(I'll do weekly chapter dump from now on. Sorry for the long hiatus. Been really sick)
[Hyde POV]
I got on the roof of the house and began inspecting it using appraisal.
"Why did it fall?" I was confused.
Red wasn't the type to let his roof get to a state where it could cave into the house. No, this happened suddenly.
"Did a meteorite fall down?" I muttered to myself as I climbed down the ladder.
"Meteorite?" Eric heard me and got excited. He just came back from the hardware store, bringing home some 2x4 lumbars with him.
"I called dibs!" He quickly ran to Red's room.
"No! I figured it out first!" I ran after him.
We scoured Red's room to see if there were any signs of a meteorite. However, Mrs Forman pulled us to the living room as it was almost time to celebrate Red's Birthday.
I sat at the edge of the three seater couch, Eric beside me, and Mrs Forman next to Eric. Red's seat was by Mrs Forman's side, but it was empty.
"Okay, now I want your father to enjoy this birthday, so we're all going to try our best to make it good." Mrs Forman said.
The front door opened, and her daughter walked into the living room. Her shirt was half tucked on one side, and her hair was a mess.
"Except for Laurie, who's going to stumble in smelling like cigarettes and beer." Mrs Forman said sarcastically as Laurie walked behind her.
"Hey, at least I'm here." Laurie said tiredly, sitting on Red's usual seat.
Mrs Forman stood up next to her, "Well, you better be here with a present. I gave you $20 yesterday."
Laurie scowled, "God, relax."
"Oh, you can it, Laurie." Mrs Forman admonished her, hands on her waist.
"Yeah, can it, Laurie." Eric took the chance.
"Can it, Eric." Mrs Forman scolded him.
"Yeah, can it, Eric." Laurie shot at him.
"I thought I told you to can it." Mrs Forman turned back to Laurie.
There was a moment of silence, I guess it was my time to speak, but instead of following their lead, I decided to attack Laurie.
"Hey, there's short, black, curly hair next to your lip."
"What!?" Laurie covered her mouth instantly. "No there aren't." She said quickly.
Mrs Forman looked at Laurie with horror.
Laurie's eyes shifted nervously and then she glared at me. I smirked and Eric asked in confusion, "What's happening?"
"Can it Eric! Oh, look, it's the birthday boy." Mrs Forman saw Red and celebrated him immediately.
"Daddy!" Laurie also celebrated, pretending to be girlish again.
Red touched my shoulder subtly, and I moved next to Eric as I realized he wanted to sit at my spot.
"Come on in, birthday boy. Open your presents." Mrs Forman said gleefully.
"I wonder what's in the big one?" Eric said with a jittery excitement. The 2x4s wood was quite obvious as he wrapped it in newspaper.
"Is it.. a Corvette?" Red said sarcastically. He opened up the wrap and said flatly, "No, it's, uh, 2x4s."
Eric laughed, "For the roof."
I laughed too.
"Oh, yeah." Red smiled, and his face immediately soured, "Thanks for reminding me."
"Here you go, Red. This will help you forget." I gave him the peach schnapps. "Happy birthday, man."
He took it with a face full of disbelief.
"Oh, also, this." I took out a card from my pocket and gave it to him.
"Steven. You got him a card too?" Mrs Forman was elated.
"It's handmade." I said. Red opened it, and saw a caricature of him in front of the card.
He read it out loud, "Another year older, another foot in someone's ass."
Mrs Forman was disappointed, but Red laughed. "That's a good one." he smiled and opened the card.
"What's this?" He asked as he saw the check.
"That's the autoshop check. I figured I would give it now instead of next week."
"For the roof?" Eric asked me.
"Yeah." I agreed with him.
"Holy Cow!" Red exclaimed in bewilderment as he saw the numbers. It was 3777 dollars, half of the profit of the mechanic's shop in three weeks.
Laurie and Mrs Forman peeked at the cheque.
"That's enough for you to buy a used Corvette." I told him. "If you really want one, just buy a cheap one, and we can work on it together."
