The next day, Eric, Hyde, Jackie, Fez and Kelso were sitting in their usual hangout spot, Eric's basement, watching TV. Donna came walking downstairs to join them. "Hey, guys. Eric." Donna greeted, her tone sounding bitter when she said Eric's name.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Eric thought to himself, irritated. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen. Once again, Donna waltzes into his house, uninvited, not two days after they broke up, as if nothing happened. "Donna, what are you doing?" Eric asked her. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm hanging out with my friends!" Donna told him defiantly. "Donna, we just broke up! I think we need more time apart than just a day and a half." Eric told her. "But these are my friends, too! It's bad enough you live here, but you're not gonna stop me from being friends with them!" Donna said indignantly.
"Oooh, looks like Donna and Forman are going at it! Who are you betting on winning?" Kelso asked Fez. "Please, Donna will easily kick his creamy ass, no contest!" Fez said. "They're not fighting each other, morons!" Hyde snapped.
"I already told these guys I'm not interested in making them pick sides. If they want to be your friend, that's fine with me. But this is my house, and I think you should leave." Eric told her, somewhat firmly but as politely as he could. "Actually, this is Red's house, dillhole!" Donna spat rudely. Eric was starting to feel angry but kept his composure. "Yeah but, how would you feel if I came to your house uninvited the day after we broke up?" Eric asked. Donna tried to come up with a counter response, but Eric had a point there. Not that she would admit it.
"Okay, fine! I'll go!" Donna said, starting to walk away, only to find that none of them were following her like she expected. She quickly turned around. "Uh, guys?" she asked. "Yes?" Jackie asked. "Aren't you coming with?" Donna asked. "We're not gonna bail on Eric just because you're mad that he doesn't want you down here a day after you broke up." Jackie told her. Donna was taken aback. This was the first time she'd seen Jackie take Eric's side. "Uh, Jackie, aren't you the one who encouraged the gang war last time we broke up?" Donna asked defensively. "You mean two years ago? Yes, but I realized how childish and stupid that was. I thought you'd realize the same thing." Jackie told her.
Donna scoffed at this. She hoped she'd at least get the others on her side, as she managed to their last breakup. "Hyde?" Donna asked impatiently. "If you're expecting me to jump to your defense, don't waste your time. Jackie's right, you need to grow up." Hyde told her. Donna rolled her eyes. "Fez, Kelso, aren't you guys coming?" She asked. "My show is on!" Kelso pleaded. "Not even for some corn dogs?" Donna asked, using the same trick she used last time to get them on her side. Kelso and Fez contemplated this for a moment, until making a decision. "Okay, fine, we'll go with you!" Fez said, as he and Kelso walked upstairs behind Donna. "We really should be more loyal to Eric!" Fez said. "Yeah, but corn dogs!" Kelso said.
"You alright, man?" Hyde asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. So much for handling the situation maturely." Eric sighed. "Two years later, and she had to pull the same crap as last time." Hyde shook his head, rolling his eyes (which couldn't be seen under his sunglasses). "Thank you guys for sticking with me. I gotta say I'm surprised. Jackie, isn't Donna your friend?" Eric asked. "Yeah but, she was never much of a friend to me. It was pretty one sided. She would judge me when I had a problem and I needed someone to confide in. I could be pretty mean to her sometimes, but when she came to me with problems, I never judged her." Jackie said. "There's also the way she acted about us when we got together, demanding we tell Kelso when we had no obligation to tell him after he cheated on her like 20 times, saying it'll divide the group, even though she's the one who tried dividing the group to spite you the last time you broke up, and again not 10 minutes ago." Hyde said.
"Well, to be fair, I, uh... I had a part in that, too. I was pretty openly against you guys dating for the same reasons." Eric said, sounding remorseful. "True, but you were just trying to keep us all together. And you didn't call our relationship creepy and unnatural." Jackie said. "Pfft, creepy and unnatural. Bob and Midge are her parents and she has the audacity to say that about us?" Hyde scoffed. "I'm sorry, guys. I should've been more supportive, a real friend would've been supportive instead of focusing on trying to appease Kelso and keep us together, when Kelso wouldn't have done the same for either of you." Eric said.
"It's okay, Eric." Jackie said. "Yeah. I mean, I accused you of trying to control Donna with the whole promise ring fiasco, and I was wrong. It's not like you were proposing to her, you just wanted a future with her. Call it even?" Hyde asked. "Sounds good. You know, looking back, I was hurt by the fact that she didn't see a future with me in it, but what bothers me more about that now is the fact that she didn't just tell me that before I got the promise ring." Eric said. "So, are you really okay? I mean, with Kelso and Fez taking Donna's side?" Jackie asked. "Yeah, I'm fine with just letting them go. Kinda like you and Donna, Kelso was never really my friend. He did have my back when it came to Casey being a dirt bag, but that's about it. And Fez more or less just follows Kelso and does whatever Kelso does. A year ago, it would've bothered me having the group split up, but now, I feel like it's for the best." Eric shrugged. Hyde and Jackie nodded in understandment.
Eric also remembered what happened the night before, when he got a bit too in his feelings and nearly walked over to Donna's house to beg her to take him back, but stopped himself. "I almost tried to get her back. Uh, last night. When you guys were on a date, my mom and dad were at work and I was alone. I was thinking about how Kelso and Fez acted at Fatso Burger, and I thought about you reminding Fez and Kelso about the special brownies Donna and I made to get back at you guys for ditching us. But thinking about that made me miss Donna, and I, wondered if I was making a mistake. I barely made it down to the kitchen before doubting she'd take me back, and then I remembered what I said about her need to always be right and how I was getting sick of everyone taking her side, and then I remembered how I had you guys and my mom on my side this time, and how I found my purpose. And it made me realize how far I could go if I stopped groveling and giving Donna the upper hand like I always have. It felt good, you know? I felt proud of myself for not crawling back to her." Eric said.
Jackie and Hyde were impressed by this. "And you should be proud of yourself, Forman. I'm proud of you, man." Hyde said. "Me too, Eric. You did the right thing, putting your pride before your feelings so you didn't do something you'd regret." Jackie told him.
A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! As mentioned in the previous chapter, I have a lot going on in my personal life as far as getting ready to attend school myself, and the fact that I have another story I need to update soon and I update my stories very sporadically as it is, but I'm glad so many people are enjoying the story and when I do add another chapter, none of you will be disappointed! I know some people expressed some disappointment in Kelso and Fez taking Donna's side, and the reason for that is, while ideally everyone would take Eric's side and Donna would see the error of her ways, realistically that wouldn't be the case, it'd probably be about 50/50, and I felt that with how much Hyde and Jackie have developed as characters since getting together (at least until the later seasons when the show really went to shit), they'd probably be on Eric's side this time around, and Kelso and Fez, being the dumb ones of the group, would more likely take Donna's side.