Chapter 7 He's Drunk Again

Brandon walked into Dylan's house. He stopped and shook his head as he saw Dylan laying on the couch passed out with his arms wrapped around a trashcan. Brandon tried to shake him, "Dylan…Dylan? Come on man." Brandon tried to lift him by pulling his arm, "Come on…Dylan…Hey." Brandon gently patted his cheek a couple times as Dylan finally came too. "Come on…wake up…wake up…come on let's walk around a little bit huh."

Dylan sat up eyes slowly opening as he pulled his arm back forcefully that Brandon was holding . He groaned, "I am fine." he said squinting at him. "What you thought I OD'd I was asleep." Dylan walked toward his back patio opening the back door.

"You must be a heavy sleeper, it took me two minutes to wake ya up."

"I am very tried." Dylan leaned his arms against the door frame and coughed.

"Big day shooting up the house?" Brandon stood back and looked at the bullet holes Dylan had put in his chair earlier that day. His eyes set on him again as he watched his friend drunk barely able to stand.

"What house? This isn't my house…I don't got a house, I don't got anything."

Brandon took a deep breath, "Look Dylan, I know that Kevin and Suzanne ripped you off man but you got to get over it."

"Yeah I'll get over it." Dylan said sarcastically as he swaggered over to the futon and sat on the arm of it. "First thing in the morning."

"Alright fine then don't get over it but do something besides just getting wasted everyday I mean." Brandon took a deep breath, "What are you saying man that there was never anything more to you than money?"

"Don't." Dylan yelled and got up facing Brandon, "Don't come over here after three months and start analyzing me…what do you know…how do you get so wise to come over here man? You live at home…you live the most coddled existence of anybody I know of and yet you'll come in here and tell me you have some idea of what I am going through." Dylan tossed a stack of mail to the floor, "You have no idea."

"Don't turn this around man, this aint about me."

Dylan lowered his tone taking breaths between his words trying not to cry, "No it aint ever about you is it Brandon…Brenda's got guts man…she had the guts, she moved away to another continent just to get away from you." he lashed out. He knew why Brenda went to London for that summer program, she was tired of living in Brandon's shadow, she wanted to do something, something her parents would be proud of and deep inside Dylan couldn't help but blame him.

Brandon shook his head and smirked more surprised than anything, "Are you sure you want to do this man, my sister is away…she isn't around to stick up for you and I am about the only friend got left."

"May the bridges I burn light the way."

"Ok." Brandon stuck his hands in his pocket sadly and turned toward the door.

"Don't take my gun." Dylan said defeated knowing that he had left it on the table. "If you walk out of here with it, I'll call the cops myself." Brandon turned away from the door.

"Go ahead my license is 3E55503, you want me to write it down for you?"

"Get out." Dylan said under his breath looking down but Brandon still heard him

"I don't even know what Brenda would say if she saw you like this." Brandon shook his head in disappointment.

"GET OUT!" Dylan yelled loudly.

Brandon looked sadly at a man that was once like a brother…part of his family…his best friend. He swallowed hard and walked out Dylan's front door slamming it behind him.

Dylan fell back slowly into the futon brushing his hair back. He closed his eyes and let himself once again pass out from the cruel world.

**

Brenda had read over her scene a dozen times. Her mind wasn't into it. It had been two going on three weeks since she had received a letter from Dylan. She used her calling card to try and get a hold of him instead of calling collect but he never returned her calls after leaving messages. Brenda loved school but she hated being so far away. Sometimes she thought about just leaving it, going back home but then she would think of herself, her future, people didn't get offered opportunities like this and no matter how much she missed Dylan she was only reminded how dumb that would be. Brenda took a deep breath and looked up. She smiled and tried not to stare as Olivia giggled as Sean whispered something in her ear. They were really cute and had been officially dating for a few weeks and watching them reminded her of herself and Dylan. Their interaction, the stolen kisses, the small smiles, the cute respect they had for each other and the way they were not alone but just looking at them, they could have been the only ones there. Also you didn't get grossed out it was almost intriguing. Brenda leaned her head back on the bed as she sat on the floor. She stared at the ceiling taking a deep breath.

"Sorry." Olivia apologized getting the impression they were leaving her out.

