They all seemed different, or perhaps it was because he had known them when they were.
Gone was Steve's maturity, the doting father whose favorite topics were Madeline's dreams, Madeline's basketball games, and the worried discussions of the procedures Janet had undergone in their hopes of having a second kid that led to the Sanders spouses' constant spats and twice separation. Gone was the frazzled mother of three worrying over her husband's fizzling career, though Donna would never admit as much out loud in order to keep David's spirits high and free from his own addictions. Gone was Donna's fashion career that had become the breadwinner for her family. Gone was Andrea's second-guessing, Kelly's camaraderie with Steve, the gang's own dead dreams that had dissipated as life dragged on with its consistent disappointments.
In its place were five teenagers lathered in anticipation of what life held in store. The shy glances between David and Donna when they thought no one was looking. The blatant flirtation between Steve and Kelly that they both believed they successfully masked with a weird combination of care and hatred. The assertiveness of an Andrea determined to change the world, rather than become lost in the world.
His twins were the most different of all.
Future Pulitzer nominee Brandon Walsh had made it his mission that summer to persuade Andrea of why West Beverly's student paper, The Blaze, would excel without him. Brandon and Brenda were still snapping at each other over the little things, but there was a companionship, a trust that had been ripped apart decades before Itero. Judging from their respective Facebook pages, the twins had managed to grasp hold of their connection once more, but if he knew Brenda - and he did, certainly better than fucking Monaghan - she would always be on her guard when it came to Brandon.
She had been on her guard when it came to everyone. Dylan had broken through that guard in London, only to be the cause of it permanently shielding him from her.
He had realized how much his twins needed each other, whether they realized it themselves. Brenda offered Brandon frequent ego checks that had been sorely lacking when their Brenda switched continents. Brandon knew precisely how to calm Brenda in ways that not even Dylan could if she began to freak out over anything. The Walsh twins had brought their gang together. They had held onto that gang through the years, a disintegrating gang that would add new people and discard others. David would have left the gang years before, if not for his marriage with Donna, brotherhood with Steve, and sister Kelly. What had once been an octagonal group of friends had dwindled to five, with the fifth barely clinging on.
Dylan wondered if he was responsible for the quadrangle they had become, then wondered if he was giving himself far too much credit.
It was strange, their hexagonal gang that had begun inching towards a heptagon with the twins' inclusion of Andrea in everything. Brenda and Andrea had become closer through drama class, leading Donna to develop a friendship with Andrea, as well.
It was July when Kelly apologized to Brenda and they began speaking to each other again, after Brenda had worked for weeks on building Donna's confidence to the point that Donna had decided to try for the internship.
It was also July when Dylan was permitted to get off the fucking sofa and start going places besides Nat's living room, Nat's kitchen, the spare bedroom that had become Dylan's with decorating courtesy of Brenda. He would have been bored out of his mind, if his twins hadn't come by often and his girl hadn't stopped in daily.
She'd been concerned when she had walked in to find him thrashing about from a nightmare, which he had told her was about the wave.
He hadn't lied, not really. It had been a wave: a metaphorical wave, a wave that spelt their disastrous end.
It had been about Brenda, a combination of the Brenda she had been and the Brenda she was again. How could he tell his girl that her dream version had kicked him out of their flat as he begged for her to let him stick around? That his words of wanting to be there for her and the baby he knew grew within her fell on ears closed off to his failed promises and a heart shuttered from his?
How could he tell an enthusiastic sixteen-year-old just getting over her first pregnancy scare that she would, at twenty-two, go through her second scare alone whilst the man who would have been the father of that child had it existed scaled a mountain in the Karakoram region known to be more dangerous of a climb than Everest?
His boss had assigned him the exploration. He could have declined. He could have quit, then and there. He could have stayed with Brenda, travelled with her to keep careful watch of Manzano's wandering eye.
Which assuredly did exist, no matter how much Brenda had tried to deny it.
But he didn't decline. He accepted, hoping it would move him further up in the Ramboll ranks so he could start implementing a difference to the environment and maybe make something of his life. He told Brenda the night before she left for another tour, with his own flight set for the following day and the promise that he would be there when she returned. They had cuddled that night, the last night that they would still be them.
She had waited three weeks for him to return, a man vastly different from the one who had left.
He had seen death before. Jack. Toni. He had almost watched Brandon slide over a cliff. He had caught Brandon.
He hadn't caught Wilhelm.
He hadn't prevented the screams of Ronnie when Dylan tried to help Ronnie outrun the avalanche and Ronnie's short legs weren't quick enough.
