Chapter 3: Sorry
A loud bang startled Brandon out of a pleasurable dream. He heard Brenda muttering a curse word under her breath as her shadow crept past his room. He groaned and sat up in bed.
"Bren?" he called, waiting expectantly.
"What?" she called irritably, poking her head into the room.
"Going somewhere?" he smirked.
"Shut up, Brandon," she hissed. "You'll wake up Mom and Dad." She slipped inside his room and shut the door noiselessly behind her. Brandon shot a quick look over at the clock and was stunned to see it was nearly two in the morning.
"Brenda! Where the hell were you?" He paused and studied his sister's face, not really needing an answer. He knew she could have only been one place.
"I was out," she replied evasively.
"Right," Brandon nodded. "Out. And you managed to convince Mom and Dad that you weren't feeling well and were going to bed early, or that's what they told me when I got home from work." He shook his head. "I don't know how you can lie to them so casually. They trust you Bren, and clearly, they shouldn't." Brenda pursed her lips and placed a hand on her hip.
"Oh, get off your high horse, Brandon. Like you've never lied to Mom and Dad." She rolled her eyes.
"So you were with Dylan," he confirmed. Brandon knew his parents weren't thrilled with Brenda dating Dylan McKay, and that only compounded the betrayal in his mind.
"Yeah, I was," she sniffed. "What's it to you? It's late and I'm tired."
"Yes, it's late and I'm tired, and I was asleep before someone's clumsy sneak attack woke me out of a very pleasant dream."
"The one where you win the Stanley Cup or the one with Michelle Pfeiffer?" Brenda teased.
"Neither," Brandon smirked, not about to confess his less-obvious late-night fantasies to his sister. "C'mon Bren, level with me. Why sneak out to see Dylan tonight when you've got a big date with him tomorrow that Mom and Dad willingly went along with? You know they're not crazy about letting you go down to Santa Monica with him."
"There's nothing for them to worry about," Brenda hedged. "It's not like we're staying over or anything." Brandon stifled a snort.
"Bren, Mom and Dad ain't stupid, in spite of their naiveté. They know all two teenagers need is the backseat of a car."
"Brandon, don't be crass," she replied, horrified at the thought of discussing her love life with her brother. "I went to Dylan's tonight because I needed to talk to someone."
"And Kelly wasn't answering her phone?" Brenda spent most nights on the phone with Kelly or Donna, usually Kelly, so Brandon was surprised to hear Brenda had sought out her boyfriend for a sympathetic ear.
"Kelly is part of the problem," she said quietly after a prolonged silence. Brandon remembered Kelly had been gone when Brenda roused him from his nap that afternoon, and it suddenly made sense why she would have disappeared so quickly.
"You guys had a fight?"
"Yes, if you must know, we did. Or maybe you shouldn't call it a fight. I said something I shouldn't have, Kelly jumped to conclusions, got upset and stormed out of here." Brenda finally stopped leaning against the door and walked towards her brother's bed, gingerly sitting down near the bottom, not quite sure where Brandon's own feet were, careful not to sit on them. "I had tried to call Donna," she explained, "but when I got through, Donna was on the other line with Kelly, and I just knew I'd feel tag-teamed and Donna would take her side. They've been friends so much longer than either has known me."
"What was the fight about?" He wasn't really looking for a heart-to-heart at two a.m., but the strange look that crossed Brenda's face suggested something really wasn't right.
"Oh, nothing important," she said dismissively, waving her hand. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "It's late, Brandon, and I'm tired," she repeated.
"You already said that, but you woke me up, and now I'm awake, and you're going to tell me what you and Kelly had a fight about. You forget I know when you're lying, Bren, and 'nothing important' probably is 'something important.' So spill." She began fidgeting with her hands and avoiding his eyes.
"Well," she began, drawing out the letters "Kelly came over after school to do homework…"
"I know, I saw her, remember?" He shook his head. "Cut to the chase, Bren. Give me the short version."
"Okay, geez, Brandon, you're awfully bossy tonight."
