Chapter Twenty-One: Beer and Peanuts

Brooke and Julian had been in Tree Hill for a week. Olivia had become best friends with Jamie and Abby. Julian had grown incredibly close to Lucas and Nathan. Haley, Brooke and Peyton had picked up right where they had left off before Brooke went to Los Angeles but Brooke knew how hard it was going to be to leave which was why she was putting off the conversation. Whenever someone would ask when she was leaving, Brooke would change the subject.

The warmth of the sunlight woke her and she smiled at Julian when she realized he had her wrapped in his arms. "How long have you been up?" She asked her voice thick with sleep.

"Just a little bit," He replied. "I've been thinking though."

"About what?"

"What if we got married here?"

Brooke's face lit up. "Really?" She asked. "You would want to do that?"

Julian nodded.

"I've never been that girl who had her wedding planned out since she was a little girl so I'm going to need Peyton and Haley's help. When? I've always wanted a fall wedding although a spring one wouldn't be bad either—"

"Brooke," Julian interrupted.

She blushed. "I'm sorry. I know I'm rambling but I'm just so excited." She couldn't help the huge smile that had spread across her face.

"Brooke," He said again making sure he had her attention. "I was thinking that we could get married on Saturday."

"This Saturday?"

He nodded.

"That's three days away, Julian." She began to panic. "I don't have a dress, you don't have a tux, we don't have a wedding party—"

"We'll figure it out." He smiled as he leaned in to kiss her. "I want to be your husband."

She deepened the kiss. "I can't wait to be your wife."

x-x-x

"Well," Brooke sighed. "What do you think?"

It was the fourth wedding dress she had tried on that morning and none of them had impressed any of them.

Haley and Peyton were trying to be as upbeat as possible since Brooke was panicking about finding a wedding dress in three days.

"It's…nice." Peyton offered.

"Nice?" Brooke repeated. "I don't want a 'nice' wedding dress—"

Haley could tell Brooke was about to start panicking for the umpteenth time that morning so she stepped in. "We're going to find you a dress. There are hundreds of dresses here and one of them is the dress you are meant to get married in. Trust me; everything is going to work out."

Brooke nodded after taking a deep breath. "Thanks. I needed that."

"I know." Haley smiled as she rubbed her friend's arm.

Brooke stepped down off the pedestal in front of the mirror and walked toward Peyton and Haley. "This is crazy, though, right? To plan an entire wedding in three days?"

Haley and Peyton exchanged glances before laughing. "He's insane, Brooke." Peyton stated. "But a good insane, this just shows how much he loves you."

Brooke looked to her right to see Olivia spinning in circles in front of a mirror wearing the flower girl dress she had picked out moments after entering the store. In that moment she didn't care if she found the perfect dress or if they didn't have a venue yet…all that mattered was that she, Julian and Olivia were finally going to be a family.

Nine dresses later, Brooke emerged from the dressing room and Haley, Peyton and Olivia's jaws dropped when they saw her. "You look stunning." Haley said as she rose to her feet.

"I think this is the one." Brooke smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Olivia ran over and wrapped her arms around Brooke's legs. "You look like a princess!" She squealed.

Haley and Peyton joined them in front of the mirror as Brooke continued to nervously run her hands down the dress. "I'm getting married." She whispered to herself. "I'm really getting married."

Peyton watched as a grin spread across Brooke's face. This was her moment. Her life had become a fairytale and it was finally her turn to get the happily ever after because she, more than anyone, deserved it.

x-x-x

"Are you nervous?" Lucas asked as he buttoned his dress shirt.

Julian shook his head. "I'm really calm, actually."

"That's good." Nathan said as he emerged from the dressing room in his tux. "So are you guys going back to Los Angeles after the wedding?"

Julian shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Nathan and Lucas exchanged glances. "You're thinking about staying?" Lucas asked with wide eyes.

"I can see how happy she is here." He offered. "I don't want to take her away from here unless she wants to go back to LA." Julian straightened his bowtie. "And besides, this is a pretty great place to raise a family."

