Brilliant, Beautiful and Brave
Authors note: This story takes place after the episode where Peyton tells Lucas that she wants what he wants too and then Brooke walks in. Instead of staying with Brooke, Lucas goes after Peyton. This story is five years after that. It will be a one shot in Lucas' point of view.
Sometimes I wonder if things would be different; if that fateful night I didn't run after Peyton, if I didn't tell her that she was everything I wanted and more, if I didn't embrace her in a huge kiss, if I didn't walk back to my room holding her hand to only find my sweatshirt on my bed that a pretty young brunette had previously been wearing. Would things still be the same?
Sure I'm happy with my life. I have a wonderful job as an author, the best friends anyone could have, and a beautiful fiancé. Things have changed since high school though. For example, she used to be a broody, music loving artist with a tangled mess of curls and chicken legs. I used to think she was the only one for me and I was the only one for her. She understood me, we were so much alike.
Now things have changed. She's still a music loving artist with chicken legs, but she's not as broody and her tangled mess of curls has been replaced with elegant waves. It's not a bad change, not at all. It's just I don't feel like she understands me anymore. I don't feel that connection.
So maybe I'm not happy. I've tried. I really have. When she came home with the pretty brunette, I thought we could rekindle things and everything would be perfect. And things were perfect, at first. Then things turned awkward. We started to have less and less meaningful conversations. I though at first I could fix it. So I tried; by proposing. She said yes.
It's been about six months since then. The wedding plans are well on their way. And it's just now that I can't help but wonder what would've happened if I had let Peyton walk out my door that day and stayed with the pretty brunette, Brooke.
She's changed too. Brooke Davis. When I first met her I wasn't exactly sure what I thought of her. As I got to know her I got to know her great personality. Sure she made mistakes. All of us do. Sometimes she made bigger mistakes then the rest of us though. Like the time when she stole the calculus test, or the time she slept with Nathan. But she learned from her mistakes. And I admire her for that.
When Brooke came home I saw even more change in her. She was still the fun, bubbly girl we once knew, but she had matured. She no longer slept with any guy she met, no longer turned up naked in the backseat of some random guys' car, and no longer spent her nights partying until the early hours of the morning. She now owned her own clothing line, fostered two children, was an excellent god-mother to Jamie and was now planning on starting her own family one day. She has the biggest heart out of anyone I know. Always willing to forgive. Always willing to try and forget. Always there to help. She helped me when I thought that I was alone.
She helped me through Keith's death, Peyton leaving, finding out Dan killed Keith, the car accident that Nathan and Haley were in, Peyton coming back and so much more. Somewhere along the way she became my best friend. We have a connection. And I love her for that.
Sometimes I wonder if things could be different. If right now instead of getting ready in the church for my wedding to the blonde, skinny, green eyed Peyton I could be off in Greece or some exotic place with only close family and friends marrying the beautiful, loving, brunette Brooke.
The bridesmaids are wearing deep blue. Brooke's bridesmaid's dresses would've been in red. And as Peyton walks down the isle in her white silk halter top dress, I can't help but think that Brooke would be wearing a classy dress that is tight until the hips then flares out to the feet. Kinda like Cinderella.
When Peyton stands in front of me I start to sneak glances behind her. Brooke is standing there. The blue dress she is wearing makes her eyes stand out. As I notice this we make eye contact. She looks vulnerable, but that's how I see her. And I think she's beautiful. But it's then that I know she is thinking the same thing as me. It could've been us.
I can never have Brooke Davis though, because Brooke is my best friend and I'm am marrying her best friend.
Brooke Davis is brilliant, beautiful, and brave. In the years I've known her she's grown more then anyone I have ever known. She's going to change the world one day. She's already changed mine. And I'm not even sure she knows it.