Author's Note: I had this idea rolling around in my head for a little bit. I wrote some of this a few years ago, re-read it, and decided to resurrect it with some much needed changes. Hopefully you guys like this! It's different than my other story (Changes) in that it's probably a bit fluffier, and faster-paced. It'll definitely be shorter as well. I haven't forgotten Changes, though..that'll be updated soon! This is just for kicks.

So, without much ado, here's my new story! Please read and review!

PS- Twilight isn't mine. But this story is.

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"Strawberry pancakes and coffee. Wait! Make that two cups of coffee," I slid onto a stool and put my head on the cold metal counter. I glanced up at the owner who was hidden behind his newspaper. "Oh, and can you be a dear and throw in a cyanide capsule for me?"

Edward lowered the newspaper and swiftly took out a pad and pencil. "Should I mix it into the pancake batter or would you prefer to toss it back like a lady?" he asked while making little scribbles and checks on the paper.

"I'll have it on the side," I looked up at Edward's 'tsk' sound. "What?"

"I'm afraid we're running a little low on the cyanide today. How about extra whipped cream?" he said, still looking at his pad.

"What kind of dump is this? No cyanide?" I picked up a straw and started peeling the wrapper off it.

Edward finally looked up at me and tapped his pad impatiently. "Yes, well, we have a policy of not killing our customers on the first day."

"This is hardly the first time I've been here, Edward," I reminded him by blowing my straw wrapper at him.

Edward rolled his green eyes and swatted the paper away. "Don't remind me."

"Remind me not to tip you," I grumbled, pushing the straw away from me.

"You never do," Edward crossed his arms.

"And I'm not about to start now," I sat up straight and crossed my arms. The woman sitting next to me sighed and changed seats in a very conspicuous manner. I rolled my eyes at her.

One would think that the patrons of Edward's diner would be used to this exchange by now, as I came in at least twice a day. I quickly did the math in my head. Twice a day for five years is…three hundred and sixty-five times two times five…that's…well, that's a lot of front row seats to the constant verbal battles between the two of us.

"Can you at least try not to scare the locals?" Edward griped as he started a new pot of coffee for me. He knew by now that if I didn't have my coffee a certain way, I'd bitch and moan until he was forced to make a new pot to get me to shut up. He once said that I liked my coffee dark and bitter…like my soul. He thought he was pretty clever, until I told him that I actually liked it black and strong…like my men.

That shut him up.

"You're a local. Am I scaring you?" I argued.

Edward clunked a coffee cup in front of me. "No, but your face is killing me," He joked and poked my forehead.

I made a snorting sound and laid my head back on the counter, trying not to let him see how that little playful jab wounded me.

I'd met Edward five years ago when I moved to town to live near my brother Emmett. Emmett and I had always been really close, and when he had told me about an antiques shop that was for sale, I had jumped at the chance to buy it. I would be able to combine my love for antiques, literature and history with living near my older brother. The very first day I moved here, Emmett had taken me around and had introduced me to everyone who lived in our little town.

And when I say little, I mean little. We're talking about a one mile square town.

That's right. One mile by one mile.

We had walked around the entire day, and I guess he had been saving the best (and worst) for last, because the diner was our final stop on my welcome tour.

My first impression of Edward Cullen?

What a god.

I remember everything about that first meeting. He had been at the grill flipping burgers ridiculously high when we had walked in. His lean, muscular body had swiveled around at the sound of the bells above the door and his bronze hair had fallen into his eyes. Emmett had propelled me forward and had introduced me to Edward. To this day, I'm still not sure what I said, because my mind had been completely preoccupied with absorbing every single detail of his beautiful face – from his high cheekbones to his strong jaw. I did manage to remember, though, that his green t-shirt had matched the color of his eyes, and that he had wiped his right hand off on his apron before taking my trembling hand in his.

For two weeks I had walked quickly by the diner, too shy to greet the beautiful man again. Every time I had walked by, though, I had taken peeks through the window. Just little peeks. Nothing that screamed out 'stalker', hopefully, though I did walk around the long way sometimes to pass by his diner.

Maybe I was a little stalkerish.

