Author: Jen

Author's Note: Hey everyone, this is my first fan fic, so please read and review. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own anything or any of the characters.

A/N: Okay, so some background info you may need is takes place in season 9, Joey and Charlie never got together, but Ross and Charlie are presently together. Joey did fall in love with Rachel a year ago, but Rachel did not admit feelings for him yet and they never gave a romantic relationship a try, up to this point.

Rachel was walking home from a long day of work. She felt tired and her feet were starting to ache in her high heels. The streets of New York were crowded with people and yet, somehow, Rachel felt isolated. Maybe, it was when she passed intimate couples strolling through the park, she realized her hand had been empty for so long now. Or when she spotted an older man closing his shop for the night, only to be greeted by his three jolly children and wife; it was then Rachel yearned for a family she did not possess. Rachel couldn't help, but want someone to love and somebody to love her back. She had just spent Christmas with her friends, whom she loved, but now New Year's Eve was tomorrow and she would have no one special to kiss when the ball drops.

She thought about her friends. Monica and Chandler would happily kiss in a warm embrace at midnight and Ross, with his new girlfriend Charlie, would have someone to kiss as well. Even Phoebe just started dating a new guy. There was Joey, but all odds pointed to him bringing a date of his own. Although she had thought about Joey more than once lately, she was just a bit embarrassed to admit it. The truth was she did find him attractive, she couldn't forget about the crush she had on him when he first moved in. But too many other factors drove the thought away. The facts were: he was a womanizer, constantly breaking girls' hearts; it was doubtful he was looking to settle down anytime soon; and if things ended badly, it could ruin their friendship. That was what scared her the most. She knew he cared about her too much to ever hurt her on purpose, but she already almost lost him once. After he confessed he had feelings for her, about a year ago, they couldn't be around each other. She hated that brief time span of being without one of her closest friends. Which brings up another point, he did have feelings for her once, but he was long over them. That means she could be setting him or herself up for heartbreak.

She had now reached her apartment building and was making her way up the stairs. She entered an empty apartment. She took off her coat and dropped it, with her purse, on the Foosball table. A habit she was not fond of that she picked up from Joey. She checked for any messages and then grabbed a diet soda out of the fridge. She took a seat in Joey's barcalounger. She had started to sit in his chair, instead of the empty one beside it, because she was becoming slightly attached to his scent. She then began to realize that by doing things like sitting in Joey's chair and listing reasons why she should and shouldn't give them a try was making everything worse.

Just then, the apartment door opened and Joey walked in. The interruption from her thoughts startled her a little as she looked up at the source at all her questions. He slid off his backpack and let it fall to the floor and then threw his leather coat on top of Rachel's jacket.

"Hey Rach", he smiled at her.

"Hey, how was work?"

"Yeah, it was good, kind of slow today. How was your day?" He was receiving a soda of his own from the fridge and then took a seat on one of the bar stools.

"Fine", she shrugged casually. They seemed to sit there silently for a few moments. Joey continued to sip his soda, not sensing anything unusual.

"So, Monica's New Year's party tomorrow..." Rachel couldn't help, but wonder if he had a date yet.

"Yeah, should be fun", he responded simply. Rachel was partly annoyed she had to ask.

"Bringing a date, I assume?"

"Yeah, you?" Again his answer seemed to make her mad. It was almost like he was rejecting her at that very moment. Of course he had no idea how she was feeling and even though she completely expected his answer, disappointment must have gotten the best of her.

"Yeah", she practically grunted. Luckily he didn't notice. Instead he got up and kindly offered to dispose her empty can with his. She handed it over to him. 'Oh sure be all kind and polite to me now and then tomorrow you'll be with some flimsy date that I'll end up, awkwardly, running into the next morning.' Rachel's thoughts were starting to sicken her. She couldn't figure out why she was getting so upset, she didn't normally care who Joey went out with. He looked up from the kitchen then.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed, 'night Rach."

