Hey That's My Dylan
Kelly stood on tiptoe watching Dylan talking to Brenda, craning her neck to see them more clearly. The rest of the gang could tell how anxious she was but none of them knew how to broach the somewhat thorny issue of Dylan and Brenda. The conversation swirled around her while she struggled to figure out why Dylan was looking so intently at Brenda, it was definitely more than just catch up chat.
"So Brandon, things are going well in Washington DC?" Donna asked brightly, not taking her concerned blue eyes away from Kelly.
"Yeah, everything's good, it's great to be home though, I'm looking forward to heading to the beach tomorrow." Brandon was also watching Brenda and Dylan, he had a horrible feeling that his sister was stirring up trouble.
"Are we still doing that?" Andrea was a little surprised that Brandon was still planning on having the beach party she figured things would be awkward enough with Brenda back, without throwing her and Dylan together for two nights in a row.
"Sure we are. How often do we get the chance to kick back and pretend we're still young?" Steve was determined to go ahead with their plans he wanted to prove to the others that he was over the worst of his divorce, that he was ready to start having fun.
"That settles it then, barbeques and moonlight swimming are on for tomorrow night. David have you sorted the sound system?" Brandon wasn't prepared to let Brenda ruin the reunion for everyone else she'd been away for too long for them to start tip-toeing around her.
"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem, but I've got to do my show before I head down to the beach, so you'll have to make do with what you've got until I get there."
Kelly was dimly aware of the others talking, she couldn't take her eyes off of Brenda. The distance between them both in geography and time had allowed Kelly to imagine how Brenda might have changed over the years and her imaginings had never been very flattering, what Kelly hadn't prepared for was the fact that Brenda looked almost exactly the same. Well not exactly the same, she was slimmer and sleeker, her inky black hair was incandescent, her pale skin was luminous and her grey-green eyes sparkled, but she was still Brenda. Kelly had pushed Brenda to the back of her mind and concentrated on putting all her energy into her relationship with Dylan, after all she'd won, he'd chosen her, he'd married her, but at the back of her mind there was a fear that one day she would have to pay for what she did to Brenda so many years ago. Like Kelly only had Dylan on loan until Brenda decided she wanted him back.
Kelly slowly became aware that someone was talking to her, she snapped out of her thoughts and found herself staring into Donna's questioning blue eyes.
"Kel? Are you okay?" Donna asked nervously, playing with the orchid corsage on her wrist.
"Hmm, what?" It dawned on Kelly that the others were looking at her, concern etched on their faces.
"Erm yeah, I'm fine, it's just a shock, you know seeing Brenda after all this time." Kelly looked at Brandon, hoping for reassurance that his sister wasn't out to steal her husband. It was reassurance he couldn't offer.
"You've got to admit she looks great." Announced Steve with his usual level of tact, as he watched Brenda's clingy silver dress catching the light thrown out from the bar.
"Yeah she does. So Brandon what's the story? Is she back for good or just this weekend?" David asked the questions Kelly was to scared to pose herself.
"I don't really know myself, she hasn't talked to me about her plans." Brandon found himself in the familiar role of explaining Brenda's actions. "I kind of bullied her into coming tonight, I don't know the ins and outs of what happened in London or what kept her away for so long but I'm trying to convince her to stop running. At least for a while." Brandon watched as his sister leaned closer to Dylan and felt that he hardly knew her at all.
As the group watched Dylan and Brenda they all felt a pang of nostalgia for their high school years, for the people they were and the dreams they had.
