So hopefully no one got too annoyed with the Cash Cab thing in the last chapter! I needed something that would be kind of outlandish that would interrupt the two because I didn't want them to kiss until Brooke remembered Julian. Lo and behold… Cash Cab was on TV, and my mom was seriously obsessed with finding it the last time she went to New York. Anyway! Here is the explanation for Julian and Brooke's first meeting. Thanks again to everyone he is reading, reviewing, and putting the story on their alerts. I really appreciate your support!
Ch. 4
It wasn't until Brooke woke to the warm sunlight on her face and the heavy weight of Julian's arm that she even had the opportunity to remember back to her first encounter with Julian Baker. Still basking in the glow of sexual satisfaction, finally, from the previous night, Brooke tenderly traced the outline of his lips with her fingertips. She found it nearly impossible to see this naked man as the boy who helped her almost a decade ago. She closed her eyes and thought back to her first days in California after she left Tree Hill to visit her parents for the summer.
She was a hurt and always slightly rebellious teenager unaccustomed to parental involvement in her life. She was almost disappointed that her parents continued to ignore her and thought a credit card was a show of love. They simply needed her in California for appearances, not for any deep seated familial bonds or because they had any interest in their daughter. Her parents continued indifference to her merely intensified her teenage angst because she was completely overwhelmed and consumed by Lucas Scott and his declaration seconds before she left.
Upon her arrival to California, her parents forced her to attend a business party for her father to gain additional contacts. Normally Brooke wouldn't be considered to attend an event, however, the hosts of the party insisted Brooke attend. Apparently, the party-goers' offspring would party separately near the beach. Reluctantly Brooke agreed to go. But unlike her infamous party behavior in Tree Hill, Brooke was uncharacteristically self-conscious. She was painfully aware she was an outsider from an unsophisticated town and she meekly sat to the side trying not to draw any attention to herself. But it was in the shadows that Brooke would meet her one true friend in California, Julian Baker.
Julian had only graduated from high school the weekend before; however, he looked younger at 18 than most of the 14 year olds attending the party. His semi-curly hair was shaggy past his ears, nearing his chin and was blonde from his many hours surfing in the sun. He had a baby smooth face that appeared to never need shaving and he had the long gangly limbs of a boy, but his eyes bristled with intelligence. Julian's father often mocked his son's academic accomplishments and teased that maybe Julian would get a girl if he participated in athletics instead of his beloved math and quiz bowls.
Much like Brooke, Julian's parents had insisted he attend the party. Bored by the antics of his so-called peers, he was slowly sipping a beer looking out towards the ocean when he noticed a beautiful new girl sitting nearby. Of course she was oblivious that he was there, but for once Julian didn't mind that he was socially transparent, because it provided him the opportunity to watch her unobserved.
She was completely disengaged from her surroundings and simply stared morosely out towards the ocean. He saw a single tear shimmer in the moonlight as it fell down her cheek only to be followed with countless more. He watched her silently cry for a few minutes before he decided she was too beautiful to cry. He cleared his throat to make her aware of his presence and slid closer to her.
Clueless as to how to speak to a pretty, crying girl, Julian simply patted her awkwardly on the back. That was Brooke's breaking point. How fucking pathetic was she to get a pity pat from some nerdy stranger in the shadow of a fabulous California party with a ton of hot guys! She would find some inner strength and find someone more suitable to flirt with and maybe even have sex with – that always successfully dulled the painful insecurities, even if only temporarily.
She was about to walk away full of indignation, but then she saw his eyes. He wasn't attractive, but he had kind, gentle, soulful eyes that stared into her soul and she felt safe. She actually felt more unconditional concern and care in these brief minutes with this complete stranger than she could remember when. In her gratitude and to show her appreciation, she expressed herself the only way she seemed to know how, she quietly kissed his dry, chapped, obviously inexperienced lips.
It was a straightforward, chaste kiss and it was the beginning of a summer friendship. After she kissed his lips, it was the first glimpse she got of his grin; however, it was more awkward and adorable than potent at this point. Julian stumbled over himself as he struggled to choke out an introduction. They talked for a couple of hours about various subjects until Julian felt comfortable to ask her about her earlier tears.
Shocked that he didn't allow her to simply ignore it, and pretend it didn't happen Brooke felt boldly open and free. She began to tell Julian about her heartbreaking experiences with Lucas and Peyton. She shared her innermost feelings, insecurities, and desires. Julian listened to her without judgment and she respected that acceptance by being completely honest and not censoring her words. It was the first time she had said, hell even thought, some of the things she actually said out and to another person.
After Brooke finished explaining the complexities of her love life back in Tree Hill, they sat silently for a few minutes. Julian quietly put his arm around her shoulders and gave her words of encouragement. Brooke was physically and emotionally drained after sharing her past and quietly listened. He told her she was amazing, she was brave, she had a huge heart and was a fantastic friend, then lastly he told her she was beautiful. It was the first time a boy didn't compliment her beauty first, in fact she thought it was the first time anyone had ever mentioned her beauty last in a string of compliments. She was pleased that he didn't mention her beauty until last, almost as an afterthought, because he saw so much more in her than what the rest of the world did.
