Andrea Zuckerman pushed open the door of the peach pit, and shivered at the noticeable drop in temperature. It was so unbearably hot outside, that the cool interior of the peach pit was a welcome relief. Pulling off her sunglasses she headed straight to the counter, intent on ordering the biggest slice of pie Nat had on offer. It had been a difficult day, and she was feeling bummed out by everything. A piece of pie was definitely in order, she only hoped it would do the trick.
"Andrea" Nat beamed, always happy to see one of his favourite customers, especially when business was slow, as it was today. The current heat wave, hot even by LA standards meant that most people were too busy cooling down in the ocean, or relaxing at home, to bother coming out to eat. He'd done a fairly slow trade in ice creams and sodas throughout the afternoon, but even that had dropped off now. Things were so quiet that he'd sent his afternoon staff home, and Brandon wasn't due to start his shift for another couple of hours, frankly he was getting a little bored.
"And what can I get you on this fine afternoon?" he asked Andrea enthusiastically, producing a pen and pad, and making a show of being ready to take her order.
Andrea sighed heavily. "A piece of your best peach pie" she said resignedly.
"Oh" Nat wrinkled his brow in a frown, and placed the pen and pad down on the counter. He prided himself on the fact that he was familiar with the ordering habits of his regular customers, and when Andrea Zuckerman came in and asked for pie it was always a bad sign "It's one of those days."
She nodded "I'm afraid so."
"Anything I can do to help?" He asked expectantly. Although he wasn't the father of any of these kids, he still thought of them as 'his kids', and he hated to see any one of them upset or in trouble.
Andrea shook her head sadly "Not this time Nat."
"Okay" Nat conceded, then his expression brightened "Then how about I give you this slice on the house?" he asked, eager to help.
"Thanks Nat, you're the best." Andrea tried valiantly to muster some enthusiasm.
He grinned, puffing out his chest importantly "It's all part of the service". He wrote down her order on his notepad, returned his pen to its usual location behind his ear, and treated Andrea to another grin. When she didn't respond, he regarded her thoughtfully. "Can't raise a smile huh?"
Andrea shrugged "I don't really feel much like smiling right now Nat".
Nat shook his head in bemusement "You gonna tell me what's going on with you kids these days? You all walk around like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders".
He sighed heavily. "You know Andrea it breaks my heart to see you kids so miserable. The old place just isn't the same anymore." He frowned "You don't talk to each other, and you come in here and just sit and stare at your food like it's the end of the world".
"There's a lot of bad stuff going on right now Nat." Andrea admitted. "I guess we're all just trying to deal with it in our own way".
Nat nodded. He knew all about it. Over the years he'd realised that listening to other people's problems was an important part of his job. There was something about being a waiter or a bar tender that seemed to encourage people to open up, to share their problems. He guessed it was because waiters and bar tenders didn't tend to pass judgement or even dole out advice, they just listened.
He sighed. The way he had it figured, that was one of the problems with the world today, nobody had time to listen. He knew that the kids had their reasons for all the animosity, but he also knew how important friendship was, and how much they would regret it later if they didn't make the effort now. He had thrown away far too many friendships in his youth, he wasn't ready to stand by and watch 'his kids' make the same mistake.
"I know you kids got your problems with each other right now, but couldn't you all just sit down and talk about it?" He asked hopefully.
Andrea sighed heavily. She would love for things to get back to normal, but she just couldn't see it happening. It was unlikely that Brenda would ever forgive Dylan and Kelly. Brandon was still so mad that he refused to even mention Dylan's name, and all of Kelly's reconciliation attempts had been rebuffed. David wouldn't talk to either her or Brandon because they'd run the legacy key story in the 'Blaze'. Only today she and Brandon had had another argument about it. To cap it all off, she had just spent a difficult hour with a tearful Donna begging her to pull the story. The only person who didn't seem to be fighting with anyone right now was Steve. Things were definitely out of whack when Steve Sanders was the only one without any problems.
She shook her head in despair, what a lousy senior year. "I don't see how talking would do any good Nat. It's gone too far for that."
Nat sighed. "Maybe your right Andrea, maybe it is too late, but it couldn't hurt to try."
