Every night I'm lyin' in bed
Holdin' you close in my dreams
Thinkin' about all the things that we said
And comin' apart at the seams
We try to talk it over
But the words come out too rough
I know you were tryin'
to give me the best of your love

Beautiful faces and loud, empty places
Look at the way that we live
Wastin' our time on cheap talk and wine
Left us so little to give
That same old crowd
Was like a cold dark cloud
That we could never rise above
But here in my heart I give you the best of my love
Oh sweet darlin' you get the best of my love                                                                                                                                          

I'm goin' back in time
And it's a sweet dream
It was a quiet night
And I would be all right
If I could go on sleepin'
But every mornin'
I wake up and worry
What's gonna happen today
You see it your way
And I see it mine
But we both see it slippin' away

You know we always had each other baby
I guess that wasn't enough
Oh, but here in my heart
I give you the best of my love
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love
Oh, sweet darlin'
You get the best of my love
Every night and day,
You get the best of my love
Oh, sweet darlin' you get the best of my love

The endless days of summer stretched out in front of him like the endless distance between there and here.  Eric tried not to think about it.  He tried to bury his sorrows in cotton sheets and closed eyelids.  He tried to block out the present, not linger too much on thoughts of the past and steer clear altogether of the facts of the future. 

Life sucked.  It was a realization that he had come to of late.  But now it had hit him full force.  He had always thought of his life as a snow globe, perfect and contained.  He had had a few shake ups.  But none compared to this.

Certain things should be written in stone.  The formula should always work.  Boy meets girl, boy woos girl with charisma and blind devotion, boy gets girl.  He had managed all that.  His happily ever after was supposed to be forthcoming.  But instead he had lost the girl.  The girl was in California.  And he was here, watching the water drain from his sheltered existence. 

"Would you get up," Hyde demanded walking into said shelter and yanking the comforting blankets from his unwashed head. 

"Leave me alone." He replied without much conviction.  Strength and passion weren't his strong suit these days. 

"You are depressing you know that.  All you do is lay in this filthy bed all day, moaning about Donna.  Donna's gone, man.  This isn't going to help."

"Then what the hell will?" he asked still firmly curled into his protective ball.

Hyde had no answer for that. 

They hadn't seen much of each other since the beginning of the summer.  He had been avoiding the basement, leaving his friends to their own accord.  If his world was tainted, they could take care of themselves. 

"Oh honey" Kitty cried coming into the room. Walking past Hyde she planted herself beside him on the bed. "It is not good for you to be cooped up in here.  You should go out, get some sun."

Turning over in the bed and away from her concern he replied sullenly "I don't want to."

"He'd rather waste away up here.  There is no talking to him.  It's pathetic." Hyde offered with no sympathy.

"I agree." Red stated joining the impromptu intervention. 

Eric rolled his eyes.  "It is my summer to waste as I see fit."

"Well if you don't get out of that bed and sweep the garage I'll waste a perfectly good foot up your ass."

It was Red's oldest threat. It had always scared him. But this time his apathy was unaffected.  Sighing, he got up anyway.  If they wouldn't leave- he would. 

                                                                 *

Walking into the garage, Eric snatched up the broom violently. 

"Man what is wrong with you?" Hyde asked having followed him.

He heard himself snort in indignation before turning on his friend.  "Donna LEFT.  What do you think is wrong?"

Hyde's zen mask didn't show a reaction to the sarcasm.  "What you miss her or something?"

Was Hyde clueless?  Of course he missed her.  He hadn't bathed in a week.  He hadn't laughed in over a month.  How had Hyde missed that?  Maybe all that time he had spent alone in the basement was starting to warp his brain.

Not waiting for a response Hyde continued. "What you want her back?"

Eric didn't know where he was going with this ridiculous line of questioning. So he answered honestly "Yeah, yeah I do."

"Then why don't you do something about it man?  Get her back."

"How pray tell am I supposed to do that?" Eric challenged.

Hyde laughed. "Well not by turning yourself into a damn hermit."

"Have you missed me Hyde?  What can't handle Jackie all by your lonesome?" He watched his comment hit its mark. 

Jackie had been coming around a lot in spite Kelso's absence.  Eric had been avoiding her for more reasons than one.  He didn't like how well together she seemed.  Why wasn't she a wreck like him?  Oh yeah, he consoled himself, she was the devil.

Hyde grabbed the broom and poked him in the chest with the tip.  "I'm trying to help you."

He rubbed his chest absently "How? By attacking me with cleaning products?"

Just then Jackie walked in, looking perfect as always. 

He let his eyes roll.  "What do you want Jackie?"

Jackie glanced at Hyde suspiciously. "You haven't told him yet?"

"Well I was going to ease him into the idea gently.  But now that your big mouth let the cat out of the bag."

The last thing he wanted was to listen to Jackie/Hyde banter.  "Somebody want to fill me in?  Why the heck do I get the idea that you guys are in cahoots? And isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?"

Jackie sighed "Eric shut up.  We are trying to help you."

Well that really was the last straw.  He had heard that line before.  But if Jackie was trying to help him he must be super pathetic. He mentally added one more item to the list of the world's imminent doom.  Any minute now toads were going to rain from the sky.

Hyde took back the broom.  "We are going on a road trip."

He suddenly felt like he had missed something more than Family Feud this summer.  "Again with the -we?  Who is we? Did I miss something?"

Hyde poked again but it was Jackie who responded.  "One too many showers I'd say."

"We man – me and you…." At Jackie's expectant look he finished hesitantly "and Jackie."

"Huh?" he was really confused now. 

Jackie explained loudly and slowly.  "WE ARE GOING TO CAL-I-FORNIA"

For the first time in weeks he felt something.  It wasn't apathy, or loneliness, or pain.  It was good old fashioned hope. It was short lived though.  His parents weren't going to let him go to California.