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Chapter 34: New Direction

Elena smiled quietly to herself arranging some flowers she'd bought. She looked around the dining room and bounced into the kitchen.

"Hey," Brad walked in. "What's all this?" She smiled and kissed him.

"We haven't had a whole night just the two of us in a while," she said. "So I ordered some good food, and better wine," he laughed. She walked him into the dining room. "What do you think?"

"I think um," he looked at her. "Lena, this is great, but,"

"You have work to do?" She said. He closed his eyes. "Brad, I'm trying so hard. But you've got to give me something to work with." He kissed her. "Please? Just do the dinner thing and then you can study? I miss you."

"OK," he smiled. She grinned and kissed him. "You know this being honest and saying how we feel instead of holding it all in and manipulating each other thing is really cool." She smiled.

"Yeah, I kind of like it too," she said. "Should we eat?" He smiled and kissed her.

"Definitely," he said. "I think, we should eat, and then I'll study for a few hours and then I'm yours until I have to leave for class in the morning."

"That's the best plan ever," she smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

Tammy walked quietly down Central Park West, she'd just left a lunch meeting and was now had some perverse desire to do a Tammy/Steve significant places walk. First up, the townhouse where she'd lived while she was at Parsons, which was also where Steve had bugged the shit out of her freshman year, until she realized she was falling for him.

"Tammy?" She swallowed seeing Steve walking Ponyboy. "What are you doing up here?"

"You don't own the Upper West Side, Steven," she said contemptuously. He sighed. "Why are you walking Ponyboy?"

"I'm taking him up to Maine tomorrow," he said. "And I figured he'd want one last walk around Central Park, so we were headed there."

"Oh," she said. "Sure." He looked at her. "You're driving up to Maine with that dog? That's going to smell horrible!"

"Yeah, but Jimmy lives there now," he said. "I'm not going to steal his dog because I can't deal with the smell." She nodded. "You look good."

"So do you," she said softly. "How have you been?"

"I'm better," he said. "Working a lot. Casey's a slave driver, which has been helpful." She smiled. "I'm actually going out to Minnesota to check out shooting in a few weeks."

"How few?" She asked.

"Um, three," he kicked the ground.

"Gala weekend." She sighed. He nodded. "You scheduled your set visit to be gala weekend to kill two birds with one stone." He nodded again. "So I guess I'll see you there."

"I guess," he nodded. "Look, Tammy, are you sure we didn't make a mistake here?"

"Steve, don't," she shook her head. "I can't, I mean, I'm sort of with somebody."

"That was quick," he said. She sighed. "Who is it?"

"I can't tell you," she said.

"You have a secret boyfriend?" He laughed. She folded her arms and shifted her weight uncomfortably. "What is he like married or something?" He said it as if it was impossible. Because to the Tammy he knew and loved, it was. She looked at him. "He's married?"

"Don't lecture me!" She said. "I already got it from Kelly." She started to walk away.

"You don't know that many married guys," he said following after her. "You work in fashion, most of the men you know are gay." She glared at him. "It's Dave Vanderbilt, isn't it? You're fucking Dave Vanderbilt!"

"Wow, say it louder in an area that's more populated by people we know, why don't you?" She hissed. He stared at her.

"You're better than this." He shook his head. "Way better."

"Better than what?" She said.

"Sleeping with a married guy," he said. "I won't even get started on the stuff with your dad, because I'm sure you've obsessed about that enough. But what about Janet? She's your friend last I checked. And now in the past year you've fired her and slept with her husband. You're better than that."

"OK, I didn't fire Janet! The board did that," she defended herself. "And she and Dave are separated. I'm not doing anything wrong."

"So then, why's it a secret?" He asked.

"You're the publicist," she shrugged. "We're keeping it a secret to protect me."

"That's convenient for him isn't it?" Steve nodded. She frowned at him. "Look, I know you care about Dave and he gave you your first big break in New York and blah blah blah, but the guy's kind of a snake."

"Because he's keeping the beginning of his relationship with me a secret to keep from hurting his ex?" She said smugly. "Oh yeah, that's a really skuzzy move Steve, you would know."

"That was different," he said.

"Was it?" She shrugged.

"Yes," he nodded. "I was 18 for one thing. For another Julie was actually my ex, not my current."

"They're getting a divorce," Tammy said.

"Oh yeah, cause married guys never say that to the single women they sleep with," he rolled his eyes. "What happened to you?"

"I lost the only guy who promised me he'd never go," she said. "So excuse me for not caring anymore." She turned around and walked away.

"Mm," Cassie said climbing into bed with Rick and stretching. "I love when they go back to school. They're so tired at night." He laughed.

"And Bella is safe in the nursery," he kissed her neck. "Sleeping through the night. Eddie is back where he belongs, with his parents." She nodded.

"We're not having sex," she said, pushing him away.

"We're not?" He said.

"Nope," she shook her head.

"So, uh," he rolled over. "When are we having sex again?"

"When you get a vasectomy," she shrugged. He laughed. "I'm not kidding Rick. I'm not having anymore babies, and I'm not taking any chances."

"So you'll go on the pill and we'll use condoms," he kissed her.

"Yeah, those don't always work," she raised her eyebrows.

"Of course they do," he said, starting the pull her sweats down. "I mean, 99% of the time."

"Yeah, and our two oldest children are the 1%," she said. "Eva was a broken condom and I was on the pill when I got pregnant with TJ."

