Sorry for the wait! Enjoy!
A Window to the Past – Chapter 5
Donna gets up slowly after staring at Kelly's door and listening to her stomp around the room. She walks to the phone and dials.
'Hello?'
'Brenda, thank God you're home,' Donna says.
'Hey, Donna, what's going on?' Brenda says.
'Kelly has completely lost her mind and I don't know what to do,' Donna cries.
'What happened?'
'Since Brandon left, Kelly has been moping around here thinking that she may have lost a chance to be with him or something,' Donna tells her.
'Lost her chance to be with him? What does that mean?'
'I don't know, Bren. I think she's convinced herself that Brandon is her soul mate,' Donna says.
'Really? Did something happen between them before he left?'
'Not that I know of, but she's obsessed at this point. She's planning a trip to D.C. during Spring Break that she's forcing me and probably Steve to go on with her. What do you think, Bren? Do you think they have a chance?'
Brenda thinks about it for a few seconds. 'Well, from what Brandon tells me, he's dating some girl he met at work and he's really happy,' Brenda tells her.
'Yeah, that's what Steve told me. I tried to talk her out of it, but I didn't just want to blurt out that he's with someone,' Donna says.
'I definitely wouldn't do that. I say just go, Donna, I mean, what is it really going to hurt? It'll be fun to take a road trip and if Brandon is really serious about this girl, then Kelly being there won't matter,' Brenda says.
'Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe we can knock Kelly out or something so that we don't have to hear her talk about Brandon all the way across the country,' Donna says laughing out loud.
Brenda joins her and says, 'Well, it should be interesting either way, Donna.'
'So, how are things with you?' Donna asks.
'Oh, I'm alright. I just finished a tour and am on the hunt for another job,' Brenda tells her.
'Well, if you don't find a job before Spring Break, you could meet up with us in D.C.,' Donna suggests.
Brenda smiles into the phone. 'Yeah, I'll think about it,' she says.
'Well, thanks for the chat, but I have to go make sure Kelly isn't playing with voodoo dolls or something. Talk to you soon!' Donna says.
'Okay,' Brenda says with a laugh.
'What was that all about?' Dylan asks her.
'Donna called to tell me how worried she was about Kelly. For some reason, Kelly has got it into her head that Brandon is her soul mate and that they need to take a road trip to visit him during Spring Break,' Brenda tells him.
Dylan smirks and sits at the table with Brenda.
'Well, that's an interesting development. Leave it to Kelly to start some drama,' he says.
Brenda smiles again and turns her attention to her computer when an email from her agent pops up.
She opens it and starts to read. 'Oh my God,' she says out loud.
'What?'
'This better be for real,' she says, quickly dialing the phone.
'Please tell me you're not jerking my chain with this email,' she says when he picks up the phone.
Dylan watches Brenda's expression turn from nervousness to extreme excitement.
'Holy shit,' she says. 'I'm in, I'll leave right now if they want me to.'
'That is the best news I have heard in a long time. You are a genius, thank you!' Brenda says into the phone and hangs it up. She slams it on the table and starts to jump with excitement.
'Whoa, Bren, what is going on?'
'Dylan,' Brenda says, calming herself down, 'do you think New York is far enough away from London?'
She walks to where he is seated and jumps into his lap. She wraps her arms around his neck and holds on tight.
'New York?' Dylan says with confusion as he puts his arms around her waist.
'My agent got a call from a producer that was in Ireland and saw the tour. He wants me to play Dotty in 'Noises Off' on Broadway without so much as an audition!' she tells him.
Dylan squeezes her body into his own. She lets go and stands in front of him with a huge smile on her face.
He stands up and immediately picks her up and starts to spin her around the room. She laughs and holds on to him until he puts her down.
'That is some of the best news I've ever heard,' he says.
'I can't even believe this is happening. Broadway, Dylan! They want me to perform on Broadway!'
'I am so happy for you, Bren,' he says. 'When do you have to be there?'
'Next week,' she says breathlessly. 'They're going to put me up in a hotel until I can find an apartment or something. Oh my God, I have to get packing,' she says and starts to frantically run around the house.
He catches up with her and grabs her arm to stop her from moving.
'Bren, relax, you have some time and I'll help you, okay?' he says.
Brenda takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. 'Right, right,' she says.
Brenda walks back to the table and picks up the phone.
'Brandon! You are not going to believe what I am about to tell you!' she says with excitement into the phone.
Dylan smiles at her as she walks around the house talking to Brandon.
'Wow, Bren, that is incredible. You'll only be a few hours away from me. This is going to be great,' Brandon tells her.
She finally gets off of the phone and grabs a piece of paper to start making a list of all of the things she has to do before leaving.
Brandon's Apartment
'Well, Amy, it looks as if you'll get to meet Brenda sooner than we thought,' Brandon tells her.
'Really? What's going on?' she asks him.
'Brenda just landed a job on Broadway!' he says with excitement.