"This morning," he corrected emphatically, "it's 2 in the morning. Get to the point."
"I accused Kelly of liking someone, and she denied it, but then I told her she wasn't really this guy's type, and she took it badly."
"Who does Kelly like?" Brandon asked nonchalantly, definitely curious as to the answer.
"It's not important, Brandon," Brenda sighed exasperatedly. "Would you stay with me?"
"I'm trying," he snapped back. "You're not making much sense."
"I'm tired!" she retorted hoarsely. "But you're the one insisting on the brotherly chat."
"Fine, Bren, go to bed," he sighed. "Forgive me for trying to be supportive and help you out. It's just when I saw Kelly tonight…"
"You saw Kelly tonight?" she asked, surprised. "Where?"
"She came into the Pit to pick up a take-out order for her and her mom." Brenda raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Kelly's mother tended to order her takeout from places like Spago. She began to wonder if Kelly had persuaded her mom to order from the Pit full-well knowing Brandon was working.
"Oh," Brenda replied, "I see. Did she say anything?"
"No, not at all." Brandon shook his head. "I mean, we really didn't talk much, but she didn't seem any different, same Kelly that's always hanging around here."
"Dylan thinks I should apologize to her," Brenda explained.
"I don't know what you'd be apologizing for," he pointed out, as Brenda was still dancing around the topic of their falling out.
"When I said Kelly wasn't this guy's type…"
"What guy?" Brandon asked again, unable to resist the urge to satisfy his own curiosity.
"You don't know him, Brandon! He's just some guy on the track team."
"I write the sports column, Brenda. I know most of the big name athletes at West Beverly," he reminded her. Brenda swore to herself and lamented the fact she wasn't better at lying on the spot.
"Kyle Conner, okay. Are you practicing to be an investigative reporter?" She sighed. "So when I said Kelly wasn't really his type, she wanted to know why, and I didn't really answer her right away, and she assumed I meant…" she trailed off and bit her lip, a look of regret sweeping over her face.
"Bren, what did you say?" Brandon pressed gently.
"I didn't actually say anything! But Kelly assumed I meant, well…she assumed I meant she was…" she coughed and trailed off again.
"Bren," he coaxed gently.
"She assumed I meant she was too slutty for him," she replied meekly.
"Oh, Brenda," Brandon sighed, shaking his head.
"I didn't say it Brandon!" she sputtered.
"Is that what you meant, though?" Her eyes raised and met his guiltily and gave him her answer. "Brenda, I can't say I blame her for being upset. Can you imagine how you'd feel if your friend implied something like that about you? And how do you even know Kyle Conner well enough to know what kind of girl he even dates?"
"I know, Brandon," she wailed. "I do feel awful about it, so now you know why I had to talk to someone, and Dylan was the only someone I could turn to tonight. So that's why this stays between you and me, and you're not going to tell Mom or Dad where I was tonight, and I'm going to do the dishes for the next week to keep you quiet."
"You need to apologize to her," he added softly. "She's your best friend, and I can't imagine how much she has to be hurting right now."
"I know," she agreed, standing up and turning towards the bathroom door. "Dylan already convinced me of that. I'll find a way to apologize to her tomorrow. Now you'll have to excuse me if I cut this short. I'm going to bed. Night, Brandon," she gave a little wave and headed into the bathroom, passing through to her own bedroom, where she closed the door behind her.
She kicked off her shoes and peeled her clothes from her body earnestly, grabbing her nightshirt from the floor next to her bed where she had left it that morning. She threw back the covers and slid under the sheets, tossing and turning a few times before she got comfortable.
She thought back to that afternoon and replayed the incident with Kelly in her mind once more. Then she reflected on the conversation she had just had with her brother, contemplating her brother's reaction when she mentioned Kelly. As she suspected, Brandon hadn't given indication that he had feelings for Kelly, or at least he showed no reaction once Brenda had started talking about her, no more than his usual boy-scout concern for everyone. Brenda felt confident that whether or not Kelly was harboring a crush on Brandon, it was one-sided and sooner or later, she'd get over it and move on.
