Authors Note: It's been another long wait since I last updated but lucky for you guys I've got the next chapter written so I will upload in the next few days, depending on reviews. I want to thank everyone for reading, reviewing and favouriting this story. I'm almost at 100 reviews and I'm so excited and its all thanks to my loyal readers. Last chapter got the most reviews I've had in a long time so a special thanks to naley23love, CaseyJr, KKMayfield, KTxx, haleydavisbaker, Ace5492, paigematthewsfan21 & Chandler.
For those wondering, Peyton and Ellie's relationship is a little different in my story than in the show. Read and Review xo

What if I fall and hurt myself? Would you know how to fix me

What if I went and lost myself? Would you know where to find me

If I forgot who I am, would you please remind me oh?

Cause without you things go hazy.

"Okay so question number four," Brooke began. She was sat in her bedroom with Julian and Alex doing a quiz out of one of her magazines. "Ouu Alex, you can help with this one. Your friends like your boyfriend because?"

To Julian's dismay, Brooke was quizzing him on whether he was the perfect boyfriend; not how he would have chosen to spend his day but the girls had agreed to go to the beach after Alex had finished plaiting Brooke's hair. It seemed like the questions were never ending even though they had only done three so far. From those three questions, they had established that Julian knew Brooke like the back of his hand, he would always be there to help her when she was lost and that they were a perfect match. Not that they needed a quiz to point out the obvious, Julian thought.

"One...He's flirtatious and calls them pretty," Brooke continued to which Alex burst out laughing.

"He's the least flirty person I know."

"I don't know, I think he can be flirtatious with me."

"I am here you know," Julian called out from his place on the bean bag on the floor. Brooke reached out and stroked his hair comfortingly.

"Two...He knows their names-"

"You best know my name," Alex chipped in again.

"Alexis Maria Dupre," he recited his best friend's name. "Then there's Peyton Sawyer, Haley James or Scott depending on what she wants to go by, Nathan Scott and Marvin McFadden, commonly referred to as Mouth. How'd I do?"

"I'm impressed babe," Brooke said. "Last one...he is nice to them and likes hanging out with them?"

"Definitely the third," Alex confirmed.

"Who said I liked hanging out with you?" Julian joked.

"Shut up Julian." Alex threw the nearest pillow at Julian's head.

"I'm kidding; jeez do you have to be so violent?"

"Stop fighting kids," Brooke said in a motherly tone but she had a smile on her face. "Okay next quest- Arghh"

Brooke squealed and couldn't continue as Julian had thrown a pillow at her face.

"Brooke, I'm so sorry. It was supposed to hit Alex. I've got a really bad aim, I've never been good at sport," Julian rambled on trying to explain as he watched Brooke lean over and grab the nearest pillow and throw it at him.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" Alex called out.

Soon, pillows were being thrown round the room from all three teenagers but it was clear that Julian was losing the battle as Brooke and Alex bombarded him with pillows.

"Okay okay, you win," he managed to tell them through laughs.

"You don't get away with it that easily," Brooke giggled as she hit him over again with the same pillow. She heard the faint vibration and ringtone of her phone. "Al take over, someone's calling me."

Brooke raced to her bedside table as Alex and Julian playfully fought. "Hello?" She answered the call out of breath.

"Hi ! Am I interrupting something?" Peyton asked.

"Peyton! No I was just joking about. One second," Brooke held the phone away from her mouth so she could talk to Julian and Alex. "It's Peyton."

"We'll wait downstairs for you and we can go to the beach once you're finished," Julian suggested.

"No it's fine. You guys go to the beach, I'll meet you there."

"Alright babe, have fun talking to Peyton." Julian leant down and kissed Brooke on the lips. He only meant for it to be a quick kiss but Brooke lengthened it when she put her hand on the back of his neck and held his lips to hers.

"Right we get the picture, you're gonna miss each other but I'm like a third wheel over here," Alex interrupted.

"Do you want another pillow in your face?"

