Chapter 8 The Replacements

Dylan stared at his ceiling as he lay in his bed. The past few weeks had been a daze, not only was he drunk almost every hour of the day but he had been doing drugs and after meeting a girl at the pool hall, he found out quickly after sleeping with her, she was the friend of the family staying in no other than Brenda's room, "Her replacement" as she referred to her as. He had no idea who she was but Valerie knew exactly who he was when she walked into that pool hall. Dylan was so drunk, after sleeping with her he told her about Kevin and Suzanne not knowing who she was, come to find out after a visit from Jim Walsh a few weeks later, Dylan found out pretty quickly who Valerie was and that she had told him about being broke. Dylan lifted himself off the bed and looked into the living room hearing his front door open. He grabbed his shirt and headed into the living room hearing Valerie call out.

"Dylan…its me." Valerie let herself in closing the door behind her.

"I'll have to remember to lock that door." Dylan said angrily putting on his shirt.

"Are you alone? Cause if you're not I'll go." Valerie said hesitating, considering she had caught him with a girl the other day. Dylan had brought her home from the bar just to send her packing before anything happened.

"And if I am not, will you still go?"

"I just want to talk to you." Valerie said hurt.

"I think you have done enough talking lately."

Valerie looked confused, "I don't know what you mean."

Dylan walked to the other side of his living room keeping his coldness toward her. "It means I got a visit from Jim Walsh and Brandon that I could have lived without."

"Is it my fault he got a fax about you and started snooping around?" Valerie tried to lie.

"You don't have to give me crap about a fax, I know you told him that I am broke. You don't lie very well and I hate a liar." Dylan glared at her.

"Well you have been lying to everyone for months, pretending you're still Ritchie rich, lying about how long you have been in town for, lying about drinking and being sick. Who were you trying to hide it from anyway, it was only a matter of time before everyone found out…including Brenda."

Dylan swallowed hard but kept his front, "Oh so you did me a favor…I don't think so I think you're mad because you came in here the other night and found me with a girl."

"You don't know how intimidating Jim Walsh can be." Valerie raised her voice.

Dylan shook his head with a smirk, "Oh I know exactly how intimating Jim Walsh can be…what did he do…bully you?" Dylan said sarcastic.

"What did you expect me to do; I am living in his house." Valerie tried to justify, keeping her tone.

"Hey." Dylan shrugged walking toward the door, "You can stand up to him, Bren did, in fact she got pretty good at it in the end, standing up to big Jim."

"You know the Walsh's were really concerned about you." Valerie turned to face him, hurt he brought Brenda up at all.

"Yeah…well if they cared so much." Dylan opened the front door, "Tell me this, how come I was never good enough for their daughter…at least Brenda had the guts to call them on it."

Valerie looked down holding in her tears, "I am not Brenda…don't talk to me about Brenda…I will never be Brenda…STOP TRYING TO REPLACE ME WITH BRENDA." she yelled getting closer to him.

"NO…you're not Brenda…you're just pretending to be…And I think you like it, I think you like living in Brenda's house, sleeping in Brenda's bed, fucking Brenda's boyfriend, you got Brenda's brother and Brenda's parents all wrapped up in that nice cozy little package…instant family." Dylan yelled back.

Valerie started to cry, "What's wrong with that?" she broke down.

Dylan took a deep breath seeing her cry, she was like him, she held on to the Walsh's like he had done all those years ago. The feeling of being part of a family, the closeness, the love and support, he couldn't blame her for it. He shook his head, "Nothing." He said calming down.

Valerie broke down as Dylan hugged her feeling bad for even getting involved with her. Here he was yelling at her, calling her out when he did the same thing. And he was guilty of looking to Valerie as a replacement too. He used her, they used each other.

**

Brenda sat trying to be social as they listened to the band at a nearby pub. She for the most part stayed pretty quiet and tried to enjoy herself. In fact she hadn't even hesitated going out with Olivia, Sean and Mike. Obviously Dylan didn't have a problem with moving on, why should she. Not saying she would go for it with Mike or anything but why should she sit in her room in tears dwelling on the fact that Dylan was still the same old jerk he had been that senior year in high school.

