Alright guys, let me explain this one...

This is set at the end of the fourth season. In "Love, Wisconsin Style," Donna realizes that Casey's a jerk, and is totally embarrassed and hurt. She shows up in the basement and kisses Eric, trying to get back together with him, and he turns her down, not wanting to be a second choice to anyone. Hurt, Donna leaves, and she hitches a ride with Kelso to run off to California. Right? Right.

Well, this fic is turning the tables a little bit. Eric goes to apologize to Donna, like in the episode. But before he gets there, things change. Eric's the one fed up, and Eric is the one running away. I'm writing this fic to give a little depth to Eric, who is my favorite character, and also, because I just finished up a crucial course about sociology in the 1960s and 70s, and this idea was stuck in my head.

Since the show's writers played around with the timeline, I'm taking some liberties of my own. We're assuming its 1977, and Eric is probably 18, or close to it.

Enjoy! And please read and review!

….

Eric wasn't really watching the television. He couldn't have told you what was on at all. The sound was off, and he was just staring into space, thinking about what Donna had said as she'd left his living room. She had claimed that he wanted to break her and Casey up, that Casey dumping her was what he had been hoping for.

While she wasn't completely off base, she wasn't right either.

His plan had been to show Donna how stupid Casey was, and how their relationship was wrecking her life and changing her behavior. He just assumed that Donna would be the one showing Casey's sorry ass to the door. But instead, she was dumped in front of her friends and family, and her ex-boyfriend, and his parents. Few things could be worse.

When the basement door opened and his mother appeared, Eric wanted to ask for some privacy. He really wasn't in the the mood to have a heart-to-heart with anybody, much less his mom.

However, he stood abruptly when he saw that Kitty was not alone; Donna trailed behind her, her red-rimmed eyes cast down for a moment before they rested on his face.

His mother was talking, but all Eric saw was his ex-girlfriend. She had been crying, no doubt because of the ugly breakup with Casey Kelso only a half hour before. He had been so blasé about it...Donna was crushed…and Eric found himself wanting to run Casey over with his precious Trans-Am, if it meant ending her suffering.

However, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised, and guarded, about the fact that she was here now to talk to him. She had left their big "family meeting" with some choice words for him. Not that he blamed her, but still. He wasn't prepared to fight with her.

Their little public gathering, during which Casey admitted that he had repeatedly lied about loving Donna, had taken place some time around 7:20. It was just nearing 8 o'clock. Which means she'd had time to think about whatever she was going to say.

Eric could only manage a weak "Hi," which Donna quietly returned.

"Hi?" he thought. "That's it? That's the best you can do? Say something to her, dumbass!"

Kitty eventually left them alone, and he put his hands in his pockets. There was so much awkward in the room he could practically taste it.

"So, uhm…" he began. "How are you?"

He knew that was a stupid question, but she shrugged and stepped closer to him. "Humiliated," she said. "I'm such an idiot."

He was about to disagree, when she continued. "I mean, I got dumped in front of the whole world. And I don't even…I don't even know what I said to your mom at the Hub, and I hate that she saw me like that."

She stepped back and asked, "What is wrong with me?"

"Hey, hey," he said, waving his hand as if to brush it off, like one might brush off a simpler problem. "Nothing. Your mom left. C'mon, you're allowed to freak out."

He'd meant to comfort her, but she only got more upset. "But everybody warned me about Casey, and I fell for him anyway! And he's such a jackass!"

It was almost funny, because it was so true, but Eric sighed and looked down.

"I really, really wanted you to figure that out, just…not like this."

"Eric, I'm just…" a little sob escaped her, and she started to cry. "I'm so sorry."

He couldn't take it anymore, and apparently, neither could she, because they reached for each other at the same time, and wrapped each other up in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I was so stupid."

He didn't say anything else, because she broke the hug to look him in the face.

Then her lips locked with his.

His heart rate sped up a bit. He'd missed this; missed her. He'd missed kissing her. So he returned the kiss, secretly joyful.

She pulled away and looked at him again.

"Eric, we should be together."

"Wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"Let's, like, pretend all this other stuff never happened," she said, hugging him again.

Yes, he wanted to agree. Let's start over.

But his stupid head, coupled by his stupid pride, intervened.

"Wait…wait…." he broke the hug again, and she looked at him with hurt and worry as he shook his head. "Donna, if you come running back to me now…."

Then he dealt the blow. "Donna, I can't be your second choice."

"But you're not," she promised. Her voice might have sounded fierce or earnest, but a tiny sob, like a hiccup, caused her words to crack, and a few more tears escaped. She dragged in a shaky breath, and tried again. "Eric…"

As much as it hurt him to hurt her, he looked down and shook his head again. Donna turned and rushed for the door, yanking it open before she could break down completely.

Kitty stumbled into the room, clearly having listened in on their drama. Eric would have been angry at his mom for adding unneeded embarrassment to the situation, but Kitty seemed embarrassed herself.