Nathan grinned. "It is and it'd be awesome to have you and Brooke living right down the street."

"What about her restaurant?" Lucas asked.

"It's up to her but if she wants to move back here I'll buy another space and she can still have her dream. I just want her to be happy."

Nathan and Lucas joined Julian in front of the mirror and Nathan cupped his hand on Julian's shoulder. "She's the happiest I have seen her in a long time," He said. "And that's all because of you and Olivia."

x-x-x

"Are you nervous?" Peyton asked.

"More like petrified." Brooke replied before taking a sip of her wine.

They were sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water, relaxing after a stressful morning of trying to find a wedding dress and matron of honor dresses but it was all worth it. Brooke couldn't have been happier with the dresses the three of them had picked and she couldn't wait to walk down the aisle in only a matter of days.

"I can't believe you held out this long." Haley shook her head. "Don't you feel like you've been missing out?"

"Sometimes." Brooke shrugged. "But sex to me is something that is only supposed to be shared with one man, the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with."

"Have you guys talked about it?" Haley inquired.

"He knows I'm a virgin." She offered. "And I know he isn't. He has slept with so many girls…how am I supposed to live up to that?"

Peyton wrapped her arm around Brooke's shoulders. "Julian loves you and he knows that you are going to be scared and nervous but he's not going anywhere." She said softly. "He'll make you feel comfortable and you don't need to know how to do anything because you'll just feel it and your emotions will take over your body."

Haley nodded. "He's not marrying you for the sex, Brooke."

"I know." She replied. "And not once has he pressured me or made me feel uncomfortable but all we've done is snuggling in bed together. I haven't taken off my clothes in front of him. The only time he's seen my body and the scars was the day he walked in when I was changing. He didn't see it up close so what happens if on Saturday night he's so turned off by it that he—"

"He's not going to be." Peyton said softly. "He loves you because of what's on the in—"

"Stop." Brooke begged. "That's all everyone says, that a man will love me because of what's on the inside, the scars and burn marks don't matter, he'll look past that, blah blah blah." She suddenly lifted up her shirt to reveal her scarred body, something Haley and Peyton had never seen since Brooke was so self-conscious of it. "My skin feels like a reptile. How is he supposed to look past that when all you two have ever told me is that sex is all about feeling? That all your senses are heightened? How am I supposed to feel pretty when I look like this? This is what over half of my body looks like, it's not just a little scar we're talking about. The girls he's slept with are models and actresses with perfect hair and flawless skin. How do I live up to that?"

"You don't." Haley answered honestly. "Julian is marrying you. He could have married any one of them but he didn't because he didn't love them like he loves you. I know you're scared and self-conscious but Julian loves you just the way you are and I promise he won't run away when you show him your body up close come Saturday night. He loves you, Brooke." She said softly as she hugged her friend.

x-x-x

"You know Brooke is a virgin, right?" Lucas asked as they sat at a bar.

Julian almost spit his beer out. "Yes. How do you?"

"Peyton and Haley aren't the quietest talkers." He shrugged. "So how are you planning on handling Saturday night?"

Nathan shifted uncomfortably on his barstool. He had always felt like Brooke was his sister and listening to Julian and Lucas discuss her sex life wasn't something he wanted to hear so he turned his attention to the baseball game on one of the television screens and tried his best to tune the two of them out.

Julian shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it."

Lucas placed his beer on the cardboard coaster. "I heard that you were quite promiscuous before Brooke came into your life."

Julian shamefully nodded.

"That's all that's going to be on Brooke's mind; that she's not as good as them, that you're comparing her to them and so on. You need to make her feel safe, comfortable and most importantly loved because otherwise she is going to panic."

"I can do that." Julian replied before taking a swig of his beer and tossing a handful of peanuts into his mouth. He hoped Lucas and Nathan couldn't sense his nerves because truth be told his stomach was already in knots when he thought about Saturday night.

x-x-x

He walked into the guest bedroom at Nathan and Haley's to find his fiancée and daughter sleeping. Caught off guard, he paused in the doorway and marveled at the sight before him. How had he gotten so lucky? Olivia being left in the park that one Tuesday morning was possibly the best thing that had ever happened because if it wasn't for that he wouldn't be the man he is now.

