I Will Never Stop Trying

Summary: Through faith, hope, love, and patience, a young man attempts to win the heart of the woman that he loves. (Lucas's journey in season 4 to prove that he is the man for Brooke after she breaks up with him.)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill.

Chapter Two: Gentle Approach

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool than to talk and remove all doubt of it."


You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background?

It makes you wonder, how many strangers have pictures of you have?

How many moments of other people's lives have we been in?

Were we a part of someone's life when their dreams came true?

Or were we there when their dreams died?

Did we keep trying to get in, as if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise?

Just think, you could be a big part of someone else's life, and not even know it.


He and Brooke at a concert, his arm around her.

He and Brooke kissing on the beach.

He and Brooke in their uniforms, kissing in the gym.

He and Brooke cuddled together on the couch in the cabin.

Lucas knew that staring at the pictures of him and Brooke that he had stored on his phone was not going to make her come back any sooner, but he could not help himself.

It had been 7 days since Brooke's birthday and during that week Brooke had created a long timeline for their relationship. With it all written down, it was easy to see what his problem was…neglect.

He had not meant to be neglectful, especially after trying so hard in the beginning, but it was like once he had her, he just got comfortable. Brooke never really asked for much and she seemed to just be fine without him. Sure, they would have a fight every now and then, but Brooke always seemed fine afterward and their fights seemed to bring them closer.

But he was just ignoring the bigger issue.

Lucas closed his phone and stood up, leaving his breakfast untouched.

He was leaving the café and heading to school when Peyton caught up with him.

"Hey, Lucas,"

"Hey, Peyton," Lucas walked a little faster.

"I haven't talked to you in a few days," she said, walking quicker to keep up, "Have you heard from Brooke?"

"Not since she broke up with me," Lucas said, simply.

His mom said that she had accepted his gift, so she could not be too mad at him, right? But she still had not contacted him; no phone calls or texts and he had not seen her around town or at school.

She had to have been avoiding him.

"Well, get your game face on and talk to her." Peyton touched his arm, "It's playoff time. Everybody should be in a good mood,"

"Yeah," Lucas said, moving a little to the left so Peyton's hand would fall off.

Peyton was a good friend…but every time Brooke saw them together it pissed her off. It was part of the reason he avoided going over Peyton's house. He knew that Brooke checked Peyton's webcam and he did not want her to think that they were sneaking around again. Lucas was hoping to talk to her today and he wanted her to be…open to it and that was not going to happen if he came to school with Peyton.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you later, Peyton," Lucas said, quickly, before turning and walking back the way he came.

Looks like he was taking the long way to school.

"Lucas, wait!" Peyton called, but Lucas pretended he did not hear her and took off running down the street.

He felt guilty, but he would make it up to Peyton later.


It took Lucas a while, but he finally found Brooke. It was during lunch and Brooke was sitting on a bench outside holding a juice box.

Lucas took a deep breath and ran through everything he wanted to say. Then he scrapped all that because it all sounded too desperate and he did not want to pressure her and make her defensive.

Lucas made his way towards her, with a smile on his face.

"Hi, Brooke," Lucas said, standing near her bench, "How have you been?"

Brooke glanced up at him, her face cold.

"Fine," she said, simply.

Lucas waited for her to ask how he was, but she did not say anything else.

"I was wondering if you might want to talk," Lucas tried not to fidget, "I know that our last conversation, didn't really go very well and I'd like to fix that,"

"Lucas," Brooke looked away, "I think I said everything I needed to say,"

"But I didn't get to say much," Lucas pointed out.

"You said you were sorry," Brooke said, quietly, before standing up, "Thank you for the birthday gift,"

"You're welcome," Lucas relaxed, the conversation finally turning in a more positive direction, "I know daisies are your favorite,"

"They are. And Godiva is my favorite chocolate," Brooke nodded, "I read your letter,"

"Oh," Lucas smiled.

"You said that you were waiting for me," Brooke's expression softened.

"I am! I know that I screw up but If you would be willing to—,"

"I don't want you to wait for me, Luke," Brooke said, firmly, "I think it's best if we just move on,"

"But I don't want to move on," Lucas took a step closer to her, "Brooke, please,"

"I'm going to be late," Brooke said, coolly, "I'll see you around, all right?"

"All right," Lucas repeated, shoulders slumping.

Brooke walked away, and Lucas watched her go.

That did not go the way he planned.


The Ravens had won, and everyone was at Rachel's party. Lucas wanted to be happy, but as he watched Brooke sit across the room, talking to Rachel and smiling, he just felt like a failure.

He was not good at the small conversations. He wanted to just make another passionate speech and win her back, but that was not what the problem was. They both knew that he could pull a romantic speech out of his ass. He needed some way to get her to trust him again.

He grabbed an extra cup of beer and made his way over to her.

