𝑷𝑳𝑨𝒀 𝑫𝑨𝑻𝑬 - Steven Hyde

fifty nine

59|THANKSGIVING

Marigold felt her thoughts slipping as her eyes lost focus, mindlessly wandering through the house and towards the basement. Her foot slipped on the last step causing her to fall down.

Her body fell into a soft wall, warm arms wrapping around body to stop her from landing on the ground. His arms steadied her, glancing down at her with concern.

"Thanks, Steven." Goldie thanked the boy gratefully, looking at him through her lashes as her fingers twisted in his jumper.

"Anytime, Mar." Hyde mumbled, watching her hesitantly as he stared into her eyes. "Maybe we should avoid each other." He whispered, voice distant as he reluctantly let her go. "It will make this easier."

"Anyway." Eric cleared his throat, raising his brow at his cousin as she blanked out again, slowly walking towards her usual stool beside the television and sitting down. She rested her head on her hand, staring at the blank screen.

"Goldie?" Donna called out to the girl, glancing at the others as they realised she was still zoned out. "Is she okay? Is she stoned?"

"I've seen her like this once before." Eric informed the group, all watching Goldie curiously. "She's deep in thought. Something is bothering her and she's trying to figure out how to resolve it."

"Okay, so what's bothering her, Forman?" Hyde questioned, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"She's your cousin." Donna exclaimed, grabbing Hyde and pulling him away from the distracted girl. "Hey, Goldie. Want to go lie down?"

"Lie down?" Goldie mumbled, finally turning to look at the ginger girl.

"Yeah, how about you go take a nap before Thanksgiving?" She suggested calmly, wrapping an arm around the brunette and helping her up the stairs. "What's bothering you?"

"I don't know." Marigold sat on the edge of her bed, looking up at Donna. "So now I'm stuck trying to figure out why I feel bothered."

"A nap should help." Donna smiled at the girl before closing the curtains. "Goldie. There's something I want to tell you but you can't tell anyone."

"What's wrong, Donna?"

"Eric proposed and I said yes." The ginger girl revealed, pausing to wait for Goldie's reaction.

"Donna, I'm so happy for you!" Goldie embraced her friend happily before glancing at her stomach. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"God no."

~•~

"Goldie?" A familiar blonde greeted the silent girl as they wandered into the bedroom, opening her arms to greet her cousin.

"Laurie?" Goldie grinned when she spotted her older cousin walk into her room. "How's my favourite skank? Learned any new tips and tricks?"

"Doing amazing and I'll teach you later." The pair quickly embraced before they wandered downstairs to greet the rest of the family.

"Grandad!" Marigold pushed past Jackie and Eric to embrace her grandfather. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good, pumpkin." Burt wrapped an arm over his granddaughters shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Just needing another drink."

"Same."

"Here." He slyly pulled a flask from his pocket and handed it to her, winking discreetly before patting her head and wandering away to speak to Laurie.

Marigold sat down beside Red at the adults table, sipping her glass of red wine her uncle had given her. She waited patiently for the turkey, silently listening to the conversations around her. She could feel herself slipping back into a depressive state, hands gripping the napkin on her lap as she tried to push away the dark thoughts.

"Gobble, gobble, gobble." Kitty announced as she wandered into the main room with the turkey, excitedly placing it on the adult table. "It's time to carve the turkey. Red?"

"Actually, Kitty, I think this is Eric's year." Red informed her with a proud smile, handing the carving tools to his son. "Seems like he's growing up and finally buckling down. Here you go, son."

"Wow, okay." Eric gratefully stood up to carve the turkey. "Well, in that case, I would like to make a kind of announcement."

"Check it out!" Kelso laughed to himself, holding up a slice of bread to his face. "I'm bread man."

"Hey, shut up! Eric's talking." Donna snapped at the boy before turning to Eric encouragingly. "Go ahead, honey."

"Well, I'm really glad that my family is here, and my friends, and, well, even my math teacher, because something happened a few days ago that I'd like to share with everyone." Eric announced to everyone, gaining everyone's attention with curiosity.

"Eric, we agreed this isn't the time." Ms. McGee, the maths teacher, cut him off, trying to hint for him to stay quiet.

"No. No, I meant-"

"Not the time for what?" Red spoke up, glancing at the maths teacher.

"To talk about how he's failing math." Fez yelled, a goofy look on his face as he grinned proudly of himself.

"What?"

"Fez, what the hell?" Eric sighed with frustration at his friend.

"I've been drinking." The boy shrugged it off, unable to even look straight at Eric.

"Mr. Forman, you did sign the failing notice." Ms. McGee mentioned

"I didn't sign." Red trailed off before cutting in. "You forged my name?"

"Wow. I really picked the right day to come home, huh?" Laurie grinned to herself over the scene she was witnessing.

"Okay, um, who likes dark meat?" Kitty asked, trying to lighten the dampened mood of the evening.

"Hey, who doesn't? Am I right, ladies?" Fez winked at Laurie and raised his glass in the air before finishing it.

"So, you lied to me about school." Red snapped at his son.

"Now, it wasn't a lie so much as a misdirection, really." Eric tried to reduce the seriousness of the moment.

"We'll talk about this later." Red sighed. "Well, Laurie, looks like a seat just opened up for you. Come on over and grab a biscuit."

"Forty-two minutes and I'm back on top." Laurie teased as she passed Eric and sat beside her grandparents.

"Burt, honey, pass me your plate." Bea stated to her passed out husband. "Burtikins. Burt!" She yelled, startling everyone in the room.

"I'm up." Burt sat up instantly, passing his plate to his wife.

"I'm not feeling hungry at the moment." Goldie pulled her lips into a polite smile. "Do you mind if I go to my room and grab leftover later?"

"I'll bring you up a plate, sweetie." Kitty smiled back at her neice, noticing the sudden change in her behaviour. "Take a nap, you'll feel refreshed when you wake up."