A/N: A gazillion thanks to ShearEnvy for making my words readable-she's the macaroni to my cheese, the peanut butter to my jelly. As usual, thanks to all of you who read and review, or just read, or even just think about reading even if you don't actually do it. Means a fuckton to me that you'd give my words a chance (or consider giving them a chance, whatever). I own a case of Diet Coke and a box of Cheerwine Krispy Kreme donughts, but I don't own Edward Cullen.

Sadly, he owns me.

Chapter 3: "Going Down"
"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down." - Arnold H. Glasgow

"Edward Cullen?"

I nodded.

"The Edward Cullen?"

I nodded again.

"The Edward Cullen from high school?"

Another nod.

"The Edward Cullen from the summer that..."

"Yes!" I yelled, shoving Jake. He laughed as he nearly fell off of the arm of the couch he'd been sitting on.

"Damn, girl. You're awfully violent," he said. "I was just making sure it was the same one."

"There is only one," I replied. "He's one of a kind."

"Awww, sing his praises, sister," he said playfully. "And this Edward Cullen of yours is getting married?"

"Apparently," I muttered as I stood up from the couch. "I haven't talked to him in a while. I've been so wrapped up in this job at the paper and he's been swamped with medical school and... stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know," I replied, starting to pace the room in front of him. I suddenly felt bad, having no idea what Edward had been up to for the past year. What kind of a best friend was I? "Just the usual stuff."

"Would this stuff include girls?" he asked.

"I guess," I said. "I mean, there were girls in his life but nothing real serious. He dated here and there in college but never anything that lasted more than a few weeks. He was always more focused on school."

"Well, he's not in school anymore," Jake said nonchalantly. "So that's irrelevant now."

"He's still busy," I spat. As irrational as it was, I was starting to get angry. Why wasn't he more upset for my sake? Why didn't he see how ridiculous it all was? "He has work now! There's interning and residency-ing."

"Residency-ing?" he asked with a laugh. "What the hell is that?"

"Ugh, I don't know!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in frustration. "How does he have time to get married, Jake? How did he even meet this girl? Who is she?"

"Shouldn't you ask him that?"

I stopped pacing and turned to him, narrowing my eyes. "Yes, but..."

"But nothing," Jake said. "You're here driving yourself to a heart attack with all of these questions when the man with the answers is right down the road. Go ask him."

"But..."

"There you go but'ing again," he interrupted. "You're making a mountain out of a mole hill, and while I appreciate the talent that takes, it's completely unnecessary. The man's getting married. So what? What's the big deal? You say he's your best friend, so why aren't you happy for him?"

"Because it's not right!"

Jake suddenly got eerily quiet and stared at me, his expression unreadable. Seconds steadily ticked away, my anxiety growing as the moments passed. Jake was never quiet. If there was something - anything - to be said, he would say it. It didn't matter how crass, he never held back, so the fact that he wasn't speaking at all put me on edge.

After practically an eternity passed and my nerves were running rampant, Jake's hard expression finally relaxed. "You're in love with him," he said matter-of-factly.

I rolled my eyes. "I am not."

"Yes, you are. You love that man. It all makes sense now, you know. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. That look you always get on your face when you talk about him... I thought you just suffered from some wild ass indigestion or something but no, babe, you're in love."

"You're completely out of your mind."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't change the facts. The very thought of this man marrying someone else has you going all Girl, Interrupted up in here. So don't bullshit me, Bella. Are you forgetting who you're talking to? I spend my life advising people on these things, so I'm gonna tell you what I tell everyone else: you're not fooling anyone. Love may make you blind, but the rest of us can still fucking see. It's written all over your face. The sooner you accept it, the better off you'll be."

I groaned, aggravated. "He's my best friend, Jake. We've known each other forever! Of course I care about him."

"Oh no, you don't get off that easily," he said, shaking his head. "You know exactly what I mean and it isn't the brotherly love I'm talking about. It's the bumping uglies, fittin' in your kitten kind of love."

My brow furrowed. "What?"

"Don't what me. Admit it."

"I just did!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Admit it!"

