Disclaimer: I own nothing! Not the characters. Not the show. Nothing.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! How is everyone/ Hope you're all doing fine and splendid! Bit surprised to see me again after just updating 'Two Weeks' ? Yeah me too lol. But I really wanted to post this little story today. It's just a short little something I came up with and I hope you all enjoy it. I know I could have put it over in the Hidden Stahs Box but thought I'd post it on its own. Hope you don't mind. Well I'm gonna keep this AN short—surprising I know—but I just want to say that I hope you enjoy and if you can leave even the smallest review it would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance and please, Enjoy!
Dedication: Before the story starts I would just like to say that this story is dedicated to a fellow That '70s Show Fan and fanifc writer who has always been there for me helping me with story ideas, who's pre-read some of my stories and pushed me to post them. There are so many stories that would still be in my pin drive if it weren't for her! She's also one of my most loyal readers who never fails to leave a review that makes me smile. She's written so many brilliantly superb stories and is one of the reasons I even became a EJ fan! This one's for you Marla! Thank you, for everything!
Did You Know?
Eric Forman rushed into the small diner, ignoring the jingle of the bell over the glass entrance door and nearly crashing into an older waitress whose arms were full of dirty dishes. After giving a quick apology, he hurried past her and headed over to the booth next to the main window where his lunch companion was already seated, waiting for him.
"I know. I know. I know." he repeated as he slid into the seat across from the woman.
With her arms crossed over her chest, she stated angrily, "You're late."
"I know." Eric said once more this time with a slight sigh, "I'm sorry. I was held back after my second class. One of my students needed help."
"With you as her teacher I'm sure she does." Jackie scoffed causing Eric to stare back at her with a deadpan expression, "You being late left me sitting here alone for five minutes." She continued on making sure her voice showed how upset she was, "Who knows what the people in here were thinking when they saw me sitting by myself. They could've thought I was crazy or that I smelled or worse…they could have thought I was a loser!"
The blank expression on Eric's face stayed the same as he looked at Jackie, blinking his eyes a few times before speaking in a dry tone, "Wow Jackie. What a traumatic experience. Who do you think they'll get to play you in the TV movie?"
Ignoring the snarl the brunette was sending him, Eric turned his attention to the condiments set up on the side of the table where two menus had been tucked away. He reached out his hand to grab one when Jackie's voice halted his movements.
"Put that down. I already ordered for you." she informed.
Eric gulped slightly then cleared his throat to help keep his voice from becoming squeaky, "You…you did?"
"Yes. And don't worry I got you your usual. Double bacon cheese burger with curly fries. Or as it should be named, A Heart Attack on a Plate." Jackie commented while at last uncrossing her arms, "You know, with your dad's heart the way it is, you should really watch you eat too."
"Aw Jackie, you do care." Eric said sounding touched as he placed his hand over his heat.
"No, I don't." she firmly declared, "It's just if you croak, who am I gonna have lunch with every Monday and Friday?"
It may not have been the sweetest compliment or even a compliment at all for that matter; but it was still one of the nicest things Jackie had ever said to Eric and he couldn't help but smile. However just as quickly as his smile appeared, it disappeared when Jackie went on.
"But then again maybe it wouldn't be too hard to replace you." she mused as she eyed Eric up and down, squinting her eyes a bit and tilting her head to the side as if she were already trying to find Eric's replacement, "Maybe the person who'd take your place would actually be on time."
Eric exhaled a bit loudly, he knew she was going to bring that up again, "Jackie, I said I was sorry. It wasn't even my fault. One of my students had a questions, I had to answer it." He repeated and then added, "And then I had to walk all the way over here..."
"Oh Eric, your school is not that far from here." She said with an eye roll.
"You don't know that." he argued, "You're station is on the other side of the diner."
"Eric, the distance between your school and this diner is the same distance from my station to here." Jackie was quick to inform, "And I walk my distance in heels. I'd like to see you do that!"
"Well I would but I think I'd get some pretty weird looks." He joked but Jackie didn't laugh, she didn't even smile. "Look Jackie, I…I'll be here on time on Monday." He paused, "Well I'll try to be here on time. My job isn't as easy as someones' so it's harder for me to get out whenever I want."
Jackie's scowl deepened with each word Eric spoke, "You think my job is easy? My job is not easy. Today while I was going through the file cabinet, I broke a nail."
Staring at the broken nail of Jackie's index finger, that she'd lifted up for him to see, Eric's face remained expressionless.
"Oh the horror." He said his voice leaking with sarcasm.
Just then a young waitress with a plate of food in each of her hands, made her way to their table. Without saying a word, she placed the grilled chicken burger plate in front of Jackie and the bacon cheese burger in front of Eric. They smiled polite thank yous as she left them to enjoy their meals. Eric looked down at his plate and could feel his mouth watering. That big juicy burger with gooey melted cheese and the aroma of bacon surrounding it, was calling his name and those hot fresh curly fries….his plate looked absolutely delicious! There was only one thing missing. Reaching over, Eric grabbed the bottle of ketchup and unscrewed the top before lifting it over his plate; when he finished he started to put the cap back on when Jackie's voice pulled him away.
