Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. It's nice to know at least a couple of people are reading! I'm enjoying writing this anyway, but it's good to know it's not just for my own amusement.
Disclaimer: See Prologue
Chapter 9: The Reunion
"How about this one?"
It was about 5:30PM on Saturday evening. Brenda had arrived at Andrea's house several minutes before, armed with several formal evening dresses. She and Andrea were going to get ready for the reunion together. They were in her room with Hannah, and Brenda was holding up a dress.
"It's pretty Mom," said Hannah, who was lying on her stomach on the bed, her feet it the air. She'd never seen anyone getting dressed up like this before, and she found it exciting.
"It would look great with your skin tone," Brenda added.
"It's white," Andrea stated, looking at the dress.
"Exactly! White looks fantastic on somebody with a tan like yours. On someone with skin as pale as mine I may as well hang a sign around my neck saying 'Casper the Friendly Ghost'," Brenda said.
"I like that cartoon," Hannah added helpfully.
Andrea laughed.
"Okay, I'll try it on. Back in a minute," she said, and left the room, the dress in her hand.
"What are you gonna wear Aunt Brenda?" Hannah asked.
"Aunt Brenda". That killed her. Hannah was so adorable Brenda almost couldn't stand it. Andrea had explained to Hannah the day before that Brenda was her aunt, without going into too many details. Hannah had pursued the point, but Andrea had promised to explain it all later and Hannah had reluctantly accepted.
Brenda showed Hannah a long black dress.
"I'm gonna wear this. I figured I'd stay with a classic look," Brenda told her.
Hannah started to ask questions about her hair and make-up. Their conversation lasted a few minutes, until Andrea returned to the room, wearing the dress Brenda had recommended.
"Andrea, you look amazing!" Brenda said.
"You look like a Princess!" Hannah added.
"Okay then. White it is," Andrea said.
"Great! Now we just have to decide on what to do with your hair," Brenda said.
Andrea groaned. This shindig had better be worth it.
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A couple of hours later and both Andrea and Brenda were ready to go. Hannah produced a camera before they walked out the door.
"You look so pretty, it would be a shame to waste it," Hannah said.
Hannah took some photos as Andrea and Brenda made silly poses, and then Andrea's mother took the camera and took some photos of Andrea, Brenda and Hannah together. When that was done, the two women headed out to Brenda's car. Hannah waved them off as the pulled out of the driveway.
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David, Donna, Steve, Janet, Kelly and Dylan were already assembled outside the high school when Brandon arrived. Brenda was supposed to have gone with him, but she'd surprised him that morning by mentioning that she'd be making her own way there. Brandon was curious, but the only explanation she gave was that she was going with a friend.
Donna commented on the lack of Brenda, and Brandon explained that she would meet them here and she was bringing someone with her.
"She should be along any minute," he added.
Dylan remembered the phone call he'd heard Brenda make on Thursday, and her mentioning she was going to see a "friend". He wondered if this was the same friend Brenda was bringing tonight. Was the friend male or female? Brandon had mentioned when he'd seen him earlier that morning at the Peach Pit that Brenda had also gone off for the day by herself yesterday. Had Brenda met someone in Los Angeles? How could she have met someone so quickly though? She only arrived on Wednesday evening, according to Cindy.
Dylan couldn't help it. He felt a surge of jealousy as he thought about Brenda with someone else. He felt guilty too. Kelly was standing right beside him, the supposed love of his life. It shouldn't matter if Brenda had met someone else. He should be happy for her.
His thoughts were interrupted by Steve.
"There she is," Steve said, pointing.
The gang turned and saw Brenda making her way towards them. With her was another woman. Dylan felt relieved. Steve felt excited. Brenda was coming with a woman. What did that mean?
It was Brandon who recognised her first. She looked slightly different now. All trace of teenage awkwardness was gone. She was now a confident looking woman, not to mention beautiful. He could never forget those eyes though, the way they used to sparkle. He was shocked to see her. It had been a long time, and they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms. He'd screwed up, and then some. He hadn't blamed her at the time for cutting him off, although he'd been disappointed. The one thing he hadn't wanted to do was mess up their friendship. And that's exactly what he'd ended up doing.
A moment later and she was standing in front of him, beside his sister. Everyone greeted Brenda, nobody else realising her friend was in fact Andrea Zuckerman. Steve still felt excited. He was slightly disappointed to note that Brenda and her companion weren't holding hands, but maybe that didn't necessarily mean anything,
Brandon stepped forward, and greeted Andrea.
