THE SKI TRIP
Point Place, Wisconsin
January 13th, 1977
Thursday Afternoon
Location: The Forman's basement
•••
"Alright this is no sweat. If we leave right after school we should make it to Jackie's ski cabin by, like, six." Eric said holding up the map to show Fez and Hyde.
"Man, I can't wait; a trip to my favourite place," Bethany said looking up from her school work,
"Anywhere but here." She grinned.
Over the past few weeks Baby has been occupying herself more and more with homework and working at The Hub. She had been working herself overtime to scrape in cash so that she doesn't have to stick around any longer.
All that was on her mind lately was getting out of Point Place. She spent a lot of her free time at the library flipping through travel books and charting out her adventures.
Most of this was to distract her from Steven, who weaselled his way into her brain whenever it wasn't occupied by other things.
"And I'm betting that Alpine Valley will give this kid a lot of make out opportunities with Donna this weekend. This kid is in," Eric said as he sat on the couch next to his twin.
"What's with the whole "kid" thing?" Hyde asked.
"It's cool," Eric said receiving a head shake from his sister,
"It's not cool?" He asked looking around for back up.
"Not cool. Dorky," Fez shook his head.
Kelso came strutting into the basement,
"Guess who made out with Pam Macy behind the gym?" He asked with a smug look on his face.
"Everyone?" Hyde chucked.
"No! Me!" Kelso exclaimed, pointing to himself.
"You idiot," Baby groaned smacking him.
"Hey! What did I do?" He rubbed his arm looking around confused.
"Kelso, a lot of people hang out behind the gym," Eric said.
"Yeah that's what's so great about it, everybody saw it!" Michael grinned.
"Oh, that's great, man now everybody can tell Jackie, you moron." Hyde snapped as he rolled his eyes.
"Then she's gonna dump you and we won't be able to go to her ski cabin," Bethany complained.
"She's never gonna find out," Kelso brushed off.
Almost on cue, Jackie bursted through the basement door,
"You're a dog, Michael, a dirty dirty dog!" Jackie shouted, waving her finger at him.
"What'd I do?" He asked cluelessly.
"You kissed Pam Macy," Fez spoke up as Michael gasped.
"I trusted you, Michael and now all my friends are laughing at me. I can't even show my face in the third floor bathroom, and that's the cool bathroom!" Jackie yelled.
"She's right, it's really cool." Bethany nodded.
"But I—" Michael started but Jackie cut him off,
"No, Michael we're through."
"Okay, it's thats the way you want it, then we're through. And Monday when we get back from that ski trip, it's over." Michael said.
"No, Michael, no. You won't be skiing this weekend." Jackie said taking a seat between the twins.
"That's just great, Jackie, cancel the ski trip and disappoint all of our friends," Kelso yelled.
"Oh, no, no, no. No. We're still going." Jackie smiled as she patted the Forman siblings on their knees.
"They're not going to leave with out me. Right guys?" Kelso stated as he looked as his friends who avoided eye contact with him.
"And did I mention my parents weren't coming so it'll be just us?" Jackie added as she picked up a magazine from the coffee table.
"So, we'll see you Monday!" Eric smiled looking over at Kelso.
✽ ✾ ✽
Beth packed her and Eric's things into the trunk of the Vista Cruiser while her brother got a refresher of the rules of the road from their father.
Hyde walked over carrying a sleeping bag,
"Hey, Baby, man, I brought a double sleeping bag. You know?" He smirked.
"Oh great, can Fez and I borrow it?" She smiled leaning into Fez's side as he put his arm around her shoulder.
Baby was just joking, she of course wasn't going to go for Fez, they were just close friends but she mostly needed him as an excuse because she knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself back from Hyde.
Bethany chuckled and walked over to talk with Donna and Jackie.
"Oh, Hyde watching you fail over and over...it is like Charlie Brown and the football." Fez shook his head.
"Yeah, man I just don't get it." Hyde sighed.
"Maybe because I'm already getting it," Fez chuckled earning a glare from Hyde,
"I'm just kidding," Fez held his hands up in defence.
✽ ✾ ✽
The teens piled into the Vista Cruiser, Eric, Donna, and Jackie up front and Fez, Hyde, and Bethany in the back. As they were leaving Kelso stood in the driveway waving, thinking that it was just a joke and that they were going to come back for him.
"Forman, man what is all this crap Red gave you?" Hyde asked as he looked through the emergency kit the twin's father had put together for them.
"I don't know. He's obsessed with kitty litter, I think he's going insane." Eric said.
The car began to swerve, tossing the kids around in the car. Eric gained control and the car came to a complete stop, Beth loosened her grip on Hyde's arm.
"Far out," Hyde chuckled.
"What the hell was that?" Donna asked.
"I don't know, I think we hit some ice." Eric said as he pressed his foot to the gas pedal.
"Great, we're stuck!" Eric groaned sitting back in his seat.
The teenagers piled out of the car. Eric and Hyde went to check out the damage, Fez went to play in the snow, and the girls huddled together watching Hyde and Eric.
