[Hyde POV]
After school ended, I went back to the basement with Fez. Jackie and Kelso were also there, looking all giggly with each other.
"Hey Steven." Jackie called me suddenly. "Can I watch the wedding video?"
I turned to her slowly, and sighed tiredly. I didn't hate the request, but the fact that I had to stand up ruined my almost perfect relaxing time. "Yeah sure."
I popped the tape into the VCR player and let it play. Jackie's eyes glittered as she saw the professional grade wedding video.
"Oh my god. Steven. You must be joking." She said with disbelief as she saw Midge walking down the aisle, looking like a movie star. The wedding march played in the background. All of the attention was on Midge, which made Jackie really jealous.
She turned to me and said, "I don't care how busy you are. You're going to film me at my wedding. I'll–"
"Okay. It'll be 5000 bucks." I replied casually.
"Five– FIVE THOUSAND?!" Kelso was aghast. "Why is it so expensive? I thought you only charge 15 hundo."
I shrugged and said mischievously, "This is 15 minutes. It's Jackie, so shouldn't I do like an hour long video?"
Jackie gasped, touched by the remark. "Yes! Definitely YES! An hour long video sounds nice!"
Kelso paled slightly. He asked me nervously, "Hyde. Don't you have the friends discount–"
"That is the friend's discount. Otherwise I'll charge 10 grand."
"Damn. You're a good one Hyde." Kelso smiled, looking touched too. Fez looked at him weirdly and said, "Dumbass. I'm going to get some snacks. Does anyone want me to get anything?"
"Coke." I told him.
"Okay." He replied and went upstairs. No one asked Fez or bullied him into catering to us. He did this from the very beginning. It was just his personality.
"Jackie. Can you watch something else too? I'd like to hear your opinion." I said as I changed the VCR after the wedding video was finished.
"Hey- I want to watch it again." Jackie complained. She grumbled and said, "Well. What is this?"
"It's my renovation video, the first part. I'd like to get a girl's opinion on this."
Fez joined us, bringing me the cold Cola from Mrs Forman's fridge.
I showed everyone the first cut of Megan's house renovation. An ASMR style of me fixing up the flooring joist of the house, cutting the grass and fixing up the lawn, also the pipes.
Jackie yawned as she watched it. "What's the purpose of this?" She asked.
"What do you mean Jackie? I think it looks great." Fez was confused. I turned to Jackie, crossing my arms together and waited for her words.
"Well. Last time, the car video… It has a story. This one, it doesn't have one. You're just… working. So what's the purpose of this?"
"Before and after shots?" I said defensively.
She didn't understand me and said, "Huh? Steven. It's not that it's not good. I just don't know what's the purpose of this."
"Like I said. It's to get the before and after shot." I sighed.
"Well. I'd probably watch the before, and the after. I'm not going to watch in between because that's a poor person's job." Jackie said bluntly, flipping her hair slightly as she leaned back into the couch.
Kelso nodded immediately, agreeing with her. "Yeah. I mean… why would I watch you work when I can just see it done?"
Fez frowned, confused. "But… the process is the interesting part, no?"
"No it's not." Jackie said without hesitation. "The result is."
"I want to see ugly house… then a beautiful house. Boom. That's it. Why would I sit there and watch you hammer things for twenty minutes?"
She paused, then added with a small shrug, "Unless something interesting happens."
I ignored her last sentence– and Kelso.
"Like me. Film me. Put me in!" She said seriously.
"Me too Hyde." Kelso was excited.
I furrowed my eyebrows and thought deeply about her opinion. She was quite right here about the story part.
I wanted to be able to post the story on Youtube, and also sell it to the TV station in this era. Like HGTV, they skipped the process, only putting in the before and after shots.
Youtube ASMR videos, HGTV style videos, and also a combination of both, the renovations storytelling video. There were three types of genres I could tap into for the Youtube section, but for the 70s tv, it'll be better for me to do HGTV.
However, it was also hard for that to happen since I was working alone.
Jackie and Kelso became giddy and flirty with each other while I was in deep thought about it. Fez turned the channel to watch a rerun of Charlie's Angel.
My focus turned to the TV as the angels caught my eyes. Jackie sat on Kelso's lap as they played around.
"If I was stranded on a desert island with only one form of cheese…no question, it would have to be the puff." Fez ate an orange cheese puff and smiled.
