Chapter Two: The Gellers

It was a cold night, way to cold to be doing what she was doing. It was in the middle of a thunderstorm, too, but not raining. Her building was in sight. If only she could get to it faster. She glanced down at her watch. She had two minutes.

Traffic zoomed past her. She ran onto Grove St. and dashed into the building, past the super, up the stairs, and to her door. She breathed a sigh of relief until she realized she couldn't find her keys anywhere in her pockets. She rummaged through her purse until she felt the jagged metal. She stuck them in the lock and ran inside, slamming the door behind her. She ran into her room, collapsed onto her bed, and pulled her honey-colored hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head. Then she tucked herself underneath the covers, trying to catch her breath, and waited till she heard the door open.

A minuet later, she heard it. She had a second to ponder whether she should pretend to be sleeping not, but then she caught a glimpse of her digital clock and saw that it was only 9:45.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

She let out a huge breath when she recognized the voice. "In here!" she shouted.

"Hey," Ben Geller said as he stepped into his sister's bedroom.

"Yo," Emma replied, sitting up. He bent over to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

He sat down at the foot of her bed. "Just dropped by to see dad. I've got some news."

Emma's ears perked up. "What's going on?"

Ben just broke out into a huge smile. "I'll tell you when he gets home."

"No! Tell me now!" she whined, tugging on his arm. "I'll nag you till you tell me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll tell you." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Tiffany's box.

"Oh my goodness!" Emma squealed. She grabbed the little blue box out of her brother's hand and opened it. A beautiful emerald-cut ring sparkled before her.

"Ben, it's beautiful!"

"You think she'll like it?" he asked.

"She'll love it!" Emma replied, fighting the urge to slip the rock on. She looked lovingly at her brother. "I can't believe you're finally going to ask Sammy to marry you."

"I know, I know!" he said. "But I realized that I love her so much and I want to tell the whole world."

Emma giggled and handed the box back to him. "So, when are you going to do it?"

"Tomorrow," he answered. "I'm taking her to the Met as a surprise. She loves Van Gogh and they have this huge exhibit there now. I've arranged to have dinner on the terrace, all to ourselves, with violinists playing. Then I'm going to signal them to play "That's All" and I'll get down on one knee."

"That is so romantic!" Emma shouted. "Did you tell your mom and Susan yet?"

"Yeah," he answered. "I just got back from their place. They're really excited."

"Me too!" she exclaimed. "I love Sammy! She's so cool."

Suddenly they heard the door open and their father shout, "Emma! We're home!"

Emma tucked herself back in – she wasn't wearing her pajamas – and shouted, "Hi dad! I'm in my room! And Ben's here!"

Ross Geller entered the room. His face lit up at the sight of his children.

"Ben! What are you doing here?"

"He's got great news!" Emma squealed before he could answer. "Tell him, Ben, tell him!"

"What's going on in here?" Rachel Geller asked as she entered the room. Her eyes rested on her stepson. "Hey sweetie!" They hugged warmly.

"Hey Aunt Rachel," he said (he still called her the name he called her before she married his dad because it was easier and he already had enough people to call mom).

"So, what's the news?" Ross asked in his excited Ross way.

"Tell them before I do!" Emma threatened.

"Okay, okay!" he shouted. He took a deep breath and pulled out the box again. "I'm going to ask Sammy to marry me tomorrow night."

The older Gellers rejoiced like Emma expected them to. Her dad gave his traditional nasally "Oh my God!" and Rachel placed her hands over her mouth and squealed happily. After that, she snatched the box and gazed upon the stunning ring.

"Oh, Ben, it's gorgeous," she said exasperatedly. "I'm so happy for you."

"Me too," Ross added. "I mean, your engagement day is one of the most exciting and nerve-racking days of your life."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Rachel quipped.

"Ha ha," Ross said sarcastically. "Twenty-six years have gone by and we're still making a joke out of it."

The celebration moved out of Emma's room (thankfully for her). She shut her door and got changed into her pajamas. She threw her stained clothes into a pile in the back of her closet. She discovered she had left her smock at the museum. She decided that was probably better than her mother finding it.

She didn't like sneaking around behind her parents' backs, but she felt she didn't have a choice. For about four months, ever since the beginning of the school year, Emma had been taking sculpting classes at NYU three nights a week. It was a weird hobby, and she knew it, but she loved it. It was her passion. She knew that was what she wanted to be a sculptor. But that was the whole problem.

Sculptor is not a very lucrative profession. Her dad was pushing for her to go to college next year for biology, which was good, because her mother and the rest of her family out on Long Island – both Geller and Green – would have loved her to become a doctor. So how was she supposed to tell everyone that she wanted to make giant marble people to put in churches?

She was surprised she had found time for the class, actually. She had her studies, but besides that, she was president of the Science Club (to appease dad), captain of the cheerleading squad, and an intern at Ralph Lauren (both for mom). It was way too much for a seventeen-year-old to handle. But she had managed to make it work. She was driven by her two great loves: her family and her art.

She was also surprised by the fact that she parents had no clue. She was always running late to things and she was always tired. She had even slipped art into the conversation once or twice and made her mom a little sculpture of a fashion model for Christmas. She told her she had bought it, though.

Emma joined her family out in living room. She was really tired. She had exams the next day and had barely studied, but she wasn't in the mood for it. She just sat down next to her mom on the couch and listened to her brother talk.

The only other person who knew her little secret was her cousin Erica. They were really close despite living an hour away from each other and being a year apart. When she promised she wouldn't tell another soul, Emma knew she was trustworthy.

When Ben left, Emma went straight to bed. Besides exhaustion, she didn't want to be alone with her parents. Lately she had felt very awkward around them with just herself. She should have been used to it, but since the start of her senior year, she had reasons to be weirded out.

Before she turned out the lights, Emma got down her knees beside her bed. She had also found faith recently. Her dad was Jewish and her wasn't really religious, but she had been spending so much time around churches because of the class, she just picked up a Bible one day and started reading.

She said a prayer and then went to sleep. She was tired of being tired, but Emma's saving grace seemed to be the thing that wore her out most.