Thank you so much to KristinaSmiley, both guests, MicroSpider, TieDyeJackson (Bravo, my friend! I was so excited to see all that when I got the email. And I'm so glad that you decided to take a chance on my OC. And don't worry. I won't try to convert you. I've never actually read a Jeric fanfic so I'll be looking those up.) and wordsarepuremagic. Wordsarepuremagic has thrown down a new challenge and since I haven't been updating as often as I would like to so I'm going to accept it. Five chapters in a week. Sweet baby Jesus, pray for me.
Chapter Nine: Ladies and Gentlemen Only
"Why would you choose someone like Hyde?" Jackie whined, her brown eyes big as she stared at Tina across the kitchen table. Morning light filtered through the sliding door, slipping past the thin curtains and lighting the room in a warm way that Tina always liked. Usually, these moments were hers - she sat her in the familiar, softness of her kitchen chairs and listened to the gentle whispers of the house that she had grown up in since she was little. Steam rolled lazily from the cups in front of both of the girls, the smell of the fresh donuts sitting in the middle of the table mixing with the earthier tones coming from the cups.
"We're not going out and I didn't choose Steven Hyde. He's not a box of cereal. Why are you here?" Tina said bluntly, her head pounding dully as she stared at the brunette sitting across from her. Sometimes Jackie seemed to almost creep up on the unaware. She reminded Tina a lot like the alligators that she saw on her mom's nature programs: deadly in all senses of the word but slow-moving right up until the point where you're by the water's edge drinking some water and she jumps out at you to give your neck a hug with her teeth.
"You know Melanie Whitman went out with a poor person." Jackie's eyes snapped as she took a donut and pointed it at Tina with a knowing look. "She ended up pregnant, living in Florida, Tina. She's working as a lawyer, Tina. A law-yer."
Tina had no words. There was nothing that could possibly compare to such a viciously spoken statement. What was she supposed to say?
"Lawyer's a pretty good job, Jackie. I don't really hear much about female lawyers," the brunette finally responded blandly and Jackie rolled her eyes, sitting back.
"That point is that she works, Tina. She's like always doing some random case of sorting through like files and stuff. Or like - I don't know what lawyers do but she's doing it!" Jackie was looking at her like those were valid comments against Melanie Whitman.
Silence flooded the space as the blue-eyed girl stared hard at the Ukrainian bombshell in front of her.
"You're a moron." Jackie gasped, reeling back like Tina had just said that her hair wasn't brushed right. "And me and Hyde aren't going out."
"I am trying to help you, Tina Renee Forman," she said venomously, her face getting that snotty, better-than-you look that it got sometimes. Her spine straightened, one perfectly, tweezered brow going up as her eyes darkened in criticism. "The point is that Melanie Whitman has a little baby and her husband - Well, I actually don't really know about him. He was always so poor and you know how that is - Once poor, always poor."
Tina's blue eyes went a stormy blue as she stared at the brunette, her face scrunching up as she tried to calculate something very quickly. Briefly her eyes flicked around to the small kitchen that her mom always complained about and the creaky cabinets that always seemed to slide open just when you were walking past, scraping your legs and banging your shins. Finally, they slid back to Jackie who was still staring at her like she was waiting for agreement. Tina slowly leaned forward, honest curiosity written across her face.
"You do realize that I'm poor too, right?" Jackie's eyes rolled again as she huffed, sitting back in her chair.
"Middle class," she said like it was the most obvious statement in the world. "With the ability to move up. You went out with Freddy Jennis."
"Freddy Jennis was an idiot who liked to sit in the parking lot for an hour so that he could yell obscene comments to the mathletes," Tina replied slowly, like she was talking to a two year old.
"It's the ability that matters, Tina," Jackie said solemnly, nodding. "If you can get the quarterback than you can get any rich kid you want. It's called being hot."
She was talking like it was an actual science, her smile radiant as she gave Tina an encouraging nod.
"Wouldn't that make me exactly like Melanie Whitman - except I'm the one who dragged her down to the lowly pits of being a working female lawyer with a kid?"
"You poor thing," Jackie whispered, staring at her with such compassion that Tina actually felt sick. "We're women, Tina. It doesn't work like that for attractive women."
"Right. My bad. Forgot they already made a term for that: gold digger," Tina said, forcing some sugary joy into her words as she laughed along with Jackie, nodding.
"I'm glad you get it! Donna never understands."
"You don't say," Tina mumbled, getting up to clean out her coffee cup. "So, really - why are you here? You could be on your way to Paris with your dad right now on some fancy private jet."
For a moment, Tina's mind wandered as she thought about that kind of freedom. Jackie went to Jamaica last year for her winter break. She just got on a jet with her dad and they were off. Tina couldn't even imagine being able to get in the car and go to New York for a night. Sighing, Tina scrubbed down her cup and then dried it, placing it in the cabinet. And then realized that Jackie hadn't said a word.
