Hyde and Seek (on HOLD)

CH 9- Dinner with Collin

"Be safe. Seriously." Eric said, grabbing her shoulders lightly.

"I'll be fine, Eric." Liz assured him. "Bye everybody!" Liz waved and walked outside to Collin's car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2

"My, my. You're looking extra pretty tonight." Collin complimented as he opened the car door for Liz.

"Thank you, you're looking fairly handsome yourself." Liz giggled. Collin closed her door with a smile and walked over to the diver's side.

Liz didn't much care for Collin's driving. He drove a little too recklessly and it made her feel unsafe- truthfully, it was worse than when Laurie was learning how to drive. Collin's taste in music was also pretty lame.

When they reached the restaurant, Liz sighed in relief. Now if she could just listen to one Queen song, she'd be great. Collin came around and opened the car door for her and helped her step out of the car.

The restaurant was called Fiero's and it was one of the fancier establishments around. It was halfway between where Collin lived and Point Place- about a 20 minute drive from Liz's house. Collin must have gone there fairly often because the staff knew his name and gave him one of the nicer tables.

Liz hadn't had a chance to look through the menu when the waiter came to take their order. It didn't matter, however, because Collin chose for her. Liz was surprised but not too bothered by it. She wasn't very picky, but she would have liked to have had enough time to read the full menu and see her options.

Collin had ordered her the chicken alfredo, which Liz didn't particularly care for and came as a rather large serving. It looked like Hyde would be getting leftovers after all. Though Liz tried to push the thought out of her head, she couldn't help but wish it was Hyde across from her instead of Collin.

Collin was pleasant but boring. There wasn't anything about him that excited Liz. She did enjoy how charming he was- he obviously liked her, he was attractive, and Liz wasn't having a horrible time. It was only their second date, so Liz thought maybe she just needed to get to know him better. He had no problem talking about himself, so it wasn't hard to find out things about him.

When Collin dropped her off at home, Liz decided to let him kiss her again. She wanted to see if it was just first-date jitters that made their previous kisses so lackluster. While this kiss was an improvement, it still didn't compare to her kiss with Hyde.

"When will you be free for another date?" Collin asked her before she went inside.

"I'll let you know." Liz answered smiling.

Liz had a crush on Hyde for over a decade, and she had only known Collin for a couple of weeks. If she gave it a little more time with Collin, Liz was sure things would pick up between them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3

As expected, everyone was still in the basement when Liz walked in. Jackie immediately ran over to Liz.

"How was the date? How much did he spend? Did he kiss you again?" Jackie asked in one breath.

"Again?" Eric, Fez and Kelso asked shocked.

"They kissed after the drive-in movie." Jackie explained. "What'd he say about how you looked? Did he drive a different car? Did he wear a suit?" Jackie bombarded Liz with another set of questions.

"Jeeze, Jackie. Give her a chance to breathe." Donna chided. She patted the arm of the couch beside her. "Sit down, tell us about your night." Donna prodded.