"Goodnight", she said in a thankfully normal voice. She watched him walk into his room and shut the door behind him. It was then Rachel was more shocked at her thoughts than ever before. She started to imagine what he was doing in his room… undressing. Which she knew was happening, he was changing out of his clothes to go to sleep. Rachel couldn't stop herself. She was picturing Joey sliding off the gray sweater he was wearing and then undoing the button and zipper of his jeans. Then she saw him throwing his pants to the floor. Finally, she forced herself to stop before it went past his boxers. She realized she was undressing Joey in her mind! Joey, her friend she had known for nine years, her roommate! She couldn't believe what she had at last concluded in her mind; she was falling for Joey.

Rachel didn't feel right; about liking Joey, about seeing him as anything more than her good friend. In a way, she couldn't understand how she could be having feelings for him, actual feelings. 'Maybe it's just physical'', she seemed to hope more than reason. Rachel thought back to one of the first times she started to look at Joey differently.

~Flashback - one month ago

It was a Friday evening. All six of the friends were going out to celebrate Monica's birthday, as well as an incredibly successful and entirely booked month at her restaurant. So this big dinner was being held at a fancy restaurant and Monica was enforcing very formal wear. So Joey and Rachel dressed in their nicest outfits, Rachel in her stunning red dress and Joey in his slick, black suit. They both went to catch a cab together. Rachel sat in the backseat with Joey becoming increasingly more and more bewildered. She felt flustered just sitting so close to him and didn't know why. Her thoughts seemed to be running wild ever since he walked out of his room looking so sharp in his suit and then he couldn't take his eyes off her. When she walked out he just stared at her so intently. His eyes, so fixated on her, made her blush involuntarily. He complimented her like the gentleman he always is, but she found nothing too unusual. Now, in the backseat of the cab she couldn't control her thoughts.

'Okay, yes, he looks handsome in his suit; he looks good tonight, so what? Lots of men look good when wearing nice clothes. Even Chandler can pull off sophisticated in an appropriate suit.

Yet, here I am enjoying his refreshing natural scent and cologne. Here I am wishing I could scooch closer to him in an already pretty close backseat. Here I am restraining the urge to run my fingers through his hair, which I swear looks soft as velvet tonight.

And then he turns away from the window, just for second, and looks over at me. His dark, coffee brown eyes melt right into me. In this moment, I feel the desire to kiss his adorable face all over. I try to talk myself out of my own thoughts, to wake up and tell myself that it's Joey, but I know too well it's not a dream and soon my mind changes again.

For a moment, I picture what this ride would be like if we were together. I imagine him holding my hand, I bet it's soft, I bet his skin is so soft and smooth. I wonder if it is. So I begin to slide my hand closer to his, very slowly; inch by inch. It's still going, inching…inching…inching over and…

"Rach?" Joey suddenly said, "Are you okay?" Rachel looked up, startled. Her hand didn't make it far so, luckily, her intention was not obvious.

"Yeah, why?" she breathed; grateful he can't read her mind.

"You're just really quiet and seem…distracted?" he pointed out.

"Oh, no I'm just excited for Monica. I was actually just thinking, about maybe what I might say. 'Cause I wanted to… uh make a speech for her, for her birthday and big night you know?" She sloppily tried to make up an explanation.

"Oh, Okay", Joey responded, still oblivious.

She let out a sigh of relief and then pushed the memory of the cab ride to the far back of her mind for the rest of the night.

When Rachel arrived across the hall, at the party, she entered a room full of excited guests. She immediately found her way to the drink table and poured herself a glass of wine. She then greeted all her friends, with the exception of Joey. He was out, picking up his date.

Monica must have noticed how often Rachel kept standing, quietly, off to the side; so she walked over to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Monica inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine", Rachel tried to assure her. Monica gave her a look as to say she knew that wasn't true. "Okay, it's no big deal. I've just been feeling really…lonely lately."

"Oh, well Rachel I can set you up with someone", Monica suggested.

"No, no I would rather just find a guy on my own."