'Wow, Broadway, that's incredible,' Amy says. The wheels begin to turn in her head and she smiles to herself.
Brandon goes into the kitchen to get another bottle of wine for them and doesn't see the glint in Amy's eye.
They drink about half the bottle when Amy gets up and tells Brandon that she's going to go home to get some sleep.
'Are you sure you don't want to stay?' he asks her with his arms around her waist.
She smiles up at him and kisses him on the tip of the nose. 'I can't tonight, I actually have to get some sleep, Brandon. I seem to always wake up tired when I stay here.'
'Mmmmm, wonder why that is?' he says.
She smiles and kisses him. 'Goodnight, Brandon.'
He watches her walk out and smiles to himself thinking about Brenda.
Amy goes back to her apartment and immediately picks up the phone and starts to dial.
'Listen, I've figured it out. We don't have to worry that Beau is no longer in the picture,' she says.
'Why?'
'Well, it just so happens that Brenda is going to be in New York in a week or two to perform on Broadway,' she says.
'Oh, that's perfect,' the voice says.
'It's like taking candy from a baby. I'll call you back later with the details,' she says.
She gets off of the phone and smiles.
The Beach Apartment
'Okay, are you sure we have everything? I don't want to be halfway across the country and have to turn back because you forgot something,' Steve says to Kelly and Donna, staring at the pile of luggage on the floor in their living room.
'We have everything Steve. We're not leaving for another two days. We'll have time to think of what we may have forgotten,' Donna says.
'So, Kel, you're going to take your Psychology mid-term early so we can leave, right?' Steve asks her.
'Yes, Steve. I already talked to my professor and he's allowing me to take it in his office tomorrow afternoon,' she says. 'Relax, everything is going to be fine.'
'I'm relaxed,' he says looking at them, 'Okay, maybe I'm not that relaxed, I'm excited. I can't wait to get there.'
Kelly and Donna start to laugh at him and he eventually joins in.
Brenda's Apartment
Brenda had gotten some boxes from the bar down the street and starts to pack away some of her valuable items.
'Bren?' Dylan asks, sitting down next to her on the floor where she was wrapping up some knick-knacks.
'Yeah?'
'How long is the show in New York supposed to run?'
'I don't know, Dylan, it's an open-ended contract. It could run for a few months or a few years,' she tells him.
'Are you bringing everything with you?' he asks her.
'No, of course not, Dylan,' she says with a smile. 'Don't be silly. I'll put some stuff in storage that I don't want to just sit here.'
'What can I help you with?' he asks her.
'Um, well, you can start going through the kitchen if you want,' she suggests.
'You got it,' he says with a wink and gets up.
Dylan starts to open the drawers in her kitchen, choosing essential items that she would need to bring with her.
He opens one of the drawers and finds that it's full of papers and junk. He sighs and empties the contents onto the counter. He starts sifting through old playbills, birthday cards, and coupons that had expired.
He drops a playbill on the counter and a picture falls from his fingers. He slowly picks it up and stares at it for a full minute.
Brenda hears him stop moving and turns her head from wrapping a vase. She sees him staring down at something.
'Dylan?' she says.
He snaps his head up in the direction of her voice.
'What is it?' she asks, having no clue what he could have found to make him freeze like that.
He smiles weakly at her and moves slowly to where she is sitting. He picks up her hand and puts the picture in it.
She looks down and sees their smiling faces staring back at her. She immediately thinks of the moment she came down the stairs and saw Kelly wearing the same dress the night of the Spring Dance.
'Wow, look at how young we look,' Brenda says.
'One of the best nights of my life,' Dylan says softly, sitting down next to her.
Brenda looks at the picture again and then looks up to meet Dylan's eyes.
'After that night, I really thought that we would be together forever,' Brenda admits.
'Yeah, me too, and then you broke up with me,' he says.
'We were young, Dylan. I had no idea what was happening to me at that time,' she says.
'I know, Bren,' he says and takes the picture from her hand. He looks at it again and can't help but smile.
'Sometimes I wish we could go all the way back and do it all over again,' he says.
'Ugh, Dylan, why would you want to do that? I was so excited to finally be out of high school. I never want to relive that,' she says.
'Not the high school part, Brenda,' he says watching her start to laugh.
'It was so much simpler back then, Dylan. Everything was very black and white. We're not even the same people now that we were then,' she says.
'We may be slightly different now, Brenda, but the shadows of our younger selves are in there somewhere,' Dylan says.
'Yeah, maybe you're right,' she says. Brenda stares at the picture again and starts to remember how happy she was that night. She begins to remember the hotel room and how he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She remembers his soft touch and feeling every moment that went by slowly.
She turns her eyes to look at him and gets an overwhelming urge to grab Dylan by the back of the head and kiss him. She sees a familiar look in his eyes as he looks up from the picture to meet hers.
'Bren,' he whispers to her.
