~chapter twenty-three - part two: the whole story
Brian walked backwards slowly, his eyes focussed on Dana. She didn't seem to be paying attention to him, but rather staring into space. She was distant which, Brian supposed, was understandable. Amanda and Kristen had gone down to the plane with AJ and Kevin... they were joining them for the first week. Claudia and Rachel had left, both having to work immeadiatley after their "partner's" departure. Dana was alone.
Turning around to watch where he was walking, Brian began to think. He honestly didn't want to leave her, not yet. There were so many things left unsaid. It unnerved him, knowing that the solution to their problem could be hidden within what she hadn't yet said. Of course, it could also be hidden within what he hadn't yet said. And it was not only that that made Brian unsettled, but the fact the he might never hold Dana again. The holding was the thing he loved most. Getting lost in a pair of strong, gentle, loving and comforting arms. Leaving her wasn't the greatest thing to be thinking about before leaving town. The two of them being seperated for a month and a little bit certainly wouldn't bridge whatever gap that was holding them apart.
He sighed, and almost like the sigh was a lightswitch, and idea popped into his head. Brian froze midstep. He shifted his gaze to the plane that sat just outside the window. With a sudden resolution, he began to walk faster. Spotting Kevin walking down the bridge to the plane, Brian waved his arms. "Kevin!" He shouted, trying to catch his cousin's attention. "Kev!"
Kevin turned around. "Yeah?"
Brian ran to catch up. Kevin was a foot away from the plane that would have seperated Brian from his destiny. "Take this." Brian shoved his carry-on at Kevin. "Tell Mike that I'm not coming, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Whadda you mean, 'I'll see you tomorrow.'?"
"I mean I'm not flying out with you," Brian explained quickly. "There isn't a lot of time, you need to board. Just tell Mike I'm not coming tonight. I'll get a flight tomorrow, I'll get there, I swear. Just not tonight."
"Why not?" Kevin waited impatienly. "Brian, you can't just leave."
"I can, and I am." Brian stared at him defiantly, challenging Kevin to contradict him. "And you aren't stopping me."
"Fair enough." Kevin eyed his cousin. He was a titch curious as to what was distracting Brian from the tour. "What's so important that you aren't coming tonight?"
Brian's gaze was unwavering, and he paused to consider the best wording. He decided to put it in simple terms. "My girlfriend."
A smile washed across Kevin's face. "You know Mike will kill you."
"I know."
"Good luck trying to explain this to everyone."
"I know."
Kevin stood there looking like a proud father. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"
"I'm positive." Brian grinned, knowing that Kevin supporting him would make the fight with Mike a lot easier.
"Good luck with Dana," Kevin offered.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Brian gave his cousin a grateful smile. "Remember to grab my luggage."
"I will," Kevin promised.
Brian stood still for a second, realizing, with some pride, what he had done. For the first time in his life he had gone against his management, and shifted the specifics of the situation to meet his own approval. He had not only done that, but he had sacrificed. He was stopping something of his own to try and fix the situation for her. It was a major thing, and he took a few seconds to bask in the glory of it all. Mike would give him hell for it, but Brian felt good anyway.
Dana arched a brow when she spotted Brian walking back to her, grinning like the cheshire cat. "I thought you were leaving," she asked curiously.
He smiled even more, and checked his watch. "We have about twelve hours, so lets not waste time."
"How-"
"I'm going to take a cheap seat on an early flight tomorrow. I should be able to book an extra seat, first class usually doesn't fill."
Her eyes bugged out. "You shouldn't have done that, Brian. 15,000 screaming girls deserve you more than one me."
"But this guy would rather be with one you , and figure everything out, than 15,000 screaming girls who just, well, scream." Brian gestured to a nearby chair. "So let's start."
"Okay." Dana nodded. "Let's." She dropped in to the cheap vinyl seat. "You definately deserve an explination, and one is coming. See, a couple-"
Brian cut her off. "Who was he?" He didn't want to beat around the bush, he wanted to know exactly who had been in the lecture theatre with her a few days earlier.
Dana wasn't sure what he meant. "Pardon me?"
"The guy, who was he?"
"What guy?"
"The one you were with earlier," Brian stated softly, remembering the sight which haunted him.
"Earlier..." Dana racked her brain. "Steve?" He was the only 'earlier' she could think of.
"I dunno, the one you were with the other day," Brian shrugged.
"I wasn't with anyone the other day," Dana said curiously.
"Dana, I saw you."
"Well, it musn't have been me, cause I wasn't with anyone." Dana stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't be difficult," Brian argued, raising his voice a bit. "I saw you Dana, I watched him hug you."
Dana shook her head. "Where?"
"At the university, on Monday." Brian waited.
Dana thought for a second, then broke into a wide smile. "Tall guy?"
Brian nodded.
"Dark red hair?"
He nodded once more.
Dana laughed a bit, then covered her mouth. She let a muffled giggle escape, then smothered the next one.
"What?" Brian asked indignantly.