"Fine, I admit it!" I yelled. "Are you happy now?"

Jake smirked and my hands shook, itching to knock the smug look off of his face. "Well, you still didn't say the word, but it's better than nothing. And now that we've cleared that up, tell me something," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "What exactly are you going to do about it?"

The moment I put a piece of clothing in my suitcase, Jake pulled it right back out and tossed it aside. He raided my closet behind me, grabbing the stuff hanging in the very back that never saw the light of day. He stuck it in my suitcase and I threw it out without hesitation, putting mine back in. Back and forth we went for a few minutes, the cycle finally ending with the overflowing suitcase being zipped up and me having absolutely no idea what the hell was actually inside of it.

"This is crazy," I muttered, grabbing the handle of the bag and picking up my laptop before starting for the door. "Like, certifiably nuts, Jake."

"I know," he replied as I glanced at him, seeing the look of pure wonder on his face. "Exciting, isn't it?"

"More like frightening," I replied. "What if this goes terribly wrong? What if I'm too late? What if..."

"What if, what if, what if," Jake said, cutting me off. "What if Lady Gaga wore a pair of jeans? Who knows what the fuck we'd all do. But it doesn't matter, because we won't know until it happens, if it even ever does. The point is, what if is a waste of time. Think about it - Shakespeare's characters didn't sit around and go, 'hmmm, what if this turns out bad?' They just did it. So do it."

I gaped at him. "Shakespeare wrote tragedies! His characters died!"

"So? We'll all die someday. It's a fact of life - we won't live forever. Life is a tragedy. But that doesn't mean we can't make something beautiful out of it while we still have the chance."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. One thing I had to give Jake credit on - he could always come up with the right words to say, even if he had no idea what he was actually talking about. "Good point."

"You're damn right it's a good point," he said, practically shoving me out the front door of my apartment. "Now stop procrastinating. You're running out of time. Go get your man, Bella."

He reached his hand back, giving me a swift crack on the ass. It stung and I yelped, grabbing my left cheek as I started down the hallway. "Lock up for me, will you?" I hollered back at him.

"Absolutely," he replied as I hit the button for the elevator. "Don't worry about a thing here. I'll hold down the fort."

"Thanks," I yelled as the elevator door opened and Phil appeared.

"Hello again, Ms. Swan," he said, smiling politely. He glanced at my suitcase curiously. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes," I replied. "I'm going home."

An hour into the trip, my confidence was wavering. The sky was dark, an eerie mist in the air that left just enough splatter on the windshield to be aggravating. I turned on the wipers, the harsh sound of rubber scraping against glass invading the peaceful silence in the car. I cringed and turned them back off, annoyed by the fickle Washington weather.

After two hours passed, exhaustion started taking hold of me. I fiddled with the radio, scanning through stations in an attempt to distract myself. The reception was horrible, the thick forest that lined the highway on both sides blocking the music from coming through. It reminded me of Edward and how he always complained about the radio interference. The sound of static filled the air, damn near lulling me to sleep. I glanced around for a CD but couldn't find any in the darkness, so I finally gave up and just shut the radio off. I wasn't sure what was worse, to be honest - listening to white noise or being left with all of the thoughts running through my head.

The moment I hit Port Angeles, I had my answer. I was on the verge of a panic attack and fiddled with the radio again, trying to stop myself from freaking out. Each mile that passed brought me a little bit closer to Edward, and in my exhausted state I wasn't sure that was such a good idea. He was engaged. He'd met someone, and here I was... well... I wasn't even sure what the hell I was doing yet.

By the time I passed the old familiar "Welcome to Forks" sign, I was close to slamming the brakes and turning around to go right back to Seattle. The only thing stopping me was the fact that my eyes burned and my body ached from driving straight through. I needed to stretch and get some sleep, figuring I'd go to Charlie's for a nap before heading back. I even had myself convinced that I wouldn't see Edward, the whole point of the trip lost on me somewhere along the way.

I drove straight to the old neighborhood, parking my car along the curb in front of the house I'd grown up in. Realizing it was nearing midnight, I frowned when I looked at the house and saw all of the lights were off and the police cruiser was gone. Feeling dumb for not warning him I was coming, I grabbed my cell phone and called the police station.

