Friends Will Be Friends
by Tina
- - -
8:00am
The next morning, Rachel was sitting on Ross' leather couch, reading a magazine over a cup of coffee, while Emma was sitting on the floor playing with some toys. Ross entered from his bedroom.
"Well, good morning." He said in a cheery way, a big smile on his face.
Rachel smiled at him.
"Hey, g'morning."
"Morning, daddy!"
He approached their child and kissed the top of her head.
"Did you sleep well, princess?" She simply nodded, too busy playing. Ross then looked at Rachel. "How about you?"
"Really well, thank you." She said with a sneaky smile, remembering how she had visited him in his room late that night and how selfless he had been. He smiled back and she shut her magazine. "Do you have anything planned for today?"
"I was thinking maybe we could go to the park or something like that." He said.
"Oh, I'll have to meet you guys later. Monica's gonna call, we're gonna do something."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Lunch at this place she wants to go and then I thought maybe I'd take her out shopping. I'm dying to check out these new stores I read about."
"Rachel, I'm pretty sure the clothes you've brought won't even fit in your closet!"
"So?"
"Well, I thought that would make a good point." He said with a funny voice, faking confusion.
Rachel shot him a look, smiling.
"Come on, it's gonna be good girl fun. Just like the old times!"
"Ooo-kay. Have you and Emma had breakfast yet?"
"We helped ourselves, thanks." Rachel answered, opening her magazine again.
"Good. Emma!" He started and clapped his hands together, smiling at the little girl. "Go get ready, we're going out."
She lighted up.
"Where are we going?"
"Anywhere you want!"
Emma grinned and ran out to go and get ready. Ross looked after her and, when she was out of sight, bent over slightly to kiss Rachel lightly on the lips. Rachel chuckled and smiled at him. He went into the kitchen and she picked up the phone.
"Hey, Ross, what's Monica's cell number?"
"Speed dial 5."
"Thanks."
She dialed it and kept waiting. After a few mute seconds, a message came up asking her to call again later. She sighed and hung up.
---
8:17pm
The door to Ross' apartment flew open. Emma marched in wearing a crown and holding a big white teddy bear. Ross followed her in.
"But it's not fair, daddy!"
"Of course it is. I'm so much bigger than you!"
Emma giggled.
"Daddy!"
Ross picked her up in a funny way, as the little girl squealed.
"I'll tell you what, we can sit down tomorrow and work on a deal, how's that?"
"Mmm'kay."
"M'kay? Good."
He switched the lights on to reveal Rachel lying down on the couch. She was sleeping, but the commotion in the apartment woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up slowly.
"Mommy?"
"Hey, sweetie."
"Are you OK?"
Emma approached her.
"Yes, mommy was just taking a nap. Mommy's tired."
Ross looked a bit worried, but Emma, on the other hand, gasped and opened a big smile.
"Is it because you had so much fun? 'Cause I had a lot of fun with daddy and I'm tired too!"
Ross smiled at Emma.
"So what do you say you start hopping into the shower so you can go off to bed really quickly, huh sweetie?" Ross offered.
"OK, just hold on." She took a seat next to her mother. "Look what daddy got me!" She handed Rachel her crown and the teddy bear. "Now, the teddy he won for me!"
"Oh really?" Rachel asked in a childish excited way, for Emma's sake. The little girl nodded quickly, happy about it. "It's beautiful!"
"Are you gonna tuck me in tonight, with daddy?"
Rachel smiled weakly at her.
"Of course."
Emma quickly leaned closer and kissed Rachel on the cheek.
"And what do you say to your father?"
"Merci, papa!"
She hopped off the couch and rushed to his side. He got down on his knees, allowing her to plant a big kiss on his cheek. She beamed at her parents and rushed off, leaving the crown and the teddy bear with Rachel. She looked down at them for a while, in silence. Ross watched her for a few seconds and then took the seat Emma had just vacated, next to Rachel.
"Did you and Monica go out at all?" He asked.
Rachel looked at him and then quickly away, visibly uncomfortable.
"No."
"Why? Did something come up? You could have come and met Emma and me, we could have done something."
Rachel shook her head, a bit sarcastically, visibly upset, but tried not to show it much. What good would it make? Besides making her upset upset, this whole thing also made her a little embarrassed.
"She didn't call. I just kept waiting, but..." She trailed off.
Ross stayed in silence for a few seconds.
"Maybe something came up."
Rachel looked at him and tried to smile.
"Yeah. Maybe." She stood up. "I'll go and help Emma. Excuse me."
---
11:15am
The next day, Rachel entered Central Perk holding Emma's little hand.
