Well, firstly so very sorry about the looooong delay, been busy with the job and life in general….
And this chap is dedicated to rnrlove, thanks forfinally pushing me into posting this, had this written likea week ago, just didn't get the time to post it...
And now on with the story…. Oh and for the purpose of this story Barry has a younger sis…
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Ross quickly got dressed as he came out of the shower, looking at the watch he mumbled under his breath "Shit!"
He was late!
He had set his alarm for 7 in the morning, but the old habit of using the 'snooze' button about a half a dozen times had cost him dear AGAIN. He was supposed to meet Greg, secretary of one of his fathers many acquaintances in Hawaii, who was supposed to accompany him to a Real Estate auction, about which he had heard from Rachel, who had told him that Barry and his Dad were greatly interested in a piece of land which right in the city center and was up for sale.
"Hey Greg, sorry for being late." He greeted as he finally got to the hotel lobby
"No problem Sir, shall we get going?" Greg replied back as he got up from the comfortable couch he was resting on.
"Yeah" Ross replied back as he headed towards the car park, pausing as he stood at the door "and Greg please call me Ross."
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"Going Once, Going Twice, Going Thrice" the Auctioneer yelled out over the microphone as he beat down on the desk in front of him.
"Sold to the Gentlemen in the corner holding No.28 wearing the blue blazer, he continued, next up is this magnificent piece of real estate right in the heart of the city's commercial interests."
Ross's eyes were frantically searching for the winner of the last auction, hoping he was there in time. He breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down and heard the announcement on the speakers.
"The bidding will start at $300,000."
The Farber's sitting in the third row quickly held up their placard numbered 9. A couple of other bidders also held up theirs. As the bidding continued the auctioneer continued to sing out mindless praises for the piece of land. Ross finally put up his placard numbered 83 when the asking price was $380,000. Greg jerked his head at him in surprise; he certainly hadn't expected Ross to be bidding on stuff, for all he knew he was just here on vacation.
The Farber's had definitely not expected the Price to go up so high, the place was perfect, location and size wise for their son to start his own practice and they weren't about to let it go. Greg was sweating profusely, wiping away the sweat with the sleeve of his suit, he could hardly believe the figures he was hearing right now, the price was up to $440,000
And not one of the parties was showing any size of letting up.
The deal was finally clinched by the Farber's at $490,000, but Ross wore a pleased smile none the less which confused Greg even more.
The auctioneer wore a the biggest grin possible as he finally yelled out "Going Thrice", the auction had gone much better than expected and that meant that he would be getting a much bigger commission than he originally expected. He finally bellowed out for all the winning bidders to assemble at the hotel lobby to complete the remainder of the formalities.
Ross moved through the crowd with a very confused Greg in hot pursuit, he finally reached where Barry and his dad were sitting down and completing the legal formalities for the purchase they had just made.
"Congratulations Mr. Farber" Ross said as he offered his hand
"Well, thank you, Barry replied looking up, you certainly gave us some tough competition out there" he continued shaking Ross's hand
"Ross Geller" he introduced himself
"Dr. Barry Farber"
"You really wanted this didn't you?" Barry commented as held up the contract papers and handed them to the agent.
"Yeah, it's a really good location, and you know pretty much any business will be successful there" Ross replied striking up a conversation
"So, what's your plan" he continued
Barry looked up at him skeptically, noticing which he quickly added "hope I'm not intruding"
"No, no, not at all, actually I'm planning on opening up my own practice there."
"Ohh, so like a hospital or something?"
"Nah, just a small clinic, don't have enough finances" Barry replied back smiling.
"Hmm, you really should consider it, I mean the place is big enough to open up a decent size hospital and you know I'd be more than interested in investing in something like that."
"You would?" asked a surprised Greg who had been following the two men as they made their way towards the car park.
Though his surprised reaction was immediately stifled when Ross elbowed him in the ribs.
"I don't know." Barry replied shrugging
"How bout this, Ross proposed, lets meet for drinks tonight and we will discuss it in detail?"
"Yeah sure" Barry replied still not fully convinced as he handed Ross his business card
"But, I have a party to attend to tonight so can we meet up by 7" Barry continued
"Sure, how's the pool side bar the Chariot Hotel" Ross asked
"Wow, you're staying at the Chariot too, well isn't it a small world, I'm in Room 607, so, I guess I'll see you tonight Mr. Geller."
"Sure, see ya!"
Ross turned around smiling at a dumbfounded looking Greg, something about the mischievous smile that was painted on Ross's face told him that he knew what he was doing, but what exactly it was-was only known to him.
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"Mom, Dad, this is Ross." Barry said introducing Ross to his parents, the pool side meeting had gone well; well it was more a case of Barry not being able to say no to the huge sum of money Ross was willing to invest in their little project. Having come to a verbal agreement about the nitpicks of the deal. Barry did not hesitate to send an invite to Ross for the gathering later that evening they were having with his fiancé's family and the few relatives who had made the trip.
After exchanging pleasantries with Mr. and Mrs. Farber, Barry led Ross to a table where a young women clad in a lavender colored form fitting dress that stopped just below her knees, with golden brown hair was sitting alone looking extremely bored.
Noticing the two men approaching she put on a clumsy smile and turned her attention towards them as Barry introduced Ross
"Ross this is my sister, Katie."