"Sheriff's office," the dispatcher said, answering the phone.

"Can you put me through to Charles Swan, please?" I asked.

"Chief Swan isn't on duty, ma'am," she replied. "Can I take a message?"

"Uh, no," I said. "Thanks anyway."

I hung up, aggravated that my father still resisted technology. He had no computers or internet, no cell phones or DVRs. The extent of his advances was basic cable and an old answering machine that he still hadn't gotten the hang of. I had no idea where he was and had no way to get a hold of him.

I got out of the car and started toward the house. The front door was locked, as was the back. I scanned the window sills and door frames, looked in the water spout and under the welcome mat, but couldn't find the spare key that I knew Charlie kept around.

Frustrated, I eyed the house and surveyed the maple tree that grew along the front. A smile curved my lips as I kicked my heels off in the grass, heading straight for it.

I wasn't athletic. I wasn't even coordinated, so what made me decide to try to climb the tree was beyond me. But what I lacked in skill, I made up for in determination. I shimmied up the trunk, hugging it tightly, and gripped onto the branches as I tried to maneuver around. It took a while for me to make it up to my old bedroom window, my entire body trembling as I forced myself not to look down. After a few minutes I managed to pry the window open, the old wood splintering under my nails.

By the time I finally propelled myself inside the house, I was cut up and sore, patches of skin scraped and bleeding. My shirt was ripped and my hair was a mess, sweat accumulating along my forehead. I lay on the floor by the window, taking deep breaths with my eyes closed as I tried to get myself under control.

"Impressive, Swan."

My eyes snapped open, panicked, as the familiar voice echoed through the still room. I sat up and gasped when I saw Edward standing by the door.

"Holy fuck, how did you get in here?"

He laughed as he walked in my direction, pulling a key out of his pocket and holding it up. "Did you forget your dad hides a spare?"

"No, I looked for it!"

"Apparently not hard enough," he said. "He always hid it under the garden gnome between our houses."

My brow furrowed. "How the hell did you remember that?"

He shrugged. "How did you forget?"

It was fairly dark, but Edward's khaki pants and light blue button-up shirt practically glowed in the moonlight. His hair was combed back and my eyes trailed the length of him, coming to an end at a pair of brown dress shoes. He looked... mature.

"Why do you look like your father?"

He laughed again as he squatted down so we were on the same level, the carefree sound washing through me. It stirred up something deep inside of me, a part that had lay dormant over the years without him.

"I'm happy to see you, Swan, but why exactly are you scaling trees at midnight in a skirt? Adding breaking and entering to your dossier?"

"My dossier, Edward? What do you know about my dossier?"

He smirked. "I know plenty."

I stepped out of the shower and quickly dried off, squeezing the excess water from my hair. I wrapped the fluffy white towel around my body and cracked open the bathroom door to take a peek, making sure Charlie wasn't in the hallway. It was only a few small steps to my bedroom, a few mere seconds of vulnerability that I dealt with every day.

I hadn't minded sharing a bathroom with Charlie when I was younger, but as the years went by it grew more and more awkward. I hated walking in and finding his nose hair trimmer on the counter, and I was pretty sure my box of tampons made his skin crawl every month.

I bolted straight for my bedroom, shutting the door behind me once I was inside and breathing a sigh of relief that I had privacy once again.

"You all right there, Swan?"

The unexpected voice startled me and I nearly screamed, swinging around as I clutched the towel tightly to me. My heart was pounding hard against my rib cage, the rush of blood so intense my vision blurred. Sitting in the middle of my bed, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a dingy white Bob Marley t-shirt, was Edward.

"How the hell did you get in here?" I asked, my voice a panicked whisper. Charlie wasn't very uptight, especially now that I was eighteen, but one rule he'd always had was no boys in my bedroom. It was nothing against Edward... Charlie never had any issue with me being in Edward's bedroom, nor did he have a problem with us sharing a tent when we went camping growing up. Sleepovers elsewhere were fine but something about me having a boy in my room freaked Charlie out, no matter how innocent.