"Peace offering?" he joked, holding out the cup to her and the smile on her face slipped.

"We're not at war," she said, standing up, "Anyway, I'm on DW, not I duty tonight,"

"Want some company?" Lucas asked, putting the beers on the table, "I haven't drunk anything yet."

"That's nice, Lucas," Brooke's lips curled up slightly at the edges, "I think—"

Brooke cut herself off, staring at something over his shoulder, face turning blank.

"You know what? Never mind. I think you will be too busy," Brooke said, glancing at Rachel, who was also frowning, "Let's go,"

The two walked off and Lucas sighed, turning around, and almost ran right into Peyton.

"Hi, Lucas," she smiled, and the pieces connect.

"Were you standing behind me this whole time?" Lucas asked quickly, and Peyton looked confused.

"No. I just got here a minute ago," she pointed to the door, which was also behind him and well within Brooke's line of sight.

Lucas cursed under his breath.

"I saw you talking to Brooke." Peyton continued, "I told you she'd be ready to talk,"

Lucas nodded, and picked up both beers from the table, handing them to Peyton.

"You were right," Lucas said, then took a step back, "I've got to go to the bathroom,"

He nodded at Peyton and then walked away.

He hoped that he would run into Brooke again, but instead he ran into Haley.

She glared at him and tried to walk past without a word, but Lucas grabbed her arm.

"What?" he asked.

"Brooke told me that you kissed Peyton, again," Haley crossed her arms, "Luke, that's the dumbest thing you've done since the first time you kissed her. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that she was dying." Lucas snapped back, defensively,
She was lying in my arms, blood was pouring out of her leg and she kissed me. What was I supposed to do?"

Haley opened her mouth to say something and Lucas brushed past her, pissed.

No one cared about his side. Everyone was so quick to assume that he was still a cheater and that he was messing around with Peyton again. He had not had those kinds of feelings for Peyton since before he started dating Anna and then he fell in love with Brooke. He may not have been the best boyfriend when they got back together, but he did not cheat on her.

He glanced over and saw Brooke in the middle of a group of guys laughing and talking. Looking more relaxed with them then she did when he tried to talk to her earlier, and his fist clenched.

"Brooke?" Lucas called, and she turned around to face him, "You got a second?"

"This feels kind of like Deja-vu," Brooke said, and Lucas opened his mouth planning to tell her off.

But…

(Flashback)

"You got a second?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I'm the guy for you. I know we're just part-time, and that's cool. You know, do whatever, have your fun. But one of these nights, you're gonna realize it. I'm the guy for you, Brooke Davis. You'll see,"

"Never mind," Lucas said instead, "Sorry I interrupted,"

Lucas gave Brooke a sad smile and left her standing there.

He promised himself that he was not going to say anything negative to Brooke. He knew that he had a habit of letting his temper get the best of him and always ended up saying something terrible whenever they fought.

(Flashback)

"You're a one-woman kind of guy. Speaking of which, how is my former best friend?"

"Peyton has nothing to do with this, okay?"

"Not yet. Maybe you can pull a Dan Scott and knock her up too."

"Brooke!"

"Or maybe then you can move on to random bar-sluts. Oh, wait you've already done that. Better be careful, Danny Jr., never know how many kids you're going to end up with."

"Oh yeah, that's really nice, Brooke. And by the way. It's not like I'm the only guy you've ever slept with."

"What's your point?"

"How do I know it's even mine?"

(Flashback)

"A kiss always means something."

"Okay, maybe you're right, but it wasn't a romantic moment, - and you would know that if—"

"If what – I was there? As you so sweetly pointed out at the party, the party that I threw for you, I wasn't there, was I?"

"Is it impossible for you to forgive me? I forgave you."

"For what?"

"For sleeping with Chris Keller."

"And you know what, Lucas? I loved you for that. You had such grace at that moment that I fell in love with you all over again. I can't believe that you would use it now as a bargaining chip!"

"No, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I just I need you to trust me and believe me when I tell you that my heart is with you. But part of me feels like ever since we got back together, you've just been waiting— waiting to push me away."

"Oh, great. You kiss Peyton - again - and I'm pushing you away!"

No, yelling at Brooke was not going to get her back.

If he wanted Brooke to know that he was serious, then he needed to be patient. It had only been a week and a half since they broke up.

He waited for Brooke while she was with Felix and he waited all summer for her to come back. If he could not last longer than a week and a half, then he didn't deserve her.

When he got home, he sent Brooke a text message.

Made it home safely. Thinking about you.

He smiled at the message then put his phone on the charger.

He would try again with Brooke tomorrow…and the day after that…and the day after that…and he would keep trying as long as it took.

Because Brooke Davis was worth it.


"Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome."


Author's note: Please review and PM your thoughts.

A special thanks to:

Princesakarlita411

Guest

Thank you for review and I hope you guys enjoyed chapter two.