A/N: So, I've started another story. My inspiration for this came from a pretty tragic event that has happened at my school. Three girls that went to my school died in a car crash this weekend while going to one of our football games. The whole school has been pretty shaken up by it and all around me it has just be the air of death. It got me thinking a lot and somehow I spun this story off of the experience.
The basic summary is Hyde finds out someone from his past has died and how he copes with it. It has a happy JH ending so that is something for all you zennies to look forward to. Oh, and also I have only watched a total of 3 episodes from season eight so if I get any little details wrong, please forgive me. I hope you enjoy.
The ringing and rolling of the cash register as it popped open so Hyde could fill it with cool, crisp cash was the only sound to be heard in Grooves. On most days the store was filled with rambunctious teens and laidback 20-something year olds, all searching for that perfect record to set everything in motion for the day. On this particular day however the store was almost dead, except for the occasional customer and Leo bursting out with random songs and then forgetting the words after one verse. It was an eerie quiet that didn't sit to well with Hyde.
But then again, these days most things didn't sit to well with Hyde. Even he couldn't help but acknowledge the spiraling downturn he had taken. He never felt so bitter, angry, and hurt by the entire world. Eric and Donna were gone, Kelso was gone, and soon Fez and the Formans would be gone too. He had to figure out some place to stay because the Formans would be off to Florida in two weeks. He hadn't even begun apartment searching. He just put it off… like he tended to put off most things.
He had expected all of it though. All had been pre-warned and presented to him in this nice, pretty package which really just contained a pile of dog shit. The one thing that wasn't to be expected was Fez leaving. He and Jackie hadn't even been dating for 3 weeks when suddenly he stormed into the basement one night while Hyde was trying to watch Saturday Night Live and ranted on and on about how Jackie was a liar and a tease. Hyde couldn't decipher most of it due to Fez's heavily thickened accent and his rage causing him to speak faster than normal. But from what he did get from it, Jackie told Fez that maybe her feelings weren't as strong as she had thought they were.
Something Hyde could have told anyone that wanted to know before. He knew that Jackie's little dream world about Fez being the perfect boyfriend was just one of her temporary insanity trips and would soon come crumbling at her feet. He just didn't expect it so soon.
So, Fez told Jackie he was leaving. Tomorrow was the day he was leaving for Chicago to live with Kelso temporarily until he found a job and some place better to live. Hyde wasn't sure how Jackie was taking it. He told himself he didn't care.
All that would be left of the original gang was Jackie and him. They weren't exactly enemies anymore but that didn't mean they talked to each other on a day to day basis. Especially since the union of her and Fez, he just couldn't stand to be around her for a long period of time. Those soft hands holding onto hands that weren't his, those big, mismatched eyes beaming up at someone that wasn't him, and those quiet, delicate whispers being shared with someone other than him were too much to handle. His gut immediately felt sour and his throat seemed to close up. He could only see in tunnel vision and could only hear her cheerful giggles.
It was safe to say that his past month had been spent avoiding Jackie Burkhardt. He wasn't sure how either of them would continue with their indifference but he wasn't going to make any assumptions to get his hopes up. He killed all of that a long time ago.
Life wasn't entirely bad for Steven Hyde though. He had a job that he loved, had a dad he was slowly building more and more of a bond with, and occasionally had care free sex with some hot chick just like the good old days. Who needed friends anyways? This was how he always wanted things to be.
It was also that denial that got Hyde through each day. Otherwise, he couldn't completely hold himself together. He never did admit it though. It was as if everything he did and said were a mirage, only temporarily holding him over until he realized there really was no water to get to, just aimlessly wondering the desert dunes, with no where to go and nothing to do.
RING RING
"Grooves Record Store." Hyde answered the store telephone in his usual monotone, gruff voice.
"Steven! This is WB, how are you doing son?" The voice of his biological father gave his usual cheerful greeting.
"Same old same old man, how about you?"
"Pretty good, just got the new store here in Milwaukee up and running." His voice changed to a mix of serious and cautious, something Hyde came to learn to mean he needed to ask him something. "Hey son, I have to reschedule our lunch meeting to Thursday. I have a pretty imported business meeting to get to. Is that fine?"
"Yeah WB, its cool. What is the business meeting about?"
"Well, we'll discuss that at lunch on Thursday. Hopefully it'll turn out like I hope it will."
"Alright see you then WB."
"Bye Steven."
Hyde hung up on the phone on its receiver. "I guess I have to tell Leo he doesn't have to watch the store after all."
The little bell at the door of the store gave its alert of a customer entering the building. Hyde looked up from behind the counter and saw the last person he ever expected to see again.
"Hi Steven." Bud Hyde said while holding his hat in his hands. He looked pretty bad, a lot worse than the last time Hyde saw him. It almost seemed like he had aged 10 years in the 3 years he had been gone.
"What are you doing here Bud?"
"What?" Bud gave a little nervous laugh. "No warm welcome for your old man."
"Well, no thanks to you, I found out last year that you aren't even my real father, so save it."
Bud's eyes widened a bit and he shifted in his position next to the couch in the store. "Oh, so you found out about that?"
"Yep."
They were both lost for words. Hyde had no idea what would bring Bud back to Point Place, much less in his record store. Anger rose up in his belly as he contemplated the audacity of the man standing before him of ever showing his face to him again. "What are you doing here Bud?" He said a little more forcefully.
Bud Hyde took a deep sigh and ran his fingers through his unruly hair. He seemed like he was at a total lost for words. "It's uh… it's about your mother Steven."
"What about that slut?"
Bud's eyes closed and Hyde saw his body clench. He took another long sigh and finally looked up at the boy… no the man before him that he always treated like a son, well… as close as he could possibly. He seemed so hurt and so angry at him still, even though he knew he wasn't his father anymore. It was the man that still haunted Bud Hyde's drunken dreams every night. Those same blue eyes starring daggers into him through rose colored glasses were the same blue eyes he told promises of the world too when he was much, much younger. Promises only spoken and never kept.
"She's dead."