Here's the next part to Be There For Me
Something to Find
"Excuse me?" Ross dared her to speak again.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I am seeing someone." Rachel muttered.
"I don't believe this." Ross shook his head in disbelief. "What are we doing here then, do you mind telling me?"
"I don't know what I was thinking! It's just- it's not every day a big movie star calls to ask you out. I thought, well sure no harm done, but I—Oh jeez." Rachel said as she put her head in her hands.
"Well I hope you had a nice night." Ross said sarcastically. "See ya later." He said as he walked away without so much as another word.
"Wait I have your jacket!" Rachel called out to him, but he just waved his arm at her, as if telling her he didn't care. Rachel shrugged her shoulders disappointedly and walked inside her apartment, closing the door behind her, and falling in a troubled heap on her couch.
Ross walked slowly down the street, kicking everything he could in site. The first girl he had liked in a long time, and she was taken. He wasn't actually mad at her, just the fact that she had a boyfriend, and had led him on to believing he had a chance. All because he was a movie star. He shook his head disgustedly, and kicked a large rock as hard as he could.
"Oh shit!" Ross yelped as the rock stayed glued to the asphalt. He ran around in circles grabbing his foot for a few minutes before a cop car slowed beside him and observed what he was doing. He waved that he was fine and began limping down the road.
"I wish I could just throw out my career and live a normal life for once." He grumbled under his breath.
He continued to walk around downtown New York before his feet began to get weak, then he reluctantly headed back to his apartment to get some rest.
The next morning, Ross wanted to head out early to go to the market, before many people were up. He got up, stretched, put some clothes on, and went straight out the door. He arrived at the market 5 minutes later, and began to hurriedly pick up supplies, as he turned up his coat collar and pulled down his hat.
"Hey." A lady said from behind him.
"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Ross asked her.
"I'm shopping." She lamented.
"Great." Ross muttered below his breath.
"What did you say?" Rachel asked him
"I said nothing." He answered loudly.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Rachel asked him quietly.
"Listen, I'm in a hurry to get out of here." Ross said urgently.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"Well, because I don't want to be around when the market is swarming." He answered sincerely.
"Well, what do you say to this?" Rachel said almost angrily as she held up a copy of the National Enquirer.
"Wow! I made the front cover!" Ross said with a slight grin.
"No, who's that beside you?" She asked.
"Ross Geller, movie star, caught dining and walking around New York City with mystery woman, full details inside." Ross said as he read the cover.
"This happened last night! How is it in today's paper, and why are you so happy about it?" She asked alarmed.
"What's the big deal? It was nothing!" Ross said sarcastically.
"Nothing? My face is clearly shown on this! What if my boyfriend sees this?" Rachel asked in a panic.
"Well maybe that's a good thing." Ross said.
"What is wrong with you?" Rachel asked.
"My problem is that the first girl that I've liked in a long time turns out to have a boyfriend, and was leading me on for the entire night." Ross said abruptly
"Oh." Rachel said delicately. "Well, I didn't mean to lead you on."
"Okay." Ross said distantly as he kept on pulling stuff into his basket.
"Agh!" Rachel said as grabbed her hair in frustration, and ran to the checkout line, grabbing every copy of the National Enquirer on her way.
"What are you doing?" Ross called out to her, attracting attention to himself.
"I'm destroying evidence." Rachel called back to him as she pulled out her wallet to pay for the magazines.
"Hey, that's you in the picture!" The cashier said to Rachel as she punched in the amount.
"Yeah, just keep figuring that out, okay!" Rachel snapped at her as the cashier retreated hastily.
"Let me at least pay for that." Ross said as he went to pay.
"No!" Rachel snapped at him this time. "Go do your own stuff so that you can get out of here before too many fans find out that it's ROSS GELLER!" Rachel yelled the last part across the store.
Ross sighed in defeat as people immediately surrounded him. He dropped his basket to the ground, and he pulled out his pen in annoyance and began signing autographs again. He watched Rachel bag her magazines and run out the store. Ross continued to sign autographs as more people gathered around him.
"Can I get a chair over here?" He yelled in frustration to the cashier who sat watching with gratification as the lineup disappeared into Ross's crowd.
