Author's Notes:
Hey everyone! Another part. Read and let me know what you think. :) Pretty please with sugar and new chapters on top. cheesy grin
Part Six
Dylan watched Brenda hurry out of the Peach Pit, desperately fighting the urge to run after her. Years of knowing Brenda, though, told him that if he did go after her, it would just make things worse. He needed to give her the time and distance she required, even if it tore him up inside to do so.
He had not expected to see Brenda at the Peach Pit, much less lay out his heart to her the moment he laid eyes on her. Seeing her after all these years had stripped him of all his defenses, though. He found himself completely out of control, the passion and unrequited love that had been pent up inside him for so long finally being released, making a complete and utter fool of himself.
Dylan shook his head in dismay, wishing he could relive the past fifteen minutes. He still probably wouldn't have made his presence known – just listened to Kelly and Brenda's conversation then quietly make his way out of the Peach Pit to ponder what he had overheard. As much as his heart broke for Kelly and the predicament she was in, it was far simpler for Kelly and Brandon than it was for him and Brenda.
He knew, and from the sound of it, Brenda knew as well, where Brandon's heart lay. The biggest obstacle keeping those two apart was the history that they shared – that and the actual physical distance between them. He had a hunch that as soon as they were in the same room as one another, they would not be able to keep their true feelings bottled up inside. He just hoped that for both their sakes they would stop being stubborn and actually admit their feelings and how much they really needed one another.
As frustrated as both Brandon and Kelly must feel, though, Dylan couldn't help but think he and Brenda were in even more of a mess. He had finally admitted to himself how much he needed Brenda in his life, how lost he was when she wasn't an active part of his daily living. Upon learning Brenda was going to be in Beverly Hills for a little while, Dylan had determined he too would return, his objective being to woo Brenda and win back her heart. He had not planned on giving away his intentions within thirty seconds of talking with her.
"Uncle Dylan!"
The young voice startled Dylan out of his reverie. A huge grin broke across his face as he looked down at Kelly's young son racing across the restaurant, Kelly and Silver trailing behind. Even at first glance, Dylan could tell that Sammy had grown quite a bit over the past several months, though he was still the spitting of his mother and absolutely adorable to boot.
"Hey there, kid." Dylan greeted Sammy with a warm hug which was returned with great enthusiasm. "How you doing?"
"GREAT!" Sammy exclaimed, scooting in the booth next to Dylan. "Silver n I played Street Fighter and I totally beat her!"
"Really?" Dylan shot Silver a teasing smile, which she returned with a sour expression. "Silver's one of the best Street Fighter players I've seen for awhile. You sure you beat her?"
"Oh yeah!"
"He did." Silver admitted, taking her seat opposite Dylan. "I must be off my game."
"Nu uh." Sammy grinned at her triumphantly. "I've been practicing Brandon."
"Brandon?" Dylan echoed, glancing at Kelly, the unspoken question in his eyes.
"Steve's son." Kelly quickly amended.
"Oh yeah." Dylan nodded. He sometimes forgot Steve had named his firstborn son after Brandon.
"Where'd Brenda go?" Kelly inquired as she sat down opposite Sammy. "Bathroom?"
"Uh, no." Dylan admitted, looking down at his hands that were folded and resting atop the table, forcing himself not to fidget nervously. Kelly had advised him not to say anything yet, but he had been unable to stop himself.
"Where is she?" Kelly's tone told him that she already suspected the truth. "What did you do, Dylan?"
"Nothing!" He exclaimed defensively. "We were just talking and then, well, she left."
"She just up and left?" This time it was Silver questioning him. Dylan shot her a look, but she chose to ignore it, following up on her earlier question by adding, "Brenda wouldn't just leave. What'd you say to her?"
"Silver, it's alright." Kelly attempted to mollify the situation. "Don't give Dylan the third degree."
"Didja tell her you loved her?" Sammy asked, looking up at Dylan with his enormous eyes that could not be lied to.