"That's… a great plan." Red's face was full of proudness and admiration.
Laurie was slightly nervous. Mrs Forman told her, "Laurie, where's your gift?"
"Um… Daddy! This is for you." She gave Red a card with a slight nervousness.
"Well. Let's see here." Red opened up the card. "Well! $7. Isn't that something?" His tone was still happy as he didn't expect much from Laurie. "Thanks, sweetie." He gave her a hug.
Mrs Forman laughed, and pulled Laurie away to the kitchen. Then, she whispered, "If I don't have $13 on my dresser by tonight, then so help me God…"
"The card cost 50 cents." Laurie replied with a scowl.
"Fine, $12.50 and I want a receipt." Mrs Forman told her.
"Whatever." Laurie rolled her eyes and went away.
"Okay, boys, thank you for the wood… And the booze." Mrs Forman chased us away. We laughed and went to the den to resume the search for the meteorite.
"Okay, now... Now, one more present." Mrs Forman gave Red her gift.
"Ooh." Red took it with elation and shook it without unwrapping it. "Underwear!" He guessed it.
"Oh, damn it." Mrs Forman cursed.
"Well, happy birthday." She kissed him on the cheek.
Red sighed and said, "So, is the happy birthday fun over yet?"
"No." Mrs Forman's eyes shifted nervously. "Bob and Midge want to take us out to dinner tonight."
Red exclaimed with annoyance, "Bob and Midge!" He added, "Kitty, it's my birthday."
"I know, but they like you, and they want you to have fun on your birthday, like I do." Mrs Forman tried to placate him.
"If they really liked me, they'd leave me alone." Red complained. Mrs Forman just laughed.
The recorded scene ended and I went up to the roof, already having some wood and a battery operated nail gun on my system storage.
Red joined me a few minutes later. He was surprised when he saw the shingles, the rafters and the plywood was already up on the roof.
I used an appraisal to check the damage. "We can sister that rafter, and put new ones in here. I think we can get it done in two hours."
It was just to cover it up instead of fixing it all perfectly.
Red smiled and said, "Sure."
We started working without saying much. Mrs Forman made us tea and some cookies.
I brought a track saw and work desk from the carpentry shop. While I was climbing up the roof, a few neighbours came to check on the house.
They asked Red, "What happened?"
"The damn roof caved in suddenly." Red grumbled.
"Is it the tornado?" One person asked.
"A tornado?" I was confused.
"It hit the other town. Some of the stuff could fly here." The person guessed again.
I turned to Red and he confirmed it for me, "Yeah, there's a tornado yesterday."
I mused slightly. It was highly unlikely that the debris stayed up in the air for hours until it fell to Red's roof, but it made more sense than a meteorite falling down.
We stopped for lunch, and the roof was already covered by the plywood.
"So did you find a meteorite?" I asked Eric.
"I did!" he smiled and took out a small black stuff. "I think this is it. It's pretty warm when I found it."
Red took it from Eric and inspected it. "Maybe we can sell it."
Mrs Forman added excitedly, "It can pay for the roof."
I used an appraisal on it, and said, "That's raccoon poop."
Red quickly threw it to the side. It broke and it scattered everywhere.
"Damn it. Eric!" Red scolded and went to wash his hand quickly. All three of them went to the sink while I ate the sandwiches alone.
"Steven. We're not finishing it up today." Red said suddenly.
"Why?" I asked.
"It's been twenty years… I guess it's time for a new roof." He replied.
…
All of my friends, minus Donna, hung out together in the basement.
"Man, last night we could hear the Pinciottis fighting all the way across the driveway." Eric complained, sitting on the top of the sofa, his shoes on the cushion.
Kelso sat next to him on the cushion, Jackie was next to him. She was wearing a green pantsuit with horizontal lines. It was so old fashioned that it hurt my eyes a bit.
"It was horrible." Eric added while eating an orange flavoured popsicle. He imitated Bob perfectly, "It was all, "You're the devil, Midge!""
Then, he imitated Midge using a breathy voice, "And, "Oh, Bob, shut up.""