"You know who's my little cheese puff? Jackie!" Kelso teased Jackie, tickling her slightly.
"Oh, Michael, you're so cute!" Jackie squealed.
"You're cute!" Kelso argued.
"Cuter!"
"Cutest!"
The dumb couple kissed.
"If Jackie's a cheese puff, doesn't that mean she smells?" I teased.
"Shut up Steven." Jackie scolded me.
I added while laughing, "Full of chemical and artificial colouring."
"Hyde. Shut up." Kelso looked at me with disbelief. Jackie rolled her eyes and stood up.
"All right Michael, I'll see you tonight at eight."
Kelso stood up too, "Okay."
They kissed again.
"I'll be counting the minutes." Jackie said sweetly.
"Can't you just use a clock?" Kelso replied dumbly.
Jackie looked as if she was about to say something, but she gave up and left.
Kelso turned to us giddily and said, " Man, we're so back in love!"
"I remember when it was all…" I mimicked Jackie, " 'You're an idiot, Michael', and,"
Then I mimicked Kelso, "Whoa, what'd I do?"."
I laughed and said, "Good times."
Kelso wasn't deterred and said, "Sorry man, but I love her."
"Yes, but you don't deserve her, you son of a bitch." Fez quipped.
"No…what?" Kelso was confused and turned to Fez.
Fez got discouraged and changed his words, "I said…uh, good cheese puffs, you son of a bitch."
Laurie walked into the basement through the basement door. "Laurie: Hey, Kelso. I thought we'd get together tonight, so, take a shower, okay?"
"But Laurie, I'm, I'm seeing Jackie tonight." Kelso was taken aback.
Laurie mocked, "Oh, that's so sweet! Uh, no. I'll see you at eight."
"But, but…"
Laurie moved to the stairs and said, "You heard me!"
"Damn! My second girlfriend is such a drag. This is bad, man." Kelso was frazzled.
Fez and I laughed. Fez said, "Yes. But only for you. Cheese puff?" He offered him some snacks, but Kelso rejected them.
I turned to Fez and was surprised when I saw the bruises on his face were gone.
"Wait."
I touched my face, and it didn't hurt anymore. I quickly rushed to my bedroom and looked at the mirror there. The bruises on my face were also gone.
I checked the system, and as I expected, a new episode had started.
"It really did reset my appearance, and also my injuries."
Unless my injuries were important to the plot, the system would remove them once a new episode started.
I rejoined my friends with excitement. Kelso paced around at the back of the couch, becoming increasingly frustrated.
He sat on the stool next to the stairs while Fez and I watched the tv series together.
"Hyde? Which one's your favorite Charlie's Angel?" Fez asked me.
"I kinda like the blonde with the huge rack." I replied with a grin.
"Yes. And she distracts the criminals with her huge rack. Heh." Fez laughed.
"Plus she's got that huge rack." Fez added. "Yeah. Ow, my stomach. My cheesy puffy friends have become my enemy." He looked at the cheesepuff as if they had betrayed him.
Kelso walked towards us, looking determined, "Man, you guys, I gotta break up with Laurie."
I turned to him as he stood beside Fez. "Kelso, remember how you said you were gonna juggle 'em both 'til it blew up in your face?"
Kelso nodded, "Yeah."
"Well…kablooie!" I teased him before turning back to the TV.
"Okay, I know I tried before, right? But this time, Laurie'll see how much I love Jackie, and that my motives are good and pure. And then she'll just let me go."
"Pfft." I snorted. "Then you and all the leprechauns can ride unicorns to a wonderful celebration in fairy land!" I added sarcastically.
"Look! The angels are running in slow motion!" Fez interjected and we all leaned forward to watch it.
As the actress's chest bounced up and down, our head followed the motion too.
"Damn!" Kelso exclaimed.
"That's just good TV." I cackled.
Suddenly, Mrs Forman called me.
"Steven! Dinner's ready!"
"At 5.30?" I was confused. "Okay Mrs Forman!" I replied and went upstairs.
…
At the dinner table. I sat in the middle as always, next to Laurie and Mrs Forman.
We ate spaghetti, which was quite good.
"This is delicious Mrs. Forman." I said.
"Aww. Thank you Steven. You're such a good boy." Mrs Forman fawned all over me.