"Erm, yeah." Dylan was flustered, ducking his head down as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't mean to, Kell, honest. It just came out. I saw her and she looked so amazing and suddenly I was telling her everything."
"Everything?" Kelly and Silver echoed at the same moment.
"Well, not quite everything." Dylan sighed. "But I told her I loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life convincing her of that fact."
Silver groaned. "You didn't tell her about the ring, though, right?"
"Not exactly."
Kelly glared at him. "Dylan, I told you she wouldn't react well if you laid it all out like this. She was not expecting you to show up here at the Pit. You took her by surprise. You needed to at least give her some time to get used to having you around again before confessing your undying devotion to her."
"Don't you think I realize that?" Dylan let out a long sigh, leaning back in the booth, wondering how it had come to this that he was getting love advice from his ex-girlfriend, her son, and her sister. "It's just, when I'm with Brenda everything get strange. Its like all my inhibitions are gone or something. I can't hide the truth from her. I just can't."
"But you don't have to blurt it out like you obviously did." Silver commented, her tone sarcastic though her expression was sympathetic.
"Don't stress yourself out over this, Dylan." Kelly reached across the table and gave his hand a quick, friendly squeeze. "Just go back to the plan. Friday night David, Donna, Steve, Janet, Brenda and I are all going to go bowling. You should come."
"And what, become the fifth wheel?"
"Seventh." Silver corrected. "And technically, Kelly here would become the odd man out. Though I suppose you can always invite Mr. Matthews." She directed her final comment at her sister.
"Mr. Matthews?" Dylan sat up, watching Kelly's face carefully. "Who's he, Kelly?"
"No one." Kelly's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "He's just a teacher at West Beverly, that's all."
"My teacher." Silver grumbled.
"A teacher, huh?" Dylan was happy the attention had finally been diverted away from his pathetic love life. "You into the scholarly types now?"
"Ryan isn't what I would consider scholarly." Kelly's lips twisted up in half a smile. "Scruffy, but not scholarly."
Dylan arched an eyebrow at this. Scruff was definitely not Kelly's type. "So you two are seeing each other?"
"Sort of." Kelly seemed uncomfortable, glancing down at Sammy, though he was completely obviously to their conversation, busy coloring on a placemat one of the waitresses had brought out earlier.
"How serious?" Dylan inquired, though he knew Kelly would probably just tell him to shut up and mind his own business.
"Not very." Kelly admitted, pushing her honey-blonde hair away from her face. "We've been on a few dates, that's about it. He wants it to be more serious, but I'm not sure."
"Because?" He prompted.
"I don't know if this is really something we should be talking about right now, Dylan." Kelly protested. "It's really complicated. Ethically, I'm not even sure if I should be seeing him at all."
"Because of me?" Silver asked and for the first time Dylan realized the teen had been following their conversation very closely. He began to understand Kelly's hesitation a bit more now.
"Yes." Kelly answered her sister. "I know I'm not your mother, but you do live with me. It's a bit of a conflict of interest, don't you think?"
"That's fine with me." Silver shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever breaks you two up is fine with me."
"You don't like him, I take it?" Dylan frowned.
"No, she doesn't." Kelly answered for her sister. "Though she won't tell me why."
"I have my reasons. That should be good enough for you." Silver stated quietly, meeting Kelly's gaze evenly. "You should trust me."
"I do trust you, Silver." Kelly replied. "But you've got to give me a bit more to go on. I've known Ryan longer than you. We've worked together. I should think I might know him a bit better than you."
"You haven't known him longer, Kelly." Silver responded, shaking her head slowly. "I met him before he ever became a teacher at West Beverly."
"What do you mean?" Kelly pressed, though Silver seemed extremely uncomfortable with the conversation and the direction it was heading.
Silver did not have the opportunity to respond, however, as Dixon approached their table with a huge tray of food. "Hey guys. Sorry about the delay in getting this to you. We just got a huge phone order and the guys in the kitchen somehow missed your order."