"Hey chief," he said, and gave her a smile that made her legs turn to jelly momentarily.
"Damn him," she thought, angry with herself and with him for the power he still wielded over her.
"Hi Brandon," she responded, composing herself.
They stared at each other for several moments, each recalling that night they'd spent together in the hotel room, each hoping the other wasn't thinking the same thing. Steve broke the spell.
"Wait," he said, realising who this woman was. "Andrea Zuckerman?"
"Hey Steve," Andrea said, smiling at him.
Steve grabbed her and hugged her. The others exclaimed they were happy to see her, and took their turns hugging her. Steve introduced her to Janet. It was a similar scene to the one Brenda had experienced at the airport, although with more genuine warmth, Brenda thought to herself. Of course they weren't worried that Andrea was going to have a show-down with Dylan or Kelly, which made them a lot more relaxed with Andrea. If they'd known about a certain nine year old girl they might have been a bit more wary of her, as they had been with Brenda.
The group headed to the gym, Brenda and Andrea falling a little behind.
"That wasn't so bad, huh?" Brenda said quietly to Andrea, gesturing to Brandon who was walking a few feet in front of them.
"I guess not. I didn't puke on his shoes so that's something," was Andrea's reply.
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The reunion was in full swing a couple of hours later. Couples littered the dance floor, and groups of people chatting together lined the walls.
Andrea and Brenda were staked out near the refreshment table. They had been sitting at a table with the others, but Kelly had made a show of putting her arms around Dylan and resting her head on his shoulder, so Andrea had taken Brenda away.
"I feel like dancing," Brenda said.
"Why don't you then?" Andrea asked.
"Will you come with me?" Brenda asked.
"Me?" Andrea replied, confused.
"Yeah, in all the clubs in London people just dance in a group together. It's fun!"
"I don't know…" Andrea began, but Brenda grabbed her arm and dragged her onto the dance floor.
Several minutes later Steve spotted the two of them dancing. They were obviously having fun too, judging by the laughter and smiling he could see. Excellent!
Steve moved in close to Brandon, who was sitting next to him speaking to Donna.
"Psst! Hey Brandon, is there anything going on between your sister and Andrea that I should know about?" he whispered.
"What?" Brandon replied, no idea what Steve was talking about.
"That!" Steve said, gesturing at the two dancing women.
Brandon glanced over at them, and then rolled his eyes and looked back at Steve.
"Steve, they're dancing, that's all," he told him.
"Maybe," Steve said, and then added, grinning, "Maybe not!"
Brandon rolled his eyes again. Even married Steve was still the same horndog he was always was.
A while later some slow songs started up and Andrea and Brenda left the dance floor (much to Steve's disappointment) and returned to their spot near the refreshment table. A minute later and Brenda was accosted by Tony Miller for a dance. Brenda looked like she was going to refuse, but Andrea shoved her towards Tony. Tony looked delighted, and Brenda reluctantly followed him to the floor.
Brandon had been watching his sister speaking to Andrea. He'd been hoping to have a chance to speak to Andrea himself, but so far she'd always been with Brenda. Now that she was alone he took his chance, and left the table and approached her.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," she replied.
There was an awkward silence. This wasn't going quite as well as Brandon had hoped.
"How was Yale?" Brandon finally asked, somewhat feebly.
"It was…" Andrea began and then paused, looking for the right word.
"Challenging," she finished.
Brandon smiled.
"You always did like a challenge," he replied, sounding more relaxed that before.
Andrea smiled to herself. Brandon had no idea!
"Well, I certainly got one," she said.
There was another silence, but it felt more comfortable. Andrea broke the silence a moment later though.
"I hear you're working for the New York Chronicle," Andrea mentioned.
"Yeah! It's great, I love it," Brandon replied.
"Yeah, me too," Andrea commented.
Brandon looked confused at this statement for a moment, but then it dawned on him. Andrea noticed his expression and was amused. She confirmed it for him.
"I work in the New York office," she said.
"New York? Is that how you and Brenda…" Brandon asked.
"No, we actually met at the airport on Wednesday, and we just clicked. It was nice to see a friendly face," Andrea answered.
"How long have you been living in New York?" Brandon asked.
