ʚ ɞ

They all stand around and watch as Bob's Lincoln pulls out of the driveway, taking Donna away to Madison. Eric waves at the car, and continues to until the car is far out of their sight. He turns around and looks back at his friends, who are still gathered around in the Pinciotti driveway. He moves to return back to his house, with Hyde and Jackie following behind him. They head down to the basement, not knowing what to do now. Eric sits down on the left side of the sofa, closest to the door. Hyde and Jackie shuffle past him, with Hyde returning to his stool and Jackie sitting on the armrest next to him.

"Hyde, man, do you have a cigarette?" he asks his friend. Hyde is taken aback, as this is the first time he has ever asked for one. Forman was a man who loved to smoke, but strictly marijuana. Hyde pulls out a carton from under the table and hands it to him.

"You can have it. I'm quittin'" Hyde tells him as he passes the box to his friend. Jackie claps her hands together and smiles.

"Oh, Steven, this is great news! It was about time you stopped, those things smell so bad. I didn't like you doing them."

"I know, that's why I'm stopping." Hyde grins and places his hand on the inside of her thigh. She leans over and places a quick kiss on his lips. Forman ruffles around in his pocket, grabbing ahold of his Zippo lighter and flipping it open. He holds a cigarette between his lips and holds the flame to it.

"Forman, man, when did this start?" Eric takes a drag from the cigarette and dangles it between his fingers, gently leaning on his crossed knee.

"Just now. Needed something to take the edge off, it's too early for pot."

"I thought you didn't like cigarettes?"

"I don't" he shakes his head, and lifts the cigarette to his lips again.

"Forman, what's wrong?" Hyde asks him, concerned as to why he wants to act out all of the sudden.

"Yeah, Eric, Donna won't want to be with you if you smell like an ashtray," Jackie chimes in, trying to help in the situation. Eric turns to Hyde and looks him in the eyes.

"So, when are you leaving, man?"

"What do you mean?" Hyde tries to play it cool. He didn't mention anything to Jackie about his invitation to move to New York. He wanted to surprise her, posing it as a way for her to escape Point Place as well.

"Stop with the bullshit." Eric spits out. Hyde takes a deep breath in and debates his options. He didn't want Jackie to find out this way, but also doesn't want to lie to his oldest friend. Hyde moves his hand from Jackie's thigh to hold her hand. She notices this and grows nervous.

"Steven, sweetie, what is he talking about?" He removes his sunglasses and hangs them from his t-shirt.

"A couple of weeks ago, WB offered to move me to New York City for Grooves."

"What?!" She stands up, backing away from him. "When did you plan on telling me this? And how doesheknow about this andIdon't!"

"Jackie, Jackie. Calm down." he stands with her as well. "He doesn't know. Nobody knew except for Donna."

"Donna knew? And that bitch didn't tell me?"

"I told her not to. I wanted to be the one to tell you. And now, damn Forman ruined the surprise." Hyde walks back toward his bedroom. "Jackie, stay right here." He looks back at Eric and flips him off. "Fuck you," he mouths.

Hyde returns with a small pink gift bag with a big bow on the front. Eric picks up the carton of cigarettes and moves to exit the room. He didn't want to be around during an argument, especially one that involved Jackie. Her voice always made his ears ring for hours afterwards.

"I got this for you. I was going to give it to you tomorrow night." he says, handing her the bag. She reluctantly takes it and looks inside. She moves the tissue paper aside and looks inside the bag. There's a thick pink envelope inside and a box at the very bottom. She sets the bag down on the steps and opens the envelope. She pulls the card out and tons, and tons of handwritten notes addressed to Jackie fall out onto the ground. He bends down to pick them up and hand them to her. Tears begin to swell in her eyes as she realizes how much care he put into this gift.

"Read these later," he says softly, placing them in the bags. As she is opening the envelope, he pulls the box out of the bag. She couldn't tell just glancing inside, but the box was actually a ring box. She is distracted as she looks at the front of the Hallmark card. It didn't have any words on the front, just roses and hearts. She opens the envelope and reads the words written inside, "Jackie, will you marry me?" Her heart begins to race as she rereads the question again to ensure she isn't seeing things correctly.