"Ta-dah!" She threw her arms around. "So this is where mommy and daddy used to hang out a lot. What do you think?" Rachel asked, to which Emma answered with an uninterested shrug. "Yes, I can see you're very excited." Rachel joked, folding her arms across her chest.
Emma walked up to the couch. Rachel followed her with her eyes, until she got distracted. She quickly realized that it was not the old orange couch she used to sit on back in the days. Her eyes couldn't move for a few seconds, she was in shock. On the background, Gunther entered, with a waitress following him.
"-but Mr. Gunther it was only for a couple of hours, I-"
Rachel finally snapped out of it and turned around at the sound of his name.
"Lisa, that's not how we do business here and you know it!" He said, interrupting her. Wow, Rachel had never seen him with such firm hand!
"Gunther?"
Gunther froze and very slowly turned his face around to look at her.
"Rachel?!"
"Oh my God!" She approached him and gave him a hug. He was taken by surprise and awkwardly remained stiff as a board. When Rachel released him, he let out this girlish laugh. Hah, there it was, the Gunther she remembered. "How are you?" She asked him.
"I've been good. How about you?"
"Pretty good too. I was living in Paris, you know that. I came back though, for good. Just got here a couple of days ago. And that's Emma over there, you remember her, right?"
"S-sure, sure I do. Hi, ma'am, how are you doing?"
Emma waved and shrugged. Rachel smiled, proudly.
"So, can I get a cup of coffee, Mr. Gunther, please?" She said in a funny way.
"Sure!"
He went behind the counter and the waitress he was talking to approached.
"Here, I'll just-"
"No, Lisa, I'll do it." He cut her.
"But you-"
"Ah-tah-tah-tah, that's enough out of you!"
She shot him a weird look and left. Gunther poured Rachel some coffee and she sweetened it. She looked at it eagerly. In all of her past visits she always found herself out of time to come over and grab a cup of coffee, she was always too busy seeing her friends and family and, well, doing some major shopping. She twirled her spoon around and didn't waste any more time before carefully sipping it. Oh dear Lord, what kind of coffee was that?
"So?" Gunther asked.
"Hmmmm!" She faked contentment. After she was able to swallow it down, she cleared her throat. "Now tell me Gunther, what are you doing different with it?"
"Nothing." He answered, confused. "It's the same coffee it's ever been served here."
"Really?!"
He looked puzzled at her reaction, so she faked it again.
"It's yummy!" She sipped it again, this time having greater difficulty keeping it from coming up again. "Now, what happened to the orange couch?"
"Orange couch?"
"Yeah, the one that used to stay there instead of that ugly new one?" She turned to look at it.
"Oh, right. It was just too old, people were constantly complaining about it."
Too old.
"But what did you to to it?"
"We just threw it out."
"Oh..." She remained silent for a second. "OK." She looked down and sipped her coffee again. This time she turned around and made a face, having just forgotten how bad the coffee tasted for a few seconds. "So, Emma, do you wanna have something? Muffin, bagel, scone, maybe a hot chocolate to drink?"
"Gum!"
"I'm not letting you have gum right now. Now would you like to have a proper snack or do you wanna wait untill lunch?"
"Mmm'kay, I'll have a banana muffin."
"Good girl. Did you get that Gunther?"
"It's on the way."
Rachel cellphone rang and she quickly picked it up.
"Hello?... Hey Phoebs! ... Fine, you? ... I guess so. ... No, nothing planned. ... Emma's with me, is that okay? ... Oh, great, then. ... I'm in Central Perk. ... OK, I'll see you then, bye.
---
3:35pm
On a trendy Manhattan shopping area, Phoebe was pushing the stroller with her sleeping younger child in it. Rain was on a play date with a friend of hers, leaving her mother with a free afternoon to be with Rachel, who walked beside her, carrying a few too many bags. A few steps ahead, Emma was having fun with her skating sneakers which her grandpa Green had just given her earlier that morning when they had met him shortly for breakfast on the Upper East Side, near the hospital where he was now operating.
"Don't worry about it, Rachel, it's nothing personal. Monica's changed a lot lately. She's been pretty busy. And you gotta see it from her side, you know... She's got two kids now, twins nonetheless! This past couple of years have been tough on her."
"I know." Rachel replied, though her voice was very distant.
"Hey, you two are best friends, you're like sisters! I know this is just gonna be a little phase, OK? Adjusting to the way things are now. I mean, when you left, Monica was still living right across the hall from you. Childless. You two got through Emma, didn't you?"
"Well, my daughter was never something that got in the way. Much on the contrary, actually. Monica used to come over a lot to help me out with her."
