She sat there, sad and silently sobbing into her hands, she couldn't sleep. She was 16 and she was in high school. She had everything, she was popular, she had the looks, she had a rich daddy who'd buy her anything she asked for, she had the coolest friends, she was the captain of the cheerleading squad, she had just got that nose job and was currently dating the hottest guy in school, Chip Mathews. She was Rachel Green.

However Rachel still didn't feel complete, she still felt like something was missing in her apparently perfect life and that thing was love. Sure she really liked Chip, he was hot and popular but she still felt like she needed something more, she wanted to fall in love.

Yesterday she had caught her "loyal" and "loving" boyfriend cheating on her, kissing her "best friend" Mindy. Again. And again she had forgiven him, and now there she sat, in her real best friend's house kitchen at 2 in the morning. She couldn't sleep so to avoid waking Monica, she had gone down to sit at the kitchen table and weep. She was tired of everything and everybody, Rachel just wanted to be happy.

Suddenly the door opened, Rachel expecting to find Monica at the door was startled when she lifted her gaze, instead of Monica it was her brother Ross who was equally startled to find a tear stained Rachel Green. He had had a major crush on her sister's best friends since forever. Ross thought Rachel was perfect, but in her own way. She wasn't like the other popular kids, she was different, he was so in love with her. But he would never act on these strong feelings he had towards her because Ross knew Rachel would never go for a geek like him. They were from two different worlds and he knew he could never in his dreams get a girl like Rachel, she was out of reach. But fate was whimsical, and there she was sitting at his kitchen table crying.

"Ra-rachel, what are, he-llo" Ross stammered surprised and nervous to see his secret crush. He looked down to the ground avoiding eye contact. Rachel sniffed "Hey, I'm sorry I was just looking for something to to to... drink!" she lied unconvinsingly.

"Ah..." Ross wasn't sure how to continue with the conversation."Would you like a glass of water?" He asked

"Yeah, sure, so how come you're awake at" she looked at her watch " two fifteen in the morning?".

" I uh, just finished watching this documentary on a dinosaur fossil they found in China" he answered with a small grin and still looking at the ground. She noticed the grin, she loved how passionate he could be about something so boring.

He handed her the glass of water and poured himself another. They fell into a surprisingly comfortable silence. Ross sat down next to her " So are you you all right, you seem um some what um sad" he said choosing his words carefully. Rachel looked up at him noticing his eyes, he wasn't looking away or looking down, he looking straight at her.

"Yes, I'm okay, I'm just a bit tired that's all." she said not wanting to open up to him. She looked back down at her glass of water.

" Well if you're tired, why don't you go back um to sleep?" -Oops- she thought. " Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again, this time he held her hand. -Did I just hold her hand, what the hell am I doing- He thought. She didn't pull back, he somehow made her feel comfortable.

"Um yeah, I guess you could say I'm a bit upset, but really it's nothing" Rachel looked up at him again, he still had his gaze concentrated on her.

"I uh don't think it's nothing if your sitting at your friend's kitchen table crying, at quarter past two at night" He said appearing nonchalant.

"You saw that?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, considering you were looking for a glass of water with your hands covering your face, and that currently your eyes are wattery and red." She left out a small chuckle. He was surprised at how smooth he was getting across to her.

"Okay maybe I'm a little more than a bit upset" she admitted.

"That's a start, now what's up? uh, if, if you wa-n-na talk about, uh with um me?" -crap, I'm back to the idiotic stammering- he silently told himself off. He let go of her hand.

"Yeah, um not really, I guess you could say it's just girl stuff," she said not wanting to drag him into her world.

"Please, talk to me, it's killing me seeing you like this" Ross said surprised with himself. -Did I just say that-

" It's nothing really, It's just Chip, is a bit um, I really don't want to talk about this now" She said regretting mentioning her boyfriend's name.

"Oh, well don't worry about i'm sure that whatever it is it'll get better" -He's so sweet- He took her hand again and gently caressed the back of it with his thumb. Right then and there she broke into pieces, she couldn't contain it anymore, a single tear abandoned her eye and started to make its way down her cheek.

He took his other hand and placed it on her face and gently brushed it off with his thumb, she looked into his puppy eyes, they were so consolling, she collapsed, her tears now cascading freely. He opened his arms and pulled her into a gentle hug, she accepted his gentle embrace and she put her arms on his back and neck and hugged him back tightly. A small little gesture that made him tremble. Her tears stained his t-shirt, Ross began to caress her back softly but reassuringly moving his hand soothingly up and down, he was whispering in her ear "I'm so sorry" apologising repeatedly, he hated seeing her like this. She felt so safe in his embrace, she never wanted to let go.