Her thoughts turned to Dylan, her body beginning to tingle as she remembered the feel of his lips all over her skin before she regained her strength and forced herself to leave his suite. It would have been so easy to give in to his gentle persuasions, but her conscience won out. Her brother was right; her parents trusted her, and she couldn't in good faith have stayed in Dylan's arms when her parents assumed she was sleeping soundly in her bed.
Butterflies began swirling in her stomach as she imagined what tomorrow night might bring, and she settled into a peaceful slumber, dreaming of Dylan McKay.
***
Brandon stared at the ceiling, eyes wide open thanks to his deviant sister, willing his body to go back to sleep. It wasn't working.
His mind began to wander, not surprisingly, back to Kelly. A slight smile played on his lips as he remembered the dream he had been having before Brenda so rudely played cat burglar and ruined his slumber. He had been at work in The Blaze office, much as he had been that afternoon, when Kelly had slipped into the office and seduced him right at his desk. The dream had been so vivid, but he suddenly felt a pang of guilt for thinking of Kelly in that way.
It wasn't the first time he had dreamed about her, especially since from his vantage point, that it was the only logical way for him to have her. In fact, she was a recurring guest star in his dreams, and Brandon estimated it was at least on a weekly basis. But most times, he did dream about sleeping with her, and it was almost always she who was the aggressor. Now he worried that he was subconsciously making the same assumption Brenda had.
All he knew of Kelly's reputation was the stuff Steve had told him, and he never knew how much of that could be believed, given the source. All he had ever witnessed himself was Kelly's flirtatious nature, but in all the time he and Brenda had been in Beverly Hills, he hadn't known Kelly to have dated anyone. But in high school, reputations were hard to shake.
He was also a little suspect as to why Brenda lied to him about Kelly's supposed crush on Kyle Conner. In all their years, Brenda had never successfully lied to him, and she hadn't tonight either. It was completely illogical as to why Brenda would have objected to Kelly seeing someone like Kyle, a guy she barely knew and would have no real basis for claiming Kelly wasn't his type.
He sat bolt upright in bed as a realization dawned on him.
Brenda had been talking about him. She had to have been.
A slow smile spread onto his face it all made sense. Then the smile was immediately replaced with a frown as he realized if Kelly had indeed confessed to having a thing for him, and Brenda shot her down by informing her that she was not his type, Kelly might have jumped to the conclusion that he thought ill of her. After all, who knew him better than his sister, right?
It couldn't have been further from the truth, but Brandon knew it was a distinct possibility.
He sighed and laid back down, adjusting the sheets as he tried to relax, Kelly still very much on his mind, though a nagging voice reminded him the whole situation was a moot point.
Unless something changed, Kelly Taylor was off-limits.
***
Kelly sighed and rolled onto her side, her eyes fixed on the sliver of crescent moon outsider her window. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach hadn't completely gone away since that afternoon, and she hadn't had more than an hour's sleep before she had awoken and had been unable to drift back off.
She felt nauseous every time she thought about what Brenda had said to her that afternoon, or rather what she hadn't said, but Kelly knew damn well what her friend had meant. And what actually bothered her most was the unsettling feeling that Brenda might be right.
Kelly had had a crush in Brandon Walsh from the first time she saw him that September, even before she knew he was the twin brother of the girl she so quickly befriended in chemistry class. She had been physically attracted to him immediately; any girl in her right mind would be. He was wholesome, but sexy, and there was just something about his smile that was so warm, so inviting.
She had spent many nights lying awake in bed, wondering what it would be like to confess her feelings to him, and she was surprised herself that she had done so little to actually act on those feelings. Part of her was terrified that he wouldn't respond the same way, and he'd reject her. Which was what made Brenda's comment that afternoon all the more damaging.