Dylan had lost his favorite picture of Brenda in the frosty quilt of that fucking mountain when the wind had whipped it out of his wallet after he and Wil decided to show the images of those waiting for them back home.
Wil had a wife. A daughter, aged three. A newborn son.
A son Wil never got to meet.
Dylan had Brenda. A turquoise and topaz ring he'd purchased in a small shop in Srinagar.
Had Brenda.
He'd been disconsolate over losing that picture, and then he pushed the real thing to the brink until he lost her, too.
Ramboll had fired his boss, claiming that the higher-ups had never approved a K2 expedition.
Dylan had quit. Ramboll. Quit on the London gang that had accepted him as one of their own. Quit on Brenda. Quit on allowing her in, allowing her to share in his pain and comfort him in his grief, as she had before.
Then he'd quit London. In quitting London, he may as well have quit on his life.
He had told Kelly the gist of K2, on the beach when he returned. That two men had died. That he should have been one of those men. That was all she got out of him. He'd never told a soul the entire story of K2.
Why the hell hadn't Itero sent him back to the day before he confirmed his K2 plans to his boss, instead of a time where he and Steve Sanders hardly spoke?
He had been confused why Steve barely said two words to him, until he realized that he and Steve hadn't been friends when they were sixteen.
Dylan also noticed exactly how many teens from Beverly Hills had their eyes trained on one Miss Brenda Walsh, which he tried to not let bother him.
Their teen crushes would mean nothing in the long run, when they all became but a distant memory as he and his wife travelled from one corner of the world to the other with their four kids and the fifth growing in his Brenda.
But surely even Brenda could comprehend that Dustin Hendricks' sudden interest in theatre had nothing to do with theatre.
Or that Nate Cantrell's offer to help Brenda run lines had more to do with his desire to get her alone than to help with her upcoming performance.
Dylan forced himself to not glare at Nate when he approached their group at the beach club and instead concentrate on the fact that, though Brenda wasn't yet ready to officially be his girl forevermore, she wasn't denying his affections.
Dylan kept those affections as platonic as possible, grateful that Brenda didn't remove his fingers from her hair or his hands from her waist.
Grateful she didn't pull away.
She had even allowed him to bury his face in the nape of her neck when she stood listening to Kelly's apology, an apology which Dylan couldn't decide had been sincere or forced.
Kelly had then given a half-assed apology to Donna, which Donna had accepted on the condition that Kelly understood Donna was her friend, not her groupie, and Donna would like to be treated with a little more respect.
Catching Brenda's eye, Donna had amended her polite request to more of an insistence that anyone who mocked her in any way would not be part of Donna's life.
At the threat of losing Donna, Kelly's apology had become more genuine.
Dylan had been stunned at the entire interaction.
Brenda had been stunned when he had offered to help her and Brandon set up the barbeque they had decided to host for the fourth of July, a week after the trio had gone into the Y to submit three applications and await the result.
Dylan stood in his second-favorite spot: directly behind Brenda, his hands around her waist as they laughed over Brandon's struggle with the grill.
His first favorite spot would be his again, in time.
"This whole barbeque was your idea, Bren," grumbled Brandon. "The least you could do is get D to help."
"Can't," said Dylan. "Injured dude."
"Oh please," said Brandon, "an injured dude wouldn't be holding my sister so tightly that there's no way she isn't pressing against your allegedly injured ribs. I'm surprised you aren't howling from the pain."
"Bran, if you're really struggling that much, you can always ask Daddy to help," said Brenda.
"And interrupt his weekend away with Mom? I don't think so." Brandon surveyed their conjoined stance. "You do realize you're supposed to be broken up, right?" He pointed first to Dylan, then to Brenda.
"What, you don't do this with all your best friends?" asked Brenda.
"Considering my best friends are you two and Steve, that's a hard pass."
"Someone's grumpy. You might want to reconsider this summer of singledom, Bran."
"I'm not grumpy," said Brandon.
"If you don't snap out of it soon, Val's gonna snap you out of it for you when she comes next month."
"We aren't even sure she'll come camping, Bren. She's thinking about it, remember?"
"Oh, she'll come," said Brenda with a toss of her hair that fell against Dylan's face. "I sent her pics of the guys. Now she's jealous I know all these hot guys."
"I thought Val said her last two boyfriends were plenty hot on their own," said Brandon, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but engaged in that conversation.
"They were."
"What'd she say about yours," Dylan cleared his throat, "your ex, I mean?"
"Nah," said Brenda. "The girls at school feed your ego enough as it is."
"What ego?"
"Between you and Emilio Reina, who would win in a pool race?" asked Brenda.
"Me," said Dylan with layered confidence, "easily."
"That ego," she said. "You aren't even on the swim team, and he's the captain that's taken them to State, twice."