Kelso laughed and imitated Midge badly, ""Oh, Bob, shut up!" That's classic."
I grimaced and told Kelso, "Man, if you get any dumber you're gonna need a helmet."
He was taken aback and stopped smiling immediately.
"What a bummer for Donna, huh? I can't believe they're sleeping in separate bedrooms." I said to Eric.
"Yeah, I know." Eric suddenly was taken aback, "Wait, I don't know. What are you talking about?"
Fez stood between us and narrated, " Well, Hyde knows something about Donna that Eric does not know. This is an interesting development. Let's watch."
"Midge is sleeping in the guest bedroom, man." I told Eric.
"How did you know that? Did Donna tell you that?" Eric asked, caught off guard by the whole thing.
"Look, Forman, it's not a big deal. I guess she's just telling me stuff that she's not telling you." I teased him slightly.
[-1 favorability]
'Oh damn it.' I cursed inwardly.
Jackie interjected, "See, this is why communication is so important. Now, Michael and I…"
"Uh, excuse me, we were talking about Donna and me now." Eric tried to bring up the topic again, but Jackie grimaced at him, "Oh, hush. No one cares."
She patted Kelso's shoulder and said, "Now, Michael never keeps secrets from me. Do you, sweetie?"
Kelso hesitated slightly, "Huh? Oh, no, no. Never."
Jackie caught him, "Michael, you hesitated. Why did you hesitate?"
"No, I didn't hesitate. Did I, Hyde?" He turned to me for some help.
"Yep." I exposed him immediately.
"Fez?" Kelso turned to the left for his last lifeline.
"Oh, yes. If you really loved her, you would not have hesitated." Fez said with a smile.
"Ah!" Kelso yelped like a girl again.
"Conversation, Michael. The van, now." Jackie said angrily.
"No! No, I didn't hesitate!" He followed her from behind quickly. Before getting out of the door, he turned and pointed at all of us. He snapped, "You guys are dead!"
The recorded scene ended, and I guess it would resume around dinner time.
"I need to get some footage of the basketball court."
Last night, I already bought a drone camera from Walmart. It arrived in just one day so I could pair it up with my phone and use it today.
I bought an Iphone 15 to make the filming process easier since it could be paired instantly with the drone.
"Won't people think it's a UFO or something?" I muttered worriedly. "I should do this when there's no one around."
I paused for a bit and grinned, "Also. I can definitely scare some people with the drone."
Red and Kitty left for their dinner with Bob and Midge around 4.30.
Eric went out with Donna, and Laurie left to go to a party again, leaving me alone at the house.
I didn't want to eat out alone, so I Uber-ed the food. I ordered a lot of food from a Korean chicken wing restaurant, basically bought 100 pieces of wings for just 10 dollars.
It has multiple flavors such as soy garlic, yangyeom, and monster– which was basically a really spicy flavor.
The delivery would take an hour, so I went to the basketball court to film the drone shot of the entire place before the construction started.
When I came back, the food was already delivered. I took it out from the packaging, stored the containers inside my system, and served the food on Mrs Forman's tray.
I had done this so much that I never really thought about it anymore.
"Ooh, it's so spicy."
My lips felt numb as I tried the spicy chicken wing. I drank some iced lemonade to ease the pain when Kelso and Jackie entered the kitchen through the sliding door.
"Say it again." Jackie demanded.
"I do not keep secrets from you." Kelso replied. "Hey Hyde. What are you eating?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"Wings." I replied, grabbing another chicken with my bare hand. The sauce stuck to my fingers, and my lips were extra shiny from it.
"Sweet!" He sat down and took one immediately without asking. He took, the extremely spicy one.
As he ate one, he munched it for a few seconds before asking, "Hyde. Why does my mouth hurt?"
I was amused by his stupidity.
"AHIHH" He yelped as the pain assaulted his tongue. He tried to grab my lemonade, but I pulled it away quickly.
"God–" Kelso winced, frantically standing up and going to the fridge. He took the milk carton out and drank it straight from the box.