"That was-" A giggle cut off her sentance. "Brian, that was Rob."
He still didn't get it. "Rob who?"
"Rob Patrick." She smiled affectionately. "You have nothing to worry about, especially not with Rob."
"You two looked awfully close," Brian mumbled.
"We should be," Dana said with a giggle. She found it terribly amusing that Brian was suspicious of Rob. "Brian, I've gone to school with Rob since the second grade. He's never been anything more than a really close friend, honest to God."
Brians pride was wounded. Here he was, being protective just as Dana had been over he and Faith, and she was laughing at him. "I don't find it very funny," Brian frowned.
"I'm sorry," she offered, and contained a smile under her hand. "But don't you think you should have trusted me?"
"Excuse me?" Brian demanded. "Since we're on the topic of trust, let's let you talk for a little while. What was all that stuff with Faith? You know I'd never do anything like that."
"And you know I'd never do anything like that either, but you got jealous too." Dana, suddenly very much calmer, and far more level headed, reached for Brian's hand. "You walked out of a bathroom with her... alone. I had just gone through hell-"
"Which you refused to tell me about."
"-And, well, wouldn't you be just a little," she searched for a word. "Upset?"
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps," Dana repeated with a laugh.
Brian smiled. "Okay, so maybe it'd be more that a perhaps."
"Yeah, I'd say so." She rubbed his palm. "Let's get out of here."
- - -an hour and a half later- - -
"D'you want a drink?" Brian ran a hand through his hair.
"No thanks," Dana shook her head, and planted a tiny kiss on Tyk's forehead. The little dog responded by wriggling in her arms, and licking the bottom of her chin. Dana laughed, and Brian watched with warm eyes. They had yet to sit down and talk, but there was a comfortable ambiance of peace surrounding them.
Brian poured himself a glass of water, and sat down at the kitchen table. Thunder rolled outside the patio doors, and the rain made little splashes in his pool. The yard swept back quite a ways, and little gardens and tall trees lined the bordering stucco wall so that paparrazi photos couldn't be taken without a great deal of work. He had even gone so far as to put trees along the tall wall that protected the front yard. The gate had security code access, and only a few people, including Dana, had the code. It was a huge security blanket, and it made him sleep better at night. Dana's old car was parked in the curvy driveway, next to some daffodils and azaleas.
"You such a cute wittle boy, yes," Dana cooed. "You such a wittle baby, my wittle baby." Tyk wagged his tail a bit. "My baby, can you gimme a kiss? Kiss?"
Brian stood up, and approached Dana. He plucked Tyk out of her arms, and placed him on the floor. Tyk scampered away, probably in search of his ball, or an old sock. Brian kissed Dana's cheek softly. "Now can we talk?"
She agreed with a quiet murmur.
Brian grasped her hand, and walked out of the kitchen. He settled into the den, with the couch facing out at the pool. He released her hand, and took a small sip of water.
"If we're gonna talk, then I first need you to listen." Dana bit her lip. "Can you do that for me?"
" 'Course," Brian promised.
Dana breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. About two and a half years ago, when I first came to the university, I was staying in residence. I was to be living with a girl named Tracy. I got to the dorm first, so I got my pick of beds and everything, etc., etc. I was unpacking, and a couple hours after I finished Tracy and this guy came."
"Rob?" Brian asked quickly.
Dana gave him a reproachful glance. "You're not doing what I asked. Just listen." Brian nodded, and mumbled an apoligy. "The guy was a friend of Tracy's, and he was helping her unpack. She introduced me, and while Tracy unpacked her clothes, me and Steve got to talking. He was really nice, and sweet, and all that stuff, and we really hit it off.
"He left, and I didn't see him for a few weeks, but from all the people I met, the general thought was that Steve was a great guy. He became the big man on campus really quickly, and everybody knew who he was, and everybody liked him. One night I was talking to Tracy, and she said that Steve was really interested in me. When I heard, I was so flattered and... surprised. My whole life I'd never really had relationships. I'd had guys that I liked, but in highschool I wasn't anyone special, you know? And know it was like the most dope guy in school wanted me.
"So I went out with him." Dana paused. "God, he was so nice and he was so sweet to me. I couldn't believe that he liked me. So when he asked me out again, I of course went. We started off just going out for dinner, and to the movies, and Steve was always really patient with my 'inexperience'. He took a leave to do some studying in Europe for six monthes, and during that time I bounced between a few other relationships, but there was no one that I had liked as much as Steve. Plus," Dana added ruefully. "Each one of those relationships ended horribly. The night Steve came back, one of the fraternities was throwing a welcome home party. I was going with him."
Dana was a little ashamed to admit the next part of her story. It was embarrasing to tell Brian all the things that had happened to her, and she didn't want him to be there when she started to cry at the memories.
