Author's Note: So, here's the second chapter which wouldn't exist if you guys wouldn't have submitted those great reviews! Maybe you won't like this chapter since nothing really happens in terms of certain action etc. - it's pretty much mostly dialogue and emotional progress. Hope you still like it. :)

The title of this chapter is an amazing song by Frightened Rabbit. You should really check it out, they played in on the show in 6.13, I think.

As usual: I don't own anything, etc. ;)

Enjoy!

Backwards Walk

"Brooke, what is going on?" he asked, obviously extremely confused. He had watched her walk out of the hall. He had quickly checked whether Peyton or anyone else had witnessed the scene, but after seeing that everybody was somehow distracted, he had followed her out.

"Luke, please" she started. "Just leave me alone. There's a party and a happy bride waiting for you."

She swallowed hard and stared out onto the street. She cursed herself for walking out into the dark and chilly September night, but she had thought that the fresh air might cleanse her utterly tangled mass of emotions and thoughts.

He sighed and took a few steps into her direction. Seeing her shiver in the cold of the night, he took the jacket of his suit off and carefully draped it over her elegant shoulders. She didn't object but he could feel her flinch over the touch of his hand.

"I'm not going to get back in there until you tell me what's wrong" he said and gently turned her around.

They stood face to face now. He noticed that this was probably the first time in five years that he studied her face. He also noticed – and couldn't help but feel an ache in his heart – that her formerly joyful features now had a hint of pain in them. She looked like she had been hurt very much in the past.

"Well, then you'll have to stay here with me until forever" she said and laughed at the irony of this; five years ago – and probably a few years after that, too – she had wanted nothing but for him to stay with her until forever. Now, all she wanted was for him to leave. It was too late to stay with her. He had left her many years ago. And he never truly came back. Not the way she had wished he would.

"Brooke, would you please tell me what I said or did that made you angry? What do you mean with the whole red thing?" he pleaded. He didn't want her to feel bad tonight. This night way supposed to be a night of happiness and joy and laughter. But right now, he felt far from being happy.

Now she was the one to sigh heavily.

"Lucas, this is neither the time nor the place for this talk" she said. "I mean, God! This is your wedding!"

He held his hands up as if to show that he wasn't armed.

"Come on" he said. "I can't make things right if you won't explain this to me." He took hold of her hand. "Please."

She let out a high sound that almost sounded like a laugh. Almost. She shoved his hand away.

"Well, I basically said it." She looked at him, a look of desperation on her face. "I don't get why you think that red is my colour!"

He wrinkled his forehead – he didn't understand anything!

"But it is…" he murmured. "I mean, you're the girl behind the red door, remember?"

She looked at him for a second before shaking her head.

"Yes, I was. I'm not that girl anymore. And you know why, Luke?" she asked. "Because you made me this girl. You are a part of the whole red myth as I am a part of it."

He slowly shook his head. He was still not sure whether he understood her correctly; she looked so hurt that he simply wanted to lock her in an embrace and comfort her. But he knew that somehow he was the cause of this pain.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe steadily. She could feel the tears in her eyes and it took her an amazing amount of energy to hold them back. She didn't want to do it. She didn't want to cry in front of him. Because of him. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked straight at him.

"And we're not together anymore…and that means that I'm not the girl behind the red door anymore. And red was never just my colour. It was our colour." She gestured towards the space between the two of them. "Since there's no us anymore, there is also no red as the colour of any of us anymore" she concluded, suddenly sounding very tired.

He furrowed his brows. He felt too confused to answer immediately – why were they talking about their relationship? Now, after all this time? And why the hell did it hurt so much to think about the moments they spend together, the moments in which 'the girl behind the red door' was created?

"Brooke, I really didn't mean anything by it…I just thought that you look so nice in red!" he said and sounded like a little child who's desperately trying to explain something obviously simple to an adult who wouldn't understand.

She rubbed her eyes. She felt so tired…all she wanted was for this day to be over. God, why did she agree to dance with him?!

"See, that's the problem!" she suddenly yelled and was just as shocked as he was about her emotional outburst. She hadn't intended to yell at him, but the fact that he didn't understand a single word she had just said made her furious.

He swallowed and looked at her. He hadn't heard her yell at anyone for years now – her yelling days as the old bitchy cheerleading Brooke were over. At least he thought they were.

Once again she shook her head. It seemed like tonight everything she did was shaking her head and explaining.

"Luke, you can't just do that to me" she said, sounding calm again.

"Do what? Do what, Brooke?"

He was practically begging her for answers now.

"This!" she said, a bit louder than intended and gestured wildly in the air. "All this about me looking pretty, and about me being the girl behind the red door and that stuff about talking Peyton out of blue dresses so I would wear red instead! Luke, you have no right to talk to me like that. I know, we're friends now, but not long ago there was a time when we were more than that. Much more than that."

She stopped and tried to compose herself.

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. Not in front of HIM.

Slowly, he understood what she meant…but was it possible? That she was still hurting, even after all these years and after all that has happened in the past…?

"Brooke…" he said, but stopped. He really didn't know what to tell her.

Author's Note: So, did you like it? I really have no idea which direction this story will take or how long it will be. Very much depends on your reviews - shall I make this more the type of bittersweet goodbye-story or shall it be more into the direction of a Brucas-reunion? You guys tell me!! :)