Hello, It's Me ? Steven Hyde

[31] - holy craps!

"Well, thank you, Red. And you're coming, too," Kitty added quickly.

"Oh, no, Kitty. I—I have a meeting..." When he glanced up and saw her disapproving stare, he changed the trajectory of his words, "With you. At church."

Eric shared a small chuckle with Liz. "Nice save, Dad."

"Shut up."

❁

Later that night, the gang sat around the basement, each engaged in their own activity. Eric and Donna held their own little conversation by the stairs, Jackie busied herself with the radio, Liz sat in the lawn chair with her homework, Fez and Caroline talked on the couch, and Hyde sat in his chair, sneering at said conversation.

"No, see, Fez, Bazooka Joe wanted to see time fly, so Mort threw the clock out the window, so time flew. Get it?" Caroline asked, her face brightening with a smile.

Fez sat and thought about it before finally smirking. "Did the clock break?"

"I don't know." She frowned. "That's not really the point."

"But still, a pretty big waste of a clock," he pointed out.

"Okay." With a nervous laugh, she started to stand. "Well, I gotta go. See you later, sweetie."

"See you."

Liz glanced up, smiling at the couple as they kissed goodbye. She waited until Caroline left before commenting, "You guys are such a cute couple."

"Yeah, I know. I really like Caroline," Donna said, walking over to sit on the couch.

"Me too!" Jackie agreed with a smile.

"Really?" Liz asked her with a slight laugh.

Jackie joined in, sitting on the couch arm. "Yeah, isn't it crazy? Usually I hate new people, but she's really nice."

"For a psycho," Hyde muttered.

"Hyde, take that back!" Fez spat.

Hyde turned and pretended to blow up a balloon with his hands. When it got big enough, he then pretended to let the air out, hissing along. At the end, he threw in, "Psycho!"

Liz's lips twisted, unsure of whether to laugh or scold him for being rude. Shaking her head, she decided neither and glanced back down at her homework.

"You are a gifted mime," Fez admitted before frowning, "But that hurts."

Holding in a laugh, Donna turned to her right. "Hyde, Caroline's not a psycho. You just don't get women. We have emotions. We're ruled by the moon and the tides."

"And pretty clothes," Jackie added.

"Yeah, we should hang out with her. You know, make her feel welcome," Donna decided, going over to get a popsicle.

Hyde scoffed. "Yeah, you can never have too many friends. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't."

Eric laughed at the comment, shifting his position on the back of the couch. "Hey, you guys, you know who was crazy? This camp counselor I once had who used to make everyone do turbo sit-ups, but he'd put a towel over your face, and then when you went to do the sit up—"

"He'd pull the towel away and you'd end up with your face in his butt," Donna finished for him.

"Donna..." He scowled at her before lowering his voice to say, "You stole the funny part."

"Well, Eric, I've heard it, like, eight times," she defended.

"You do mention it all the time," Liz agreed, not even looking up from her notebook.