"OK, so you could do the same then! Go over there, take Emma with you. She can play with her children and you get to hang out with Monica at the same time."
Rachel thought about it. It was a good idea, actually.
"Yeah, I guess I could do that."
"If not, what are you gonna do? Nothing?"
"For now...! Wait for her to call me or whatever."
"Come on Rachel. This isn't the fifth grade and Monica's not someone you've just met! You guys have been best friends ever since you were like what, ten?"
"Eight, actually."
"Man alive!"
"OK, OK, I'll drive up to her house tomorrow." Rachel said, but paused. "It's just that she didn't even call me to explain herself or... whatever. It's like she didn't even care!"
"She's got a lot in mind right now, Rachel. As I said, don't take it personally."
Rachel sighed as they kept walking in silence. After a while, Emma stopped by a toy store and gasped.
"Oh, mommy, look!"
"What?"
"The doll I told you about!"
Rachel made a face, squinting to look at the price.
"A little too expensive, don't you think?"
"You said I could have it for my birthday. That was a while ago...!"
"OK, OK, we had an agreement..."
Emma grinned from ear to ear and rushed into the store. Rachel followed her in, Phoebe trailing behind pushing the stroller.
"Wow, this place is huge."
Rachel looked at Phoebe and smiled.
"Oh, right! You know, one of those big chain stores you're totally against."
Phoebe, who had picked up a toy from the nearest shell to look at it, turned to face Rachel.
"What?" Then she realized what Rachel was talking about; Her rebellious ideas that now seemed so far away. "Oh, that... Don't worry about it, I've changed quite a bit when it comes to that."
Rachel's smile faded.
"What?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty much done with that whole thing. Got family to support now, more important things to worry about, you know? Besides, you guys always criticized me for that, remember?"
"No, we admired you for it! At least I know I did."
Phoebe looked back at Rachel, noticing how upset her friend suddenly got. Well, even more than she already was, anyway.
"Well, things have changed now, Rach. Sure, I'd like to be able to keep doing things the way I was doing before, but... If I want to have some time for my family, I gotta make quick choices. I gotta value time now... Gotta have more free time to be with my girls and my husband, you know? You've always valued these things way more than me, you know its pros and cons."
Rachel stood there, defeated.
"Mommy, I've found it!" Emma yelled, nowhere to be found.
Rachel sighed and turned around, trying to find the right direction from Emma's voice.
---
6:40pm
Back at the apartment, Ross was working on his laptop, on the coffee table. Rachel and Emma entered.
"Oh, hey." He said, smiling.
Emma rushed in, still grinning.
"Look what mommy got me, daddy!!"
"Oh, what is it?" He asked, with the same childish excitement Rachel had pulled off the previous day.
Emma sat down on the floor and opened her bag and the doll package.
"It's the doll I asked her for my birthday!!"
"But your birthday was like 3 months ago."
"We couldn't find it back home, so we had an agreement! I didn't get anything back then so I could have the doll when we found it."
Rachel cleared her throat and Emma looked guilty.
"OK-OK. Mom gave me clothes for my birthday! But no toys!"
"I can see you really-really wanted this doll." Ross half joked.
Emma nodded, all excited. She pulled the doll out of it's case and held it very carefully, with her mouth hung open, admiring it.
"It's even prettier than I pictured it!"
Ross chuckled and looked at Rachel, who, even though was smiling, looked a bit sad.
"You OK there?"
She nodded.
"I was just thinking about renting a car to drive up to Monica's tomorrow."
"Renting a car? Why don't you just take mine?"
Rachel looked at him weirdly.
"You got a car?"
"Yeah, I thought you knew."
"Er, no."
"Yeah, I bought it about two years ago. Since I was going to Monica and Chandler's a lot then, it seemed like a good idea."
"And now you don't, anymore?"
"Not as much." He said, turning back to look at Emma. "It's not a Porsche or anything, but it does the job."
Rachel took a deep breath and took a seat on a chair, watching Emma for many silent seconds, thinking.
"Did you know they threw the orange couch away?"
"What orange couch?" He asked, turning to look at her again.
Rachel felt the nerves building up. How could he not know? Why didn't he care?
"The orange couch from Central Perk." She said, successfully controlling her frustration.
"Oh, that. Yeah, you should have seen it...! I think it was about time. The last time I saw it was this time we went there with Monica and her kids, Joey was here, Phoebe... It didn't survive the kids, I'm telling you." He chuckled. "I'm not gonna get into details, but the air was kinda heavy."
Rachel faked a smile.
---
Merry Christmas everyone :)