Chapter Five

Chandler and Rachel avoided each other for the next two days until Chandler went away again to Tulsa. Rachel had been feeling extremely down over this two-day period and felt that she needed to speak to Chandler about what had happened the other day. As she sat in her apartment with Emma she realised she desperately needed to seek advice from somebody...anybody. The door opened and disturbed her thoughts, Ross walked in.
"Hey," he greeted her with a smile. He noticed her dispirited aurora and instantly recognised that something was wrong. "Is everything okay, Rach?" he asked supportively.
Rachel figured that she could disguise who she was talking about and ask Ross for some advice. "Well actually, I need your opinion about something..."
"Of course, I'm here if you need to talk," he smiled and took her hand.
Rachel smiled back. "There's somebody I kind of like...but I'm not sure how he feels about me and I don't know what to do."
"You should probably tell him," Ross said. Secretly he had inkling that the person she was talking about was him. In his mind they had recently been growing closer together.
"Well, it's not that simple...he is...involved with someone..." Rachel explained. She noticed Ross look down, Rachel thought that he was disappointed in her, however he was actually disappointed in what she had said as he was not involved with anyone which made him realise that Rachel was not talking about him.
He did not want to stay in this conversation any longer. Ross did not like the idea of helping Rachel out with her love life; he was clearly still hung-up over her.
"Look, Rachel, all I can say is that if you think this guy feels the same way about you then perhaps you should tell him...but if you're not wholly sure don't try anything, it's not worth ruining a relationship if you're not completely dependable about your feelings."
Ross stood up and walked to his bedroom. Rachel sat on the sofa still, considering what Ross had just said to her. Her mind was so stuck on Chandler that she did not notice the strange way that Ross was acting. She needed to come to a decision about Chandler; she did not know how she really felt about Chandler. She carefully thought about the prospect of her and Chandler: it just could not happen...there was Monica, her best friend. Could she really hurt Monica that severely? Rachel decided that she would have to sort out her feelings before deciding what to do. After all, it could be just mixed up feelings and emotions that had led her to think of Chandler in this way.

~ ~ ~

Chandler sat in his office in Tulsa bored witless. His thoughts had drifted once again to Rachel. He felt regretful about the way he had left the situation with Rachel back home. After their little "moment" on Sunday he could not bring himself to see her. It wasn't that he did not want to; it was that he did not know how to act around her. He still wasn't sure if the feelings were mutual or one-way...his way. He felt awful the way he was now thinking of Rachel, he was married and he loved Monica more than anybody, he believed. However, he realised that his feelings for Rachel would not disappear instantly and the more he thought about her the stronger his feelings were becoming. He decided that he needed to speak to her and settled on telephoning her when he arrived back at his hotel room later that night.

~ ~ ~

Rachel had reached a concrete decision...the only problem was she had to lie to Ross again. She was sure that she had things covered in her head; nevertheless this still did not make it seem right. Rachel stepped out of her bedroom door and saw Ross watching the television on the sofa.
"Hey, Ross..." she smiled, he turned his attention to her. "Anyway, I forgot to mention that I spoke to my dad before and he wants me to go and visit him. Apparently, Amy and Gill are spending some time at the ski lodge with him and he thinks it would be good for us if we all spent some time together."
"Yeah, that sounds good...I'll take care of Emma, are you sure you feel ready to leave Emma?" he asked her.
Rachel had not really considered this, but she needed to sort her head out about this Chandler matter. She figured that visiting Chandler in Tulsa would help her to have some time alone with his to sort the situation out.
"Yeah, well it should only be for a night or two...I'll keep calling to see if she is okay," Rachel told him. "I should be leaving later on tonight."

~ ~ ~

Chandler arrived back at his hotel room around eight o'clock that evening. He was avoiding calling Rachel and decided to just watch a movie. It was around an hour and a half later and Chandler had nodded-off on the sofa while watching the television. He was disturbed from his rest when there was a knock on the door. He slowly got up, stretched and wondered who it could be at the door. As he opened it and looked at the person standing there he wasn't sure if he had actually woken up.
"Rachel?!" he exclaimed.
Rachel smiled unsurely and just stared at him. Before them both knew it they were entrapped in an emotional and passion-filled kiss.

*** Ooh the suspense! *lol* I'll try and write more tonight, depends what I get up to because I might be getting a domain today *fingers crossed* but anyway if I write more I'll post it tomorrow or some time in the next few days : ) Please review, I do appreciate it!! : D