Disclaimer: I do not own OTH, or anything affiliated with it... If I did the travesty that is s6 never would've happened.
A/N: I wrote this story for the BL fanfiction contest over at (I WON! yays) - The theme was to have BL end up back together realistically, and one of the scenarios was on the day of LPs wedding... So this is what I came up with. Enjoy ;)
The Heart Brings You Back
Lucas Scott was a lot of things. A writer, a basketball coach, a fiancé, and right at this moment he was the man crushing my heart more than I ever thought possible.
Let me start at the beginning. I fell for Lucas in our junior year of High School. He was the brooding loner who joined the basketball team much to the dismay of his Half Brother and absentee father, and I was the popular cheerleader whose favorite extracurricular was sex. But everything changed the minute my eyes locked with his.
I spent the next several weeks trying to reel him in, and finally when I least expected it, he looked past the outer shell I showed everyone else, and saw the real me. After that we were inseparable. Well at least we were until he realized he still had feelings for my best friend Peyton Sawyer. To make a long story short: They cheated; I found out, I got my heartbroken, and I cut them both out.
That didn't last long though. I eventually forgave them both, and the three of us started over as friends only… Which is another thing that didn't last that long. I fell for Lucas again, and after months of fighting, and stupid game playing, we finally found our way back to each other. For a while everything was perfect. Haley had Nathan, Peyton had Jake and I had Lucas, the guy I had planned on spending the rest of my life with.
Then as fast as it started, it ended. Peyton came to me, telling me she still had feelings for Lucas, and everything that had happened before came rushing back. Suddenly I couldn't breathe, all I could see was my heart getting crushed again. So I did what I thought was best, I broke up with Lucas and pushed him into the arms of my best friend, and even though my heart shattered every time I saw them together I knew I did the right thing. The two people I loved the most in the world were happy, so who cared that I was slowly dying inside?
Fast forward 5 years. Lucas and Peyton had broken up over an attempted proposal, Lucas was now engaged to his Editor, and everything had changed. Yet at the same time everything was still the same.
Peyton was still trying to do whatever she could to get in Lucas' life, and I was still the girl in the background with a shattered heart.
As per usual Peyton got what she wanted, and as her best friend I was genuinely happy for her, she deserved her happily ever after… She and Lucas both did. So when Peyton told me she and Lucas were engaged I played my part as the best friend perfectly. I mean high School was over right? I couldn't spend the rest of my life pining over a guy who would never love me the way I loved him. So I designed the dress (Three times… Turns out P. Sawyer also got herself pregnant) and put on a brave face, and even tried to start over with a new guy. All in all I thought I was doing pretty great, until now…
Because NOW at this moment, I was standing in front of my best friends Fiancé, on their wedding day, listening to him to tell me he loved me, that he had always loved me.
I could feel a single tear rolling down my face as the words continued to pour from his mouth, and he absently reached up to wipe it away. As his hand grazed my face I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. A part of me knew this was wrong, that I should pull away and turn around and never look back, and I had every intention of doing just that, but I made the mistake of looking into his eyes first, and suddenly I wasn't 23 anymore, I was 16 and falling in love for the very first time.
All reasonable thought left my mind and before I knew it my arms were wrapped around his neck, my lips pressed passionately against his. And with that one kiss all the pain from the past six years faded, none of it mattered anymore. Not losing Angie, not the attack. All that mattered was staying in this moment forever, a moment where all my dreams came true, and I could finally breathe again.
Unfortunately reality has a way of stepping in when you least expect it, this time it came in the form of my hand brushing across a soft white rose. A rose that was in the pocket of his tuxedo, the tuxedo he was wearing to marry Peyton.
And as is the story of my life, the moment ended almost as soon as it began. Guilt clawed at my conscience, and I quickly pushed him away.
We stared breathlessly at each other for a moment, absorbing what had happened, and as seconds ticked by my guilt quickly turned to anger. Anger at him… At Me.
"How dare you?" I spat out, my voice laced with venom.
"Brooke…" He began pain apparent in his voice.
"No!" I snapped. "You don't get to say anything. You don't get to tell me that you love me six years too late, and you sure the hell don't get to kiss me on your wedding day to my best friend!"
The tears were falling freely now, from both of us, and I felt my anger subside as I looked at the crumpled, lost expression on his face.
"Lucas I love you." I began the venom from my voice gone. "And I always will, but you don't love me. You love Peyton, you always have. You just have cold feet; you're scared that in typical Lucas and Peyton fashion something will go wrong, so you're trying to find an easy way out… I can't be that way out Lucas."
I took a deep breath before continuing and forced a smile on my face.
"Besides there is nothing to be scared of. Peyton is your destiny Lucas. So this is what we're going to do. You're going to wipe your eyes and go stand at that altar, and we're going to forget this moment ever happened ok? We're calling a do over."
I leaned over a softly kissed his forehead, and before I could change my mind I started towards the edge of the tent, my heart shattering with each step.
"I called you first."
The words were barely above a whisper, but the power behind them froze me in place.
"Your phone was busy though. I took that as a sign... A sign that we weren't meant to be, so stuidly I decided to call Peyton."
"Lucas, I…"
"No, it's your turn to listen now."
I slowly turned back around to face him, his deep blue eyes locking with my tear filled hazel ones. I tried to think of something to say, anything that would get him to stop, but for the first time in my life I was speechless. So I simply listened.
"The months after Lindsey left me were the best of my life. I got to be a family with you, and Angie… Something I had dreamed about since I was 17. And the night you fell asleep in my arms everything suddenly fell into place. All the running and heartache I had experienced over the past five years made sense, and I realized I would never be complete without you. So I called you, ready to start over, but just like always I could never quite reach you in time. So I called Peyton, knowing that even though she wasn't you, we could still be happy together. At least that's what I thought. But I was wrong. Instead of spending the past few months in a state of pure bliss, I've spent them thinking about you. Wondering how you were. Wanting to reach out to you, but scared of being too close. And then Julian told me he asked you to go to L.A, and I was sixteen again seeing you slipping away from me, and I knew that I had to stop hiding."
He reached out and pulled my hand into his, caressing it softly with his thumb.
"It's always been you Brooke Davis. Through all the pain, and hurt, and confusion it's always been you."
"Lucas, this is your wedding day. The day Peyton has been dreaming about for years, we can't do this, not now..."
"I know you don't want to hurt Peyton, neither do I. But I know you feel the same way as I do, and I know you're falling apart just like me. And I also know she's your best friend, and she will forgive you."
"Lucas I can't. We can't…"
"Damn it Brooke, for once in your life just be selfish. This isn't some TV show where everything is black and white. This is real life. The pain is real, the way my heart beats faster when I'm around you is real, and the way I love you is very real."
He leaned his head down, gently kissing the top of my head, and I felt my body falling into his arms.
"I know you're scared Brooke, scared of following your heart. And I know your thinking of every bad thing that can happen, but I need you to trust me. There is nothing we can't get through as long as we're together. So what do you say?"
As his words washed over me, and his arms held me tightly, I stopped fighting. For the first time in the longest time I just stopped, and let my heart take over. And suddenly the decision was clear, it had always been clear.
I pulled my head away from his chest and met his eyes once again, and softly whispered "It's always been you Lucas Scott." Before gently pressing my lips to his.