They felt like they were the only people in the world and this was their moment.

After what felt like hours Rachel finally stopped crying and let go of his arms, she looked at him, staring deep into his soul "Thank you, so much Ross, I really needed this hug," Ross shyly looked down at his shoes and answered her back, "Yeah, uhuh, it it was no problem, but Rachel please take care, you look awful". She melted with his kind words, she got up and was about to leave, but before heading towards the door, she turned around and gave him a quick peck on his cheek, "good night". And with that she left the kitchen and silently tiptoed back towards Monica's bedroom.

Ross was still sitting at the table with a dumbfounded expression, shocked. -Did that just happen, did she really kiss me- he silently pondered he was definitely spellbound.

The next morning everybody was eating breakfast in the infamous kitchen. Monica sat next to Rachel in front of them were Jack and Judy, and next to Judy at the very end of the table was Ross, who was nervously munching on his cereals quickly. On the other hand Rachel was calmly sipping her coffee, eyeing him every once in a while, and once in blue moon she would randomly smile or wink at him. Monica was totally oblivious to this as she was joyfully spreading jam on her toast.

"So Ross how was the documentary you were watching last night, was it any good?" Judy asked his son. "Yeah, it was great".

"you don't seem very convinced about it, I mean considering it was on dinosaurs you don't seem too enthusiastic" Judy replied worried about her son.

"Mom it was good, I'm just tired" Judy looked at Jack trying to get his attention but he was busy reading the newspaper. " So girls, how was your night, any fun?".

And that was basically how Rachel and Ross' morning went. Monica eating, awkward silences and Judy trying to fill the silences with small talk. Normally they would all be talking with each other but something was different this morning and Judy had noticed.

Later that afternoon, Rachel was hanging out with Chip, it was kind of a make up date they were having after getting back together. They were eating dinner at Chip's favourite fast food restaurant. Rachel didn't care for it, but never said anything to avoid having a fight with him. The place was quite crowded as it was a Saturday night and everybody was out. Rachel still didn't understand why Chip loved this restaurant, whenever they went , which was almost always, it was full, the food was sloppy and awful and worst of all unhealthy.

"So I was talking to Monica yesterday and she said-"

"Wait Ray, who the hell his Monica" Chip said while chewing his food.

"What? You don't know who Monica is she is one of my best friends Chip" Rachel was starting to get annoyed at his ignorance. -Why couldn't he be more considerate for her feelings, why couldn't he be caring and loving and sweet-

"Oh, is she the fat girl, the one that follows you around all the time?"Chip asked inconsiderately. Rachel looked at her food and sighed, "Yes that's her but don't call her fat, how would you feel if everybody called you fat?"

"Whatever, so what happened with the fat chick?" Rachel sighed and continued telling her story, with much less enthusiasm, knowing he was probably more concentrated on his burger or on his thoughts considering he even had thoughts.

"Anyways so then we fell a-"

"Hold that thought Ray, what time is it?" he rudely interrupted

"Quarter past eight, why?" she asked

"Crap, I gotta go meet the guys for uh yeah we got this poker game at Tim's place, it's gonna be epic, anyways gotta go babe talk to you later?" Rachel nodded and sat there shocked, -has he just left on a date to go play poker with his friends, what the hell is wrong with him- Suddenly the door opened and he came rushing in "um sweaty, um could I borrow twenty bucks for the poker game, I swear I'll pay you back this time, please" He looked at her with pleading eyes. She just sat sighed opened her purse and gave him the twenty bucks. "You're the awesome, thanks babe, bye" He gave her a quick peck and left in a rush almost knocking down a little girl.

She was tired of Chip being so inconsiderate. Her head was throbbing and her eyes were tearing up again. She started to eat her burger as fast as she could, to get out of there.

Ross had witnessed it all, he was at the other side of the room eating dinner with his only friend, had just finished eating and David had left as he had to go to meet his girlfriend of almost a month, Cathy. Ross ordered some fries as he was still hungry. He didn't know if he should go up to her, he hated seeing her like this. But he couldn't just go up to her he was a geek and she was the most popular girl in school. He sat there thinking, and finally he made his decision he got up and started to walk over to her.-What's the worst thing she could say to me? And that hug we shared yesterday she's not just going to ignore me after that hug- he thought as he made his way towards where Rachel was sitting.

He was right behind her, he didn't know what to do, so he just tapped on her shoulder. She turned around, her piercing blue eyes gazed up at him, Rachel was surprised to see him there.

"Oh, hey Ross what are you doing here?"