Crystal blue eyes flicked up to see the brunette, running a nail along the edge of the table, her eyes distant. Tina had rarely seen her like this. Jackie wore her pocketbook like most people wore clothes. And Kelso rarely let anyone forget the fact that the girl had enough money to pay for all of the gang to go on a vacation to Wonderland. After, of course she used more of her substantial bank account to build it from the ground up. Sighing, Tina leaned a hip against the counters, rubbing a hand over her neck.
"You know my dad only has a half-day today," Tina threw out, watching intently as the brunette looked up, her eyes bright with peaked interest. Jackie had always had a weird kind of admiration for Tina's father.
Before this moment, Tina had never put much thought into that fact.
"My dad's out of town this week," Jackie threw out hopefully and Tina resisted the words that were bubbling up inside her as she began to clean up the girl's plate and cup. It seemed that Jackie said that an awful lot.
"I don't know how long I'll be with Fez and Hyde but I'm sure my dad would be happy to have the extra help in the garage."
That was a lie. Tina Forman knew full well that her father would likely sour to the point of becoming fermented wine when he saw the Ukrainian cheerleader enter his garage. By the time that she got back, she was sure that her father would be able to pickle vegetables with one touch.
"Oh, Tina I would love to!" Jackie gushed, grinning as Tina's eyes caught on a flash of curly hair. "...We won't be doing any manual labor, will we?"
Tina sighed as the sliding door opened, Hyde shuffling in with a lazy glance around, his lips curling down as if on reflex as they caught on the brunette at the table but then tipping back up as they reached Tina. Smirking, he slouched into the kitchen, his fingers sliding discreetly across the bit of exposed skin that her shirt didn't cover at her hips and causing her to release a barely suppressed snarl.
"No manual labor, Jackie," Tina snapped, glaring at the back of Hyde's head as he riffled through the fridge with a smile.
"Wouldn't want you to break a nail there, Cinderella," Hyde called, snagging the orange juice and a glass.
"You don't even know what we're talking about, you pauper," Jackie retorted, crossing her arms as her eyes went lethal. "And I'm way hotter than Cinderella."
Tina whistled, her brows raising as she hopped up on the counter. Someone had been looking in their little princess dictionary lately.
"I see you've been re-reading your baby book of fairy tales," Hyde said solemnly, flicking a glance to the girl before leaning across the counter, incidentally taking up the space right by Tina and pressing warmly to her side. Her lips pressed together as a jolt ran from the spot where his skin met hers through her entire body. "But it doesn't really take a genius to realize that Jackie Burkhart and a little bit of dirt don't really go together."
"You know what doesn't go together?" Jackie's eyes flicked to Tina and then back to Hyde and suddenly a bolt of clarity came to Tina. This was not going to end well for anyone with she continued.
"Okay, girls!" Tina broke in, holding up her hands as all eyes turned to her. "You're both pretty. Put the claws away."
"Thanks, sweetness," Hyde murmured to her with a playful smirk, the back of his hand running across Tina's thigh and sending the girl into a frazzled mess of hormones and fire. He kept it there, his fingers splaying wide along the top of her thigh as he kept his eyes on the brunette sitting at the table. The high counters and low cabinets held just enough coverage where she wouldn't be able to see where his hand was at the moment. But if she moved, they were both going to be in trouble.
If Tina could have burned a hole into the side of Hyde's head at that moment, she would have. Stomach knotted, she watched with thinned lips as the curly haired boy's smirk grew into a full grin, his eyes flashing wickedly from beneath his sunglasses. Slowly, his fingers curled around her thigh causing a squeak to brake from Tina as her thighs went slamming shut. And subsequently trapping Hyde's fingers. Which seemed to delight him immensely.
"Tina, I'm leaving!" Panic pumped through Tina's veins as the sound of the chair scraping along the kitchen floor reached her ears. Jackie was getting up and -
Tina's nails dug into Hyde's ear, his body jerking to the right as the brunette gave Jackie a sweet smile. "Bye!"
With one last cursory glance of distaste and curiosity at the pair, the cheerleader slid out the front door. Although Jackie would never lie to herself and say that she wasn't interested in the two, she knew that their book was already written. And unlike all the romantic stories that she had read over the years, she knew that their story would not end in happily ever after. The brunette shook her head, sighing. When would people learn that what she said was always right?
"You know," Hyde mused, his eyes on the sliding door where Tina was staring like she was waiting for her father to come storming around the corner anytime. He grinned. This situation felt strangely familiar to how he usually ended up with girls. Except this girl was Tina Forman and she had pulled him nearly on top of her lap in order to cover. "I think she might know."
