After Eric filled out his application form, he set it in his room at the top of his closet so he wouldn't lose it. He then hung out at Fatso Burger with Hyde and Jackie where they got lunch. Kelso and Fez would be joining them shortly.
"Hey, guys." Kelso said, as he and Fez sat down at the tables with their trays, Fez sitting next to Hyde and Jackie and Kelso sitting next to Eric, across from the three of them. "Where's Donna?" He asked. "Here it goes." Eric thought to himself ruefully. "We broke up." He admitted. "But why?" Fez asked. "Because I was tired of her always thinking she was right, and I was tired of us just fighting all the time. We just weren't right for each other, so I broke it off." Eric explained. "Yeah, sure you did." Fez said sarcastically. Eric felt a little frustrated. "Why is it so hard for them to believe that I broke up with her? They thought she was the one to break up with me last time, too!" He thought to himself, but he stayed composed.
"He actually did. Jackie and I saw it." Hyde said, setting the record straight. "But hey, listen, I'm okay with you guys still being friends with her. I'm not gonna make you pick sides like last time." Eric assured them. "Okay, whatever." Kelso decided. "So anyway, guys, I'm feeling kinda nervous about having my old teachers send my transcripts and write recommendation letters to the college." Eric said. "Forman, I think the fact that you graduated means you'll do fine." Hyde said. Eric had a feeling Hyde was probably right, but he couldn't help but worry, as he didn't get the best grades in high school and sometimes cut class with his friends.
"So what do you want to study, Eric? How to get a girl? Cause you could learn a thing or ten about that!" Fez snarked. "BURRRRN!" Kelso screamed, laughing and high fiving Fez. "What are you laughing at, Mr. Glued-himself-to-Red's-fridge?" Hyde asked. Eric and Jackie both laughed. "Did he really?" Jackie asked, laughing. Kelso looked shocked and offended. "Wha-h-how'd you know that!?" He asked. "Red told us about it at breakfast. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh that hard!" Eric said.
"And what about you, Captain Craps Himself? You think that's funny?" Jackie asked, referring to the time they all dine and dashed Donna and Eric, who got revenge on all of them by making "special" brownies. The kicker was that instead of the special ingredient being marijuana, it was laxatives. Despite the fact that Jackie and Hyde were also on the receiving end, enough time had passed that they could laugh about it (and they both acknowledged that they deserved what they got). Fez not so much.
"You guys did it, too!" Fez jumped up and said defensively, pointing at Jackie. "Yeah, but you did it in front of your girlfriend!" Hyde said. "That was two years ago, you son of a bitch!" Fez snapped. "Ah, good times, good times. The best part is that Kelso here went for seconds." Eric said. "No way!" Hyde said, erupting into laughter, along with Jackie and Eric. "You know what-w-whatever, you guys are lame! C'mon, Fez!" Kelso stammered, as the two angrily left with their food trays to go sit somewhere else. Jackie, Hyde and Eric were still laughing a bit but were calming down. "Thanks, guys." Eric said. "Ah, those two were really bugging me, anyway." Hyde said. "We told you, Eric, we're not gonna make fun of you anymore. We weren't just being nice." Jackie said.
"Doesn't mean we won't still take the piss out of you sometimes, but from now on we're not gonna target you unless you deserve it." Hyde said. Eric didn't mind lighthearted teasing and sarcasm - actually, he was willing to dish some of it himself. It was being the constant butt of the joke that he didn't like. "And besides, if you're that worried about your transcripts and recommendation letters not allowing you to get into college, I can make fake transcripts and recommendation letters and send them into the school." Hyde said.
As convoluted and highly illegal as that sounded, Eric didn't doubt Hyde could pull that off. "But isn't that, like, super illegal?" Eric asked. "Only if I get caught." Hyde said. "Uh, thanks for the offer but I think I'll take my chances with my real transcripts and recommendation letters." Eric decided. "Suit yourself." Hyde shrugged.
Later that night, Hyde and Jackie had gone on the date that they postponed the night before, Fez and Kelso hadn't dropped by since Jackie and Hyde dissed them at Fatso Burger, and Red and Kitty were both at work, so Eric was left to his own devices. Once again, he'd done some thinking to himself, tossing a football in the air and catching it as he laid on his bed. He wasn't surprised at Fez and Kelso's behavior at Fatso Burger earlier, but it was funny to see Jackie and Hyde put them in their places by reminding them of their embarrassing moments.