"Oh..wha…where am I?" she said before bolting up the basement steps. With a final look back, Donna followed.

Eric's shoulders sagged and he plopped back down on the couch, face in his hands, regret almost immediately setting in.

Great. So now it was his fault, two times over, that they weren't together.

….Well, Kitty had heard the show, and was no doubt telling Red about it at that very moment.

Eric waited twenty minutes, then sighed and stood up, knowing that whatever he was about to face upstairs wasn't going to be pleasant.

He wasn't wrong. A whole lecture awaited him in the kitchen. Both Red and Kitty, for some reason annoyed at his problems, were standing in front of the kitchen chair, which was pulled out and sitting alone in the middle of the room. Wow. Usually the chair was saved for only the worst lectures.

And this was one of the very worst, no doubt about it.

"So let me get this straight," Red began without pretense. Kitty looked on in exasperation. "Donna wanted to get back together, and you said no." He pointed his finger at Eric for emphasis.

"I said no," the teenager concurred.

"You said no!" Red repeated in disbelief.

There was a moment of silence, and then…

"Dumbass!" Kitty cried out finally, shaking her head.

Eric let that sink in, and attempted to explain himself. "Look, I have my reasons, okay?"

"What could they be? What could they possibly be?!" Kitty asked frantically.

"Casey dumps her, and then she just comes to me? I am not a rebound."

Red looked at his son as if he were mentally deficient, and enunciated every word so that he would understand. "So, you're to proud to take her back? And what do you have to be so proud of?"

Eric listened to the insults come, and a bizarre sort of pressure formed in his chest.

Red continued. "You're not an athlete, the only smart thing about you is your mouth… And look at you!"

Kitty shook her head. "Red, he looks fine, he's just so darn stupid!"

Eric frowned deeper and Kitty explained herself only by saying, "I am very upset!"

"Mom, stop. Okay?" her son said quietly. "Because I already feel bad enough as it is."

"Well you should!"

"Well I do, okay?" he said with more volume and a bit more anger. Then, once again sad, he admitted, "I love her."

After a moment he stood up and pushed the chair away.

"God, why do I always have to screw these things up, you know? Why does everything always have to be my way?"

Suddenly, it dawned on him in perfect clarity. "That's why we broke up in the first place."

Kitty was not having it. "Uh-huh, well, we've all known that for a year!"

"Okay, I have to tell Donna how I feel."

Eric ran out of the house and into the driveway, desperate to leave that uncomfortable conversation, and even more desperate to see Donna. He was going to beg for forgiveness, and then he was going to treat her better than he'd ever treated her before.

These plans were set in his mind until he turned and found himself in her front yard. The lights were all on, including the one in her bedroom.

But something stopped him.

He still wanted to go in and sweep her off her feet, wipe away her tears and make everything better. But he didn't.

He found that he didn't want to be standing there anymore. He wanted to be anywhere else but here. That pressure in his chest tightened further, and he felt like he was going to burst.

Eric turned on his heel and walked down the sidewalk, shoving his hands in his pockets.

What was wrong with him?! Donna was the other way around!

The rational part of his mind begged him to go make things right, to end both their suffering, but the more emotional side couldn't help but throw its own pity party. Red's insults rang back at him until there didn't seem to be a single reason that Donna should deserve him. And what's more, his careful heart didn't want to just start over. Because it would end up the exact same way it had before.

Deep down, he knew that was right. They'd be together, until high school was over. Then she wanted to have her life and her career and her adventures. And despite the fact that he appreciated those things, she made it perfectly clear that he wasn't a necessary part of those plans. Now that they had been broken up for several months, he understood that, and respected her for it. But it still hurt, and it didn't change a thing. Eventually, some time in the future, he'd either ask her to wear his ring again, or he'd officially propose. And he knew that she probably wasn't going to be ready to settle herself down. But he couldn't put himself back in a relationship with a woman he loved so much, when he knew it would eventually have to end again.

These thoughts were jumbling and ringing like the white noise fanfare that played in A Day in the Life, just before Paul McCartney cut in with his happier verses that balanced out John Lennon's melancholy ones. The white noise seemed to grow and build, in his head and in his chest. He was overthinking it. He was causing himself unnecessary pain and stress.

He was about to lose it.

Eric was so caught up in his contemplation that he almost ran into Hyde, who was walking up the street, coming from the Hub.

"Woah, Forman, man, you alright?"

"Oh, hey Hyde. No…Donna came to talk to me."

Usually Hyde wouldn't care about this sort of thing, but Eric's somewhat dazed expression made him concerned.

"And?"

"And…she tried to get back together with me."

"Alright, man," Hyde congratulated, clapping him on the back."Then what do you look so miserable for?"

"I turned her down."

There was a pause, then Hyde smacked him upside the head.

