ＣＡＲＲＹ ＯＮ ＷＡＹＷＡＲＤ ＳＯＮ

𝔨𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔞𝔰

♜

The ice pop that I'm eating gets increasingly smaller as I sit across Hyde's lap in the Formans' beloved basement. The other seats are taken, so I have to act as if I'm reluctant, but I honestly don't mind my position at all.

His arms create a circle around my waist, connected by the comic he's reading. With one hand holding my pop and the other on his left shoulder, I peer at the panels every so often to see what the occasional laugh is caused by.

"Michael, I want you to take me to the movies today," Jackie's voice rings, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I'm way ahead of you, Jackie," her boyfriend replies. "Two o'clock, Smokey and the Bandit!"

"No. No, no, no. I told you. I don't want to see that again."

Donna turns to Eric, placing a hand onto his knee. "Do you want to see The Goodbye Girl?"

"Well, I would but it has two basic flaws," Eric chides. "No Smokey and no Bandit." He and Kelso high-five.

"Plus, isn't The Goodbye Girl, like, a girl movie?" Kelso sneers.

"You moron. A girl movie is a makeout movie," Hyde scoffs. He looks up at me with a shit-eating grin. "Princess, do you want to go see The Goodbye Girl with me?"

I roll my eyes. "Get bent."

"Well, I'm in!" Kelso chuckles.

"Me too. I will come and watch you. Maybe Anastasia will join me?" Fez states.

I glare at him. "What makes you two think I'd be interested?"

"We are sexy!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Okay. Fez, you are sexy. Fez, you are-"

The door swings open as Red and Kitty march in. "Okay," Kitty chimes, "T-minus one hour until the garage sale! Oh, I feel like an astronaut!"

As her husband returns to her with a box in his arms, Kitty reminisces, "Remember how Eric wanted these roller skates? Oh... the yo-yo! Oh! Your plastic vomit! I fell for that." She strides off.

"Yeah, you wasted a lot of my money," Red snarls.

"Me and my damn childhood," his son retorts sarcastically.

"You know, Mrs. Forman, I feel really bad," Hyde decides, not looking up from his comic. "I mean, you let me stay here and everything. I wish I had something to contribute to your garage sale."

"Oh, Steven," Kitty coos. "Your loving smile is contribution enough."

"No, it's not!" Red barks, tossing a box at me, probably not noticing that I'm on Steven's lap. "Run that upstairs."

"You heard him, Kelso, move it!" Hyde snaps as I pass it to Michael.

"Hey, Dad," Eric says, standing up. "Donna and I were going to go see The Goodbye Girl."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure it's a great movie, Eric, but you're going to be helping with the garage sale. It's important."

"Oh, right. We're having a garage sale because you lost your job. I mean, because of all the clutter."

"Everybody needs to work, Eric. The gravy train has made its last stop."

"There was a gravy train?"

"Yep. And you missed it!"

Choosing to change the subject, I address Kitty. "I'd actually like to help you with the garage sale, too. It's not like I have anything to do today."

"Oh! I have a great idea!" she cheers. "You two could sell lemonade!"

Hyde sucks in a breath. "Mrs. Forman, I've thrown a lot of rocks at kids with lemonade stands and Lord knows I hate a hypocrite."

"What about a bake sale?" I grin slyly, winking down at him. "I make the best brownies."

A smile spreads across his face. "And I have a special ingredient that could make them even better." He nudges me off of his lap and wraps an arm around my shoulders, facing Kitty. "We could make brownies because people love brownies!"

"No, they don't," Eric mutters in a warning tone.

"Oh, they'll love our brownies."

"Steven, what do you say we get to work?" I smirk.

"Let's go."

He grabs my hand and runs up the stairs with me. "You are a tiny genius," he compliments, pecking my lips.

"Thank you very much for your kind words," I giggle.

I search the lower cabinets for the ingredients I need. "Hyde, could you look for some bowls and trays?"

"I don't see any bowls or trays around here."

I turn and raise an eyebrow. "Maybe you can try taking your eyes off of my ass and checking the cupboards."

"You're such a party pooper."

"Party pooper?"

"Well, it's true."

"If you don't shut up and help me, I'll make you wear an apron."

"Fine."

