In the few seconds that passed after pulling over, a dozen thoughts flew through Hyde's mind. First of all, Red was going to kill him. And Mrs. Forman was going to be disappointed. And concerned. Man, he couldn't stand any more concern. Then, there was the matter of paying for a ticket when his funds were already so in the red. Would this mess up his insurance? Damn, all he wanted to do was pick up some six packs and have a relaxed (re: wild) night with his friends. He took a deep breath in, and turned on the Zen.

The cop slowly approached Hyde's car. "Well, well, well." Kelso leaned down to be on eye level with Hyde. "If it isn't Mr. Steven Hyde. If that if your real name."

Oh, God. Of course the cop to pull him over would be Kelso. "Hey, man," Hyde started, wondering what approach to take.

Kelso wagged his finger at him. "That's Officer Man to you, civilian." Hyde sighed, and handed over his license and registration. Clearly, Kelso was not going to make this painless. "Do you know how fast you were going, Mr... hmm-" Kelso pretended to study the license, "-Hyde?"

Not fast enough, Hyde thought, wishing he had been able to avoid this encounter. Instead, he opted for honesty over sarcasm. "No."

Kelso lowered his sunglasses. "You were going forty in a twenty-five zone." He studied his friend for a minute before continuing, "maybe the rules are different in Motorcycle Town, but here in Car Town, twenty-five means twenty-five."

"Alright. My bad." He hadn't even been speeding driving the motorcycle! Well, at least not as flagrantly as he just had been.

Kelso leaned in towards the driver's side window. "Listen, pal, I know you haven't driven in a long time, so I'm going to let you off with a warning this time."

Hyde breathed out a sigh of relief. One less thing he'd have to pay off. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it." His driving record was actually good, save for the recent, infamous blip. He was glad it wouldn't be getting any worse today (at least not on paper, where it counted).

"Don't mention it. Like seriously, Hyde, don't mention it. The other cops would think I was playing favorites." He took a step back and put his sunglasses back on. "Drive safe, dude."

"Will do." If he messed up the Camaro, he wouldn't know what do to with himself.

"Oh! By the way, Hyde, can I bring Angie over tonight to drink with us?"

He couldn't really say no after the favor Kelso had just done him. "Sure, man."

After Kelso drove away, Hyde sat in his car for several minutes, before finally continuing his drive. Now obeying the speed limit, he wondered why he'd gone over in the first place. He'd have to stay more focused. He hadn't even smoked today, what was wrong with him? He tried to forget about it and drive normally, reminding himself that Kelso had made sure it didn't amount to anything. It was all cool.

He stopped at a convenience store and purchased a pack of cigarettes, then meandered to the side of the building and lit one. He got distracted thinking about the cashier, who had been a bitchy cheerleader at Point Place High School, smirking about how far the mighty hath fallen. He'd have to tell Jackie, knowing she'd find the humor in it. On second thought, he'd made out with this cheerleader several years ago, although she'd later deny it. That was probably the reason she'd been staring at him while he browsed the small store. Having neared the end of his cigarette, he sauntered back around to the front, and tossed it into the ashtray of the big trash can outside. Parked just in front of the trash can was a motorcycle, which of course caught his eye. He wondered if he'd ever stop noticing them. Of course, given the bright orange detailing on this one, it was particularly hard not to notice.

He leaned against the brick wall, lit a second cigarette, and studied the bike. This one was really sleek. Nice design. He wished he could remember his own motorcycle better (may it rest in pieces.) It was probably more expensive than the one he was looking at, although he'd never dared to ask WB the make and model for fear he'd be compelled to look up the price and feel like an even bigger asshole.

He hadn't been on his second cigarette long when the door jingled, signalling someone leaving the store. No longer distracted by the motorcycle, Hyde decided he'd better hit the road. He'd just peeled himself away from the wall, and was limping towards the trash again when an older man approached him to borrow his lighter. Hyde obliged.

"Hey, don't I know you?" the man asked, cigarette in mouth.

"I don't know, man." Hyde looked at the guy, who admittedly looked familiar, although he couldn't place why.

Suddenly, the guy snapped and pointed at him. "You're the kid from the record store, right? The one with the motorcycle."

With that, it clicked, and Hyde recognized him as the customer who commiserated with him over road rash. "Oh yeah, you're uh..."

"David James. Remind me of your name?"

"Steven Hyde."

"Right, right. Small world."

Hyde nodded towards the motorcycle, which he figured was David's, since the only other vehicles in the lot were the Camaro and a Fiat. "Sweet ride. I was kind of checking it out."

"Ah, yeah." David's lips curled into a smirk at the mention of it. "It came out of my retirement fund, but I couldn't pass her up." Hyde nodded in response, and they fell into a moment of comfortable silence as they smoked. "If you're ever in the market for another bike," David said, "I recommend orange finish for the same reason hunters wear orange vests. Cars take notice."

"I'll keep that in mind." He snubbed the end of his cigarette into the bin. "I'll be in the market as soon as I pay back my family for hospital bills and the last one...so, probably in ten years."

David chuckled. "Good luck with that."

"Is it cool if I take a closer look?" He gestured to the motorcycle, and David nodded, signalling his approval. Hyde approached it, remembering when he'd first seen his own motorcycle, still high on the element of surprise.

