A/N: So, I know I have my other story Be All That You Can Be to finish and a few more one-shots to crank out on The Private Escapades of Puck and Quinn, but I got a story idea in my head after attending a wedding this past weekend. Anyway, I borrowed the title of this chapter from Mr. Jon Bon Jovi and Ms. Jennifer Nettles (of the band Sugarland).

Also, as if you couldn't tell, I am putting any flashbacks/memories/ past events in Italics. With that, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Our Best Friend's Wedding!

Prologue: Who Says You Can't Go Home

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are nearing our final approach into Columbus, Ohio. At this time, we ask that you please return your seatbacks and tray tables to their upright and locked position. Please turn off any electronic devices and stow carry-on luggage that you may have taken out of the overhead bins, being careful when you open them as items may have shifted during the flight. A flight attendant will be coming through the cabin to pick up any remaining trash so please have that ready as we pass. Otherwise, we should be on the ground in about 20 minutes. Here at Southwest, we realize that you all have a choice in what airlines you fly and from all of us, we would like to say thank you for your business. It was a pleasure flying with you all today."

Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed, turning off her MP3 and putting it in her purse before tossing back the rest of the vodka cranberry cocktail she ordered for the flight. She normally wasn't a big drinker but for this trip home, she knew she would need it.

She discarded her cup when the flight attendant came around and reached into her purse, grabbing out a piece of gum and the fancy embossed envelope that had been tucked securely into a side pocket. That stupid envelope. She was thrilled when she first received the invitation but her excitement dwindled a bit when she realized who else would be there.

She opened it up and ran her fingers across the raised calligraphy print, reading it to herself again even though she had it memorized by now.

Mr. and Mr. Leroy and Hiram Berry
Request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter

Rachel Barbra Berry
to
Mr. Finn C. Hudson

Saturday, the nineteenth of June at four o'clock in the afternoon.
1630 Revello Drive
North Lima, Ohio 44452

Truth be told, she couldn't be more thrilled for her good friend Finn. He was a genuinely nice guy with a big heart and he deserved someone like Rachel, just like Rachel deserved someone like Finn. Quinn had met Rachel on a weekend trip up to New York to visit Finn a little over two years ago, the two women bonding instantly over the littlest things. Whether it was their mutual love of the same authors or karaoke or even the cocktails they preferred to drink, they had so much in common that by the end of the night Finn was left wondering if his girlfriend and best friend even knew he was still there.

She smiled as she thought about their impending nuptials. The week ahead leading up to the wedding would no doubt prove to be stressful, but knowing the crowd that would be in attendance, Quinn knew it would be a blast.

Except for one little detail: Noah Puckerman.

That was going to be the tricky part.

After all, Quinn was the one who was responsible for making things awkward between the two of them in the first place, so she should be the bigger person and get over it. But that was easier said than done. She needed to stay strong and be her usual cordial self to him instead of letting her heart get carried away by him… again. It had taken long enough to rebound from their last encounter that even now, eight years later, she was still haunted by memories of that night.

That night.

The last night she was in town before heading off to start her first year at Yale the following day.

She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat at the memory, trying to tell herself she needed to buck up and deal with it since he would most likely be at Finn's wedding too. They had been cordial to one another over all of the school holidays and when they ran into each other every now and again when they were visiting home, and it had been eight years since that night so she really should just get over it. Yet she knew that would be easier said than done.

Quinn sighed and looked at the invitation once more, resolving herself to just swallow the hurt and her pride and try to be friendly with him. After all, they had been best friends for 18 years before that so it shouldn't be hard to do. Besides, they were supposed to be there for their friend, not to rehash old feelings or memories.

She slid the invitation back into the envelope before pulling out a few old photographs Finn's mom Carole had requested that she bring along to add into the slideshow Finn and Rachel were putting together, chronicling their lives as kids up until they met and started dating. She couldn't help but smile at the first few photos, chuckling at pictures of her, Finn and Puck when they were little, all with guilty grins on their faces after setting off a packet of firecrackers in a trash barrel. The next one was of the three of them at Quinn's 8th birthday, the two boys standing out like sore thumbs in the sea of little girls also in attendance. There were pictures of when they all played tee-ball together and when they all spent time out fishing on the docks behind one of their houses or swimming in the lake during the summer. They made snow forts and tree houses and secret clubs where Quinn was the only girl allowed.