"That's alright." Kelly reassured him.
"I'm not hungry anymore." Silver announced, sliding out of the booth and heading out the door. She glanced over her shoulder, adding, "I'm going to home. I'll see you guys later. Bye, Dixon."
"Silver…" Dixon seemed distressed that his girlfriend was so upset, but was obviously torn as he was still on the clock.
"She'll be okay, Dixon." Kelly murmured. "I'll have her call you later, okay?"
Dixon nodded his thanks then distributed the food before heading back to the counter. Kelly glanced down at the plates, saddened that even though Dylan had showed up and not added anything to their order, they still had an extra plate of food.
"So much for family night." Kelly stated glumly, though Sammy still seemed completely unaware of the drama surrounding him.
"Hey." Dylan offered her a consoling smile. "Don't get down on yourself. It's my fault Brenda left and Silver… Well, I don't know what to say about that situation. My gut tells me to truth your sister, though."
"Yeah, mine too." Kelly admitted. "That's what makes it so hard. I was to let myself fall for Ryan. He's a really sweet guy and he adores me. And I think he can make me happy, but…" She trailed off, glancing away.
"What?"
"I don't know. Something keeps holding me back. I was trying to explain it to Brenda earlier." Kelly sighed. "I just can see myself with Ryan six months from now, much less six years."
Dylan nodded, letting out a long sigh. "I understand. There gets to be a point in one's life where they realize they want to stop playing the games. Settle down. Be with one person for the rest of their life. Honestly, even when I was with other women, there was only one woman I could actually visualize myself being with long term. And that was Brenda. No offense to you, Kel."
"None taken." Kelly smiled and Dylan could tell that behind that smile she really meant it. The years and distance from when they had been lovers to now had allowed their friendship to grow and flourish unlike any romance between them ever had been able to. "Even back then I knew we weren't meant to last. Most the time I kinda wish we had never been."
Dylan was a little surprised by Kelly's words. He didn't exactly regret his relationship with Kelly, just the way it had all begun. They had some good memories together, and Dylan knew he would never have been able to develop the friendship and fondness he had for her now if it had not been for their relationship in the first place.
"Sorry." Kelly whispered softly after Dylan had said nothing for several minutes. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that when I look back on all the things I gave up in order to be with you, I'm not really sure it was worth it. Please don't get me wrong, I love our friendship now, but our relationship was dysfunctional. I hated myself while I was dating you. I think a lot of that had to due with the fact that every time we got together, it was behind someone else's back."
"We did manage to bring out the worst in one another." Dylan found himself agreeing with Kelly's statement. "But I don't regret falling in love with you. I still love you. But differently. And don't worry, I'm not going to say I love you like a sister."
"Ugh." Kelly groaned, closing her eyes. "Please don't ever say those words to me."
"Still hurts, doesn't it?"
"Every day." Kelly smiled ruefully.
"Every day?" Dylan echoed, studying his friend's face with concern.
Kelly nodded. "Honestly, I think maybe a total of three or four days have passed over the past ten years where I haven't thought about Brandon at all. And one of them was when I was giving birth to Sammy. My hatred for Kyle at that moment was pretty much an all consuming thing."
"But you don't hate Kyle anymore, do you?"
Kelly laughed, shaking her head. "How can anyone hate Kyle?" She smiled as she ruffled Sammy's hair. Her son looked up and smiled back, then returned to his MiniBurger, fries, and coloring page.
"I was pretty upset with him when I found out he bailed so quickly on you."
Kelly shrugged. "It was a one-night stand, Dylan. Most guys these days would demand a DNA test or something. He's never questioned me. And even though the support checks aren't exactly faithful, he always pays what he owes. Just sporadically."
"But still…"
"Kyle gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for, Dylan." Kelly offered, glancing down at Sammy with meaning. "If it hadn't been for that one night, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Yeah, it's tough being a single mom, but I'm far from alone. I have the Silvers, the Sanders, even you and now Brenda."
