Chapter 28

"There they are!" I point at the table on the far corner of the terrace. "Hi!"

"Hey! What took you so long?"

"Ross took the longest shower in history."

"What about you changing outfits three times at the last minute?" I reproach.

"Alright, alright! It was a simple question, no need to argue." Monica cuts us off "Though I hope you don't mind we already ordered; we were starving."

"It's okay." We take seat opposite them and grab the menus.

"Anyway…How was the trip?" Rachel asks.

"Amazing! You wouldn't believe the beautiful things there are underwater. .."

"Yeah," Chandler agrees. Monica throws him a look.

"What are you talking about, you got back on the boat after not even 20 minutes!"

"There were sharks!"

"Baby sharks." Monica remarks.

"Whose mothers might be lurking around hungrily!" Monica rolls her eyes.

"Wait, you really did get back on the boat?" I ask.

"Don't judge me, they may have been baby sharks but they were huge! They could bite your hand off!" The waiter arrives with Monica's and Chandler's plates and Rachel and I make our orders.

"What about you guys? What did you do all day?"

"Um…Well, I basically slept all day. And then I, um…swam a little."

"In the sea? Wow…what got into you?" My sister asks. I look at Rachel, who arches an eyebrow.

"Nothing, I was just…running away from shopping monster here and her dozen of shopping bags."

"Oh right, you went shopping. What did you get?"

"Tons of stuff, I'll show you when we get back to the house. Oh! And also this necklace." Rachel pushes her hair back to show it to her.

"Aw, It's beauti-…is that a hickey?" Monica asks, her mouth agape.

"A hickey?" Rachel repeats with a chuckle. "Mon, it's a leaf."

"No, I mean on your neck, below your ear." Rachel brings her hand to cover the area. She glimpses at me embarrassed. "Who did that to you?"

"Oh, that was your brother." She says casually. I choke on the piece of bread I was chewing.

"What?!" Both Monica and Chandler exclaim at the same time looking back and forth at us. I want to explain myself but I'm completely speechless. Rachel bursts out laughing.

"I'm kidding! I can't believe you guys bought that."

"Who was it then? The hot guy you met at the beach?"

"Exactly. That's the one."

"Oh my god…I knew you weren't alone in your room last night…why didn't you tell me?"

"Well Mon, it wasn't the most appropriate time, you know."

"I guess… but tell me more, how was he?" Monica asks with curiosity.

"Ladies, ladies…" Chandler interrupts, "do we have to hear about this?"

"Shut up." Monica replies.

"Did she just tell me to shut up?" Chandlers asks me perplexed.

"So?" Monica insists.

"He was reeeally good, probably the best sex I've ever had."

"Oh…my god."

"Wow…it must feel good to be Ross right now." Chandler says with sarcasm, I pretend to be uncomfortable but inside I can't stop smiling.

"Sorry, Ross was great too." Rachel says patting my hand.

"Hey look! It's Michael and Pamela!" Monica exclaims pointing behind us and waving. "You'll tell me the details later." Monica warns Rachel, who winks her eye at her. Two strangers approach our table and begin to converse with Monica and Chandler.

"Best sex you ever had, huh?" Rachel smiles before taking a sip of her virgin cocktail, pretending to ignore me. "Too bad you screwed it up this afternoon and you won't be getting any again." I tease in a low voice. She continues to drink her cocktail.

"We'll see about that."

"By the way, this is Ross, my brother, and Rachel, my best friend." Monica introduces us. "We met Michael and Pamela today at the trip."

(…)

Michael and Pamela end up joining us for dinner and later for drinks at the beach house. We're sitting out on the deck, enjoying some margaritas in the warm breeze of the night.

"You really got married last September?" Monica asks.

"Yeah, September 30th." Michael states.

"Us September 29th!"

"That's crazy! Where was the ceremony?" Pamela asks.

"In a gorgeous museum in Manhattan; yours?"

"At the beach in the Maldives."

"Oh, wow. I'm so jealous right now."

"Yeah…it was pretty special. Hey! you know what could be fun? playing The Newlywed Game!"

"Oh my god, yes! I love that game!" Michael and Chandler exchange looks of panic.

"Do you have notepads and some markers?"

"I think so."

"There are some in the office." Rachel informs Monica.

"Awesome, I'll go get them." Monica offers. "Ok, so we could do this, each of us writes some questions on a piece of paper and we put them all together in a bowl and then one by one we read them and write our answer on our notepad and our partner has to guess our answer."

