Dylan shifted uncomfortably on the stool. He hated speaking in front of people. It was Thursday night and he was spending it at the CU campus. He volunteered to speak tonight to earn extra credit points for his Romantic Poetry class.
He was into poetry so it wasn't that a big deal, but he hating feeling like he was on display and sitting on stage under a spot light wasn't helping his anxiety.
His eyes drifted across the crowd trying to focus on something other than his building paranoia. He almost fell off the stool as his wandering gaze landed on Brenda. He was surprised to see her there.
It was rare to see Brenda around these days, newly engaged and all. He lifted his hand to wave to her, but he hesitated after realizing she wasn't focused on him … she wasn't focused on anything really.
She stood near one of the pillars, fiddling with her engagement ring, her beautiful face set in a deep frown. Even upset she managed to still look stunning.
Dylan looked down at the poem he had chosen to read. The poem itself wasn't anything special, just something short and sweet he had chosen on a whim to satisfy the requirements.
He looked up at Brenda, who was still unfocused, and then back down again at the poem in his hands. He flipped through the pages of the poetry book quickly, landing on a poem he had come across yesterday after leaving Mr. Walsh's office.
With you, the earth was a bed of grass.
We slept in it like two seeds.
With you, I was more than I am
Your mouth, the sun
Made everything possible
I burn with the love that I lost when I lost you
He loved this poem. Dylan was shocked at the connection to the words he felt after reading it for the first time. The poem made him ache for Brenda. He ran his fingers of the lines of the poem.
Dylan was unsure about reading it aloud tonight. He had respected Brendas wishes that day on the docks and pledged just to be her friend, even though deep down he knew he wanted more than just friendship. The words of the poem had ignited something within Dylan.
Seeing her here tonight in the crowd made him feel excited. He thought about the conversation he had yesterday with her Father, maybe he was right ... could he still have sort of influence over Brenda? Could she still have feelings for him?
He wasn't lying when he said he didn't want to get involved with Brenda's affairs, but the severity of Mr. Walsh reaching out to him for help wasn't lost on him.
He remembered the days where Mr. Walsh had done everything in his power to keep him from even seeing Brenda and now here he was begging for his help. If Dylan was honest with himself, no one was really making him to do anything he didn't want to do. He had wanted to speak with Brenda about her relationship with Stewart as soon as he found out.
Things between them had escalated so quickly. One minute he heard they went on a few dates and the next thing he knew, Brenda was engaged to that clown. The words in the poem were true, 'I burn with the love that I lost when I lost you' and boy did he burn.
Watching them that night at her grandparents engagement party had been hell. He wouldn't consider him a jealous man, but seeing Brenda with Stewart made him crazy.
Every time he was forced to watch them kiss, Dylan had to resist the urge to pound Stewart's face in. He remembered Stewart Carson from his hay days as a rich Beverly Hills brat.
When he was younger he spent all of this time with Stewart and a bunch of other kids from the Beach Club. They were way too young to have been partying that hard, but with lax parents and an unlimited credit card, the good times never had to stop. When his Father had lost it all, he of course was exiled from the richy rich crowd.
Luckily one of the perks of being left was nothing was getting the chance to grow into something. He had gotten sober and slowly started to change his old ways. Stewie on the other hand hadn't.
Dylan had it on good authority that Stewart still partied hard and was more than okay still partying all night and letting Daddy foot the bill.
"Good Evening, and thank you all for coming." Dylan heard the Professor say, getting everyone's attention. He tried to take his mind off of Brenda and pay attention, clapping along with the others.
"Tonight we will start things off with a reading from Mr. Dylan McKay. He will be reciting a poem from our Romantic Poetry seminar. Mr. McKay, whenever you are ready, the floor is yours."
Dylan waited for the applause to die down and for the Professor to leave the stage. He made eye contact with Brenda before starting.
She made a funny face at him, making him laugh out loud. He coughed into his hand to trying to cover up his laughter, but failed. He glanced over at the Professor, muttering out an apology before starting.
He slowly started to read the poem, keeping his eyes glued to the page, too afraid to look up meet her eyes. He decided in that moment he finally was going to step up and stop Brenda before she made the biggest mistake of her life.
He got to the very last line and looked up, closing the book. He locked eyes with Brenda, wanting to make sure she knew he was reading the poem only to her even though she was surrounded by a sea of their classmates.
He took a breath before announcing to her, I burn with the love that I lost when I lost you.'
So excited for the new BH 90210 reboot that I started watching the earlier Seasons again to prepare. After watching 4x09 again this idea popped into my mind. If only Dylan could have been the one to say something and stop the engagement, what a crazy S4 that would be. Let me know what you think.