A/N: Surprise! I am still living. And writing, too. Only that lately, non-fanfiction projects are occupying what little free time I have, so fanfiction has to take the backseat. Incidentally, I received a very nice review for this story today and thought about how to speed up the posting process. I decided to cut a few scenes that were supposed to be a lot more elaborate and descriptive. So if you will in later chapters read stuff that sounds like a synopsis, it's me being lazy. I still hope you'll enjoy it.
A/N2: Content warning. Rating M
Chapter 8: TOW the Gellers
Ten minutes later they had been at the house of the Geller's, kissing in the car as if there was no tomorrow. She eventually managed to tear herself away from him and jumped out of his car, looking after it until it vanished around the bend.
While she slowly walked up to the front door of the house, she tried to come up with an idea how to proceed.
She hadn't even knocked, when the door flew open and revealed Ross with a look of horror on his face, Monica crying and her parents looking angry.
Judy Geller was the first one to speak.
"Rachel Green, I haven't called you parents yet, but I want you to explain to us why Monica is lying for you and why you are seeing this man who tried to violate Susan Carpenter."
She knew that if she wanted these people on her side – and she knew she needed them on her side – she had to tell them the truth. At least as far as it concerned the not-time-traveling part of it.
But before she started to explain, she shot an angry glare into Ross's direction. His concern for her was heartwarming, but again, he had taken it too far. The way he looked down guiltily confirmed her suspicions about what had been going on. He didn't trust Joey at all and he didn't really believe what she had told them after the party. She obviously had to find a way to get him to know Joey.
But first things first.
"I can only say what happened as far as I see it," Rachel said, using her most serious voice. "We were at that party at the house of the Carpenter's and Monica told me that a few guys from Queens had come, too. Right in this moment I got a bit dizzy and went outside to get some fresh air. Outside I heard a girl yelling at some guy, slapping him for trying to kiss her and then she ran into the house again. It was Susan. Nothing had happened to her and no one had tried to rape her. This guy had only tried to kiss her, she'd slapped him and this is the end of the story. His name is Joseph Tribbiani, his father owns a plumbing company and he works in his fathers business. He is nineteen years old and has seven sisters. He is one of the sweetest guys I ever met and this includes Ross."
She noticed satisfied that the expressions on Judy and Jack's faces relaxed considerably after that. Round one for Rachel. Good thing she knew these people so well.
"I felt sorry for him and helped him get away from Josh and his friends, because they wanted to beat him up. We talked for a while and then I went back to the party. Unfortunately, my parents had heard this story slightly different and nothing I said could make them believe me. So they grounded me for four weeks. On top of that, I'm not allowed to see Joey ever again. Which I can't do because I really like him. This is why I asked Monica to cover for me."
"You spend a few hours with the guy and you think you know him?" Ross said, his voice dangerously close to screeching. "What if he's really as bad as everyone thinks?"
"Why don't you find out, Ross? He's coming here tomorrow at seven to pick me up, maybe you guys could talk for a while, maybe you'll change your mind?"
Jack frowned.
"You invited him here? Do you want our daughter to lie to your parents again?"
"Mister Geller, I know this sounds terrible, but I don't know what to do. My parents are so wrapped up into their own problems … you know … their marriage and everything … ," she let her last words dissolve into a pitiful sob and produced a few fake tears. Okay, not so much with the honesty here, but the facts weren't wrong. The Gellers looked at each other uncomfortably and knowing. Rachel still remembered how shocking it was for her to learn that everyone had always known how many problems her parents had.
Ross handed her a tissue and she dried her tears.
"They don't even listen to me, they don't understand me. You have no idea how much I envy Ross and Monica sometimes for having such understanding and life-affirming parents."
Judy smiled, flattered. Then she stepped closer to her and patted her arm reassuringly.
"Do you want me to talk to your mother? Maybe we can do something about this?"
"It's not so much my mother, it's my father. I understand that he's protective of me, I love him for that, but I'm eighteen years old, I have to make my own decisions sometime. Not just about whom I'm going out with."
"Okay, here is what we do. If the young man comes here tomorrow, we talk to him. Then we decide if we talk to your parents and what we're gonna tell them."
Close enough, now she just had to pray that Joey was as good at being charming and winning people over with nineteen as he had been a few years later.
…….
When she lay in her bed that night, she started to miss the voice of her younger self.
'Hey Rach, you still in there?' she asked herself, wondering if this was not at least a little crazy.
'Yup.'
'What's the matter, you haven't said anything since… forever.'
'I'm just stunned how much you can screw up in just a few short hours.'
'I didn't screw up anything. It's all going according to plan.'
'Yeah? How? You wanted to sleep with Joey but then you stopped right when it started to feel really interesting. You wanted to get out of being grounded, instead you got yourself even deeper into the mess, and now you're dragging Joey into this by… introducing him to Monica's parents? This is a nightmare!'
