DISCLAIMER: I do not own Beverly Hills 90210 or any of the characters involved in this story.
A/N: Okay, I said I'd have the second part of the double date up in a couple of days. It took me a bit longer than I anticipated. But I hope you'll find this chapter worth the wait, cause I'm pretty excited about it. With this chapter we pretty much move out of the time from the 3rd season episode "Duke's bad boy." and into the episode "Perfectly Perfect", which is the episode that dealt with Kelly's diet pill addiction.
While Brenda and Scott hang close to the soccer field to cheer on Scott's kid brother while he plays soccer, Dylan has found a secluded picnic bench area, where he sits with a pen and a yellow note pad as he brainstorms ideas for his story that he's writing.
Andrea told Dylan that for the first draft that he would be allowed to have free range over what he wanted to write about. For Dylan, writing was a lot like surfing. The timing, circumstances, and his mood had to be just right for him to hit the perfect wave and get the ideal ride. When writing, he had to be in the right mood and know just what he wanted to say before being able to ideally express himself.
With the beautiful day and the quietness of the park with the background noise of kids running and playing a soccer game surrounding him, Dylan has outlined several key points that he wants to talk about in his writing. Among those topics are what it was like being Jack McKay's son, not having a family for most of the time when growing up, his father's arrest and release from prison, the times when he felt like he was going to go over the edge, and the people who helped him find his way whenever he got lost.
Off to the side of the page, he makes a list of the people who helped him out when he needed it. On that list are people from his AA meetings, Brenda, Brandon, and both Walsh Parents. Surprisingly, Scott's name is on that list as well. Even more surprising is that Kelly's name isn't.
Kelly has been walking around the park. She needed to gather her thoughts. She doesn't know or understand why she is there. She briefly looks back at the field and sees Brenda and Scott cheering on his brother at the soccer game. They appear to be smiling and having a good time. Kelly just shakes her head. For the life of her, she can not understand why Brenda, Dylan, or anybody else would want to waste a perfectly good Saturday afternoon watching little league soccer with somebody like Scott.
She grabs a bottled water out of her purse and takes a sip before noticing Dylan isn't with Brenda and Scott. She looks all around the field and doesn't see Dylan, before turning around and seeing him sitting at the picnic area where the restroom area is.
Kelly sees that Dylan has separated himself from Brenda and Scott, and sees this as an opportunity to spend some time alone with him. As Dylan sits on the bench and continues to write ideas down on his note pad, Kelly sneaks up behind him and covers his eyes with her hands. "Guess who." she says playfully.
Dylan sighs a deep breathe. "Somebody who has not come to yell at me for once?" asks Dylan in a less than enthusiastic response.
"Oh, Dylan." says Kelly. "I'm tired of yelling and arguing. So I promise, I'll try to behave. Just promise to make it worth my while." she says seductively as she goes into kiss him. Dylan briefly returns the kiss, but when Kelly opens her mouth and tries to slide her tongue into Dylan's mouth, he backs off and breaks from this kiss.
"Mmmm, not now, Kel." replies Dylan, bluntly cutting her off.
Kelly sighs. At that moment, unbeknownst to them, Sue Scanlon is walking behind them on her way to the women's rest room, but decides to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"What is it now, Dylan?" asks Kelly in an upset tone. "Can't we have just a little alone time between the two of us today? Is that too much to ask? Can I not have you all to myself for just a few minutes before we have to go back to Brenda and that geeky friend of hers?"
Dylan puts down his pen and pad and gives Kelly his full attention. "His name is Scott, Kel." says Dylan in a low and annoyed tone.
"I don't care what his name is, Dylan. I'm not here for him, his nutcase mother, or anybody else from that wacky fruitcake family. And I'm not here for Brenda either. I'm here because I want to be with you. Things have been so tense between us lately, I just want us to at least try to enjoy each other's company for just a few minutes." says Kelly.
When Sue hears the comments that Kelly makes about Scott and her family, she shakes her head in anger and looks at Kelly like she wants to go over their and tear her head off. It takes every ounce of restraint she has not to walk up to her at that moment and give her a piece of her mind. But instead she turns and walks into the ladies room, unbeknownst to either Dylan or Kelly that she was ever there.
Dylan isn't happy with Kelly's attitude, but at that moment he decides that it would be in his best interest to just play it cool and avoid a confrontation. He leans back on the picnic table, resting one arm around Kelly as he fakes a smile. Kelly leans in, nuzzling up to his chest as she runs wraps one arm around him.
"See, isn't this much better." says Kelly in a soft and soothing voice.
Dylan nods slightly. "It is when you lose the attitude." he replies.
"I'll be good." says Kelly in a cutesy tone. "But can would you at least consider ending this little double date at the park thing early?" asks Kelly.
"Kel!" says a flustered Dylan.
"Oh come on, Dylan." cries Kelly. "This is worse than torture, out here with Brenda, Scott, and all these screaming little kids."
"Actually, I kind of like it." replies Dylan. Kelly looks on with a nasty expression. "It's giving me a chance to do a little brainstorming. You know? Get some ideas for my story." he adds.
"Uh-huh." says Kelly suspiciously. She quickly reaches over and grabs the notepad from Dylan's other side and then jumps up and backs away. "So let's just see what brainstorming ideas you've come up with." she says in a giggly laugh.
Dylan gets up and coolly walks toward her. "Come on, Kel. It's a working progress, you're not suppose to look at it before its done." says Dylan in a joking tone, but dead serious.
"I just want to see what's ticking in the little head of yours." says Kelly as she begins to read over Dylan's notes. She skims over the scribbles that Dylan has made on the note pad and finds most of it to be about his father and the memories he has, both good and bad. She comes to the list to the side of "important people" who have been there for him. Her smile disappears and she looks up at Dylan, straight into his eyes.
"So, let the truth be told." she says.
"What?" asks Dylan.
Kelly turns the notepad around to show Dylan the list he made. "Let's see you got your AA group, the Walshes, even Scott, but not me." she says angrily.
