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Eric stares ahead, unblinking, as he looks at the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, long brown hair, pink lips, tan skin, she was gorgeous, unfortunately, this woman was his best friend’s girlfriend, Jackie.
Ever since the summer when Hyde made him realize Jackie was hot, she’d been all he could think about, somehow overtime though, he began to realize there were a lot of good, nice things about the girl in front of him that made him, god forbid, actually kinda like her.
Which was totally uncool of him! Since that was his best friend’s girlfriend (who he’s not even supposed to care for in a friend way let alone like this, dumbass.) but also, his girlfriend’s best friend! It was so wrong in so many ways, yet he couldn’t bring himself to try to get over her.
Something about her had him tied around her finger without even knowing it, and it was eating him alive.
“Hey!” Donna exclaims as she plops herself down next to him on the couch, “what’s got you so far gone? Did you guys circle without me or something?” She says suddenly very aggressive, pointing her finger at him.
“Uh, no. Sorry, I don’t know, I’ve just been kinda out of it all day, I guess.” Eric says, snapping his attention to his girlfriend rather than someone he’s not supposed to like.
“Okay,” Donna says putting her arm around his shoulder, “but if anyone, and by anyone I mean even Fez, tells me you guys smoked without me, it’s done for you, Forman.”
Eric laughs, thoughts of Jackie clearing his head completely, leaning to the side and kissing Donna briefly, before hearing Fez make some quick, perverted remark and leaving the basement.
He couldn’t even fully mock his friend for his loneliness, his mind was still on her, he had hoped that whenever he saw Donna again, the brunette would leave his mind, it seemed she had a place there now however.
His head dropped into his hands, covering up his feelings with laughter, wanting just one day to be the same as it was before.
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Later they were all at The Hub, eating fries and complaining about anything and everything.
“-and that’s the story of the time my brother locked me in a closet with a fish.” Kelso finishes his, sad sad story with a dopey smile on his face, showing he doesn’t care that much.
All Eric could think about was Donna, he wanted her to be here, needed some kind of distraction from the pain he felt looking at the girl across from him.
He knew this was bad, like really bad, but he couldn’t help it, and all he wanted right now was the girl next door to help him figure out what was real.
“Forman, what’re you even doing.” Hyde says, not even a real question.
Eric shakes himself out of his head, looking at Hyde, “Dude, what’re you talking about.” Eric says, hoping his voice doesn’t betray him.
“You’ve been looking off into nowhere for like, five minutes now, dude. Did you smoke without me?”
Eric rolls his eyes, a smile on his face now, “And what if I did?”
“Well, I’d have to kill you.” Hyde says, a similar smile on his face.
Eric laughs loud, Hyde joining him, eyes scrunching behind his glasses.
Eric smiles to himself, glad his mind has moved on for the moment.
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Eric spots Fez walking into the basement, pushing his head down, he knew he’d be hearing some stupid story he wasn’t in the mood for.
Much to his surprise tho, Fez sat down next to him, picked up a magazine, and read it in silence, but not the ‘I’m upset and ignoring you until you realize it’ silence, just regular not talking, it was peaceful.
Of course if you don’t think about the fact that all he could think about was Jackie. It was tearing him apart, and there was no one he could talk to about it.
Say he tells Hyde, he’d laugh before realizing he was serious, and then he’d punch him, and tell him to leave his girl the fuck alone, a big no go.
Tells Kelso, he’s gonna tell everyone else, resulting in possibility number one, again.
Donna would hate him, and make fun of him for months to come, he’d be girlfriendless, jobless, and sad. Not ideal.
Fez was the safest bet out of his friends and even he sucked as an option. You know? Like he’s had a crush on her since he saw her for the first time, he’d make some quip about how ‘next she’s mine’ before flipping his imaginary coat and waltzing out of the basement.
Even his mom wasn’t a good idea! She’d probably tell him to follow his heart, and then two hours later his father would come up to him and tell him to never speak of his feelings again, as it would break up every good thing in his life.
