Calm. Cool. Collected.

4

Despite everything that happened, nothing really changes. The next day, they're all back in Eric's basement like nothing happened. It's hard for Hyde for a little while, looking at Eric and Donna, watching them be happy together. He doesn't get over it. He can't, he has no idea how. He thinks maybe if Eric had just shoved him away, told him flat out he was straight, he may have been able to get past it. But knowing that he could have had a chance, he could have finally had something to make his shitty life better, but again, he was left with nothing? It ate him up. But he got used to it. Just like he got used to the fighting, and his mom leaving. He knew that one day he'd have something he wanted, he'd love and be loved in return, and that's what got him through watching Eric and Donna fall more in love in front of him every single day.

For a few months, Eric is really messed up. He stays with Donna, and of course he doesn't tell her anything, but it's really eating him up inside. He can't look at Hyde without wondering what would have happened if he'd not walked away from him on those steps, if he had stayed and held him, taken the risk his heart begged him to. At the same time as he battled these feelings, though, his relationship with Donna got more serious, and eventually, he pushed past his confusion. He accepted that he made the right choice, being with Donna was what was right for him, for them both. He was straight, he always had been. He knew Hyde would eventually pull through, too, find someone else. He seemed to be into girls too, so maybe they could both be normal. It was all for the best.

Besides, everyone knows what happens to queers in rural Wisconsin.