"Micheal! Use a glass!" Jackie scolded him.
"Damn Jackie! You don't know what it feels like!" Kelso said, his tongue still burning. He grabbed some ice and put it in his mouth.
I inhaled sharply, also from the spiciness. Jackie asked, "Is it really spicy?"
"You can grab the soy garlic one." I picked some chicken and put it in front of her. She smiled and ate some. Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "This is so good!"
"Don't lie!" Kelso was running water from the sink to his tongue. "It's torture!"
I hiccuped slightly from the spiciness, but I took another one. "This is good torture."
"There's no good torture!" Kelso retorted.
"You're the one who didn't ask!" Jackie scolded him. I gave her one more piece, the Yang Yeom chicken this time. She ate it and squealed in admiration.
"You should eat another one, fight fire with fire." I told Kelso.
"Really?" He fell for it immediately. Then, he grabbed from the extra spicy pile again.
"You liar!" he shouted after eating the entire thing.
After eating dinner, Jackie went back home for a bit since her mother called. Kelso, Eric, Fez and I hang out in the basement, watching tv.
My hiccup was gone suddenly, and I realized that the recording started again. All of the spiciness, it disappeared to prepare myself for tv.
'Oh, this is a good perk.' I thought to myself.
Eric whined again. Now I understand why the synopsis said he's being a drama queen.
"Donna wouldn't even talk to me. She just… kept sticking her tongue down my throat."
He just came back from making out with Donna in his car after they had dinner together.
I laughed and said sarcastically, "Oh, boo-hoo, Forman. You get to fool around with a totally hot chick and you never have to talk about her feelings?"
Everyone laughed except Eric. I added, "You poor, French-kissing bastard."
Kelso smiled and said, "Yeah, Hyde's right. One time I asked Jackie what was wrong, and she didn't shut up for, like, three straight days."
Fez turned to Kelso who was sitting on the patio chair and said seriously, "You know, Kelso, sometimes you do not know what you have until it is gone."
"And then someone else has it and it is not you. And then that someone else is really happy." Fez added.
Kelso laughed, "What are you talking about?"
I turned serious, "You don't know what he's talking about? That's it. Get the helmet."
Eric stood up and grabbed the helmet. He passed it to me as I walked to Kelso on the other side of the room. I sat on the couch handrest and threw the helmet, saying, "Kelso, put this on."
"Shut up. I'm not putting the helmet on." Kelso was taken aback and felt embarrassed. "Now what are you talking about?"
Fez said playfully, "I'll tell you what I am talking about if you put the helmet on."
All of us snickered. Kelso rolled his eyes and agreed to it, "Fine." He put on the helmet, which made him look extremely stupid.
"If you don't take care of Jackie, you are going to lose her." Fez said seriously again.
"That's just stupid." Kelso laughed it off, thinking there was no way he was going to lose Jackie.
"Look, Hyde, all I know is that you're talking to my girlfriend, and I don't like it." Eric said as he sat next to Fez.
I was slightly irked at this moment. "Hey, man, I was friends with Donna before you ever became her little boyfriend." My tone was a bit heated.
"Hyde, you're pissing me off." Eric told me.
"Why don't you think, Forman?" I pointed my finger at my head, hinting at him. "Did you turn your brain off sometime today? Or is the nice guy thing only an act to make Donna fall for you?"
"What? No, I didn't–" Eric was startled by the accusation.
"So? Who cares who she talked with. I'm her friend. And I'm also your friend. That's why I told you what your girlfriend is going through. So you can help her. Instead, you got pissed off at me?"
"Hyde–" Eric was really taken aback now.
"Forman, if I want you girlfriend, I won't tell you anything. It's better for me to keep it all to myself. Did I do that?"
"Wait, Hyde. I'm sorry–"
"Ahh. Piss off." I cursed him out and went upstairs.
Eric turned to Fez and Kelso, both had a similar disdainful expression as they stared at Eric.
"Good going Eric." Fez scolded him.
"Shut– Alright–" Eric stammered and left the basement to go meet with Donna.