Brenda stops thinking about everything and with both of her hands pulls his face into hers. Their lips meet and a shockwave passes through her body as he puts his arms around her.
She pushes back and he slowly lies on the floor with her on top of him. They wrap arms and legs around each other as they kiss with passion that seemed to come out of nowhere.
They start to undress each other and try as hard as they can to keep their mouths touching. They make love slowly, enjoying each moment as it passes, just like the first time.
Brenda lies in Dylan's arms and closes her eyes. She smiles to herself and then starts to laugh out loud.
'What's so funny?' he asks her, sitting up.
'I think we actually became teenagers again for a little while,' she says.
'Why do you say that?' he asks.
'Dylan, look around,' Brenda says turning her head from side to side, 'we were so engaged in what we were doing that we didn't even notice that we just made love on a hardwood floor.'
Brenda starts to laugh uncontrollably and puts her hands over her face.
Dylan smiles and then starts to laugh with her. She gets up off of the floor and puts her hand out for him to take.
She helps him up and walks them to her bedroom. She lies down on the bed, bringing him with her.
Dylan lies halfway on top of her and puts his hand up to her cheek. He stares into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity.
Brenda smiles at him and leans forward to kiss him.
'Dylan?'
'Yeah?'
'I know this may sound weird, but spending the night with you that first time was one of the happiest memories I have of us,' she says softly.
Dylan watches her face as she talks and can't help but think of how much his body reacts to every move she makes.
'We had some good times together, but nothing tops that one,' she continues.
'Brenda, I have never in my life felt the way I did then with anyone else,' he tells her. 'I don't know what it was about you that brought all of that out, but you were the only one who could.'
Brenda nods her head and meets his eyes. 'Did you ever think your life would turn out the way that it has?'
Dylan thinks for a moment and leans down to kiss her. 'Parts of it are exactly how I thought they would turn out,' he says.
Brenda smiles again and wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him closer. They start to kiss again, this time as slow as they can possibly kiss.
Brenda and Dylan begin to move together slowly. Brenda feels almost numb from the overwhelming emotions of being with Dylan again. She tries as hard as she can to turn her brain off and just enjoy him for the moment.
The Beach Apartment
'Kelly, are you ready yet?' Donna yells, moving from the living room into Kelly's bedroom.
She sees Kelly sitting in the middle of her bed, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them.
'Kel? What's the matter?' Donna asks her.
Kelly looks up at Donna without moving her head.
'Oh my God, please tell me you haven't changed your mind,' Donna says sitting on Kelly's bed.
'No, no, I haven't. I'm just,' Kelly pauses, 'a little nervous.'
'Nervous about what? You were so intent on doing this,' Donna says.
'I know, I know, I still am, it just came over me all of a sudden.'
'Kelly, it will take us a days to get to D.C., okay? You'll have plenty of time to work this out before we get there. We really have to leave now, though, okay?'
Kelly nods her head at Donna and doesn't move when Donna gets up.
'Come on, Kel, we have to go,' Donna says, standing in front of her with her arms across her chest.
'Okay, okay,' Kelly says, finally moving to get off of the bed. She grabs her purse and follows Donna out into the living room.
'Finally,' Steve says, grabbing the last of the luggage and going out to the car.
With Steve driving, Donna gets in the front seat and lets Kelly take the back all to herself.
'Okay, let's get out of here,' Steve says and starts to drive down the road.
Kelly turns her head and watches the beach and the apartment get smaller and smaller and tries to calm the knot in her stomach.
She closes her eyes and starts to breathe in and out very slowly.
Washington D.C.
'So, when does your sister get here?' Amy asks Brandon as they clear the table after dinner.
'Um, I'm not sure. I think she said she has to be here by next week,' he says with a smile on his face.
'Wow, someone's very excited about this,' she says.
'Brenda and I are in the process of rebuilding our relationship with each other. We got into a really big fight a while ago and just recently reconnected. I'm really looking forward to her being close so that we can touch base more often,' he tells her.
'I thought you guys were really close?' Amy asks.
'Well, we were, and then we weren't. It's a long story that I'd rather not get into right now,' he says, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her close.
'I have to say that since you've been here, I've never seen you smile this much,' she says.
Brandon smiles again and then starts to laugh. 'It's unavoidable,' he says.
She leans up to kiss him and puts her arms around his neck.
'I really can't wait for her get here,' he says, turning around to put some dishes in the sink.
'Neither can I,' Amy says with a devilish smile.
London
Brenda gets up and gets out of bed to make some coffee. She watched Dylan sleeping for a few minutes before getting out of bed. They slept in the same bed the night after they had made love like teenagers, but all they did was sleep. She tried not to think of what happened between them, but the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach was getting worse by the second.
She sits at the table with her coffee staring at the wall. The feeling in the pit of her stomach becomes more and more intense with every thought she has of his arms around her, him kissing her neck, and touching her body. She sighs and puts her cup down and can't help but wonder if she just made the biggest mistake of her life.