Chapter 6 Romance and Consequences
Brenda collected her paperwork after finally getting to register for school. She had been in line for an hour and to top it off only got one of the dramatic arts classes she had wanted. She wasn't going to get much drama classes this semester, at least not being a freshman. She settled on some general Ed classes she needed anyway. She looked toward the M's and saw Dylan still had quite a few people in front of him.
"Hey baby." she said trying to organize her papers.
"Bren, this is ridiculous, it's a zoo. Let's just go."
"Dylan, come on your almost there, you have been waiting so long already."
"I know but Bren I cant stand in this line one more minute."
Brenda tilted her head and gave him puppy dog eyes, "Dylan."
Dylan took a deep breath, "Fine, but you owe me."
"Whatever you want." Brenda smiled.
Dylan raised his eyebrows, "I am going to hold you to that."
Brenda looked ahead and a couple people had gone through and Dylan only had a few in front of him. "I am going to go to the book store, pick up my books, you get your classes and I will save you a spot in that line, how bout that?"
"Alright, I will meet you over there." Brenda gave Dylan a kiss and headed to the bookstore.
Brenda browsed through the literature books trying to find the one she needed.
"Brenda? Brenda Walsh?" she heard a voice say.
Brenda raised her head, "Jim?" Brenda smiled. "Jim Townsend? Oh my God, how are you?"
"I thought that was you, your going here? I haven't seen you, geez in years. Does your family still live in California?"
Brenda nodded, "Yep, Brandon is still there going to California University." Brenda looked down shyly. She didn't mean to flirt but he was just as cute as she remembered him. There was an awkward silence between them that was quickly interrupted by Dylan. He came up to her and smiled but got the feeling he was interrupting something. "I made it through that unbearable line." Dylan said as he looked back and forth at them.
Brenda smiled uncomfortably, "Hi." Dylan said to Jim.
"Oh I am sorry, Dylan McKay…Jim Townsend, he's an old friend from Minnesota."
"Oh hey, how you doing?" Dylan stuck out his hand to meet his acquaintance.
"Brenda Walsh wow, you look good, really good." Jim said as he ignored Dylan's presence and looked at her with a smile.
"You too." Brenda paused, "Do you still talk to Marjorie or any of the others?"
"No, after we broke up, we didn't remain friends, but you knew that already." Jim shyly looked down.
Brenda did know he didn't talk to Marjorie anymore; Marjorie was her best friend growing up back home and Jim was the same Jim that ruined their friendship. She recalled the time she told Kelly and Donna about him at the slumber party.
"Bren, we got to get out of here." Dylan said feeling like the third wheel
"Right, well maybe I will see you around Jim." Brenda went in for an awkward hug.
"I hope so, it was good seeing you." Dylan shifted his weight and shook his head.
"Bye."
Brenda watched her childhood crush walk away.
"What the hell was that?" Dylan said annoyed.
"Oh that was Jim." Brenda said innocently.
"Yeah I got that much, but how do you know him?"
"We had something going on briefly while I lived in Minneapolis, but he was dating my best friend at the time."
"Aw I get it. Looks like he likes you still."
"Oh stop, did you get the classes you wanted?"
"I did, I got my writing classes, plus this Romantic Poetry class that looks awesome."
"Oh hey I got that too, Monday, Wednesday and Friday right?"
"That's it; cool we can go to school together." Dylan joked.
Brenda laughed, "You can help me with my homework." Brenda leaned in and kissed him.
"Wow, I am not invisible anymore." Dylan was joking but obviously bothered by this Jim.
"Oh come on don't be like that, lets get out of here, we have apartments to see."
Brenda and Dylan finally bought their books and headed on their way.
**
Kelly grabbed her coffee after stirring in some sugar. She looked around for Brandon who was supposed to meet her after the freshman placement test. She noticed a crowd split and she finally saw him, as the crowd spilt more she saw who he was with. "Valerie" Kelly murmured and rolled her eyes. She made her way over to her them.
"Hey stranger, bout time you showed up." Kelly said moving in close to Brandon.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that Kel, I stole him for a few." Valerie gave her an obnoxious smile.
Kelly rolled her eyes and didn't justify the comment. "You ready?" Kelly leaned in and gently kissed Brandon on the lips.