"So, anyways," she continued. "I went with Steve to the party. While we were there we started to, um, fool around, I guess, and things got carried away. I told Steve that I didn't want to do anything, and he said he was perfectly okay with that. I nearly died when he said that, he said it so sincerely and he seemed so truthful. We didn't do anything. I had a bit to drink, Steve did too, and we left. That was the end of that. The next weekend, the same thing happened, and Steve once again relented. No pressure, no nothing. It went that way for two or three monthes, and I, I started to feel bad about not sleeping with him. School was over, and I went home, and we stayed in touch, and when I came back in the fall things started up again. He was being so great about my insecurities and he was giving me space and I just thought, give a little, get a little. So I slept with him."
She stopped for a second. Brian's face was rather expressionless, and she supposed it was coming as a bit of a surprise to him. Dana supposed that people assumed her as an innocent virgin. She was quiet, and her voice had grown steadily softer during her whole tale. She made sure that she wouldn't choke up and start to cry before begining to talk again.
"That was that. Quite possibly the biggest mistake I have ever made. When I think about it now, it's just like 'What was I thinking?' But, I did what I did, and the next weekend I did it again. And once again the week after that." Dana laughed a little humiliated laugh, and looked at her hands. "One night I just didn't want to do anything with him, and I thought that he'd understand. Afterall, he'd understood before. So I said no. Steve got a little upset, but agreed. I thought I was in heaven. Anyway, we went out to a party, and got a little tipsy, and Steve forced sex on a majorly drunk me."
Little tears pooled in the corners of Dana's eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. "God, I-" her voice broke. "I was so stupid, I wasn't thinking, I just-"
Brian reached for her, and rested an arm over her shoulder. He rubbed her back gently. "Shh," he murmured. "Dana, it's okay. Shh." He pulled her close to him.
"I nenver thought I would be so dumb," she sobbed into his chest. "It just happened, and I didn't wanna believe it, and so I just pretended that nothing had ever gone down," One hand smothered forthcoming tears. "I was younger, and dumber, and... the next weekend it happened again. And again after that. And nearly every weekend for the next two years. Finally, I just decided I'd had enough. I broke it off with him. I started pursuing other guys, only to find out that I was known as 'Dana-Slosh-then-Screw'."
Brian dropped his jaw. The only thing he was thinking of, as dumb as it was, was that his sweet litttle angel was known as a slut.
"You're not the only one that was surprised," she said ruefully. "Seems that while Steve wasn't trying to jump into bed he was raving about the easy fuck." Dana sighed. "I layed low for a while, avoided people, then re-established myself. I was by now living with Brette, who has first met Steve in highschool, and knew what an asshole he was. She turned me back into a human, and Steve started to want me again. Only this time I never went back. He was calling me all the time, trying to re-hookup. Then," she smiled fondly. "I met you, and you know the rest of the story."
"Can I talk now?" Brian asked, in a tone slightly above a whisper.
Dana nodded a bit. "Yeah."
"What happened to you to make you ignore me last week?" Brian rubbed her hand. "Why did you do that?"
"Oh," Dana exhaled with a frown. "That." She clasped his hand in hers. "Just a nasty little run-in with my pathetic past. Steve kind of decided that it'd be fun to once again ruin my mental stability. You know, screw with my brain."
Brian cupped her chin, and leaned close to her. Their noses were only centimetres apart. "First, I think you are amazing." Brian stared directly into her eyes. "You were nineteen, you were dating scum, and you upheld through it all." He let his hand travel back across her chin and into the mess of curls. "Second, you should never let him come between us. We're stronger that, and we're better than that, and you know it." She leaned against his chest, and he rested his chin on her head. Brian's arms encircled her waist, and he held onto her tightly. He smelled reassuring, and comforting, and warm, and somehow banished all her fears and worries.
- - -the next morning- - -
"I'll call you tonight, it might be kind of late though." Brian nuzzled her neck, and kissed the top of Dana's ear. He had dark circles under his eyes, the result of only a half hour of sleep that he consumed on the taxi ride to the airport. After spending the night talking, reconciling and ocasionally kissing, neither he, nor Dana, were in any condition to drive.
Dana blinked sleepily, and surpressed a yawn. They were publically visible, something Dana wasn't very keen on, but safe in Brian's arms nothing seemed to be that bad. She tried to reach his lips, but couldn't get that tall, and just planted a smooch on his jaw bone. Brian hugged her more, and leaned down to her level. He placed his hands on either side of her face, and created something very similar to blinders. It served two purposes. He wanted some privacy, and if anyone decided to take a photo Dana would be totally protected. She smiled. Brian kissed her forehead, and her eyelids, and her nose, and finally her lips. She responded eagerly, taking advantage of the little bit of time they had left before Brian was gone.
"I gotta go," Brian whispered, but he didn't move.
"Uh huh," Dana mumbled, but she also didn't move.
They stayed in that position until the last flight call was announced. Brian had to run for the gate, and he wanted nothing more than to run for Dana, but it didn't work that way. She watched him board the plane, and she watched the aircraft fly away, and Dana prayed with her whole heart and soul that the plane wouldn't crash.
~chapter twenty-four~
~chapter index~