Edward motioned toward my half-open window as he stood up and stretched. "Climbed your tree. It was really kind of easy. I just..."

He continued to babble on about it but the words were lost on me. All I could think was that underneath the small towel, I was completely naked. One wrong move, one little slip, and all of the goods were his to see.

The very thought made me feel queasy. Not because I didn't want him to see me that way, but because of me being me. I was normal, I suppose, but standing in front of Edward I felt anything but.

"Really, Swan, are you okay?" Edward asked, seeming genuinely concerned. "You look like you're going to pass out."

My mouth was dry and by some sick twist of fate, Edward chose that moment to lick his lips. The sight of it nearly made my knees buckle, thinking about the feel of his tongue when he kissed me. My body flushed, and I cursed my hormone fueled reactions to him. I had it bad... real bad.

I, Isabella Marie Swan, was falling for my best friend.

He just stared at me, his eyebrow arched and a small smile playing at his lips. His eyes roamed, lingering on the bare skin around my collar bones for far too long to mean nothing.

"I, uh..." I started, trying to clear my head as I glanced down at myself. What was he looking at so hard? I was still covered...sort of. "Clothes."

"Oh yeah, you probably want to get dressed," he said, his eyes meeting mine again. I nodded and he turned around to face the wall. "Go ahead, I won't look."

I gaped at him, borderline terrified, but after a second went straight for my closet. I took a deep breath and dropped the towel, pulling on the first clothes I could find. Edward was still facing the wall when I turned back to him less than a minute later, rocking on his heels with his hands shoved in his pocket. "Okay, done."

He turned to look at me. "That was quick."

I just shrugged, trying to play cool. "So why are you in here, anyway? Charlie's gonna kill you if he finds you."

Smirking, he pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. He handed it to me and I saw my name was scribbled on the front in his handwriting. "Your graduation present."

I looked at him with shock. "But I didn't get you..."

"Don't worry about me," he said. "Just open it."

Carefully, I tore the envelope flap and pulled out what I recognized instantly as two tickets. There were dozens of them in Edward's bedroom, souvenirs of the rock concerts he'd been to over the years. My eyes scanned them and I gasped, stunned when I realized what they were for.

"NSYNC? You freaking got me tickets to see NSYNC?"

He nodded. "In Seattle. Second row. Tried to get first row, but they were reserved for VIP assholes."

"And there's two?" I asked, the question stupid because I was clearly holding two tickets. I was starting to get excited and bit down on my lip, trying to contain myself. "Does that mean you're going with me?"

The moment I asked the question, he looked at me with horror. "I thought, you know, you could take a friend." I was about to interject, but he corrected himself before I could. "A girl friend, I mean."

I frowned. "I have no girl friends, Edward. You know that."

"Alice?"

Alice had been a friend of both of ours growing up. Her parents transferred her to a private Catholic school in eighth grade, so we rarely got to see each other anymore. "She's doing Mission work in Mexico this summer."

"Rosalie?"

Rosalie was Edward's older cousin... she had a twin brother named Jasper. They'd lived in Forks for a while but moved to California during high school. "She doesn't even live in the state anymore, Edward. Besides, she never really liked me and you know it."

He was quiet for a second as he tried to think of someone else, but he came up blank like I knew he would. "Fine," he conceded.

"You'll go with me?"

He nodded. "I'll suffer through it for you."

I screeched excitedly and flung myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly in a hug. "Thank you so much!"

He hugged me back, lifting me up off of the ground. I squealed, wrapping my legs around him so he wouldn't drop me, and he laughed. "Whoa, don't get too excited. It's just a concert. And a boy band, at that."

I couldn't see, but I imagined he made a face.

"Only the greatest boy band ever! And I'm going, thanks to the greatest friend ever!"

He laughed again as I dropped my legs back down. "I'm glad you like it. Couldn't have asked for a better thank you."

I blushed, almost embarrassed at how I'd bombarded him. "I guess it's a good thing I put on those clothes before you gave me the tickets, huh?"