"It's your turn, remember." she stated rather than asked.
"What?" he asked, confused and puzzled until he quickly realized what she was talking about. Fun Fact Friday! "Oh right! Um okay…uh…um…Oh! Did you know that Luke Skywalker's name was…"
"Ehhh!" Jackie interrupted with a buzzer like noise while looking at her watch, "No Star Wars trivia."
"What? Why not?" Eric asked, obviously outraged by the new rule.
"Because it's Fun Fact Friday not Geek Freak Fact Friday." Jackie retorted with her eyes still watching the time on her wrist watch, "Fifteen seconds."
"Fine. Okay…um…uh…um…" Eric continued to struggle, searching for a fun fact he could share with Jackie. One that he hadn't already told her or heard from her.
However, when the petite brunette began her countdown from five and Eric still had no fact to share, he decided to accept his defeat.
"Time's up! I win!" she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands with glee, "You're paying for lunch today and I'm getting the most expensive desert on the menu!"
"Ah ah!" Eric said stopping her from grabbing the menu, "I only pay for lunch if you can come up with a Fun Fact."
"Okay." She agreed, clearly not worried, "Did you know that potato chips were invented in Louisiana in 1853?"
"Yes. Yes, I did." Eric nodded hoping he sounded convincing.
"Oh really? Who invented them?" Jackie asked challenging him.
"Um the guy on the can of Pringles?" Eric tried and the look on Jackie's face told him how unsuccessful he was, so he tried again, "Mr. Frito?" Seeing that her expression never changed, he sighed, "Fine. You win."
"Yay!" Jackie exclaimed and grabbed the menu, flipping it to the back page of all the goods and sweets.
"Wait!" Eric suddenly called out, "I just thought of a good one."
"Too bad." cam Jackie's reply as her eyes landed on the photo of an ice cream covered chocolate brownie.
"Can I still share it?"
Looking up from her menu, Jackie stated sternly, "You're still paying for lunch."
"Right. Right." Eric was quick to agree with a nodding head before clearing his throat as he got ready to share his fact of the day, "Did you know that today is Jackie Beulah Burkhart's birthday?"
Immediately after hearing this, Jackie's eyes lit up and a smile sprung to her face, "You remembered!"
"Of course I remembered, Jackie. You're you know, my friend." He said with a smile and then paused shortly, "And when you forget your mother's birthday and are forced to make it up to her by going square dancing, you make sure you never forget anyone's birthday—ever." Jackie giggled before Eric continued, "Plus you were humming 'Happy Birthday' all week long."
Despite the last two reasons he gave her, Jackie continued to grin, "Thank you for remembering, Eric."
"You're welcome." He said returning the smile.
"Now where's my present?" she demanded to know.
Eric's smile flattened, "I…I thought me remembering was your present."
"Well you thought wrong."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I brought this too." Eric then pulled out a small blue gift bag from his book bag slash briefcase and handed it over to the excited young woman.
Eagerly Jackie took the bad and wearing a large smile on her face she began to pull out the matching tissue paper. Suddenly her smile vanished and she slowly reached into the bag and pulled out her present.
"A hair tie?"she asked in disbelief. "You got me a hair tie for my birthday?"
"No. It's not a hair tie. It's a scrunchie." Eric said as if it made everything better.
Jackie didn't even look at the hair tie covered by the lime green material and instead kept her brown eyes on Eric, "This better be some kind of joke."
"It's not a joke, Jackie. It's…it's the thought that counts."
"And what thought went into this?"
"Well I thought, 'It's Jackie's birthday soon, what should I get her?'" Eric started to recap for her, "And then I thought… 'scrunchie!'"
"Again, this better be some kind of joke, Forman." She repeated, "Or I am going to kick up in the shins. And we're sitting down which means I can kick both at the same time!"
"Oh lookie what I have here!" he said as he quickly pulled another small gift bag for Jackie, a pink one this time.
Unlike before, Jackie slowly and cautiously began to unwrap this gift—she was expecting the worse and so when she saw the present in the bag she let out a small gasp.
"Oh Eric!"
He grinned at her reaction, "Do you like it?"
"Of course I do! It's gorgeous!" she said with her bright smile back in its place, "I knew if I took you shopping with me enough times you'd finally get some good taste!"
Eric couldn't help but chuckle at Jackie's words as she pulled out her gift from the bag. It was a simple silver necklace with a purple teardrop stone hanging on the chain. It didn't cost millions of dollars but it wasn't going to turn her neck green either. He was happy that she was happy with his gift to her and his smile grew when he saw her begin to put the piece of jewelry on.
"So what do you think?" she asked once it was on, giving a model like pose for him.
Eric smiled at the sight before him and nodded with approval, "Beautiful."
The End
Author's Note: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Please lemme know what you think in a review!
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, see you next time, take care, and have a great day!