"Oh no…you guys are sweet. I feel so far from everything over here. I miss home, but I love it here too. Dylan is going through some stuff and I haven't heard from him. I am just out of the loop." Brenda gave Sean and Olivia a small smile not trying to bring the afternoon down.

Sean smirked and looked down before making eye contact with Brenda, "Why don't you come out with us tonight? We are going for some drinks, there is a band playing around the corner that is suppose to be awesome."

Brenda smiled; Sean was very cute and charming. He had dirty blonde hair, crystal blue eyes and a nice warm smile. Brenda and him hit it off from the beginning since he was originally from North Dakota and moved when he was 12 to Long Beach. So from the mid west to the west coast then to London, they had a lot in common. "I don't think so…you guys go, have fun, I don't really want to be a third wheel anyway."

"You won't be…Mike will be there." Sean smiled knowing Brenda was now for sure going to say no.

Brenda took a deep breath, "I don't know." she shook her head gently.

"Oh come on, Mike worships the ground you walk on, give him a chance, it doesn't have to be anything more than a group of friends going to have some fun." Olivia smiled tilting her head and giving Brenda pleading eyes. "Please."

"I don't want to give him the wrong idea." Brenda shook her head.

"Brenda…what are you afraid of?" Sean shrugged, "Are you afraid you will actually like him?"

Brenda looked down and took a deep breath, Mike was sweet but Brenda really didn't want to lead the guy on. She wasn't interested in dating anyone, she was still hung up on Dylan but the longer Brenda was in London and the less often Dylan wrote her, which now was going on three weeks made her realize more and more maybe she couldn't sit around and wait for Dylan McKay forever. It was tempting and it would be easier and honestly Brenda was lonely.

"Fine…I'll go…but just as friends." Brenda gave in.

Olivia and Sean looked at one another and lifted their eyebrows with a smile. Brenda noticed the two of them had guilty smiles, "As friends." Brenda emphasized.

Sean and Olivia smiled as Brenda threw her pillow at them, "You suck."

The phone rang and Olivia patted Sean's leg to get the phone. "Hello." Sean said.

"Hey…Sean was it?" Brandon said making note that the same guy was answering the Brenda's phone again.

"Yep…is this Brandon?" Sean remembered Brenda's brother from their last conversation.

"Pretty good memory."

"Same to you…want to talk to Bren?"

"Ah yeah, if she isn't busy."

"No, she is sitting right next to me." Sean held the phone out, "It's your brother."

Brenda grabbed the phone and shook her headwith a smile as Sean tackled Olivia to the ground and set small kisses on her neck.

"Hey Bran, how's life in L.A?" Brenda said chipper.

"It's ok." Brandon was short and his tone didn't sound like his normal happy self.

"Just ok? How are things going with Kelly?"

"Good…we are good." Brandon hesitated thinking of exactly how to tell his sister the reason he called.

"Brenda?" Olivia whispered.

"Hold on a sec Brandon." Brenda covered the bottom of the receiver, "What's up?" she said to Olivia.

"I am going to walk Sean to his room and get a soda, you want one?" Olivia continued to whisper.

Brenda shook her head, "No thanks…bye Sean see ya later." Brenda uncovered the receiver and gave them a small wave returning to her brother, "Bran?"

"Is Sean your boyfriend?" Brandon came out and asked.

Brenda laughed, "No…is that why you called...to check up on my love life Brandon?" Brenda said joking, "No that's Olivia's boyfriend."

Brandon rubbed his face thinking what an idiot he was for even spreading anything around about Brenda. He wasn't sure but he thought that hearing about Brenda may have set Dylan off even more. "That's not why I called." Brandon was serious. "Brenda…I am not really sure how to say this."

Brenda felt a pit in her stomach thinking something bad had to have happened. "What? Brandon you're scaring me."

Brandon took a deep breath, "It's Dylan."

Brenda stood up quickly placing her hand to chest as her eyes widened, "What happened? What's wrong with Dylan?" she said panicked.

Brandon started at the beginning, "Dad and Dylan had a disagreement shortly after you left for London and dad fired Dylan as his client not wanting to deal with Dylan's attitude anymore. Time passed on and no one really thought much of it but Dylan tried to take a second mortgage out on his house and because the change and stuff with Dylan's trust takes time they sent dad over some paperwork to be signed. Dad thought it was odd that a guy like Dylan with the millions he has in the bank would need to take out a loan, so he looked into it."