My little twenty-two year old mind was convinced, though, that it had fallen in love with him. Okay, maybe not 'love' love, but it was certainly getting to that point. Whenever I saw him around town, my heart beat a funky little rhythm. Just the sight of him opening up shop made me giddy. Finally, one day Emmett and I had gone to the diner with his girlfriend Rosalie for dinner. I remember sitting there with my legs jiggling from anxiety, while Rose kept shooting me curious glances. I was planning in my head everything I was going to say. I was going to be witty, charming, funny…and likeable. Oh-so-very likeable. Finally, Edward came by to take our order. I had been blushing furiously, and when I opened my mouth to order…I saw it.

A wedding band.

What a sign that the gods hated me! Lusting after a married man! My heart cracked and I felt the blood draining from my cheeks, leaving me looking like a ghost.

Edward had followed my eyes to his left hand and had shifted it slightly to get it out my line of sight. His eyes had met mine in an annoyed look and he started to say something. That's when my sense of self-preservation had kicked in. The rest was a blur. I vaguely remember muttering something snarky to cover up my flustered expression and hearing Edward shoot something right back at me. We argued back and forth for a bit before he stalked off to the grill and I sulked in my seat, earning a bewildered expression from Emmett and a knowing one from Rose.

From that day on, I swore off thinking of Edward in that way. It didn't matter later when Emmett told me that Edward was recently divorced and hadn't yet gotten used to not wearing his wedding band. It didn't matter when I started seeing more of him because he and Emmett hung out a lot after work. None of that really mattered, because in that one moment when his eyes had met mine, I had seen enough. That annoyed expression on his face when he realized I was interested in him had been enough to cool all my thoughts of him. I learned to hide my emotions from him and mask them in insults and taunts. I settled with being semi-friends with Edward. He was someone to argue back and forth with, someone to poke fun at when we had Friday movie nights at Emmett's place.

Nothing less, nothing more.

Still, it always irritated me when one of his comments hit a little too close to home. A little too "Bella, why would I ever be into you, when I can find another demi-god like myself?" Like I needed any more reminders.

Annoyed, I snapped. "So how about the pancakes? I'm trying the Betty Crocker method of killing a bad day and you're not really helping," I rubbed at a spot on the counter.

"Carb overdose?" Edward ignored my tone and turned to grab the coffee pot.

"Yup. It's the quickest, least painful way to go," I said flippantly, trying to forget about my little mood swing.

"It's only 10 am," Edward said, pouring some coffee into my cup.

I stared at the dark liquid greedily. "Yeah. Check with me at 11 am and you'll see how much worse it can get," I grabbed the cup and blew on it before taking a large gulp. Instantly, I felt the hot coffee burning my tongue.

Edward scoffed and pried the cup away from my fingers. "How about you don't burn yourself? I have enough of my own problems to deal with today. I'd rather not have to take you to the hospital."

I blew out slowly and rolled my tongue around my mouth, trying to get feeling back into it. I glared at him and gestured for him to give me back my cup. He looked at me warily and then held the cup out to me. "Right. The life and times of a short order cook. Quite the tragedy, last I heard," I snatched my cup back from him and cradled it close.

"Bella, the way you stab my heart," Edward dramatically shook his head while putting a hand to his chest.

"I didn't know you had one," I quipped, tapping my nails impatiently. Where were my freaking pancakes?

"Actually, if you must know…" Edward's tone turned serious.

I groaned internally. Serious was bad. We didn't do serious. This whole quasi-friendship was built around never being serious. Being serious meant being open with each other and letting down guards. That, in turn, meant being open to getting hurt. Thanks, but no thanks.

"I don't want to know," I cut in quickly.

"…I heard that Tanya's back in town."

"Tanya," I raised my eyebrows. Edward nodded gravely. "Tanya," I repeated, racking my brain. Who was Tanya again? "Yeah…good ol' Tanya…" I said slowly, sounding the name out. Why did that sound familiar?

"My ex-wife," Edward prodded, with an annoyed look on his face.

"Of course," I smiled as I took a more cautious sip of my coffee and then looked behind him to the griddle. "Pancakes?"

"See, the thing is," Edward leaned on the counter as I tried to hide my sigh. His eyes got a faraway look to them as his forehead creased into a frown. "It's been about six years since we've seen each other. The last thing that she ever said to me was that she didn't want to spend her life living above the diner…"

"Well, who can blame her? With the noise from the traffic and the smell from the grills, it's hardly any girl's dream castle," I muttered, feeling uncomfortable with the sudden rush of new information coming from Edward. This was the most I'd ever heard him talk about his marriage. Frankly, I hated it.