After all, she, Finn and Puck had been the "three amigos" since they were all in diapers, the three of them practically inseparable for much of their young lives. They all lived on the same street, each of their houses backing up to the lake in North Lima, Ohio. They were all in the same grade and had the same teachers for the most part. But despite their vastly different personalities, they made it work, each person offering something different to the "trifecta" that was Finn, Puck and Quinn.

Quinn had to admit that while her childhood was somewhat unorthodox in the fact that she grew up mostly around boys. Her older sister Frannie was a good nine years older than Quinn and wasn't around much, and the rest of the people that lived in their nice middle-class neighborhood were older couples with kids who had grown and moved out of the house. Except for two of the other houses, that is.

Two doors down lived the Hudsons with their only son Finn. Unfortunately, when Finn was still really little, his father was killed in action during the Gulf War, leaving the home to his newly widowed wife and their only child. Once the women in the neighborhood learned of his death, they all rallied around her and offered her their support. She fell in quickly with the conservative, buttoned up Judy Fabray and the bohemian, fun-loving nurse Ruth Puckerman, who happened to reside in the house in between the Fabrays and the Hudsons.

The women bonded instantly, whether it was attending PTA meetings at their kids' school, playing in their weekly bridge games or all being called by the other neighbors to go pick up their mischievous kids after they played one of their infamous pranks. They banded together to support Ruth when she finally had enough of her husband's abuse and wanted out, helping her find a good attorney and kicking him to the curb when Puck was seven. They stuck by Judy when she discovered her husband's affair and the fallout thereafter when Quinn was fifteen. The kids had always stuck together and treated each other like siblings, but this new bond of all the single mothers was truly something else. No matter what, they had managed to stick together through thick and thin, becoming wonderful friends and supports for one another over the years and Quinn could not have been more thankful for the environment they all created for one another and their three young kids.

Quinn could honestly say that she felt blessed to have two other "mother-figures" in her life that cared for her the same way her own mother did. Often when they were still young, Quinn, Puck and Finn would return home from one of their adventures in the woods or from playing at the nearby playground to find all three of the women at the same home, giggling with one another as they cooked up a hearty dinner for everyone, with each person taking a place around the table before settling down to eat like one big happy family. Which, looking back now, it definitely felt like they were one big family.

Carole, Ruth and of course her own mom were all like mothers to her and Finn and Puck were both like her brothers. However, she cringed now at the thought of ever thinking of Puck like a brother. From the time she hit her teens, she so desperately yearned for him to be so much more than just a really good friend. Something so much more.

She flipped through more photos, finding pictures of their first awkward middle school dance and one of Quinn her Cheerios uniform posing in between the boys in their football uniforms after their first varsity game in high school. The more photos she flipped through, the more her throat started to close up with emotion again.

She saw a few random photos of the three of them goofing off and a photo from their last varsity football game as seniors as they celebrated winning the championship again, Puck tucking Quinn under his arm as he tried to cover her with as much stinky boy sweat as he possibly could. There was a photo from their Senior Prom, Quinn having gone with Finn as friends while Puck went with a girl named Lauren, who ended up getting so wasted and crazy that night the school administrators ended up calling her parents by the end of the dance.

Then there was a photo from graduation with the three of them in their bright red caps and gowns, followed by a photo of their joint graduation party at Quinn's house, their lakefront property having the best backyard bar-be-cue set up for a party. The next picture was one of the three of them at the bonfire they made down on the beach the day before Quinn left for school. The two boys built it up for her and wanted to celebrate Quinn's achievement by throwing her a mini going away party, wine coolers and beers in tow.

Quinn smiled to herself as she thought back on that night…well, the earlier part of the night anyway. They sat around and drank while toasting marshmallows and teasing one another, reminiscing on their lives together, for the next day they would all go off in different directions and would be split up for the first time in their entire lives.

