Brooke Davis had spent years watching her friends find love, doubting that she would ever find it herself. How could she when her heart was so closed off and had been for years. But that all changed when she met Julian Baker, a man who came to town with questionable intentions. Julian insisted he just came to town to make a movie. From the moment they met sparks were flying between these two and have been ever since. It all started with a warning, a grin, a ridiculous Molly Ringwald dance, a proposal, and a teenage runaway. Brooke wrote Julian off as a troublemaker and declined his charming proposal to design the wardrobe for the Ravens movie. She didn’t trust him with her best friend or her foster daughter Sam, whom he had developed a sudden interest in and his grin well that was not going to get him anywhere, it may have opened a lot of doors and gotten him into many beds before but it wouldn’t do him any good with HER. Julian accepted her decision, understanding that sometimes things just simply didn’t work out and wished her luck with her new designs. Later that same night Brooke was searching frantically all over town for Sam, when she ran into him at the local diner and asked if was looking for her too. Julian had insisted he was just there for a cup of coffee, he was sorry he wasn’t THAT guy. However a waitress from the café contradicted his words when she informed Brooke that the guy who just left had been asking her the same exact thing about Sam. Brooke realized there might be more to Julian than she had originally thought and he has been surprising her ever since. He surprised her with a bottle of wine for their “business meeting”, she surprised him with a sexy outfit and soft candlelight. They surprised one another by discovering they had more in common than either initially thought when Julian confided to Brooke that he may have read the book for his ex but he related to it because of Brooke, they both had demanding parental figures that always made them feel like whatever they did was never enough. They agreed that anything more between them than just business would only complicate matters but yet they could resist their intense attraction. From the moment they shared their first kiss, it felt right and this surprised both of them! He continued to surprise her as they dated for several months with Sam rooting them on. When she wanted the reassurance that they were having more than just fun, he asked her to go steady, proclaiming that it turned out everyone had been right all along; he was in Tree Hill for more than just the movie; he had come for the OTHER girl in the book. When Brooke’s insecurities surfaced due to her past and she wondered about his intentions Julian proved he was playing for keeps when he presented her with a piece of his past and shared with her everything that he was looking for in Brooke Davis, who had been nearly impossible to find but worth every second of the wait. He moved her with his ability to know exactly what she needed to hear but more importantly the sincerity and conviction behind them convinced her it was the truth. Slowly and patiently Julian was breaking down the walls that had been protecting her very fragile heart ever since high school. Brooke overwhelmed him to the point that he finally confessed his love for her. Most girls would have been elated to hear that such an amazing guy loved her. But Brooke Davis was not most girls and his love terrified her. Brooke tried to carefully explain that while she cared for him, she thought it was way too soon, things were moving too fast between them. Julian had come to know and understand Brooke well over the past couple months, so he refused to let her hide and challenged every weak excuse she had to offer. He vowed to wait for her until she was ready. He meant it to until his own insecurities got in the way and he began to doubt if she would ever let him into her heart when he feared her heart belonged to someone from her past long ago. Before they could figure things out the movie was cancelled and he was heading back to LA. Brooke didn’t want him to go and yet she was unable to say the words that would make him stay, the words that he longed to hear, the words that would fix things between them, words that scared her to say because of the vulnerabilities they brought once they were released. Julian understood and explained that sometimes the beauty was in the attempt. He promised he would miss her and Brooke could do nothing but stand there and watch him walk away. As if Julian had not surprise her enough during their courtship he gave her the biggest yet when he asked her and Sam to come to LA with him. Brooke was tempted but could she really disrupt Sam’s life like that. She wasn’t sure she could do that despite her friend’s insistence that it might be time to follow her heart and the fact that Sam was in full support of relocating so that the three of them could be a family. After agonizing over her decision, in the end she just didn’t feel it was right to go because Sam’s life was in Tree Hill as was hers and she just hadn’t been ready to risk her heart again.

If this had been a film the guy would have gotten the girl and they would have lived a fairytale life but this was not a movie and sometimes life didn’t give you a happy ending. So Julian returned to LA devastated while Brooke remained in her home town burying her pain in her work. Though she never admitted how much she was hurting over the way things turned out those who knew her best understood that her silence echoed that of a broken heart. Brooke expressed herself through her brilliant designs because that was the only way she knew how to let go of her inner turmoil. Just when she had finally begun to accept things as they were Julian unexpectedly showed up for the wedding of both their exes, only Julian was not alone. Rather than admit to her jealousy Brooke found a date of her own and the two engaged in juvenile attempts to see would concede defeat first. When all was said and done neither was declared a winner, though Brooke lowered her walls long enough to tell him that she missed him before she ran off, leaving him alone on the dance floor wondering what it all meant. Julian stuck around in Tree Hill longer than anticipated to be a support to Brooke when her best friend went into premature labor. Once the crisis had passed Brooke and Julian were forced to say good-bye once again. Brooke didn’t have the strength to watch him walk away anymore and she kissed him instead. Julian couldn’t help but try one last time and tell her how much he loved her. Unable to return the words or accept what he was offering she asked him to kiss her. Julian had never been able to resist Brooke Davis and so he gave her what she needed, as he always did. Brooke awoke to an empty bed and an empty house, feeling incredibly alone as all of her friends experienced the joy of having their long awaited dreams come true. This time Brooke didn’t have to wonder about her happy ending as she knew she had willing given it up, not once but twice. But it didn’t have to be that was and she quickly realized that after a heart to heart with her mother in which she reminded Brooke that if Julian loved her and she loved him that was all that mattered, everything else could wait. With those words giving her the courage she needed, Brooke found Julian on a movie set in LA where she finally said the words that had been locked away deep in her heart. Standing in front of Julian the last of Brooke’s walls tumbled to the ground as she wrote her own Hollywood ending for their unforgettable love story when she told him she loved him. From that moment on Brooke and Julian both had new found faith that dreams really do come true. Some might say that this was the perfect ending; some believe that the best is yet to come. No one knows what the future holds for these two but thus far they have shared a beautiful love story complete with laughter and tears.

1. Because wine says do me...and he brought wine
2. Because she's the reason he connected to the book
3. Because she has an evil bitch mother and he has a perennially disappointed father
4. Because they would be a power couple
5. Because he thinks she's a 'hot' designer
6. Because he wanted her work for his movie
7. Because he is THAT guy.
8. Because he cares for Brooke & Sam.
9. Because here's to "that day".
10. Because it would be.
11. Because the STONER and the PRISS end up together.
12. Because he gave her his letterman jacket.
13. Because he came for the girl in the book...the other girl.