Something To Hold On To
By Mara

SUMMARY: Brooke and Lucas have drifted apart and are growing tired of clinging on to what remains of their relationship. Can they find their way back to the love they once knew? Set a year and a half after season three/towards the end of their first year of college (ignore season four).

DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Tree Hill.

Prologue - Barely Touching In Our Cold Bed

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Lucas turned over in bed as he awoke. The room was dark, the pale blue walls turned black by the absence of light. His eyes opened to face her back, covered by a blue singlet, the top half hidden by her long, rich brown hair, slightly messily curling at the ends. She sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from him, with the bedside light on sending beams of light cascading down on her body, illuminating her in a shadow of light. After a moment he sat up and looked over her shoulder, seeing she was holding something.

"What's that?" Lucas took a photo from Brooke's little girl-like hands.

"Nothing," Brooke said, stating the exact opposite of what the photo was. It was everything. It was the proof of their love that had once been so intense. The love that had taught them everything, the unexpected love that had given them the strongest feelings of everything. Yet it was that same love that had been forgotten, like a child's toy left behind in time.

It was a photo of them sitting on the beach, on a winters night in their senior year of high school. They sat closely beside each other, cheeks pressed up against one another. Lucas' arm was pulling tightly around Brooke's waist, and she had her arm securely draped around his shoulders. You could see their arms in the side of the picture, holding the camera, as they had taken the photo themselves. The photo was the evidence of horizontally the windy night that they had laughed in as they had walked along the dark beach. Brooke's hair was blown out and colliding with Lucas' face. Brooke remembered that night clearly, like an image preserved perfectly in her mind. She remembered convincing Lucas it wasn't too horrible to go for a walk. She remembered them running along the beach hand-in-hand to keep warm. She remembered then collapsing into the sand and taking that photo. She remembered it had started to rain and they had fled from the beach and run all the way back to Lucas' house, laughing at the situation they found themselves in. Brooke wondered if Lucas remembered, knowing there was only one way to find out.

"Do you remember that time, Lucas?" Brooke asked hopefully, still facing away from him.

"Of course," Lucas answered. Brooke wished that hearing Lucas say that could give her hope, but it didn't, and she couldn't pretend it did, she could no longer cling to false hope. She knew things weren't the same anymore. She knew they couldn't lie to themselves and say they were. Things had changed, they had changed too much.

Brooke didn't cry at the memories the photo brought back, she was too drained of all emotion. She dropped her head and stared at the ground for a moment before simply turning off the light and lying back down in their bed, facing the wall. She pulled the covers up around her and closed her eyes. Lucas was once again faced with her back, something that had happened one too many times. He hesitated for a moment, before placing the photo face down on the bedside table. He couldn't look at it, he remembered that day too well and it would only confirm how far they had drifted from those days. With the photo hidden, their past a distant memory, Lucas lay back down on the soft, but not comforting, mattress and rolled over, leaving their backs facing each other. And the night hung heavy once again.

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AN: There is the prologue, hoped you liked it, reviews are appreciated! I know this was short, but that is just because its the prologue, actual chapters will be longer. A huge thank you to my awesome beta Ellie, thank you so much Ellie! Also thanks to everyone who encouraged me to write a full-length fic, I'm giving it a go! The title of the prologue is from 'It's Beginning To Get To Me' by Snow Patrol and the fic's title is from 'You're All I Have' by Snow Patrol.