"I'm not into competition," Dylan casually shrugged.
"So you wouldn't beat Emilio, then?"
"Touché."
"You ever think about going out for the school teams, D?" asked Brandon, relieved to move on to his preferred subject rather than hearing about how his twins rated the level of attraction around him.
"Eh, hanging out in the locker room, discussing my latest conquests? Not really my thing."
"I don't think Emilio hangs out in the locker room, discussing his latest conquests," said Brenda.
"And you know Reina that well, do you?" asked Dylan.
Calm and cool. Just stay calm and cool. Okay, first off, Bren might not be interested in him.
"We've talked a little," she said. "He's a nice guy."
"I bet he is."
Second off, if she is interested in him, you aren't together. It's not cheating. It'll feel like cheating and it'll cause you the world's biggest blister stabbing all over your fucking heart since Itero's pretty much made Bren your wife, but it won't be cheating.
"I thought about setting him up with Don, but he seems to be interested in someone else."
"Can't imagine who."
You can't start thinking of Reina as a little fucker just because he might like your Bren. Everyone likes your Bren. You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you start hating all of them, and then you'll drive her crazy when she picks up on it. Reina liked her last time, too. He didn't make a move then 'cause Miller got there first, but this isn't a new thing. It's Reina. You've known the guy since; what was it, third? Yeah, third, when he moved in from Colorado Springs. That's when Reina was into Janie and Janie was into you. You've known the Reinas even longer. He's never done anything to make you dislike him. You can't dislike every guy who's intrigued by Bren.
Oh, I can't? Says who?
Dude, c'mon. You never used to be the jealous type. You don't have to be that guy anymore.
"I can," said Brenda. "He's probably into Kel. I invited him to the party for her."
"Reina's into Kelly?" asked Brandon with an obvious feigning of nonchalance.
Obvious to Dylan, anyway.
"I'm just guessing here," said Brenda.
You've guessed wrong. Can you really not see it, Bren? How many people want you? Why is it so fucking hard for you to realize how fucking desirable you are?
"So Reina's coming," said Dylan. "Cool."
"Might come," said Brenda. "He has this family thing first."
"Didn't realize you two had become so close."
"Did I not mention Chris cast Emilio as Oberon?"
No, you sure as shit didn't.
"Really? Huh. Interesting."
"Why do I get the feeling you aren't okay with that?"
Because he's a little fucker.
"I'm fine with it, Bren. It's not like my opinion matters or anything."
"Dylan, your opinion always matters."
Then ditch him, Bren, before you make Reina your summer fling.
"Reina's cool. We used to hang out."
"You did?"
"Yeah, his grandpa knew my grandpa. I say knew; more like the Reinas and the McKays had been tight for decades."
"Wonder why he didn't tell me."
"Well, we haven't really talked all that much since seventh. Started travelling in different circles."
"You had a circle?"
"Not really. Reina had the circle. I had a couple of guys on the beach."
Plus the guys in Eve's nightclub, but Brenda didn't need to know that.
Unless Stuart showed his face. Then Dylan would tell her everything, before Stuart could begin his seduction of Brenda.
"This won't be awkward if he comes, will it?" Brenda inquired.
Not unless he starts ogling you.
"Nah. We just kinda drifted. No bad vibes there."
Okay, you can't demand she change out of her bikini top and denim shorts that you're pretty damn sure have shrunk since the last time you saw them on her. It won't do shit anyway; Bren could come out in a nun's habit and she'd still look fucking delicious.
But you can make it harder for her to be distracted by anyone but you.
"Hand me the sunblock, babe. You're getting a little burnt."
Brenda turned her head to look at her shoulder, which had indeed begun to redden. "My skin's never gonna get used to all of this sun," she groaned, handing over the lotion. "Maybe I'm too Minnesotan."
Oh no, baby. You're too British. You just don't know it yet.
"Hey, it's not a bad thing," Dylan said, squeezing out a dollop of sunblock to slowly rub over Brenda's shoulders and upper back. "You'll fit right into England or wherever you're planning to go."
"I guess," she said. "I'd fit into Ireland, too."
Yeah you would, but we're just gonna ignore that.
"C'mon, Bren, it's summer vacation and we still have two whole years 'til you leave your favorite brother behind for a whole other continent," said Brandon.
"Bran, you didn't seriously think I was gonna go eastern with you, did you?"
"Of course not, but a guy can hope for it. Val was pretty convinced she could get you to at least think about Philly. It's only five hours from Boston."
"You're not even sure you're going to Boston."
"Georgetown's even closer."