Once Ross had finally gotten out of the market, without so much as an apple, he began to call Joey, Monica, Chandler, and Phoebe and every other one of his friends. He had to get started if he wanted to do as much as possible.
Later that same day, Rachel walked over to Ross's apartment with his jacket slung over her shoulder. She walked for about twenty minutes before she reached his place. A man was holding the door open, so she gratefully slipped in, and went straight up to Ross's loft. She knocked quietly on the door, and she heard a tired voice yell from inside
"Come in you guys, it's open."
Rachel opened the door and was shocked by the site that surrounded her. The National Enquirer stood off every surface. Copies were piled in stacks 3 feet tall all over the floor and Ross sat with his head in his arms in the middle of the mess.
"You got more?" He asked without looking up.
"Hey" Rachel said quietly.
"Oh. Rach… what's up?" Ross asked her.
"I can't believe you!" Rachel said in disbelief.
"What?"
"You did all this for me?" She asked him, touched.
"Well, no. I was afraid of my image so I did it all for myself. No. I did it for you." He smiled timidly.
"Well…"
"I think I've cleaned out just about every store in Manhattan. I've got about 10,000 copies, and I've got about 20 other people getting more." Ross interrupted.
"Well, I don't want to tell you this now, but my boyfriend already saw it." Rachel grimaced.
Ross stood up without a word, and since he was unable to reach his phone over the stacks of magazines, he picked up his cell phone, and began dialing multiple numbers.
"Hey, stop. It's okay. I don't need to do it anymore. Come back to my place. I'll give you your money, and champagne. Tell Martha that I'll have her new baby stroller delivered in 2 weeks." Ross said tiredly before he began dialing another number.
"I have your jacket!" Rachel called out to him
Ross signaled for her to be quiet so she shutup and stood there, as she waited for him to finish.
"You can have it." Ross said after he had finished dialing several minutes later.
"I don't want it." Rachel said, confused
"Well give it to your boyfriend." Ross said as he peeled off his shirt, revealing a white shirt, tanned skin and large muscles.
"I-I think w-we broke up." Rachel's voice cracked at the news, and at the site.
"What?" Ross stopped what he was doing and became more attentive. "What are you talking about?"
"He thinks I cheated on him." Rachel said a s a tear slid down her cheek.
"Oh, come here." Ross said as he took her in his arms, and she leaned her face on his bare shoulder. "You didn't cheat on him though."
"I know that. Well, I kind of did." Rachel said.
"How?" Ross asked her.
"Well, by telling him that I wanted to stay home alone, instead of telling him I was going out with you." Rachel said.
"Well, technically you are faithful." Ross said.
"I know, but I am not entirely." Rachel said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Ross asked her.
"Well, last night I had to struggle really hard not to fall for you. It was so hard for me to resist kissing you, but I knew that I had to, and it would've been much harder if I hadn't stopped it right there. And you have to believe me, I didn't want to stop the night. I hadn't had so much fun in years." Rachel struggled to say.
"Well, if it was so much fun, then how come you did stop?" Ross questioned.
"Well, you don't just throw away a 3 year relationship on a chance with a movie star." Rachel said.
"Could you please stop calling me a movie star? I am no different than you." Ross nodded.
"I'm sorry." Rachel apologized.
"What's your boyfriends name?" Ross asked her.
"Blake Allen." Rachel responded tearfully.
Just then there was a knock on the door, and 4 people came-floating in.
"Hey Ross." They all said in unison.
"Hey guys." Ross said. "Guys, this is Rachel, Rachel, these are my happy helpers."
"How are ya?" They all asked her.
"I'm good." She nodded. "Listen Ross, I better go. I really appreciate all the trouble you went to for me. You really shouldn't have." She said.
"Alright bye." He said.
Rachel leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, and headed out the door, leaving Ross in a pleasant silence.
"So, That's the girl, huh?" One of his friends asked.
"Yeah. Pass me the phone book, Mike?" Ross requested.
"Sure, what for?" Mike asked him as he threw aside a pile of magazines.
"I just need to look up some guy." Ross said nonchalantly.
"Alright. What should we do with all of these magazines?" One of the girls asked Ross.
"Whatever you want." Ross said as he slammed shut the phone book. "I'll be back later. I have to go do something." He said as he threw on his jacket and rushed out the door.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at his destination. He walked up to the apartment door, and buzzed Blake Allen on the intercom.
