ＫＩＬＬＥＲ ＱＵＥＥＮ

𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔢𝔫

♛

I pour myself a cup of coffee in Mrs. Forman's kitchen, rewarding myself with the warm beverage as I've just helped her make lunch for everyone in the house, which, for once, does not include the gang.

Michael told me about his "master plan" to go up to an ice shack with Jackie as a "secret double date" with Donna and Eric. He wasn't quiet about it either, because Fez chased after the van as soon as he saw it leave.

Laurie stumbles into the kitchen in her pink bathrobe, her hair all mussed up.

"Well, good afternoon, sunshine," I tease, pouring her some coffee.

"Hey, Ana," she sneers.

"Hello, Laurie," Kitty smiles peppily. "What do you have planned for today?"

"Same as every day. Lay on the couch, do my nails, and avoid talking to you."

"Well, you should feel lucky that you have such good parents!"

Here we go again. Since the whole... situation with my parents and me, she's been not-so-subtly hinting at wanting to talk to me about it, but the truth is that I don't want to.

"So far, my plan isn't going too well," Laurie retorts before trudging back to the living room.

Kitty looks at me with hopeful eyes, but it just makes me uncomfortable. I catch a glimpse of Red trying to tell her to leave me alone. I ignore them anyway.

"Thanks for the food, Mrs. Forman," I say politely, balancing two plates in my hands along with my coffee.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do."

I swiftly back out of the room and carefully step down the stairs, setting Hyde's sandwich down in front of him. "Here."

"Thanks," he exhales, immediately digging in.

"You're such a pig," I smirk.

He grins at me with a mouthful of food. "It's good."

I roll my eyes and push him playfully before taking a bite of my own sandwich.

"So, uh, any news from your folks?"

I shake my head. "Still nothing."

"What about Nik?"

"He called me back after I told him what happened. He said that they won't talk to him about it and that they get all pissy if he brings it up."

He swallows. "Damn, they're assholes!"

"Whatever," I shrug nonchalantly. "I don't want to think about it."

He sets his sandwich down and wipes his hands on his pants despite the napkins that I brought along with me. He seems to hesitate before deciding to speak, "You know, you're allowed to be upset about this. Your parents just bailed on you, man."

"No shit, Sherlock," I snarl. I scoff and shake my head. "Sorry, I just-"

"You don't have to explain if you don't want."

"Okay."

I try to ignore the fact that his eyes stay trained on me even though we aren't speaking anymore.

He sighs and lifts his arm. "C'mere."

I cautiously move closer to him and he shifts to better accommodate the embrace. I rest my head on his shoulder, inhaling that intoxicating Hyde scent that just makes everything better.

"And, for the record," he mumbles into my hair, "you don't have to feel bad about making out with Kelso. I know you were just trying to make me jealous."

Although I'm sure he's teasing me, he's basically correct.

"You're getting awfully warm there, Princess," he chuckles.

"Oh, shut up!" I try to push away from him but he holds me in place, easily snatching my cup from me.

I scowl as he takes a sip. "You told me you didn't want coffee."

"That's 'cause I was going to drink beer."

"And you didn't drink beer."

"Oh, I did. I just chugged it."

"Dork."

"Last I checked, dorks don't chug beer."

"Yeah, but they do sit in their friends' basements alone."

He sucks in a breath. "Touché."

♛

I manage to escape from Kitty bombarding me with questions as soon as Steven leaves the basement and walk home slowly.

Frankly, I'm bored, as there isn't much to do at home when I'm alone. I'm definitely not in the mood for a hookup, even though I honestly haven't gotten any in weeks. I'd rather hang out with the gang, but they're all at the ski house and Hyde is at work. I would talk to Laurie but she's too busy being grilled by Red about not having a life.

I'll figure something out. I open my mailbox and smile at the sight of a new catalog, something I can flip through even if I don't intend on buying anything.

The smile drops when I see what's under it.

A letter.

From Volkov Enterprises.

It bothers me that they don't even care to use their personal mailing addresses, but it's better than nothing.

I carefully remove the classy-looking paper from its envelope and unfold it to read it over.

"Fuck," I mutter, shoving the other mail into the mailbox and hopping into my car.

Within a few minutes, I'm entering the FotoHut.

Hyde looks up from a stack of films and frowns. "What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk to someone."

He seems to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Princess, I'm kind of busy today."

"I got a letter from my parents."

He immediately sets the films to the side and leans over the counter. "Talk."