"Sounds great. Let's do this!" Pamela exclaims, distributing the pieces of paper. "Are you guys going to play too?" Pamela asks, looking at Rachel and me. Rachel glimpses at me before replying.

"Um, we are not a couple."

"You aren't?" Michael and Pamela say surprised. "I'm sorry, It's just that you seem very close." Pamela adds.

"We are close, we're best friends." I say.

"Well, you can play as friends if you want."

"Yeah, plus you dated years ago, it could be fun." Monica adds.

"Do you want to play?" Rachel asks me.

" not."

(…)

"Alright! Only two questions left! This one is for the guys." Monica says excitedly as she picks another piece of paper. "Where was your first date? Chandler, focus!" She points her finger at him before proceeding to write her answer. "Michael and Pamela, you go." Monica says. Michael shows his answer that reads 'Hiking trip' which matches Pamela's answer; "One more point for the Watsons!" they cheer and share a kiss in celebration. "Ross, your turn."

"Museum of Natural History." I say looking at Rachel, who smiles proudly.

"Same." She says showing her answer. "1 more point for us!" she says excitedly squeezing my left arm.

"Now us!" Monica exclaims. "Chandler?" he awkwardly turns his notepad around.

"Hotel room in London?" Monica frowns.

"Chandler! That wasn't a date!"

"I don't know! we had a very unusual start!" she turns her own notepad.

"The movies! How could you fail that! I swear if we lose this game, you'll be sleeping on the floor tonight."

"I love this game." Chandler says sarcastically.

"And, last question." Michael grabs the last piece of paper and reads it. "Where's the weirdest place you've ever had sex in? I assume that means together." He adds with a chuckle. Everybody writes down their answer.

"Okay, Monica. Your answer?" she turns over her notepad.

"Balcony." She looks at Chandler expectantly.

"I wrote, the beach..."

"Damn it! That was a hard one, though."

"Pamela?" Chandler says.

"I'd say, on a boat in Lake Powell."

"YES!" Michael exclaims showing his answer on the notepad. "Rachel?"

"In a car on a parking lot." I grin showing those same words written on my notepad. "Yay!" Rachel exclaims giving me a high-five.

"So…Chandler and Monica got 7 correct answers, Michael and I 8…and with all correct answers, the winners are Ross and Rachel! Ironically the only non-couple" She laughs. I look at Rachel and lift my hand for a high-five.

"Maybe you should get married." Michael comments giving me a nudge. I smile awkwardly.

"I hate this game!" Monica says throwing her notepad on the table and folding her arms.

"You might have noticed Monica is a little competitive," Chandler tells Michael and Pamela who laugh.

(…)

"We're out of Margaritas…" Monica pouts pouring the last few drops into her glass.

"I'll go make some more" Rachel offers.

"Thank you Rach! You're the best!" Monica shouts, clearly intoxicated.

"Hey! Who is up for a night swim?" Michael asks.

"I am." Pamela says.

"ME TOO!" Monica yells.

"Monica, you're drunk, you shouldn't get in the water." Chandler warns.

"I'm not drunk, YOU are drunk."

"I believe you." He says sarcastically.

"Let's go swim!" Monica pulls Chandler off his seat, he reluctantly follows her.

"I gotta go make sure my wife doesn't drown…" Chandler tells me.

"Please."

I take the last sip of my margarita and sit back; enjoying the peacefulness that's left after everybody has gone to swim.

"Where's everybody gone?" Rachel asks as she returns with the pitcher.

"Swimming."

"Ugh. Why did I bother." She sets the pitcher on the table, "Do you want some?" I shake my head.

"No more alcohol for me, I'm already a little dizzy. Leave it there I'm sure they'll be thirsty when they return."

"I kind of wanna go watch what they're doing…" she admits with a grin.

"Let's"

I grab a towel and together we walk down to the beach and take seat near some rocks, a fair distance from where the rest are to avoid being seen and most likely dragged to the water. Even though it is night and the only light is the one projected by the half-moon, we can easily distinguish their figures. We can't stop laughing at how Chandler struggles to keep Monica away from the water but they both end up stumbling and falling against the breaking waves. I look at Rachel and notice how she is absentmindedly stroking her belly.

"Monica is going to have a major hangover tomorrow." Rachel comments turning to me, she catches me staring at her hand. She smiles and grabs mine, placing it over her belly, "If you want to touch it do it, you don't need to ask for permission every time." I give her a thankful smile, gently rubbing her stomach.