"Look, I'm just scratching down some ideas. That's it. It doesn't mean anything yet." responds Dylan.
"Oh it means something alright, Dylan." replies Kelly in a nasty tone. "You list the important people who have helped you, and my name isn't anywhere to be found."
"Kel, I told you. I'm just jotting some thoughts down. This isn't the final copy; it's not even a rough draft. It's just a list of ideas in my head." says Dylan, getting more and more aggravated with each word.
"And Brenda and Scott enter your head, but I don't?" says a hostile Kelly. "Why, Dylan, why?" says Kelly with a look of intense anger in her eyes.
At this point, Dylan's patience finally breaks. "Okay, you want to know why? You really want to know?" snarls Dylan.
"Yeah, I want to know why my name is no where on that piece of paper." fires Kelly back as she throws the notepad on the ground.
Dylan lowers his voice to sound more reasonable. "You're not on there, Kel, because I was thinking of the people who reached out to me when I needed to feel like I was worth something, like my life mattered. And Brenda and her family were the first people I could think of. All you did that whole time after my dad died was bitch and moan about me staying there." says Dylan.
Kelly folds her arm, and glares at Dylan. "And Scott?" she asks.
"Kel, why do you hate him so much?" asks Dylan.
"Why do you like him so much?" responds Kelly.
"Because when I was on the ledge, about to jump, he, of all people, gave me this." says Dylan as he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out the Indian head penny necklace that Scott gave him and shows it to Kelly as she grabs it.
"What is this?" she asks.
"It's nothing really, but it was something important to him. And he let me have it that day of Jack's funeral to show me that he could relate to me. And that's what kept me from going off the edge that day and completely getting sauced." says Dylan
"That's so sweet." says Kelly in an aggressively sarcastic manner. "Now excuse me while I go into the bathroom and vomit." she adds as she walks off toward the ladies bathroom.
"Kel." Says an annoyed Dylan as he shakes his head.
"Forget it, Dylan. Just go over there with Brenda and Scott, your new best friends." says Kelly as she walks into the bathroom. Dylan silently curses to himself, and shakes his head. Once again he finds himself questioning the decision he made to go with Kelly over Brenda. Not feeling like writing anymore, Dylan slowly walks back over to the soccer field to join Brenda and Scott.
Kelly goes into the bathroom and turns on the sink. She slams the Indian head penny necklace down onto the sink counter, then stares at herself in the mirror with an angry look in her eyes. With her mom selling the house, her constant fighting with Dylan, and being mortified on this god awful double date, she's feeling fed up with everything. She reaches into her purse and pulls out her tablet of diet pills and sticks one in her mouth, then leans into the sink to get some water to wash it down with.
At that moment, Sue comes out of one of the bathroom stalls. Wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans that are ripped at both knees, she looks like a total bad ass. With a lit cigarette in one hand, she walks over to the sink next to the one that Kelly is using. Sue sees Kelly with her head in the sink and the diet pills on the counter and rolls her eyes as she takes a puff on her cigarette and blows out the smoke. Kelly lifts her head up and looks over at Sue, unaware of who she is at that moment.
"Do you mind not smoking in here, please?" says Kelly in a condescending tone.
"Excuse me?" asks Sue, as she shoots Kelly a look.
"If you want to pollute your lungs and die a slow death from emphysema, that's your business." says Kelly. "But do it someplace where I don't have to breathe in all your second hand smoke. It's disgustingly unhealthy." says Kelly with her nose turned up.
"Oh, and I suppose sucking down all those diet pills is perfectly healthy." responds Sue, glaring over at Kelly.
"Whatever, it's my business, not yours. But you blowing smoke into my face is my business" replies Kelly.
In a deliberate attempt to make Kelly more angry, Sue takes another puff on her cigarette. As she blows the smoke out, she looks down at the sink counter and starts to choke on the smoke as she recognizes the penny necklace that Kelly has sat down there.
"What the hell is that?" barks Sue.
"What?" asks Kelly.
"That." says Sue pointing at the necklace. "What are you doing with that?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but it belongs to my boyfriend." retorts Kelly.
"The hell it does." says Sue, snatching at the necklace as Kelly pulls it away. "That was my late cousin Jeremy's necklace. It belongs to my brother. In fact it's something very personal to him." cries Sue.
"Wait a minute." says Kelly. "Are you Scott's sister?" she asks.
"You're darn right, I am." says Sue. "And I know exactly who you are. And I'd appreciate it if you'd get your prissy little hands off of my brother's necklace."
"Look, demon seed." snarls Kelly. "First of all, Scott gave Dylan the necklace. As to why Dylan kept it, I have no idea; it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. Secondly, I don't know who you think you are. But if you think I'm going to stand here and take insults from some punk, no-name freshman….." says Kelly getting cut off by Sue.
"Oh yeah, that's right. We're all no-names, aren't we?" says Sue. "Me, Scott, and my whole fruitcake family, as you call it, isn't that right?"
Realizing that Sue is repeating exactly what she just told Dylan a few minutes ago. "You were spying on Dylan and me, weren't you? It all makes sense, you spy on me and my boyfriend and then you go tell Brenda and Scott while they plot to break us up."
"Oh, don't flatter yourself." says Sue. "I don't give a rat's ass about you or your dumb rich boyfriend. But I do care about my brother. He's my best friend, and I really resent your snide, self-righteous, holier than thou attitude that you take towards him and everyone else. He's never one anything to you. So you can take your fancy clothes, all your credit cards, and your Don Juan boyfriend and whatever else you have in that little fairy tale princess world of yours and do whatever you want with them. But knock off the hateful attitude towards my brother before I wipe the floor with that cover girl face of yours." says Sue in an angry, not to be messed with, tone.
Kelly stares at her for a few minutes with an angry look to kill. Sue stares right back at her in a stare down of two very pissed off teenage girls. "Just who do you think you are?" retorts Kelly. "You think you can come in here and bark at me like some dog?"