"You oughta get an amazing scholarship if you're planning to go to Georgetown. Not even Dad's favorite child will get all expenses paid to Georgetown."
"I am not Dad's favorite child."
"So when you slept with Sheryl, Dad yelled at you too, huh?"
"Okay, but Sheryl didn't think that -" Brandon stopped.
"Sheryl didn't think that what?" Brenda's voice sat on edge.
"Sheryl didn't think that we should sleep together," he rushed out.
It didn't require the notes of a brain surgeon to know that wasn't what Brandon had started to say.
"Oh come on, Brandon. Your lies might work on our parents, but they don't work on me. My bedroom's right near yours."
"Stoked to meet this Val," said Dylan, interrupting his twins before they engaged in another quarrel.
"You'll eat your words," Brandon warned. "Get the Dynamic Duo together and they're Dangerous with a capital 'd.'"
"Brandon exaggerates," said Brenda.
"Remind me again what you and Val did to Landon Johnson's backpack when he dumped her for Lexi Banning?"
"Look, the class toad just leapt in there on its own and just happened to get sick. We told you that."
"Yeah, 'cause class toads often leap out of sealed cases and into specific backpacks of guys who break up with Val through a Valentine's Day card."
"Maybe Stu just wanted to be with his fellow toads."
"Stu the Toad?" asked Dylan, stifling his laughter.
"His full name was Stalwart Denison IV, but my twins called him Stu," said Brandon.
"Val and I had to do a project on the Stuarts," Brenda explained. "This one book claimed Stuart kings ate toads, so Val figured naming the class toad Stu would be getting back at those nasty Stuarts."
"And then Stu the Toad just randomly ended up in Landon's backpack," said Brandon. "See what I mean? Dangerous."
"Who called them the Dynamic Duo?" asked Dylan through his relief at Nat's entrance to take over the grill.
"Grandma did," said Brenda, walking away from the grill with the boys following. "Everyone else knew us as Bran's sisters." She began rearranging the appetizers. "They knew if they messed around with him, we'd mess around with them."
"And vice versa," said Brandon, setting out the sodas.
"Though any of us three messing around with the other was totally cool 'cause we knew we'd always come back and apologize." Brenda examined the punch bowl, twirling a ladle through the ice cubes that stacked within. "Do you think punch was a good idea, Brandon? You know Steve's gonna spike it."
I wish you'd let me come back and apologize.
He'd snuck Brenda's number out of the Silvers' address book. Tried to call, twice. The first time just rang and rang until the line went dead. The second time ended abruptly when he heard her giggle on the other end.
He knew that giggle.
That was the Hold tight, baby, let me take care of this call and then we'll go back to fucking giggle that he had invoked in her many a time.
Brandon had likely become used to that giggle as well, when Brenda had answered his calls with it whilst Dylan lay bare-ass naked, and impatiently waiting.
"I'll keep the punch away from him, Bren. But now that you've mentioned it, we should probably stop fighting. If Val comes, she'll pick up on it immediately."
"And then yell at us about how we're supposed to be better than that."
"You go first," his twins said at once.
"I'm sorry," they said, again in unison.
Brenda laughed. Brandon grinned.
"I'm more sorry, sis," he said. "I don't want you to think I'm mad at you for having sex or something stupid like that. It just stung a little - okay, a lot - that you and Dylan went through something that massive and decided to call Kelly, instead of telling me."
"I didn't want to put you in the position of keeping something like that from Mom and Dad," said Brenda. "You lie enough as it is."
"Yeah, I should probably work on that," said Brandon. "And you might want to work on lying better."
"Or we could all decide honesty's the way to go," Dylan suggested.
"You're right, Bren. He is different."
Shit.
"Hey, if you'd rather lie to your folks than have them trust you, then whatever, my man."
"Since when do you care about adults trusting anybody, McKay?"
Longer than you'd know, Harpo. Way longer than you'd know.
"Look, Brandon, if I ever have a scare like that again, you'll be the first person I tell, alright? Second person," Brenda amended before Dylan had the chance to object.
Had she told Brandon first? Or had it been Steve? David? Maybe Val? One of the London crew? That fuckwad Manzano?
Or had she gone it alone? Had Sanders found out about it later?
"Let's hope you at least told Val before Kelly, or you might want to hide when she finds out," said Brandon.
"Who says she has to find out?"
"She's gonna find out, Bren."
"Not if I distract her. Steve's single, right? I'll distract her with Steve."
"Sanders isn't really her type."
"Brandon, 'guy' is Val's type."
"Dylan's a guy," said Brandon. "A single guy who's exactly Val's type."
"Dylan's not up for grabs," said Dylan.
"So you're just gonna sit around for the rest of your life waiting to see if my sis decides to take you back?"