"Look, I made my first snowball. I love snow so much my fingers are numb," Fez grinned.
"Honey that's frostbite," Bethany shook her head.
"How rude, I hate your white man's winter!" Fez said as he threw down the snowball.
"Fez get in the car," Donna laughed.
"Eric, do something!" Jackie complained.
"Yeah, man stop goofing around. It's freezing," Hyde said handing the emergency kit to Eric.
Hyde wrapped his arm around Beth's shoulder,
"C'mon let's sit in the car, I don't want you to freeze." He said leading her inside the vehicle.
After a few minutes of waiting, Eric had successfully gotten the car unstuck with the kitty litter and they were off to the cabin. The twins had mentally agreed that they wouldn't let their father know about getting the car stuck, especially since they used his methods to get it unstuck, it would only make their fathers ego dangerously bigger.
✽ ✾ ✽
"Alright we made it!" Donna grinned as they dropped the last of their bags.
"I'm so cold, the snow has stolen my manhood." Fez whined as he went over to the fireplace to get a fire started.
"There's only one bedroom, it was going to be for Michael and I, but since our love is dead, you two should take it." Jackie said looking between Eric and Donna.
"Alright! Let's go check out our room." Eric smirked.
"Definitely," Donna said grabbing Eric and dragging him into the bedroom.
"Where are you guys going? I thought we were gonna hang the—" Hyde said as Donna slammed the door.
"I am freezing. Winter in my country is 70 degrees, we must hold each other for warmth." Fez curled up next to Jackie.
"Stop touching me!" Jackie squealed pushing Fez away from her.
"But I'm going to die!" Fez exclaimed.
"Okay, Fez...oooh Amaretto. You know what man, this'll warm you right up." Hyde smirked handing Fez the bottle taking a seat on the couch.
Fez quickly grabbed the bottle and took a sip,
"It's like liquid candy," Fez smiled taking a large gulp.
Bethany laughed sitting on Hyde's lap.
✽ ✾ ✽
A bottle of Amaretto later, Fez had stripped down and disappeared outside. Bethany and Hyde sat on the couch reading comics and drinking beer while Jackie sobbed in the armchair.
Beth knew that she should've been comforting Jackie, but after listening to her complain the entire car ride there and countless phone calls she had suffered through throughout Michael and Jackie's relationship, Bethany felt she deserved a break.
Eric stormed out of the bedroom,
"Okay what's going on?" He asked with his hands on his hips.
"Spy VS Spy, man they kill me," Hyde chuckled keeping his eyes on the comic.
"No, with her!" Eric said pointing to Jackie sobbing in the chair.
"She seems upset or something." Hyde shrugged taking a glance at her.
"Okay, look where is Fez?" Eric asked looking around.
"He stripped down and went outside to make a snow angel or something," Beth shrugged sipping her beer.
"Look, you either need to go get Fez or console Jackie." Eric dictated.
"I'll take Fez," Hyde said.
"I guess I'll take Jackie." Bethany sighed getting up from Hyde's lap and going over to the sobbing brunette.
✽ ✾ ✽
Hyde and Eric carried Fez inside the cabin with Kelso following in behind them.
"Kelso?" Baby asked, looking confused.
"Michael!" Jackie jumped up when she took notice of him, "You walked all the way here in a driving snowstorm just to be with me didn't you, Michael? And you would never ever do that for Pam Macy, would you?" Jackie asked as she stared up at her current-ex boyfriend.
"No?" Kelso said.
"Lover." Jackie exclaimed jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist.
"You know it," Michael laughed carrying her into the bedroom; Baby quickly closing the door behind them.
Fez laid sprawled out on the couch with his junk close to Donna's face as she fought the urge to look at it. She took a quick glance down before rolling her eyes and looking between her conscious friends,
"Can somebody put his pants on?" She pleaded with a chuckle.
"I've got it," Bethany sighed grabbing the foreign kids pants from the floor.
✽ ✾ ✽
The rest of the group went to bed but Baby and Hyde stayed up cuddling in front of the fire while sharing a cigarette and a beer.
"Do you ever just look at fire and think about how something can be so beautiful and yet so destructive?" Bethany thought aloud as she inhaled from the cigarette.
Hyde took a sip from the beer, thinking the question over.
"No, but I look at other things that way." He said.
Baby blew out the smoke, flicking the ash off the end with her fingers,
"What do you look at that way?" She looked at him with furrowed brows.
"You." He replied simply, taking the cigarette from her and replacing it with the beverage.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked even more puzzled than before.
He shrugged looking forward at the fire.
"You just blow through everything that's in your present if you don't think it has a place in your future, but sometimes you don't even know what's going to be in your future if you never stop to let it be in your present. Do you understand what I'm getting at, Baby?" He turned to look at her.
"Kind of?" She said without confidence.
He shook his head, "No, you don't and that's part of the problem."
Steven took a drag off the cigarette and threw the butt into the fireplace. He pushed himself up and went over to lie on the couch leaving Baby by herself with a double sleeping bag in front of the fire.
•••
A/N
liking this book? go check out my other 70s based book called 'days like these' :)
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