Brenda sat quiet realizing her family had found out about Suzanne and Kevin.

"Dad tried to find out what had happened but…they wouldn't tell him much. But Dad found out from someone that Suzanne and Kevin had ripped him off, they took all of his money and ran." Brandon swallowed hard.

"Who did he find out from?" Brenda didn't meant to say that. She knew no one had known Brenda and Dylan were keeping in contact with each other until a couple weeks ago. "I mean…how did he find out?" Brenda wasn't even sure if that fixed anything.

Brandon was quiet for a long minute, finally taking a deep breath, "Valerie." he said quietly.

Brenda smiled and shook her head, "Valerie? How would Valerie know? Do they even know each other?" Brenda was so confused.

Brandon was quiet again he dreaded the next two parts the most. "I guess they have been spending time together."

"What?" Brenda whispered, "Spending time together? Like they are dating?" Brenda voice finally had more volume to it.

"No…not really dating…"

"Well then what?" Brenda said losing her patience.

Brandon sighed, "I guess they were sleeping together." Brandon sat there on the phone as Brenda sat quietly.

"Bren?" Brandon finally spoke up.

"Dylan and Valerie? Really?" Brenda breathed out. "For how long?"

Brandon shrugged shaking his head, even though Brenda couldn't see, "I don't know for sure, a few weeks maybe…but Bren…that's not even the worse of it."

Brenda wiped the tears that fell from her eyes, she wasn't sure if she could hear something worse that that.

"Dylan is drunk again, he has been for awhile. Since the Kevin and Suzanne thing happened, we assume over the summer up until now. He's in pretty bad shape and when I went over there the other day, he barely could stand, he was drunk or maybe high or both. I saw something on the coffee table that looked like coke or something and he had shot up his house. He had a gun just sitting there on the coffee table. We got in a fight and I left but I was worried about him so I had gone back and sat there until morning just to make sure he was ok."

"Brandon." Brenda started to cry harder feeling so helpless. "Did you talk to him when he woke up?"

"I did…but it didn't really go anywhere. I am not his favorite person right now…a few weeks ago around Dylan's birthday, he came wasted to Donna's fund raiser party and made a scene after finding out about Kel and I."

"He was upset?" Brenda said softly, it just kept getting worse and worse.

"Yeah but I think it was more because of the principle of it all, he came in and spat off something about his best friend and old girlfriend, about karma being a bitch and that the wrong choice had came back to bite him in the ass. Kelly and I figured it was because of what they had done to you."

Brenda finally lowered herself to her bed taking a deep breath as the tears kept sliding down her cheeks, "What are you guys going to do Brandon, isn't someone going to help him?"

"Yeah…we all got together and we are going to have an intervention, we are meeting with an interventionist and we are going to try to get him over to our house so we can all express the concern we have for him and we are going to try to get him to go to rehab….I just think its a good idea. I know it must be hard being so far away, out of the loop."

"I am coming home." Brenda said without hesitation.

"No Bren…you have school, there is no way dad is going to pay for you to fly home for a intervention…for Dylan…believe me, not his favorite person right now. Besides what you are going to take an 8 hour flight for what 3 days, you cant miss classes…you cant waste your time on Dylan anymore. He is lost."

Brenda took a deep breath wiping her face. She could not imagine not being there. Brenda had always been there for him and they had been through too much together for Brenda not to be there for him now. But Brandon was right, flying home for a weekend? How would she pull that off? If her father wouldn't pay how could she afford it? With rehearsals and class…Brenda was so torn. Brenda began to tear up again thinking about Dylan drunk again. Then she felt like a knife had been forced into her heart once again, coming to the reality that not only was Dylan in trouble, he had done it to her again, he had slept with one of her friends.

"Look Brandon, I gotta go, Olivia is back, I will call you later, thanks for letting me know." Brenda hung up quickly. As she sat on her bed staring at the wall for a second, her face fell into her hands and Brenda cried loudly letting go all her disappointment and sadness. Just like that, without notice Dylan McKay had broke her heart…again.

*sniff* Damn you Dylan…you bastard. The story is taking a lot more of the s5 storyline than anticipated with my own little twist of course. It obviously got worse before it can get better. Anyway tell me what your thinking. Are you glad Brenda knows everything now? What about Val, do you think Brandon should have not told her? Let me know.