Laurie scoffed and said, "Kiss ass. It's just spaghetti."
Mrs Forman shot Laurie a glare.
"So. I need your advice." Eric said suddenly after looking around shiftily, as if to ensure no one else would hear it.
Mrs Forman and I turned towards him.
"How do I tell my girlfriend that I ran over her cat?" He asked flatly, his eyes were full of nervousness.
"You did that?!" Mrs Forman dropped her fork, and it clattered on her plate.
I had already checked the synopsis so I wasn't surprised.
"You ran over Mr bonkers?" I asked.
"Yes." Eric replied blankly.
Red snorted a bit, holding back a laugh. Laurie also snickered, enjoying Eric's misery.
I twirled my spaghetti and asked, "Why didn't you tell her yet?"
Eric replied, "I felt so guilty, I just…I couldn't."
Laurie added, slightly mocking, "Is it because you're kinda glad it's dead?"
I snorted slightly. Eric gave Laurie a disturbed look.
"No. Hey, maybe I don't have to tell her. Maybe … she'll just think Mr. Bonkers ran away." Eric said, trying to grasp a lifeline.
Red nodded, "That works. That's what we told you when, um–"
"Shhh!" Mrs Forman interjected quickly, looking at Red with disbelief.
"What?" Eric was confused.
"Eric, honey, eat your pizza rolls." Mrs Forman changed the subject.
"Oh, come on. How hard can this be? You go over there, and you say, hey. I'm a cat killer. I mur—" Red guffawed and barely got the words out. " I murdered your cat."
He stopped laughing and straightened his face, " But you try to say it with a straight face."
Mrs Forman and Eric both stared at him with a horrified expression.
"What? Am I the only one that sees the humor in this?" Red asked.
"I think you might be, Red." Mrs Forman said disappointedly.
"Oh, come on, that thing was always messing in my yard, going through our garbage…" Red complained.
"Now we have Hyde for that." Laurie sniped at me.
I paused, smiled and said, "Got to fish you out somehow."
She stuck her tongue out at me, rolling her eyes in disbelief.
"Excuse me, dilemma here?" Eric wheezed nervously.
"Eric, this is not a dilemma. You have to tell Donna. Just be gentle, and… and maybe take her a nice little gift." Mrs Forman replied.
"Yeah, like a kitty sized head stone." Laurie added, which made me smirk.
"You know what? I should have known you were lying. Sure, Flipper was fast, but…turtles don't just run away." Eric said calmly as he stared at Red.
I snorted and ate my dinner. Eric turned to me and asked, "Hyde. What would you do?"
"I don't know. I've never murdered a cat before." I replied with a smile. "Also, Mrs Forman. You know, killing small animals… that's usually how serial killers get started."
Mrs Forman dropped her fork again. Eric looked at me with disbelief.
We went back to eating. Red glanced at me and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be at the shop today?"
"I am. But I'm really tired so I'm taking a day off." I replied with a sigh.
Mrs Forman fawned over me again and said, "Aww. That makes sense. You've been working for three weeks straight."
Red also agreed with her. He turned to Laurie and said, "You know, you could learn something from Steven."
"Daddy." Laurie exclaimed with disappointment.
Mrs Forman added, "Yeah Laurie. If you have something to do, maybe you'll get some motivation to do something with your life."
"Mom!" Laurie was in disbelief. "I'm just relaxing okay. I will do something soon, as long as I can figure out what to do with my life."
I turned to her and said, "You already spend half your time fixing your hair. Might as well get paid for it."
Laurie froze slightly. Mrs Forman looked at me with excitement and said, "Oh. That sounds wonderful, Laurie. You always have pretty hair. You can be a hairstylist!"
"Stop helping Hyde." Laurie rolled her eyes at me.
"I mean, think about it. It's pretty perfect." Eric added suddenly. "You can gossip, find some innocent young couple and prey on them. Yeah, you can ruin relationships professionally.–"
"Eric." Red scolded him. Laurie stuck her tongue out at Eric.
"Ignoring what Eric said, I really think becoming a hairstylist is a good thing for you." Mrs Forman added again. "And they are hiring at the salon I go to."
"Mother please." Laurie exclaimed with disbelief. "I don't even know how to be a hairstylist."
"You can go to beauty school. It's a three months' program. I'm sure you can keep up with it and not flunk out in three months." I added teasingly.
