16 hours, one sunrise, 9 years, one sunset
Author's note: Well I know that probably a lot of you hate me for not updating my other story. As I told you before I started to work at my internship and had to write a paper for law school. I'm really sorry that it took me so long to write again and now not even for my main story. I still hope you enjoy this little experiment of mine. If it gets a tiny bit of attention from you I'll proceed to work on it. So far I can just tell you that it is a BL alternative universe story. It will contain some references to characters in Tree Hill but won't have much more similarities.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill. Sadly the TV-series is belonging to Mark Schwahn. Maybe some of you will recognize the story as a rip-off of a movie. Well this is my favorite one of all time and I hope to do it a little bit of justice by using its storyline. If not I guess I ruined it.
August 7th 1995, 2pm:
He sits there in his seat and watches the landscape fly by. Over the past couple of days he got accustomed to the different environment in Europe and started to enjoy its diversity in comparison to his home back in the US. The green valleys in Spain, the small villages in Switzerland, the large lakes in Italy and the spectacular Alps in Austria. Everything seems so calm and composed of thrilling beauty. Lucas often opens up the window in his compartment a tiny bit to inhale a whiff of the slipstream and cool his mind. The more days passed and he spent time travelling Europe he felt more at ease with his ever present fear of exploring unknown places and cultures. However the feeling of loneliness continued to creep into his mind and cloud his heart…
Lucas Scott never strayed very far away from his hometown Tree Hill in North Carolina. Sure there were the occasional road games played at surrounding towns in the state at the time he still was a member of the local basketball team. But aside from this and the one time his parents took him on a trip to Washington over the weekend of July 4th Lucas was content with the life he led. He got raised in a sheltered neighborhood and a pretty functional family. He had a younger brother called Nathan who despite of the usual brother rivalry got to be not just a family member but also his closest friend. Along with the tall brown haired boy Lucas spent the major part of his time with his childhood friend Haley James. Both of them practically learned the basic lessons of life together. He was there when she bumped her knee falling down from the swing in kindergarden. She held his hand when both of them went together to their first prom. And together with Nathan they stood next to each other when their parents took pictures at the day of graduation. Yet Lucas always searched for something else in his life. Since he was little the books of renowned writers like Camus, Hemmingway, Steinbeck or Hawthorne were scattered all over his desk. To say the boy was interested in literature and art itself would be an understatement. Lucas lived and breathed for every new story his mind dug into and line he memorized. So after graduation a normal job in his hometown wasn't a possibility to consider. Instead he enrolled in the literature program at the university in New York. His semester didn't start before October and because of this Lucas seized the opportunity to visit his longtime highschool girlfriend Peyton in Barcelona. She was a year older than him and an art freshmen at NYU but decided to spend a semester overseas….
As another gust of wind hits his body Lucas shivers and pulls up the zipper of his track suit jacket. It is around noon and some minor clouds are still blocking out the rays of light from turning the day into another warm and comfortable pleasure to experience on his way back home. When he closes his eyes and slowly licks his lips he can still feel the traces of salt left from his last encounter with Peyton at the beach in Barcelona. Before his mind drifts of into another pointless revision of their talk Lucas hears loud shouts and startles a bit.
"Kannst du sie bald auswendig?"
(Can you tell me what is so interesting?)
"Es wird dich nicht interessieren, aber es steht etwas über dich in der Zeitung. 70.000 Frauen sind dem Alkohol verfallen. Du bist eine davon!"
(It won't interest you but there is something written about you in the newspaper. 70.000 women are addicted to alcohol. You are one of them!)
Lucas frowns and sneaks lazily a peak out of his compartment into the coach car to track down the source of the disturbance. He sees a middle-aged couple sitting in the front next to each other engaged in a heated discussion. He is wearing a striped dress shirt with worn out jeans and she a blue summer dress sprinkled with tiny black dots. Although they are next to each other and almost at the verge of jumping at each other's throats neither of them looks at the other. The man is busy hiding his face behind the sheets of a daily Austrian newspaper, Lucas guesses and the woman has her eyes transfixed on the Jane Austen novel placed on her lap.
"Das trifft mich übehaupt nicht. Wenn hier jemand dem Alkohol verfallen ist, dann bist du das. Schau dich doch mal im Spiegel an" the blonde woman sneers with an impassive voice turning over a page in the book.
