Title: The Open Road
Author: Kaitlyn
Summary: "I've got some beer and the highway's free, and I got you and baby you got me."
Rating: PG-13
***************************************************************************
In another hour so after Ross and Rachel's "encounter", the SUV made it's way across the Vermont boarder. Since the resort was located in West Glover, at the Northeast tip of the state, the group still had a good two hours ahead of them. By this time, all four of the passengers in the back were sleeping soundly, having run out of both car games and energy. Meanwhile, Monica and Chandler were having problems of their own in the front seat.
"Are you SURE we're still on I-91?" Chandler asked, obviously becoming increasingly frustrated as more time passed without any sign of their exit. In the passenger's seat, Monica rustled through three different road maps, attempting to stay calm.
"Where else could we be? We've been riding this interstate since New York!" She turned the map upside down, then right side up again. Exasperated, she groaned and threw it down in the floorboard all together.
"Why don't you just stop at the next rest stop and ask for direction?" Chandler tossed her a "I'm a man and I don't need directions" look from behind the wheel.
"How difficult can it be? We take 91 to 16! It's like TWO turns! My blind Aunt Olive could have made it without directions! But us? No, WE need to 'stop at the next rest stop'!" Monica rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Look, that sign says that the next rest stop is only half a mile away. They can tell us if we've missed our exit." After another half mile, Chandler took the off-ramp and guided the vehicle into what was arguably the most sketchy rest stop in the Northeast. It was surrounded by trees, and consisted of two cement buildings, connected by an overhang. The few picnic tables were made of splintered wood and were chained to the ground- not to mention drenched from the earlier storm. Chandler shot Monica an "I told you so" face as he unbuckled.
"You know, Chandler, this weekend has potential to be INCREDIBLY long if you're going to act like this the whole time." Chandler made a face as if he was totally oblivious to what she was talking about.
"Acting like what?" he sarcastically quipped, adding on a smirk for flavor. She was not amused.
"Besides, it has a bathroom and a vending machine. We can all stretch our legs, at the very least." After her suggestion, she turned around in her seat to wake up the others. She whispered, as to not jar them from their slumber too erratically.
"Pst, Ross!" He moved a little, opening his eyes in a confused haze.
"Wha? Arewethereyet?" he inquired groggily.
"No, we just crossed over into Vermont. We're at a rest stop to ask for directions." At this, Ross became completely awake, not missing a chance to chastise his sister.
"See? I SO told you you wouldn't remember how to get there!" Monica roller her eyes and turned to exit the car, but not before managing to get the last word in.
"I wouldn't be so short with the person who let your little tryst go unnoticed before." His eyes widened in confused horror as Monica chuckled and stepped out of the automobile. He shook Rachel by the shoulders, who was laying with her head in his lap.
"Hey, sweetie," he cooed, not wanting to rile her too quickly. He knew she was tired. "You want to get out for a little while? We're at a rest area." Rachel gasped a little as she lifted her head suddenly from his lap, scanning her eyes around the car and taking a moment to realize exactly where she was. After everything connected, including Ross' words, she nodded gently and followed him out of the car.
"Do you think we should wake up Pheebs and Joe?" Ross asked before shutting the door behind them. Rachel shook her head.
"No, let them sleep. I think all those car games really wore them out." She smiled and nodded her head in their direction. Joey was sleeping sitting up, and he was still holding his hand from Old Maid. Meanwhile, Phoebe was leaning against the window, but was still clutching tightly to a game of Battleship. Ross shut the door and began walking in the direction of the building with Rachel by his side.
They were quiet for a moment, both still a little asleep from their nap in the car. They also hadn't really spoken since their encounter, and were a little hesitant to mention it. Talking about it might have made it seem less real, and neither wanted that. It was something special that had happened spontaneously between them and that had been birthed from pure passion and love. There was no need to talk about it, and they were both pretty sure that it would never be discussed between them.
The air was a little colder than it had been when they left New York, and he noticed that she had folded her arms tightly across her chest. He would have offered her his jacket, but he left it in the car, so he instead draped his arm over her shoulders and hugged her closely to his side, kissing the top of her head. She smiled, in a somewhat sad and reminiscent way, and leaned her head into his arm.
"Did you bring warm clothes? It's going to be colder in Vermont than it was in New York." She nodded, but still did not speak.
"What's the matter?" he asked intuitively, knowing that something had to be up. It wasn't like her to go for so long without saying a word. She shook her head. He wasn't sure if this meant "nothing" or "I don't want to talk about it". He decided to pursue it, either way. He stopped them and turned to face her, holding both of her hands with his at their sides.