The next day, Quinn packed up her car and headed out to the East Coast and settled in the small Connecticut town of New Haven to begin her education at Yale University. She double-majored in English and Drama, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a perfect GPA, her mother and Finn in attendance as she walked across the stage to accept her diploma. She enjoyed Yale so much, she stuck around and went to graduate school there, picking up her Master's Degree in the process. Now she currently worked as a consultant for a big time advertising firm, and while she somewhat enjoyed her job and the challenges it presented, the hours and constant travel were starting to wear on her.

Finn, on the other hand, went to Boston just for a change of scenery. He picked up a few odd jobs while attending Boston College but decided he missed football enough to give it another shot and tried to walk-on to the team. After his tryout, the coaches were so impressed that they picked him up to play on the scout team. His hard work paid off in the form of a full-ride scholarship the next year where he played tight-end and was the backup quarterback for the Golden Eagles for the next three years.

He decided to major in construction management, as he was fairly handy and really had a knack for the science and design that went into every project he worked on. A friend he knew from football introduced him to a man who worked at an architecture and construction firm in New York City who hired Finn immediately and gave him his first project working on revamping a few of the Broadway theaters. And that was where he met Rachel, who in a week's time, would become his wife.

Puck, on the other hand, had no idea what to do with his life after graduation. After considering expanding his pool cleaning business, he realized he really didn't have the know-how or business savvy to start up an enterprise like the one he originally dreamed of. He worked at the marina on the lake they lived on, but after a few months of bumming around Lima, his mother just about had enough. She demanded Puck get a real job and start doing something with his life like Quinn and Finn had gone and done.

Pissed off at everyone else's success and his mother's nagging about how much better his friends were doing than him, Puck marched down to the Navy recruiting station and enlisted, figuring his love for the water would eventually lead to some type of job later on down the road. After basic training and specialty school, he spent two tours of duty during the war overseas on a naval guided missile destroyer in the Persian Gulf. Ultimately, he returned to the states and settled near Chicago to work at the Naval Recruit Training Command center at Naval Station Great Lakes, where he turned around and became one of the drill instructors he used to despise during basic training.

Overall, despite everything that had happened between them eight years ago, Quinn would be lying if she said she didn't worry about him while he was deployed or that she was really proud of him for his accomplishments. He turned things around and the last time she saw him three years ago, he looked like he was doing exceptionally well for himself.

She sighed once more and glanced back at the photo from the bonfire. The three of them had been best friends their entire lives, and while each of them had their own thing going on during high school and college and they floated apart a bit as they aged and developed other relationships with other friends, they each still knew they could be themselves around one another. They had individually seen each other at their best and their absolute worst but the familiarity and sense of family always brought them back together, and continued to still do so up until the present day when the three of them, no doubt, would be partaking in a long awaited reunion of sorts to celebrate Finn's wedding.

It had been a long couple of years since Quinn had been home, but as the plane descended through the clouds into Columbus, she began to feel that familiar twinge of guilt and a tad bit of sadness that it had been so long since she had been home. Sure she saw Finn and Rachel regularly when they came down from New York or when she went to visit them, but there was nothing quite like being back in Ohio and being back in her own home surrounded by the people she had grown to call her family over the years.

Smiling, she flipped to the next photo only to have the smile disappear from her face, a tight lump returning to her throat as she stared at the picture she thought she lost years ago. It was the picture she had taken of herself and Puck after Finn had left the night of the bonfire, Puck playfully kissing her on the cheek as she smiled into the camera.

She quickly flipped the photo over in her lap and closed her eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths to get over the memory that had come flooding back. She leaned her head back against the seat cushion and tried to block out the memory of what happened after Finn left that night, but it was so damn hard to do when she could still remember the feel of his soft lips against her skin…against her own lips. She raised her hand to her mouth, running her fingertips along her lower lip before gently biting it between her teeth, the memory so vivid in her mind.

"Are you ok, dear?" the old woman sitting next to her asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

Quinn paused for a moment to give her a soft smile before lying through her teeth, "Just fine, thank you."