"Ah, but you weren't on the pill when you got pregnant with Eva and we didn't use condoms for TJ," he pointed out, "if we do both we'll be fine."

"Rick," she said. "Vasectomy or no sex, that's how it's going to go." He sighed. "Do you really want to go through the whole baby thing again? You remember what I'm like when I'm pregnant right? And then not sleeping for like ten months after?"

"OK," he said. "Fine, I'll do the vasectomy."

"Good," she kissed him lightly. "Good night."

"Night," he mumbled.

"Your brother is a dick," Kelly said walking into the house. Scooter looked at her. She kissed him. He looked at her for a minute and sighed.

"OK, I'm going to go with Logan," he said. "Logan is a dick."

"Dave," she said.

"Dave," he nodded. "My gut said Dave, should have gone with that." She looked at him. "What did he do?"

"He's cheating on Janet with Tammy," Kelly said.

"It's not really cheating since he and Janet are separated," Scooter pointed out. "But Tammy, really?"

"You say it like it's totally unbelievable," she frowned. "Is there something wrong with Tammy?"

"Yes," Scooter nodded. "From Dave's perspective. I call it the Riley-Duncan double standard." Kelly raised her eyebrows. "Slept with two people. You, Jimmy, Tammy, Tommy, all have only had two lovers."

"Um, Jimmy slept with Bonnie, so he has three, and Tommy's only had two girlfriends," Kelly said. "He was kind of a slut his first year at Yale pre Diane, and I slept with you, Portman and Liam."

"Portman doesn't count," Scooter shook his head.

"Alright," she patted him on the chest. "You keep telling yourself that. Anyway, he's a dick, and I thought you'd want to know."

"Thanks for filling me in." He kissed her. "But I've always known Dave was a dick. The is the guy who made me eat dog food when I was four by telling me that if I didn't I would turn into a cat when one bit me."

"If he hurts my sister I'll kill him." Kelly said. "I'm sorry if you'll miss him."

"I won't miss him that much," Scooter shrugged. "It's not like you'd be killing Claire or someone in my family I actually like."

Portman sat quietly in a bar in Boston.

"Excuse me?" A woman walked over. She had short dark hair and a coy smile. He looked at her. "Aren't you Dean Portman? You play for the Bruins?"

"Um, yeah," he said.

"You seem surprised," she said. He laughed.

"I'm not what you call a marquee player," he shrugged. "I don't normally get recognized out of uniform." She smiled. "Especially not by beautiful women."

"I um, saw you in Sports Illustrated a few weeks ago," she said. "It turns out you went to high school with my ex boyfriend so I remembered the article."

"You dated someone from Eden Hall?" He said. She nodded. "Anyone I might know?"

"Probably, he played hockey too," she said. "Brad Vanderbilt?" He choked on his beer. "You do know him."

"Kinda," Portman said. "You don't look like his type." She nodded.

"You must know his fiancé then," she sighed. He nodded. "We dated in middle school, it was no big thing, but I just," she exhaled, "I'm Kyla."

"Dean, but you knew that," he said and shook her hand. She laughed. "So Kyla," he said. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"I think I'd really like that," she said. Dean smiled. Tanya had just said he should find a nice girl, she hadn't said anything about it not being someone who would drive Elena nuts and stick it to Brad Vanderbilt at the same time. Kyla sat down.

"So Kyla what?" He asked. "Last name, specifics, fill me in."

"Kyla Summers," she said. "I'm a grad student at Emerson and because I need to eat occasionally I also wait tables."

"What are you studying?" He asked.

"Journalism," she said. "I'm going to be a reporter." He nodded impressed.

"What kind of reporter?" He asked. She looked at him. "There are lots of kind of reporters, Kyla."

"Right," she laughed. "My undergrad is in Political Science."

"A political reporter?" He said. She nodded. "So you want to what, talk on CNN about what the president's saying?"

"I want to write in newspapers about what the president is saying," she corrected him.

"A purist," he smirked. She laughed. "So what, you're from Stamford?"

"Mm hm," she said softly. "You're from Minneapolis?"

"Chicago," he said. She nodded. "So Emerson?"

"Yup," she said. "Do you know a lot about political reporting?"

"I have a best friend back home who works for the DA and she wants to run for congress someday," he said.

"I'll see what I can do to help her then," she said. He smiled.

"I appreciate that," he said. She laughed. Later that night he walked her home and he kissed her softly.

"Do you want to come up?" She asked. He smiled.

"I do," he said. "But I won't." She frowned.

"Don't you like me?" She said and kissed him again. He smiled.

"I do," he said. "But I uh, I get into this bad pattern here with girls. Plus if I go up with you, I think I'll be doing it for the wrong reason."

"And what's that reason?" She asked and kissed him again.

"Because my ex girlfriend is going to marry your ex boyfriend and I have this feeling she would get really pissed if I went up there," he said quietly. "And I'm in a place where I really like doing things that I think will piss her off."

"You dated Elena," she said.

"For almost four years, on and off, yeah," he said. "In high school."

"She's not the kind of girl that guys get over," she whispered. He sighed and shrugged. "I know because I tried to get Brad back once, and I kind of noticed that." She kissed him. "Come upstairs Dean." He sighed. "I don't care what all of your reasons are, just as long as two of them are you like me and you want to come upstairs." He smiled. "So, I'm asking you again, do you want to come up?"

"No," he said. "Less cause of the really bad reason, and more because of the whole bad pattern thing. But if you give me your number I'll call you." She smiled.

"OK," she said softly and kissed him again.

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