Tina hissed, her eyes snapping to stare down at the boy currently sliding a hand up the side of her thigh, his smirk wolfish. Snarling, she abruptly released his ear to shove him away from her. "You're an ass, Hyde."
"The compliments so early in the morning," Hyde breathed, faking sincere gratitude with a hand to his heart. Slowly, his hands slid up the sides of her thighs, finally curling into her belt loops to slide her farther down the counter. Honey colored curls fell over his forehead in an entirely too charming as he stared up at her, his fingers working soothingly at her thighs until she relaxed enough so that he could slide between her legs.
He was too charming for his own good, Tina thought grumpily as she glared down at him.
"We agreed that we would keep us - this - whatever we're doing a secret-" the brunette frowned, resisting the urge to shiver as Hyde's fingers tightened along her hips drawing her body flush against his.
"No. No. No," he murmured, his eyes flashing as he leaned up until they were a breath apart. Tina's head went light, her eyes drifting down to his lips as her hands crept up to play along his collar. "You gave the order and I didn't say anything."
Her brows furrowed, the words circling around her head for a moment before they sunk in. Why was she still looking at his lips? Lips weren't supposed to be that interesting. Tina Forman had never stared at lips this long. She gulped, her fingers curling into the soft material of his collar. "You said… Um-"
"I didn't say yes or no," he whispered and her eyes fluttered shut as his nose nuzzled against hers, one of his hands going to rest warmly in the small of her back. Her insides tightened, heat sizzling along her skin. "So this whole secret thing is all on you, doll."
"You didn't say…" Why was her head all fuzzy? Warm, soft hair tangled around her fingers as she swayed forward. She wanted him to kiss her. Blinking, she stared into the blue of his eyes through his sunglasses. He had kissed her the other night. Why wasn't he kissing her now? "You're going to tell everyone?"
His smirk grew, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "Nah. But I'm definitely not going to help you. Going out with one of the hottest girls in school isn't going to exactly be a scratch on my record."
Something about what he just said made Tina's brain go into high alert. There was something wrong about them. But before she could speak up or collect herself his lips were pressing against hers, gentle as he pressed his lips slowly to hers. But Tina wanted more. Pressing forward, she wrapped her legs more tightly around his waist, ignoring the deep chuckle that bubbled from his throat to her lips as he slid his hands down to grasp her hips and drag her closer. Tina wanted him to kiss her like he had the night at the Christmas party but by the way that he was giving her small little pecks, sucking her bottom lip and then pulling away, he wasn't going to give her that.
Growling, she broke the kiss, leaning back just enough so that she could glare into his eyes. "You're doing this on purpose."
His lips curled into a smirk as a hand rubbed soothingly over his back. "I'm kissing you like a good boy. We've only been seeing each other for a few days and I want to make sure that you think I'm a gentleman. You know what that means, bunny?"
Fire sizzled along her spine as he leaned forward, his breath blowing along her ear. "No tongue."
"You're an ass," Tina hissed, blushing. She was so angry that he had caught her. And also that she had wanted him to kiss her like that. She frowned. She could turn this around. She should be able to turn this around. Smiling softly, she leaned forward as Hyde's eyes went wary. Sliding a hand along his neck and down his back, she leaned forward until her lips were skimming his ears. "That's too bad. And here I was thinking that we could maybe get a little more familiar."
She arched into him, pressing her breasts into his chest as she hear him exhale slowly, his fingers flexing on her butt. Tina smirked, sliding quickly away from him and off the counter. No one would ever been able to say that Tina was going to let Steven Hyde get one over here. Even if it did leave her aching to walk away from him like this. Trailing a hand along his back, she leaned up for one last jab.
"But you're right. You're a gentleman and I'm a lady." And with that she flounced over to sit heavily in one of the kitchen chairs just as the sliding door opened to reveal Fez.
"Hello, my lovely American friends!" the foreigner chirped and then he zeroed in on the table. "Oh! Donuts!"
"Dammit," Hyde muttered, leaning heavily on the counter as he stared down at it with a mixture of anger and pain.
"Hyde, if I may say so, you look like-"
"Okay! Time to go!" Tina smirked as the curly haired boy stormed to the sliding door opening it with a bang and motioning for them to leave. Today was already turning into one of the best days ever, the brunette thought happily as Fez tried to stuff the remaining donuts into his bag.
"Oh, Steven," Tina sang, glancing over her shoulder as the two boys followed behind her, one with a mouthful of food and the other glum with his hands jammed into his pockets. Hostile, blue eyes met hers. "Remind me when I get home - I have a present for you."
"I'm sure it's not the one that I want," she could hear Hyde mutter and she grinned, making her way down the drive.
Okay. So - I do see my traffic graph so instead of asking for reviews (although believe me when I say that I really love those too) I'm gonna ask for some follows and favorites this chapter! If you like it, that is. You know how sensitive us writers are. So please follow and favorite if you want to see more!