Eric laughed at the memory of the laxative brownies. "Revenge is a dish best served cold! Or warm, in that instance." he said to himself. It felt good to give them a taste of their own medicine, and it was a good thing that Hyde and Jackie could look back on it and laugh. He also remembered how much fun he and Donna had cooking up the revenge sceme, both in the literal and figurative sense. He wished they could get along like that all the time, or at least, most of the time. Donna was a lot more fun to be around when she wasn't irritated by his mere existence.
This made Eric begin to miss Donna more and the good times they had together. As the cold wind blew in through his open bedroom window, he looked outside at Donna's house next door. He couldn't see her, as her bedroom window and curtains were shut, but he knew she was in there. There was a part of him deep down that wanted her back. "Maybe I did make a mistake." he sighed. He started to walk downstairs and head next door to see if Donna would be willing to work this out, but stopped himself as he got to the kitchen.
"I doubt she'll give me another chance after this..." he begun to say to himself, before remembering what he told her last night when they broke up:
"I'm tired of you never admitting fault, and I'm tired of always being the bad guy and our friends and parents immediately taking your side! Don't get me wrong, sometimes I am in the wrong, I can be plenty immature and selfish, and honestly Red isn't wrong when he calls me a dumbass. But I also have to take the blame whenever you're wrong, which is often."
And that's when it hit him. "Oh, what am I doing! I broke up with her for good reason. I had to give up all of my dignity the last time we broke up, I'm not doing that again!" Eric said. He also remembered that unlike their last breakup, he had support from his friends and family (with the exception of Kelso and Fez), who all told him he did the right thing. Even Red seemed to have somewhat come around. Even though this was gonna be hard, he knew it was just grieving the breakup that made him almost go ask Donna to take him back.
As much as this hurt, he needed to stick to his guns instead of groveling like he's always done. He grabbed a beer and headed down to the basement to watch TV in an attempt to take his mind off Donna.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 5! Sorry for the late update, I've been working quite a bit lately and am going back to school myself, so life has been pretty hectic these past few weeks and chapter posting will probably be very sproadic from now on. But I appreciate all of the positive reviews and conversations (most notably Jackie Forman and Carol), and I agree with a lot of what you guys have to say. What also bothered me about Donna was the fact that it seemed like she got angrier when Eric didn't do anything wrong than when he did.
Like the season 3 episode where he accidentally ran over her cat and lied about it and bought her a new cat thinking she wouldn't notice the difference. Donna was mad at Eric, but in that instance she had every right to be, and she wasn't rude or bitchy or hypocritical about it. Even though Eric felt guilty, he messed up royally in that episode. She got angrier in the episode when Eric took the fall for her in the smoking episode, calling him stupid and not thanking him for covering for her dumb ass. Make it make sense!
Also, I like Red and Kitty, but I'm not blind to their flaws like some fans are. But their behavior in the episode where Eric didn't take Donna back angered me. I honestly was even angrier at Kitty than I was at Red because, while Red was being an ass, Kitty was much more malicious about it, even though she's usually the nicer one of the two especially in regards to Eric, telling Eric he deserved to feel bad while Eric was on the verge of tears, and when he believed that he had to have everything his way, Kitty was like "Yeah, we all noticed that for like a year!" I about wanted to scream "Go fuck yourself, Kitty!" at my TV (but I didn't want to look like a lunatic lol).
That 70's Show in general has always been somewhat mean spirited, but it usually works, and while for the most part, I don't think Red and Kitty are bad parents (by the 70's standards, anyway, by today's standards a lot of their parenting would be very problematic), there are times in the later seasons where they cross the line, and that episode has them at their worst. Even in a show that relies on most of the characters being selfish jerks, that scene was just so cruel it felt uncomfortable to watch. Not to mention Donna's behavior in that episode and the "you're not sorry, you got exactly what you wanted" comment was just pathetic. Eric should have told her right then and there how pathetic she was and that she deserved whatever happened to her. I hate that episode even more than I hate anything from Season 8, it's that bad. Also, I dunno if it's just me, but I can't help but feel like Luke Wilson was miscast as Casey Kelso, because Luke Wilson is one of those guys who is impossible to dislike (Night At The Museum had the same problem with Dick Van Dyke as the villain).