Prologue
The Peach Pit was bustling, filled with college students enjoying their last hurrahs before heading home for the holidays. Dylan would just as soon have avoided the place altogether, but the thought of spending another night sitting at home with a microwave dinner and a book only tempted him to return to his darker ways, and he'd figured the crowds would at least keep him sober. Besides, he had to start socializing again some time, or things would never get back to normal with the gang.
Not that they'd ever really been his friends. Brandon's friends, Brenda's friends, and then Kelly's friends, but never quite his friends. At least, that was how it felt.
Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to bring himself to sit at their table, choosing a piece of counter very close to their table instead. Close enough that he could hear every word they said, if he chose to listen.
"Kelly," Donna sounded surprised as she greeted her friend, who had just walked in the door. Brandon slapped Dylan's hand as he walked over to the group's table, and Dylan found himself grateful for even that contact. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Yeah, we figured you two would be holed up in the Walsh house as long as Jim and Cindy were away," Steve wagged his eyebrows, just in case any one had missed the suggestion in his tone. It certainly hadn't been lost on Dylan.
"Yeah well, trust Brenda to ruin the best of plans," Kelly shrugged into a seat, checking to make sure her hair and her sweater covered the burns on her neck as she did so.
"Brenda?" more surprise from Donna.
"Yeah, she showed up in the dead of night last night, swears she's back for good," Dylan gave up all pretenses of not paying attention, and turned to face their table, just in time to catch Brandon rolling his eyes. "Déjà vu."
"Predictably unpredictable, our Brenda," David turned to Claire to explain. "Brenda is…"
"Brandon's twin sister, I remember."
"Did she say why she came back?" Dylan tried to keep his voice neutral, surprised but not quite hanging on every word, heart in his throat interested. It seemed to work, although Kelly narrowed her eyes.
"Not a word," Brandon answered with a sigh. "And honestly, I'm sick of it. I don't know what's gotten into her but the dramatics are getting old."
"So you don't think it's anything serious?" Andrea asked, concerned.
"Is it ever really serious with Brenda?" Kelly sounded as exasperated as Brandon had, and Dylan bristled a little.
"Still, I'd think she wouldn't want to walk away from her acting like that," Andrea pressed, putting voice to Dylan's own concerns. "The RADA is a very good school."
"Yeah, well, Jim and Cindy are trying to get the truth out of her as we speak," Brandon shrugged. "That's why we thought it would be best to get out of there."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't understand how you could just drop out again!" Jim Walsh had clearly reached his limit. Of course, when it came to his daughter, it seemed like his limit was reached fairly often. "Your mother and I aren't made of money. You can't keep changing schools and throwing away deposits!"
"You and Mom didn't pay a single cent of my tuition this time," Brenda replied. "And you got a full refund of every dime you paid for me to go to Minnesota. I don't see what the problem is."
"What about our travel costs?" Jim pressed, not deterred. "Your mother and I already purchased round trip plane tickets. Those can't be refunded. What about Valerie? You want us to just throw her out?"
"Of course not," Brenda rolled her eyes. "She's in Buffalo right now, anyway, and if it's such a problem for me to be here, I'll just go live somewhere else. I've been on my own for months now anyway."
"Oh well that's all settled then," Jim snapped, throwing his hands up in the air, then adding sarcastically "you've clearly proven how responsible you are."
"Brenda, we just want to understand why you came home," Cindy interrupted, touching her husband's arm in an attempt to calm him down. "It seems… sudden. We thought you were happy in London."
"I was," Brenda turned away from them, going to look out the living room window so they wouldn't see the expression on her face. "I was happier than I've been in a really long time," she turned back to her parents. "Which is why you have to believe that I had good reasons to leave."
"Well what are they?" Cindy's voice remained calm, concerned, motherly, and Brenda wanted nothing more than to reach out for her mom and burst into tears and confess everything.
"I can't tell you right now," she sighed. "I will, but not yet. Not now. You just have to trust me."
"Because you've done so much to earn our trust in the last year," Jim clearly wasn't buying it. That was his problem.
"Look, I don't mean to get in your way, I'll go stay somewhere else if you want," Brenda sighed. "And you and Dad can still go to London if you had your hearts set on spending Christmas there."
"Don't be silly," Cindy reached out and hugged her daughter. "We had our hearts set on spending Christmas with you. And Brenda, when you're ready to talk, we'll be here, ready to listen."
"Thanks, Mom."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey, Dylan," Brandon slid onto the stool next to his friends, while the rest of their group gossiped about his sister's sudden reappearance – again. "Got a minute?"
"Depends," Dylan shrugged. "What do you need?"
"It's about my sister," Brandon answered, looking at the counter. "I was wondering where things stand between you two."
"Where things stand?" Dylan raised an eyebrow. "You know where things stand. I'm here and she was there. Things aren't standing at all."
"I know something happened this summer, man."
"Do you?" Dylan waived Nat down. "Another coffee, Nat," he muttered, before turning to face Brandon fully. "And what do you know happened this summer?"
"I don't know what," Brandon replied, anger that he couldn't quite hide seeping into his voice. "That's why I'm asking."
"And why is that? You think I'm the reason she came back?" Dylan stared down at his empty coffee cup. "'Cause let me tell you, your sister made it clear she puts her acting career far, far ahead of me."
"Yeah, well something brought her back," Brandon sighed. "And I think you probably stand the best chance of finding out the truth."
"You wanna know what happened this summer, Brandon?" Dylan sighed and met his eyes. "What happened is that I let her down. Again. Okay? I told her she could trust me this time, and then I broke that trust. So I don't think Brenda will even talk to me any time soon, let alone confide in me, so find someone else to air her dirty laundry, okay?"
Brandon shrugged, giving up and went back to the table, sliding into the booth to sit next to Kelly. He wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, without taking an eye off of the man who'd once been his best friend. Dylan was again staring at his coffee cup – now filled, thanks to Nat – and seemed not to notice anything around him.
Brandon had been so worried about Dylan's history with Kelly, he hadn't really thought about his history with Brenda. Dylan had seemed okay with Brenda being gone – as okay as he'd been with anything that fall. Now, Brandon wasn't so sure that was the case.
"What was that about?" Kelly asked quietly, nodding her head in Dylan's direction.
Brandon dropped a kiss on her forehead before answering "I'm not sure myself."
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was weird to think of Valerie sleeping there, in her bed, a bed she'd once shared with Dylan – although only on rare occasions when they had the house to themselves. It was weirder to think of Valerie sharing a bed with Dylan, although Brenda knew she had. Actually, it was beyond weird. It caused a sharp, piercing sensation in her heart that Brenda was only too familiar with.
Except this time it was worse, because she knew Valerie. She knew that Valerie hadn't just happened to get involved with Dylan, they way Brenda could almost believe Kelly had. Valerie had been the person she'd confided in last time, the person who'd received tear stained letters and long distance, hour long phone calls, analyzing every minute of conversation Brenda had ever witnessed between Dylan and Kelly.
If Valerie and Dylan had really been together – and Brenda believed they had, Donna had no reason to lie to her – then Valerie had gone into it with her eyes open, intending to sleep with the man Brenda loved.
Brenda wasn't sure there was any way to repair that friendship now.
And Dylan… well, Brenda wasn't back in Beverly Hills to date anyway. And she doubted Dylan would be interested when he found out the truth, even if she could have brought herself to forgive him. Again.
Dropping her suitcases on the floor, Brenda collapsed onto the bed, face down in a pillow, and let herself cry.