"Hey." Hyde smiles as he rakes the backyard.
"Oh, hey. What ya doing?" I smile as I lean on the garage.
"Raking." He smiles.
"Why?" I ask as I look at my nails.
"Eric won't do it. So, I told Red I would." He shrugged as he got the last of the yard raked.
"You? Doing chores? No way." I laugh as he sets the rake down.
"Yeah, well, they're giving me somewhere to stay, so it's the least I could do." He shrugs slightly.
"Aw, well that's nice. Last night was fun, thanks for talking with me." I smiled lightly and twisted my shoe on the ground.
Almost every night now, Hyde comes to my house, through the window of course, and we talk for hours, listening to Led Zeppelin lightly.
"Anytime." Hyde smiled as he hugged me lightly.
I lean into his chest and I get a smell of him. Some cologne, mint, and a hint of smoke.
"Are you wearing cologne?" I smirk.
"Eh, maybe a bit." He shrugs and smirks as well.
"I like it." I smile and walk inside the Forman's house.
~~~
We all sit in the basement as Fez tries pop rocks for the very first time. He pours some into his hand and then throws them in his mouth.
"It is popping." Fez says worriedly.
"You're fine!" I laugh, "That's why they're called Pop Rocks."
"Yeah, Fez." Kelso laughs.
"So, where's Hyde?" Jackie asks.
"Oh, I don't know. He's been obsessed with doing chores for the Forman's since Eric won't do them." I shrug as I pop my bubble gum and continue to look through a fashion magazine.
"Oh." Jackie nods her head while Fez still sits there, worried about the weird candy that is still popping in his mouth.
"Oh, hey, Donna. Look, everyone's here." Eric says awkwardly as he walks in with Donna.
"Mhmm..." I nod my head.
"And I thought we'd be all alone. Phew." Eric sighs.
"Oh, I get it," Fez points at Eric, "They want to make out."
I nod my head, "Uh huh, sure. So, um, have you seen Hyde anywhere?"
"Oh, he was mowing the lawn." Eric says and I hang my head in disappointment.
"Thanks." I sigh as I go upstairs and I see Hyde opening the basement door.
I also hear a chorus of goodbyes from Jackie, Kelso, and Fez as they exit the basement.
"Hey." Hyde smiles and and almost runs into me.
"Hey. What you doing?" I ask as I point to his textbook in his hands.
"Oh, well I told Kitty that I would try harder in school, so here I am." Hyde sighs.
"Wow, you're actually gonna study?" I ask.
"Yeah." Hyde trots down the stairs.
We both walk down and we see Eric and Donna making out.
"Hey, take it outside, I've gotta do my homework here, frenchie." Hyde says as I nod.
"Good one," Eric laughs sarcastically, "Now get out."
"Eric!" I scold him.
"No, I'm serious, man. Your mom just found out I failed a test." Hyde pointed upstairs as he sat down in his white chair.
"Did she yell at you?" Donna asked.
"No. But she said she was really disappointed. And then, before I knew what I was doing, I said that I would try harder." Hyde rolls his eyes.
"No." Donna laughs.
"Yeah." Hyde nods as his dimples appear.
"Oh, okay, now here... I brought you a sandwich to help you study." Kitty smiled as she handed Hyde a plate.
"Aw, thanks Mrs. Forman." Hyde smiles as Kitty nods.
"Mhmm. Eric, Steven is studying. Don't bother him." Kitty says.
"What about Penny?" Eric asked.
"I'm helping him with homework." I stuck my tongue out like a little kid.
"Here, why don't you and Donna go up to your bedroom." Kitty sighs and we all go wide-eyed at the horrible decision.
Donna and Eric quickly get up and run to the stairs, but Kitty realizes what she said.
"I mean, no, no. Bad idea. Just go outside to a, a well-lit supervised area." Kitty waves them off.
"Hah." I laugh as Hyde takes a bite out of his sandwich.
~~~
I hear a knock on my window in the middle of the night.
"What?" I grumble as I turn over to look at the window.
"It's just me." Hyde smiles.
"Oh. Okay." I sigh and cover myself up with the blankets.
Hyde crawls in my bed next to me and wraps his arms around my small body. This is how we could lay for hours.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Hyde asked.
"Nothing. I just wanna lay like this tonight." I said.
"Okay... just... wait." Hyde thought for a second and I chuckled lightly. He sighed out and scooted closer to me.
We did in fact lay down in silence for a little bit. But, Hyde was always talkative around me so he couldn't keep quiet for long.
"Don't you ever wish things were different?" Hyde asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" I asked him as I turned around, his arm still around me.
"Like, don't you wish, I don't know, you never left Point Place?" Hyde asked as his hand traveled up and brushed some loose hairs behind my ear.
"Yeah, I mean, sometimes. But when I was in California, I was so carefree. And here, I'm with my best friends. But it's not the same, you know? We're grown up now. Things have changed." I said, not exactly looking Hyde straight in the eyes.
"Not much has changed. Kelso is still the same idiot, Eric is still skinny, Donna is still aggressive, and me? Oh, I've changed. I definitely got hotter." Hyde joked lightly as I chuckled and lightly hit him in the chest.
"I'm being serious, Hyde." I chuckled quietly.
"I am too!" Hyde argued and then chuckled as well.
"But, you know, Donna and Eric got together after being friends for so long, and all I'm saying is that things change. We're teenagers now. Feelings change." I explained, turning my body and looking up at my ceiling.
Hyde stayed quiet for a minute, "Penny, what do you mean?"
"Nothing, never mind. I'm going to sleep." I turned away from Hyde and closed my eyes.
"Alright. Goodnight Penny." Hyde kissed my cheek and left my room.
Silence took over my room, and it wasn't the good silence that was always with Hyde.