"Oh, Steven," she wails out, looking up from the cards. She expects him to still be right in front of her. Instead, he is kneeling on one knee, holding the ring box in his hands. It was a beautiful gold band with a sapphire, her birthstone, surrounded by a row of small diamonds on either side. "Oh, Steven!" she repeats as she looks down to see him in front of her. "Yes!" She pulls him out of his kneel and holds his hands to her heart. He has the biggest grin on his face, as he stares into her eyes filled with pure joy. She kisses him deeply, and pulls back to look at the ring in his hand. He grabs her left hand and slides the ring onto her finger. She looks down at her hand, tears of joy running down her face.

"Steven!" she says again, not being able to say anything else. The wave of emotion that has come over her has taken away her ability to do so.

"I'm sorry this had to happen this way. And in a smelly basement." he grins, over the moon ecstatic about making Jackie Burkhart hisfiance.

"Oh, Steven! No, this is perfect!" she assures him, pulling him in for another big kiss. She pulls back, still smiling. A look of realization appears on her face. "I have to go tell everybody I am going to be Mrs Steven Hyde!" she jumps up and down, grabbing his face for yet another kiss. "Steven, you have made me the happiest woman alive!"

She pulls his arm as she drags him upstairs, hoping that Kitty would be in the kitchen. As she expected, she was standing by the stove, sealing a container of tupperware for her lunch. She was wearing her nurse's uniform, clearly getting ready to head out the door.

"Mrs Forman!" Jackie calls out, running to her side. "Look at what Steven did!" Kitty does not look up from her lunchbox, she knows she is running out of time and doesn't have time to listen to Steven's screw up of the week right now.

"Oh, Jackie, sweetie. Tell me about it when I get home, I'm going to be late." she says, swinging her purse over her shoulder and grabbing the keys to the Toyota.

"No, Mrs Forman,look!" she calls out again, holding her left hand up. Kitty turns around, facing Jackie for the first time since she entered the kitchen. A huge smile emerges on her face as she connects the dots of what happened. She knew Steven was a softie!

"Oh my goodness!" she cheers, holding her hands to her chest. "You're getting married!" she looks over at Hyde, who is still all smiles. "You asked her to marry you!"

Red emerges into the room, wondering what all this ruckus is. "Can't you guys keep it down? I'm trying to watch television over here!" he whines, upset he can't hear his program over the noise in the kitchen.

"Red, honey, they're getting married!" Kitty exclaims, holding Jackie's hand to examine the ring. "He picked out a real nice one!"

"Oh? Is that true?" he turns to Hyde, almost questioning him. Hyde nods in response. Red reaches his arm out to affectionately pat Hyde on the back. "Well, best of luck to you. Now, you can move out of my damn house!" Red starts laughing to himself.

"Oh, Red, you don't mean that! You love Steven and you love Jackie!" she tells her husband, trying to make it clear to them that they don't have to leave. "So, when did this happen?" she asks Jackie. Screw getting to work on time, her babies are getting married!

Jackie fills her in on what happened not even ten minutes ago in the basement. Kitty is impressed that Hyde was this mature about the whole thing. She hadn't pegged him as the kind of guy that wants to get married. However, she can see how much love he has for Jackie, and wants to commit to her. He wants to show her that he is for real. No bullcrap this time.

"Oh, I am just so happy for you!" Kitty says, jumping again. "Red, don't you remember when we got engaged! It was just magical!"
"Yes, it was, Kitty." he agrees with his wife, reminiscing back to when he got down on one knee for the woman that he loved. Now that he's thinking back, he understands why Steven has that stupid grin plastered on his face. He's a boy madly in love with a girl.

Kitty lifts her watch and looks at the time, "I've got to go, Jackie. I'm sorry. When I get home, wewillbe talking about this again! I can't wait!"