"Hello?" A man's tired voice came through
"Hey, it's Ross Geller, can I come up?" Ross asked hopefully.
"Yeah right." Blake scoffed.
"Or do you want to come down?" Ross asked. "Because I'm not leaving until you let me tell you what happened."
"Alright, come up." He agreed.
Ross nodded and opened the door at the buzz, and headed up the stairs to the third floor.
"What do you want?" Blake stood in an open door.
"I want to tell you that nothing happened that one night I took her out." Ross said.
"Why did you take her out?" Blake angrily asked.
"I didn't know about you. I sincerely didn't. She hesitated when I asked her out, but I didn't know what it meant. Then that night I went in to kiss her, and she backed away immediately and told me that she had a boyfriend." Ross said apologetically.
"I mean, we've been seeing each other for 3 years! You don't just waste that long on a relationship so that nothing comes of it! Then you had to come along." Blake gestured angrily, as if he wasn't even listening to Ross.
"I'm really, really sorry." Ross held his hands together to emphasize his point
"You're just as fake as you are in your movies." Blake tossed at him.
"Listen, I didn't come here to make an enemy." Ross said. "I've got enough. But Rachel—She- she cares abut you so much. And you'd be an idiot to let her go." His voice cracked.
Blake nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks."
"No problem." Ross patted him on the shoulder and began to walk slowly down the stairs.
"Sorry about the fake thing! I didn't mean it!" Blake yelled after him.
Ross waved his hand before disappearing down the stairs, leaving behind himself a cloud of gloom.
As Ross entered his loft, all of his friends who sat on his living room couch watching TV noticed his sullen disposition.
"Whoa, dude. What happened?" Chandler asked from the couch.
"Not much. It's just been a long day." Ross said as he threw his jacket on the ground, which by now had most of the magazines removed.
"It looks like you need a night out." Monica ventured as she ran to give him a hug.
" No guys, I just need to be alone." Ross said moodily.
"What, so you can sit here by yourself and sulk?" Phoebe asked as she pulled herself out of Joey's warm bear hug.
"You're coming out with us. Let's go to dinner!" Phoebe said as she skipped off to grab her jacket.
"Oh man. Not tonight guys please." Ross groaned as Joey and Chandler grabbed both of his arms and pulled him out the door. Monica and Phoebe followed close behind, and closed the door.
"Wait guys, my jacket." Ross said from outside the door. He opened the door and came inside, and quickly locked the door after him, sighing in relief at the closed door.
He went to flop down on the couch, just as the door opened.
"You forgot you had keys made for all of us." Chandler grinned as he bared his key in hand.
"Alright I give up." Ross bent over to pick up his jacket and headed out the door with the rest of them.
At a low-key dinner/club that night, they all tried to get him in the mood, but he was just out of it. They all gave up and went to have fun on their own on the dance floor, leaving Ross to relieve his stress with a bottle of scotch. He got up lazily and began to head for the bathroom when someone called out his name.
"Blake." Ross grimaced as Blake came from behind him with his arm around Rachel, who wore a worried expression.
"How do you two know each other?" Rachel asked, confused.
"Well, after we had our 'break-up' this morning, Ross came by and forced me to listen to him say how much you loved me and that if I let you go I'd be crazy. That's when I realized that I couldn't throw away the last 3 years, which is when I called you." Blake said.
"Did you really say that?" Rachel turned to look at him with glazed over eyes.
"I might have." Ross said as a sudden dizziness struck him.
"Are you okay man?" Blake asked him.
"Sure." Ross answered with a look of confusion on his face.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Rachel asked Ross quietly.
"I really rather would not. I am pretty drunk right now, and I won't remember anything you or I said, and I will probably say something stupid." Ross nodded thoughtfully.
"Oh." Rachel said.
"Ross!" Phoebe said as she came up behind him and kissed him on the ear. "Let's dance sweetie-pie." She joked.
"Hi, I'm Rachel." She immediately introduced herself.
"I'm Phoebe." She answered disinterested until she realized who she was. "Hey, you're the girl!"
"Which one?" Rachel asked.
"The one Ross has talked about non-stop since that day you met at the airport." Phoebe pointed at her.