"Hey, if you're going to be like this, I don't think I want to talk to you about it," Edward said, backing off with his hands raised.

"Well, that's great. How about my pancakes..." I waved him towards the grill with my hands.

He shot me a look and picked up the bowl of batter. "But how come she's coming to visit now? I heard she got a job at some big firm in Seattle. Maybe she's coming to gloat," Edward sighed, lazily stirring the pancake batter.

"Well…you've got…the diner," I said weakly, taking another gulp of my coffee. There was a sizzle as Edward poured the batter onto the griddle.

"You know, I get the distinct feeling that you're mocking this place," Edward said, waving the spatula at me. The usual glimmer was back in his eye.

"Oh, never," I drawled. I pointed behind him. "Don't forget the extra whipped cream."

"Oh, never," Edward repeated mockingly. "I'd never forget…" The door opened with a tinkle. "Tanya." Edward's voice dropped to a hush as he stared at the door.

I turned around to look. A tall, leggy blond carrying a Prada bag as if it were a lifeline stood there, looking lost. Clutching her purse, she looked towards the counter and smiled slowly. I turned to look at Edward again. His face was contorted in what he probably thought was a smile. However, to me, it looked more like a grimace of physical pain brought about by embarrassment. Kinda like a teenage boy tripping over his own feet in front of the girl of his dreams. I turned back to look at Tanya again.

Damn.

She was gorgeous, plain and simple. She was everything I wasn't – tall, buxomly with long curling blond hair that seemed to flow out from her like she was in her own shampoo commercial.

Maybe it was a good thing these two got divorced, because I don't think the world would be ready for their ridiculously good looking spawn.

Tanya walked forward and sat down a seat away from me. However, not before carefully wiping it with a napkin, I noted.

"Hello, Eddie." Tanya's voice was soft yet urgent.

"Hi, Tanya," Edward stood there awkwardly holding the spatula. I snickered at the nickname and tried to cover it up by taking a sip of coffee. I sniffed the air. Chanel with a twist of…smoke. I looked behind him to see my precious pancakes burning.

"Uh…Edward," I said, pointing behind him. He stood there looking at his ex-wife, who sat with her hands crossed primly in her lap. "Edward?" I stood up, and walked around the counter and snatched the spatula from him. He snapped out of his trance.

"Ohh…" he turned around and saw the smoke coming from the griddle.

"Don't worry, I've got it all under control. Why don't you just go back to chatting and I'll man the grill for you," I said sarcastically as I tossed the pancakes into the garbage can.

"Oh, thanks, Bella," Edward grinned as he went around the counter to sit next to Tanya.

I resisted the urge to chuck Tanya into the garbage as well. "No problem," I muttered as I poured myself another cup of coffee and tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible in the narrow space between the counter and the grill.

"So…how are you?" Edward said softly, looking at Tanya. She stared at the counter.

"I'm fine," She paused for a second and glanced at him. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Edward nodded slowly. I rolled my eyes from my place by the grill. She's fine. He's fine. I'm fine. So what? Edward took a deep breath. "So what brings you to town?"

"I…" Tanya looked up and noticed me lingering in front of them. Edward turned and looked at me too. I narrowed my eyes at him and grabbed the bowl of pancake mix. I beat it pretending it was Edward's face. I grumbled to myself as I poured the batter while surreptitiously sneaking a look over my shoulder at the duo. "There's really no good way of saying this, Edward, so I'll just come out and say it," Tanya paused. She pulled her left hand up from her lap and brought it to his nose.

"What?" Edward looked at Tanya a little confused until his eyes focused on a foreign object on her hand: a two karat diamond on her ring finger. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Tanya nodded, her hand not wavering from his face.

"Ahh…who…?" Edward sputtered

"Aro Volturi, he's a VP with my firm."

"When did…?"

"Six months ago."

"When are you…?

"In two weeks."

"I see," Edward backed his head away and pinched the bridge of his nose as his eyes snapped shut. My heart went out to him at that moment, and I fought the urge to dump the bowl of batter on Tanya's perfectly coiffed head. "Well, could you maybe put your hand down for a second? The damn thing is blinding me."

Tanya lowered her hand. "Sorry."