'Well, missy, life isn't as easy as you might think. First, I didn't hit it off with Joey right now because I don't just want to sleep with him, I want to be together with him, get to know him. I mean, I knew him for a long… long time and today I learned so much stuff he never told me. Second, there is no getting out of being grounded, there is only a way around it. Third, we need the Gellers on mine and Joey's side. This is actually more a feeling than anything else, but I think they should get to know him and everything will be fine.'
'Have you even thought of the possibility that he might not want to do this? I mean, you weren't even on date yet and now you want him to meet your friend's parents? That will just freak him out and make him run as far away from you as possible.'
'If he's gonna run, he's gonna run. I won't hold him back but I would have tried my best.'
'I don't want him to run.'
'What? I thought you don't even like him.'
'I said I don't know him. Now I do… a little.'
'And you like him?'
'Like I said, he's cute and… kinda sweet, when he's not too busy being a jerk, and… God… the kissing…'
'Yeah, that was pretty great, wasn't it?'
'It was awesome! What I felt then… I've never felt that before. It was like… something burning inside of me… in a good way. It felt like… nothing else mattered anymore. It was so exciting. I definitely want to do that again… preferably with him.'
'You think that was exciting? There are a lot more exciting things than this. I mean, haven't you already had an orgasm?'
'No.'
'Ah… yeah right. You first had one when you listened to your dorm neighbor having sex with her boyfriend.'
'Eww… I can't believe that would turn me on.'
'Well we have a pretty active imagination. It was like porn for the blind. But no one… absolutely no one knows about this. We'll never tell anyone this story. Ever.'
'I can see why we wouldn't.'
The young voice was silent for a while and then asked, 'Do you have any fantasies about Joey you might wanna share with me? Like a preview, of sorts.'
'You know, I'm really starting to like you.'
'You're not that bad either. For thirty three, you do pretty crazy stuff.'
'Okay so, here is the preview.'
'Oh, is this us? At thirty three?'
'No, that's us at twenty five. You don't want to see how we looked at thirty three.'
'Well, that nose job worked out pretty nice, didn't it?'
'Yeah, I'm glad I got it.'
'Who's the pretty lady beside you?'
'Don't you recognize her? That's Monica.'
'Wow! All the running surely got her into shape. And the man on the armchair is… oh, that's Joey.'
'Yeah, isn't he the cutest?'
'He should've done some running, too. He's put on, like, twenty pounds. Is this how he'll look in seven years?'
'No, this is how he'll look in fourteen years, when he's thirty three. And he didn't put on weight, he bulked up a bit, that's all muscles.'
'You think? Doesn't look that way to me. I wish I hadn't seen this.'
'Oh come on, he's gorgeous. I fell in love with him when he looked like this.'
'He is old. Look at the bags under his eyes.'
'You just can't stop judging people from their looks, can you? Okay so what about this?'
'Oh… much better. So this is him at…?'
'Twenty five. This is the day I first met him.'
'You didn't meet him when he was nineteen?'
'No, I was too busy doing... other stuff at Josh's party and he never came to this neighborhood again. I didn't even know he was there, we never talked about that.'
'He looks good at twenty five. So what now?'
'This is the apartment he lives in… at that time he still lived with Chandler but let's just pretend he's already living with me.'
'You lived with him?'
'Yeah, for three years.'
'Wow, it took you a really long time to realize you had feelings for him.'
'It wasn't that easy, okay? So, back to the fantasy. We live together and here we are at our apartment. I'm sitting on the couch and Joey sits down beside me, asking me to learn lines with him.'
'He is an actor? He really did it?'
'Yeah, he did.'
'But if he didn't know you back then, who talked him into this?'
'No one did. He did this all by himself. I just told him all that stuff today to make it easier for him somehow. I figured it was a real lonely decision.'
'Oh… I understand. So, go on, what now?'
'We're reading a romantic scene and… suddenly I start to see him in a completely new light. Not just as a friend, but as a man. And I want to kiss him.'
'Which apparently, you're wasting no time to do.'
'Well, in reality, I did nothing, which I regret to this day. Anyway we're kissing… and kissing… and look, now his hands go under my shirt and he touches my breasts and… ohhh, doesn't that feel really nice…'
'Hmm… it does.'
'We're getting rid of our clothes and he's kissing my neck… and he's unhooking my bra … and now he's kissing my breasts… and now he takes a nipple into his mouth… slightly suckling at it like a baby… ohh…yeah…'
'I had no idea this could feel so good…'
'You've still gotta learn a lot of stuff.'
'Rach, he's trying to get his hands into your panties.'
'Oh this is right where I want to have it. See…'
'Ohhh… God… what is happening to me?'
'I am making you feel good.'
Then there was only moaning in her head, or maybe it were her own moans, she didn't care anymore. What she cared about was the fantasy in her head and her hand between her legs, bringing this innocent body to heights of ecstasy formerly unknown to her.
She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming, but she couldn't help whispering his name into the darkness afterwards. It always sounded like a question, like she asked him to be there with her. But like during all the other lonely and desperate nights she had spent after he died, no one answered.
tbc