(That doesn't concern me. If someone is addicted to alcohol it's you. Just look at you in the mirror.)
"Bei mir hat es einen Grund. Ich bin verheiratet mit dir." the man groans noisily scratching his head.
(I have a reason to do it. I'm married to you.)
Lucas observes the spectacle in utter amusement and enthusiasm. Although these people speak in a foreign language and he only is able to decipher some words, he gets the impression that the couple is having one of the ordinary and usual arguments. It reminds him of his own parents fighting over the topic of conversation at the kitchen table or the television program to pick at night. Like his mother the woman has this annoyed yet sassy expression on her face trying to suppress the urge to nudge her husband or to playfully slap him. The man just ignores his wife with the same stoic calmness his dad uses when he turns a blind eye to his mother's complains about his obsession with basketball.
To get a closer look at the little show the couple puts on Lucas exits his compartment and walks steadily to the coach car.
"Könntest du diese verdammte Zeitung endlich weglegen?" the woman scolds raising her head and focussing her gaze at her husband. (Put that damn newspaper already away!)
"Das mach ich jetzt seit 15 Jahren. Könntest du mir den Gefallen tun und mich endlich in Ruhe lassen?" he responds calmly after clearing his throat but not putting down the newspaper.
(I'm doing this for 15 years now. Could you do me a favor and leave me alone?)
Lucas sits down in the row behind the squabblers and pretends to be occupied with reading his own book. Every now and then he turns around to quickly take a look at the couple. All of their banter and gestures yet amuse him to the extent that he can't wipe the smug smile of his face.
"Ich lass dich sehr gerne in Ruhe, aber ich hab noch einen Vorschlag für dich. Du lässt mich in Ruhe und ziehst zu deiner Mutter" the woman exclaims loudly shutting her book with one quick motion.
(I'll gladly let you alone but I suggest you let me alone too. You can move back to your mother)
The man turns over a page oft the newspaper and stays silent. He only scratches his head again and lets out some dry coughs. The woman watches him intently for another moment with an expression of impatience etched on her face until she slaps his newspaper down, out of his hands and then grabs it. Furiously she sighs and takes her book in one hand and with the other tosses the newspaper on the ground. Without turning around once she proceeds to walk down the aisle to the exit.
"War das jetzt wirklich nötig?" her husband shrieks loudly, looking pretty disgruntled yet dumbfounded into space.
(Was that really necessary?)
As his wife exits the coach car he picks up the newspaper and tosses it carelessly onto his seat. Then he hastily stands up and quickly goes after her.
Lucas really tries hard not to erupt into a fit of laughter but when the guy passes him a huge smile creeps over his face and he starts to giggle uncontrollably.
A girl sitting across from him on the other side of the aisle a row behind him looks up from her magazine and smiles. Lucas immediately catches a glimpse of her and glances into her direction. She tucks a loose strand of hair effortlessly behind her ear, smiles even a bit more and then looks away. Lucas eyes are still transfixed on the brunette's whole appearance when the train conductor walks up to him and asks him for his ticket. Lucas slowly snaps out of his daydream and nervously fidgets with his wallet. It takes a while to find the ticket but in the end he is able to track it down. After the conductor moves towards the other passengers Lucas stares again at the brunette sitting only a couple of feet away from him.
She is wearing a plain black skirt, probably reaching down to her knees, a bright red top with little frills on the sleeves and a matching black cardigan over it. The little detail of her outfit that really attracts his attention though is the bright and shiny red headband covering a part of her silky and long brown hair.
Lucas runs his hand through his own hair absent mindedly and clenches his fists.
As the girl tucks another strand of hair behind her ear he stands up and walks over to her row and sits down in a seat on the other side of the aisle.
The couple returns to the coach car and passes by him still arguing, but now a lot calmer.
"Typisch! Immer must du anderen Frauen hinterherstarren!" the woman whispers reproachfully while slumping down on her seat.
Lucas takes another short glance at the brunette and then clears his throat noisily.
"Do you have any idea what they are arguing about?" he asks the girl quietly nervousness evident in his voice.
The girl raises her head slowly and looks over at him a bit surprised.
Lucas points at the arguing couple and repeats the question with a little bit more confidence.