"Come on, Rach. I can tell something's wrong. You look sad." She shook her head and smiled a little, just to reassure him that she wasn't sad. There was something that was bothering her, but it wasn't sad. Nothing could make her sad. It was the day before her wedding.
"I'm not sad. I'm just...thinking." He put his hand on her thigh and squeezed playfully.
"Well, in that case, penny for your thoughts?" She sighed deeply, turning her face to look away from him. She wasn't really looking at anything in particular. More accurately, she was gazing aimlessly into the thick woods that surrounded the rest area. After a few moments, she shook her head.
"Don't you ever just stop and wonder how we got here?" He was a little taken aback by this, and wasn't really sure if he liked the way she said "here".
"Where's 'here'?" She looked at him.
"Here. You know...about to be married. We met fourteen years ago, Ross. We were in the ninth grade, and you saw me, and you never gave up. We were fourteen years old...and now, here we are. Doesn't that ever just like blow your mind?" He paused to think about this for a moment.
"I guess I never really thought about it." He could tell that she was perplexed by this, so he quickly continued.
"I mean, I guess there just wasn't ever enough time to stop and think about it. For me, at least. I was kind of busy with the whole 'blindly chasing after you' thing." He squeezed her hand as he said it, hoping that it would provoke a smile and ease some of the tension. It did.
"In all seriousness, though, Rach. It doesn't surprise me." She narrowed her gaze on him, obviously surprised at this response.
"Really?"
"Nope. Because I saw you, and I never gave up for a REASON. I knew you didn't like me. Hell, I knew you probably would never have even known that I existed if I weren't Monica's brother. But...I knew. Maybe not from the beginning, but definitely after you came to New York and back into my life. I knew that had to have happened for a reason. Things like that don't just happen every day, Rachel. I didn't focus so much on the 'how'. That didn't matter. All that mattered was that I loved you since the first time I met you...and, somehow, I got a second chance with you. THAT'S why I'm marrying you. 'How' and 'why' couldn't mean less to me."
She had tears in her eyes by the end of his speech. She squeezed his hand where it sat on her thigh, and leaned over to kiss him softly on the lips. After patting his leg as a vote of confidence and approval of his explanation, she extended her hand to him.
"Come on, I'm thirsty. Let's go find Chandler and Monica and get something to drink."
****************************************************************************
Ross and Rachel made their way through the big glass doors of the information center, only to be greeted by Chandler and Monica, who were exchanging some pretty loud and harsh words with an Asian woman who was seated behind the counter. Rachel approached Monica and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Mon, what's going on?"
"Well, apparently SOMEONE decided it would be a good idea to station the woman with less than five words in her English vocabulary at the welcome center! The rest is pretty self explanatory." She motioned to Chandler, who was doing some sort of unidentifiable gesticulation with his hands and yelling "interstate" at the top of his lungs.
"Honey, for the tenth time, she doesn't speak English! Yelling more loudly doesn't magically translate the word!" Realizing that he was a man and wasn't going to listen to her anyway, Monica rolled her eyes and turned back to Rachel.
"Where are Joey and Phoebe?"
"Oh, we left them sleeping in the car. We didn't want to wake them. Have you guys found out ANYTHING yet?" Monica shook her head.
"Well, thanks to Wendy the Welcomer over here, we know that we are in Vermont and that the state bird is the Hermit Thrush, which actually came out 'Humit Truhsh', so we're just assuming with that one." With this, Ross piped in.
"Huh, I thought it was the Turdus Solitarius." Chandler turned his head away from the woman momentarily.
"That's the scientific name," he offered, before turning his attention back to his "conversation" again. Monica shook her head in disbelief.
"Okay, BIG PICTURE, people!" Rachel touched her arm in comfort.
"Alright, well, Ross and I are going to go check out that vending machine. Maybe you guys will have figured something out by the time we get back."
***************************************************************************
The two rounded the corner of the building the where the vending machine sat, hidden in a sunken indention in the concrete. Rachel reached inside her back pocket for a dollar, but was met only by an empty pouch of denim.
"Hey, do you have any change?" she asked, whirling around to face him. Slowly, a mischievous smile crept across his face. He sauntered closer to her, cocking his head slightly to the side. Casually, he slid his thumbs into the belt loops of her pants, stroking the exposed skin just above her waistband with his fingers.