She knew deep down that her friend wasn't trying to hurt her, and Brenda only knew the new, improved Kelly, or at least the part of her that was trying so desperately to distance herself from the bad rep she had earned herself thanks to her insecure behavior freshman year. She had been candid with Brenda about how much she regretted her past, and Brenda had never pried or been less than a sympathetic ear.
Still, Kelly had been incredibly hurt by what Brenda had implied.
She was also kind of surprised that Brenda hadn't attempted to call her that night to apologize. She knew Brenda had tried to call Donna, because Donna had told her so after Donna had clicked over to her call-waiting and came back to the line to inform Kelly it was Brenda. Donna had then proceeded to play peace-maker, reminding Kelly that Brenda would never had said or done anything to hurt her intentionally.
"I know, Donna," she had replied. "It's what she didn't say that hurt so much."
"Maybe it was the fact that you were flirting with her brother that bothered her," Donna had suggested. Kelly had been confused by that reasoning.
"Why would that bother her? I mean, Dylan is very close friends with Brandon, and that hasn't stopped him from dating Brenda. And honestly, it doesn't seem to affect Brandon in the slightest." Kelly had sighed. "Nothing seems to bother him."
"God, you have it bad," Donna had laughed. "I don't remember the last time you were this fixated on a guy." Kelly had then proceeded to defend herself, arguing that she wasn't that obvious about her feelings for Brandon Walsh, but she knew Donna well enough to know she hadn't entirely convinced her best friend.
She rolled over and turned her attention back to the moonlight, hoping it would help lull her to sleep.
***
The next morning, Brandon was already dressed and eating breakfast when Brenda finally made her way into the kitchen. Her raven-colored hair was neatly held back with a headband, but Brandon could see the slight puffiness under her eyes that told the truth about her lack of sleep that night. He wasn't feeling all that rested himself, and he was thankful that it was Friday. Brenda stalked past him, barely mumbling a good morning as she swung open a cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal.
"Brandon," she whined, dragging his name out as she set the cereal box down angrily on the counter. "Why do you put the box back with, like, a handful of cereal left?" She shot him a nasty look as she went to the refrigerator and took a carton of yogurt, grabbing a spoon from the drawer near the sink.
"Good morning, honey," Cindy Walsh called as she entered the kitchen from the back door, closing it behind her. The morning paper was in her left hand, and she set it at their father's seat, where a steaming mug of coffee was already waiting.
"Mom, Brandon put the cornflakes back when the box was nearly empty." Her irritation was mostly due to tiredness, but Brandon was a repeat offender when it came to putting almost-empty boxes and bottles back. There was nothing worse than craving a glass of Coke to find nothing but a flat swig left in the bottle.
"Brandon," Cindy warned. Brandon rolled his eyes and continued eating his cereal silently. "I can make you something if you want, Brenda."
"The yogurt will be fine, Mom," she smiled gratefully, taking a seat across from her brother and shooting him another look.
"Morning, all," Jim Walsh called as he entered the kitchen, fingers still fumbling with his tie. He finally smoothed it down and settled into his chair, unfolding his newspaper as he gulped down a mouthful of coffee.
"Hey, Dad," Brandon mumbled around a mouthful of cornflakes.
"Morning, Dad," Brenda echoed.
"Brenda, are you feeling any better?" Jim asked, studying his daughter carefully. "You still look a little peaked."
"I'm fine, Dad," Brenda smiled, avoiding Brandon's glare as a tiny pang of guilt hit her at her dad's genuine concern.
"Tonight's the big date, I know you wouldn't want to miss that," he continued.
"Dad," she sighed. "It's just dinner with my boyfriend. It's not that big a deal."
"If you say so," Jim smiled, slight amusement in his voice.
"Stop it Jim," Cindy warned playfully. "Your father is just teasing you, Brenda."
"Dad, I know you're not crazy about Dylan," Brenda started. Her father held up a hand.
"I don't want to get into my feelings about Dylan McKay this morning," he cut her short. "I'm fine with this date tonight for one reason, Brenda, and that's because I trust you. I don't trust him, but I trust you," he repeated. Brandon coughed and looked at his watch.