Yeah, that's exactly what I intend to do and I don't need to fuck Val again while I'm waiting. Got a problem with it?
"I'm just flying solo, like you two. You're still flying solo, right B?"
"Yeah, I'm still flying solo. Bren?"
"Speeding faster than a homerun."
"Well if it's one of your homeruns, then you're starting to slow down."
"Hey, my homeruns aren't that terrible!"
"The entire Little League of Minneapolis disagrees."
"Oh whatever. That was one time."
"Pretty memorable time, Bren."
"Okay, again, the dog came out of nowhere. I would've trampled the poor thing if I hadn't slowed down."
"Right. A dog almost as tall as you would've definitely been trampled if you hadn't slowed down."
She better not slow down with Reina.
Simmer down, McKay. You're giving her the chance to realize what she wants is you and you alone, just like you had the chance to realize that about her. If she has to realize that by kicking off something with Reina, then you're just gonna have to deal.
If she's with Reina, I'll never see her.
Not true. You're one of her best friends, maybe her ultimate best friend. You'll still see her frequently. It isn't the same as Monaghan.
Great, so I'll have to see her with Reina.
You did make out with Kelly in front of her. Asked Kelly to Europe in front of her, just because you were ticked at Brenda leaving you behind for fucking Minnesota.
Shit, how did Bren ever take me back at all?
"Speak of the Devil," said Brenda. "Almost thought you forgot where we live, Steve!" she hollered.
"Had to make an appearance over at Clay's first. Heard they had some hot college babes over there." Steve clapped Brandon's open hand. "Gotta keep my options open 'til Kel comes back to me."
Maybe Steve hadn't changed all that much.
"Hey, buddy," said Brandon, "if, hypothetically, your friend was hypothetically interested in Kelly, how would that hypothetically make you feel?"
"Betrayed," said Steve.
Dylan didn't miss Brandon's muttered I thought so.
"Why? What'd you hear?" asked Steve as he swiped the bowl of potato chips out of Brenda's hands.
"Huh?" asked Brandon distractedly. "Oh, uh. I just wondered. Kinda thought Nguyen might like her."
"Oh, he does." Steve shrugged it off. "We've both been crushing on Kelly Taylor since kindergarten. That's not news."
But Steve crushing on Kelly since fucking kindergarten is definitely news. I thought his crush started in ninth grade.
Do you care?
Yeah, I care. I care that Brandon rejecting Kelly at the spring dance was clearly only because of Steve and I ended up getting with the girl both my friends wanted.
Why do I feel like a treacherous horse's ass?
You've been spending too much time listening to Bren quote Shakespeare.
Hey, Bren can quote Shakespeare to me all she wants.
You ever consider the fact that Old Will Shakes might be a tad overrated?
Don't tell Brenda that.
"And you're cool with that?" Brandon asked.
"Nguyen's one of those friends you've known forever and sometimes talk to," said Steve. "He's not my best friend. My best friend getting with my girl; now, that would be a problem."
"Kel's not your girl," said Brenda.
"Hey, don't count me out just yet. We danced at your not-goodbye-goodbye party. Junior year is our year."
"Then why is she walking in with David?"
Steve whipped around.
"Decided to dip into the Silver pool, Kelly?" he asked, his voice hardening.
"As if," Kelly said. "Jackie made me bring him."
"Why would Jackie make you bring the geek over?"
"Idunno, because she's dating his dad, I guess. But if you don't mind, Steve, I'd really like to not talk about my mother's dating life, or how she's defying all advice from her rehab to avoid dating." She flashed a bright smile in Brandon's direction. "Hi, Brandon."
"Uh, hey, Kel," said Brandon, awkwardly placing his hands in his pockets.
"Where's Donna?" asked David, looking around.
"She should be getting here soon," said Brenda.
Dylan's hands combed through her hair.
"Oh good," said David, "I can't get this line right."
"Oh no," said Steve. "Class can wait 'til after fireworks."
"Theatre waits for no one," said Brenda, "especially with how badly Donna wants that A. I can help you 'til she gets here, David."
"Thanks, Bren," he smiled.
"I don't know how Silver got picked as Romeo, anyway," said Steve. "I'm way more Romeo than he is."
"Could be because you're not in the class, Steve," said Brenda.
"You're not hot enough to be Romeo, Steve."
"Oh shut up, Kelly."
"Beats me why you'd want to be Romeo." Brandon's face contorted into repulsion. "The guy's an idiot."
"I never thought of that, Brandon. Maybe you are Romeo, Steve."
"Real mature, Kelly."
"What would you know about maturity?"
