Title: Black and Blue
Pairing: Brooke/Peyton
The years have taken their toll on the friendship between Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer. Their friendship seemed unlikely at first. After all the two girls were polar opposites. Brooke had long strait raven brunette hair. Peyton had short curly blonde hair. Brooke's eyes were hazel. Peyton's were green. Brooke had dime sized dimples that could light up an entire room with a simple smile. Peyton didn't smile often; she usually just brooded.
Peyton was lonely and tortured; keeping her inner thoughts bottle up inside. She was an artist and she lived for angst-filled music. She was rebellious and wild; she really didn't care what people thought of her. And above all; she was selfish. Her selfishness had been the biggest barrier in their relationship and had caused the slow and painful demise of their friendship.
Brooke was pretty and popular; she was confident and blunt and she loved life; always living it to the fullest. The social butterfly was a free spirit; one who enjoyed shopping and cheerleading. And she was the most selfless person. She always gave and never took.
Best friends at the tender age of five, Brooke and Peyton were like sisters despite having different gene pools. When Peyton's mother died when the girls were just eight years old, it hurt Brooke almost as much as it did Peyton. Because Anna Sawyer had been like her mother seeing as she didn't have much parental supervision in her life. The Sawyer's were her family. Following Anna's passing, a part of Peyton died. That day a part of Brooke died too. The girls did everything together growing up. They were practically attached at the hip.
High school was when it all changed. Junior year had been full of ups and downs for the two girls. Lucas Scott. He was the boy that had involuntarily ripped apart their friendship. They had both fallen for the same boy and Peyton's selfishness had caused a major hole in Brooke's heart. It wasn't until senior year that their friendship would take the biggest hit yet. Brooke and Lucas were back together when Peyton suddenly decided she wanted Lucas again. She had broken up Lucas and Brooke indirectly and it would take many months for Brooke to forgive Peyton for her selfishness. They went their separate ways after high school. Brooke went to New York and became a big name in fashion; a self-made multi-millionaire by the age of 22. Peyton had chased her dream of being a prominent force in the music production industry and failed. The two best friends returned to Tree Hill at twenty two because they felt that something was missing in their lives.
When Lucas proposed to Peyton, the couple fled town after the wedding, leaving their friends and life in Tree Hill behind. Although, they'd stayed in contact after the move, Brooke and Peyton's friendship began to suffer uncontrollably. Brooke married Julian Baker a few years later and Peyton hadn't even showed up at the wedding, having claimed that her daughter Sawyer was sick. The truth was that she was afraid of returning to Tree Hill and witnessing the vast changes herself-Brooke had filled her in on the phone many times of the new life that she was leading. And it seemed like she didn't need Peyton anymore.
When Brooke's children were born, she hadn't returned. She knew how badly Brooke wanted to be a mom but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was too painful to return and learn that you've been replaced. And it's her own fault really. She hasn't been a very good friend to Brooke over the years. She knows that Brooke is married with two twin boys and that she and Haley have re-opened Karen's café. And she feels like she's missed out on so much.
She stands staring across the street in a once familiar town that now seems foreign to her. She glances in the café window, a reminiscent of ten years ago, and sees two best friends laughing and joking before pulling each other into a friendly hug. Haley James is the new best friend of Brooke Davis. Lucas had told her that Haley had even been the maid of honor at Brooke's wedding and that she was also Davis and Jude's godmother. She feels replaced. Brooke never needed her. Brooke was always there for her and when Brooke needed her; she had failed to be there. And now she'd lost her best friend-the only person that ever truly knew her.
She watches Haley and Brooke remove their aprons and slip into seats opposite their husbands at a large table. This is Brooke's new family. Sitting at the table is Brooke, Julian, two little boys she guesses to be Davis and Jude, Nathan, Haley, Jamie, another little girl who she guesses is Lydia, Mouth, Millie, Chase, Alex Dupree who she recognizes from Seven Dreams Till Tuesday, Haley's sister Quinn who she vaguely remembers, and a blonde man who she guesses is Clay Evans, Nathan's new best friend. It used to be her, Lucas, Brooke, Nathan, and Haley that would sit in that Café and have a family dinner every Saturday night. But, Brooke has moved on. Lucas and Peyton's absence has made room for more people and now they have been replaced. But the biggest hole in her heart is caused by Haley James. Haley had replaced her. But Haley had been there for Brooke in the times that Peyton hadn't. And that was why Haley was sitting beside Brooke right now instead of Peyton.
She wants to go inside so badly and see her former best friend; to be in her life again. But she can't. She doesn't belong there anymore. Defeated, the blonde turns around and leaves. It was her own fault for driving everyone away; for not being there in their time of need. And now they have moved on without her and she is stuck in time; wishing that she could have her old life back.