"I bet you are," I muttered under her breath. Both Edward and Tanya turned to look at me. "Uh…going to be happy. I bet you're going to be happy. Congratulations!" I plastered a fake smile on my face as I flipped the pancakes.

"Thank you," Tanya got a ghost of smile on her face. She turned to look at Edward again and then turned once more. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm Bella Swan. I'm…"

"My girlfriend," Edward blurted out. Both Tanya and I turned to look at him. A pancake slipped to the floor unnoticed.

"Your girlfriend?" Tanya asked with a puzzled look on her face. I cocked my head to the side, equally puzzled.

"Yes…she is," Edward stuttered. Tanya looked at me again. Edward shot me a desperate look.

I was going to kill him for this.

I banged the spatula onto the counter and sighed. "Yes…I am…apparently," I said slowly. A look of relief came over Edward's face and he grinned at me.

He was going to owe me for this.

"Apparently?" Tanya raised her eyebrows, laughing. She leaned forward. "I'd love to hear this story."

So would I.

I smiled thinly and grabbed the spatula again as I tried to maneuver my way through the situation. "Let's put it this way: it just snuck up on me. It felt like one day we weren't going out, and the next…bam! We were a couple." Tanya nodded at me knowingly. I stacked my pancakes on my plate and gave Edward a sideways glance. Edward frowned at me and I smiled sweetly back at him.

"So how long have you two been together?" Tanya asked.

"A month,"

"A year," Edward and I said simultaneously and then gave each other a dirty look.

"Well, which is it?" Tanya asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.

"Ahh, technically a year, officially a month," Edward said quickly, begging me with his eyes to go along. I walked around the counter and smiled a saccharine smile at him. Frowning, he ran his fingers through his hair.

Getting nervous? You should be.

"Well, you know how it is," I said conspiratorially as I sat on the other side of Tanya. "You meet a guy and he's a little scared of commitment and it takes you forever just to get him to admit his feelings."

Tanya nodded, sympathetically. "Isn't that the story? Especially with someone like Eddie."

"Oh yes…that's definitely the story with…Eddie. Sweet Eddie," I shook my head in a loving way while I poured strawberry syrup all over my plate. Edward rolled his eyes. I stabbed one of my pancakes happily.

"Well, in that case, I'm quite happy I came to see you," Tanya said beaming, as she turned to look at Edward.

"In that case?" Edward asked a little confused. I stuffed half a pancake in my mouth and watched the drama unfold.

"Yes! I came to invite you to the wedding, and of course, I was a little worried how you would take this if you were still single. Now, I'm so relieved," Tanya smiled brightly. "I was afraid you would still be alone, can you imagine that? You still alone after all these years?" she laughed, laying her bejeweled hand on Edward's arm.

"Right," Edward forced a laugh while I smiled into my pancakes.

"So will you come? You too, Bella?" Tanya turned to me, and I choked on my pancake. She whacked me on the back and a piece of food went flying across the counter. I glared at her back when she turned towards Edward.

You should've let me die.

"Um, to what?" Edward asked while massaging his temples.

"To my wedding, of course. I would love it – and so would Aro – if you two would come. It would be wonderful if you would come to the rehearsal dinner too," Edward and I exchanged horrified looks. "You will, won't you? Even though you're not part of the wedding party? You're practically family."

"We were family," Edward muttered quietly, as Tanya turned back to me obliviously.

"Uh…when is it?" I said, trying to buy some time for Edward to think a way out of this. However, at the moment, it seemed as if Edward had stopped thinking altogether. He had a glazed look on his face and was staring at the chewed up piece of pancake that I had spit out.

"It's May 26th. I know it's a little last minute to ask, but I'm hoping you don't have plans yet," Tanya smiled. "I know I procrastinated in asking you, but I was so scared that you'd hate me. Can you believe that?" she laughed, running a manicured hand through her locks.

The right side of my face twitched into a sort of smile and I looked desperately at Edward. "Edward?" I prodded. "What do you think?" Edward blinked his eyes a couple of times.

"I-I…sure," Edward sighed, as I closed my eyes in exasperation. "We'd love to come." Tanya looked at Edward with a big smile on her face and then turned towards me. I popped open my eyes and gave her a sugary smile.

"Positively love to"

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A/N: So what do you guys think? Shall I continue? Please review and let me know what you think!