As Kitty is leaving the room, the couple turns to look at Red, who is still standing in the doorway between the two rooms. "I'm happy for both of you." Red says sincerely. As he's walking back to the living room, he turns around and points at them. "No babies will be raised in this damn house." he says sternly. "Or else, there will be plenty of foots going inbothof your asses!"

ʚ ɞ

Eric smoked his way through the pack of cigarettes that Hyde had given him, and already started a new pack he bought a couple hours prior. He was upset with how fast he was burning through them, but couldn't make himself stop. He thought it was a disgusting habit, and always ragged on Hyde whenever he smoked them. But, right now, he was really enjoying them.

Leaning against the Vista Cruiser in the driveway, he plucks another one out of the carton and places it between his lips. As he lifts the lighter to his mouth, the headlights of the Toyota shines brightly in his face. Shit! He drops the cigarette and kicks it underneath his car. He shoves his hands in pocket and pretends he was not doing anything naughty. He doesn't want his mother to see that.

"Hi sweetie!" his mother calls out to him as she gets out of the car. "Whatcha doing out here?" she asks, just curious as to what he was up to.

"Geez, Mom, I can't just stand outside the house?" he barks back, nervous she already saw what he was doing. He did not need another "drugs are bad for you" talk right now. She awkwardly laughs, taken aback by his sudden harshness.

"Sweetie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Just fine." He walks ahead of her and pulls the sliding door open for her. She thanks him and walks into the house.

"So, did you hear about what your friends did today?" she asks, excited. He assumes that they had a nasty fight that likely resulted in the wrong words being said, nasty insults exchanged.

"Did they break up again?" he asks, not caring at this very moment.

"Geez, honey, why are you being so moody? Are you feeling ok?" she asks, placing her hand on his forehead. She was really not liking his sudden attitude. "No, they actually did the opposite of breaking up! They're getting married!" she smiles, holding her hands together in front of her. "Oh, I can already picture the wedding!"

Shit, things just got serious. He thinks back to when he and Donna got engaged, and thinks about how his parents reacted to them. They did not welcome that union, like, at all?

"Hold up, Mom." he says, interrupting her. "When I proposed to Donna, you guys werepissed! What's with the change of attitude towards Hyde and Jackie?" he points his finger accusingly at this mother. She gives him a stern look and lowers his hand.

"Well, honey, this is different. They're both adults, they can make grown up decisions. I feel like they are ready for this new chapter," she tries to explain to him. "I mean, look at how you and Donna turned out, you guys obviously weren't ready. All we did was warn you about that. Aren't you glad you guys didn't get married?"

Huh. He stopped to ponder that question. Was he glad they didn't get married?

He wants his response to be no. He loves Donna with his whole heart, and knows that he wants to spend forever with her. On the other hand, how would his life be different if they had actually gotten married? They'd be living in that dingy trailer, getting nowhere in life. He'd probably be working at a gas station or other lowly job, and she'd continue to take classes at the junior college, probably having to work on top of going to school. They both would have had to live lives that they didn't want for themselves. He hated to admit it, but his mom was right here. He was glad they didn't get married. He decides not to answer her question and redirects their attention back to Jackie and Hyde.

"They were fighting earlier, I have no idea how they ended up engaged." he says to her, honestly puzzled. "I saw him trying to give her a gift, but I assumed it was gonna be something stupid. Not a ring."

"Well, I'm not sure how it happened. I have to call Jackie. She needs to fill me in!" Kitty says as she goes over to the phone. "Eric, honey, do you mind getting take out or something for dinner? I'm not going to be able to cook tonight." she says as she begins to type in the digits to Jackie's phone number. Kitty rushes to pull a $20 bill out of her wallet and hands it to Eric.

He accepts the money and goes down to the basement to find Hyde. He needed to talk to him first. He rushes down the basement steps to see Hyde seated on his stool, staring at the television. There's a faint smell of marijuana in the air, letting Eric know that they had a circle down here not so long ago.

"Hey, Mr Jackie Burkhart, where's your lady?" Hyde turns around to see Forman standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Your mom told ya, huh?"