"Have you felt her yet?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Then you haven't, I was there when Ben kicked for the first time and it was a very clear movement." She smiles. I move my face closer to her belly and begin to sing the same song I sang to my son years ago.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asks between giggles. I shrug.

"It worked with Ben."

"You know her ears aren't fully developed until week 24…"

"Excuse me, Doctor Greene, I didn't know that." She pushes me back playfully before lying on her back and ignoring me to gaze at the stars. I lie on my left side facing her, keeping my hand on her belly. "We should start thinking about names…" her eyes glow at the idea.

"I have some in mind already."

"Yeah? Can I hear them?"

"Yup, some other time," I chuckle. "I have a bunch and I want to narrow them down. What about you? Which names do you like?"

"Well…I really like the name Ruth." She wrinkles her nose unconvinced.

"Maybe you should give it another thought too." I roll my eyes.

Silence surrounds us for a while as she returns her attention to the stars, but silence with her never feels awkward. I embrace the moment to concentrate on my hand stroking her belly and a naughty idea gets in my head. I slide my hand down her body and under her dress to caress her leg. She looks at me arching an eyebrow.

"What are you up to?" she asks with suspicion. Instead of replying, I kiss her shoulder while my hand travels up her leg back to her stomach. Her skin feels incredibly smooth and warm."You're going to torture me for what I did today, aren't you?" she holds her breath when I brush her inner thigh on my way down her leg. I grin before leaning down to murmur in her ear.

"Maybe…" I suckle on her earlobe, thoroughly enjoying this teasing game. I hear her gulp when I caress her lower belly, the tips of my fingers intentionally creeping under her bikini bottom.

"What if the guys see us, they ar-" I hush her by trapping her lips in a ardent kiss while I slowly graze up her inner thighs and begin to tease her through the fabric of her bikini bottom. She automatically bends her knees to give me a better access as her arms find their way around my shoulders, holding me against her. I leave her lips and bury my face in her neck while sneaking my fingers under her bikini. She tenses up the moment I begin to stroke her sensitive spot. I keep a slow pace, wanting to tease her for as long as I can. Soft moans soon emanate from her mouth, making it hard for me to keep cool. A shiver runs down my spine when she moans my name into my ear. I gently nibble at her neck while I try to concentrate on what my hand is doing in between her legs, instead of how my body is reacting.

She tightens her grip around my shoulders, her nails digging into my skin as I pick up the pace of my movements. Gasping, she arches her hips up impatiently asking for more, and I almost give in to her silent pleading. Before I can lose control of myself, I halt my movements on her and remove my hand. Rachel instantly opens her eyes widely and groans when she sees the smirk on my face.

"Argh! I knew you would do this!" she whimpers, covering her face with her hands, trying to catch her breath. I lean down to her ear.

"You asked for it." She groans again. I teasingly kiss her lips.

"Are you seriously going to leave me like this?"

"I could've asked you the same thing this afternoon."

"Well, if you had followed me you would've gotten your answer, but you didn't."

"You wanted me to follow you?"

"Yes!" She admits. Damn it!

"And what do you want me to do right now?" she bites her lip, staring straight into my eyes.

"I want you to finish what you started."

"Are you going to finish what you started?"

"Yes! Yes but please…keep going." Unable to resist her pleads anymore I resume my movements on her while she simultaneously grabs my neck and pulls me down for a kiss. Her scent, her trembling body, the noises she makes as I touch her; everything about her turns me on beyond belief. She begins to roll her hips in sync with my fingers, breaking the kiss to take a much needed breath. I dip my head into her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses down to her cleavage. I feel her heart beating fast against her chest and her breathing becomes more ragged but the second. "Please," She begs, arching her hips up against my fingers. I oblige immediately. I lift my head to watch her as I insert two fingers inside of her. She squeezes her eyes shut, sucking in her lips to muffle a loud moan. I'm on the verge of losing it myself just watching her writhe under my touch. I gasp as I fasten my thrusts in and out of her, her moans driving me crazy with desire. Knowing she is close, I fasten my pace a little more. Her thighs begin tremble and her walls tighten around my fingers and seconds later, her body gives a violent shiver as she reaches climax.

I remove my hand and plop down next to her while she recovers. Still out of breath, she twists her neck to look at me and smiles, pleased.

"Your room?" she murmurs.