"Goodnight, Santa." Jackie closed the door.
BAD-TIME-TO-BE-IN-LOVE-THAT-70s-SHOW
The Vixen Hour was just about to take over after the second Hot Donna show of the day. Grooves had been packed from the moment the doors opened until now, an hour before closing time. Hyde had already had to fill out two deposit slips and take cash back to the safe hidden away in the back of the store. It was standard store protocol right W.B. Once the till got too full, it had to be cleared and stored until the deposit could be run to the bank.
Donna put on the last song of her show and pulled her headphones off. It felt good to help Hyde out with the store on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. As she did every night when she took the headphones, she ran a hand through her hair to unflatten it and she got up to stretch out and walk around the listening pit of the store.
"Hey Donna," Hyde called over to her from behind the counter. "Thanks."
"No problem." She waved at him. Randy came walking out of the stock room and the two of them came face-to-face. "Hey." She nodded at him.
"Hey." He nodded back. "Um, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say here."
"How about anything?" Donna wanted to freak out on him.
"I'm…sorry, I guess." Randy shrugged. "At least for the way I did it. But, come on Donna, it wasn't like things were working and neither of us seemed to be very interested in changing that."
"Hyde says you've been feeling a little rough lately." Donna tried to transition away from the direct conflict.
"Just a couple benders." Randy tried to play it cool. "It's nothing."
"Yeah, well, take care of yourself alright?" Donna tried to reach out to him but the whole thing felt kind of awkward.
"I'll do what I can." Randy cracked his knuckles. "And hey, I don't know what you should do about Eric, or really have an opinion, I just would hate to lose out to a guy who was never really in the game, you know?"
Just as Donna was about to answer, the start of the Vixen Hour cut in over her shoulder.
Some people like to stay out late
Some folks can't hold out that long
But nobody wants to go home now; there's too much goin' on
"Yeah, I know." Donna nodded and Randy went back to work.