"More than you. I can be plenty mature when I want to be."
"Then you must not want to be."
"Don't make me put you two in timeout," Brandon joked.
"We might need to rethink having our best friends hang out together," said Brenda. "C'mon, David, let's go practice."
Dylan already felt the loss when she moved closer to the house.
"Need an audience?" he called out.
"Are you cool with that?" Brenda asked David.
"Uh, sure, I guess."
"You're gonna leave me alone with these two?" asked Brandon, appearing as if both his twin and Dylan had committed a cardinal sin.
"It's no big," said Brenda. "Donna and Andrea will be here eventually."
"And Emilio?"
"Maybe Emilio."
"Emilio, as in Reina? Who invited Reina?" asked Steve as he popped an entire brownie into his mouth.
"Brenda did," said Dylan.
"And you're okay with that?" Bits of chocolate spewed out of Steve's lips, landing on Kelly's cheek.
"Ew! Steve! That's disgusting!" she said, wiping off the crumbs.
"Bren and I are broken up, Sanders," said Dylan. "I don't get a choice."
"That's not true," said Brenda.
"Which part?"
"The you not getting a choice part. I can uninvite him if it makes you uncomfortable."
Uncomfortable was an understatement.
"No, don't do that. I'll just watch to make sure Romeo doesn't try to make a move on Juliet."
"Donna's Juliet," said David. "Brenda's her stand-in."
"I'll stand in for everything but the kiss," said Brenda.
"Good, 'cause I'd rather not be stared down by Dylan McKay."
"Me staring at you is the least of your problems if you make a move on Bren. You're liable to be slapped by both twins."
Brandon argued that he didn't slap; he hit. Brenda said she'd never slapped anyone in her life. Brandon reminded her of some kid they knew in junior high who would say otherwise.
Dylan wondered the story behind it and resolved to ask his twins later.
"Don't worry," said David, "I'm not the one with the crush on Brenda."
His eyes widened as he tightly closed his mouth.
"Wait, someone has a crush on me?" asked Brenda, walking into Casa Walsh. "Who?"
"Can't tell you." David's voice came out muffled. "Forget I said anything."
You should be asking who doesn't have a crush on you, Bren. And the answers are Steve Sanders, Matthew Nguyen and David Silver, 'cause probably every other guy is crossing themselves or whatever religious people do, praying that they'll be your summer fling.
"Now you've got me all curious," said Brenda.
"I mean, he's one of fifty," said David. "It's not exactly shocking."
"Fifty guys crushing on me? That's funny, David." Brenda led them up the stairs and into her room.
It took Dylan a moment, seeing Brenda's room the way it used to be instead of the room it had become when Valerie moved in.
It had been a long time since he'd stepped foot in Casa Walsh. Longer still since he'd been in a Casa Walsh that still had remnants of him, in the pictures Brenda hadn't torn from her walls and mirror.
He determined that instead of tearing him down and hiding him in a box in the garage, he'd be plastered all over Brenda's walls by graduation.
Casa Walsh had gone on the market the year Madeline turned six, when Steve and Janet told Jim and Cindy Walsh that they had decided to move. Dylan had been in Baja during the sale and had returned too late to buy the place himself.
The new owners had adamantly refused to sell, even when Dylan gave what he thought was a damn good sob story about it being the childhood home of the girl he lost.
The story could have worked, if he hadn't forgotten that Casa Walsh in his childhood had belonged to a soap star whom everyone knew lived there.
An aged, childless soap star from one of those long-cancelled CBS soaps that had initially begun on the radio to sell soap to housewives.
Maybe it was better that he didn't buy the house. All the Walshes had stopped caring about it. Stopped caring about Beverly Hills. Stopped caring about him.
"Hey dude, you okay?" David's voice poked through his cogitation. "You look upset."
"What? No, I'm good." Dylan hurriedly blinked back his threatening tears.
"Are your ribs hurting, honey? I was just gonna grab my copy of Romeo & Juliet and then head back down to the living room, but you can lie down on my bed if you need a rest."
I'd like to lie on there with you, as long as Silver's out of the room and you lose all of your clothing. I'm more than happy to help you lose it, starting with that bikini top.
"All good," Dylan said, adding a smile for proof.
"My room missed you too," said Brenda, as if she could halfway read his thoughts.
Her room had missed her.
"Does your bed miss me?" he asked.
"It wouldn't know," she said. "You haven't been in it yet."
"I haven't?" He sat on the bed, pulling her down beside him. "That's better." He reached out to her nightstand, grabbing the book. "Were you rereading Romeo & Juliet again?" He flipped open its pages.