"Like I said, I know exactly who you are, Kelly Taylor. And I don't give a damn how popular you are at school." replies Sue. "But obviously you don't know who I am. See, Scott got all the nice genes in our family. He's always been a good boy. I'm the pain in the butt of the family, the demon seed as you call it. So do yourself a favor, and be nice to brother." says Sue who takes one more puff on her cigarette just to get under Kelly's skin, then puts it out before walking out of the restroom.
Kelly is left standing there. She is not really fazed by Sue's threats. The words she just said have merely just added onto everything that is already contributing to her angry attitude.
Meanwhile, Dylan has walked over to the soccer field to join Scott and Brenda. As he walks toward them, he is reading their body language. He is amazed at how Brenda and Scott are conversing. They are talking, laughing and cheering on Scott's little brother's team. They look like two old friends, just having a good time. There is no tension, no arguing, and no nasty glares between them. This is a far cry from him and Kelly. The way that Kelly and Dylan have been getting along lately, nobody would even think they are friends, much less lovers. Dylan finds himself very envious of Scott and his friendship with Brenda as he tries to remember when his days were a lot less stressful and more carefree.
Brenda and Scott are watching Spencer's soccer coach as he franticly walks up and down the sidelines, screaming at his kids.
"Is that coach always like this?" asks a smiling Brenda.
"Oh, this isn't the half of it." answers a grinning Scott. "This guy use to be my soccer coach when I was a kid."
"Really?" asks Brenda. "Did he use to scream back then too?"
"Oh, this is nothing compared to what he was back then. He screamed every where we went. At games, practices, it didn't matter where we were. One year, he even screamed at the waitress when we had our end of the year pizza party." says Scott.
"You're joking." suggests Brenda.
"Nope, listen to this, true story here." says Scott with a smile as Brenda smiles back. "Our coach asked for three medium pizzas. But the waitress mistook our order and brought us three large pizzas instead. So he screamed at the waitress saying he wasn't paying for three larges when he ordered three mediums. So the manager agreed to only charge him for three mediums."
"Well, I guess that's one way to get more for your money, if you don't mind making a jerk out of yourself." says Brenda. "So at least he wound up happy in the end, right?"
"Um, not exactly." says Scott. "See one of the pizzas was ordered with anchovies. And while the coach was busy screaming at the waitress and arguing with the manager, the whole team ate the other 2 pizzas. So when the coach finally got to eat, all he had was the pizza with all the anchovies on it."
"Oh my god." Says Brenda as she starts laughing.
"And what's worst of all, anchovies gave him heartburn. So I feel sorry for the players who had to ride home with him that day." jokes Scott as Brenda bursts out with enormous laughter as Scott laughs along with her. At that point Dylan, walks up behind them and joins the two.
"Well you two look like you're having a good time." says Dylan, meaning that as a compliment.
"Oh Scott was just regaling me with some stories he had of when this coach here used to coach him." says Brenda. "And from what he tells me, he was just as intense back then as he is now."
"Yeah man, this guy seems like a total whack job." says Dylan. "What's his story, man?" he asks Scott.
"Well he's a long time co-worker with my dad. He's a nice guy at heart, but he's obsessed with winning like you wouldn't believe." says Scott.
"See that's why I could never get into sports. Too much tension, too much pressure." says Dylan.
"Oh come on, Dylan. Isn't surfing a sport?" asks Brenda jokingly.
"No, surfing is not a sport, Bren, thank you very much." argues Dylan in a jokingly friendly manner. "You aren't competing with anybody. It's just you and the ocean out there. No pressure. You're just waiting for that perfect moment to become one with the wave." Dylan says, as Brenda looks at him and smiles while their eyes meet.
"Yeah, I remember when you took me surfing in Baja. It was one thing I never thought I'd do, but it was exhilarating." says Brenda.
"As exhilarating as the bungee swing?" asks Scott. This was his subtle way of reminding Brenda that he knows how to do fun and exciting stuff too.
"I don't know. It's a toss up." says Brenda.
"Pfft, toss up." says Dylan. "Come on, can you honestly compare swinging from a crane on a cord to surfing." he says as he looks at Scott who grins, tying to show his confidence. "Hey Scott, you ever been surfing, man?" Dylan asks.
"Me? Are you joking?" says Scott. "You've met my mom, you think she would have ever let me surf? I was lucky if I could get knee high into the ocean without wearing a life jacket." jokes Scott as both Brenda and Dylan chuckle.
"Well, every native Californian has to surf at least once in their life, man. You ought to try it sometime. If you're ever interested in trying, let me know. I can take you out on the ocean one morning." says Dylan, as Scott nods. Scott manages to keep a cool exterior, but inside he is in awe. For three years in high school, the popular Dylan McKay practically didn't know he existed. Now all of a sudden he's offering to take him surfing. Scott has no interest in surfing, but decides not directly decline Dylan's offer as stuff like this doesn't come up too often for him.
"Thanks Dylan, I'll keep it in mind." says Scott.
"Hey Dylan, you ever taken Kelly to Baja on one of your surfing safaris?" asks Brenda.
"Are you joking?" says Dylan to Brenda. "Bren, you've been down there with me. You know what it's like. Do you honestly think I could ever get Kelly to stay in a hotel without room service? Let alone get her hair wet." Says Dylan as they all start to laugh at the joke.
Just then Kelly walks up behind the three of them. She didn't hear the crack that Dylan made about her, but she's seen the three of them laughing and joking together and has scowled at them the entire time.
"Well, aren't we all just having the time of our lives?" says Kelly in a condescending tone as a surprised Dylan turns around to look at her. "How much more of this torture do I have to put up with?"
At that point, the referee blows his whistle to signal the end of the game.
"Um, the game just ended, Kelly." says Scott.
"Good, can we get the hell out of here, please? I've had enough of these screaming kids for one life time." she says with attitude.
"Alright, let me just go find my sister real quick. I need to tell her something." says Scott.
"FORGET YOUR SISTER." barks Kelly in an extremely aggressive and hostile voice. After the verbal exchange Kelly just had with Sue, the last thing she intends to do is help her out in any way shape or form.
