The Time of Our Lives – Chapter 11 – Kelly and Brandon connect and Brenda gets excited about her prospects and Dylan… Again

Casa Walsh

Brenda steps through the door with her beach stuff in hand.

'Brenda, is that you? You're a little later than I thought you would be,' Cindy says.

'Sorry Mom, I got carried away,' she says, 'Let me put this stuff away, take a shower, and change my clothes and then I'll be right down to help you, okay?'

'Okay, honey, just hurry up, okay, we're running out of sunlight!'

Brenda nods and runs up the steps. She's glad her mother did not step close enough to realize that she no longer smelled like the beach.

Brenda quickly showers and changes her clothes. She runs down the stairs and goes out into the backyard to help her mother with the garden.

'Okay, now just plant the tomatoes about 4 to 6 inches apart here in this row, okay?' Cindy says.

'Got it,' Brenda says as she takes the plant from her mother's hand.

'Mom, after I'm done polishing up my resume, will you look at it and tell me if it's okay?' Brenda asks as she begins to plant.

'Sure, honey, are there a lot of auditions going on right now?'

'Yeah, a bunch of the local theatres are auditioning for their fall and winter programs, so I have a good chance of getting one of them since I met the producer while I was in London,' she says.

'That's great, honey, but what about school?' Cindy says, concerned.

'Mom, from what Donna and I saw when we visited a few theatres yesterday, most of the rehearsals are in the evenings, since a lot of the other people involved have jobs during the day. I will most likely be able to go to class during the day and rehearse at night,' she says.

'Oh, well, that's great,' Cindy says.

Brenda and Cindy finish planting the garden and Brenda cleans herself up and then goes up to her room to work on her resume.

Brenda sits at her desk working on her resume Brandon comes from the bathroom into her room.

'So, the gang's planning a night on the beach, huh?' he says.

She looks up at him, nods, and says, 'Uh huh, on Saturday.'

'Have you told Mom and Dad yet?' he asks. She shakes her head 'no' as he sits on her bed.

'Well, if you want, I'll bring it up to them,' he says.

'Yeah, okay, that would be great. Have you talked to Kelly? Is she feeling any better?' she asks with concern.

'I don't know, Bren. I didn't get to see her today, but I'm not sure how much time I should give her to calm down about this whole closure situation,' he says as he rubs his head.

'Brandon, I think you need to call her. I'm sure that maybe she just had her emotions on the surface and didn't realize that she was overreacting,' she says.

'Yeah, maybe you're right. I guess I'll give her a call. You want to go down to the Pit tonight? I think Steve said something about meeting up to talk about our night out on the beach.'

'Sure, I'll go with you. Why don't you call Kelly and I'll call Donna and Dylan and we'll see if we can get the whole group together, you know, just like old times?'

He smiles at her and nods his head 'yes'. 'Why don't you go first and let me know when you're through?' he says.

'Okay, Brandon,' she says, sensing that he was still a little apprehensive about calling Kelly.

She picks up the phone and dials Dylan's number as Brandon makes his way back to his room. He stops in the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He looks up and stares at his reflection for a while.

'Okay, we'll meet you there in like a half hour,' he hears Brenda saying to Dylan. She hangs up and dials the phone again.

'Hi Donna,' she says. He tries to focus on his reflection and figure out exactly what he is going to say to Kelly when he calls her.

'No, he definitely didn't hear about it yet. No way, it's not going to be me, I wasn't even there while she was talking, so I'm not even sure what she said. Well, that's up to her. I'll make that decision when the situation arises, but I'm not saying anything until I hear it directly from her. Okay, Don, look I have to get off here, but we'll be at the Pit in a half hour to talk about Saturday. Okay, see you then,' Brenda says.

Brandon turns his head slowly toward Brenda's slightly ajar bathroom door as she is talking with Donna. He stares at the door with a puzzled look on his face. 'I wonder who she's talking about.'

'Brandon,' she begins to yell as she enters the bathroom to go into his room. She stops short as he is standing at the sink staring into the mirror. 'You can call Kelly now, okay? I'm going to get ready.'

'Okay,' he says. He grabs the phone from her hand without looking directly at her. He begins to dial Kelly's number as he walks back into his room and shuts the door.

'Hello?'

'Hey, Kelly, it's Brandon,' he says.

'Hi Brandon,' she says with a smile as her tone immediately lightens.

'Hey, the gang is meeting down at the Pit to talk about Saturday night and I wanted to know if you were going to be there?' he says apprehensively.

'Oh, yeah, sure, I'll go down there. I actually haven't eaten yet, so that will be perfect,' she says.

'Great, okay, well, I'll see you there in a little while,' he says.

'Okay,' she says and hangs up the phone. She changes her clothes and makes her way to the Pit to meet up with everyone.

Brandon goes downstairs to talk to his parents about spending the night on the beach. Surprisingly, they don't put up much of a fight with him. They make him promise that they will stay together and leave the exact location of where they will be at the house, just in case and then they go back to watching television.

Brandon shakes his head a little bit, confused at his parents reaction, but is grateful that they are finally letting them go and be on their own.

The Peach Pit

Kelly walks through the door and sees the Steve, Andrea, and Donna sitting in the corner and moves to join them.

'Hi guys,' she says.

'Hey, Kelly, how are you doing?' Steve asks her.

'Fine, I'm hungry, but other than that, I'm good,' she says contently. She looks over at Andrea who is staring at her with a strange look on her face. Andrea immediately shifts her eyes to something else when Kelly looks at her.

Dylan walks through the door and goes right to the counter. Nat immediately pours him a cup of coffee and hands it to him.