"Hey people. What's shaking?" Steve came up to the group. "Valerie." Steve smiled
"Hey Steve." Valerie smiled and shook her head.
"Did you guys the classes you wanted?" Kelly asked sweetly.
"Nope. What can I say we are the little people. What about you?"
Kelly smiled, "I got my psyche class."
"Well maybe Kelly Taylor can get everything she wants." Steve joked.
Valerie rolled her eyes, "Hey Brandon, have you talked to Brenda? I wonder how the two love birds are doing playing house." Valerie raised an eyebrow.
"I talked to her last night; she and Dylan are doing well. They are staying at The Plaza if you guys want to call her." Brandon said wrapping his arm around Kelly.
"The Plaza? I should have known." Steve rolled his eyes, "Let me guess they are going to live there?"
"No actually, Brenda said they were looking at apartments today. Bren doesn't seem like the hotel living type." Brandon shrugged
"No but it doesn't take long to get used to something like that." Kelly grinned.
"Come on, I need to head to the book store, I need to bring Dylan's mail in and we need to catch up." Brandon said softly kissing her on the nose.
"Lead the way." Kelly smiled and the two made left.
"Those two give me the puke reflex." Valerie said rudely.
"Really?" Steve shrugged, "I guess I am just used to it. Want to get some coffee?"
Valerie watched while Brandon and Kelly disappeared around the corner and met Steve's glance. "Sure." Steve wrapped his arm around her leading the way.
**
"You like it?" Dylan looked at Brenda.
"Yeah its great, how much is the rent?" Brenda turned toward the landlord.
"It's $1,500 a month, utilities included, but there is a $200 maintance fee for the building." The older women said.
"$1,500? For a one bedroom?" Brenda looked unsure. "Dyl's that's too much."
"Welcome to new York." The lady said
Dylan smiled, "Give us a second, ok?" the women nodded.
"Dylan, I can't afford this."
"Bren, it's a nice place, we are blocks from school and its twice the size as the closet we looked at before. I can afford it." Dylan rubbed his hands down her arms. "For the city, for this area, its actually cheap."
Brenda sighed, "I don't know."
"Bren, come one, we aren't going to live in a dump and we are paying that a week at the hotel anyway. Let me do this for us."
Brenda smiled slowly, "Why can I never tell you no."
"Hmmm I can be very persuasive." Dylan nodded.
"Ok..ok..stop spoiling me, I could get used to this."
Dylan smirked, "Alright we'll take it." Dylan leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Great" the lady said smiling, "Apartments like this are hard to come by, you guys will like it here. Its available now, lets go down to my office, sign some papers and I can have you guys in here by the weekend."
**
Brenda paced back and forth in the bathroom in the hotel. She kept the bath water running so Dylan wouldn't know what she was doing. Brenda plopped down on the toilet and began biting her nails. She was two weeks late for her period. She hadn't even thought about it with arriving in New York and registering for school, apartment hunting she hadn't realized she hadn't had one. She and Dylan were always careful; they had been since the first scare. Brenda began counting the weeks back in her head, Brenda closed her eyes realizing, "Europe" she whispered. They barely used protection when they were there, they would get caught up in the romance, mystique and being together. How could she be so irresponsible, she was only 18 years old, she was starting school and Dylan was finally excided about this new beginning they were sharing. Brenda glanced down at her watch, it had been 5 minutes. Brenda nervously got up looking toward the bathroom counter, maybe it's just a false alarm again. She swallowed hard and took the two steps toward the sink. She took a deep breath and picked up the white stick.
"Bren..food is here." Dylan called out from the other room.
"Alright, I will be out in a second." Brenda yelled back.
She raised the stick closer…..two lines. It had two lines. Brenda grabbed the box making sure she was reading it correctly. She backed up slowly staring at the pregnancy test. She slowly lowered herself to the toilet again. Dylan softly knocked on the bathroom door.
"Bren? You ok?" Dylan said softly on the other side of the door.
Brenda nervously shot up, "Ah yeah babe, I am fine, just getting dressed." Brenda threw the test in the box, she placed it in the bottom of the trash can making sure there was plenty of trash and toilet paper over it. Still in shock, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the bathroom door.
Finally an update!! I hope it was ok, I know all of you probably had no idea this was going to happen. And I am sure you still don't because there are surprises to follow. Tell me what your thinking.