So sorry for the delay, just couldn't get into right 'writing' frame of mind….
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"So, who's this girl?" he had seen his son mope around for almost two weeks now. Not interested in anything, no parties, no girls. At first he thought he was just missing his friends, Monica had come and gone back to New York, Joey had visited as well, but nothing seemed to cheer him up. So it had be something to do with the OPPOSITE SEX.
"What girl?' Ross asked his father perturbed at his question
"Come on, tell me." He coaxed, sitting beside his son, who was lounging out near the pool, with an almost empty six pack beside him.
"Dad, really it's nothing."
"Another stubborn Geller" Jack thought shaking his head, but stayed there sitting patiently.
"I met her on the trip." Ross finally said after about a minute's silence.
"Her name's 'Rachel' and she lives in New York." He continued
"So what exactly is the problem here? Does she not like you or something?"
"I don't know, I think she does, but the thing is she's getting married in a couple of months."
"Uh-huh" Jack nodded.
Seeing the lost look in his son's eyes Jack spoke up again.
"Is this a crush or are you in love Ross?" Jack asked straightforwardly he wasn't one to beat around the bush.
"I ..., I think I love her." Ross replied somewhat uncertainly
"You THINK or you DO?"
Ross sat there pondering over his father's question, could he be in love with someone he had barely known for six weeks, he hardly knew anything about her family, her friends, but he did know how she made him feel, how every time she smiled at him, his heart melted, only he knew how many times he had lost himself looking into those ocean colored eyes, how even though their lips had touched for not more than a few seconds, he was still savoring the taste of that kiss. How she had taken over every single thought that occurred in his mind for the past few weeks.
"I DO… I do Love her dad." He finally answered.
"Then go after her."
"Dad, didn't you hear what I just said, she's getting married."
"So, haven't you seen any movies, or TV shows, there is a bride running out on her marriage in every second one" Jack said jokingly (pun very much intended)
"Dad, this is not a joke."
"Sorry." He apologized before continuing, his tone was serious now "You know one thing I regret to this day?"
"What?" Ross asked intrigued
"Not going after your Mom when she moved away to New York, I probably could have saved my marriage, my family… had I not been so stubborn, we would still be together."
"The point is I didn't try, maybe she would have shot me down, maybe we would have sorted out our differences, but I will never know, because I didn't try.' He continued
"So you're saying I should go after her?'
"I'm not saying anything; I just don't want you 10 years later sitting here regretting something, just remember 'It ain't over till the fat lady sings'." With that Jack left going back inside leaving Ross to make his own decision.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Hey" Rachel's younger sister Amy shouted as she barged into her bedroom without knocking again.
Panicking for a moment and then immediately hiding the pack of photographs under her pillow, Rachel looked up at the intruder.
"What are you hiding?" Amy asked suspiciously
"Nothing, it's none of your business."
"Come on tell me." Amy pleaded as she moved near the headboard of Rachel's bed, trying to figure out what her elder sister was up to.
"Is this about THE guy?"
"What guy?"
"Jill told me everything."
Rachel's eyes widened a bit as she asked "What did she tell you?"
"Nothing much, just that you met a guy on your trip and now you're head over heels in love with him."
"I'm not in love with HIM, I just have a little crush on him, and I'm completely over it now"
"Aha, you said have not had, and you wouldn't keep looking at those snaps at every given opportunity, if indeed you were over him." Amy pointed out
Rachel knew her sister was right, but she didn't want to admit it to herself that she had fallen for someone, someone who she most likely won't see again the rest of her life except for the pictures she had.
"Rachel, is everything all right?" Amy asked sitting down next to her sister.
"I just don't know anymore, Amy." She said sighing out loudly as she plopped back on the feathery pillows.
"What... what don't you know?"
"It's just when I was with him, it just felt you know different, exciting, when he hugged me I never wanted to let go, every time he looked at me, I felt all nervous and shaky…and when he smiled…my heart was like running a marathon…you know?" "And he has these gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that you can look at for hours." She continued with a dreamy look on her face.
"The point is I want to feel something like that when I'm with Barry, I can't even remember the last time I looked at him and felt my heart flutter."
Amy watched her sister skeptically for a moment before speaking up.
"Well Jill was right; sounds to me like you really are head over heal for this guy." Amy remarked raising her eyebrows
"I mean…." She trailed off as she heard some noises from outside the door.
Amy immediately got up to check who it was at the door, her eyes widened in horror as she looked at the retreating figure.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"I told you we shouldn't have let her go on that stupid trip." Leonard Green shouted out as he entered the living room where his wife was sitting.
"What?" Sandra Green asked confused by the sudden outburst of her visibly livid husband.
"I told you, he said pointing a finger towards her, I told you not to send her on that European Trip, but no, you pushed for her to go, now see what you have done" he continued pacing around the room.
Sandra Green looked at her husband still having no idea about what he was talking about.
"You know what, you've done enough." He added, dialing a number on his cell phone.
"Mr. Farber….." he continued the conversation walking out of the living room.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
She heard a loud banging on her front door, looking over at the clock she noticed the time, it was 6 in the morning, "Who the hell is here at this hour?" she though.
"Ross, what are you doing here?" asked Monica as she let in a very tired looking Ross into her New York apartment.
"It's a long story, can I just crash in for a while."
"Yeah… Yeah, come on in" she finally moved to let him in "is everything all right?" she asked again as Ross sat down on the couch
They were interrupted by Phoebe as she came out of her room having just woken to see what all the commotion was about.
It was a couple of hours later, they'd had breakfast and Monica was getting twitchier by the minute.
"So are you gonna tell me what you are here for?"
"I… I actually came to see Rachel."
"What? Why?" Monica asked even more confused
"I'll tell you, but can you tell me something, I went to Rachel's house, but there was nobody there?"
"Yeah, they left for 'Hawaii' yesterday, for some reason Rachel's Dad decided to pre-pone the wedding."
"What?" was all a noticeably stunned Ross could let out as he took in the news.
"When did they leave? When is the wedding?"
"They left yesterday, and the wedding is I think in three weeks." Something suddenly clicked in Monica's mind "Oh, actually Rachel gave me something she said belonged to you." Monica added as she rushed into her room to get the box.
All this while Phoebe was sitting and watching Ross intently, she had confronted Rachel a couple of days ago when she had come drop off the Box, she knew what was in there, and as much as Rachel still denied her feelings Phoebe had seen right through her, but did not say anything. As she watched Ross sitting there, her intuition was confirmed, the feelings were mutual.
"You love her don't you?" Phoebe's sudden query caught Ross off guard, he hadn't even noticed her sitting there, he was still absorbing all information that had just been thrown at him and wondering what Rachel had left for him.
"Huh"
"I said, you love her." Phoebe stated, becoming more confident by the minute.
"Does it matter; she's getting married in 20 days." Ross said as he plopped down on the couch
"Of course it matters, she loves you too." Phoebe remarked sitting down next to Ross visibly excited.
"Now, how do you know that?"
"How does who know what?" Monica asked coming out of her room with box Ross assumed was the one Rachel left for him.
Phoebe got up quickly snatching the box from Monica's hands.
"Just open this and you'll know." She said handing the box to Ross.
In the box was the same 'Cowbell' he had bought for her and he knew just what he had to do.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
TBC very soon…. Reviews…