"I guess not." Andrea agreed, thinking that she really ought to call Brandon and apologise. They kind of parted on bad terms, and she didn't like to let the sun go down on an argument.
"Good." Nat grinned "I was hoping you'd agree. You can start right now."
"Right now?" Andrea looked at him in confusion.
"Sure." He grinned again "Get over there and start talking".
Andrea turned to where he was indicating, and blinked in surprise. Sitting all alone at a table, and looking the picture of misery was Kelly Taylor. She was staring morosely in to a bowl of ice cream, and didn't appear to have noticed Andrea at all.
"She's been there for the last hour. She looks like she could do with someone to talk to, but she doesn't seem to want to talk to me". He looked at Andrea meaningfully.
Andrea shook her head vehemently "Oh no Nat, I don't think so".
This whole thing was so awkward. Andrea had seen very little of Kelly these past few months, and any contact they'd had hadn't been exactly friendly. It wasn't that she was openly hostile; it was just that she hadn't gone out of her way to be pleasant or approachable. In fact she and Kelly hadn't exchanged more than a curt 'hello' in weeks. Now Nat wanted her to go over there and engage in some kind of heart to heart. She couldn't. It would be ridiculous, besides after everything that had happened, she wouldn't know where to start.
"Please Andrea. For me." Nat begged. "You know the place just isn't the same without the old gang, and you kids are so miserable you're driving away my customers." He put on a pleading face "Have a heart Andrea, you wouldn't want to see me go under now would you?"
Andrea's lips twitched in amusement at his amateur dramatics. She didn't think it would do much good, but if the gang was ever going to get back together someone had to do something. She guessed she was as good a person as any to take that first step. "Okay Nat you win" She relented. "I'll go talk to her but I'm not making any promises."
Nat beamed in delight "Atta girl. I'll bring your pie over when it's ready."
***
Brenda Walsh took a deep breath and released it slowly. She needed to get her emotions under control, she was way too pumped, and this particular piece required a sense of calm, a certain detachment, at least for the first part. She'd worked on it solidly for two weeks, trying different ways of playing the scene. Eventually she'd settled on an approach, starting quietly and then building to a crescendo. It was a demanding scene that called for her to run the entire length of her emotional range. There were lots of things that could go wrong, but if she got it right it would blow them away. She knew it was good, she knew she was good; she just had to switch off her conscious mind, and let the performance take over.
Glancing around the room she felt another little jolt of fear. There were so many people here, how would she ever make an impact? This was only one of several open auditions across the country, and she knew that they wouldn't take more than about ten people today. There must be over fifty people in this room, and at least another fifty waiting out in the foyer. She didn't want to calculate the odds on her being one of the lucky few to be chosen.
She looked around at the other occupants of the waiting room, trying to size up the competition. They were a strange assortment of people, their dress and demeanour indicating that they came from all walks of life, but they all had one thing in common, they all shared the same dream. Brenda felt a twinge of unease, what did she have that made her any different or any better than any of them? She'd already noticed that some of them had brought along resumes that were several pages long. One or two she even thought she recognised from bit parts and TV ads. In contrast she had very little in the way of experience.
The girl just ahead of her in the line was puffing frantically on a cigarette, her fifth in the hour that they had been waiting since they moved in here from the foyer. Narrowing her eyes, Brenda studied her surreptitiously, trying to figure out her story. It was a game that she and Brandon used to play when they were kids, passing the time on a long journey by inventing lives for the people that they saw on the subway or the bus. Brandon had grown out of it long ago, but Brenda still did it all the time. These days she looked upon it as more of an acting exercise, an opportunity to create characters that could be tucked away in the back of her mind, and brought to life one day on the stage.
Smoker girl looked older then Brenda, though there were probably only a few years between them. There was something about the way she tossed the shoulder length blonde hair, or maybe it was the faded leather jacket, and the over applied make up, that made her seem jaded. She acted like she had seen it all, done it all, and hadn't been that impressed. With a painful lurch, Brenda realised that the girl reminded her a little of Kelly, albeit a downmarket version.
For a fleeting moment she wished fervently that Kelly was there with her, laughing and gossiping about the other people in the room, and telling her that everything was gonna be fine. Frowning, she quickly dismissed the thought. She didn't need Kelly, she'd managed just fine without her for the last few months, and she was gonna go on managing just fine without her. She just wished this whole thing wasn't so daunting.