"Well, while you guys talk about stuff that I'm not involved in, I'm going to the pee room." Ross pointed at the washroom as Blake, Rachel and Phoebe tried to keep from laughing.
"Okay, you do that." Blake said as he slapped Ross playfully on the arm.
"You're not upset about this?" Rachel asked Blake.
"No, Ross is cool. I like Ross." Blake smiled.
"Hey Pheebs. Come dance I love this song." Joey pleaded to her as he came up behind her and hugged her while pulling at her.
"Joey, I'm talking!" Phoebe said. "Go dance with Monica!"
"She's been dancing with Chandler all night!" Joey complained.
"Okay, fine." Phoebe agreed half-heartedly.
"Bye." Rachel said at Phoebe's fading figure.
"I'm going to get a drink at the bar. You want something?" Blake asked her
"No, I'm fine." Rachel assured him
"Okay. I'll be back in a minute." Blake kissed her briefly and went to the bar, while Rachel poised herself outside of the men's bathroom to wait for Ross to come out, but he never did.
The next morning Ross woke up with a hangover in his apartment to an insistent knocking on his door.
"What!?" Ross shouted angrily and then grimaced at the noise.
The knocking intensified and Ross rolled out of bed.
"Okay, shutup already! Jesus." Ross said as he walked over to the door with his hand holding his head.
He pulled the door open and saw Rachel standing outside.
"Ugh." Ross said.
Rachel ignored him and pushed past him into his apartment.
"I waited for you to come out of the bathroom last night, but I never saw you." Rachel said.
"Yeah I know… I think I snuck by you while you were talking to Blake. Either that or I passed out in the bathroom and someone took me home." Ross joked lightly.
"Don't you mean the pee room?" Rachel laughed.
"What?" Ross asked with a confused look on his face.
"Last night, you said you were going to the pee room." Rachel said.
"I did? Oh god." Ross shuddered. "So what did you wan to talk to me about?"
"I just wanted to say that you're the sweetest man I'd ever met." Rachel said.
"How so?" Ross asked.
Rachel leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. Ross responded immediately and began to kiss her back, when the apartment door swung open once again
"What's going on here?" A voice came from the doorway.
To be continued….
Something to Find
"Excuse me?" Ross dared her to speak again.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I am seeing someone." Rachel muttered.
"I don't believe this." Ross shook his head in disbelief. "What are we doing here then, do you mind telling me?"
"I don't know what I was thinking! It's just- it's not every day a big movie star calls to ask you out. I thought, well sure no harm done, but I—Oh jeez." Rachel said as she put her head in her hands.
"Well I hope you had a nice night." Ross said sarcastically. "See ya later." He said as he walked away without so much as another word.
"Wait I have your jacket!" Rachel called out to him, but he just waved his arm at her, as if telling her he didn't care. Rachel shrugged her shoulders disappointedly and walked inside her apartment, closing the door behind her, and falling in a troubled heap on her couch.
Ross walked slowly down the street, kicking everything he could in site. The first girl he had liked in a long time, and she was taken. He wasn't actually mad at her, just the fact that she had a boyfriend, and had led him on to believing he had a chance. All because he was a movie star. He shook his head disgustedly, and kicked a large rock as hard as he could.
"Oh shit!" Ross yelped as the rock stayed glued to the asphalt. He ran around in circles grabbing his foot for a few minutes before a cop car slowed beside him and observed what he was doing. He waved that he was fine and began limping down the road.
"I wish I could just throw out my career and live a normal life for once." He grumbled under his breath.
He continued to walk around downtown New York before his feet began to get weak, then he reluctantly headed back to his apartment to get some rest.
The next morning, Ross wanted to head out early to go to the market, before many people were up. He got up, stretched, put some clothes on, and went straight out the door. He arrived at the market 5 minutes later, and began to hurriedly pick up supplies, as he turned up his coat collar and pulled down his hat.
"Hey." A lady said from behind him.
"Rachel, what are you doing here?" Ross asked her.
"I'm shopping." She lamented.
"Great." Ross muttered below his breath.
"What did you say?" Rachel asked him
"I said nothing." He answered loudly.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Rachel asked him quietly.
"Listen, I'm in a hurry to get out of here." Ross said urgently.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"Well, because I don't want to be around when the market is swarming." He answered sincerely.