"Kelly!" says Brenda, upset over Kelly's hostile tone
"I'm leaving now, Scott. And I'm not going to sit in the car and wait, while you sort through your family affairs. Either come now or walk home." Snarls Kelly.
"Kelly, what is your problem?" asks an angry Brenda.
"Kel!" shouts Dylan aggressively with an upset look on his face. "A few minutes isn't going to hurt." says Dylan.
Kelly rolls her eyes with a disgusted look. "Fine, whatever." she says. "I'm getting use to my opinion not mattering anyways." she says as she storms off to her car.
"No Kelly, it seems like your opinion is the only one that does matter." shouts Brenda to Kelly. Kelly totally ignores her and keeps on walking to her car. Dylan and Brenda look at each other with looks of exasperation in their eyes, while Scott just looks on awkwardly.
"Um, it's okay." says Scott softly to Brenda and Dylan. "It's not that important. I can talk to Sue later." he says. Brenda and Dylan both nod and then follow Kelly to her car. From a distance, Sue watches with clinched fists. At that moment, she hates Kelly with everything she can muster.
As the party of four gets to the seafood restaurant, there is clearly awkwardness in the air. And by now, it's no secret which one is the thorn in the bed of roses. Very little was said on the ride from the soccer field over to the restaurant. Basically everyone was tip toeing around Kelly, careful not to say anything that would trigger another one of her outbursts.
As the four of them take their seats at a table, with Dylan and Kelly on one side and Brenda and Scott on the other, everyone is left with their own thoughts. While Kelly is genuinely angry and disgusted that she is in this situation, Dylan's suffering from hindsight as he continues to evaluate his current rocky relationship with Kelly while seeing the friendly interaction between Scott and Brenda. He's finding that he's asking himself more and more what would have happened if he had chosen Brenda, or if Brenda had showed up that night at Jack's party.
On the other side of the table, Scott has been putting up with Kelly's harsh remarks and hostile attitude towards him. He's use to it as he's heard much worse in his time and the only person at the table whose opinion matters to him is Brenda's. But for him, there still remains the inevitable problem he faces. What is he going to do when Brenda graduates and he's left for one more year? How does he keep this great thing he has with her going?
And then there's Brenda, so confused. She really likes Scott, but only as a friend, yet a really good friend. She desperately wants him to come out of his shell and make lots of friends, something she knows in her heart that he's capable of. And the whole time she is doing this, Dylan is still there. Ever since he picked Kelly, she's been trying to get over him, to completely kill any and all lingering feelings she might still have for him. But deep down, there's always that certain element that lingers there. There's just something about the way he looks at her, and talks to her, that brings back a flood of happy memories and makes her feel special. But regardless of the feelings, it doesn't matter. He's with Kelly now, and nothing's going to change that. But if what if he wasn't? That thought keeps entering into her mind.
The four of them pick up their menus and begin to glance over them.
"Wow. Dylan, the food here looks great." says Brenda.
"Got any recommendations?" asks Scott to Dylan.
"There's not a bad thing on the menu here, man." replies Dylan. "I've eaten here a million times, it's all good. The lobster, the crab, the fish, you name it."
"I don't recall us ever coming here, Dylan." says Brenda. Kelly looks up from her menu with a scowl over at Brenda.
"Just because he didn't come here with you, Brenda, doesn't mean he could have never have come here at all." says Kelly with an attitude.
"I know that, Kelly." fires Brenda back. "I was merely making a comment."
"No you were insinuating that Dylan can't enjoy himself unless he's with you. And you know what, I resent that." snarls Kelly.
Brenda's eyes begin to fill with impatient anger as she is getting tired of Kelly's snide and quirk remarks. "You just seem like you resent everything lately, Kelly." replies Brenda. "It must be awful to go through life filled with such resentment." says Brenda.
"Look Brenda." replies a wide eyed and assertive Kelly, who gets cut off in mid sentence.
"Give it a rest, will you." says Dylan to a Kelly in a soft tone, trying to avoid a scene at the restaurant.
"Me? But you heard what…" says Kelly again cutting off
"Kel, I don't want to argue, alright. I just want to sit down to a nice dinner, okay?" says Dylan trying to appeal to Kelly's sense of reason.
Kelly and Brenda just glare at each other, almost in a stare off, as the tenseness at the table can be felt by everybody.
"Fine, whatever." says Kelly rolling her eyes as she picks up her menu and holds it in front of her face to block the view of Brenda and Scott sitting on the other side of the table. This leads to an awkward period of silence that lasts about a minute. The quiet and shy Scott decides to say something to try to change the subject.
"Hey Dylan, how's the lobster fondue?" asks Scott.
"Oh trust me, Scott. It's the best you'll ever have anywhere." replies Dylan.
Kelly turns up her nose. "Fondue?" she says. "You might as well just ask them to bring you a big bowl of fat with some cholesterol on the side to wash it down with."
"Kelly." replies an annoyed Brenda. "Just because you might not like it, doesn't mean you have to ruin it for everyone else."
"Well excuse me, Brenda. But this time I was just merely making a comment." Kelly fires back.
Brenda and Kelly seem poised for another argument right there. But at that moment the waiter shows up to take their orders. Brenda and Kelly just glare at each other nastily, as Dylan and Scott order.
When the waiter gets to Brenda, she politely orders some shrimp linguini. As the waiter turns his attention to Kelly, she takes a sip of water and then shakes her head in a negative manner. "No thanks. I don't want anything." says Kelly.
Scott looks surprised, while Brenda rolls her eyes. Dylan turns his head to look at Kelly. "Come on, Kel. You haven't eaten a thing all day. You got to eat something."
"No Dylan, it's all too fattening." replies Kelly.
"Maam, might I suggest the seafood salad?" says the waiter.
"Do you have a hearing disability?" Kelly asks the waiter in a surely manner. "When I say I don't want anything, that doesn't mean I want you to suggest something for me."
The waiter fakes a friendly smile. "Okay, I'll be right back with you drinks then." he replies as he leaves.