She looked at the girl again. It was the hair she guessed, that was what had sparked the comparison; she was Kelly's height and build too. There was a slight facial resemblance, but Kelly wouldn't be seen dead in that much make up, or those clothes. The real difference lay in the eyes. Kelly's eyes were warm, compassionate, but this girl's eyes were cold and hard. There was a brittleness, and a sadness to her, as though she had been let down by life, and had stopped expecting things to go her way.
Brenda sighed. The girl was nothing like Kelly, or maybe she was, maybe she was how Kelly might have turned out if things had gone differently. It reminded her of the conversation she'd had with that crazy priest guy at Christmas. What was it he'd said? Something like, it didn't matter what happened to you in life, what mattered was how you dealt with it.
Kelly had had a tough time, she'd been on a self-destructive path, but with help from friends and family she'd managed to turn things around. Maybe this girl hadn't been so lucky. Whatever had happened to her, it was obvious that she was still struggling to come to terms with it. Brenda felt sorry for her, life could be tough if you had to go through it alone. She thought about how lucky she had been to have her family around her, to have the support of her friends. She thought about how things could have turned out very differently for her if she'd let them.
Lost in thought she jumped when the girl suddenly snarled at her "You got a problem with me?"
Embarrassed to have been caught staring, Brenda averted her eyes "No" she mumbled apologetically.
"Then quit staring" The girl warned, eyeing Brenda menacingly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to it's just that…" Brenda apologised, but the girl had already turned her back, and gone back to puffing on her cigarette.
Unnerved, Brenda searched in her bag for the battered paperback that she'd brought with her to pass the time. Not for the first time that afternoon, she wondered why she was putting herself through all this. The problem was that she still didn't really know the answer. All that she knew was that it felt right. When she'd seen the advertisement in 'The Stage' she'd known right away that she was meant to do this. She couldn't explain it; it was just a feeling she'd had. She'd never been surer of anything in her life than she was about coming here today. She smiled ruefully. Then why did she wish that she had her best friend with her to help her through it?
***
"Mind if I join you?"
Kelly Taylor looked up, eyes widening in surprise when she saw Andrea Zuckerman hovering uncomfortably by her table. "Sure" she replied, shifting her bag from the seat to make room for Andrea.
"Thanks" Andrea said stiffly, taking the seat opposite Kelly.
There was an awkward silence as each tried to think of an opening. They hadn't really spoken in months, and too much had happened to pretend that things were fine.
Since she had made the first move, Andrea figured that it was only right that she started the conversation. Clearing her throat awkwardly she indicated the two ice cream bowls on the table in front of Kelly. The first was empty, the second had only a few spoonfuls left "Rough day?"
Kelly sighed "More like rough few months." She wasn't sure why Andrea had suddenly decided to talk to her after all this time, but she was glad. Losing Andrea's friendship had bothered her. She had a lot of respect for Andrea, and at one point it seemed that maybe the respect was mutual, but her relationship with Dylan had destroyed that. Andrea had never said anything to her about it, that wasn't really her style; instead she had simply withdrawn her friendship. In some ways that was worse than if Andrea had confronted her, at least then she would have gotten to explain herself.
Andrea hesitated. She had half expected Kelly to be hostile; after all she was David's stepsister, and Andrea wasn't exactly flavour of the month as far as David was concerned right now. Instead Kelly seemed pretty willing to talk, maybe she was as sick of all the fighting as Andrea was.
"So I take it the ice cream isn't really helping?" she finally asked with just a hint of a smile.
Kelly shook her head "Nope." She rolled her eyes. "But now I feel guilty about the number of calories I've just blown". She put down her spoon and pushed the bowls away from her as though she wanted to distance herself from them.
"You know whenever I was upset about anything I'd always call Brenda and we'd order huge ice creams and just talk for hours. It worked every time". She smiled ruefully "I figured it was the ice cream that did it, but I guess I was wrong."
"You must miss her." Andrea said, realising it for the first time. She wasn't dumb; she knew that in life things were rarely as black and white as they initially appeared, but much like Brenda, she had automatically assumed that Kelly was happy with the way things had turned out.
