ＧＩＭＭＥ ＳＨＥＬＴＥＲ

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰

♟

I peer over Donna's shoulder while she flips through a magazine, tuning out the game of Hot Hands that Fez and Kelso are playing in the background.

"Who wants cookies?" Kitty coos as she creeps down the stairs. 

We all turn our attention to her, thank her, and take some treats off of the plate she holds.

"They're carob, nature's chocolate."

I munch on mine as the rest of my friends return them to their original positions.

"Oh, come on! You wouldn't have known if I didn't tell you!"

"They're delicious, Mrs. Forman," I compliment, taking another.

"Thank you, dear. Oh, Eric! I picked out a really snazzy outfit for you to wear on Career Day."

"Oh that's, um, goodie!" her son cheers falsely.

I dust my hands off. Career Day is truly pointless. It's understandable that the school wants the juniors to explore career paths and such, but most of the people who participate in it have spent seventeen years with their parents learning about what they do. Plus, it's not as if anyone actually pays attention to the answers. They just write them down.

I don't have to do Career Day until next year, though, when I'll be a junior like everyone else but Jackie. I have no idea what I would do. My parents live halfway across the country, and if they haven't called me once yet without a real reason, they most likely won't call to help with schoolwork.

Jackie and I have the day off while everyone else is at their parents' jobs, so I just hope she won't take me shopping or something. I don't mind the company too much, but I have way too much stuff from our trips to the mall.

"Well, fine, Mr. Grumpy," Kitty cackles. "But I can't wait to show off my little man at work!"

"You know what? Me neither." He offers us a harshly whispered "Help me."

Hyde shakes his head in an appalled fashion. "Why Career Day, man? It's so lame."

"That's just because your mom's the lunch lady!" Kelso jeers.

Jackie lights up with realization. "Your mom is Gross Edna? Ew!"

He glares at her.

"I mean, cool," she adds swiftly.

"You bet it's cool. That's why I'm spending the day with Hyde and his mom. Right?" Fez beams.

Steven stays silent. 

"Hey, what are you two doing for Career Day?" Donna queries, gesturing toward Jackie and me.

"Staying home."

"Shopping."

Fez's face lights up. "Oh! Since you don't have anything to do, Anastasia, you can join us! Maybe we can do it in the school bathroom."

I raise an eyebrow. "No. And I would never do it in the bathroom."

Hyde turns to me with a smug grin. "What's the worst that could happen, Princess? Come with us."

I grit my teeth behind my lips. He knows I'll be uncomfortable, and he'll do anything he can to make it more enjoyable for him and worse for me.

Donna catches on. "Yeah, go with them."

Kelso adds to the mix without really knowing what's going on. He just wants to participate. "Go with 'em!"

"Go-"

"Fine!" I growl. "Peer pressure much?"

They laugh as I dig myself deeper into the couch.

The door swings open and Red peers in from outside. "Eric, I need you in the garage."

"Okay. I'll be right back," the boy tells us.

"You can explain exactly what you did to this car."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

♟

I drum on the wheel of my car as I sit parked outside of Hyde's dilapidated house with Fez. He marches out of the building and throws the door open, flopping into the passenger's seat. 

I start driving and he immediately criticizes me. "The Rolling Stones? Again? Zep is better."

"When you get a car, you can pick the music."

"I like it!" Fez chimes.

The boy next to me crosses his arms and pouts at the window.

I glance at him from the corner of my eye. "What's your problem today, Sunshine?"

"This whole thing is just so lame."

"Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, but you're the one who dragged me here so you don't get to complain."

He turns his gaze to the road in front of us and a small smile graces his lips. "Right. I can make you as miserable as possible. Maybe it won't be that bad."

I pull into a spot at the school and hop out. "To the cafeteria," I sigh.

Hyde goes in first. "Edna."

The woman in the room looks up from stirring a pot of who-knows-what. "Steven."

We file in after him. "Fez, Princess, this is, uh, my mom."

She gives me a once over and looks at me in disgust, not unlike how her son does. "Oh my god, did you seriously bring a stripper here? Princess?"

I fight the urge to snap back. "Actually," I snarl as politely as I can, "my name is Anastasia. Steven here refuses to call me by my name."

"Okay, good," she goes back to stirring and I think she doesn't mind me much now that she knows I'm not a hooker. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

While I don't flinch, Hyde coughs loudly beside me. "No, I'm not," I clarify. "We're... acquaintances."

"Friends," he argues, hoping to piss me off.

"Acquaintances. In any case, it's nice to meet you, Miss Hyde."

"Yes, nice to meet you, Mrs. Gross Edna."

She gives him a look but doesn't let it shake her. "No, honey, it's Miss Gross Edna. You see, Mr. Gross Edna ran off with Miss Perfect Ass."

"But she can laugh about it now!" Hyde chuckles.

"Oh ho! Yes, she can! Shut up."

"Well, I am so excited to be in the foodservice industry," Fez glimmers. "May I cut the cheese?" he continues seductively.

She takes a drag from her cigarette and raises her eyebrows. "Is he kidding?"

"We can never tell," I shrug.

"Well, knock yourself out," she sighs, turning to the foreigner. "But if you cut off a finger, you're out of here." She sets the spoon down and moves to a shelf. "Steven, you can start by slicing pizza."

"Oh, no. I'm here as an observer. A fly on the wall. One of many."