There was a long pause while Hyde looked at the bike, and David looked at Hyde, his head tilted. Eventually, David spoke. "How long had you had yours?"

"About thirty seconds."

David laughed again, until he saw the younger man's expression. "Oh, you're serious?"

"It was my first ride."

"Ever?"

"Yep. Happened so fast, almost feels like I never got the chance to ride it."

"You know, there are classes."

"Yeah, skipping classes was always one of my things. Next time I'll do it right."

He was just about to end the conversation and get on his way, when David James said "you can sit on it for a minute, if you want."

"Seriously?"

"I mean, I'm sure as hell not handing over my keys, but I've been in your spot before. Well - not exactly your place, I had a couple good years under my belt. It's a good rush. First thing I wanted to do after I wiped out was get back on."

"Yeah." Hyde nodded.

With David's permission, he got onto the motorcycle. The first thing he felt was a rush of adrenaline, then, as he gripped the handles, it was replaced by something else. He hopped off, ran a sweaty palm through his hair, said a quick goodbye to David James, and got into the Camaro.

The door swung open with a bang, followed by the clang of glass as Hyde tossed several bags onto the table. Without saying a word to the others in the basement, Hyde pulled out a bottle of vodka, and took a swig straight from the bottle, while his friends, fully distracted from their talk of television shows now, watched.

"Dig in," Hyde said, once he was done drinking. "I blew a week's paycheck for this. Put it to good use. I don't want to regret this tomorrow." At this rate, Eric was already pretty sure Hyde would regret this tomorrow, but he held his tongue.

Donna looked through the bags, commenting, "wow, Hyde. I thought you were just getting a couple six packs."

"Nah," he said, and took his usual seat in the lawn chair, still holding the vodka.

"Are you alright?" Donna asked.

"Yeah."

"Because..." She looked at her watch, saying, "it's only four o'clock."

He shrugged. "It's five o'clock somewhere."

To this, Eric said, "I see you're wasting no time in making up for lost time." He figured after months of good behavior on the alcohol front, his friend was over-eager to get the party started.

"Yep," Hyde agreed, "today's all about doing stuff I haven't done forever."

"Does that mean you are going to do Jackie tonight?" Fez asked with a grin.

"Shut up," Hyde said, reaching into one of the bags for a can of beer.

This did not go unnoticed by Eric, who chimed in "beer and liquor, never sicker."

"Liquor before beer, have no fear," said Hyde. "What are we watching?"

"Actually," Eric said, "we were just arguing over what to watch when you came, because Fez and I want to watch Charlie's Angels, but Donna wants to watch Little House on the Prairie."

"We were not arguing," Donna said, "we were having a debate."

"Mmm, I'm pretty sure it was an arguement."

"It was a debate."

"But really, it was more of an argument."

"We were having a debate!"

Hyde interrupted, saying, "this is a fascinating fight, but I think I'm going to have a nap if you two don't shut up."

Fez commended Hyde on his burn, but Eric felt that it was in fact a victory, since Hyde had called it an arguement. When he explained this, Hyde said "good point. Since I gave that one to you, only fair that I side with Donna on the show." He grabbed the remote and turned it to Little House on the Prairie.

"You don't really agree with Donna, you just secretly love that show."

"I do not love Little House on the Prairie." He paused for dramatic effect, then smirked. "I just love pissing you off."

"Thanks, Hyde. Always...good to know I can count on you."

Hyde raised his beer can in cheers. Eric fully intended to join him in drinking, as did the others, but probably not until after they'd had dinner with his parents (his mom was planning to surprise Hyde with his favorite meal in honor of getting the cast off), and it was dark out. Until then, there was nothing to do but kill time with television and good company.

By the time Jackie showed up for dinner, Fez had won control of the remote, and Hyde was trying to stick magnets to his leg, despite them repeatedly falling off.

"Steven, what are you doing?" She asked, in lieu of a hello.

Donna followed her line of sight. "Yeah, what are you doing?" She had been too distracted talking to Eric and Fez about Crazy Caroline to notice what their friend had been quietly doing.

Hyde looked up, suddenly aware of the four pairs of eyes on him. "It won't stick. Guess it's not magnetic."

"Oh," Fez whined, "I wish you had waited for Kelso to try that. We had a bet going."

Hyde pulled down his jean leg, covering the long scar. He kept fidgeting with the magnets, though. Jackie walked over to him and picked up the beer can, which sounded empty. "Oh my god, did you start drinking already?" Then she noticed the vodka bottle, and turned to Eric. "Why didn't you tell him not to? What about your mom's surpise dinner?"

"So much for the surprise now," Fez said.

Eric shrugged. "I thought this would be funnier."

There was a pause before Hyde said to himself, "I should have eaten before I started drinking."

Donna raised her eyebrows. "You think? Maybe we should bust out the idiot helmet." She was joking, but sure enough, they'd end up breaking out the helmet before the end of the night.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'll show a lot more of everyone drinking post-dinner in the next chapter. Let me know if you actually want to see any of that dinner, or just hear about it in post. I'm looking forward to several parts of next chapter, and I hope you are too! If you enjoyed this one, please review and let me know what you thought!