"Bren, we'd better get going if we both don't want late passes for homeroom." Brenda jumped up, planting a kiss on her father's head as she did so.
"Thanks, Dad," she said softly. "Have a good day."
"Bye, Mom," Brandon called, slamming the door behind him as Brenda headed for her brother's car. She pushed her sunglasses onto her nose as Brandon turned the key in the ignition, the car sputtering to life. "I so need a new car," he grumbled, glancing over his shoulder as he backed the car down the driveway.
"So get one," she replied, fiddling with the radio. He snorted.
"With what money? Maybe if I work at the Pit nonstop til the end of the school year and find a profitable summer job, I might be able to afford another used one." He shook his head. "Driving this clunker is like being the minnow in a sea of dolphins and sharks," he sighed, referring to the abundance of fancy cars and convertibles to be found in the parking lots of West Beverly High.
"You can try to convince Mom and Dad to put up so much if you earn a certain amount," Brenda suggested. Brandon shrugged.
"Maybe." They rode in silence for a few minutes, Brandon's eyes fixed on the road, Brenda's on the chemistry homework she was frantically trying to finish before they arrived at school.
"Dammit," Brandon frowned, slowing the car to a stop as they came upon traffic.
"What?" Brenda glanced up, pencil between her teeth. "Ugh, great," she complained, removing the pencil. "Now we'll probably barely make it in time to get to homeroom." She sighed in disgust. "I wanted to try to talk to Kelly before classes started." She had planned on apologizing before school, especially since the girls shared a second period chemistry class, and Brenda wanted the air cleared before they had to share space over a Bunsen burner.
"Well, I can't make this traffic disappear, Bren, hate to burst your bubble."
"Why not? I thought you were Brandon Walsh, and you could do anything," she teased. Brandon cut his eyes at his sister.
"I'm far from perfect," he said firmly. "And you know it."
"Please," Brenda rolled her eyes. "At least here I'm getting a chance to make my own way. Back in Minnesota, I was always 'Brandon Walsh's sister'," she reminded him.
"Bren, you had plenty of friends and were quite the social butterfly at home, if you've so soon forgotten."
"Oh, yeah, I know," Brenda agreed. "I was way more popular back in Minnesota, but I was still in your shadow whether you knew it or not." She rolled her shoulders, stretching her neck as they idled in the increasing traffic. "Let's just say I'm enjoying the chance to be my own person here. I can be different. I like it."
"You're the same ol' Brenda to me," he replied. "Well, except for that guy who's always attached to your hip."
"Shut up, Brandon," she shook her head good-naturedly.
"This has got to be an accident or something," Brandon sighed, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. "It's never, ever like this." Brenda craned her neck, rising off the seat slightly.
"I think you're right. I can see lights flashing up there," she groaned. "We might even be late to class."
"Not the way I like to start my Friday," Brandon lamented. "Not much we can do about it."
"Yeah," Brenda agreed, mildly annoyed that circumstances were working against her. She had woken up that morning with a renewed sense of purpose to clear things up with Kelly. Not only did she know she owed her an apology, Brenda had a sudden urgency for some advice from her friend, and she knew Kelly would be honest with her.
Ironically enough, Kelly was the only person she trusted enough for advice about sex.
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Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. It was really hard to write, until I decided to keep the inner monologues of Brenda (after her convo with Brandon), Brandon and Kelly much shorter, and then it started flowing again. I actually toyed with throwing Dylan and Andrea in there, but I couldn't justify them being awake at the same hour the majority of the chapter took place. I'll get them in a future chapter (Dylan most likely the next one).
Ah, Season 1. How I loved thee.
For the record, the lyrics that inspired this chapter are from Buckcherry. Apparently, there are hundreds of songs with the same title. Who knew?
Happy Holidays to everyone, not sure I'll get anything else up before Christmas (too much baking, wrapping and three movies from Netflix that have piled up). But hey, you never know, so keep checking, I guess. ~Court~