Floe de Lir

Chapter 13: Sethela

Inclined to initiate arguments in more frequent intervals than make a passable attempt to mediate them, peacemaker was not a role he normally leant towards.

Yet, his gang had fallen apart, and that was simply unacceptable.

He had to somehow get the group back together, which would be difficult to do when he himself refused to speak with one of its prominent members.

"Just talk to Dylan," said Kelly. "It's not too late to fix things with him."

"Fix what?" asked Steve. "I barely see my best friend anymore, which is McKay's fault. Thanks to him, Brandon and Brenda have decided to avoid most of us. Now if I want to see Brando, I have to stand outside The Blaze room and wave my arms around to try to get his attention."

"It's not Dylan's fault if Brandon chooses not to talk to you," Kelly defended.

"Careful, Kel, or it'll seem like you're glad Dylan and Brenda broke up."

"I just know how Dylan can get when he thinks his life is falling apart, and I don't want it to reach that point," said Kelly in a hush.

"How do you know how his life can get? You've never seen his life fall apart. Unless you're talking about when his parents split and his mom left and do I need to remind you that you barely spoke to McKay then? You only knew Iris left because I told you."

Which, Steve thought, likely hadn't been the smartest move on his part, but in his defense, he had been six. Six-year-olds didn't often think of the consequences of their actions, unless you were, perhaps, a six-year-old Andrea Zuckerman.

He might have liked to have known Andrea at six.

Or he may have detested Andrea at six.

"I can't tell you how I know. Just trust me," said Kelly.

"There's a lot of things people aren't telling me these days and I'm really getting sick of it," said Steve. "If someone's going to break up the group the way you and McKay did, the least you can do is give a guy a warning, instead of just spring it on him. Especially with Christmas coming up. Christmas, Kel! Are we all gonna be apart for Christmas because McKay's a horndog?"

"I know you care about him, Steve."

"How can I care about a guy who hurt my best friend's sister the way he did?"

"You care about me."

"You're...you."

She was the girl he had loved since he had first caught sight of her with her sparkly pink backpack, carrying around her stuffed unicorn to show to her new friend, Donna Martin.

"If you can care about me, you can care about Dylan."

"What about Brenda, Kel? We never see her. Why aren't you concerned about Brenda?"

"I am concerned about Bren," said Kelly. "She doesn't want to see me right now, and I'm not going to force her to see me."

"But you want to force me to see Dylan?"

"He didn't cheat on you, Steve."

Then why does it feel like he did? Steve thought.

"If you want me to talk to Dylan, then rewind the clock and make it to where you never had a fling in the first place," said Steve. "Then Brandon would still be hanging out with us and Brenda would still be around."

"We tried that," Steve thought he heard Kelly murmur, though he didn't attempt to understand her nonsensical babble.

Andrea should be glad, Steve thought, that vocabulary she's having me learn is starting to stick.