"You shut up!" She stood up angrily and left. "I don't need you all to plan my future for me!"
"Like you have a future." Eric quipped.
He hurriedly stood up as he saw Red's angry glare. "I'm going."
…
It was almost 7 in the evening. I called the auto shop and asked about the tractor Pam the farmer said he's going to send to my shop.
I already told Tyrell what to do so the tractor was already fixed up.
"Pam told me that he's going to recommend the shop to the other guys he knows. So you're aiming for the farmer's market now?" Tyrell asked.
"Sure. Also, let them know that, we can paint their rusted tractor with some rustoleum paint. A cheap paint job. We can train the painters with those cheap jobs too."
Tyrell paused for a bit before replying, "That's a good idea. There are a lot of farmers in this town. They have dirty old trucks, so the staff will be able to train themselves with that."
There were around 10,000 people who lived in a farm family in this town. Since a lot of them didn't have access to the TV, word of mouth was the way to go.
And also, maybe send out flyers when they were gathering to discuss farm matters.
While I was handling my business over the phone, Eric and Fez came to the basement bringing a stack of cards with them.
"Want to play?" Eric asked me. He just came back from telling Donna that he killed her cat, and she was pretty pissed off at him. He wanted to distract themselves from the situation for a bit.
"Sure. Poker or bridge?"
"Poker."
While we were playing cards, Kelso went to confront Laurie.
-TV-
In the kitchen. Kelso stood in front of the revolving door, and Laurie was near the stove.
"I don't wanna live with this lying anymore. Because I only love Jackie." He said seriously.
Laurie smiled and touched his chest slightly, "Okay. So, do you wanna go up to my room and hɑvе sеx?"
Kelso smiled and said, "Uh….sure!" He realized what he was doing and shook himself off it.
"No, wait! No!" He pushed her hands away and crossed to the other side of the room, his back against the sliding door that went to the driveway now.
"No! Okay, I…this…Laurie, I…I'm serious. We're over." He said seriously.
Taken aback, Laurie said, "Wow. I think you really mean it."
"I totally do." Kelso replied.
Jackie walked up to the house, and Laurie saw her through the door.
"Okay, Kelso, you're free! You know what I'd like, though? Just one last goodbye kiss." Laurie said while faking sadness.
Kelso smiled and said, "Um…okay, well sure."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss.
Jackie saw it and walked to the sliding door. She opened it, face full of shock.
"Michael!" She called with horror.
Kelso pushed Laurie away and turned to Jackie instantly. "Jackie! We were…
Jackie's eyes became teary and she ran away.
"There was…" Kelso gave up as he got to the door. He turned his back on the wall, dejected.
Laurie laughed and said, " Wow, how ironic, huh?" She left the room, reveling in Kelso's miserableness.
Kelso banged his head against the wall, the dread of what he had done hit him like a truck.
-Tv end-
I had just started playing cards with Eric and Fez when Jackie bursted into the room.
"Eric, I just saw Michael kissing your sister." She said abruptly. Eric furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her.
"Okay, he's a rat! He's been cheating on me!" Jackie held her head, feeling quite dizzy.
Eric pretended to be surprised, "What? Well, surely there must be some kind of mistake! Right, guys? Come on!"
I added sarcastically, "Well it sure is a mind blower!" My focus was on my cards. I had a really bad hand today.
"So that's it! Michael and I are over!" Jackie declared.
Fez stood up next to her. "Really? And by over you mean…"
Jackie explained, "I mean over and done! All right, forever!"
"Uh-huh. Now by forever you mean…:
Jackie ignored Fez as she got into a rant, "And after everything I put up with, I mean, god. Him taking Pam Macy to the prom, setting my house on fire, lying about Laurie, god!"
"To be fair, that's only the stuff you know about." I interjected.
Eric hits me in the arm, looking at me with disbelief. Fez gave a slight nod, showing Jackie that he agreed with me.
Jackie was flabbergasted and froze. Then she left hurriedly.
Fez grinned after Jackie slammed the door. "This is incredible. My time has come! Today, I will make Jackie mine!"
He headed for the door, suddenly he leaned forward and clutched his stomach.
"Ayy!" Fez winced in pain.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked with concern.
"I don't know! I think my guts are bursting with love!" Fez replied, his breathing became ragged.
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