"No. I'm sorry. My German is not that good." the brunette answers with a raspy voice shrugging her shoulders. Lucas leans back a bit clearly disappointed by the answer. He bites his bottom lip trying to come up with another line to continue the conversation.
The girl watches him intently while automatically turning over a page in her magazine.
Lucas proceeds to speak up again when the girl interrupts him and starts talking herself in a low and calm tone.
"Have you ever heard that as couples get older they lose their ability to hear each other?"
Lucas squints his eyes in utter astonishment and shakes his head.
"Well, supposedly, men lose their ability to hear higher-pitched sounds and women eventually lose hearing in the low end. I guess they balance out each other or something. Nature's way of allowing couples to grow old together without killing each other." the brunette rambles on agitatedly gesturing with her hands and chuckling a bit.
Lucas looks at her in awe and a half smile covers his face which forms into a huge one when he sees the girl tucking another strand of hair behind her ear.
"Okay. I like this theory of yours. Means that my parents still have a chance to endure their weekly fights." he says jokingly wrinkling his nose.
The girl smiles and turns away for a second. She stares at the book in Lucas's hands and grins.
"What are you reading?"
Lucas still glances over at her and then startles a bit when she points at his book. He holds it up and shows the girl the cover of it.
"Steinbeck, The Winter of our Discontent. Interesting choice." she remarks quickly while rolling her eyes.
"What? What is wrong with it?" Lucas replies with a confused look on his face.
"Nothing….it is just plain and simple boring" the brunette says apologetically kinking her eyebrow.
Lucas's eyes grow wider and he moves a little closer to the girl.
With a serious and fake expression of hurt in his eyes he lowers his head to look directly at the girl.
"How can you just say this? Steinbeck' books and especially this piece of work are all classics of American literature and widely appreciated all over the world. The Winter of our Discontent has such a keen sense of character and a mastery of the language. It is beautiful." Lucas explains excitedly.
The brunette admires this obvious dedication and love of the boy in front of her for literature and beams with joy. While she watches him ramble on about the story of the novel she quietly fidgets with the red headband in her hair.
As he stops talking and quickly breaths in and out of exhaustion she speaks up.
"Okay…..well to me it is just a story about a man giving into temptation. Kind of what every other novel is about nowadays"
Lucas puts his hand on his chest right over the place where his heart is and groans. For a second the girl looks at him with a bewildered expression on her face. Then he cracks up and shakes his head trying to stifle his laughs.
"Alright smart girl. Let's see what you are reading!" he asks inching a bit closer.
The brunette closes the magazine and hands it over to Lucas.
He looks at the cover, smirks and kinks his eyebrow.
"So you are aloud to bash my choice of literature and still read Vogue magazine?" he snickers wholeheartedly.
The brunette's facial expression changes from a smile to a frown in an instant. She hastily picks up the magazine out of his hands and places it back on her lap.
"I don't read your high class and boring literature. Doesn't mean that I'm stupid!" she scolds fiercely.
Lucas leans back a bit and watches the girl turn away to look out of the window. For a moment only the rustling of the train following the path of the tracks breaks the silence.
"Hey. I didn't mean to offend you. You just let me ramble on about the beauty of my favorite book to just shoot me down with one sentence. I think I kind of felt stupid after seeing your reaction." he sincerely states with a calm voice.
The girl turns around beaming with joy. She nudges Lucas in the side and claps her hands excitedly.
"Well done. You passed my test. So what's your name stranger" she whispers calmly with a raspy voice.
Lucas still a bit taken back by the sudden touch of the girl flinches and squints his eyes.
"Lucas Scott." he replies nervously reaching out his hand to the brunette.
The girl shakes his hand slowly and says self-confidently…
"Brooke Davis. It's nice to meet you Lucas Scott. I guess you are stuck with me now".
Lucas smiles and contemplates asking her what she meant by saying this. However he chooses to stare intently into her eyes and admire their hazel like color mixed with tiny green sprinkles.
"Look, I was thinking about going to the lounge car. Would you like to come with me?" the brunette questions making him snap out of his thoughts.
Lucas just grins and nods silently.
The girl picks up her handbag and quickly gets up. She walks towards the exit in front of him swaying from one side to the other which causes the red headband to slide back a bit.
Lucas sighs and follows her closely, not taking his eyes off of her.