"I think I have some in my back pocket." He raised his eyebrow, daringly. She smiled, knowing exactly what he was implying. Something had gotten into him today. Though they hadn't discussed it, they were both WELL aware of the little exchange that had taken place between them previously, and now this. If she was going to be honest with herself, she loved the attention. She couldn't let him become too aware of this, however, or he'd grow to be completely incorrigible. When boundaries were set, she was always the one who had to do it. Otherwise, she knew he'd be content to do nothing but make love all day.
At first, she played along, leaning into him and sliding her hands smoothly into his back pockets. After finding the dollar and grasping it between her fingertips, she made sure to pinch his ass before removing her hands, just for fun. When he attempted to move forward and capture her lips with his, though, she teasingly moved her head back just slightly enough for him to miss. When he tried a second time, she made the same maneuver. This continued for a few seconds, until they both broke down into giggles and she placated him by allowing him a quick kiss before removing her hands from his pockets and turning away to insert the bill into the machine. He shook his head to himself.
"You'll always leave me wanting more, Rachel Green." After retrieving her Diet Coke, she turned back to him and planted one more kiss on his cheek before grabbing his hand and leading him away from the machine and back inside the building.
"Good, then you'll always have a reason to come back."
*****************************************************************************
On their way back inside, Ross and Rachel nearly smacked into Chandler and Monica, who were on their way out.
"Oh, so I take it you found out where we are," Rachel stated. Chandler held up a map in his left hand.
"Sort of. After about twenty minutes, I realized that there were a bunch of 'updated' road maps sitting beside me on the counter. Apparently, the highways have been recently rerouted. What used to be highway 16 is now 13."
"In English?" Ross asked.
"Yeah, we passed it," Chandler finished. Before Ross or Rachel could get a word in, Monica jumped in.
"BUT, we can still take 53. It's not as direct, but it's probably quicker than turning back around."
"Well, how long is that going to take?" Rachel asked, a little upset that their plans were getting so off-track. They did have reservations at the hotel for that evening, and a detour could set things off.
"I'm guessing maybe another two hours?" Chandler estimated. Rachel was upset, but there was nothing that could be done.
"Okay," she stated, defeated, "everyone back in the car!"
End Chapter 11. Continued in Chapter 12.
Author: Kaitlyn
Summary: "I've got some beer and the highway's free, and I got you and baby you got me."
Rating: PG-13
***************************************************************************
In another hour so after Ross and Rachel's "encounter", the SUV made it's way across the Vermont boarder. Since the resort was located in West Glover, at the Northeast tip of the state, the group still had a good two hours ahead of them. By this time, all four of the passengers in the back were sleeping soundly, having run out of both car games and energy. Meanwhile, Monica and Chandler were having problems of their own in the front seat.
"Are you SURE we're still on I-91?" Chandler asked, obviously becoming increasingly frustrated as more time passed without any sign of their exit. In the passenger's seat, Monica rustled through three different road maps, attempting to stay calm.
"Where else could we be? We've been riding this interstate since New York!" She turned the map upside down, then right side up again. Exasperated, she groaned and threw it down in the floorboard all together.
"Why don't you just stop at the next rest stop and ask for direction?" Chandler tossed her a "I'm a man and I don't need directions" look from behind the wheel.
"How difficult can it be? We take 91 to 16! It's like TWO turns! My blind Aunt Olive could have made it without directions! But us? No, WE need to 'stop at the next rest stop'!" Monica rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Look, that sign says that the next rest stop is only half a mile away. They can tell us if we've missed our exit." After another half mile, Chandler took the off-ramp and guided the vehicle into what was arguably the most sketchy rest stop in the Northeast. It was surrounded by trees, and consisted of two cement buildings, connected by an overhang. The few picnic tables were made of splintered wood and were chained to the ground- not to mention drenched from the earlier storm. Chandler shot Monica an "I told you so" face as he unbuckled.
"You know, Chandler, this weekend has potential to be INCREDIBLY long if you're going to act like this the whole time." Chandler made a face as if he was totally oblivious to what she was talking about.
"Acting like what?" he sarcastically quipped, adding on a smirk for flavor. She was not amused.
"Besides, it has a bathroom and a vending machine. We can all stretch our legs, at the very least." After her suggestion, she turned around in her seat to wake up the others. She whispered, as to not jar them from their slumber too erratically.
"Pst, Ross!" He moved a little, opening his eyes in a confused haze.
"Wha? Arewethereyet?" he inquired groggily.