He carefully sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed her dark hair away from her face. "Brooke," He whispered.

Within seconds her eyes fluttered open and a smile spread across her lips when she saw him. "Hi you," She greeted. "Did you have fun today?"

He nodded. "Did you find a dress?"

Brooke's face lit up. "I can't wait for you to see it."

"Me either." He smiled as he leaned into kiss her. "Come with me."

Brooke slid out of the bed, careful not to wake Olivia, and took Julian's hand. "Where are we going?" She asked as he led her out of the house.

As they walked hand in hand Julian couldn't feel more confident. "I did something today and I'm not sure how you're going to react when I tell you." He started.

"Julian—"

"Let me finish." He begged as he stopped walking and stood in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. "I want to have children with you. I want those children to be safe and surrounded by people who love them. I want you to be happy. I don't want to take you away from here, Brooke."

"Wh-what are you saying?" She stuttered thinking it was too good to be true.

"I want to stay in Tree Hill. I want to raise a family here. I want to hang out with Nathan and Lucas on a random Wednesday afternoon. I want to—"

She cut him off by pressing her lips against his. "I want all of that too." She smiled.

He grinned. "I also still want you to have your dream."

"This is all I want." She said as she shook her head. "Nothing else matters."

"Turn around." He insisted.

Brooke did as she was told and turned to see a vacant storefront. "You bought me another restaurant?"

"I sold the other one about an hour ago." He said as he glanced at his watch.

She couldn't help but laugh. "What if I said I didn't want to stay here?"

"I didn't think you would." He shrugged. "This is your dream, Brooke, and it's within walking distance from the house and—"

"You bought a house?"

"Well, there isn't a house yet but there will be in a few months."

Brooke cocked her eyebrow.

"The empty lot across the street from Nathan and Haley is ours." He smirked.

"You really want to live here, don't you?" She laughed.

Julian nodded. "I sold my share of the company so there is nothing for me in Los Angeles. In the week that I've been here I've realized how important it is to have family and friends by your side and I don't have that in California. I've seen how happy you are and I don't want to take that away by moving us back to LA."

She closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're not going to resent me in a couple years when you get sick of living here, right? Because if you are then we can go back to California, I don't want you to be unhappy—"

"That's not possible." He whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers. "As long as I have you and Olivia to come home to I will be the happiest man in the world."

x-x-x

"You're parents are flying in tomorrow, right?" Brooke asked as they lay in bed.

Julian nodded. "They're staying at the hotel though because I don't want to impose on Nathan and Haley."

Brooke remained silent for a little bit, Julian had thought she had fallen asleep so he was surprised when he heard her voice.

"We still don't have a venue for the wedding—"

He squeezed her against his body. "We'll find something."

"What if we had a beach wedding?" She asked. "I want my parents to be there…" She trailed off afraid of how he would respond.

He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her against his body. She knew his answer without him speaking a word and a small smile spread across her face.

He knew Saturday was going to be hard for her. Her parents were supposed to be there. Her mother was supposed to help her get dressed in her wedding gown. Her father was supposed to walk her down the aisle. A storm had stolen that from her. Brooke wouldn't get to see her mother crying happy tears as she said her vows. She wouldn't get to dance with her father at the reception. He knew this was the first of many moments her parents wouldn't be there for. Brooke's pregnancy. The birth of their first child. The opening of the restaurant. He felt foolish for taking his parents for granted, for not appreciating them as much as he should. As he lay with her sleeping in his arms all he wanted was to give her her parents back. They were taken way too soon but they had done an impeccable job raising her in the thirteen years they were a part of her life.

As he dozed off he couldn't help but want Saturday to come as fast as it possibly could. He couldn't wait a second longer to become her husband. He couldn't wait to call her his wife. He'd waited his entire life for a woman like her to walk into his life so as she slept in his arms he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man in the world.

x-x-x

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