Joey was completely speechless as a look of astonishment passed across his face.
"I'm sorry .. Um .. I can see you two are busy having a very important conversation so .. I'll come back later," he said very nervously. He rushed out the door as fast as his feet would take him. Rachel hurried after him trying to catch up. She never knew how fast Joey could run - until now.
"Joey! Wait! Joey, we need to talk!," she screamed as she ran after him down the stairs of the apartment building. Joey stopped and waited for Rachel to catch up.
"Joey, It-It's not what you think. It was just a dream .. I'm sorry.." Rachel said apologetically and out of breath at the same time.
"Rachel .. I'm confused. What are you sorry about? I didn't run away because you scared me off. It was because .. Well .. Something else." Joey said.
"You can tell me Joe .. What is it?" Rachel asked curiously.
"No. I-I .. Have to go. I'm late for an audition. See you later Rachel." Joey said as he immediately ran off again. This time Rachel did not run after him. She just stood there wondering what he was about to say. Monica finally came downstairs after her.
" Hey Rach, what did he say?" Monica asked, concerned.
"Oh it was nothing. He was late for some audition, so we didn't get to talk. I'll just talk to him later about it." Rachel was still very curious and didn't know what to think.
Later that day, Rachel was just sitting reading the most current issue of Cosmopolitan, as the phone rang.
"Hello?" she answered in a very upbeat voice.
"Hi Honey." It was the sound of Judy Geller's voice on the other line, sounding as if there was something wrong.
"Hey Judy. You sound a little upset. Is everything all right?," Rachel asked.
"Actually no dear, it isn't," her voice breaking as she continued to speak. "You see- me and Jack got into a little fight and he walked out. I don't know where he went off to, but he said he had to think some things over. He was so angry when he left too. I'm so worried.." Judy's voice continued to break as she cried.
"Oh my god.. What was the fight about?" Rachel asked.
"It was all my fault. I-I flipped out on him because of his day at work. He got fired today, and out of all of the moods it could of put me in - I was ticked off. I mean really ticked off. I can't believe it. I've been so stressed out lately I didn't even know what I was yelling about. " she said.
"What else happened?" Rachel asked with much concern in her voice.
"I don't remember much of what we said, but I remember him saying he was sick of living with me and that I never stop complaining and that he just couldn't take it anymore. Oh honey, I don't know what to do. I tried calling Monica but she wasn't home. Ross is at work and I needed to talk to someone."
"Well you did the right thing by calling me, Judy." Rachel said. "I'll call Mon. She just got a new cell phone yesterday so I'm guessing you don't have her new number."
"No, I don't." Judy said. Rachel gave her the number to Monica's cell phone. Judy thanked Rachel and hung up. Rachel just sat there feeling happy and sad at the same time. She knew one thing. She couldn't wait for Joey to get home.
By now it was about 8 PM. Joey had said he would be home by 9. This put a temporary smile on Rachel's face. Her smile was chased away by the pain in Monica's voice when she called Rachel.
"Hey Rach. Mom told me everything and she wants to thank you for being there for her again," Monica said.
"Hey you know I love Judy and I would do anything for her and your dad." They just sat there in silence for a minute, different things going across each of their minds.
"Well hey I'm going to go brush my teeth and go to sleep. I've had a hard day and I have to go see Mom tomorrow and have a talk with her about Dad. I Know where he is staying now, so I'm not as worried about that anymore," Monica said.
"Ok hon. Go get some rest and I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm sure everything will turn out just fine." Rachel said, trying to comfort Monica.
"Thanks Rachel - for everything. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Monica hung up the phone followed by Rachel.
After Rachel got off the phone, her mind immediately went back to Joey. She thought about the dream she had had a couple nights before, and what he would think when he knew the whole story. Should she even tell him the whole story? Would it be too weird? After all, up until now, Joey and Rachel had been extremely close friends, as if they were brother and sister. Rachel was praying for that to change soon in her mind.
The clock read 10:47, and Joey still had not returned. Rachel was very worried by now. Suddenly the door opened as the clock changed its minute. Joey walked in, not noticing Rachel at first, then jumping back because he had.
"Oh hey Rach. I didn't see you there for a second. What are you still doing awake? You look really tired," he said.
"Well, I wanted to wait up for you. It's almost 11 at night. You said you'd you be home at 8 and it's almost 11. What happened?," Rachel asked waiting for an answer.
"Oh the audition ran overtime and then I ran into my sister, Mary Angela, so we went to dinner to talk. I haven't had a conversation with her in a while, so it was quite interesting," Joey responded.
"Oh alright. I was getting real worried about you and everything," Rachel said.
"I'm sorry, Rach. I didn't realize you'd be waiting up for me. I'll definitely be sure to call next time," Joey said.
"Yeah, don't worry about it - it's not your fault Hon," Rachel responded back. Both Rachel and Joey stood in silence for a moment, then one of them spoke up.
"Oh Rach by they way, about the whole dream thing - I don't care at all. It's just a little dream. Everyone has dreams like that," Joey assured her.
"Yeah but it's the fact that I enjoyed it so much is what's scaring me", Rachel thought to herself. "Yeah okay you're right. I didn't mean to make such a big deal out of it in the first place." Suddenly Rachel felt something. It was so overwhelming. She felt calm and excited and happy all at the same time. She had pictures going through her mind like a movie on fast forward. She could feel the most sweet, irresistible temptation. She didn't know what it was at first. But this was not a physical touch of any kind. She felt as if she were...in love? "That couldn't be possible," she thought to herself. "It's Joey. Can I really be in love with Joey? I don't believe this," She continued to think.
"Hey Rachel, are you okay? You look .. You look .. I can't describe it," Joey said.
"I just realized something. How did I not notice it before now? Now I know how this feels, and I never want it to go away." Rachel said, very unaware of the situation.
"What are you talking about? What did you realize?," Joey asked.
"I-I ..", she stopped. "I have to go to sleep now." She went into her room and shut her door. Then, she lied down to have yet another night of these dreams. By tomorrow, all these dreams would become reality.