"Gina, this is very private stuff." David warned
"Come on, David!" Gina cried, "You told me stuff before."
"That was stuff everyone knew. This is... personal."
"David... I really like this guy." Gina pleaded
"Gina... I wanna help you, I do." David sighed, "But Kelly's family, and her and Dylan have been through a lot, I don't wanna broadcast it."
"It's just me!" Gina replied, convincingly.
"Kel..." Donna began once Kelly and her had arrived home, "Can we talk?"
"Yeah sure." Kelly replied, slouched on the couch, putting her feet up upon the coffee table.
"David spoke to Dylan..." Donna said quietly, "About what happened."
"So... you know?" Kelly asked nervously
"No. David wanted to talk to us about it after his gig." Donna sighed, but Kelly was silent. "Kelly, we're like sisters... I hate that you felt you couldn't confide in me."
"It's not like that, Donna... It was just... too painful." Kelly stared at the ground
"You know I'm always here for you, Kel." Donna assured,
"I know."
"Kelly..." Donna began, "You don't ever need to suffer in silence." She sat beside Kelly and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, and Kelly let out a long deep breath
"...You really wanna know?" Kelly asked
"Look, I only know what Dylan told me..." David sighed
"I just need to know what exactly happened between them." Gina said urgently, "I need to know what I'm up against."
"Well it all started the summer before senior year..." David began, "Dylan and I weren't really that close until he started dating Kelly."
"Yeah, yeah, the summer affair, he cheated on his high school girlfriend. I know all that." Gina groaned
"They really connected. To this day, Dylan's only ever connected with two people, his father and Kelly. So when his father died... he feared he could lose her too, ended up pushing her away a bit... Don't get me wrong Kelly was pretty insecure too. They both had issues, so their connection was pretty strong, and because of it, they fell HARD for each other."
"Too afraid to lose each other..." Gina repeated, slowly
"Kelly was always afraid of ending up like Jackie... Dylan was the first guy who really knew her and accepted her, and she was afraid she'd lose him. All she saw growing up was men traipsing in and out of Jackie's life. And Dylan, he was in a rough spot, when his father died, his insecurities kept telling him it's only an amount of time before she burned him too. I guess he was afraid to go through that again. Losing the only person he ever connected with, his father, and now if it happened again, with Kelly... losing the only other person he ever connected with, he won't be able to take it."
"So he began pushing her away..." Gina asked curiously
"Sometimes he did, sometimes he held on too tight. Which drove Kelly into someone else's arms. Dylan was always looking over his shoulder for the next guy to take Kelly away from him. It also had something to do with Kelly embracing the college experience, while Dylan was struggling to find a path."
"But they found their way back?" Gina asked
"They always did. Then so much shit happened, he got conned, he and Kelly had a big falling out over it and he disappeared for three months."
"Where did he go?" Gina asked
"No idea... But Kelly was devastated..."
"And she fell into the arms of Brandon." Gina chuckled
"Well, they were best friends... they had both loved and lost. Brandon's a great guy. But their friendship was stronger than their romantic relationship."
"So when Dylan came back, there was tension..." Gina assumed
"More than tension... No one had heard from Dylan for three months! Dylan was furious that his best friend was now dating his girl."
"Yeah, I know the Brandon, Kelly, Dylan story... so she chose Brandon and he took off?" She asked
"That's what I thought but... Dylan filled in all the blanks." David sighed
"Tell me, tell me!" Gina begged
-Flashback
"Kelly managed to keep all this from you guys for 2 years?" Dylan crinkled his forehead
"Keep what?" David asked
"You really don't know anything...?" Dylan glanced at him
"None of the parts involving you... " David shook his head
"...Well. I screwed up bad." Dylan began
"Remember the morning I first told you I was engaged to Brandon..." Kelly began
"Yeah..." Donna nodded
"Well, it didn't happen exactly the way I told it." Kelly paused, and Donna sat there, listening intently, "You know how, Dylan and Brandon both gave me their proposals... And 24 hours later, Dylan came to see me."
"Yeah, you were wearing the ring... " Donna added
"I was just trying it on... I guess in hindsight, he thought I had made my choice. But seeing him that night... I just knew he truly was my soulmate. So later that night I headed over to his place to tell him."
"Oh my god! You picked Dylan?" Donna gasped.
-Flashback
"Kelly?" Dylan was utterly stunned to find her at his door. "What are you doing here?" He asked
"I'm a little late but, I followed my heart." She beamed, "I choose you."
Dylan could not contain his happiness, he stood there, his eyes lit up as a smile spread across his face, "You do?" He asked
"It's always been you, Dylan." She smiled sweetly at him. Without thinking he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He held her so tightly, never having felt so relieved and happy. He couldn't believe she was in his arms, he couldn't believe she came back!