"Well, what do you say to this?" Rachel said almost angrily as she held up a copy of the National Enquirer.
"Wow! I made the front cover!" Ross said with a slight grin.
"No, who's that beside you?" She asked.
"Ross Geller, movie star, caught dining and walking around New York City with mystery woman, full details inside." Ross said as he read the cover.
"This happened last night! How is it in today's paper, and why are you so happy about it?" She asked alarmed.
"What's the big deal? It was nothing!" Ross said sarcastically.
"Nothing? My face is clearly shown on this! What if my boyfriend sees this?" Rachel asked in a panic.
"Well maybe that's a good thing." Ross said.
"What is wrong with you?" Rachel asked.
"My problem is that the first girl that I've liked in a long time turns out to have a boyfriend, and was leading me on for the entire night." Ross said abruptly
"Oh." Rachel said delicately. "Well, I didn't mean to lead you on."
"Okay." Ross said distantly as he kept on pulling stuff into his basket.
"Agh!" Rachel said as grabbed her hair in frustration, and ran to the checkout line, grabbing every copy of the National Enquirer on her way.
"What are you doing?" Ross called out to her, attracting attention to himself.
"I'm destroying evidence." Rachel called back to him as she pulled out her wallet to pay for the magazines.
"Hey, that's you in the picture!" The cashier said to Rachel as she punched in the amount.
"Yeah, just keep figuring that out, okay!" Rachel snapped at her as the cashier retreated hastily.
"Let me at least pay for that." Ross said as he went to pay.
"No!" Rachel snapped at him this time. "Go do your own stuff so that you can get out of here before too many fans find out that it's ROSS GELLER!" Rachel yelled the last part across the store.
Ross sighed in defeat as people immediately surrounded him. He dropped his basket to the ground, and he pulled out his pen in annoyance and began signing autographs again. He watched Rachel bag her magazines and run out the store. Ross continued to sign autographs as more people gathered around him.
"Can I get a chair over here?" He yelled in frustration to the cashier who sat watching with gratification as the lineup disappeared into Ross's crowd.
Once Ross had finally gotten out of the market, without so much as an apple, he began to call Joey, Monica, Chandler, and Phoebe and every other one of his friends. He had to get started if he wanted to do as much as possible.
Later that same day, Rachel walked over to Ross's apartment with his jacket slung over her shoulder. She walked for about twenty minutes before she reached his place. A man was holding the door open, so she gratefully slipped in, and went straight up to Ross's loft. She knocked quietly on the door, and she heard a tired voice yell from inside
"Come in you guys, it's open."
Rachel opened the door and was shocked by the site that surrounded her. The National Enquirer stood off every surface. Copies were piled in stacks 3 feet tall all over the floor and Ross sat with his head in his arms in the middle of the mess.
"You got more?" He asked without looking up.
"Hey" Rachel said quietly.
"Oh. Rach… what's up?" Ross asked her.
"I can't believe you!" Rachel said in disbelief.
"What?"
"You did all this for me?" She asked him, touched.
"Well, no. I was afraid of my image so I did it all for myself. No. I did it for you." He smiled timidly.
"Well…"
"I think I've cleaned out just about every store in Manhattan. I've got about 10,000 copies, and I've got about 20 other people getting more." Ross interrupted.
"Well, I don't want to tell you this now, but my boyfriend already saw it." Rachel grimaced.
Ross stood up without a word, and since he was unable to reach his phone over the stacks of magazines, he picked up his cell phone, and began dialing multiple numbers.
"Hey, stop. It's okay. I don't need to do it anymore. Come back to my place. I'll give you your money, and champagne. Tell Martha that I'll have her new baby stroller delivered in 2 weeks." Ross said tiredly before he began dialing another number.
"I have your jacket!" Rachel called out to him
Ross signaled for her to be quiet so she shutup and stood there, as she waited for him to finish.
"You can have it." Ross said after he had finished dialing several minutes later.
"I don't want it." Rachel said, confused
"Well give it to your boyfriend." Ross said as he peeled off his shirt, revealing a white shirt, tanned skin and large muscles.
"I-I think w-we broke up." Rachel's voice cracked at the news, and at the site.
"What?" Ross stopped what he was doing and became more attentive. "What are you talking about?"