"No she's right. I'll see you later," Brooke said and watched her boyfriend and LA best friend leave. "Sorry about that Peyt, just saying goodbye to some friends."

"I can call back if you want?"

"No it's fine. I'm just gonna meet them at the beach later."

"You didn't mention them the last time we spoke."

"Didn't I? Oh well I met Julian when I first arrived and Alex is his best friend." Thinking back to when she and Julian first met, it felt like forever ago.

"You're friends with two guys?" Brooke could hear the intrigue in Peyton's voice.

"No, Julian's the guy, Alex is the girl. They're great. I think you'd like Julian a lot."

"You clearly do," Peyton stated.

"What?"

"The way you say his name. I've heard that voice before Brooke. I'm your best friend remember. Is something going on between you and this guy?"

Brooke paused for a second. If she told Peyton about her relationship, would it ruin things? Things seemed too good to be true and she didn't want reality to destroy what they had. But Peyton was her best friend and they had always discussed boys together.

"We're taking things slow," she admitted hesitantly.

"Were you going to tell me?"

"Honestly , no I wasn't. I love you and all but I liked not having anything interfering with our relationship. Like I said, we're taking it slow."

"Are you scared? Scared that what happened with Luke would happen with this Julian?"

"What? Are you kidding me? I never thought for a second that that would happen. It's different with you and Luke, it's always been you and Luke; I never stood a chance. But with Julian, I actually feel like I'm the only girl he ever wants to be with." The smile on Brooke's face grew bigger with each word she spoke to Peyton.

"Do you feel the same way about him?"

She took a pause as she thought about the question at hand, "I think I do. He's more than a boyfriend, he's also like my best friend and I've never had that with a guy before Peyton. He knows me like no other person and I actually think that he is unable to break my heart. Julian makes everything in my life so much clearer."

"And Luke?"

"I will always love Lucas but only as a friend. I could never be in love with him again."

"Wow," Peyton breathed out after Brooke's revelation. "I guess a lot has changed for you while you've been in LA. That's gonna make this a little harder to ask."

"What are you talking about," Brooke asked as she lay down on her bed with the phone still very much held to her ear.

"There's somebody who wants to talk to you. Hold on..." Peyton told Brooke.

"No Peyton, wait. Who-" But Peyton had already put Brooke on hold. Dread filled her every bone at the thought of Peyton putting Lucas on the phone; he was the last person Brooke wanted to talk to.

"! What's up?" a familiar voice spoke through the receiver.

"Boy Toy?" Brooke beamed from ear to ear at the sound of the person that she had known the longest. "Nate, I thought you were at High Flyers?"

"I am. Here on the east coast, we have a little thing that we like to call 'three way conversations'. Peyton's still with us."

"I'm still here best friend," Peyton reminded her.

"How are you doing Nate?" Brooke asked sincerely.

"I'm good. Totally acing high flyers but that's no surprise," he told her in his cocky tone of voice that made her smile.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it Nathan. But I meant, how are you doing with this whole marriage thing?" Brooke continued to push, leading to an awkward silence.

"We're doing our separate things," he finally answered, his tone not as cocky as before.

"But Nathan, she came back. She wants to make it work," Brooke said.

"Brooke, she can't just leave and expect him to forgive her straight away," Peyton chipped in.

"You know that she loves him though Peyton. She was just following her dream. What she did was stupid but it doesn't mean that they should end their marriage."

"Guys, I am here you know," Nathan finally piped up.

"Sorry Nathan, I just really think that you'd be making a mistake letting Haley go."

"Thanks Brooke but I'm not here to talk to you about my marriage. What's this I hear about you not coming back?"

"It's not new information Nathan. You all knew that when I was leaving for LA this summer, it would be a permanent thing."

"But this is senior year; we can't do it without you. It would be too weird."

"Jeez Nate, you sound like Peyton," Brooke sighed.

"That's because what we're both saying is right." Peyton told Brooke. "If this Julian guy likes you as much as you think he does then surely he can come to Tree Hill to visit. Even be your prom date if you want."