Dylan just looks at Kelly in disbelief while Brenda shakes her head in disgust. Kelly sees their reactions and gets angry.
"What?" Kelly asks. "So I didn't order anything. Big deal, are you all going to jump on me about that as well? In case you haven't noticed, I am on a diet." she says.
Brenda, Dylan, and Scott all look at each other.
"Kelly, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you really don't need to go on a diet. You look just fine the way you are." says Scott.
"That's what I keep telling her." says Dylan.
Kelly turns to Scott, as her look could burn a hole right through him. "Excuse me, Scott. But when I want your opinion on how I look, I'll ask for it."
"He was trying to give you a compliment, Kelly. Which is one more than I plan on giving you with the way you've been acting." retorts Brenda
Kelly turns up her nose and shoots Brenda a nasty look.
"Look Kel, you have to eat something." says Dylan. "You can't starve yourself to death."
"Fine!" screams Kelly as the other people in the restaurant turn their heads and begin to look at their table. Kelly grabs a hand full of bread, from the complimentary bread and butter bowl that was put out on the table and stuffs her cheeks with it. "There. You happy now?" she asks with a mouthful, as the others can barely understand her.
Kelly gets up and grabs her purse and begins to walk away.
"Where are you going?" asks Dylan.
"I'm going to the bathroom, Dylan." replies Kelly with an attitude. "Do I have to ask your permission to go there now as well?" she says and walks out in a huff. Brenda, Scott and Dylan are left staring at each other.
Kelly goes into the bathroom, and waits for the one other woman who is in there to leave. She then turns on the water in the faucet. Kelly pulls a diet pill from out of her purse. She sticks it in her mouth. Then, she cups her hands and runs them under the water and drinks water from her hand to wash the pill down.
After looking at herself in the mirror for a few minutes, Kelly begins to feel sick. Her diet pills are catching up to her and making it so that she can't hold down any food. Kelly runs into one of the stalls, gets down on her hands and knees and vomits in the toilet.
Plenty of time passes as the entire time that Kelly is in the bathroom, everyone else has managed to get their food. None of them seem to be worried that Kelly's been in the bathroom so long as they have started to laugh and have a good time, without her there.
As Kelly returns to the table, Scott is telling a funny story from tech class about David that has both Brenda and Dylan laughing and grinning.
"So David was in panic mode because he thought he was going to get an F on the project. He took the whole thing apart and put it back together again and couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then when the teacher came over to check it out, he says 'Here is the problem. It's not plugged in.' You should have seen the look on his face." says Scott.
Brenda starts to crack up laughing, while Dylan slightly grins, but keeps his cool. "Yeah, that sounds like Silver." says Dylan.
Kelly gets back to the table; her attitude has clearly not changed since she left as she glares down at Scott who is the first to notice her return. Brenda and Dylan notice shortly after, and the laughter stops, and the faces turn serious again.
"Nice." replies Kelly sarcastically to Scott. "You laugh at David when he's not here to defend himself. Some best friend you are."
As Dylan sits there, Brenda rolls her eyes and sighs as she completely expects the non-confident Scott to duck his head and cower. But much to her pleasant surprise, Scott actually shows a faint sign of standing up for himself.
"Look. David and I use to laugh about this all the time. And he'll tell you plenty of similar stories about me. Neither of us mind." responds Scott in a hesitant, but slightly more assertive manner than usual.
Brenda grins to herself as she is proud of Scott for having enough respect for himself to stand up to Kelly, even if it wasn't quite as assertive as she would have liked him to be, he's definitely moving in the right direction in her eyes.
"Whatever." says Kelly, as she sits back down at the table and sulks. With everyone at the table seemingly aligned against her, she decides to just sit there and not say anything. Meanwhile the rest of the group continues their conversation.
"I miss the good old days of tech class, man. Building stuff in the morning, going surfing in the afternoon, not a care in the world." says a nostalgic Dylan.
"Yeah, I enjoyed it too. When I wasn't getting pushed around that is." says Scott. "Fortunately that was one class of mine that you were in, Dylan."
"Yeah, I remember that." Dylan replies. "Hey, whatever happened to that dance club design you were working on?"
"You were designing a dance club?" asks Brenda with surprise.
"Yeah." says Scott. "It was a crazy dream I had at one time of opening up a new dance club of my design. I had the dance floor, bathroom, and refreshment stand layout all set up."
"Well what's so crazy about that dream? I think it's a wonderful dream." says Brenda with a smile as Kelly just rolls her eyes and sits their quietly.
"You mean aside from the fact that even in my wildest dreams that I don't have anywhere near the money or the know how to do such a thing?" says Scott. "The design I constructed was all from my imagination of what a dance club should look like. I've never actually been in one before. Every time I tried to get in, they carded me and more or less told me to get lost."
Kelly snickers as she thinks to herself what a dork Scott is. Dylan looks at her out of the corner of his eye while Brenda and Scott look at her wondering what's so funny.
"Hey I got an idea." says Dylan. "This surfing buddy of mine, he's a bouncer at one of the local dance clubs. I know he'll let all of us in."
"Oh my god, you think he will?" asks Brenda.
"Trust me, Bren. I've known him since I was 8 years old. He'll let us in." says Dylan.
"That's great. Scott, what do you say? You can finally get to see what a real dance club looks like from the inside." says an enthusiastic Brenda.
Scott smiles as this is something he'd like to do, but is also hesitant as he doesn't want to get in trouble either. "Are you sure we won't get into any kind of trouble?" asks Scott.
"Heck no, man." replies Dylan. "I've been in that place at least a half a dozen times, it's never happened."
"Well, I don't know." says a hesitant Scott.
"Come on Scott, it might get those creative juices of yours flowing again, man." says Dylan.
"Well, alright. It sounds really cool. Thanks, Dylan." says Scott as Brenda grins.
"Kel, what do you say?" asks Dylan.
Kelly just shrugs. "Does my opinion actually matter now?" she says in an unenthusiastic voice as Dylan shakes his head. Brenda tries to intercede.