"Well, you will sweetie", Monica said optimistically.

"Thanks", Rachel replied, knowing she would cave in to telling Monica the actual truth eventually.

Finally, Joey arrived at the party. Rachel turned to see him come through the door and then her mouth dropped as he closed the door behind him; alone. She couldn't believe he, in fact, came alone to the party. Just as Rachel was about to go over to him, Phoebe beat her to it.

"Well, better late than never Tribbiani", Phoebe joked to him.

"Sorry Pheebs", he returned her kidding smile.

"Hey, Joey, see that guy over there", she pointed to a guy that must have been some kind of extreme body builder. Joey nodded after spotting the guy.

"That's my date", she giggled cheerfully. Joey just chuckled at her excitement as she went over to him. Of course, Joey now started poking around the food laid out on the table. Rachel walked over.

"Hey, Joe, where's your date?" Rachel did her best to sound casual.

"Oh, well, it didn't work out".

Rachel had to stop from showing how thrilled this made her. She looked down at the food so her eyes wouldn't bulge out of her head like some over-exaggerated cartoon.

"What happened?"

"Well, she sort of called it off when I…" he began, not wanted to tell her.

"What, Joey?" she nearly laughed at his shyness.

"When I… hinted to a threesome with her and her roommate", he smirked. She smirked back at him. 'Same old Joey' her expression told him. Then she playfully shook her head in disapproval and he gave her a sheepish smile she couldn't help but find insanely adorable.

Somehow, Rachel made it through the party, talking to some guests and of course her friends. She found it actually irritating when one guy started hitting on her and that freaked her out, that she was more into Joey than she even knew. Then, it appeared her nightmare was approaching. When Ross quickly ran off to find Charlie she looked at the clock to see there were only two minutes to go before the ball dropped. Chandler turned up the T.V. volume and everyone scrambled to locate their dates or someone to kiss. Rachel wished she could just go home or better yet be swallowed up by some deep, dark hole to escape these next two minutes. After thirty more seconds, just about everyone was ready; eyes glued to the screen. Rachel spotted Joey in the living room; he looked like he was flirting with some girl. The sight gave Rachel a pain in her stomach. As if the sight shot all the butterflies, dead, which usually flutter inside her, when seeing Joey. Rachel turned away; from Joey, the T.V., and everyone.

"One minute!" A person shouted. Rachel shut her eyes, dreading how long this minute was taking. Then a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to see the face that renewed life to the butterflies inside her.

"Hey, Rach", Joey said.

"Hey."

"I was wondering if I could kiss you at midnight."

Rachel knew it was just a friendly offer because they both had no one else to celebrate with, but Rachel didn't care. In that second, the minute she had been dreading all night turned out to be the most anticipated minute ever for her.

"Sure", she responded. He turned to watch the T.V. beside her.

'Thirty more seconds and I get to kiss Joey!' It amazed her how simply he was able to turn her whole night around. Soon the countdown was beginning.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…" Rachel took a step closer to him and could barely wait.

"Four, three, two…" She took in a joyful breath.

"One!"

"Happy New Year!" Everyone shouted. Joey turned to Rachel with his arms extended to meet hers. They leaned in to share a kiss. The kiss was warm and gentle, but much too short in Rachel's opinion. They withdrew to complete a snuggled hug. Rachel was still taking in the kiss as the warmth of Joey enveloped her in their hug. To stop her smile from lingering too long, she looked away instantly after their hug.

"Still nothing, huh?" Joey jokingly referenced to the time they kissed at New Year's a couple of years ago. That's when Rachel realized that they had kissed before and it was true. When he asked her back then if the kiss did anything for her, it really didn't. Now the smallest kiss did everything for her.

Now she had to quickly think of something to say.

"Yeah, right", she said and then tried to laugh at his remark, but it came out as more of a nervous laugh. He looked at her strangely, but then just smiled at her. She took a sigh of relief when the rest of their friends came over to wish them a happy new year.