Chapter 1

Reaching into the fridge Kelly grabbed a bottle of milk pouring some into the bowl with cereal sitting on the counter. She felt like a ghost. With the little to no sleep she got last night she also looked like one and no amount of make-up was going to change that. Closing the bottle she put it away into the fridge. Shutting the door closed and picking up her bowl and spoon, her eyes met Matt's, her sleep deprived brain failing to alert her when he appeared in the kitchen. He looked all ready for the day clutching to his black briefcase.

"I have an early meeting, should have been already on my way ten minutes ago." He let out apologetically, his eyes wandering around the room not able to look at her after their latest meaningless fight last night.

"I'll see you later I guess." Walking past him she hopped on one of the bar stools, digging her spoon into the cereal.

"I can wait if you hurry up." He said quickly taking one quick look at his watch when he noted her dissatisfaction which unbeknown to him had nothing to do with him.

"It's alright. You've an early meeting and I've a few things to take care of before I'll head to the store." Her eyes fell on the black, blue, red and yellow chaos that caused their latest argument.

"Kelly, about yesterday..."

"You're entitled to your feelings, Matt." Kelly said quickly, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"I know, but I'm sorry about the delivery." He apologized, finally looking in her eyes for the first time that day.

"Me too."

"How about a date tonight?"

"Alright." Kelly agreed playing with her cereal.

"I'll pick you up by 7:30." Matt crossed the distance between them kissing her cheek before heading out of the apartment.

Hearing the door close behind him she stood up and swiftly threw her breakfast into the bin. She did not feel like eating at all. Grabbing her purse from her room, she picked up the painting heading out of the door as well.

The morning air finally brought her to life and cleared her mind. Banging on the door of Dylan's hotel room she waited. Repeating her actions when no reply came, she could finally hear a muffled voice from behind the door.

"Hey!" She greeted Dylan when the door flied open.

Moving to the side he let her in. Dressed in his pajama pants, his hair ruffled it was obvious she woke him up. "This better be good." He let out without a greeting shutting the door closed behind her and rubbing his eyes.

"I came to return this." Kelly said setting the painting on the cream colored sofa.

"You could have done that also at a later hour." He noted lumbering towards the coffee machine and bringing it to life. "God, my head is killing me." He mumbled.

"Probably shouldn't drink so much last night or not at all." Kelly noted crossing her arms in front of her, her eyes locked to the dirty glasses on the bar.

"I'm sorry that I can't live up to your high standards." Dylan shrugged pouring the black liquid into his cup.

"It has nothing to do with my standards. You're a recovering alcoholic."

"Thanks for reminding me, Kel." Dylan slumped next to the painting on the sofa. "Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"Stop this." Kelly moved so she was standing across from him in his direct line of sight.

"Stop what?" He sipped the coffee which for some to him unknown reason made Kelly even more livid.

"This." She pointed to the painting next to him.

"I told you it was a gift." He shrugged.

"Thousands dollar' worth gift from a friend." She said slowly.

"Yeah. But if you don't like it, I'll sell it." He shrugged.

"You're not getting this, Dylan. It's not about the painting." Kelly shook her head.

"No Kelly...I'm not getting this." It was now Dylan who was slowly losing his patience. "It's barely eight in the morning and you came here banging on my door to return the painting. Fine, you don't want it, whatever. So far we've established I am recovering alcoholic and haven't learned to read your mind. That leads me to where I started, I have no freaking idea what this is all about."

"Matt thinks you are coming between us." Kelly let out.

Dylan smirked. "What Matt thinks is Matt's problem." He took a long gulp of his coffee before setting the cup on the table.

"He is right." Kelly stated. Her eyes glued to Dylan waiting for his reaction.

Standing up, Dylan walked the short distance stopping right in front of Kelly their eyes glued to each other, he could hear the breath catch in her throat. Without any warning he leaned down and his lips captured hers. He could feel her respond to his advances before her mind took over and she pushed him away. With her fingers covering her lips she stared at him in disbelief, turning around she ran away from his as far and as fast as she could.

Hearing the door shut behind her, Dylan sunk back on the sofa. She was definitely on the other end of that kiss. Grabbing the cup again he finished his coffee.

"It's about time you showed up." Donna noted once Kelly marched inside the store.

"Got held up in the traffic, sorry." She apologized quickly joining Donna behind the counter. It was easy to leave out the fact that she has been pointlessly driving through the streets of LA for the past hour trying to clear her head and sort her thoughts. She sighed, instead of clearing things with Dylan everything just became much more complicated.

"Are you alright?" Donna asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kelly smiled dutifully before turning to one of the customers who needed some advice.

