Calm. Cool. Collected.

1

Eric was confused. Why is everyone standing around him like he's going to die? They were just shooting hoops! And then.. then they started arguing. But he just fell and hit his— oh god. He's bleeding. He's really bleeding a lot, actually. It's all over Hyde's hands. What went wrong? The events quickly replay in his head.

Donna takes a shot and swish! The ball goes in the hoop and bounces in Hyde's direction. "See, but what I don't understand, is why he thought he could kiss you in the first place." He passes the ball to Kelso. "Yeah, man! You must have been leading him on or something." He takes a shot, which bounces off of the rim and Eric catches it. "I was not!" He exclaims, and looks around at his friends, holding the ball instead of taking a shot or passing. Usually Eric is pretty non-confrontational, but today, he wasn't really having it. He was going to stand up for himself, damnit! "Why would I do that? Huh? You think I was asking for it?" Jackie takes the ball from him and passes it back to Donna. "Well Eric, I did hear him call you cute and instead of saying something like 'Why did you say that?' you said 'aw, thanks!'" She takes her seat back on the hood of the Vista Cruiser, crossing her arms. Donna passes the ball to Hyde. "Jeez Eric," Hyde starts, then taking a shot. Swish! "Did he call you pretty too? What was your reply to that?" Donna laughs. "You are too, Buddy." She clasps her hands together, bringing them up near her chin and smiling, effectively mocking him. The ball rolls on the ground near his feet. "Would you all cut it out? I'm not gay, alright?!" He takes a step back, trips over the ball and falls straight on his back, his head ricocheting off of the pavement.

His ears are ringing. Donna stands over him. "Are you okay?" She asks with concern in her voice but no one is panicked anymore. Why is no one running to grab Kitty? Why are they all just standing there? I'm bleeding out on the driveway and no one is doing anything! Hyde sits back on the ground beside him staring at his hands. "I need to go get cleaned up while you guys make sure he's not concussed." He walks towards the house. Where is he going? "How many fingers am I holding up?" Jackie asks, waving her hand around in front of Eric's face. "Cut it out." He swats her hand away weakly. Donna holds out her hand. "Come on, sit up." He reaches for it and she pulls him so he's sitting. He reaches a hand up to feel his head. Oh, I'm not bleeding. He sighs in relief. "Are you dizzy? Or tired?" Donna kneels beside him. "No, I think I'm okay."

He holds his head, wanting the simultaneous sharp sting and dull ache pulsing around the back of his skull to end. "Maybe we should go inside." Kelso says, rubbing his arm and definitely feeling bad about what just happened, which seems like it would be a whole new feeling for him. "Yeah. Here, Eric." Donna takes both of his hands this time, helping him to his feet. He sways slightly, a little bit dizzy, but probably not concussed. "Let's get you some frozen peas." They all head into the kitchen, Kelso sitting at the counter, Eric and Jackie sitting at the table, Hyde at the sink running water over his scraped up hands, and Donna standing next to Eric after getting him frozen veggies to hold against his head.

"I'm sorry, I really tried to catch you, man." Hyde explains what happened to him. "I tripped though, so... you fell. I fell. Everyone gasped. You should've seen the look on your face when you saw the blood on my hands!" He laughs, taking some paper towel to dry his hands. Eric shakes his head. "I thought that was my blood. You scared me!" He frowns a little. "Didn't mean to." he mumbles just loud enough for everyone to hear, then looks away and fiddles with the paper towel. "I really thought he was going to catch you for a moment. It was like everything was in slow motion." Jackie rests her chin on her hand, leaning on the table and looking off into space. She switches her focus back to the group. "And then you both came crashing to the ground." Donna looks at Kelso. "You were close to him, why didn't you try to catch him?" Kelso, still laughing about what Jackie said, snaps to reality. "Who, me? Oh, well, I was just gonna let him fall." Hyde leans forward and smacks the side of his head, recoiling and grabbing his hand after. He looks up at everyone. "It was worth it."