Brian Denver

"Brian, with the dreamy eyes and brown curls, his mus- cles on his arms and the always slightly tanned skin, as if he has just returned from a weekend on the Bahamas. With a scholarship for his football skills basically already in his pocket, as long as he passed the exams, he indeed was the school champion, the dreamiest of guys, and, for some strange reason, the boyfriend of Amie Anevay. - Amie about Brian (The Diary of Amelie Anevay)"

Brian Mathew Denver (alias 'Denver' or 'Brian') is one of Theodore Margravine's best friends and Amelie Anevay's first and only boyfriend.

Before QVA
Brian grew up as one of two kids, but his parents live separated. He lives with his father in New York. As she is never mentioned, it can be suggested that his sister Nicole lives with his mother.

Theo mentions that Brian's father is very supportive of his son. He even calls him the 'best father a son could wish for'.

Brian went to the same kindergarten as Theo, Lauren and Steven and met Hannah in primary school.

QVA
Brian is not a very good student, but he has an outstanding talent for football. He is very confident and popular and is described as incredibly good looking. He is well aware of that fact, however, and tends to be very egocentric and arrogant.

He eventually gets admitted to Cambridge due to a football scholarship. He goes there together with Steven.

Family
Brian and his father have a close relationship as described by Theo. He seems to be a very good father for his son, while it seems like he has no or not a lot of contact with his mother and sister.

Theodore Margravine
Brian and Theo know each other since kindergarten and are very close friends despite their differences. Theo himself says that there are many things Brian does he doesn't approve of, and he even feels responsible for not stepping in every now and then."Fifth grade, when Hannah spilled all of her food on the ground and Brian had nothing better to do than laughing about her instead of helping her picking her carrots up. Sixth grade, when Steven peed his pants when he did not make it to the bathroom in time and Brian told everyone about it and avoided him for at least a month to make sure it was not pathetic anymore to be friends with him. Seventh grade, when Sean Emmers broke his penis in gym class and Brian posted in on his Facebook. Generally said, he felt all these feelings because of Brian. - Theo about Brian after learning he had lied to him about Amie's feelings (The Diary of Amelie Anevay)"On the other hand, Brian was very close to Theo when his brother passed away and Theo spent many nights at his house, as he couldn't bear to stay home. Theo also admits that Brian would rather be the person he'd talk to about personal or emotional issues, compared to Steven.

When Theo tells Brian about his feelings for Amie however, Brian gets scared as he likes her himself and lies to Theo, saying Amie has confessed her feelings for Brian to him. Theo believes this to be the truth.

When Theo realises Amie and Brian like one another - unknowing Brian had lied to him about that earlier - he decides he has to move on and regards Amie to be off limits. Despite that, he sleeps with her on her eighteenth birthday, being able to refuse her obvious intentions. He doesn't tell Brian about it, as he believes Amie doesn't want him to. Amie doesn't tell him, either.

Both Brian and Theo find out about their respective betrayals through Amie's diaries. They get into a big fight, which climates with Brian pushing Theo down the stairs at school, breaking his foot. Theo ends up in the hospital and confronts Brian once he is out. It is important to notice that Theo was the one looking for the conversation, while Brian shut him out.

Being confronted when Theo tells him he knows about his lies, too, they get into another fight, but, in the end, settle things. Theo is heavily offended when Brian brings up his sexuality during the fight. "‘You know what I mean’, Brian blurted out, ‘you don’t know how relationships work. You don’t even know what gender you like, so what do you have to say in this?’""‘You’re saying this because you know it hurts me. That’s not fair.’ - Conversation from Theo and Brian in their fight (The Diary of Amelie Anevay)"Brian shows himself ashamed about what he had said. They don't exactly make up, and Theo is until the end of the book sure that Brian still holds a grudge against him. However, they are shown to still be friends after both have left for college, as they go to the Christmas concert in Hyde Park together in 2019. Katie mentions seeing Brian there. He is also mentioned by Jennifer at the Fall Prom at QVA in October 2020.

Steven Smith
There is little known about the friendship of Steven and Brian. It seems they are, apart from both being close with Theo, not necessarily as close with one another. They get along very well, however, and are not shown to have any conflicts with one another.

Amelie Anevay
Amelie is Brian's first and - as mentioned - only girlfriend. After she passes away, he does not have another girlfriend anyone knows of. "It was true, all the time Brian had been over since he and Amie broke up all this time ago, he had never mentioned another girl, not once. [...] Although Katie’s father always used to say, Brian was suffering from a not healable broken heart. - Katie about Brian (25 Days of Katie Smith)"Even though it is known from the beginning that Brian is Amie's boyfriend, it is not known when exactly he fell in love with her. He tells Theo about it at the beginning of ninth grade, upon Theo telling him about his own feelings for Amie. Brian, in panic, lies and pretends that Amie also told him she liked him, too. This leads to a short-term end between the friendship of Theo and Amie, and also Brian stays away from her, pretending he told her he couldn't date her, as he didn't want to hurt Theo's feelings. Amie, not knowing about anything, feels very hurt when everybody suddenly excludes her.

At the next Valentine's Day, Brian bribes the student association to make him Amelie's date. They are shown to have a lot of fun together. Theo mentions he heard them laughing together.

After that, Theo decides he has to move on and Brian eventually tells Amie on Steven's 15th birthday what he had done. Theo witnesses their conversation, but is not able to understand what they are saying, but indeed realises Brian is crying. He knows it would've been his last chance to prevent them from getting together, but in the end, doesn't intervene. Amie decides that Theo won't ever like her back, forgives Brian, and kisses him. They start dating on that day. Despite not being in love with him at the beginning, it seems that Amie develops true feelings for him after all. They are said to be very happy and in love.

On Amie's eighteenth birthday, all of them, apart from Theo, get drunk and he brings Amie back to the castle. They sleep together, but neither of them tells Brian. Amie eventually breaks up with him on the day of her accident, but he doesn't tell anyone about it. After she is in a coma, Brian still doesn't open up about the truth. His reasons are twofold, on the one hand, he didn't want to admit it, on the other he wanted to spare Theo the pain of being hurt. "‘No one knew. I wanted to tell you, but then the accident happened, and I thought...’""‘You thought no one would ever have to know’, Theo fulfilled his sentence. ‘I get it.’""‘It wasn’t just that [...] when she broke up with me – I knew why she did it. [...] I know how you felt about her [...]. I was scared she might die, and I didn’t want you to feel what you would’ve felt if you’d known.’""‘What do you mean?’""‘The pain of missing out. You constantly would’ve hated yourself for not telling her sooner, I know you would’ve. And I didn’t want you to go through that. So, I thought – if she dies, you’re better off not knowing how she felt.’ - Brian to Theo before Amie died (The Diary of Amelie Anevay)"In the end, once Amie passed away, it seems that it served as a reason for Brian and Theo to leave their problems behind them and stay friends because it is what she would've wanted. Both reckon giving their friendship up because of a girl is not worth it.