"No, not since we didn't move to Minnesota," said Brenda, scooting closer to Dylan to pry the book out of his grasp. "I've just ran out of room in my bookcase. See?" She gestured to her full shelves.
"You can store some of your books at my place."
"Dylan, yours and Nat's shelves are twice as full."
"But we have room for another bookcase. You don't."
"I'll have to figure out which ones I'm okay parting with and get back to you."
"Bren, it's not like they're going very far."
"So if your books were stored in Brandon's room?"
"Okay, good point."
David looked between them. "Kinda confused why you two broke up," he said.
"Want me to answer that, Bren?"
"No," she glared. "Come on, David, let's practice. I know Donna especially appreciates how much effort you're putting into this."
"I like Donna," said David. "She's nice. And she's really funny."
"Yeah," Brenda smiled, "Don's great."
Perhaps David wasn't crushing on Kelly Taylor, after all.
David became distracted by something on Brenda's wall. Dylan followed his line of vision, landing on what looked to be his twins in their younger days.
"Who's that?" David asked, pointing to the picture beside the one that had caught Dylan's eye.
"Oh, her? She's my twin."
"I thought Brandon's your twin. You're actually triplets?"
"Unofficial triplets. That's Val. She's one-half of the Dynamic Duo and one-third of BnBV."
"Wow, she's pretty," said David, still staring at Valerie's photo. "I've never seen anyone that pretty."
"Not even Kelly?" asked Brenda amusedly.
What are you talking about, Silver? You're literally standing in the room of the prettiest woman there ever was.
Pretty? Fucking hell, I sound like a middle schooler. She's a fucking supermodel. The fucking paparazzi clearly think so. What magazine haven't you seen her face plastered all over?
Popular Mechanics?
Nope. Summer of '05.
"Kelly's pretty, too," David covered.
"Do you think Donna's pretty?" asked Brenda.
"Definitely," David nodded.
"Do you think Andrea's pretty?"
"Andrea scares me."
Dylan laughed. "She scares us all."
"She's not that bad once you get to know her," said Brenda.
"She scares the crap out of Scott," said David. "Then again, most girls do. Except -" he stopped and cleared his throat. "Ready to practice, Brenda?"
"Yeah, let's do this. Take it from Act Three."
Except you, Dylan mentally finished for David.
Scott Scanlon had a crush on his Brenda?
Tony Miller. Emilio Reina. Nate Cantrell. Dustin Hendricks. Now he had to add Scott to his matchmaking plans?
I'm not fucking Cupid, you know.
Okay, but out of those four, do any of them really have a shot with your Brenda?
Yeah. One.
Reina.
Her fucking Oberon.
That's just for an assignment. You're her Oberon.
Might want to give the memo to Reina.
No. Don't. It'll just make Bren pissed. Reina isn't Manzano, pretending to be Brenda's friend when the asswad clearly wanted her for himself. Reina's just another guy who happens to like the love of your life.
David's biggest struggle, it turned out, was memorizing his lines. He had attempted to do so in various ways, all of which had failed. When Silver confessed that he had practiced in front of his mirror, Brenda inquired of the reason he had joined the class. Silver said he had thought learning plays would help him to write better songs. Shocked that David Silver was into music - which Dylan also pretended was news to him - Brenda helped David figure out how to put the dialogue to a tune he would remember.
"You're seriously a genius," said David after he had successfully completed a scene by using Brenda's suggestion. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."
"Loads of songs were inspired by the Bard," said Brenda. "One just came out earlier this year, actually. Have you ever heard of The Tragically Hip?"
David's mouth opened in bewilderment. "I love the Hip! You know them?"
"Sort of. My cousin is a fan."
"I've listened to their newest album at least three times. Which one is based on Shakespeare?"
"Cordelia. Lottie told me about the Hip just so I'd listen to that song. Cordelia was the youngest daughter of King Lear, and Macbeth's in it, too. As in, Andrea's play."
"I didn't realize," said David. "I'm gonna start going through every album I own now to figure out which ones are odes to Shakespeare."
"You'd be surprised," said Brenda. "Bob Dylan has a song, too."
"Desolation Row," said Dylan.
"Yeah," Brenda smiled at him, "Desolation Row. It's chock full of literary references, including Ophelia."
"I mean, not that you need my opinion or anything, but I think you're great together," said David.
"You may have just become my new best friend, Silver," said Dylan.
He was only half-joking.
"Oh, I know that," said Brenda. "We are. That's not why we broke up."
"It's not?" asked David in his confusion.
"It's complicated," said Brenda.
"We can uncomplicate it," said Dylan.
"Dylan," she warned.
"Ready and willing whenever you are."
"Two guys in your room? What would Mom and Dad say?" asked Brandon, poking his head in.