"He thinks I cheated on him." Rachel said a s a tear slid down her cheek.
"Oh, come here." Ross said as he took her in his arms, and she leaned her face on his bare shoulder. "You didn't cheat on him though."
"I know that. Well, I kind of did." Rachel said.
"How?" Ross asked her.
"Well, by telling him that I wanted to stay home alone, instead of telling him I was going out with you." Rachel said.
"Well, technically you are faithful." Ross said.
"I know, but I am not entirely." Rachel said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Ross asked her.
"Well, last night I had to struggle really hard not to fall for you. It was so hard for me to resist kissing you, but I knew that I had to, and it would've been much harder if I hadn't stopped it right there. And you have to believe me, I didn't want to stop the night. I hadn't had so much fun in years." Rachel struggled to say.
"Well, if it was so much fun, then how come you did stop?" Ross questioned.
"Well, you don't just throw away a 3 year relationship on a chance with a movie star." Rachel said.
"Could you please stop calling me a movie star? I am no different than you." Ross nodded.
"I'm sorry." Rachel apologized.
"What's your boyfriends name?" Ross asked her.
"Blake Allen." Rachel responded tearfully.
Just then there was a knock on the door, and 4 people came-floating in.
"Hey Ross." They all said in unison.
"Hey guys." Ross said. "Guys, this is Rachel, Rachel, these are my happy helpers."
"How are ya?" They all asked her.
"I'm good." She nodded. "Listen Ross, I better go. I really appreciate all the trouble you went to for me. You really shouldn't have." She said.
"Alright bye." He said.
Rachel leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, and headed out the door, leaving Ross in a pleasant silence.
"So, That's the girl, huh?" One of his friends asked.
"Yeah. Pass me the phone book, Mike?" Ross requested.
"Sure, what for?" Mike asked him as he threw aside a pile of magazines.
"I just need to look up some guy." Ross said nonchalantly.
"Alright. What should we do with all of these magazines?" One of the girls asked Ross.
"Whatever you want." Ross said as he slammed shut the phone book. "I'll be back later. I have to go do something." He said as he threw on his jacket and rushed out the door.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at his destination. He walked up to the apartment door, and buzzed Blake Allen on the intercom.
"Hello?" A man's tired voice came through
"Hey, it's Ross Geller, can I come up?" Ross asked hopefully.
"Yeah right." Blake scoffed.
"Or do you want to come down?" Ross asked. "Because I'm not leaving until you let me tell you what happened."
"Alright, come up." He agreed.
Ross nodded and opened the door at the buzz, and headed up the stairs to the third floor.
"What do you want?" Blake stood in an open door.
"I want to tell you that nothing happened that one night I took her out." Ross said.
"Why did you take her out?" Blake angrily asked.
"I didn't know about you. I sincerely didn't. She hesitated when I asked her out, but I didn't know what it meant. Then that night I went in to kiss her, and she backed away immediately and told me that she had a boyfriend." Ross said apologetically.
"I mean, we've been seeing each other for 3 years! You don't just waste that long on a relationship so that nothing comes of it! Then you had to come along." Blake gestured angrily, as if he wasn't even listening to Ross.
"I'm really, really sorry." Ross held his hands together to emphasize his point
"You're just as fake as you are in your movies." Blake tossed at him.
"Listen, I didn't come here to make an enemy." Ross said. "I've got enough. But Rachel—She- she cares abut you so much. And you'd be an idiot to let her go." His voice cracked.
Blake nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks."
"No problem." Ross patted him on the shoulder and began to walk slowly down the stairs.
"Sorry about the fake thing! I didn't mean it!" Blake yelled after him.
Ross waved his hand before disappearing down the stairs, leaving behind himself a cloud of gloom.
As Ross entered his loft, all of his friends who sat on his living room couch watching TV noticed his sullen disposition.
"Whoa, dude. What happened?" Chandler asked from the couch.
"Not much. It's just been a long day." Ross said as he threw his jacket on the ground, which by now had most of the magazines removed.
"It looks like you need a night out." Monica ventured as she ran to give him a hug.
" No guys, I just need to be alone." Ross said moodily.
"What, so you can sit here by yourself and sulk?" Phoebe asked as she pulled herself out of Joey's warm bear hug.