"Old boyfriend?" she asked, signaling to the photo in Quinn's lap.

"No," she chuckled, trying to keep her voice steady and light as she bit out the words that tasted like dirt in her mouth, "Just a friend."

The old woman didn't press any further and for that Quinn was grateful. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat again, forcing herself not to think of that night. She was a little thrown at seeing that picture, trying to postpone dredging up the memories seeing Puck again would inevitably bring.

But she knew couldn't fight them the whole time she was in Lima. He would be there in person and that would be even harder.

"Hand me a beer, would ya?" Finn asked as Puck rummaged through the cooler.

Puck picked out two before plopping down on the chair next to Finn, staring out over the lake. They had worked their asses off all day building the gazebo Finn and Rachel would be getting married under and the only payment Finn had promised Puck for his help was a twelve pack of beer. But Puck didn't mind, he knew the gazebo was kind of a two part present. It was perfect for the wedding but it was also somewhat of a thank you gift to Finn's mother for holding the wedding at her home, the picturesque backyard the perfect place to exchange vows in Finn's opinion.

According to the very meticulous plans plotted out by Rachel and the "three wise women" as Puck referred to their mothers as, the wedding ceremony would take place in front of the gazebo on the Hudsons' lawn while the reception and dance floor would spill over from the Hudsons' backyard to the Puckermans' yard. The catering tent and set up would take place in the Fabrays' backyard, which meant all three homes would be fair game to guests…and also meant that Finn and Puck had their work cut out for them in making sure all of the lawns were mowed and all of the landscaping was just perfect. More manual labor.

Puck grunted as he thought of his to-do list his mother and Rachel had already given him.

"Dude, you owe me way more than a twelve pack for putting up with all of this shit for an entire week. There is a reason I moved to Chicago…to get away from the Crazy Jew Mama and her two crazy friends and their insane demands. And now you're adding another crazy Jewish-American princess to the mix?"

Finn chuckled, "I'll let Rachel know of your new nickname for her, thought I'm not sure she would appreciate the crazy part."

"Whatever. That part is one-hundred percent true."

"Probably, but I love it," Finn joked, "And fuck you, you know there will be plenty of booze to go around this next week. You'll live. Plus it's only fair that if those women are giving me hell that you should also be involved somehow. After all, when we were kids I was always getting in trouble for your dumb ideas."

"Yeah, but did you notice how Quinn was the only one who always managed to smooth-talk her way out of everything somehow," he joked before the mention of her name brought back some tough memories, a lump forming in his throat. Puck took another big gulp of his beer and swallowed hard before trying to change the subject, "So, you nervous?"

Finn let out a humorless chuckle before taking another pull of his own beer, "Ha, ask me again Saturday morning."

Puck gave him a smirk before leaning back in his chair and dangling his feet off of the dock, "Rach is a good one, dude. I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks, she's quite the catch," Finn replied before looking back at his friend who seemed like he was lost in thought, the crease of his brow a dead giveaway, "You know, she's gonna be there too."

Puck snorted, "Who, Rachel? I would hope so, seeing as how she's supposed to be marrying you that day."

"You know who I'm talking about," Finn replied evenly, taking another sip of his beer while trying to decide how far he should push this, "Quinn."

Finn watched Puck's jaw tighten, his teeth clamping together before his friend took another deep pull of his beer, finishing off the remaining liquid in the can before wordlessly standing and making his way back to the cooler and grabbing another.

"You want one?"

"You always do this," Finn replied as he shook his head, "You always change the subject or avoid talking about her."

"No I don't," Puck scoffed, before grabbing another beer for Finn.

"Yeah, you do. She was a major part of our lives for a long time. She's one of our best friends. Dude, what the hell happened between you two?"

Puck winced as Finn reminded him of their friendship, the word never sitting well with Puck when it came to Quinn, "Nothing."

"That's bullshit and we both know it. Shit was never like this in the past. Even she acts strange when I mention you. I don't get it. What's your deal, anyway?"

Puck stared down in to his beer can, remembering the last time he even saw Quinn. How tense things had been despite the passage of time.