"Dylan, do you need cash for the pizza-" Valerie walked out of the bedroom. Kelly looked gobsmacked and appalled. Pulling away from Dylan once she saw Valerie, wrapped around in Dylan's bed sheet.
Dylan stood there, paralyzed. This isn't happening... He thought. In one split second his life flashed before his eyes, Don't tell me I've ruined this.
"Kel." He pleaded, almost in a whisper, unable to speak.
"You... slept with her..." Kelly shook her head furiously fighting back tears.
"Kel..." He repeated, unable to think of words, any words to say.
"I chose you moments after you slept with someone else?!" Her voice grew louder as she spoke. She glared at him furiously
"Kelly, I'm so sorry." Valerie blurted out
Kelly stormed out, holding up her hand to distance them.
"Wait, Kel!" Dylan ran outside after her, in his boxers. Chasing her to her car.
"Kel!" He called out again. Grabbing her arm desperately before she got into her car. "Kel, I thought you said yes to Brandon, I thought I lost you, I only slept with Val because-" He said hurriedly
Kelly forced her hand out of his, "Don't touch me, Dylan!" She interrupted, "We're done." She snapped. Getting into her car and driving off.
Leaving Dylan outside. Collapsing onto the pavement. Shook, paralyzed, and in despair. He could not believe what had just played out before his eyes...
Head in hands, he drowned himself in his regret, loss and despair. Valerie stood in the doorway, puzzled, as she watched over Dylan, who remained sat outside... feeling hopeless.
"Oh my god... Kelly, why didn't you tell me?" Donna asked, hugging her.
"Because I was heart broken." Kelly was somber.
"But I would have been there." Donna assured
"I know... " Kelly nodded, "But I didn't want to relive the pain, the humiliation... So I vowed never to blindly follow my heart again."
"Kelly. It's not like Dylan cheated... You were with Brandon!" Donna warned, disapprovingly
"Donna. The bottom line is Jackie's always followed her heart and look where it got her? Alone with what? Three kids now? No, that wasn't going to be me. I learned the most important thing in life now is to feel safe. Security in a relationship is all I'm looking for." Kelly said firmly
"So... you never spoke to Dylan again?" Donna asked
"Nope..." Kelly sighed
"So after Dylan disappeared, did he return?" Gina asked
"Yeah... after Kelly chose Brandon he said he went to Europe..." David began, recollecting Dylan's story.
-Flashback
"I was a mess. I lost her. I singlehandedly pushed her into Brandon's arms. I was in a bad place, man." Dylan told David, "I was drunk, high... grabbing anything I could get my hands on... searching for Kelly in every woman I encountered... That's when Brenda called me. Said Brandon told her everything and invited me down to London."
"So you two...?" David asked but Dylan shook his head before David could complete his sentence.
"It wasn't like that... She was with Stuart. They were good to me though, Stuart let me crash on their couch while Brenda sobered me up... It was all going well, until Stuart had a conference in Washington, and I overheard Brenda on the phone with Brandon, asking if Stuart could crash at his place. At first I didn't think anything of it, just that Brandon and Kelly must've moved to Washington but once Stuart had travelled but I could tell Brenda was hiding something, her and Stuart was privately discuss things that they seemed to think would cause me to relapse. So I flat out asked her... She eventually caved and told me the truth. They never got married."
"So that's when you came back? Once you knew Brandon had left Beverly Hills without Kelly?" David asked
"Yeah, but you and I both know, she had already started dating someone else." Dylan sighed
"Collin." David nodded
"So what happened that was so bad to cause Dylan to disappear for 2 years?" Gina asked
"Well this is the shocking part... Kelly had this huge secret and I feel awful that we never knew." David breathed out, head in hands.
"David." Gina said firmly, "I need to know what it was."
-Flashback
"As usual, my return wasn't well-received by Kelly." Dylan chuckled, "She hadn't forgiven me for Valerie, and pretty much all I did at first was apologise and apologise. Eventually though, she found herself in my arms again."
"So, wait. You had an affair while she was with Collin?" David asked
"Yeah... I knew she still loved me, but she couldn't commit to me. The Valerie thing was still too painful for her. Maybe she felt ashamed to forgive me. I hated the fact that she'd go back home to Collin after making love to me... But it was all I could get out of her, and it was something... some small piece of hope to hold onto."
"The whole time, she acted like her and Collin were so happy..." David looked puzzled, "To be honest, she acted like you two were hardly on speaking terms."
"Self-preservation." Dylan replied, "She wanted to protect herself... And it was working for her, until she..." Dylan let out a deep breath, and rubbed his eyes
"What?" David asked, concerned
"She got pregnant."