At that moment Julian gave her what he said would be his only advice to her. "Brooke, you can't keep this all inside to yourself. You've got to let it out either verbally or in writing." Brooke scrunched her nose at the thought of writing, not exactly her favorite thing to do. "No offense Julian, but writing is more like torture than something to soothe me." Julian laughed at her reaction and nudged her "Not like a paper, silly. IT can be a diary or letters. You've got so much to say to this Lucas, but you feel you can't for numerous reasons. Write him a letter." She began to protest sending letters was too needy, but Julian calmed her and assured her it would be ok because she, "wouldn't have to actually mail them." They could be just for her. He continued "You're Brooke Freaking Davis and you don't deserve to be sipping flat beer in the shadows, and if you don't release this heartache you'll lose yourself and you won't even realize it until it's too late." He stood and did his best Patrick Swayze impression, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" as he pulled Brooke to her feet to join the rest of the party.
And that's how she became his "Baby" all summer and he became her "West-side Mouth," "Mouth 2.0," "i-Mouth," "mini-Mouth," and a slew of other names. They were friends, nothing more romantic or physical than hugs and their one and only kiss. She followed Julian's advice and poured her heart out to Lucas in her letters, and she allowed herself to revel in the moment. Julian taught Brooke to surf and the finer points of classic cinema, and he encouraged her to flirt and have fun with the boys. He was her wingman, and she inadvertently taught him how to be comfortable with women. His interactions with Brooke groomed him for his professional life in Hollywood, he could flirt and charm with the best. Julian helped Brooke heal her heart that summer and showed her the essential importance of living life and having fun. She thought she'd never forget him for that, but she was obviously wrong.
She felt the building pressure and warm burning sensation of tears escape her closed eyes, and then a gentle thumb tenderly wipe it away. Next she felt an even more tender kiss on the spot her tear had been. She looked at Julian with full recognition and without regret in her eyes. She looked at him with complete and utter acceptance and gratitude. He whispered, "Good morning 'Baby'" and she smiled at the fond memories. She softly said to him as her hand caressed his cheek, "Julian Baker you changed my world and you didn't even know it."
Julian had been watching Brooke for a couple of minutes. He knew she was awake after feeling her light touch along his lips. He was excited and hoped for an encore of last night's escapades, but he knew that could wait when he saw her eyes closed and her face filled with contemplation. He could tell by the creases between her eyebrows and the alternating smiles and frowns that she was wrestling with some fairly strong emotions. He decided he would allow her to reach a conclusion before he would say or do anything.
As he watched her in the sunlight, he thought back to the summer he graduated high school, to this day one of the happiest times of his life. He hasn't spent the last decade pining for Brooke Davis, but she was embedded in his memory and he couldn't quite shake the ghost of her. She became his ideal to which all future women would be judged, which really sucked for the millions of women out there, or at least the dozen or so he attempted to date. No one could quite compare to her wit, sensitivity, creativity, or her beauty. She was the most amazing woman he had ever met, and in his line of work, he had met a lot. Maybe in a way, he had been in love with Brooke Davis all of these years and didn't even realize it.
He couldn't lie, he was on the verge of devastation when he realized that she didn't remember him. He almost left then and there, but he had spent too many nights kicking himself for not finding her sooner, going to her or at least calling to check in with her. He had taken his own advice and written letters to her over the years when he felt a particularly strong desire to talk to her. He would simply write everything he needed to say and then put it away. Sometimes it was words of praise, like after COB began to rise in popularity and prestige. Other times he wrote her words of encouragement, such as when the gossip magazines or Perez Hilton was especially crass and harsh. Occasionally he wrote out of anger and jealousy as numerous reports documented her prolific romantic conquests, but most of the letters were his cowardly way to hold onto his memory of her and retain a connection to his Brooke.
"Julian Baker you changed my world and you didn't even know it." Her words echoed in his ears. Is it even possible that she cherished their summer together as much as he did? His heart began to beat faster as he contemplated the significance of her statement.
He gave her the grin she remembered from so long ago, only now it made her head dizzy with desire. He slipped his free arm underneath her while tightening the hold his other arm already had to pull her body close to his. She expertly rolled on top of him and gently rocked against him feeling him get excited against her. Julian pulled her head down towards him as he lifted his head to meet her lips. He kissed her with a sweet mixture of tenderness and rough lust as he keenly sucked her lower lip before moving to her neck.
In the warm sunlight gleaming through the windows, Brooke and Julian made love that wasn't wine induced or found its origins from primal sexual frustration. This was the climatic culmination of a dormant desire for the person that had set their worlds in motion. Reunited after so many years apart, each of them could look back to that summer as the catalyst for not only their many successes but all of their romantic failures, because everyone else were just poor substitutes for what they had with one another.