A/N: First fanfic.... Hope you enjoy, review and let me know if its anygood.

I watched my brother and couldn't contain a surge of envy. He looked so happy!

It was so unfair. Emmett, who since a teenager, had sworn he'd never marry, had just exchanged vows a few hours ago. Whereas me, who had been dreaming of my wedding for most of my life, sat at his reception single and dateless.

Can you say loser?

Of course, if I hadn't given my heart to my brother's best friend, who'd also sworn off matrimony as a teen, I might not be in this predicament. Opportunities for love long lasting had come and gone, due to my tunnel vision on the subject. At twelve years of age I decided that Edward Cullen was the one. And that childish certainly had rooted deep and had flourished with time.

For the last few years I had done my best to stay away from him. Being in his sphere filled my heart with an unbearable ache. Because I knew - I knew - my dreams were hopeless. As a single, successful, and let's not forget good looking guy, he generally had some wannabe on his arm. Didn't they know they were wasting their time? Didn't they care? Didn't they have any self respect?

Didn't I? Maybe I wasn't physically clinging to him, but from an emotional standpoint, I had been hanging off him for years. Perhaps it was time to try to surgically remove him from my heart. Instead of sitting here with my back to the dance floor - the maid of honour had wrapped herself around him a while back and I couldn't bear to watch -I should be out there having some fun. Fun that didn't include him!

"Hey, Bella Swan. How come you're not dancing?"

How wrong was that? I loved a guy who looked at her and thought of a character from Young Frankenstein. How much more proof did she need that it was time to move on and forget him? I'd never be anything more to him than his best friend's kid sister.

"Bella?'

Now or never. The time had come to exorcise him.

I slid around in my chair and looked at him. Arched a brow. "What? No cling on in tow?"

"Klingon?"

"Not K. C. Cling… on. The maid of honour has been your own personal barnacle since the dancing began."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, what's a guy to do? Besides, the best man has a duty to make the single ladies here happy, doesn't he?"

Oh, great. He'd sought me out because of a sense of duty. "Thanks, but no thanks."

A pained expression crossed his face. "No. I wasn't including you in that. You could never be a duty. You're… you're…"

"I'm Bella Swan. Your best friend's interfering kid sister. Yeah, I know. And you want to know something? I get that." I ducked my head and continued under my breath. "Finally… Maybe."

I didn't look back up; he squatted down in front of me. Poor guy wasn't used to being ignored by anything female. Well, it was time I grew a backbone and started a new trend. Of course, I doubted it would ever become a popular trend, because chances were no one without a Y chromosome would jump on the let's pretend Edward Cullen doesn't exist train with me.

His hands took mine, and no matter how hard I tried to loose myself from his grip, he wasn't letting go. "What's with you? Let me go. I told you, you don't need to waste your time keeping this "single lady" happy."

With a sigh, he swung himself up onto the empty chair beside me, but kept control of the hand closest to it. "Bells, give it up. I wasn't insulting you, okay? And why are you here alone, anyway? I haven't seen you without someone in tow in ages. Not that I've seen you in ages."

Yeah, because up until the time I'd decided, I couldn't deal with being in his presence, I'd tried to deal by making sure he thought I was seeing someone. Juvenile, but it had been effective for a time. I hadn't felt like such a silly loser.

"My date couldn't make it. His mom has been battling cancer and had a turn for the worse. He had to fly out so he could spend some time with her."

"Oh."

I tried to pull my hand away again. I couldn't stand it! Bad enough he was touching me like this in the first place - when I was trying to convince myself the time had come to forgot about childish dreams - but he'd started to stroke the back of my hand with his thumb. I doubted he was even aware of his actions. Lady's man Edward likely knew all the right moves and carried them out unconsciously.

Meanwhile, I was very conscious and could barely draw a breath without gasping.

"So, is he the reason I never see you around anymore? Are you two… serious?"

I jumped up, effectively breaking his hold on me. Because despite all else, I knew he'd never cause me any physical harm. So it was either let me go or pull my arm out of its socket.

"Again, what's with you today? What do you care? Or are you just fishing for information for my brother? Why can't the two of you realize that I'm all grown up and don't need you getting into my business?"

Suddenly he was looming over me. "This has nothing to do with Emmett. Just answer the question. Are you two serious? Is that why you never return my calls?"

Planting my palms against his chest, I tried to push him out of my personal space, but couldn't budge him an inch. So instead, I went on the defensive, stood up on my toes, and got right in his face. "I told you! I don't need another big brother. So back off!"

Um. Oh-oh. Maybe going on the defensive had been the wrong tactic, because instead of backing off, he stepped in, grabbed me by the waist, and swung me around. And now he was all the way into my personal space with me. My back against the wall - literally - and Edward using his body to press me into it. "I am not your brother! Now answer me! Are you serious about this guy?"

I blinked. Suddenly my place in the universe seemed to have slipped, because I felt like I was free falling. Holy cow! Was he jealous?

"Ah, why do you care? You've got some honey on your arm every time I see you. So is it really your business?"

Edward looked like he was loosing control of his battle for - control. Still pinning me to the wall with his body, he grabbed my hands and pinned them against the wall by my head. And while battling with him might have been reminiscent of childhood wrestling matches with him and Greg, this felt entirely different!

"Look who's talking. Like I said before, I haven't seen you on your own in ages. And I'm making it my business. Maybe if you'd ever return a phone call, or answer the door when I know you're home, we wouldn't be here at your brother's wedding making a scene."

He was jealous! Edward was not the type to make a scene. He had a powerful grip on his emotions at all times.

At least until now.

And I'd been the one to make him loose control. How cool was that?

"Edward…"

"Just answer the question, Bella. How involved are you with this guy you're seeing?"

I took a deep breath and let the tension flow out with it. "We're involved as friends. Good friends, but still just friends. Now you need to tell me why the answer was so important that you had to use brute force to get it out of me."

He sucked in a breath. "Brute force? I would never…" As a look of horror crossed his face, he quickly let go of my hands and started to step back, opening the cage he'd created around me. "Bella, I'm sorry! I didn't mean… Did I hurt you?"

I grabbed him by the hips and pulled him back in. "Forget it, buddy. You're not going anywhere. Now answer the question. Why was my answer so important to you?"

With a sigh, he settled back against me, but this time he used his hands to gently cup my head. "Because you are important, Bella. Only I didn't realize how much until you were never around. By the time I figured out that you were supposed to be in my life, you'd turned dodging me into your life's mission. But you couldn't stay out of my way today, so you gave me no choice but to have this out here. At your brother's wedding."

I couldn't believe it. All this time I'd been hiding from him and he'd been looking for a chance to tell her how he felt? Tears dripping from the corners of my eyes, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Oh, Edward. You're what's important for me too. You always were. I can't…" I hiccupped over a sob. "I can't believe I've wasted all this time."

Edward dropped a kiss on my forehead and pushed away. "Then let's not waste anymore." He put a hand out to me. "Bella Swan, may I have this dance?"

A/N: One-shot or story? Review and let me know what you think