Back To The Start (One Tree Hill)

Chapter 18

Brooke's POV

Fortunately, I only had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. After I had 'warmed up' again and had a stable circulation, they released me. The ankle was sprained, but this didn't prevent me from going back to work. I wanted to accomplish a particular plan, so I left the set and went to Chelsea's trailer during the break and knocked on the door. I needed to talk to her, something that Julian hadn't done until today. But it was about Justin's well-being and an earnest conversation was long overdue.

"Hi, Brooke! Come on in."

Chelsea wore only a bathrobe and held a cup of coffee in her hand as she let me in and then went to her small kitchenette.

"Do you want coffee, too?"

I shook my head. "No, thanks. Do you have a moment?" I asked hesitantly.

"Of course. Let's sit down." She gestured to a seating group. "Is it about the costumes for the next scenes?" She asked curiously, sipping on the cup.

I felt my heart beating faster with nervousness. It wasn't so easy as I had thought to bring the subject to Julian. But now I was here and would go through with it. "It's not about the costumes," I said haltingly. "It's about something private."

"O-kay." She frowned in confusion. "What is it about?"

I took a deep breath. "I think I'd like some coffee now," I said hastily.

She got up, went to the coffee machine and poured coffee into another cup, which she handed to me.

"Let me guess... It's about Julian, isn't it?"

I quickly took a sip and then put the cup in front of me. "Yeah, it's about Julian," I confessed.

"Okay, before you draw the wrong conclusions," she began, looking at me with a serious expression. "I need to tell you something. I know the two of you are married, and I never would destroy a marriage."

"But you still love him," I blurted out without thinking. The look she gave me then, a mix of confusion and astonishment, wasn't played.

"No, why do you think that?"

I took my cup again and noticed that my hand was slightly shaking. "You have a son together," I said after taking another sip. "That connects you somehow."

"Are you talking about Justin?" She asked in disbelief. "Brooke, you really think that...?" She stopped and then shook her head. "Justin is not Julian's son," she finished the sentence.

"He isn't?" For a moment, I just stared at her in confusion. "But... I thought, you and him..." I broke off my stuttering because she suddenly smiled.

"Now I know why Julian's behavior towards me is so strange. He also seems to believe that Justin is his son."

I nodded uneasily. "Yes, he told me two days ago. I thought the two of you had talked about it before."

"What a mess!" She groaned softly. "The fact is that I fell head over heels in love with Julian when we met on set 5 years ago. But I was more interested in him than he was in me. And it was over quickly." She brushed back a long strand of hair and sighed. "Not for me, though. I absolutely wanted to get him back and did everything to seduce him. But he kept me at bay. And out of defiance and injured pride, I started an affair with the camera operator. Tom looked a lot like Julian. He was just as tall, had the same curly brown hair and dark eyes. When I was with him, I imagined he was Julian." She laughed bitterly. "I figured if Julian could do that, then I could do it too. I knew he still loved 'Brooke', the woman he never had forgotten. And I also knew that he only wanted to sleep with me because I reminded him of you. But my tactics didn't work. For Tom, I was just a sex affair, and when he found out I was pregnant, he gave me money for an abortion. But I'm not a murderer. I decided to keep my baby and raise it by myself."