"In every place, no matter where you look, there are nooks that one seems to see, odd little spaces and hidden corners that hide from the world in plain sight. In every single square inch of the world, no matter how populated, there are what could be called liminal places, tiny little spaces, sometimes vast stretches, where the average laws of space and time are not wholly adhered to, you might say." - John Kreiter, The Art of Transmutation

o-o-o

Sunday, November 20th

Sunday afternoon, Kelso bursts through the basement door carrying a large cardboard box and grinning from ear to ear.

"Guys, you're never gonna believe it." He sits on the couch and lowers the box onto the spool table.

"Not now, Charlie's Angels is on," Fez whines from the lawn chair.

"No, Fez. The angels can wait. This is even better."

"What've you got there, buddy?" Forman says, cautiously placating as though talking to a child. He rises from his spot on the back of the couch to peer in Kelso's box. "A box of junk?"

"Not just junk," Kelso says, barely able to keep the excitement from his voice. "Free junk."

I sigh and sit up in my chair, removing my feet from the table. "Free junk?" I say with mocking enthusiasm.

"Uh huh," Kelso says, missing my sarcasm completely. "I went to Bargain Bob's today and everything is on clearance before the store closes. But Bob just handed me this box of stuff for free!"

Fez, Forman, and I peer into the box. There's everything from Legos, Tupperware, candy, Troll dolls, super glue, and inexplicably, a Sit 'n Spin.

"Let's get that away from you," Forman says, grabbing the super glue and pocketing it.

"That's all yours," Kelso says. He rubs his hands together. "I've got my eye on the Sit 'n Spin."

"Then I'll take the candy!" Fez grabs a fistful of Tootsie Rolls and Pop Rocks.

"Kelso, man. This is all worthless garbage," I say, sitting back down in my chair. "And that Sit 'n Spin is for like, an 8 year-old. You'll never fit."

"Sure I will," Kelso says defiantly. "I'll prove it."

I watch silently as Kelso grabs the toy, never willing to give up a challenge, no matter how stupid. He drops it to the floor by the door and lowers himself down. I do my best to contain my laughter as he struggles to squeeze onto it, his knees practically reaching up past his head.

"There, see? I fit."

"Now spin," I challenge him.

"I will," he quips. "Easy."

Forman and I bust out in laughter as the toy tips and Kelso starts to fall backwards towards the door. It only gets better when Donna swings the door open into Kelso's flailing mess of limbs with the most impeccable timing.

"Ow!" he cries. "Watch where you swing that thing, Donna."

"Kelso!" Donna's voice is annoyed. "If you're going to sit in front of the door like that, you have to expect to get hit."

Donna shoves the door the rest of the way open, making space for her and Jackie to enter. To say I'm not surprised to see Jackie here would be a lie. Since last weekend, she'd been avoiding the basement, us…me, like the plague.

"Look who I found outside," Donna jabs her thumb behind her at Jackie who is currently preoccupied with trying not to trip as she steps over Kelso.

"Jackie," Fez says, looking up at her. "I feel like we haven't seen you all week."

I shift in my seat. That's because we hadn't seen her all week. After her brief stint in the basement Monday night when Forman told her that I had gone out with another chick on Veteran's Day, she'd disappeared pretty quickly. But not before I saw the hurt in her eyes. I wasn't able to help the twinge of guilt I felt knowing I'd caused that pain, but what did she expect? Me to tell the truth that she was the one I went out with? No. I'd been doing us both a favor by keeping our friends out of it.

My intention hadn't been to drive her away, though. I knew that we, especially Donna, were her friends, too. So when she basically disappeared this week, I'd started to feel a little guilty again.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, living with Bud didn't leave much time to feel guilt. I'd had to take up more shifts to help Bud pay the bills.

"Heyyy, Steven," he'd said jovially when I got home late one night this week from the FotoHut. "How was work?"

"It was cool."

"You get paid well, working there?" Bud had hedged.

"Uh, I guess." I'd made my way into the kitchen to grab something to eat. My only options were potato chips or salami, Bud's current food addictions that he'd replaced alcohol with.

"That's good, that's good," Bud had said. "'Cause you know, I just want to make sure that hippie isn't taking advantage of you."

I'd grabbed the bag of chips and filled a glass with water from the sink. "Leo?" I'd said, my voice taut. "Nah, man. He treats me well."

Better than my own parents, I'd thought.

Bud had beamed at me and motioned for me to join him on the couch. He had the Packers game on. We'd sat in silence for a while, watching the football game before he asked the question I'd been waiting to hear since he'd first brought up money.

"You know Steven. If that Leo pays you well, do you think you could spare some cash to help your old man pay the electric bill this month?"

I'd felt my lips press into a frown, and not because Bud asked me for money. I'd been expecting that. It was his affectionate use of the words old man, as if he'd earned the right to be called that. I truly wanted to give him a second chance to be a father figure for me, but he had to earn it, and so far he hadn't.

"How much do you need, Bud?" I'd tacked on his name at the last second as a subtle reminder that we were not yet in a place where I felt it was fair to call him Dad, or anything of the like.

"If you could cover this month's bill, that'd be great," Bud had said, exhaling with relief. "After that, I shouldn't need too much to cover the bills. Maybe a few bucks here and there."