"Yep, and I think she's probably more excited than Jackie is."

"Trust me, dude, she's not. We spent all afternoon talking about the wedding. Man, we just got engaged like 9 hours ago and she already has a date picked out." Hyde tells him. He didn't realize how much actually went into a wedding until now. He was cool with going down to the courthouse and signing a couple papers to make it official. Jackie, on the other hand, wanted an extravagant wedding. Afterall, this is something she had dreamed about since she was a little girl.

"C'mon, dude. Let's go get something to eat. My mom's going to be on the phone with Jackie all night, so she can't make dinner."

"Alright," Hyde says with a grin. After today, he would kill for a greasy slice of pizza.

ʚ ɞ

The car ride was mostly silent on the way to the pizza shop. Hyde would occasionally point out people on the street or point at cool cars, but he mostly kept quiet. Neither of them wanted to start the conversation that they needed to have. Eric is the first one to speak between them.

"You didn't answer my question earlier."

"Man, what are you on about again?" Hyde sighs, not wanting to engage in chitchat.

"When are you leaving for New York?"

"When are you leaving for Africa?" Hyde barks, clearly taking Eric off guard. Eric pauses for a moment, not realizing that Hyde had figured out his secret.

"Monday. I'm leaving for Monday," there's another moment of silence, "How did you know?"

"How did I know, man? It's so obvious, you've been keeping to yourself and hiding from people. All you've done since you got back was drink beer, smoke pot, and now, smoke cigarettes, too. You've done absolutely nothing at all." Hyde begins to grill into him, "You refuse to talk about your future, always changing the subject when it's brought up. You won't unpack, you won't answer Red when he asks you what your plans are. Dude, I'm not a moron. I can tell you're leaving again."

"Well, you're leaving, too!" Eric tries to change the subject, like Hyde just remarked.

"Man, I'm not doing this right now. Yeah, I'm leaving, but that's shit's not gonna be ready for another year or two. They don't even have the building yet for the damn Grooves, let alone the staff or anything else. Donna knew this, she just didn't want to tell you or some shit. So, then in true dumbass fashion, you had to open your damn mouth to Jackie."

"It worked out for you and Jackie, you're engaged!"

"That's not the point, Forman! I asked her then and there to calm her down. I hadthemost romantic, elaborate, the mostJackieplan set up for that proposal. But, now that's not going to happen!"

"You're the one who didn't make that happen!" Eric says, trying to redirect some blame.

"Forman, you need to learn how to mind your own goddamn business! That's what I'm trying to get at here! And here you go again, asking me about some bullshit I didn't want to share with you yet. Noticed howIkeptmybusiness and never asked you about Africa? You need to learn how to do the same!" Hyde spits out. He doesn't have anything left to say to him. The tension between them is so thick it could be cut with a knife. After a minute or two, Eric breaks the silence again.

"Hyde, man, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you better be." Hyde grins, forgiving his friend. He didn't want to stay mad at him for long, considering he was going to be leaving in three days. Shit! His best friend was leaving again in three days! "So, when did you plan on telling them about Africa?"

"I've been trying, dude, I just haven't been able to find the right time."

"You're running out of time. You've got, what, less than 72 hours until you're in another continent? Did you plan on telling them as you were leaving for the airport or something?"

"Honestly, that thought crossed my mind." Eric chuckles, "I'm gonna tell them once we get home. I promise."

"You better. Or I'll tell them myself. I'm not afraid to."

"Oh, I know you're not." Eric says, patting his friend's shoulder. "Oh, man, congratulations. I never told you that."

"Thanks, man. I think me and her are going to be happy."

"I do, too." Eric says as he pulls into the Forman driveway. They get out of the car, each holding a box of pizza. They can see Jackie is sitting at the kitchen counter, glass of wine in hand, obviously talking about the wedding with Kitty. "Did you know she was going to be here?"

"No, I didn't. I guess I'm going to spend another three hours talking about this damn wedding again."
"Hyde, don't sound so disappointed. You know you love her."

"I do, man. I really do."