I clear my throat. "So, they're letting me keep the house and the car and all that, and they're still paying my bills."

"Nice."

"Until I'm eighteen."

He nods. "That isn't too bad."

"Right. But they're completely cutting me off otherwise. They're not going to talk to me, and they're not going to give me money if I need it. Actually, I'm pretty sure they instructed their staff to ignore anything I send them. It also means that I have to buy my own groceries and clothes and shit like that."

"You already do that, though."

"They're not funding me anymore."

"So you have to use your own money."

"And I don't have a job."

He bites his lip. "If you want, I'm sure Leo could get you one here."

"Right, but I don't have a parent or two to support me. It's not just a side job. It's literally going to be my total income."

He lowers his voice and leans in closer. "He doesn't know what numbers are half the time, you could probably scam some extra cash out of him."

"Steven!" I chide. "I'm not scamming Leo!"

He laughs and tilts his head, which is really damn cute, unfortunately for me. "Relax, I'm only kiddin'."

A horn honks from the drive-by window and he sighs. "Look, how about you get a job here at the Fotohut, and when you find a higher-paying one, you can move to that. You need some kind of income."

A small smile graces my lips. "That sounds good."

It's only then that I realize how close our faces are. I can't stop myself from coming closer, or maybe I just don't want to.

Hormones, am I right? I reassure myself.

My heart skips a beat when his tongue darts out between his lips and his eyes flit down to mine.

I exhale softly. "Steven..."

The back door swings open and we both jump back on instinct. "Hey, man, what's going on?" Leo frowns.

"Nothing, it's just a busy day," Hyde sighs, covering his anxiousness up quite nicely.

"Oh, my 'buy one, get one free' flyers must be working."

"Yeah, especially since you forgot the 'buy one' part."

"Yeah! I'm a genius, man." Leo takes notice of me. "Hi, Spacious." I barely have time to respond before he beams at me. "Do you want a job?"

♛

I return to the Formans' basement, hoping that the rest of my friends are back from their trip, but I'm thoroughly disappointed.

I reluctantly start heading home, passing through the garage to grab a beer.

My plans are foiled when I spot Red eating another sandwich on the hood of his Toyota.

He glances up at me with guilt written over his face.

"Hey," I say cautiously, not moving from my spot at the doorway.

"Hi," he nods. "Shut the door."

"Uh, what's up?" I ask as I do so.

His eyes dart around the room. "Kitty told me not to eat Laurie's sandwich but I'm hungry."

I chuckle, easing up a bit and joining him on the car as he beckons me over. "Well, you don't have to worry. I won't tell her."

"I've noticed you haven't been too keen on chatting with her recently."

I shake my head. "If I do, she'll bring up the incident. Thanks for not prying, by the way."

"It's nothing," he shrugs before sighing. "Listen, if you ever need anything... don't be afraid to ask. I know I'm all about keeping your mouth shut and not spilling your guts out to whoever's there, but you can trust us."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. If you don't mind my asking, do you know what's up between you and your parents?"

I explain my situation to him. "I'm starting work at the FotoHut on Monday."

He wrinkles his nose. "Oh, the FotoHut? You shouldn't work there, the owner is on dope half the time!"

"It's only temporary," I remind him. "I'm hoping to find a better job soon."

"Well, good. You deserve a good life, Anastasia. You didn't deserve any of the crap you got that day from those dumbasses." He huffs. "Sorry."

I chuckle. "It's okay. Thank you, sir."

"Call me Red."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?"

"Don't you know you're my favorite kid in that bunch? It used to be the annoying little one, but she's a dopehead, too."

"Alright, then," I smirk. "Thank you, Red."

"You're welcome."

"I'm going to go home, but I'll probably see you later today," I admit before cheekily adding, "Enjoy Laurie's sandwich."

He waves me off with a barely traceable smile. "Yeah, get out."

♛

Okay so @_Peter_Pan_Neverland commented on the last chapter saying "She's a Forman idgaf" and, uh... yeah that basically sums up the last scene and her relationship with the family

Like Laurie and Eric basically see her as a sister and Red and Kitty care so much about her that they may as well be her parents lol

That ending was a bit more wholesome, a refresher from the drama :)

and yes, the icon changing from a rook (♜) to a queen (♛) is intentional :) idk if anyone picked up on the symbolism that I was going for with the icon-changing throughout the book but I'll probably talk about it eventually lol

As always, feedback, comments, and votes are appreciated!

Love you guys,

Lissy