With the store overfilled the whole day there was no time left for chatter with Donna or a coffee break with Matt and for the first time in her life Kelly was thankful for that. The fact that Dylan kissed her and she returned the kiss kept replying in her mind over and over again. It wasn't the first time this happened while either of them was in a committed relationship, yet this time it was different. Through all the doubts she had lately, Matt was different, their relationship was different. She loved him.

"You're not listening." Donna stated, her words finally pulling Kelly out of her thoughts.

"Sorry. What did you say?" Kelly smiled apologetically.

"I'll be staying this night at Noah's again. So you two lovebirds will have the beach apartment all for you." Donna repeated noting to Matt who was sitting in the coffee across from the store, buried in his papers.

"We're heading out on a date tonight, but yeah an empty apartment might come handy." Kelly replied without any hint of enthusiasm in her voice, her eyes on Matt.

"Kel?" Donna asked taking Kelly's arm and turning her around to face her. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Kelly replied quickly.

"You've been quiet the whole day, distressed, blanking out on several occasions...that really sounds like nothing." Donna raised her brows.

Kelly rubbed her temples. "I'm really fine, Don. There is just a lot on my mind." She tilted her head catching another glimpse of Matt who barely moved. Should she tell him?

"If you think so." Donna shrugged deciding it was better to not push any further, if Kelly wanted to tell her, she'll do so.

"I kissed Dylan." Kelly blurted out.

"What!?" Donna raised her eyes from the papers immediately.

"Or more like, he kissed me and I returned it." Kelly bit her lip. When exactly have they returned to high school again?

Leaving her work be, Donna walked to the door locking it. "When did that happen?" She asked once she was sure no one, especially Matt, could hear anything or walk in on them.

"This morning. I went to return the painting and tell him to back off." Kelly sighed.

"It looks like he's back on." Donna remarked shaking her head. "I thought you love Matt."

"I do. I did not plan on that kiss, it just happened." Kelly ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

"Alright, what about Dylan?" Donna questioned.

"What about him?" Kelly asked.

"We can all see it, Kel. He loves you." Donna said carefully.

"When it suits him." Kelly said sternly, making it clear this was not something she was going to discuss.

"It'll be alright." Donna said quickly hugging her friend not sure what else to say about the mess Kelly once again found herself in.

Looking up Kelly cached another glimpse of Matt who raised his head from the papers and smiled when he noticed her watching him. Was it going to be alright?

Hearing the knock on the door Dylan threw the newspaper on the table and headed to the door.

"We have to talk." Kelly announced as soon as he opened the door letting her in. He watched as she marched through the room. Dressed in a black cocktail dress that was hugging her body, her hips swaying from side to side, it was all he could concentrate on.

"I like that dress on you." He noted as he slumped back on the sofa.

Kelly rolled her eyes in reply, she was obviously not happy. "This morning..."

"We kissed." Dylan smirked cutting her off mid-sentence.

"It will never happen again." Kelly stood there her hands on her hips.

"I wouldn't be so sure." He shrugged. "Anything else?"

"No gift from a friend routine. Are we clear?" Kelly questioned him.

"Is that what you really want, Kelly?" Dylan asked standing up and moving towards her slowly. "Or are you just saying all of this because you actually felt something this morning... if my memory serves me right, you were on the other end of that kiss." Reaching her he pushed a strand of her blond hair from her face, the palm of his hand resting on her cheek their eyes locked.

Kelly felt the breath catch in her throat. She hated the effect he had on her. She would be lying if she said that she didn't feel anything. "We can't do this Dylan." She finally let out barely audible pushing his hand away.

"Why?" His eyes were glued to her waiting for her reply.

"I love him..." Kelly tried to explain.

"I don't want to hear that." Dylan cut her off walking towards the bar.

"I don't think you have a choice." She said boldly crossing her arms in front of her chest, her words making him stood still in the middle of the room.

Dylan turned around annoyed. "Yes, I do have a choice. I don't want to hear about how much you love him. End of story."

"Go to hell." Kelly mumbled walking past him.

Grabbing her arm he spun her around. "We're not done yet."

She stared at his hand which held her wrist, than looked at Dylan. "You want to know why? I'll tell you why. The first moment things will get too hard, you'll walk away. Not looking back, not considering who or what are you leaving behind."

"Now, that's not true." Dylan protested.

"Isn't it? Isn't that what you've always done? After Toni, your father, us..." Kelly questioned him.

Dylan breathed in defeat letting go of her hand his head sinking, she was right he had this habit of running away from problems or solving them with alcohol, drugs or whatever made him forget instead of facing them head on."You're just going to walk away."

"Do I have another choice? I want a relationship, one where I'll know that you'll be around the next day or the day after. A relationship, that will ultimately lead somewhere and not let me wonder when I'll lose you again to another woman, addiction or your lack of interest."

"I'm not ready for that."

"I know." Grabbing her purse Kelly walked out of his hotel room.