'Thanks, Nat, always a pleasure,' he says. Dylan walks over to where the gang is sitting and takes the empty seat next to Andrea. Kelly pouts a little before hearing the doorbell chime and sees Brandon and Brenda walk in.

'Hey guys, the gang's all here!' Brandon says. He sits down next to Kelly and leans in to kiss her. She willingly kisses him and puts her arms around his neck. She deepens the kiss as she feels Brandon tighten his grip around her shoulder.

'Wow, guys, get a room!' Steve says. Brandon breaks away first with a look of slight embarrassment on his face, while Kelly leans back into the seat with a confident look on her face.

Brenda catches her brother's eye and gives him a what-the-hell-was-that look. Brandon shrugs her off.

Brenda sits down next to Dylan instinctively and in a few seconds realizes that it was probably a bad idea. They had already been together twice that day, but the growing tension between them and the fact that Dylan was rubbing her leg under the table was not making this any easier for her.

She takes a deep breath and says, 'So, Saturday, what's the plan?'

The group begins to talk about what they needed and when to show up. They order some food and spend the rest of the night talking about how much they hate the fact that school is starting soon.

'Who wants to go shopping with me on tomorrow to get the food? Bren?' Donna asks.

'Oh, I have a few auditions tomorrow, so it would have to be in the evening some time. Is that okay?' she says.

'Auditions? Where?' Steve asks.

'Well, the Beverly Hills Arts Center is holding open auditions for 'Twelfth Night' and Area 8 Playhouse is holding auditions for 'Lovers and Other Strangers', and while I was in London I met with a few producers. One of them gave me information about a show at the Roundhouse Theatre that he thought I'd be perfect to get a leading role,' she says.

'Which one?' Donna asks.

''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'. It's an extraordinary play and the role of Martha, played by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie, is one of those 'roles of a lifetime,' you know? So, I'm going to go down there tomorrow afternoon,' Brenda says.

The entire group stares at her with disbelief. She looks around the table to see mouths open and no one breathing.

'What? Why are you are looking at me like that?' she says.

'Brenda, that's a lot of auditions for one day, don't you think?' Andrea says.

'Not really, I'm sure I'll see some of the same people at all of them,' she explains.

'Well, break a leg Brenda, I'm sure they will all be fantastic,' Steve says.

'Thank you, Steve, that's very kind,' she says.

'Okay, so Brenda's going to be busy all day. Andrea, do you want to go with me?' Donna asks.

'Sure, I'll go,' Andrea replies. 'Well, folks, it looks like it's about that time. I have to get home now. I'll see you on tomorrow, Donna, and the rest of you I will see you on the beach,' she says.

'Bye Andrea,' Brandon says. Andrea looks back at Brandon and sees his arm around Kelly and her hand on his leg. She half-smiles at him and walks out the door. 'What do I do? Do I tell him what Kelly's been saying about him?'

While Steve, Dylan, and Donna are talking to Brenda about how she prepares for an audition, Kelly whispers to Brandon, 'Why don't we get out of here? There are a few things I need to talk to you about.'

'Okay, let me just tell Brenda to get a ride home, okay?' he says to Kelly. She nods at him and he tries to get Brenda's attention. Brenda sees Brandon jerking his head at her and finishes her explanation quickly.

'Bren, can I talk to you for a second?' Brandon says. She nods and they both get up and walk to the other side of the restaurant.

'What's up Brandon?'

'Kelly wants to take off and have a talk,' he says a little wary as he begins to wring his hands together.

Brenda narrows her eyes at her brother. 'Brandon, are you okay? Do you need an excuse not to go because I could totally come up with something really good,' she says.

'Um, no, thanks for offering though. I just have a weird feeling about this,' he pauses for a few seconds, 'Well, I guess we're going to go, you can get a ride with Dylan, right?' Brandon lowers his voice so only she can hear him.

'Yeah, sure, it's no problem. Good luck Brandon,' she says.

They walk back over to the table and Brandon holds his hand out for Kelly. She smiles and takes it as she gets up.

'Bye guys,' she says seductively as she begins to walk toward the door with Brandon in tow.

'Well, they left in quite a hurry. I wonder what's going on. Does Kelly seem a little off lately, like not herself?' Steve asks.

'I don't know, Steve, maybe she's been sitting in the sun too long. Brandon just said that I was on my own and took off,' Brenda lies. She looks at Dylan and sighs.

'Well, I can give you a lift home if you need it,' Dylan says.

'Great, thanks,' she says. She looks over at Donna, who is staring at her and Dylan with a slight smile on her face. Brenda clears her throat and takes a sip of water, while Donna redirects her look to the table.

'Oh, well, look at the time, I have to go too,' Donna says.

They all get up and make their way to the door. They say goodnight to Nat and each other.

Brenda climbs into Dylan's car and he pulls away from the Pit.

'Well, that was interesting. What the hell is wrong with Kelly?' Dylan says.

'I have no idea, but I can tell you that Brandon was not as excited as he should have been to be leaving with her tonight,' Brenda says.

'Steve's right, she's acting really strange,' Dylan says.

'Yeah, I know. Donna said that she was acting weird at the beach this afternoon. I wasn't around for that since I was a little, um, preoccupied, but Donna was really freaked out,' Brenda says.

Dylan raises his eyebrows at her. 'You're right, there was a little preoccupation going on this afternoon. Well you know that three's a charm, right?' he says with a smile as he raises his eyebrows.

Brenda smiles and laughs out loud. 'Is it?' she says. Dylan quickly turns the car around at the next corner and drives toward his house instead of hers.