"Come on, Kelly. It'll be fun." says Brenda, trying to break the ice that's between them.
"Fine." she replies. "Anything beats sitting around here with all this gross fattening seafood."
Everyone grins, as they are just glad Kelly went along with it without too much complaining.
"Excellent." says Dylan. "And on that note, oh waiter, check please." he says.
Dylan leads the way as Kelly, Brenda, and Scott stand in line to get into the new dance club. The four of them get up to the bouncer who's standing outside. He instantly recognizes Dylan.
"Hey Hey! Dylan man, it's good to see you again. How you've been?" says the bouncer as he gives Dylan a quick hug.
"Been through a bit of a rough patch lately, Zeke. But I'm slowly starting to see the light." replies Dylan.
Kelly coughs to let her presence be known as she's not happy that Dylan hasn't introduced her yet.
"Zeke, this is my girlfriend, Kelly Taylor." says Dylan.
"Kelly huh?" says the bouncer. "Hey, whatever happened to that one girl that you were crazy about for so long, what was her name again, Brenda?"
"I'm his girlfriend now, thank you." replies Kelly assertively, obviously not happy with what Zeke just said.
"Actually Zeke, Brenda's right here." says Dylan as he points to Brenda.
"Ah, it's nice to finally get to meet you, Brenda. I've heard a lot about you." says Zeke.
"Well, it's nice to meet you too," replies Brenda back as she shakes his hand. Kelly stands there stewing, as if steam were about to come out of her ears like it does in cartoons. Obviously she's angry that one of Dylan's surf buddies heard all about Brenda, but nothing about her.
"And this is Scott." says Dylan, pointing over to Scott.
"Good to meet you, Scott. Any friend of Dylan's is a friend of mine. Go right on in you guys, have a good time tonight." replies Zeke with a smile.
The four of them walk into the dance club. Scott and Brenda have big smiles on their faces as they rush in while Kelly drags her feet and scowls. Dylan grabs her hand.
"So I guess your old buddy Zeke knows all about Brenda, but I don't even exist." says Kelly in a hostile tone.
"Kel, don't start with me." replies Dylan. "I haven't seen him for months. You and I hadn't even gotten together the last time I saw him."
"What are you talking about? We'd been seeing each other since this summer, you haven't seen him since then?" she replies.
"Not very much." answers Dylan.
As the foursome enters the dance club, the mood of the two pairs on this double date is at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Scott looks around in amazement and wonder, like a kid walking into the entrance of Disney World for the very first time.
The multi-color lights move up and down the dance floor, as Belinda Carlisle's song "Heaven is a place on earth" blares all throughout the club:
Oh baby do you know what that's worth
Oh heaven is a place on earth.
They say that in heaven loves comes first.
We'll make heaven a place on earth.
A significant number of people in the club are on the dance floor dancing, while some are in the refreshment lounge area. Scott just looks all around with a gleeful grin on his face. After years of his mother's restrictions of having to stay home while other people got to go out and have fun, it's like a brand new world has just been opened up to him. Brenda grabs his arm with one hand as the two walk further in. The look on Scott's face is genuinely making her happy.
"Oh my god, Brenda, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen." says Scott excitedly.
"Pretty wild, huh?" replies Brenda.
"You know, I imagined what a real dance club would look like, but my imagination doesn't do the real thing any justice. I have to check out the layout of this place." says Scott.
"Where do you want to start?" asks Brenda.
Scott looks around and eyes the refreshment stand. "Can I buy you a soda?" he asks Brenda.
Brenda grins back at him. "Why I'd be delighted, Mr. Scanlon." she says jokingly with a friendly smile to Scott.
While Brenda and Scott are getting along great and having a wonderful time, it is the complete opposite for Kelly and Dylan, who continue to argue.
"You are just not going to be happy until I do nothing but talk about you and think about you 24/7, are you?" says Dylan in an exasperated voice as he walks into the club.
"Not 24/7, Dylan, just once in a while, is that too much to ask?" fires Kelly back as she follows Dylan in.
"You want the truth, Kel?" asks Dylan.
"It would be nice." she says.
"Cause you aren't going to like what you hear." he says.
"Just lay it on me, Dylan." she says.
"The truth is with the way you've been acting all day today, I don't want to talk about you or think about you, because all it does is conjure up visions of arguments and fighting. That's all we ever do anymore. Just look at today. From the moment you got to my house, nobody, not Scott, not Brenda, and not I have been able to say anything without you having some kind of snide remark or bitchy complaint. Now I don't know what's going on with you to cause you to act like this, but unless it stops, you are going to wind up pushing everyone away." says Dylan, as he tries to calm down.
Kelly just glares at him. She's about to fire into him with her mean tongue, but fortunately for her, Brenda and Scott come up to them just at that moment and interrupt before she says anything. Holding a couple of sodas in each of their hands, they have big grins on their face.
"Dylan, Kelly, we got you guys some sodas." says Brenda.
Dylan and Kelly don't take their eyes off of each other. Dylan grabs a soda from Brenda as she reaches it out to him.
"Thanks." he says to her in a mellow, emotionless tone.
"Here you are, Kelly." says Scott as he reaches one out to her. Her gut reaction is to tell him that when she wants something from him, she'll ask for it. But after considering the words that Dylan just said to her, she decides to keep her tounge in check and go with a not so harsh refusal.
"No thank you. I can't have any sugar." says Kelly. Scott just grins politely.
"Okay, well I'll put it here on this table if you change your mind." Scott replies.
Dylan and Kelly just continue to look at each other angrily while Brenda and Scott try to ease the tone.
"Dylan, this place is amazing." says Brenda. "You should have seen Scott when he first walked in here, he was like a kid in a candy store." she says with a smile.
"Oh my god, Dylan, I can't thank you enough for getting me in here. Just seeing this place from the inside has already given me several new ideas for a club design. This is the greatest thing ever. Thank you." says an excited Scott with a goofy grin.
Brenda smiles while Kelly and Dylan continue their stare down.