♜

An hour later, the first tray of our "special" brownies are ready. "Oh, Steven, Anastasia," Kitty babbles. "You two are such joys to have around the house. I can't believe that your parents abandoned the both of you. I mean, that they can bear to be so far away."

As she shuffles off, Kelso chuckles. "Boy, I sure do like brownies. Hey, you know what has two thumbs and likes brownies? This guy!"

I put the tray down and continue mixing one of the bowls of batter while Eric storms in. "Guys! Come on! I'm asking you not to make these brownies! I mean, my mom and dad are-" He notices Kitty's entrance into the room. "Way too fat!"

"You know what, Eric, you leave them alone!" Kitty scolds. "This is their voluntary contribution to our garage sale! And, I happen to know that they added the special ingredient!"

Hyde tenses up and Eric yelps out an, "I told them not to!"

"That's right, Mrs. Forman. We put as much of the special ingredient in as we could. Love," I smoothly cover with a smile.

"Mom, crazy Helen from across the street is switching price tags and Dad says he's going to kick her in the keister," Laurie drawls as she saunters into the kitchen.

"Oh no," the woman mutters, "he'll do it, too."

After Kitty skirts off once again, her daughter sticks out her hips in that classic Laurie fashion. "Hi, Kelso," she says sweetly.

"Oh, look. Chocolate batter!" she takes Eric's place and dips her finger into my brownie batter. "I sure wish I could lick all of this batter off but I just can't," she teases, dangling Kelso by a string.

She eats it off. "Oh! Guess I can. Bye."

"Man, I was so close!" Kelso laughs as she struts back outside.

"I'm friends with her, but that was gross," I scowl, wrinkling my nose.

"God, you guys can't make special brownies in my parents' kitchen!" Eric hisses.

"Oh no," Hyde mumbles mockingly. "I already made them. If only you had warned me sooner!"

"Come on, man, I'm serious."

"Look, relax, okay? Yeah, we're making special brownies, but we're also making regular brownies for the 'straight folks' or 'losers'!"

"Someday, I'm going to own a restaurant, and everything is going to be special!" Kelso beams. "And when people ask me, they say, 'Hey, Kelso, what's the special?' And I say, 'Everything!'"

"That sounds great, Mike," I smile comfortingly.

♜

I lean on my hand as we sell another brownie to some guy. "Do you now or have you ever had any association with the Point Place Police Department?" Hyde asks the man.

"Nope."

"Alright, enjoy. You've got about thirty minutes to get someplace safe."

I sigh as he walks away. "Man, this is a lot more boring than I thought it would be."

Hyde smirks. "Do you want to ditch this and go to your house?"

"And leave our brownies here for people to take them without paying us? No. You need the cash."

"Ouch," he chuckles. "Well, I don't know what you want me to do."

"Me neither," I huff. "I wish something interesting would happen."

As if a genie is standing right next to us, a guy with gorgeous green eyes and tousled dark hair cautiously approaches our table. He looks me over and his lips quirk up at one side before he turns to Hyde. "Uh, are you guys selling the... special brownies?"

I lean forward onto the table and comb my hair to the side. "Yeah, we are," I smile. "Only three dollars."

The curly-haired boy beside me glances between us. "Yeah, okay," he mutters bitterly. "Are you or have you ever been associated with the Point Place Police Department?"

"No."

"Fine. Here you go."

The guy takes the brownie and hands the money to me. "Hey, uh, what's your name?"

"Anastasia," I introduce myself, biting my lip. "You?"

"I'm James. Do you want to, maybe, hang out sometime?"

"Sure. I'll give you my number." I reach for Steven's pen but he snags it away, preventing me from getting it. "Hyde, what the hell?"

"We're busy," he spits.

I give him a look. "You obviously aren't busy enough if you're being a dick for no reason."

"I've got a pen," James pipes up.

I turn back to him and smile apologetically. "Sorry about that." I scribble my phone number down on a slip of paper and hand it to him.

As he walks away, I wheel on Hyde. "What's your problem?"

"You should be working, not hitting on random guys."

"You should be working, not getting in the way of something that doesn't concern you," I retort. "He was cute and interested, and I had every right to flirt with him."

He stays mostly silent, but I catch the sound of "whore" mumbled under his breath.

"Oh, you don't get to say that. 'Lord knows I hate a hypocrite,'" I mock.