It had been two and a half years ago, after he returned home from his second deployment and Quinn just happened to be home for winter break. Quinn's mom Judy had insisted that Puck and his mom join them for Christmas supper, despite the fact that the Puckermans were Jewish. The women ate and talked, chatting away animatedly while Puck watched Quinn push food around her plate for the majority of the meal.

Once their mothers started giving them both the stink eye toward the end of the meal, Puck tried to strike up a conversation with her. They had a fairly polite conversation about what was going on in their lives but it was very surface-level chit chat, the two of them making it through desert and coffee while catching up on the superficial things in their lives.

It used to be different. He used to tell Quinn everything and she was an open book too. But he guessed things had changed. It made him sad when he thought back on all the good times they used to have, about how close they were, but as he said good night and she gave him a polite yet weak hug goodbye, he knew that was all ancient history. One he would probably never get back.

As soon as his mother made it through the doorway of their home, she ripped into him for his behavior, demanding to know why the hell he had been so rude to Quinn that night. She was baffled at how they two of them barely spoke and that he must have done something wrong since they had always been such good friends.

God, he despised that word.

He could only shrug, offering a half-assed explanation that they were fine and that they didn't have much to talk about since they hadn't seen each other in a while. They had grown up and grown apart and it was just strange seeing her again like that.

He knew his mother didn't fully believe him, but she dropped it and went about cleaning up dishes while Puck skulked back upstairs. Even though he was trying to make himself believe the same thing he just told his mother, that they had grown up and grown apart, he knew it was all a lie. But he never would admit to her, or anybody for that matter, that the awkwardness and distance between him and Quinn was the result of something that happened on a night five years before that.

The night he managed to fuck their entire relationship up beyond repair.

Finn opened his tired eyes back up and glanced over at Puck, his best friend looking like he was caught in a trance as he stared at the beer in his hands.

"You ok?"

Finn's voice snapped Puck out of his depressing memory, his eyes quickly glancing at his friend before taking a few more deep slugs of his beer.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Finn let out an exasperated sigh, "Dude, it's obvious you're not. But I'm not going to push you to tell me shit if you don't want to. Just know I'm here, ya know…if you need to talk or whatever."

Puck just nodded before glancing out over the lake, the setting sun creating a breathtaking reflection of pinks, purples and oranges across the surface of the calm water.

"But I will tell you this," Finn continued, clearing his throat, "Whatever is going on with you two needs to be resolved soon. This is our wedding and as my Best Man it's your job to make sure nobody, and I mean nobody, fucks this up for Rachel and me."

Puck just rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, "Dude, I get it. Everything will be fine."

"I mean it, Puckerman. You and Quinn better learn to play nice with one another and get used to spending time with each other, so you might as well clear the air between the two of you as soon as possible."

"Why are you all of a sudden so interested in patching shit up between me and Quinn? It's really none of your business," Puck retorted, finishing off the rest of his beer.

"It is my business now," Finn replied evenly, looking out across the lake, "You're both my friends and I don't want this thing between the two of you affecting our day."

"It'll be fine. She'll probably just avoid me anyway and things will go back to normal in no time."

"Oh, I highly doubt you two will be able to avoid each other," Finn chuckled.

"Oh yeah, why is that?" Puck asked sarcastically.

"Because Quinn is Rachel's Maid of Honor."

Puck's eyes grew wide at Finn's revelation . He knew Rachel had met Quinn and the girls had struck up a friendship but he didn't know they were that close.

He ran over the mini-itinerary Rachel had outlined for them earlier in his head, realizing that he and Quinn were going to have to work together on a lot of the things on Rachel's list to get everything ready for their friends' big day.

Suddenly, that twelve pack of beer seemed to be nowhere near enough booze to help him get through this week.

And what was worse, he may have to finally deal with everything that happened between the two of them eight years ago.

He gulped down the remnants of his beer before reaching for another one, Finn chuckling at his obvious discomfort.

He was so screwed.

A/N: So, how's it looking? Complete crap or does it have some promise?

And major props if you recognized the street address I used for Finn's house on the invitation… minus the city, state and zip code, that is.