"No, we just crossed over into Vermont. We're at a rest stop to ask for directions." At this, Ross became completely awake, not missing a chance to chastise his sister.
"See? I SO told you you wouldn't remember how to get there!" Monica roller her eyes and turned to exit the car, but not before managing to get the last word in.
"I wouldn't be so short with the person who let your little tryst go unnoticed before." His eyes widened in confused horror as Monica chuckled and stepped out of the automobile. He shook Rachel by the shoulders, who was laying with her head in his lap.
"Hey, sweetie," he cooed, not wanting to rile her too quickly. He knew she was tired. "You want to get out for a little while? We're at a rest area." Rachel gasped a little as she lifted her head suddenly from his lap, scanning her eyes around the car and taking a moment to realize exactly where she was. After everything connected, including Ross' words, she nodded gently and followed him out of the car.
"Do you think we should wake up Pheebs and Joe?" Ross asked before shutting the door behind them. Rachel shook her head.
"No, let them sleep. I think all those car games really wore them out." She smiled and nodded her head in their direction. Joey was sleeping sitting up, and he was still holding his hand from Old Maid. Meanwhile, Phoebe was leaning against the window, but was still clutching tightly to a game of Battleship. Ross shut the door and began walking in the direction of the building with Rachel by his side.
They were quiet for a moment, both still a little asleep from their nap in the car. They also hadn't really spoken since their encounter, and were a little hesitant to mention it. Talking about it might have made it seem less real, and neither wanted that. It was something special that had happened spontaneously between them and that had been birthed from pure passion and love. There was no need to talk about it, and they were both pretty sure that it would never be discussed between them.
The air was a little colder than it had been when they left New York, and he noticed that she had folded her arms tightly across her chest. He would have offered her his jacket, but he left it in the car, so he instead draped his arm over her shoulders and hugged her closely to his side, kissing the top of her head. She smiled, in a somewhat sad and reminiscent way, and leaned her head into his arm.
"Did you bring warm clothes? It's going to be colder in Vermont than it was in New York." She nodded, but still did not speak.
"What's the matter?" he asked intuitively, knowing that something had to be up. It wasn't like her to go for so long without saying a word. She shook her head. He wasn't sure if this meant "nothing" or "I don't want to talk about it". He decided to pursue it, either way. He stopped them and turned to face her, holding both of her hands with his at their sides.
"Come on, Rach. I can tell something's wrong. You look sad." She shook her head and smiled a little, just to reassure him that she wasn't sad. There was something that was bothering her, but it wasn't sad. Nothing could make her sad. It was the day before her wedding.
"I'm not sad. I'm just...thinking." He put his hand on her thigh and squeezed playfully.
"Well, in that case, penny for your thoughts?" She sighed deeply, turning her face to look away from him. She wasn't really looking at anything in particular. More accurately, she was gazing aimlessly into the thick woods that surrounded the rest area. After a few moments, she shook her head.
"Don't you ever just stop and wonder how we got here?" He was a little taken aback by this, and wasn't really sure if he liked the way she said "here".
"Where's 'here'?" She looked at him.
"Here. You know...about to be married. We met fourteen years ago, Ross. We were in the ninth grade, and you saw me, and you never gave up. We were fourteen years old...and now, here we are. Doesn't that ever just like blow your mind?" He paused to think about this for a moment.
"I guess I never really thought about it." He could tell that she was perplexed by this, so he quickly continued.
"I mean, I guess there just wasn't ever enough time to stop and think about it. For me, at least. I was kind of busy with the whole 'blindly chasing after you' thing." He squeezed her hand as he said it, hoping that it would provoke a smile and ease some of the tension. It did.
"In all seriousness, though, Rach. It doesn't surprise me." She narrowed her gaze on him, obviously surprised at this response.
"Really?"
"Nope. Because I saw you, and I never gave up for a REASON. I knew you didn't like me. Hell, I knew you probably would never have even known that I existed if I weren't Monica's brother. But...I knew. Maybe not from the beginning, but definitely after you came to New York and back into my life. I knew that had to have happened for a reason. Things like that don't just happen every day, Rachel. I didn't focus so much on the 'how'. That didn't matter. All that mattered was that I loved you since the first time I met you...and, somehow, I got a second chance with you. THAT'S why I'm marrying you. 'How' and 'why' couldn't mean less to me."
She had tears in her eyes by the end of his speech. She squeezed his hand where it sat on her thigh, and leaned over to kiss him softly on the lips. After patting his leg as a vote of confidence and approval of his explanation, she extended her hand to him.
