So Whitley was OK with the fact that Dwayne settled for her?

Yeah, some of us thought a similar thing in an older post. I think originally Dwayne and Denise were supposed to end up together (possibly marriage) but after Lisa got pregnant and Denise left Hilman, the writers decided to make some changes towards Dwayne's love life. When Whitley became the star of the show it was sort of a no-brainer. Jaleesa was too mature and Freddie's crush on Dwayne would soon die out and Kimberly and Dwayne wouldn't work so who else is he suppose to end up with? Whitley of course. I think free-spirited Denise would've been more his type still, even if she was a bit flaky.

Well, he didn't exactly "settle". If he settled for Whitley because Denise wasn't available, then wasn't Whitley just "settling" for him once all her other relationships failed? It's way more complex than that and sure, if Denise wanted him then maybe Dwayne and Whitley would have never happened, but the same could be said if Whitley's relationship with Julian had worked out or if they had never been on the same plane their senior year, or if the stars hadn't aligned the exact way they did. It's not so much ending up together when all their other options failed, but more about two unlikely people, with messy circumstances, on different journeys, ending up on the same path, and realizing they're a perfect fit and that's very beautiful to me.

I don't feel like Dwayne "settled". He wanted Denise at first but had to accept that she'd gotten married. It just so happened when he and Whitley were stranded, he realized he had more in common and actually began feeling attracted to her, that's NOT "settling" from my POV.