"Okay, you've lost me. Who's Julian?" Nathan wondered.

"Brooke's new boyfriend. He's the reason she wants to stay in LA."

"It's not like that. He's one of the reasons why I want to stay but not the reason. Look, you all have someone in Tree Hill. Peyton, you have Luke, even if you both can't see it yet. And Nathan, you have Haley. I love you both more than anything. You've been my best friends for the longest time but I feel like I need this fresh start."

"I might have Haley for now, Brooke but I'm losing her and I need you to help me get her back. If it wasn't for you setting us up on our first date, we would have never got together in the first place. I need your meddling now more than ever."

"Nathan..."

"And if it wasn't for you , god only knows what sort of mess I'd be right now," Peyton added.

"What are you talking about? I'm the bad influence on you remember?" Brooke joked.

"Yeah but after my mum died, I felt like the whole world had ended around me. My dad was off working and I only had my next door neighbor to care for me. Until you started to come round to my house every single day to make sure I was okay. Sneaking out of your bedroom window in the middle of the night just so I wasn't in the house on my own. You saved me Brooke and ever since then, you've been my best friend. And it might sound selfish but I need you here with me. You're the only person who can help me with the Ellie situation...She's...umm...she's dying Brooke. She has cancer. I don't know if I can lose two moms in one lifetime."

Brooke could hear Peyton's voice breaking. The strongest person Brooke had ever known had always been Peyton. But even she knew that her best friend could be weak at times; this was one of those times.

The weather was perfect for a day at the beach, hence why Julian wanted to spend the day there with his girlfriend and best friend. Brooke had promised to meet him and Alex at the beach but they waited two hours and she didn't come. Alex decided to vacate back to her new home at Julian's house while Julian went to Brooke's house to check on her. After waiting for a few minutes after knocking on the door, Julian was welcomed by the wrong Davis girl.

"Oh Mrs Davis, errm is Brooke here? She was supposed to meet me at the beach," he asked. He wasn't fond of Victoria Davis, mainly because of how she treated Brooke, but he was also slightly scared of her too.

Victoria walked away from the door and signaled for Julian to enter the house. He followed her into the living room, choosing not to sit because Victoria didn't either.

"Brooke isn't here. She left about ten minutes ago," she told the boy.

"I must have just missed her. I best go and hopefully I'll meet her at the beach," he said, backing out of the room.

"I don't like you Mr Baker and I certainly don't like your relationship with my daughter. But I expect you know that already?" She bitterly asked, malice spitting off her tongue.

Julian turned back round to face Victoria. "It doesn't matter what you think Mrs Davis. Brooke is old enough to make her own decisions and choose who she does or does not like. But the truth is, I don't care much for you either. I hate the way you treat Brooke like she is just a stranger and not your daughter. It's how she's treated by most people apparently, even her friends in Tree Hill. She's better off without all of you."

Julian had never been one to stand up to an adult, especially not one as scary as Victoria Davis, but he was overcome with confidence. Nobody had had ever defended Brooke and he felt like it was about time someone did. He didn't want to continue the conversation so attempted to leave again.

"And you're better for her?" Victoria questioned, her posture still standing strong.

"Maybe," Julian murmured on his way out.

"Is that why she's leaving you?"

The words hit Julian like bricks, knocking the air out of him. He turned to face the twisted smirk on Victoria's face.

"You're lying," he managed to stutter.

"Actually, I'm not. She confirmed her seat on the plane before she left the house."

"She would have told me. I was with her two hours ago, she would have mentioned something." He felt sick to his stomach. Surely it was just a sick joke.

"Maybe she didn't care about you as much as you thought."

Julian couldn't listen anymore to Victoria's spiteful words so quickly left the house wanting to get as far away from anything related to Brooke Davis as possible.

Authors Note: Dun, dun duuuuun! So is Victoria lying to get a rise out of Julian or is Brooke actually leaving? What did you think about Nathan and Peyton asking Brooke to come back? Let me know what you think...