"Brenda?"
"She's been amazing." Kelly confirmed. "You love your Auntie Brenda, don't you, Sammy?"
Sammy bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically, his mouth stuffed with French fries.
"Auntie?"
Kelly shrugged. "I don't really have too much family, so pretty much everyone from the old gang is an uncle or aunt by default."
"But you wish Brenda wasn't by default." Dylan pressed gently.
Kelly paused for a moment, dissecting what he had said. A sad, wistful look of yearning crossed her face as she replied. "If wishes were fishes I'd have more fish than the entire ocean, Dylan. I've learned to be content with what I have and I try each day to stop living in the past. Sometimes its more difficult than others, but lately it hasn't been so hard."
"Because of Ryan?"
"Maybe." She hesitated. "I don't know. I am happier now than I've been for months. That has to count for something, doesn't it?"
"I'm going to be honest with you, Kelly," Dylan played with his words, not sure how his friend would take them, "I don't think you should give up on Brandon."
"I never gave up on Brandon. He gave up on me." Kelly pointed out. "And not just once. Several times." She sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Do you know just how many times I've been made the fool over that man?" The question was rhetorical. "Too many to count. I am not going to go down that road again."
"It can't be that bad, Kelly."
"Oh yeah?" She arched her eyebrow. "Let's start at the beginning. I completely threw myself at him at the Spring Dance. What did he tell me? That he thought of me like a sister. Then, when we actually were together, there was the whole Emily incident. Not to mention the actual time he cheated on me with Emma." She paused, thinking for a moment. "Plus, there were the numerous times I tried to get back together with him only to be rebuffed. And we can't forget me throwing myself at him in Palm Springs only to have him accuse me of being a lesbian."
"You have to admit, though, the whole 'I choose me' thing was pretty harsh."
She shot him a pointed glare. "What was I supposed to do, Dylan? I thought it was a good idea at the time. I wanted the two of you to remain friends. And that worked, didn't it?"
Dylan nodded, shrugging. "I suppose so. But I think we would have worked things out even if you had told Brandon yes."
"I wasn't ready to get married, yet." Kelly frowned. "Though looking back on it, that was probably the worst mistake of my entire life."
"More than the cocaine?"
"If I had told yes to Brandon then, I wouldn't have gotten together with Colin." She explained. "No cocaine addiction. No rehab, meaning no Tara. Plus, if Brandon and I had gotten married back then, he would have never ended up with Tracy. If he hadn't gotten together with Tracy, I wouldn't have rushed off to Hawaii and then gotten shot when we came back."
"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"
She shrugged.
"Kelly, you've got to stop doing this to yourself." Dylan shook his head. "You either need to tell Brandon you're still in love with him or get over him entirely."
"I've already decided, Dylan. I'm doing the latter. I don't want to love Brandon anymore. Though he makes it extremely difficult to do so. Every time we talk on the phone I remember why I adore him so much. It's not fair."
"Then do something about it, Kelly." Dylan exclaimed in exasperation. "Swallow your pride one more time and tell him. What's the worst that can happen?"
"He'll tell me he sees me as sister." Kelly whispered the words softly and Dylan could swear he saw tears beginning to shine in her eyes. "Again."
Dylan reached across the table and took her hands in his. "He's not going to do that, Kelly."
"How do you know that?"
"Because-" Dylan began, but was cut off by a familiar voice.
"Because he loves you too."
Author's Notes:
So, what did you guys think? I was really irritated with myself during parts of this chapter because I kept forgetting about Sammy, but then I recalled how my son is (who is about the same age as Sammy is supposed to be) and he sits quietly and eats his food as long as he has something to color, so I didn't feel too bad about him not being more involved in the conversation.
Anyway, I've love to hear your thoughts on this. I'm going to try and whip out my next chapter in the next little bit.