"You're coming out with us. Let's go to dinner!" Phoebe said as she skipped off to grab her jacket.
"Oh man. Not tonight guys please." Ross groaned as Joey and Chandler grabbed both of his arms and pulled him out the door. Monica and Phoebe followed close behind, and closed the door.
"Wait guys, my jacket." Ross said from outside the door. He opened the door and came inside, and quickly locked the door after him, sighing in relief at the closed door.
He went to flop down on the couch, just as the door opened.
"You forgot you had keys made for all of us." Chandler grinned as he bared his key in hand.
"Alright I give up." Ross bent over to pick up his jacket and headed out the door with the rest of them.
At a low-key dinner/club that night, they all tried to get him in the mood, but he was just out of it. They all gave up and went to have fun on their own on the dance floor, leaving Ross to relieve his stress with a bottle of scotch. He got up lazily and began to head for the bathroom when someone called out his name.
"Blake." Ross grimaced as Blake came from behind him with his arm around Rachel, who wore a worried expression.
"How do you two know each other?" Rachel asked, confused.
"Well, after we had our 'break-up' this morning, Ross came by and forced me to listen to him say how much you loved me and that if I let you go I'd be crazy. That's when I realized that I couldn't throw away the last 3 years, which is when I called you." Blake said.
"Did you really say that?" Rachel turned to look at him with glazed over eyes.
"I might have." Ross said as a sudden dizziness struck him.
"Are you okay man?" Blake asked him.
"Sure." Ross answered with a look of confusion on his face.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Rachel asked Ross quietly.
"I really rather would not. I am pretty drunk right now, and I won't remember anything you or I said, and I will probably say something stupid." Ross nodded thoughtfully.
"Oh." Rachel said.
"Ross!" Phoebe said as she came up behind him and kissed him on the ear. "Let's dance sweetie-pie." She joked.
"Hi, I'm Rachel." She immediately introduced herself.
"I'm Phoebe." She answered disinterested until she realized who she was. "Hey, you're the girl!"
"Which one?" Rachel asked.
"The one Ross has talked about non-stop since that day you met at the airport." Phoebe pointed at her.
"Well, while you guys talk about stuff that I'm not involved in, I'm going to the pee room." Ross pointed at the washroom as Blake, Rachel and Phoebe tried to keep from laughing.
"Okay, you do that." Blake said as he slapped Ross playfully on the arm.
"You're not upset about this?" Rachel asked Blake.
"No, Ross is cool. I like Ross." Blake smiled.
"Hey Pheebs. Come dance I love this song." Joey pleaded to her as he came up behind her and hugged her while pulling at her.
"Joey, I'm talking!" Phoebe said. "Go dance with Monica!"
"She's been dancing with Chandler all night!" Joey complained.
"Okay, fine." Phoebe agreed half-heartedly.
"Bye." Rachel said at Phoebe's fading figure.
"I'm going to get a drink at the bar. You want something?" Blake asked her
"No, I'm fine." Rachel assured him
"Okay. I'll be back in a minute." Blake kissed her briefly and went to the bar, while Rachel poised herself outside of the men's bathroom to wait for Ross to come out, but he never did.
The next morning Ross woke up with a hangover in his apartment to an insistent knocking on his door.
"What!?" Ross shouted angrily and then grimaced at the noise.
The knocking intensified and Ross rolled out of bed.
"Okay, shutup already! Jesus." Ross said as he walked over to the door with his hand holding his head.
He pulled the door open and saw Rachel standing outside.
"Ugh." Ross said.
Rachel ignored him and pushed past him into his apartment.
"I waited for you to come out of the bathroom last night, but I never saw you." Rachel said.
"Yeah I know… I think I snuck by you while you were talking to Blake. Either that or I passed out in the bathroom and someone took me home." Ross joked lightly.
"Don't you mean the pee room?" Rachel laughed.
"What?" Ross asked with a confused look on his face.
"Last night, you said you were going to the pee room." Rachel said.
"I did? Oh god." Ross shuddered. "So what did you wan to talk to me about?"
"I just wanted to say that you're the sweetest man I'd ever met." Rachel said.
"How so?" Ross asked.
Rachel leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. Ross responded immediately and began to kiss her back, when the apartment door swung open once again
"What's going on here?" A voice came from the doorway.
To be continued….