He smirked. "It wouldn't have really mattered much," he replied, heading toward the window to climb back out. "I peeked anyway."

"The room looks the same," Edward said, standing at my old wooden desk and thumbing through a book that was lying on it. It was one I'd gotten for my first journalism class nearly a decade ago and probably hadn't been touched since then.

"Yeah, Charlie doesn't come in here," I replied, running my pointer finger along the arm of the rocking chair as I walked past it. It disturbed the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over time, sweeping it onto the wooden floor. "It's exactly how I left it."

"That's not saying much," Edward replied, glancing over at me as I opened the closet door. There were still a few pieces of clothing hanging up and some shoes scattered along the bottom. I sifted through them, smiling when I found my favorite pair of chucks from high school. They were black plaid but had been worn out to the point where they just looked brown. "Your room always had this morbid vibe to it."

"Morbid?" I asked, looking at him.

"Yeah, you know, everything was dark and dreary," he replied, shrugging like he shouldn't have to explain. "You were never very girly, Swan."

"Just because I didn't like the color pink or wear make-up every day doesn't mean I wasn't girly," I said defensively.

He laughed. "Yes, it does. That's the definition of girly."

"You're wrong," I said. "There's more than one type of girl, Edward."

"I didn't say you weren't a girl - I said you weren't girly. There's a big difference there," he replied, eyeing me intently. "And believe me-I'm well aware you were a girl. You know that. I noticed... repeatedly."

Don't blush, I thought. Dear God, don't let him see you blush.

I felt my face grow warm and looked away, but it was too late. He'd already caught it and started laughing. "Still the same Swan."

"I'll always be the same."

"I know you will," he mumbled.

Things were quiet for a moment as he continued to flip through the book, like it was the most interesting thing in the room and I was just a prop in the background. I was nervous and something about his demeanor told me he was, too.

"So, is she?" I asked finally, the unanswered questions swimming around the room nearly drowning us in awkwardness. "Girly, I mean?"

He looked at me with confusion. "Who?"

"Your, uh..." I started, the word stuck on the tip of my tongue. I tried to force it out but it felt so wrong, the thought of it painful. "You know... her."

"Oh, Tanya?" I nodded and his face suddenly lit up - the mere sight of it felt like a punch to the gut. He didn't look that way about me. He never really had. "Yeah, she's girly. Very girly, actually. It's really sort of funny. She's all wrong for me in so many ways, but there's just something about her. I still can't put my finger on what it is, but it's there. She's different. Happy. She's so sure of who she is and what she wants. I've never met someone like her before. She's just... different."

I plastered a smile on my face the whole time he spoke, trying my best to look happy for him. I feared I was failing, though. I probably just looked crazy. "Different?" I asked.

He nodded. "Different."

Different. A simple word, not necessarily even a compliment, but what I really heard was, "She's nothing like you."

"And you plan to marry her?" I asked, regretting the question immediately. I wanted to plug my fingers in my ears and run away before he could answer, but instead I just stood there and waited. My mind ran through different scenarios, potential futures where they broke up before it ever got that far. I figured there would be time to change his mind, time to show him a different way, but what he said next changed it all.

"Yep, in less than a month."

Before I could even really comprehend his answer and consider finding a response to it, there was a flash of headlights that briefly illuminated the room. Edward and I looked at each other, speaking at the same time.

"Charlie."

He chuckled and headed toward the window. "I'll catch you tomorrow, Swan."

"Wait, you're going to climb down?" I asked, surprised. "Why don't you just go out the door?"

He looked at me incredulously. "And let your father catch me up here?"

"We're not kids anymore, Edward," I said, laughing.

"True, but Charlie is still Charlie," he replied.

Edward quickly disappeared out the window, leaving me alone in the room, and my smile immediately fell.

Less than a month. I only had a few weeks to stop a wedding and save my best friend from making the biggest mistake of his life…

But I had absolutely no idea how the hell to do it.

For the record, I'm well aware Nsync didn't perform in Seattle in 2001, but for story sake we're gonna pretend, k? I saw them in concert that summer... *sigh* Best-Show-Ever. What was your favorite concert?