jekyll & hyde | steven hyde

five | eric's burger job

The gang, as usual of an evening after school, were hanging out in Forman's basement. Melissa seated herself in between Kelso and Hyde, her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head as Jackie began talking again. "I just want to hear the guitar solo one more time." Geez, this was at least the twentieth time hearing the same guitar solo over and over. Jekyll grew bored of this and pulled a magazine from the table, realizing she had already read it, but another time wouldn't hurt.

"Not again," Hyde groaned, "Use the headphones."

Jackie sneered but complied thankfully, putting on the headphones. While her back was turned and she was swaying to the music, Hyde continued, "Good. Now wrap the cord around your neck."

Jekyll laughed, smacking a hand over her mouth to contain the giggles, and caught Hyde's amused smirk out of the corner of her eye. She rolled up the magazine in her hands and swatted his leg with it.

"Hey, would you guys respect me if I worked in the town dump?" Eric inquired, looking up from the paper he was reading.

Donna replied, acting as if in deep thought for a moment, "The town dump? No. Now, the state dump. . ." She peered over as he circled something with the marker, and asked, "Why are you looking for a job?"

"Everything costs money." He said a little depressingly, "Gas, clothes, fun."

"Dates." Kelso added, "Dates cost money." It appeared as though he knew all about this, and looking to Jackie for a moment, Melissa could understand.

"No, Kelso, that is prostitution." Fez corrected the idiot, and the blonde on the floor had to, again, stifle a laugh.

Then, of course, Hyde opened his mouth, and let loose his proverbial words of wisdom, "Dating is prostitution, man. Only you don't always get what you paid for."

The girls rolled their eyes collectively, Melissa reaching over to hit him. Donna spoke up in spite, and pointed out, "Said the man who's never had a girlfriend."

Melissa had to bite her knuckle.

"What, you guys don't remember Esther the biker chick?" He asked.

"I wonder what happened to her." Jekyll pondered aloud, feigning innocence, although she knew damn well what happened to Esther. The bitch deserved what she got.

"She's dating my uncle." Hyde lied, even though he had no idea what had happened to the woman he had been with.

"Well, I'm going home for dinner," Donna stated, rising from her seat and making her way over to the door. She turned, "Oh, by the way, mom and dad are going to the Playboy Club at Lake Geneva this weekend, do you guys want souvenirs?"

"Ooh, ashtrays!" Hyde grinned, putting his hands in a circle.

"A woman." Fez piped up, and Melissa gave him a weird look. She still had no idea where he came from, or if they had a return policy.

"Your parents are gonna be out of town?" Jackie jumped in, an incredulous tone to her voice. "Really?" She seemed to point her words towards Eric, but he just kept circling job openings in the paper.

Donna shrugged and responded, despite Jackie trying to make a point of talking louder for Eric to hear. "Yeah. I mean, I'll be babysitting my sister Tina all weekend. Just me. Alone. Watching TV. I might order a pizza."

Melissa felt bad for her friend, it was so obvious she was asking Eric to go over and hang out, but the idiot was still looking for a job.

Kelso suddenly sprung from the couch, screaming, "I got an idea!" He recovered from a less-than-graceful fall and wrapped an arm around Donna's shoulders, "We'll have a party at Donna's. A toga party!"

Jackie started tapping him on the arm repeatedly, trying to gain his attention, "Michael! Michael! Maybe Donna doesn't want to throw a party. Maybe she wants to be alone."

"Yeah, just me, alone." Donna chimed in, patting her legs absent-mindedly,

"If someone happens to stop by, that'd be pretty cool."

Ever the dumbass, Kelso grinned, "So we're on. I'll bring the beer!"

"Donna, I have never been to an American party. May I come?" Fez asked, and Melissa heard an 'aweeee' ensue in her head. The little foreign boy was so inexperienced with American culture, it was a little adorable. Like a puppy.

The red-head nodded, waving as she said, "Uh, yeah, I don't care. Uh, so, uh, Eric, are you gonna be there?"

"What? Yeah. Sounds fun." He finally responded, having been a little zoned out.

"Cool. Catch you guys later." Donna smiled and smacked Michael on the arm before leaving.

Melissa felt herself rolling her eyes yet again as Kelso spoke of his excitement about the party and Eric went back to circling stuff on the paper in his lap.

Jackie came round and quickly slapped them both upside the head, "You are both so stupid."

"Ow! Why?" Eric quipped.

"This is a first. I actually agree with Jackie." Hyde snarked, and a visible shudder went down his spine at the thought. Melissa nodded, getting up to grab her things as she had just noticed the time, and realized she had work in an hour. "Hey, where you goin?" Hyde asked as he saw her walking away.

"I got work soon, have to get ready. You can come with, scope out the best ways to sneak drinks, maybe keep me company?" She replied, pouting her lip and widening her eyes to convince him as if he wasn't already about to jump up as it was.

"Yeah, sure." He acted disinterested and nonchalant, getting up to follow her out, not before explaining to Eric how idiotic he'd been in not noticing Donna's obvious advances.

Jeans were the work of the Devil. Melissa had begrudgingly slipped into a pair of high-waisted blue jeans for her work attire, as well as the faded burgundy t-shirt with the restaurant's logo across her chest. She took advantage of the looks she noticed Hyde giving her, and made a point to bend over and grab her 'dropped' tube of mascara. Swiping on a small amount of lip gloss, she pocketed it and lead him out the door, forgetting to grab a coat on her way.

Walking home that night, though, she was warm, thanks to Hyde and his jean jacket.

The night of the party, Melissa had work until 10 and decided she'd stop over and see if the party was still going. There were a few people left, and she had to step over someone passed out to make her way over to the couch, where she seated herself beside Hyde. He offered her a joint and she gladly accepted, the two toking up.

Leaning back, Melissa could faintly see the stars above them, and nudged Hyde, whispering, "Look."

He glanced up, his hand suddenly resting on her knee, where she could feel him tracing abstract patterns into her denim-clad skin. She smiled, enjoying the moment and nearly fell asleep until she heard him mutter something under his breath. "Huh?" Melissa asked, turning to look at him.

"Was just saying how much I wanna kiss you." He repeated, and he took her utterly by surprise at that moment.

She gathered her courage, leaning in to whisper in his ear, "So do it."

And so, he did. And it was wonderful, Melissa thought. And they stayed there for a while longer, just sitting under the stars, their lips molding together.

A/N: Alright, so I'm back from my impromptu hiatus (sorta). And this was a difficult chapter for me to write, I dunno why. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and vote and comment, please!