"You turned her down? What were all those nights when you cried and bitched and moaned about her, then?"

"Look, Hyde, I already got a pretty good lecture from Red and Kitty, so I don't think this is necessary. I wanna tell her how I feel…I just…I don't see the point, you know? Cause then we'll be right back to where we started. And I don't know if that'll really make me happy anymore. I mean at first it obviously will. But then I'll never be able to stop thinking about the fact that as soon as we graduate, she'll be off living this big life, which is great, but I don't know if I can wait around for her, if there's no guarantee that she'll be back."

Hyde didn't exactly agree with Eric's actions, but he definitely understood the reasons. His parents had walked in and out on him enough for him to know that there's never a guarantee that they'd stay for good "this time." Who knew what would happen should Eric and Donna get back together, only to break up even worse than the first time?

But the most worrying thing about this was not Eric's words or actions, but his expression. He had this sort of crazed look that made him look like a caged animal.

"Hey, you feelin' alright, man? You don't look so good."

Eric didn't feel so good either. This desperate pressure in his chest had been growing along with the buzzing in his head, and he wanted to run until the stress burned off, to be somewhere else and someone else. He needed comfort that clearly his parents weren't offering, that Donna couldn't offer, that no one in Point Place could give.

"Yeah, I'm fine, its just-" Eric let out an impatient exhale. "I've gotta get out for a while." And as he said that, a crazy thought popped into Eric's head. In a moment of impulsiveness, he decided to follow that crazy thought.

"Okay man," Hyde said, understanding. "Just walk around for a bit. Blow off steam. You know, there's always the other way we blow off steam…"

Eric knew that Hyde was offering a circle session, but he declined. He needed to stay sober and clean if this was going to work.

"No thanks, I'm just gonna go for a walk."

Hyde nodded and clapped him on the back again, then went to move toward home. "Hey Forman, does that mean I can ask Donna out?"

Despite the poor timing and taste of the joke, Eric found himself snorting before gently punching Hyde in the arm. But after that he caught Hyde's wrist and pulled him in for a hug. Steven didn't like affection, especially in public, but he let Eric hug him before pulling away.

"Thanks, man," Eric said quietly before backing away. "Take care. See you around. Oh, and please don't tell my parents where I'm going?"

Hyde's brow furrowed as he watched Forman's retreating form for a minute. That goodbye seemed a little too heavy and formal considering they lived in the same house and Eric was just going for a walk. But the curly haired teen didn't say anything. Still, if he didn't want to be forced to tell Kitty and Red about Eric's bizarre behavior, he figured he might as well head back to the Hub for a while longer to hang out with Fez and Kelso. A glance at his watch told him it was only just nine at night. The night was still young.

…..

Eric's eyes widened at his own stream of consciousness. He knew this was dangerous, and if Red caught him he'd kick his ass to the moon. But for some reason, Eric was being pulled in that direction anyway.

At the moment, there was nothing left for him in Point Place.

But first…

He took the long way around the block so as not to run into Hyde again, and found himself staring at the back of his own garage.

Red didn't seem to be there, so Eric crept down into the basement and immediately went to the board games.

His Candyland stash of money was usually raided by Hyde, Fez, and Kelso, but there was still a good amount of cash there. After that, Eric turned to the Monopoly box and dug out a much larger wad of money, one that hadn't been discovered yet. He was constantly having to change up his board game hiding places. Thank goodness they hadn't found the Monopoly money.

He quickly climbed up the stairs and crept through the empty kitchen. Once he got to the door, he knew he had to take a risk. He didn't hear the TV, and assumed that no one was there.

His gamble paid off. Neither Red nor Kitty was in the living room. Which meant they were probably in…their bedroom.

Trying not to wince at the thought, Eric quickly snuck up to his bedroom and closed the door.

After taking a glance around his lair, he flew to his closet and dug out a sturdy backpack and a pullover sweater. Despite the warm weather (it was the beginning of summer, after all) he needed an extra layer of clothes, just in case. He hid his cash in his shirt pocket and pulled on the sweater. Next, Eric stuffed the backpack with a road map from his desk, his swiss army knife, and a few extra pairs of clothes. He also grabbed his wallet and put it in his pants pocket. Then, with a fond look at his belongings, he switched off his light and left, closing the door behind him.

The kitchen clock read ten, but he didn't even see, because he was too busy walking, with a purpose, down the street.

….

He instantly missed his Vista Cruiser, and wanted to take it with him. But he couldn't, he'd feel guilty taking his family car away from his parents. Walking would have to do, for now.

Once he reached city limits, he started sticking his thumb out, hoping for a ride. He knew it was dangerous, but he really couldn't bring himself to care.

Eventually a truck did pull over, and a tired looking middle-aged man stuck his head out the window.

"Where ya headed, kid?"

Eric looked back at Point Place and sighed. "Chicago. Could you give me a ride?"