"Hey" Ross greeted offering his hand
"Wow" she let out, thankful that it had come out soft enough that only she herself had heard it.
Ross was still holding out his waiting for her to reciprocate for what seemed like a lifetime. She finally pulled herself out of the rendezvous her eyes had established with his deep dark brown ones, offering actually grabbing his hand with both of hers.
Barry stifled a chuckle seeing his usually suave sister act like a 15 year old in front of the handsome stranger.
"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Barry pulling her sister away
"Sure" Ross relied with a sly smile gracing his lips
"What?" Katie asked frustration apparent in her voice, though she was not sure whether it was over Barry pulling her away or the way she was ogling over the man who was looking oh so good in that black Armani Suit.
"Calm down all right, what's with you today, developing a little crush on him are ya!" Barry teased
"Shut up" she replied in that high squeaky voice that always signified a woman was lying
"All right whatever, now can you do me a favor and keep him company for tonight, he's a really important business client and try to act like a grown up and not some love smitten high school girl."
Katie had already turned around halfway through the statement was walking excitedly away from Barry, she had been having a horrible time in Hawai away from all her friends for two weeks, at least now she would have someone to talk to and who knows if things went well, maybe more.
"Hey, she whispered almost seductively, sorry about that."
"No, problem." For some reason he too was starting to get nervous.
"So?"
"So..." he replied back raising his eyebrows and stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.
After a few nervous gazes into his eyes she finally spoke up "Well, I've been given the task of keeping you company for the rest of evening" Nervously tucking a strand of her golden tendrils that had fallen in front of her hazel eyes behind her ear.
"Uh-huh" Ross responded
"So, you're stuck with me then for the rest of the evening" she attempted at a joke trying to lighten up the awkwardness that seemed to have enveloped the two.
"Well, I could do a lot worse." Ross replied back smiling endearingly at her attempt to get a conversation going.
Damn she was Charming.
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It wasn't long before the Green Family arrived at the party and after the long drawn out greetings that are usually associated with when relatives meet up for marriages.
Barry had finally caught up with Rachel who had been sitting glumly at a corner table with her little sister Jill, she had planned to meet up with Ross that afternoon, but the plans hadn't materialized.
"Hey" he greeted offering her a drink, to which she just nodded and took the drink from his outstretched hand without even looking at him.
"Everything okay?" he asked sounding concerned, but he really wasn't and that showed in his demeanor because when asked her that he was already gesturing something towards his friends and the funny thing was Rachel knew he wasn't really concerned so she just shook her head to signal a "No". And his nonchalance was confirmed when he didn't divulge any further into the matter.
"Come on, he said as he motioned for her to get up, I want you to meet a few people."
Barry dragged Rachel around introducing her to his and his Father's business associates; she put on a fake smile and turned around every once in a while giving Jill the look that said "save me"
"Where's Katie?" Rachel enquired, if there was one person she liked in the Farber family it had to be her, she's was so much fun to be around and the only one Rachel could really say she connected to in this Family.
"She's here, Barry said looking around, somewhere." "Oh there she is" he continued as he spotted Katie sitting at a table up front.
Barry escorted Rachel over to the table as the two girls exchanged hugs.
"Where's Ross?" Barry asked
"Who?" Rachel chimed in suddenly interested in Barry's question.
"Oh, he just went to get a drink." Katie answered back "and here he is" she continued
"Ross this is Rachel, Barry's fiancée and Rachel this is Ross, Barry's new business partner"
"Pleased to meet you Ms Greene" Ross said offering his hand with knowing smile and twinkle in his eye.
Rachel stood there stumped, millions of thoughts were racing through her mind, she definitely did not expect to run into him not tonight, she finally cut short her reverie shook his hand "Good to meet you too, Mr. Geller."
"Hey how did you know his last name?" Katie enquired perplexed she hadn't told him his last name and was pretty sure this was their first meeting
Before they could delve further into Katie's query though they were approached by Leonard Green.
"Hey Kids, how's everything going and who's this young man" he asked as he eyed Ross from head to toe.
Ross immediately got a panicked look on his face; the beer stealing incident came screaming back to mind.
"Have I met you somewhere?" asked Leonard Green eyeing him up, he was searching for this face in his mind, he was sure he had seen this kid before he just couldn't place him where and when exactly right now.
"Damn the old man had a good memory!" Ross thought and immediately spoke up, "No, Sir, I'm sure we had you'd remember it, I'm sure I would have."
"This is Ross, Uncle Leo." Katie chimed in
"Oh, so you are the one who's helping Barry with the hospital here?"
"Yes, Sir" Ross replied more like stammered
"Ross this is Rachel's Dad, Leonard Green."
"Good to meet you, Sir" he finally said relieved he'd been able to form somewhat of a cohesive sentence
"Yeah, good to meet you too son, enjoy you're evening." He said before he asked Barry and Rachel to accompany him to meet some more guests.
"Gonna be much harder than you thought Ross!"
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Already working on the nxt part should be up soon and those of u interested in my other fic "Is Love Strong Enough" will be continuing that as well but after this, since I've lost the first two chapters of it, I'll have to re-write those……
P.S. I know this chap is kinda bland, but it's required… also haven't forgotten about M&C, they will be back in the nxt chap….