"Come on, I'm thirsty. Let's go find Chandler and Monica and get something to drink."
****************************************************************************
Ross and Rachel made their way through the big glass doors of the information center, only to be greeted by Chandler and Monica, who were exchanging some pretty loud and harsh words with an Asian woman who was seated behind the counter. Rachel approached Monica and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Mon, what's going on?"
"Well, apparently SOMEONE decided it would be a good idea to station the woman with less than five words in her English vocabulary at the welcome center! The rest is pretty self explanatory." She motioned to Chandler, who was doing some sort of unidentifiable gesticulation with his hands and yelling "interstate" at the top of his lungs.
"Honey, for the tenth time, she doesn't speak English! Yelling more loudly doesn't magically translate the word!" Realizing that he was a man and wasn't going to listen to her anyway, Monica rolled her eyes and turned back to Rachel.
"Where are Joey and Phoebe?"
"Oh, we left them sleeping in the car. We didn't want to wake them. Have you guys found out ANYTHING yet?" Monica shook her head.
"Well, thanks to Wendy the Welcomer over here, we know that we are in Vermont and that the state bird is the Hermit Thrush, which actually came out 'Humit Truhsh', so we're just assuming with that one." With this, Ross piped in.
"Huh, I thought it was the Turdus Solitarius." Chandler turned his head away from the woman momentarily.
"That's the scientific name," he offered, before turning his attention back to his "conversation" again. Monica shook her head in disbelief.
"Okay, BIG PICTURE, people!" Rachel touched her arm in comfort.
"Alright, well, Ross and I are going to go check out that vending machine. Maybe you guys will have figured something out by the time we get back."
***************************************************************************
The two rounded the corner of the building the where the vending machine sat, hidden in a sunken indention in the concrete. Rachel reached inside her back pocket for a dollar, but was met only by an empty pouch of denim.
"Hey, do you have any change?" she asked, whirling around to face him. Slowly, a mischievous smile crept across his face. He sauntered closer to her, cocking his head slightly to the side. Casually, he slid his thumbs into the belt loops of her pants, stroking the exposed skin just above her waistband with his fingers.
"I think I have some in my back pocket." He raised his eyebrow, daringly. She smiled, knowing exactly what he was implying. Something had gotten into him today. Though they hadn't discussed it, they were both WELL aware of the little exchange that had taken place between them previously, and now this. If she was going to be honest with herself, she loved the attention. She couldn't let him become too aware of this, however, or he'd grow to be completely incorrigible. When boundaries were set, she was always the one who had to do it. Otherwise, she knew he'd be content to do nothing but make love all day.
At first, she played along, leaning into him and sliding her hands smoothly into his back pockets. After finding the dollar and grasping it between her fingertips, she made sure to pinch his ass before removing her hands, just for fun. When he attempted to move forward and capture her lips with his, though, she teasingly moved her head back just slightly enough for him to miss. When he tried a second time, she made the same maneuver. This continued for a few seconds, until they both broke down into giggles and she placated him by allowing him a quick kiss before removing her hands from his pockets and turning away to insert the bill into the machine. He shook his head to himself.
"You'll always leave me wanting more, Rachel Green." After retrieving her Diet Coke, she turned back to him and planted one more kiss on his cheek before grabbing his hand and leading him away from the machine and back inside the building.
"Good, then you'll always have a reason to come back."
*****************************************************************************
On their way back inside, Ross and Rachel nearly smacked into Chandler and Monica, who were on their way out.
"Oh, so I take it you found out where we are," Rachel stated. Chandler held up a map in his left hand.
"Sort of. After about twenty minutes, I realized that there were a bunch of 'updated' road maps sitting beside me on the counter. Apparently, the highways have been recently rerouted. What used to be highway 16 is now 13."
"In English?" Ross asked.
"Yeah, we passed it," Chandler finished. Before Ross or Rachel could get a word in, Monica jumped in.
"BUT, we can still take 53. It's not as direct, but it's probably quicker than turning back around."
"Well, how long is that going to take?" Rachel asked, a little upset that their plans were getting so off-track. They did have reservations at the hotel for that evening, and a detour could set things off.
"I'm guessing maybe another two hours?" Chandler estimated. Rachel was upset, but there was nothing that could be done.
"Okay," she stated, defeated, "everyone back in the car!"
End Chapter 11. Continued in Chapter 12.