And Laurie, she’s not even an option, let alone that she’s away right now, she’d never take him serious and then she’d tell Kelso, result two, again.
So as good as this silence with Fez was, it was making him go insane! He needed something else to think about. Thankfully, Fez seemed to be reading his mind.
“So, Eric,” Fez says, closing his magazine, leaning his body towards Eric, “I’ve realized something about you.” He says, smile questioningly wide.
Eric leans forward slightly, widening his eyes, “What’s up, Fez.” He says in a way that makes it seem sarcastic, although he does genuinely want to know.
“You like Jackie.”
Eric sputters, hoping Fez will just think it’s because of the accusation, not him being right. “Why in the hell would I like,” He pauses, fake shuddering, “Jackie.” He spits her name like a curse he’d never speak again.
Fez looks at him with a smile, “You can lie to yourself all you want, my friend. But Fez knows.” and with that, he turns back to his magazine and doesn’t speak again until everyone else came back.
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Eric finds himself staring into space long after Fez had left, he was grateful that he didn’t bring his insane idea up to the gang, he would never have been able to fool them.
He takes a deep breath, trying to figure out how this even happened and silently cursing Hyde for making this his reality.
“Dude, did you ‘circle’” Kelso says, bright smile on his face and he air quotes around circle, as if he was making some joke, “without me?”
Eric grimances, wishing people would quit asking him that, “Nah man, I’m not in the mood.”
“Not in the mood?” Kelso repeats, sitting down next to Eric, putting his hand on his shoulder, “Dude, are you like, okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be, man.”
“You’ve never not been in the mood for a ‘circle’.”
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind, okay.”
Kelso leans even closer to him, as if he was gonna whisper some terrible secret, and Eric hoped he wasn’t gonna say the same thing Fez did.
Luckily for him, Kelso’s a little slow.
“Are you and Donna having some, ‘problems’.”
God, what was with him and air quotes.
“No, Kelso. Donna and I are fine.”
“You sure? Cause you know, if she needed some cheer up sex, I’d be there for it.”
Eric slowly turns to Kelso, smile still on his face, before punching him in the arm.
“Get the fuck out, you dillhole.”
“All you had to do was say please, God.” Kelso says, shoving himself off the couch and walking up the stairs.
Great now Eric had to worry about Fez spilling his secret and Kelso trying to nail his girlfriend, this day was going so well.
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The next morning, even more fun times were ahead, at the breakfast table.
“So, Eric,” Kitty starts, it was just him and her there that day, Hyde was gone to work, Red too and Laurie was never there anyway, “I think we need to talk.”
“Mom, if you’re trying to have ‘The talk’ with me, I have to say, you’re a little late.”
“No! You, silly silly boy. We need to talk about Jackie.”
“Why would we do that.”
“Don’t think I don’t know about your,” She stops, a small smile on her face, “little crush, Eric.”
Her smile fades quickly though. “But, you need to understand, you’re dating Donna, remember, and as cute as you and Jackie would be,-”
“Yea mom, I know Donna’s my girlfriend, she’s my girlfriend, remember.”
Eric sits in silence for a few moments, it was like everyone could see right through him, he was see through, ooh or they had see through vision goggles, God, now that would be awesome, but back on track.
It was like no matter what he did, it didn’t matter, no one would believe his lies, was he that bad of a liar? He didn’t think so, I mean, it’s not like they knew where he kept his money, and that was one of his best lies yet, I mean, who thinks to store money in a board game? It’s genius.
“Eric, sweetie,” Kitty says, breaking him out of his thoughts, “are you feeling okay?” She asks, almost as if she meant something else.
Eric drops his head into his hands for a minute, before standing up and rising out his cereal bowl, shoving the door, saying a small ‘yea I’m fine’ over his back before it shut.
This day was off to a great start.
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As it turns out, the rest of the day was pretty normal, Fez didn’t say anything, Kitty actually kept a secret, everyone else still just assumed he was high like normal. It’d been a pretty good day.
Of course he had to say that and ruin it.