"Gee, what a surprise. Lazy. Just like your father."

I smirk and pat his back. "You're doing a wonderful job of making me miserable. I'll cut the pizzas."

"You're not even supposed to be doing Career Day!" he retorts.

"And you're not supposed to be such an ass, but here we are."

I take the food out of Edna's hands and start slicing. A few hours later, we take a break as Fez asks the mandated questions on his form.

"Okay, question number three. Was the foodservice industry your first career choice?"

"Hell no, Fez," she laughs. "I always wanted to go into show biz. In fact, I was in the Tommy Bartlett water show at the Wisconsin Dells!"

"Yes! Women waterskiing in bikinis."

"Anyway, I was the top girl on the pyramid, but they fired me for getting knocked up," she reminisces.

Hyde stops stacking trays and leans his hands on the counter I'm sitting on. "Let me finish this one for you, Edna. Fez, this is the story of how I ruined my mother's fabulous waterskiing career!"

"Yeah, well you did! They said that a pregnant girl on water skis would make the audience nervous."

"Not to mention, you were probably hideously fat," Fez states obliviously.

"No, I looked great! I kept my weight down by smoking."

"See, that's that maternal instinct kicking in again," the boy behind me mutters sarcastically.

I shift slightly closer to him, which surprises me since I mean to scoot away. Maybe it's something about the comfort of having that warmth behind me. It's the same as with any other guy. It just makes me feel safe. Edna shoots a curious look towards us but her eyes flit away before the guys can notice.

"You're damn right I'm maternal!" she snaps. "I raised you alone."

"Alone?" he scoffs. "Hardly. There was 'uncle' Chet and 'uncle' Larry, and, oh yeah, 'uncle' hot tub Johnny."

"I suppose I should have just become a nun when your father walked out on me." She strides over to the counter.

"He must've been crazy to leave all of this."

They're both taller than me at the moment so they easily see over my head. Edna shoves her face right in front of his. I cringe away slightly, trying to escape the situation, but Hyde rests a hand on my waist. Somehow, I know that it isn't to keep me there and annoy me. He feels vulnerable, he feels defensive, and he wants me in between them as a sort of wall, even if they can fight over it. I stop resisting and shimmy back in between them.

"Always a smartass, Steven, just like your father."

"You know what? One thing he did do right? He left!"

He turns and thunders towards the exit.

"That's right, Steven, just walk!" she yells after him. "Just like everyone else!"

Once the door slams, she holds her arm to her forehead. "Shit. Can you...?"

I nod, jogging out of the kitchen through the back exit. I peer around the corner of the doorframe. My eyes land on Hyde, sitting on the curb with his hands tangled in his messy hair.

I shut the door behind me and carefully cross my legs next to him. "Hey," I mumble.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Princess."

"Me neither." I slowly switch from facing the ground to looking at him as he stares at the cement. "You okay?" I question softly.

I surprise myself. I care about Hyde to a certain extent, but I have never thought that I could be like this with him. Quiet. Not arguing or pissing each other off. Gentle. I have never considered the idea that I could comfort him in any way until this moment. I feel as if I will do anything to cheer him up.

Seeing him out of his cool composure reminds me that he's human, too, but it worries me slightly. He doesn't show his emotions to anyone. He has trouble even managing them on his own.

"No," he answers honestly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He removes his hands from his curls and his eyes meet mine. They narrow for a split second as if he's deciding whether or not I would hurt him. It's painful to watch. Not just because people usually trust me, but because he doesn't feel stable enough to fully count on anyone.

He sighs, seemingly deciding on what to do, and takes his glasses off. "It's just annoying, that I can't get along with her. She's my mom. I'm supposed to have good relationship with her. But all I see her as is a whore and all she sees me as is the downfall of her life."

"If it makes you feel any better, my mom can't care less about me. The last time she spoke to me was right before I left New York."

"At least you still have a dad."

"He's not a dad so much as a boss. I think you might have it better off."

He chuckles dryly. "I don't think so."

"Well, I'm not here for a pity party. How about we agree that both of our family lives are trash?"

"Yeah."

A silence falls over us. It's comfortable, but it holds a thin layer of awkwardness. When I think he's calmed down enough, I speak up.

"Look at you. Steven Hyde, opening up to the person he hates most," I tease, nudging him with my shoulder.

"You're not the person I hate the most."

"Out of all things in that sentence, you choose to argue with that?" I giggle.

"Shut up, Princess," he scoffs, standing. "I'm going to Forman's."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I shuffle back into the kitchen. 

"How'd it go?" Edna huffs.

"Not badly."

"He comin' back?"

"I don't know."

♟

Sure enough, he returns later in the night with his sunglasses back on. He glances at me through the lenses before looking back at his mom. "Hi."

"Steven, you're back. You don't know what that means to me."

"Yeah, I had some help." I ignore his eyes boring into me as I wipe down a table.

"Could you clear out the pizza trays? I'm going to skip out early," she pleads. Before stepping out she apologizes to him. "I'm not being a very good mom, am I?"

"No."

"Alright, I've got a better idea. Let's do something together. Come on, I'll buy you a beer."

"A beer?" he scowls sourly before smiling. "That sounds good."

"You got your fake ID?"

"You know it."

"That's my boy."

♟

Yes, I ended this weirdly. Sorry.

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

Love you guys,

Lissy