Ross was stretched out on his sofa, marking some of the papers his students had taken that week. He heard the sound of the rain patting against the window, he hated this weather as it was bad enough he felt down and depressed lately but even the weather was reflecting his mood, giving him another reason to just mope around and feel sorry for himself. Atleast if the sun was shining into the apartment, he could have something to look at which made him feel positive about the world outside, and he wouldnt have to stay inside at night all the time, he was so used to just sitting in the coffeeshop that staying inside gave him a feeling of cabin fever.
As he put the pen to the paper, he tried to focus on the grade he was supposed to be giving these students, he couldnt quite concentrate and every now and then he would have to turn the page back to see how many marks they had gained, his head was all over the place. He had even once wrote the letter R on one of the papers, possibly to begin writing the name Rachel, but he had stopped himself when he realised the purpose of his job, otherwise he might aswell resign now.
As he reached the final paper, he let out a sigh. He had enjoyed doing these papers even more than usual as they had kept him busy, they hadnt kept his mind off Rachel completely but marking them had almost reminded him that atleast he still had a good career, things could be worse.
He poured himself another glass of wine as he completed the papers, he sipped the wine and then placed it down on the coffeetable, not realising that he had spilled it over some of the papers. He had been drinking for a few nights now this week, he never was a heavy drinker or even a drinker at all but he had enjoyed coming home from work and sitting with a bottle of wine next to him. 'Oh shoot...'. Ross yelled as he realised the pool of wine on the coffeetable which had stained a few of the papers. 'Why why why...' He asked himself, he threw his pen on the floor and buried his face into his hands. 'Pull yourself together Ross..' he told himself, slurring his words as he spoke. He refused to admit to himself that he was drunk, that would be an even bigger reason to hate himself, he was a lecturer and his job was to mark these papers but now he had gone and spilt his wine over them because of his drunken state. He stood up from his chair, feeling a slight head rush as he did so, then he quickly ran to the kitchen to grab a cloth, even though he knew the cloth wouldnt vanish the stain on the papers but he could still save the table.
As he approached the kitchen, he walked over to the sink area where the cloth was placed, he picked it up and for a moment his eyes were drawn to the fridge next to him, there were pieces of paper stuck on the fridge which were mostly paintings and letters from Emma, there was one with her handprints painted on it, he remembered that day perfectly, the three of them, him, Rachel and Emma had stayed in on a rainy afternoon and just painted and had fun. There was a piece of paper with all three of their hands on, his and Rachel's were closely next to eachother and Emma's was just above theirs.
Then he noticed another painting, it was Emma's drawing of Ross and Rachel, it looked nothing like them but the effort was noticeable, Emma had always been a fast learner as she was only 1 years old when she had painted it alone, he thought about seeing his daughter now and the thought excited him, she would probably look older than she did the last time as that was what happened with children. The biggest fear he had was if Emma ever forgot who he was, as there was times when Ben as a younger child hadnt called him Daddy, that killed him, as he knew the confusion of having two mummy's must have been terrible for Ben, but it wasnt surprising that Ben sometimes didnt know who Ross was as there were times when he didnt see his son for a month. He knew the same would happen with Emma, but the good thing was that he knew Rachel would never stop him seeing her, and he still had a chance of her coming back to him, she had said that she missed him. And god, he missed her too. He would give anything to just be with her now, anything at all.
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She hadnt been on a date for atleast 2 years, the thought of a man treating her for the night felt quite new to her this evening as she recieved a bunch of flowers to her home from her date tonight. The gesture was sweet, a little forward maybe for someone who had only known her for a week, but she thought it was nothing but sweet. 'I want to thank you for those flowers you sent to my apartment Joshua,they are so beautiful...' She told him as they sat down at the restaurant together, him taking off her jacket then pulling out the chair for her, like a true gentleman. 'I just wanted to do something for you, I thought you would maybe think I was being a bit...well...forward by sending you flowers...'.
'Its only flowers, its nothing huge so I dont see it as being too forward, they were beautiful anyway...'.
'Beautiful flowers for a beautiful young lady..'. He smiled.
'Young? Huh...I'd like to think so, but sometimes I dont feel it...'.
'Well you certainly look it' He told her. He then passed her the menu, 'This is my treat...so pick anything you like Rachel...'.
'I cant let you...'.
He interupted quickly. 'Hey..I want to treat you, please...' He insisted. So she agreed, she wasnt going to argue. It was a nice change.
'Ok then, if you insist...' She laughed. She opened up the menu to have a look for something she fancied tonight, she felt a spark of excitement inside her as she glanced quickly over to Joshua who was looking in his menu, he was so cute. She laughed again.
'Whats funny?' He asked.
'Nothing...'. She lied.
'No..go on'. He told her.
She felt embarrassed now. She would just make up some lie, she couldnt tell him the truth by saying she was smiling over his adorable features and personality. 'Well, I was just thinking to myself...Im really happy about being here, I wasnt laughing at anything really...just amused over how well things are going, and I was just looking over at you thinking what a nice man you are, and Im quite happy to have met you...' She told him.
He smiled. 'Thats nice to hear, and you know what...I feel the same' He told her, his eyes twinkled as he told her this, she couldnt quite believe she was feeling this way over somebody she hardly knew, she had always heard stories about people feeling an automatic spark with somebody but she had never really experienced it herself, she started to think about Ross as she looked back in her menu. Their relationship had been totally different and unique in its own way, they had been friends first so it wasnt love at first sight, she wondered what he would think if he saw her now. He would probably be shocked and upset, but he would have to get on with it if things did develop with her and Joshua, the whole purpose of the move to Paris was to move on to a new job, and also find a new life away from New York.
'You decided?' Joshua asked her as he closed his menu. She had been staring into space for a few moments now. 'Rachel? Are you ok?' He asked as he noticed her staring into space. She snapped herself out of it, 'Oh...Im sorry, I was just...'.
'Are you ok?' He asked again.
She nodded. 'I think so, I was just thinking about things...'. She told him, she hadnt yet told him anything about the people she had left behind in Paris, including Ross. She thought maybe now was the time. 'Well, I was thinking about...my life back in New York, theres a few things that I left behind...'.
'Oh I see...Well, why dont we order then you can tell me all about it huh?' He asked her.
She nodded. 'Ok, I'll tell you everything you should know...' She smiled.
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