“Eric, I need you to drive me home.” Jackie says out of nowhere, standing up from where she was sitting on Hyde’s lap.
“Um, no?”
“Yes.” Jackie insists.
“Why not have Hyde do it?”
“Forman I can’t. My cars in the shop, and anyway it’s not like it’s that big a deal. You weren’t doing anything anyway.” Hyde says, in that chill, calm tone he usually spoke in.
‘Sure it’s not like I had plans’ Eric mutters under his breath, before digging his car keys out of his pocket, a “Come on, Jackie.” was thrown into the room, before he walked over to the door, habit made him hold it open for her, even though he knew he didn’t have to.
The same thing happened with the car door, he opened it and closed it for her, knowing all the while that she could do it herself, he couldn’t stop himself.
Once they were in the car on their way to Jackie’s house, she turned the music down, disco, something he’d never tell Hyde, but he actually kinda liked disco, this car ride was a nice experience, until Jackie turned to look at him.
“What’s wrong with you.”
Eric sputters, always thrown off with the bluntness of the girl next to him, keeping his eyes on the road, he spits a quick “What are you talking about.” at her.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Jackie says, pointing an accusatory finger in his face, “you opened my door for me, Eric. You held the basement door for me. I mean what was that about, are you sick or something?” She asks, genuine concern slipping into her voice for a moment.
Her hand shooting to forehead, trying to see if he had a fever he assumed, something she probably learned how to do cause of his mom.
He quickly moves out of her reach, even a slight brush of her hand on his face was enough for him to feel his cheeks heating up, good thing it was night time.
“God, Eric, what’s wrong with you today.”
Almost running a red light, his foot stomped on the breaks, pushing both of them forward in their seats. “Eric!” Jackie exclaims, he turns to her and can’t help but notice how beautiful she looked, bathed in the red light from the stop lights.
It made her lips pinker than usual, her eyes looked like they were glowing, and even though she was mad at him, he couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful.
“Um, Eric?” She says, pointing a finger to the road.
His mind comes back to him and he sees the light was no longer red, pressing his foot into the gas, they start driving again.
“Jesus, are you high or something?”
“No! God, I’m tired of people asking me that, why can’t i space a little without using!” He says, putting all his frustrations out on her accidentally.
Jackie just stares at him, feeling the car slowly stop under her.
“We’re here.” Eric mutters under his breath, wanting this day to just end already.
“Eric,” Jackie starts, her voice soft, a voice Eric assumed only Hyde had heard, “is- is everything okay?”
Eric turns to her, ready to tell her that yeah everything was fine, and that the only problem was that he wanted to go to bed. But, as soon as he looked at her, the words died out, staring at the woman he knew he shouldn’t like, he felt everything, happiness, excitement, special, all from Jackie Burkhart.
Without a single thought left in his head, he leaned forward, lips crashing into hers with a force he didn’t even know he had in him. It was like everything he had been feeling for months was finally coming out, in the most raw way. It was perfect.
It was like all he could see, feel, taste, was fireworks. It was everything he’d been waiting for, and it felt so good.
After a few moments of indulgence, Jackie pulls back first, hand firmly placed on Eric’s chest, “Okay, so that’s what was wrong with you.”
Eric smiles at her bluntness, “Listen, Jackie, I hope I didn’t just fuck everything up by doing that, but I had to.”
“No, I understand, Eric, I mean,” She pauses, flipping her hair out of her face, “who wouldn’t want me? As nice as this was, and I mean that, you’re a surprisingly good kisser, Steven and Donna? They can never know, okay.”
“Yeah, of course, Jackie they’d kill me.” He says, forcing a small chuckle out of himself in fear.
Jackie smiles at him, giving him one last peck on the mouth before running up the pathway to her house, making sure to turn around and wave at Eric before closing the door behind her and not looking back.
Eric smiles to himself, “That wasn’t too bad.”
His smile didn’t fade all night, laying in his bed in the late hours of the night and all he could think about was how he hoped they could do that again sometime soon.