"You ok?" Mike leaned in to whisper in her ear since the music was so loud.

Brenda gave him a tight smile and nodded, "Yeah…thanks."

"Do you want another drink, I am going to get up and get myself one." Mike said nicely.

Brenda looked at him, he was so cute and into her. Why couldn't she move on from Dylan? Why did he have such a hold on her? She hated it and sometimes she wished she had never fell in love with him to begin with. Mike had short dark wavy hair. He didn't use much product in it but it still looked good. He was tan and had green eyes. His teeth were straight and white. He had dimples and nice lips, definitely an actor type even though Brenda could picture him more on TV than theater. When he talked to her he looked into her eyes. She never caught him glancing down at her breasts or doing anything that even hinted at being inappropriate, like most guys their age. He was respectful and sweet. He was crazy about her and it didn't take a genius to figure it out. She was attracted to him she just wasn't ready. And to top it off, she was terrified of getting hurt again.

"I am ok actually." Brenda smiled politely. Mike nodded with a small smile getting up as Sean followed him to the bar.

Olivia leaned in with a smile, "How's it going?"

Brenda looked at her shaking her head at her not so sly approach, "Not subtle by the way and yes it's going fine." Brenda took a deep breath.

Olivia looked sadly at her, "I am sorry about Dylan…it must be hard to care about someone so much and hear he is having trouble and not being able to help." Brenda had filled her in a little, not the Valerie part though, Brenda couldn't even repeat that.

"Yeah…but thanks for inviting me, it's a nice distraction even though it isn't if you know what I mean."

Olivia nodded wrapping her arm around Brenda bringing her in for a supportive hug. "It will be okay."

"I hope so." Brenda whispered as the guys made their way back to the table and the girls separated.

The rest of the evening went well actually and Mike even got Brenda to smile a few times. As the four of them walked back to the dorms, Brenda and Mike walked a bit back not saying much as they watched Olivia and Sean try to walk and make out at the same time. The looked at each other at the same time and let out a little laugh as they were kind of entertaining.

"Thanks for coming out with me…I don't know about you but its definitely a lot better not being the third wheel with those two even though I haven't seen Sean that happy in years."

"How long have you guys been friends?" Brenda made conversation.

Mike thought about it, "5 years. My dad is in the military so we moved around a lot, but we kept in touch and we had both auditioned to come here…and got in, so the rest is history."

"That's cool." Brenda smiled as the trucked up the steps to the dorm hall. All four of them headed into Brenda and Olivia's room and sat, talking and laughing. It became awkward quickly when Olivia and Sean began to make out rather heavily leaving Mike and Brenda looking at each other uncomfortably. Brenda was feeling more like high school than college age but then again Brenda had a boyfriend in high school that had his own place. How many girls could say that?

Brenda froze as Mike came closer to her; he leaned in and whispered in her ear, making Brenda exhale relieved. "Want to go for a walk or something?"

Brenda looked at her friend who had moved onto the bed as they began pulling off jackets and sweatshirts. She smiled at him and nodded. The two of them got up quickly not really wanting to be in the same room as two horny teenagers that looked as though they were about to do more than just make out. Brenda and Mike walked around the park near their dorm hall, which wasn't even a dorm hall really. It was more off campus housing for the students but everyone referred to it as that, well at least the American students did. RADA was small compared to most universities. It was quant, and all indoors, it was located in the theater district so it was fun being so close to them. It didn't take long for Brenda to fall in love with London.

"So Brenda…you like London?" Mike said with his hands in his pockets as they walked slowly through the park.

"Yeah…I like it a lot, it just takes some getting used to." Brenda hesitated, "Being so far from home."

"Yeah I know…I have moved around so much, there is nothing like going away from your friends and having to start again. Not knowing anybody, it never gets easy."

