Hi,

Thanks also to MorganaNM for adding the story to her list of followed stories. I hope you'll enjoy it.

See you soon. 😊

At about 6:35 p.m., Andrea pushes open the door of the Peach Pit and then goes to sit at the counter before Brandon walks up to her.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?

To what do you guess?" she answers in a mysterious way while enjoying it.

"I don't know. That you made your decision to let me create this new column in the newspaper." he says more or less seriously.

"No. I only came for the pleasure of eating a banana split."

"A banana split?" he wonders exaggeratedly.

"Yes."

They smile at each other before Steven joins them at the counter and sits down.

"I need a big pitcher of ice water. We died of heat in the gym during basketball practice."

"Drinking is very important." reminds Brandon, who then goes to fill a pitcher with water, filling it with ice cubes. Sir is served!" he says as he sets a tall glass on the counter facing his friend.

"Thank you. This is nice."

Steve pours the cold water into his glass, drinking in one gulp as his two friends look on in amazement.

" Take it easy. You'll drown." teases Brandon.

"That feels good!" he exclaims after quenching his thirst.

"It shows!" teases Andrea in his turn.

As Brandon prepares to make the banana split, a boy from their high school walks in, his breathing slightly ragged. His gaze goes straight to the counter and takes a few steps towards Andrea.

"Good thing I found you here."

"Josh?! What's going on?" she asks him, seeing him as if in panic.

"The meeting that was supposed to take place in an hour has been moved up. It's supposed to start in thirty minutes."

"Oh, no! No way." she says, panicking.

Andrea gets off the stool and warns Brandon to cancel his order.

"No problem!" he responds, holding up his arm.

Once Steve and his best friend are both at the counter, Brandon takes the opportunity to broach the sensitive subject of Nicholle, worrying about Brenda.

"It embarrasses me to ask you this but I'm worried about my sister. She told me about you and Nicholle. In fact, Kelly kind of told her what happened," says Brandon.

"Why are you asking me this?" questions Steve in a neutral but slightly intrigued voice.

His best friend then explains him more in detail the reasons.

"I see." replies Steve, looking down briefly. Kelly doesn't know everything."

"What do you mean?" replies Brandon, frowning.

"After Nicholle stopped following Kelly and stalking me with phone calls, two weeks later, my car was vandalized. I knew she was the one who did it."

"How did you know?"

"That evening I got a phone call and recognized her voice. She simply said; Serves you right."

"Now I think I really have reason to be afraid." he says, very anxious.

"Listen. If I were you, I'd stop Brenda from seeing her again. That girl is really insane. She could get her in serious trouble."

Faced with Steve's candor, Brandon is more aware of the danger his sister could be in because of Nicholle.

"Why hasn't she been stopped by what she did? Didn't you press charges?" he asks with a concerned look on his face.

"I would have had to record her voice. It was my word against hers."

"You seem to regret that."

"Yeah. Too bad I didn't have the necessary equipment on hand. Just thinking about it."

"You still seem to be upset about it."

"I never quite got over that one."

"You bet." replies Brandon, sounding concerned.

"You should talk to Dylan about it."

"So he can talk to Brenda?" he asks, not thinking that he's giving her that advice for a completely different reason.

"Yes and no. Dylan knew Nicholle long before I started dating her. It was through her that we met. When he learned about it, he blamed himself."

"He knew her how? Do you think they dated? "

"In my opinion, no. Dylan told me they used to hang out with others. He just told me she was a weird girl. And then he advised me to be careful before I started dating her. I was so excited about this girl that I took his warning in stride."

"What else did he tell you?"

"Nothing more. You know how he is."

"Yeah."

Brandon sketched a small smile as he thought about his very dear other friend's legendary discretion.

"Difficult indeed to get anything out of him. "

"But try anyway."

Steve brings a friendly pat on Brandon's shoulder, letting him know that this is advice he really should take.

"Don't make the same mistake I did."

He then looks at his watch, warning him that he needs to leave.

"I have to accompany my mother to a gala dinner tonight."

"Have a good evening."

"I have a feeling it's going to be deadly dull." he says, rolling his eyes before smiling and the two friends say goodbye with a handshake in their own way.

"What we wouldn't do for our parents," he adds.

As Steve leaves the Peach Pit, thoughts of Brandon suddenly overwhelm his mind. And providence opens the door to the restaurant.

"Hi Minnesota!"

"Here! You're just in time."