"I do." Kelly said it so directly that Andrea couldn't help but believe her.
"I'm sure she misses you too." Andrea said quietly.
"I doubt it." Kelly sighed. "She doesn't need me, in fact she's doing just great without me. Anyway she hates me, she told me so."
"Well can you really blame her?" Andrea asked pointedly. She hadn't intended to be quite so blunt, but Kelly needed to hear it.
Kelly winced "You know I never meant to hurt her."
"The thing is Kelly you did hurt her." Andrea said earnestly. She had seen first hand just how much Brenda had been hurt, and it was about time Kelly took some responsibility for that.
"You must have known how much it would hurt her if you slept with Dylan, but you did it anyway." She paused for a moment letting her words sink in "How did you expect her to feel?"
Kelly looked sheepish. She'd wanted an opportunity to explain herself to Andrea, but now that it was here she couldn't seem to find the right words "I guess at the time I wasn't thinking too much about Brenda."
"Obviously" Andrea found that she couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Kelly looked at her sharply "That's not what I meant."
"Okay" Andrea held up her hands in a gesture of submission "What did you mean?"
"Andrea I love Dylan. This isn't just some cheap thrill I love him. Do you really think I'd hurt Brenda this much over a stupid fling?" She sighed heavily "I had to choose between my best friend and the man that I love. What would you have done?"
Andrea considered for a moment. Even though they were both dating other people, she had been in love with Brandon Walsh for such a long time now she couldn't imagine ever loving anyone else. If she had been in Kelly's position would she have done the same thing? Would she have put Brandon first? She hadn't made any attempt to steal Brandon away from Nikki, but that didn't mean she didn't want to. Maybe she wouldn't ever have done what Kelly did, and she certainly didn't condone it, but in that moment she at least thought she understood it.
"Okay I get it." Andrea finally admitted. "I don't agree with it, but I get it."
"Thank you." Kelly breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't forgiveness exactly, she knew she had a long way to go before any of her friends forgave her for what she had done, but it was something.
"You know Kelly there's still one thing I don't get about all this" Andrea sounded perplexed.
"What's that?" Kelly asked intrigued.
Andrea shrugged. "If you're so in love with Dylan, and you're so sure that you made the right choice, why are you sitting in here alone drowning your sorrows in ice cream?
***
It was late and Dylan was tired. He'd needed some time to think so he'd taken the Porsche out for a long drive. He'd spent so long putting the car through its paces that he was almost out of gas, and he was still no closer to sorting out his problems. He yawned widely and rubbed his tired eyes. He and Kelly had decided to take the night off from each other, so sleep was definitely on the agenda.
They'd been spending most of their time together lately, and they could both use a little space. She hadn't objected when he'd suggested some time apart. If anything she'd seemed a little preoccupied. He'd gotten the feeling that she was keeping something from him, but he hadn't pushed her, she'd tell him when she was good and ready, and besides there were things he hadn't told her, like the fact that he still loved Brenda.
Wearily he pushed open the door to the gas station and reached in his pocket to retrieve his wallet. He was so tired he hardly noticed the other customers, didn't give them a second glance. He just wanted to pay for the gas and go home to bed. He felt like he could sleep for a week. Leaning on the counter he pulled out a wad of dollar bills. "How much do I owe you man?" He asked the middle aged grumpy looking guy behind the counter as he peeled off several bills.
The guy didn't answer; instead his eyes went wide with fear. Puzzled Dylan turned to see what had spooked the guy so much. He had hardly begun to move when he felt the cold steel of the gun pressed against the back of his neck, heard the click as the safety was taken off. "You do as you're told and nobody gets hurt. You try anything stupid, and I'll blow you away. You understand?"
Author's note
Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, but I haven't had much writing time lately. For those people eager for the conclusion of this story, I'm anticipating about five more chapters plus a short epilogue. I've had all the major plot points planned out from the start, it's just that sometimes it takes more chapters than I expected to fit in everything I need to fit in. Hoping when possible to post a chapter a week from now on, so the end is in sight, but there are a few more exciting scenes coming up, including the Brenda-Dylan confrontation!
Anyway, thanks to all those who have reviewed, hope you enjoy the rest of the story.