"Anytime, Scott." Says Dylan as he acknowledges Scott's gratitude, but his focus is still clearly on Kelly.
At that moment, "Heaven is a place on Earth" ends and Culture Beat's popular new dance song "Mr. Vein" comes blaring over the speakers as the dance floor starts to light up.
"Oh my god, I love this song." screams Scott.
With a smile, Brenda grabs Scott's hand and begins to pull him out onto the dance floor. "Come on, Scott." she yells. "I think you're over due for another dance lesson."
Scott smiles as he is hardly able to contain his kid like excitement. "Alright, I have to check out the layout of this dance floor anyways." he says.
"Well what better way to do it." Says Brenda as the two go out onto the floor and begin to dance. Brenda really gets into it as she is naturally a pretty good dancer. Scott on the other hand is a bit on the clumsy side, as he doesn't have very much experience with dancing. But Brenda doesn't care. She's having fun and so is Scott as she tries to show him how to dance.
Dylan breaks the stare with Kelly to watch Scott and Brenda as he sees them laughing and dancing out on the floor.
"Why don't you go join them." says Kelly to Dylan "You'd obviously rather be with them than with me."
Dylan takes in a deep breathe and turns back to Kelly. "Come dance with me." he says to her.
"You must be joking." she says back to him as she turns up her nose.
"No Kel, I'm not." says Dylan assertively. "You're always getting mad at me because I never pay any attention to you or do anything with you. Well, I'm telling you right now. I want to dance, and I don't want to dance with anybody else but you. So you got two choices. You can either get out there and dance with me and try to have a good time with me, or you can continue to stand her and stare at them and sulk. The choice is yours." says Dylan.
The truth is that Dylan just basically lied through his teeth. He really doesn't want to dance with Kelly. After the way she's been all day long, he's ready to go back home and end this day. But he knows Brenda and Scott are having fun. And he's sick and tired of listening to his girlfriend tell him that he never pays any attention to her. So he's going to give her the opportunity right now. And if she turns him down, he'll throw that back in her face every time she starts up with it.
Kelly sighs and rolls her eyes in a snobbish manner as she knows Dylan has trapped her. "Fine, one dance." she says as she grabs Dylan's hand and they walk out onto the dance floor and start dancing next to Brenda and Scott.
"Hey Scott, check it out. I think we're trend setters. We got Dylan and Kelly out here on the dance floor." screams Brenda as she dances with Scott.
"Well hey, we couldn't let you two have all the fun, could we?" jokes Dylan back as he dances. Kelly doesn't say anything as she's just going through the motions.
"This place is amazing. When I turn 18, I am so coming here every Friday night." says Scott as his dancing slowly starts to improve.
"Bren, I think we've created a monster." screams Dylan. Kelly just rolls her eyes as if to say "Whatever." as she is clearly not amused.
Brenda leans in and whispers to Scott that she wants to try a special unique dance move, Scott shakes his head in agreement as they keep dancing while the music plays:
I know what I want
And I want it now.
I want you
Cause I'm Mr. Vein.
At that moment, Brenda releases from Scott and he tries a spinout but stumbles and winds up accidentally knocking running into Kelly and knocking her to the floor. Brenda and Dylan giggle slightly, but rush over to make sure Kelly's alright. Dylan reaches down to grab one arm while Scott reaches down to grab the other to help Kelly up.
"Oh my god, Kelly, I am so sorry." Scott cries.
Kelly pulls herself up on Dylan's arm. When Scott grabs her other arm to help out, Kelly can no longer control her temper. Fed up with this entire day, having Brenda and Scott along, and the effect of her overusing the diet pills has finally caught up with her.
Now on her feet, Kelly looks over and slaps Scott in the face really hard.
"Get your hands off of me." Kelly hollers to Scott with anger and aggression in her voice. "What are you, God's gift of stupidity? Why don't you watch where your going, idiot." she snarls.
At that moment, Brenda's over protectiveness of Scott and his self-esteem comes to the surface. She's had all of Kelly's ugliness that she is going to put up with for today. And she'll be damned if she's going to let her slap Scott in the face like that or talk to him with such ugliness in her tone anymore.
Brenda walks over and gives Kelly a good hard shove, knocking her back into Dylan who grabs her and keeps her from falling.
"You just better back the hell up." screams Brenda to Kelly. "That spin move was my idea, not his. You want to hit somebody, Kelly, come on, give me your best shot. But don't you ever EVER hit him like that again." says Brenda almost in a rage. At this point, this confrontation has gotten the attention of several bouncers who come running over to make sure nothing breaks out. Dylan holds onto Kelly to make sure she doesn't go anywhere.
"Look Brenda. I don't know what you see in this guy, but all the coaching in the world isn't going to change the fact that he's a dork and a complete waste of time. A waste of time that we are even out here with him." fires Kelly back. Scott stands there with an embarrassed and hurt look on his face as he tries to reach out to Brenda.
"No Kelly, he's not a waste of time. But I'll tell you what is. My entire friendship with you was obviously one big waste of time. I'm just sorry it's taken me almost 3 years to learn what a cold and insensitive shrew you truly are. Dylan, thanks for the fun. Come on Scott, let's get out of here." says Brenda as she grabs Scott's arm with two hands and starts to walk with him out.
"Wait Bren." shouts Dylan. Brenda and Scott both turn around. "Come on, don't go. Let's talk this out, please."
"Dylan, there's nothing more to talk about. Kelly has been nothing but a complete bitch this entire day. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of her constant complaining and her cracks and cut downs on Scott. He doesn't deserve it. And don't worry about giving us a ride. We'll find a taxi. Cause right now, I'd rather crawl home on my face than take a ride from Kelly." snarls Brenda, as she shoots Kelly one more nasty look and gets it returned. "Come on, Scott." she says as the two of them walk out.
Brenda and Scott quickly walk out of the club. Dylan turns to look at Kelly, in total disbelief of what has just happened. He then starts to chase after Brenda.
"You're running off to Brenda?" shouts Kelly.