"About five years. We moved there after I finished up at college," Andrea replied.
"We?" Brandon said. He'd picked up on the word "we" immediately. "We" meant someone else was with her. A boyfriend, a husband? A pang of jealousy hit him, and he was surprised. Back in high school this was a regular event if he felt someone was showing an interest in Andrea, but high school was a long time ago.
"Me and my big mouth," thought Andrea, berating herself. She debated whether to mention she had a daughter or not. She knew now was the wrong time to mention he had a daughter. Maybe if she told him she had a daughter without going into to much detail, it might make it easier to tell him everything when the time came.
"Me and my daughter," Andrea answered finally.
Brandon froze. "Daughter"? Andrea had a daughter? There it was again – that feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt like if whoever the father of this kid was happened to be standing in front of him he would have punched him in the face. Andrea had had a child with someone. Someone who wasn't him. Damn him whoever he was.
"Whoa, calm down," he thought. Okay, Andrea had a baby with someone. No big deal.
Ugh. But it was a big deal. He felt sick just thinking about it. He felt the urge to get out of there and get some air. He didn't want Andrea to start whipping out photos of the kid, or worse, the guy.
"Would you excuse me, I have to go and… do… something," he managed to get out.
Andrea was surprised by his tone. He seemed a little lost.
"Okay, sure," she said.
She watched him walk towards to doors, and head out into the hallway.
"Well that was weird," she thought. She hadn't mentioned any ages. Brandon couldn't suspect already, could he? She thought about it for a minute. No, he couldn't. There was something else going on with him. She felt if he really suspected anything, he would have asked about the father.
It had gone better than she'd expected all in all. She was able to talk to him without wanting to take off as fast as she could. She wasn't expecting that. She was also surprised at how at ease she was around him. Maybe it was because she had the power to destroy his life at any given moment, she mused to herself.
"It's hard to tremble at the sight of him as long as I keep that in mind," she thought, chuckling to herself.
Brenda finally managed to release herself from Tony, and returned to Andrea. She'd seen her talking to Brandon and Brandon suddenly rushing off, and she was very curious about what they talked about.
"Hey, I saw you talking to Brandon. How'd it go?" she asked.
"I didn't tell him if that's what you were wondering. I told him I had a daughter, but I didn't mention who the father was," Andrea told her.
"Did you mention any ages?" Brenda asked, remembering that Hannah's age had tipped her off.
"No, he has no idea how old she is, or even what her name is for that matter," Andrea replied.
"I have no idea why he took off so suddenly," she added, "but I don't think it was because he suspected anything. That's not the vibe I got from him. Now you," she said, looking at Brenda, "you I knew knew. You definitely gave off that vibe."
They both laughed, recalling their conversation at the airport.
"Look how well that turned out," Brenda said to Andrea. "I got the feeling you weren't exactly thrilled to see me at first, but that's worked out okay. Maybe things will work out with Brandon too."
"I somehow doubt Brandon and I will be spending next Saturday evening doing each other's hair..." she said, pausing when Brenda snorted with laughter. She laughed herself and then continued.
"But you're right; maybe it'll work out okay."
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Later in the evening Brandon had sufficiently recovered from the shock of discovering Andrea had a child (with someone else. Bastard!), and returned to the table. Brenda and Andrea had also returned. Kelly was still hanging all over Dylan (in Brenda's opinion), but Andrea had made her laugh with a "Clingy much?" statement in reference to Kelly, and she decided to tough it out. It's not like she hadn't done it before.
Brandon made his way over to Brenda and said something quietly to her. Brenda nodded and then Brandon returned to his seat. Brenda moved in closer to Andrea and told her what Brandon had said to her.
"My mom's putting together a brunch for everyone tomorrow at her house. Brandon got a call this afternoon from work and he has to fly back on Tuesday, so my mom thought it might be a nice way for everyone to spend some time together. You wanna come?"
"Brunch at your parents' house? I think I'll pass," said Andrea.
"Come on Andrea, if Brandon is leaving on Tuesday that doesn't give you a lot of time to tell him. We had a deal, remember?"
Andrea sighed. Oh well. She'd have to tell him at some point, she supposed.
"Okay, I'll come," Andrea said.
"Remind me never to come to a reunion with you again," she added.
They looked at each other and laughed, much to the confusion of Steve who had gradually edged his chair close enough to them to hear the last part.
