Authors Note: This story takes place a few weeks after the break-up in Season 3. Ross and Rachel are being civil but aren't close friends.
Obviously I do not own Friends or any of the characters.
It was all Monica's idea. The friends were sitting in the coffee house, lazily sipping coffee when she suggested it.
"Why don't we go on a trip?" she had asked. The others looked at her for a moment.
"Why?" Rachel questioned back.
"I don't know... I just think we should do more together than sit in a coffee house all day!" Monica noticed that Gunther had overheard what she said. "No offence, Gunther!"
"Ooh, ooh, we should go paintballing!" exclaimed Phoebe. Immediately, everyone started to shout over each other and protest about where they should go. Monica began to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
"You know what? I don't think we should go anywhere. We already have our own problems, and people get stressed out on trips... I don't want that for us."
"By 'people', you mean you. You get stressed out on trips. Normal people are just fine." Chandler retorted, knowing it would make Monica want to prove him wrong.
"Are you saying I can't have fun? Because I can. And I will. When we all go to California." She looks around the room and sees mixed reactions.
"How come you get to choose the place?" moaned Joey.
"Because it was my idea in the first place, and trust me, I'm going to make this the best holiday you've ever had!"
The flight to California was long and boring. Monica tried to make it 'fun' by giving everyone crossword puzzles, but everyone ignored them (except Ross, who ended up in an intense 'final round' with Monica, who let her competitve streak get the best of her and ended up getting the attention of every passenger on the plane). By the time the group arrived in Cali and had driven to and settled into the hotel, it was 6pm. Everyone was in Monica's room that she shared with Phoebe (Phoebe said that because Rachel was Monica's roommate back home, she should get to be with her on the trip) and they were all getting restless. They had been playing board games for a half hour and nobody was making much effort anymore. Suddenly, Monica violently threw some dice, making the others jump.
"How do you expect me to show my fun side when you're like this?" She asked no one in particular.
Rachel was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry Mon, but have you considered that maybe the reason why we look half dead is because this game is so damn boring?!"
"Fine! Be like that! I'd like to see you come up with something better to do."
Joey put on his serious seductive voice, "I know something we could all do... together."
"Joey!" everyone shouted in unison.
"Relax!" the corners of Joey's mouth curved upwards into a grin. "It was just an idea." The friends all sighed heavily before continuing to lazily shuffle the cards.
"I've had enough!" Phoebe got up and started to search the shelves.
"Phoebe, what are you doing?" Monica questioned.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Phoebe replied flatly.
"I don't know, but searching strange hotel shelves never ends well." said a concerned Monica.
"Don't worry, Phoebe." Chandler retorted again, "Monica's just afraid that she might end up doing something fun for once."
Monica immediately spoke, "Fine then. Go ahead Phoebe. Search the shelves, but I'm telling you..." Phoebe carried on shuffling boxes around until she pulled out a smaller box.
"Guys, look what I found!" she exclaimed, waving the Trivial Persuit box above her head. Everyone looked at Monica to see how she would react.
"Haha, it's your unlucky day! I am soo good at this game! You will all lose and I will win and you will cry and I will laugh!"
"And... the beast is unleashed." said Chandler with a head tilt.
Ross spoke "Nuh uh uh. I am not playing with Monica."
"And why would that be? You scared because mom isn't here to protect you?" Monica taunted.
Ross raised his voice, "No! You know what, bring it on!" Just as he finished talking Phoebe realised something.
"This is an incomplete set. There are only enough playing pieces for three people." A chorus of relieved and slightly sarcastic "Oh no!"'s and "What a bummer!"'s went around the room. But Monica wasn't going to give up that easily.
"That's okay. We could just take turns."
"Yeah but who gets to play first?" questioned Phoebe.
Rachel interrupted, "I don't care as long as I'm not against Monica!" They all nodded along.
"How about we pair up?" suggested Joey.
"Joey, that's actually a good idea!" Ross said congratulating him.
"Well, I was due." said a proud Joey.
"I'll be with Monica!" called out Chandler. Rachel realised what he was doing,
"Hey, you just want that so you don't have to play against her!"
Chandler looked pleased with himself, "Yeah, that's right! You should have thought of that earlier."
"Okay, then I want Joey!" Phoebe said, pulling Joey towards her. "That leaves you two..." She looked at Ross and Rachel. "Oh, I'm sorry! If one of you wants to trade -"
Ross cut her off, "No, it's fine! We're okay with each other." He gestured at Rachel to sit beside him and she gave him a silent nod.
Rachel looked at Phoebe. "We'll be perfectly fine Pheebs!" And she walked over to sit next to Ross.
Hope you enjoyed reading! I know there hasn't been much RossxRachel in this chapter but I felt that the first chapter should just be setting the scene and I promise you, chapter 2 will have more of Ross and Rachel :) p.s. this is my first fanfic so please remember to RnR!