He turns back to her. "No, I'm trying to fix something that you broke, before it can't be fixed again." Dylan runs out of the club. Kelly just stands there for a moment and shakes her head and then slowly follows him out.
Brenda and Scott are out on the sidewalk as Brenda tries to get a taxi.
"Brenda, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." says Scott as he gets cut of in mid sentence.
Brenda takes both her hands and grabs Scott's face. "Scott, don't apologize, you hear me. You did nothing wrong. Don't say you're sorry, especially not to Kelly. She's the one who needs to apologize to you. And until she does, I don't want anything to do with her." says Brenda with passion in her voice.
"But I don't want to see you and Kelly's friendship end because of this." cries Scott.
"As far as I'm concerned, she never was my friend to begin with." says Brenda. "And you mean a lot more to me than she does." Brenda really truly cares about Scott and does not want to see all the progress that he has made on gaining self confidence destroyed because of Kelly. She fears that her slapping him may have undid a lot of that progress and is trying to let him know that he did nothing wrong.
Brenda spots a taxi and grabs Scott's arm and the two walk over to it. At that moment, Dylan comes running up to then.
"Brenda, wait!" yells Dylan. Brenda and Scott turn around.
"Dylan, go back to Kelly, alright. There's nothing more you can do. My mind is made up." says Brenda.
"Well, at least let me pay for the cab, alright?" says Dylan.
Brenda and Dylan just stand there and look at each other as Scott looks on.
"Dylan, I don't know what's going on with Kelly. But there's absolutely no way you can defend her behavior today. I don't give a damn how rough of a time she's going through. She had absolutely no right to hit Scott. He never did a thing to her to deserve that." says Brenda assertively.
"Bren, I agree entirely. Scott, I'm sorry, man. You didn't deserve that. Kelly was way out of line. Let me make it up to you guys. Anything you want, just don't leave this." says Dylan.
As the taxi driver sits there and waits for them to get in the car, Kelly has made her way out of the club and begins to look around the street for Dylan. Brenda sees this and thinks for a moment.
"You want to make it up, Dylan? Here's what you can do. Get in this cab with us, right now. Leave Kelly here." she says.
"Bren." says Dylan. "She's my girl friend; I can't just leave her here alone."
"Why not?" says Brenda. "She doesn't deserve you, Dylan. She doesn't deserve any of us for friends."
Dylan sighs and contemplates it for a moment. A big part of him wants to get in the taxi cab and go with Brenda and Scott. He looks back at Kelly, who hasn't spotted him yet. Then he looks back to Brenda and Scott. He's torn on what to do. In his heart, he agrees with almost everything Brenda has said, but he just can't leave Kelly. He made his choice and he must stand by it.
"I'm sorry, Bren. I just can't." says Dylan, with hurt in his eyes.
"Fine, then we have nothing more to say to each other." says Brenda. "Scott, let's get out of here."
"Well at least let me pay for the cab ride." says Dylan. Brenda ignores him and keeps on walking and gets in the back of the cab. Right before Scott gets in the back, Dylan runs up and grabs Scott's arm.
"Scott, I'm sorry, man. I really am." says Dylan sincerely.
Not knowing what to say or how to react, Scott just frowns and shrugs his shoulders. "It's okay, Dylan. It's not your fault." he says in a low and non-confident tone.
Dylan pulls out 50 dollars from his coat pocket. "Look, this is for the cab ride. I insist." Dylan puts the money into Scott's hand. Scott takes it reluctantly and then gets into the cab with Brenda. Dylan just stands there and watches as the cab takes off down the street and around the corner.
Dylan frowns and shakes his head. "Damn." he says as part of his conscious is kicking himself for not getting in that cab. At this point even Dylan doesn't know why he's doing the things he's doing. It's not for love or even his preference anymore. He just feels like he has to stand behind the decision he made.
Dylan turns around and begins to walk back to Kelly who by now has spotted him and walks up to him.
"Dylan…" says Kelly.
"Don't talk, Kel. Don't even say one word. This day is over as far I'm concerned. I just want to go home." he says to her. Kelly looks back at him and shrugs as the two walk off to her car.
The double date from hell has come to an end. And Dylan's attempt to try to bring Brenda and Scott closer to Kelly has ended with the most undesirable of outcomes.
TO BE CONTINUED….
A/N: Hopefully if there are any die hard Kelly Taylor fans out there, you haven't totally boycotted my story after reading this chapter. I know this chapter really paints her out to be the antagonist. Again, this was at the time of her diet pill addiction. And everything that does happen in my story happens for a reason, as you will find out in later chapters.
Also, I want to point out another thing. As you have seen, Sue Scanlon kind of has a pretty important role in this story, despite the fact that she was a minor character in the actual show and was only around for a few episodes at the beginning of season 3. Despite her short time on the show, I always thought her character had a real nice complex dynamic to her. She also gave a lot of insight into why she and Scott were the way they were.
The reason it took me so long to write this chapter, was that I kept debating back and forth about whether to include Sue's confrontation with Kelly that takes place in the park restroom. Especially knowing that Brenda was going to have a confrontation with Kelly at the dance club later that pretty much mirrored the one that Sue had with her, I really wasn't sure about having two of the same thing in this one chapter. And it was a little bit out of character for Sue, given what little we saw of her on the actual show. She never really seemed like the aggressive type who would pick a fight with Kelly.
I wanted to write that scene for a reason. Everyone knows how close Brandon & Brenda were on the show. But we never saw Scott & Sue together in a scene on the show, as Sue was first introduced a year after Scott had died. I always felt that if Scott & Sue had been involved in some scenes together that it would have helped both characters gain a following, instead of both just being minor and mostly forgotten characters from the high school years. Plus I felt it important to show that Scott & Sue have a closeness between them that mirrors the sibling relationship that Brandon & Brenda have. And having Sue step out of character and tell Kelly off, was one way I thought I could illustrate that.
Anyways, I'd be curious for any feedback on that, and whether or not you feel I should have left that scene out or kept it in.
I hope you are all enjoying my story.