okay its more breyton than brucas, but well i think blers will appreciate it more. yeah still dont own oth.

LOOKING IN THE MIRROR

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.
- Shakespeare


There is something similar about this scene, something that at the moment neither girl can really pin point. They stand in front of each other, two best friends who have gone through so much together, one a stunning brunette and the other a beautiful blonde. Brooke Davis is known for her smile and cheery attitude, but over the last few months life has beaten something out of her and that smile is harder to find. Peyton Sawyer was the brooder, the one who no one doubted knew pain, yet these months as Brooke’s life was circling around her, almost crashing over and over again, Peyton’s life was fitting into place, she was getting the dream.

It is the night before a wedding, Peyton’s to be precise and she can’t focus on a time where she has been happier, and Brooke’s brown waves are cascading over her shoulders, shoulders that a bare from the red dress she wears.

They’re at the reception, planned in a rush, planned with love and joy to celebrate the coming together of two friends, and Brooke had worked hard on this night so it could be perfect but at the end of the night the lights turn off.

One girl is in disbelieve, she’s not sure she understands correctly what the hell happened when she came across her best friend crying once everyone was gone.

The other girl is breaking, in pain as a secret eats away at her, she doesn’t want to say anything let alone do anything but she is breaking and it’s all just coming out.

So Peyton hears the words that still seem unreal, not comprehending that her best friend is confessing her feelings about the guy Peyton is so happy with.

And when Peyton, looking stunned and afraid, asks if she means as a friend, Brooke knows that the blonde doesn’t really want an answer.

But Brooke answers, and in that moment Peyton’s perfect world comes crashing down, because her best friend is in love with her boyfriend. Soon to be husband.

It can’t be happening, Peyton can’t loose Lucas again, she is angry, so angry she can’t even speak, so hurt she can’t even breathe.

She’s not the only one.

It happens again, before the wedding, the two girls face to face, one sorry, so sorry for saying anything but she can’t lie anymore, but it doesn’t mean anything, she says it over and over again. But Peyton knows better, because Brooke said something, and now it’s out there and they can’t take it back, and the next time she looks at Lucas she knows that she’ll see her best friend instead.

He’s hers, and Peyton tells Brooke that, slapping the girl as well, she now questions their friendship and not for the first time. Brooke takes it; a part of her knows she deserves that slap and the mark it will leave, and the other part of her screaming that it’s just not fair.

She feels guilty, for feeling this love, but she doesn’t want to lose her best friend but as she looks into Peyton’s eyes she knows its happening anyway. So she fights back, because she has nothing else to lose at this point.

But they part.

It’s the wedding.

Peyton was right, she did see Brooke the moment her eyes locked with Lucas before the wedding, she had to see him, had to know that they were going to be okay. But he says her name and it all comes flooding back, but they kiss and he holds her and for a moment she forgets.

And now they’re in front of the priest, about to pledge their lives to one another, and curious Peyton looks at Brooke who despite it all still stands beside her as maid of honour, a brave look on her face and a deep sorrow in her eyes. Peyton looks at her and Brooke smiles, its weak but its there. She is trying to say its okay, but then Peyton turns to look at Lucas and she knows he’d stolen a glance at the brunette too, he looks worried. Peyton knows it’s not okay.

There’s this boy she loves, and he loves this girl and its okay because it’s the girl she loves too. Brooke has thought that, repeated it, and lived it for years, for so long she almost forgot she loves him too.

Peyton closes her eyes as she listens to the words of the priest as he speaks a love quote that is all too familiar. About a love that will not alter. And just like that Peyton is back in the dark after the wedding reception, watching two best friends facing each other; one has had her world crash down while the other is getting all her dreams. There’s a gorgeous brunette in a red dress, and a beautiful blonde. They are both breaking over a confession, one letting her hearts secret out while the other listens and imagines losing the one thing she holds most dear. The only problem is that they’re just seventeen years old, and this memory is a lot older than last night.

It hits Peyton why the scene was familiar, she’s been here before, the same two best friends and still the same boy, except last time the roles were reversed and she can’t help but feel like she’s looking in a mirror where everything is opposite.

They both stand there, in the middle of the wedding, remembering a time long ago right next to this one, they both look into that mirror and after nearly six years of misunderstandings they finally both understand each other.

Peyton opens her eyes, remembering what happens next. What is meant to happen next anyway, the choice Brooke had made all those years ago and the choice Peyton has to make now. The thing is though, Peyton’s already slipped off the ring, it’s already being given back to Lucas who is the most confused of all. So you see, the choice she was thinking she couldn’t make, she’s already made it.

And just like six years ago when a different girl turned her back on Lucas Scott, everyone is surprised, everyone but the girl doing the turning.

Its two best friends facing each other at a wedding, both breaking and both healing, Brooke mouths I’m sorry tears in her eyes, because she knows, as much as she doesn’t want to, she does. Peyton reads that look so well, she can because she’s been there, and she also made Brooke stand where she is now standing so she tilts her head as she lifts up the skirt of her wedding dress, she does more than mouth the words “I’m sorry” just before she runs down the aisle.

And only two people in that church know why Peyton is apologising to the maid of honour and not the groom or anybody else.

There’s this boy she loves, and there’s a girl who loves this boy, but it’s okay because she remembers, she loves this girl too.


When life gets hard, when things change, true love remains the same.