JULY 1978

Juniper took a deep breath as she waited for someone to pick up on the other end of the line. She gripped the yellow phone so tightly that Lily, who was busy making peanut-butter-and-apple sandwiches, couldn't stop watching her worriedly and had smeared peanut butter on the counter.

After what felt like an eternity, a low voice called out to June. "Hello?"

"Hi, uh..." Juniper resisted the urge to hang up. She didn't know why she felt so anxious, but there was really no backing out now. "Is this the Forman residence?"

"Yeah. If you're trying to sell us somethin', man, I-"

"No, I'm... I'm Juniper?" she smiled to herself, recognizing the boy- well, the man she was talking to.

Steven Hyde sighed loudly. "Look, if I didn't call you back, it was for a reason, doll."

"Juniper Clark? I used to be Kelso's neighbor?"

The line was silent for a few suffocating seconds before he answered. "Junie?"

Lily had cleaned the counter and moved out of the kitchen.

"Yeah. Hyde?"

"Yeah!" he laughed in disbelief. "I can't believe it's you! Why are you calling after all this time? Not that it's a bad thing, I-"

"I found Mike and Donna," June explained shortly.

"Oh, shit. Small world, huh?"

"Tiny."

Hyde pursed his lips. "Still doesn't explain the call, though."

"Right." Juniper swallowed. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

≛

"This Archie dude sounds like an ass."

"He's not, I promise," June pressed.

"Well, then he's a prude."

"Hyde!"

Steven laughed. "Sorry, Junie. So what do you want me to do? It's not my fault you have the hots for Kelso." He paused. "Why do you have the hots for Kelso?"

"I don't know!" Juniper groaned, leaning her back against the wall. "He's sweet and funny, and-"

"June, he's dumber than dumb."

"No, he's not! He's just gullible."

"Exactly."

Juniper shook her head exasperatedly. "Whatever."

Steven kept quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. "In all seriousness, though... This Archie guy, does he make you happy?"

"Yes," June answered honestly. "I don't want to hurt him."

"I know, Junie. Go with your gut, I guess." He chuckled quietly. "Look at you, all grown up with two guys fighting for your attention. You must be pretty hot then, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. I've had a real glow-up. I'm a model now, actually."

Steven drew in a breath with wide eyes. "Shit, you are?"

Juniper laughed brightly. "And Mike's the gullible one, yeah?"

"Shut it, Clark. You know, I grew a beard."

"Did you?" She twirled the cord around her finger giddily. "I bet the ladies love it."

"Well, some of them. I'm with Jackie at the moment, so-"

"God, what's the appeal?" Juniper wrinkled her nose. Jackie had never been kind to her. She wasn't a bad person - June didn't believe that there were bad people in the world - but she hadn't liked the way Michael gave Juniper so much attention.

"Why? You jealous?" Steven teased.

"You wish, asshole."

"You know you love me."

"Yeah, I do."

Steven attempted to hide his smile in front of Eric's mother, Kitty, who had come bustling in from the living room. "Alright, then. Call again, okay?"

"I will," Juniper promised.

"Cool. Talk to you later, then, Junie."

"Bye."

Steven hung the phone back onto its holder, bracing himself upon noting the delighted grin on Kitty's face.

≛

Juniper slipped behind the cafe counter, tying the back of her apron and offering Lucy a smile. "Hey."

"Hi," Lucy said softly after flipping the sign on the door to "Open". "How's it going?"

June knew what she was referring to. "I'm fine. I don't want to make a big deal out of it."

"That's fair," Lucy reasoned. "If you need anything, let me know, yeah?"

Juniper grinned at her gratefully. "I will."

The bell rang as the door swung open and the two girls glanced toward it. Archie ran a hand through his hair as he came in. Lucy threw a quick glance toward June, and though she seemed delighted, she knew this wasn't so from the way the color drained from her face.

"Morning, Arch," Juniper sang.

"Good morning, ladies," he smirked before approaching his girlfriend and pecking her forehead.

"Hi," Lucy beamed. "Are you ordering anything or did you just come to say hello?"

"The usual, please."

"Gotcha."

Lucy noticed Juniper start to turn to fulfill the order, but she wouldn't let her run away from her problems so quickly. "Don't worry, June, I'll get it."

Archie's eyes followed her as she left them alone before he turned back to the girl before him. He tilted his head playfully, "Did you miss me?"

Juniper laughed quietly, a sound that made him all the merrier as it contrasted from her generally stiff demeanor. "I saw you yesterday, Arch. And the day before. And the day before that. And-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're tired of me," he pretended to be annoyed.

"Oh, be quiet," she giggled. "You know I love you."

Archie detected the snippet of hesitation that came with her words but didn't have time to say anything about it before she pulled him in by his shirt collar for a kiss.

He closed his eyes and held the back of her neck to deepen the embrace, slightly bothered by the counter keeping them apart but happy with her nonetheless.

The bell rang once more and the pair pulled apart reluctantly when Lucy came back over and slapped them apart. "Get off of each other, you're making me sick."

The three looked to the doorway where Donna and Michael strolled in. "Hey, guys," Donna grinned. "What's up?"

Archie and Lucy jumped to chat with their relatively new friends, but Juniper was too distracted to speak. She and Michael made eye contact, and she almost instantly knew what he was thinking.

He had seen her and Archie kiss. He knew he shouldn't have been upset by it.

But he was.

≛

(not) brought to you by this being a short chapter oops

(not) brought to you by btw this book isn't gonna be that long, we're probably at least halfway done rn

(not) brought to you by helter skelter - the beatles (particularly the lyric, "do you, don't you want me to love you?")

brought to you by lissy <3