Brenda nodded in agreement but kept her eyes straight in front of her. She felt so betrayed but at the same time she felt so badly about Dylan and even after hearing what he did to her, she wanted to help him.

"You thinking about Dylan?" Mike said looking over at her casually.

Brenda looked at him surprised, "Sean and Olivia kind of explained some stuff to me. I guess when your crazy about someone but their heart is somewhere else your friends feel the need to explain it so it doesn't suck as bad." Mike gave her a sweet smile.

"I am sorry…there is just stuff going on at home, so my mind is preoccupied. Don't take it personally…and Dylan…is…well a constant presence in my life, good and bad."

"Are you guys together?" Mike asked not really knowing if he really truly wanted to know.

"No…we were before I came here with the intention of me coming back after the summer but things changed when I decided to stay." Brenda had stopped as she leaned against a nearby wall. "Dylan and I are really complicated but no we aren't together, but he's a friend, he's part of my family and he is going through a lot right now."

"So why don't you go home?" Mike leaned against the wall next to her.

Brenda head shot towards him, "Go home? Because this is what I love to do, I would be an idiot to throw that all away."

"No I mean not for good, why don't you go home and see everyone, talk to Dylan and then you can come back."

"How? It's expensive flying to L.A. my father would never give me the money to fly there especially if it had to do with Dylan."

Mike sighed and moved in front of her as Brenda slowly raised her head so her eyes met with his. "I don't like to see you like this. If there was something I could do to help you forget about him or the drama at home I would." Mike set is hands on the top of Brenda's arms and rubbed down gently. "I like you."

Brenda took a deep breath, she was about to give him the…I am not ready, it wouldn't be fair speech when she felt his lips on hers. At first she stood still, not moving her mouth but soon after let go. She slowly closed her eyes and began to move her mouth with his. She felt his arms warp around her and pull her against him. She got lost in that kiss which was full of passion and tension. She found herself lifting her hand to the back of his neck and realized she was leading him on. It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to him or that she didn't like him. It just was bad timing. Brenda slowly broke away from the kiss and looked down.

"Mike." she whispered not exactly sure what she was going to say.

"I know…but I have been wanting to do that for weeks." Mike lifted her chin so look at him. "I am not going to pressure you to move forward with me. I hope that we can at least be friends, maybe someday more but I understand and honestly I don't want just a little of you. If your heart belongs to him then I don't want it unless I can have all of it."

Brenda smiled slightly, she took a deep breath feeling a bit on the awkward side and brought her arms out swinging to her side.

"What do you say I walk you back to your room?" Mike continued to look at her.

"It's only been like 15 minutes, do you think they're done yet?"

Mike laughed lightly moving to her side and wrapping his arm around her, "I love Sean, and yes he is a stud but…he's still a 19 year old boy, I am pretty positive he is done."

Brenda laughed for the first time all night, "Wow I didn't think you had a inappropriate bone in your body…a sex joke…I didn't think you had it in you." Brenda joked.

"There is a lot of things you don't know about me Brenda Walsh. But hopefully one day you will."

Brenda smiled at him and looked into his eyes while they walked closely, "I hope so."

**

Olivia and Mike had gotten dressed and sat cuddling. "How do you think Mike and Brenda are doing?" Sean said pulling Olivia into him tighter.

"I am sure not as good as I am doing." Olivia joked, "She probably wants to kick my ass I left her alone with him."

"What's up with her and that Dylan guy anyway?"

Olivia sighed, "From what it sounds like, they have been through a lot together. When she talks about him you can tell right away he is the only guy she has ever loved but at the same time the only one that has hurt her so badly. I don't think she knows what's going on with Dylan."

Olivia and Sean looked at each other as the phone rang. Olivia looked at her clock, "Who would be calling at 1 o'clock in the morning?" She leaned up from Sean's arms and reached for the phone. "Hello?"

"Ah…hey…is Brenda there?" the voice said nervously.

"Can I tell her who's calling?"

"It's Dylan."

Ok chapter 8 up, things are heating up and more letters to come. Next up the intervention.