"Whatever," he scoffs. "Let's go inside. Our brownies are sold out."

We join Eric in the basement and the tension between us seems to die down. Once Hyde finishes counting the bills, he frowns. "This doesn't make any sense. We're out of brownies, but we should have more money. Princess, did you flirt with someone and give them a discount?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh, get bent."

"That's dirty money. There's never enough," Eric shrugs.

"No, man. I feel like we lost an entire tray of brownies."

The Forman boy grips the couch. "Wait. What kind of brownies did you lose? Were they regular?"

My eyes widen. "They were special brownies."

"Shit! Where was the last place you had them?"

Steven hesitates. "In the oven."

"You left a tray of special brownies in the oven?" I seethe.

"In my mother's oven?" Eric adds.

We leap out of our seats and bolt up the stairs. Red, Kitty, Bob, and Midge sit around the kitchen table, over half the tray of brownies completely devoured.

"Oh, Steven, Anastasia, your brownies were a big hit!" Kitty laughs.

As the adults retreat to the garage, Eric runs his hands through his hair. "Oh my god. My parents are high on your brownies."

"At least they're having a good time," Steven shrugs.

"Man, shut up! What are we going to do?"

I glance at the tray. "Well, there's three of them left."

"I'm not going to be high at the same time as my parents! Someone needs to watch them!"

"Suit yourself. I'll have two, then," I shrug.

"No, that's even worse. I'll take one."

I hop up onto the counter and bite into one of my amazing brownies. As I let the "special ingredient" flow into my system, Eric frets about his parents.

"Listen, Forman," I sigh. "It's already done. There isn't much you can do about it now but hope that they don't do anything stupid."

A large clang comes from the direction of the garage followed by Kitty's telltale laugh. Eric dashes off in a panic. Hyde checks to see that he's gone and moves to stand between my legs.

"He's finally gone," he scowls, placing his hands on my thighs.

"An hour ago, you were mad at me because I flirted with a guy, and now you're all touchy-feely?" I smirk.

"Yeah, well, I'm also considerably more baked," he murmurs against my lips before pulling me in for a kiss.

"You taste like chocolate," I giggle. 

"Taste good?"

I hum in response as he kisses me again. Eric's footsteps echo down the hallway and I push him away, busying myself with the nutrition facts on the box of chocolate chips.

"My dad sold the Cruiser!" he wails.

"What?" Hyde snaps.

"Ouch," I mumble.

"Eric!" Red's voice wafts as he waddles into the kitchen. 

"Dad, how could you do this?"

The boys sit him down and I tune them out as they reprimand him. When it's all over, I'm being called to go with them and find the buyer of the Cruiser.

"Sorry, I'm a little tired," I yawn. "I'm going to go home. Good luck."

I almost run into Donna and Jackie as I step through the front door.

"In a way, I don't blame Fez. I'm very appealing," Jackie says, jumping when she notices that I'm there.

"What happened?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Fez kissed her," Donna laughs.

I gasp and sit down with them. "Jackie! Oh my god!"

"Girls, I have to confess something," she beams. "It wasn't terrible!"

"How not terrible?"

"It was the best kiss of my life! I mean, Fez is totally not an option because he's foreign and everything, but-"

I wrinkle my nose at her comment but ignore it.

"Michael has never kissed me like that."

"Damn," Donna chuckles. "What was so good about it?"

"Do you know how when Fez talks, he sometimes rolls his Rs? Well, that's what he did in my mouth!"

"Really? That actually sounds kind of cool! You know, don't get me wrong. Eric's a great kisser and everything but he's never, like, rolled anything."

"I've never had any guy to that either," I giggle. "Maybe we should all kiss Fez to try it out."

"No offense, Anastasia, but you've kissed enough guys," Jackie criticizes. "Oh, I just love kissing. Don't you?"

Lord knows I hate a hypocrite.

"I'm going to go find Eric," Donna grins, getting up and leaving.

I also stand. "I'll go find H- I'm going to sleep."

♜

LMAO THIS IS A THICC CHAPTER WTF I WAS IN THE WRITING MOOOOOOD DAMN I'M PROUD

I found a classic rock radio station with so many good 70s/80s songs on it and omg it's so good

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

Love you guys,

Lissy