"The whole bill?" I'd asked cautiously. I didn't want to drive a wedge into our relationship already, but what he was asking for was a lot. Especially considering how much money I'd already given him for the rent. Twice.

""Yeah," Bud had said, his eyes narrowing slightly. He hadn't expected me to put up any resistance. "But like I said, just this month. See, I'm still paying off the TV, and I've got a lot of the day shifts at work. I make most of my money on tips, you know, and there's just no one at the bar in the middle of the day! But don't worry, I'm gonna talk to my boss about getting more evening shifts."

He was rambling at that point, using whatever excuses he could come up with. Had he forgotten that I'd lived with Ma for so long that I could detect a lame excuse from miles away? Ma's excuses had always been for why she'd disappear for periods of time. At least she'd never asked me for money.

"Yeah, sure," I'd told Bud, no more fuss.

The very next day I took a double shift at the FotoHut.

o-o-o

So, I suppose Jackie could have been visiting the basement all week and I just missed her between my shifts at the FotoHut. But by the way Donna and Fez are acting like they haven't seen her in a while, I know that my suspicion had been right. She was avoiding me.

"It's been a busy week with cheerleading," Jackie says evasively, but calmly. She joins Donna on the couch. "And that's actually why I came to find you, Donna. We still haven't gotten a chance to talk more about your article on me for the school paper."

"You know, Jackie. The paper's not actually about you. It's about rising varsity athletes," Donna explains.

Jackie waves her hand dismissively. Before anyone can say anything else, Kelso jumps to his feet and angrily kicks the Sit 'n Spin to the side. "Stupid toy."

Jackie laughs. "I see nothing has changed in my absence."

Kelso scoffs. "Oh, plenty has changed." He marches over to his box. "For instance, I inherited this box of goods from Bob."

"You mean box of crap," I supply.

"No, Hyde!"

Donna laughs and sifts through the box. "No, Hyde is right. This is the stuff that's been sitting on the clearance shelf at my dad's store for months."

Kelso lifts one of the Tupperware containers out of the box to inspect it. "Yeah, well. I'm the only one helping out your dad by taking some of this stuff. I was so drunk at the barbecue last weekend that I completely forgot his store was closing until he reminded me today."

The mention of the barbecue last weekend makes my spine stiffen. A subtle glance out of the corner of my eye finds that Jackie has a similar reaction, and she begins distractedly inspecting her cuticles.

"Yeah, you and Fez were having a great time drinking all my dad's beer," Forman says. "And then blaming it on me."

Kelso giggles like a little girl. "Did he get mad at you? I was so drunk I don't remember anything from the barbecue."

"Me neither," Fez says as he opens another Tootsie Roll. "Although, wasn't there a horse?"

Kelso snaps his fingers as if struggling to recall a memory. "Yes! Was it pink?"

Jackie sits up and glances between Kelso and Fez. "No way there was a pink horse," she says confidently. "I would've noticed it."

"You were already gone at that point," Kelso tells Jackie. "Hey, why'd you leave early anyway?"

Jackie doesn't even flinch. "Didn't feel well. No offense Eric, but your mom buys cheap hotdogs."

Forman makes a face. "Is there such thing as a gourmet, expensive hotdog? I mean, it's a hotdog."

"Eric, forget the hotdog," Kelso complains. "We're still on this pink horse."

"I didn't see it." Forman shrugs.

"Damn it! Hyde, did you?"

"No, you moron," I say. Kelso has moved close enough that I could reach out and frog him, but I suppress the urge.

Forman decides to be helpful and speak up, although I immediately wish he hadn't. "No, Hyde left early, too. He went out with a chick that night, remember? So he wouldn't have seen the horse."

Then Forman gasps and I panic, realizing he must've connected the dots. I almost sigh when I realize a moment later that he's connected dots, but not the right ones.

"That's why you weren't feeling well," Forman says, turning toward Jackie on the couch. "Because Hyde went out with another chick after you threw yourself at him all day."

"Oh, shut up, Eric," Jackie says. She doesn't even seem hurt by his accusation. Just annoyed. "It was the hotdog I ate. And like I told you, I am completely over Steven. It was just a stupid crush."

Kelso, who is still inexplicably messing around with the Tupperware, glances at Jackie. "Well, I'm glad that's over. I was getting tired of you bringing that Chip guy around to make Hyde jealous." He tosses the Tupperware back in the box and rifles around for something else. "That guy broke my van, you know."

Actually, it had been Jackie, but I wasn't about to remind him.

"Are you with Chip now?" Fez asks Jackie.

"What?" Jackie recoils, disgusted. "No!"

"Are you sure?" Fez says, a teasing lilt to his voice. "Because I thought I saw you leave the barbecue with him."

This time Jackie does let out a nervous laugh. "I didn't leave with anybody, Fez. Clearly, you were too drunk to remember correctly."

"Oh my God," Kelso says softly. He stops rifling through the box and suddenly the room is completely silent. "No, I remember now."

And unlike with Forman, I can tell by the way Kelso glances, speechless, back and forth between me and Jackie, that he really does know. And he's not speechless for long. Before I can figure out a way to stop this trainwreck, Kelso opens his mouth.

"It was you. Jackie. You were the chick Hyde went out with last weekend."

Author's Note: Chapter 5: Invitations & Mistakes will be posted Friday, February 23, 2024.