"Probably the same thing Mom would say if your darling sister told her about what you did with Sheryl in yours."
"Truce." Brandon raised both palms. "Nat finished the grilling and Donna's here."
David was out the door before any of the three realized he'd left.
"Wait, I thought David Silver had a thing for Kelly," said Brandon.
"So did I," said Brenda. "Do you think Donna has a thing for him?"
"Donna? And David? Nah. Too weird."
Dylan busted out laughing.
"Seriously, bro, I think that wave really messed with you. You keep laughing at the strangest things."
"Well, laughter is the best medicine, B."
"I thought my sister was the best medicine for you."
"Broken up," said Brenda. "We are broken up. B-R-O-K-E -"
"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" asked Brandon. "'Cause if it's me, you can save your breath."
"We are broken up," Brenda insisted. "It's just we're also close. Really close. Nothing wrong with that, is there, Dyl?"
"Nope," said Dylan. "You and your sister are my best friends. I'd like to keep it that way."
"I think my sister's a whole lot more than your friend."
"Knock it off, Brandon," said Brenda as she exited the room.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Jones. I'd hate to see either of you get hurt again."
"Appreciate it, Minnesota, but your sister and I are good. Better than good."
"Just be careful with her, bro. She may be your best friend, but she's mine, too. I don't wanna be put in the position where I have to choose because you'd -"
"Lose."
"Yeah."
He wondered what had shifted between the twins for Brandon to decide he'd prefer to not choose at all.
The Brandon warning him now seemed lightyears from the one who would remain both Dylan's friend and Kelly's after they told Brenda about their summer of sleaze. This one seemed much more similar to the Brandon who had practically torn Dylan apart for neglecting to call Brenda when he couldn't make their first date.
Stood me up, Brenda had corrected once. They call that getting stood up, Dylan.
Bren, he had said, I think the intention behind it means that -
I was stood up? Glad we agree.
You ever gonna let that one go?
Nope. You stood me up and you still managed to become the love of my life. It's pretty impressive, Dyl.
Oh, I'll stand you up, he had said, carrying Brenda into their shower. I'll stand you up all night long, he had murmured into her ear before he slammed into her.
Monaghan had probably never stood Brenda up.
Fuck, or he had stood her up, in their own fucking shower.
Did she claim he was the love of her life now?
Connor Monaghan may have had the love of Brenda in that life, but Dylan had all the rest.
And he had it in their old one, too, whether or not Brenda accepted the fact.
"I love her," he said earnestly. "That ain't something I can change and it ain't something that's going away. She knows how I feel. I know she feels the same. But I get that she needs time, time to trust herself with me like I trust her wholeheartedly. I'm giving her that time."
"Just don't give her too much time." Brandon clapped Dylan's shoulder.
"Yeah, or fifty guys will try to get with her." Dylan forced a smile, though the thought made him want to first start retching and then demand the names of every West Bev kid crushing on his Brenda.
She hadn't believed David about the number, whilst Dylan thought David had underestimated.
He couldn't punch all fifty guys, could he?
Forty-nine. He'd leave Scott alone.
The poor kid had enough to deal with, if what Dylan had heard from Brandon about Mrs. Scanlon held any grain of truth.
And Bren might've been Scott's first major crush, which was kind of sweet, so yeah, Scanlon could get a pass.
"He'd have to be one amazing guy to get through us." Brandon offered a smile of his own.
"How's that summer of singledom going?"
"It's enlightening."
They walked back out to see Steve and Kelly arguing, evidently over the pros and cons of vegetarianism which Steve had tried for a fraction of a moment in sophomore year and quickly changed his mind on. Brenda had an arm around Donna's shoulder as Donna told Brenda and David all about her new internship with The Pacific Exchange. David appeared to be clinging to Donna's every word and looked like he desired for her to speak more just so he could listen to her voice, which Dylan understood because he felt the same about Brenda's. Andrea stood listening beside the three, along with - with -
Reina, get your fucking hands off of my girl before I pummel you like I did Manzano.
-x
Chapter four came out ridiculously easy, surprisingly so.
Crystal: Thank you! I do get that, as well, and that Bren holding it in the video store was likely more irony than anything, but I still headcanon. Yes, that's been confirmed, that it would have been BD and BK if the writers remained the same, which is one reason I will be forever bitter that the series ended the way it did. They did the exact same shit with season eight of That '70s Show (firing all the writers and hiring new ones.) Of course the awful writing just had to be with one of my other OTP's on there.
As always, thanks a million for the readership, reviews, follows, favourites, alerts, discourse, plot ideas, etc. Stay healthy and safe out there. x