"Dear Studio Audience, I've an Announcement to Make..." *Epilogue*

Ryan silently fumed as he paced back and forth within his current confines; occasionally throwing his arms up in an act of pure frustration at the current situation. Had the day not been one he had been looking forward to for years, he would be in a completely horrid mood. The fact that he was moments away from getting married to the girl of his dreams was keeping him slightly cheery, although he was finding it hard to keep that uplifting spirit from being buried deep beneath his grudge.

After he quickly discovered that he was not getting out of this room (unless he devised a way to break down an old wooden door that had to weigh at least twice as much as himself), he began to think that Allison was lucky that she held his entire heart in the palm of her hands, or else no one would be getting married today.

In actuality, he was upset with himself that he hadn’t anticipated a stunt like this. He should have seen it coming a long ways away. Allison alluded to some sort of forced reunion time and time again, but he never expected her to be the one to instigate it; especially not on a day that was supposed to be the most special day in her life. Her big heart was always a slight downfall for her; she was definitely the most selfless person that Ryan had ever met. That being one of the many, many reasons that he loved her.

He stopped in his tracks, when he heard the heavy door open – shortly followed by the sound of light footsteps. He took a deep breath, composed himself, and then turned around so that he was facing his new guest.

            “Brendon.” He spoke without emotion, letting the new person in the room know that he was acknowledging him.

As stern as Ryan looked, Brendon equaled it out with a look of sheer terror plastering his face. The difference in their emotions being the fact that Brendon actually wanted to partake in this confrontation. He just hadn’t wanted to do it in a very secluded wing of the church; Allison had assured him she’d be outside the door the entire time though. That’s the only reason he agreed to meet there.

            “Ryan.” Brendon responded, with a hint of question in his wavering tone; his way of letting Ryan know that he wasn’t sure if he should be speaking or not.

            “Okay, I’m going to cut to the chase.” Ryan stated, releasing an exasperated sigh from between his lips. “Allison tricked me, for lack of a better term…, to come to this room and meet with you. She said that if we didn’t work through our issues, and you didn’t come out of here as my best man, then she wouldn’t be marrying me. At least not today.”

Brendon stared at Ryan, not sure what to say or if he should even try to beg for forgiveness. Ryan must have noticed the pleading look in his old friend’s eyes, as he rolled his and opened his mouth to speak again.

            “This is probably the time for you to start begging and groveling for me to forgive you,” Ryan informed him. “This may be the only chance you get to make me understand why you did what you did, or why Allison was able to forgive you so easily.”

Brendon just continued to stare at Ryan, trying to find any sign of his old friend within the aged face.

            “Or we can both agree to walk out of here, you as my best man for the day, and let me get married.” Ryan replied. “That is, if you’d rather not speak…”

            “I’m sorry Ry,” Brendon blurted out instantly, now aware that his window of opportunity was slowly closing in on him.

            “That’s all you have to say?” Ryan basically snorted at him in disgust. “If so, we should both stop wasting our time, and get Allison to let us out right now. My time’s too valuable for this…”

            “Shut up!” Brendon shouted over Ryan’s snide ranting. “Please, just be quiet. I need you to listen to me without being biased. You have to give me a fair chance to talk, because I miss you Ryan. I miss having you in my life, and I need you. You’re my best friend. I can’t do anything without you there.”

Ryan allowed silence to overtake him, but he couldn’t go down without a fight so he made a bored hand gesture to Brendon in an effort to tell him to continue.

            “I was a dumb boy.” Brendon said simply. “I made bad mistake after bad mistake constantly. Allison was my crutch, and I hate that I dragged her into the mess that I allowed to become my life. I hate that so much, and I can’t believe that she found it in her heart to forgive me.”

            “She has a big heart.” Ryan stated factually, not trying to interrupt Brendon’s train of thought.

            “I broke up with Jessica, I had to choose between my family and this lifestyle, and everything around me seemed to be falling apart.” He continued, allowing his eyes to traipse over Ryan’s slowly understanding face. “So I turned to drinking because I didn’t think it was possible for anything worse to happen.”

            “So you’re going to blame what happened on alcohol and expect me to forgive you?” Ryan asked incredulously. “I mean, if that’s the case, why don’t we call Brent and I can apologize to him as well…”

            “I am not trying to blame it on the alcohol.” Brendon spoke under his breath darkly. “And don’t ever fucking associate me with that bastard ever again.” He added as the tones of threat lined his voice.

            “Continue.” Ryan commanded after a seething second passed between the pair.

            “I’m not blaming shit on alcohol,” Brendon repeated before continuing. “I was just saying my stupid mistakes, as a stupid boy, made me turn to alcohol. The drink itself didn’t cause any of this shit; I did. I know it was my fault. I was just so used to having Allison around, and I felt comfortable with her. I mean, let’s cut the bullshit right now; I loved her. I still love her. Just not in the way that you love her.”

            “Damn straight, cause I never would have done that to her.” Ryan agreed, with the added insult to further his distaste for Brendon.

Brendon rolled his eyes slightly at his friend’s insolence before he continued his well thought-out speech. “My point being,” he continued. “You two were obviously meant to be together. I can tell by the way you look at her, and the way that she looks at you. She and I would never have worked out even if I did reciprocate the feelings that she used to have for me. You two were made for each other. That’s all I can say. I don’t want you to forgive me for the stupid shit I did; I just want you to be able to see me as the friend you used to love, and try to have me in your life again.”

Ryan stared at Brendon for what felt like eternity to the latter of the two. Then he took a few steps forward, Brendon nervous about whether or not he was going to get punched. Then he opened his mouth to speak. “It’s not my place to forgive you,” Ryan stated gently. “If Allison was able to find it in her heart to forgive you and be your friend, I certainly should be able to. I do feel the need to offer an apology to you though, and I’m hoping that you will accept it. I apologize for being a terrible friend, and letting my petty views on things get in the way of us. Would you please forgive me, and be my best man…right now?” Ryan asked as he checked the dress watch that was situated on his slender wrist.

            “Of course!” Brendon shouted gleefully as he pulled his friend into a tight embrace. “I missed this.”

            “Me too.” Ryan replied.

Allison burst into the room, throwing the huge wooden door open, with tears streaming down her face. She ran over to the two embracing men, and wrapped her arms around them both; joining in on the hug. “That was wonderful!” she exclaimed in a maternal tone.

            “Alli!” Ryan shrieked as he realized his soon-to-be-wife was now in the room. He brought one of his arms up to cover his eyes. “I’m not supposed to see you in your dress before the wedding!”

            “Yea!” Brendon agreed, happy to be involved with these two again. “And as the best man, I’m going to have to escort you out of the room.”

Allison giggled. “No escort needed.” She stated with a huge grin, “I’ll just make my way out of the room by myself. I’m sure you two have a ton of catching up to do, but it can wait until after our wedding.”

            “Honeymoon!” Ryan corrected, before his face flushed crimson. Allison laughed as she walked out of the room.

            “You two are going to be one of the happiest couples ever.” Brendon stated with a grin as the wooden door shut behind Allison.

And he was correct.

**Wow. I apologize for this taking so long, but my senior year of high school is about twenty times more hectic than I assumed it would be. So hopefully a few people enjoy this ending at least, and thank you for taking the time to read my story of the course of many, many months. I don't think you realize how much it means to me. I'm planning on posting Chelsea's and my old fanfic that we started together, on this account - and then finishing it. That might take a while for me to do though, cause I want to make sure I'll have the time to update it regularly. Keep an eye out for it though!**