Disclaimer: I don't own Friends.
A/N: Thanks for the encouragement!
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"So, how'd the break-up go?" Ross asked as casually as possible as he slid onto the bench across from Rachel. The four had gone to a local ice cream parlor that had picnic tables outside during the summer.
Rachel took the spoon out of her mouth and glanced at her friend. Monica and Chandler were still inside, "arguing" over what was better: a cone or a cup. She knew they were just using it as an excuse to flirt.
"It went okay. He understood." Ross nodded, and Rachel sighed. "I just don't know why I do this. I haven't dated a guy longer than six months since high school! And even then, you know, he was cheating on me."
Remembering that made Ross want to kick Chip's ass. He'd never actually do it, of course, but it was the thought that counted. "Maybe you haven't found the right guy yet. You're only going into junior year of college, you have time," he joked.
"I know," Rachel agreed, taking another bite of her cookie dough ice cream. They were quiet for a few minutes, before Rachel became curious. "So do you think Carol is the right girl for you?"
Ross was thrown off by this question. He'd been dating Carol for so long that it'd just become almost an after-thought, like writing with his right hand, or shaving. He knew being with someone wasn't supposed to be like that.
"I, uh, I don't know," he said honestly. "I mean I'm not thinking of marriage or anything. She's just… my girlfriend."
Rachel tilted her head to the side, and some of her golden hair fell over her eyes. Ross resisted the urge to reach out and tuck the strands back behind her ear.
"So do you not see a future with her?"
Sighing, Ross shrugged. "I, uh, I really don't know." He knew. He'd always unconsciously seen a future with one specific girl, and she just happened to be sitting across from him at that very moment.
"Wow, look at that sunset," Monica commented as she and Chandler exited the ice cream parlor and joined their friends at the picnic table, girls on one side, boys on the other.
Chandler glanced at her. "That's such a girl thing to say." He looked back at the sky. "Oh, wow, the pink-y color is amazing!"
The three others chuckled at him, but Ross was still preoccupied with Rachel's question. Why was he still with Carol if he didn't see a future?
Because she's a safe bet, he answered himself. Ross looked across the table to study Rachel.
He wondered if he'd ever work up the nerve to take a chance, or if he'd stay in the same place for the rest of his life.
XXX
Monica knew the weekend wasn't going to turn out well the second she opened the Geller's front door to find her brother's girlfriend on the other side Friday afternoon. Especially when she had to tell Carol that she didn't know exactly where Ross was, but that he had said he was going somewhere with Rachel.
Jack and Judy had gone away for a long weekend and left their two children home alone, figuring everything would be fine, since both were in college. They probably hadn't counted on having not only their two kids at home, but also two best friends and one girlfriend.
Feeling as if she must, Monica waited with Carol. Chandler had said he'd return to the Geller's house in early evening with a change of clothes, and Monica had asked Rachel if she wanted to stay with them so the four could play house while Jack and Judy were gone. Ross had somehow forgotten to mention his girlfriend was going to be showing up, also.
"Want something to drink?" Monica offered as she and Carol entered the kitchen.
"Uh, sure," Carol nodded, leaning against a counter. "Did Ross say when he'd be back?"
"Uh, no," Monica replied, glad she was turned away from the other woman.
She stirred the lemonade mix into the water slowly, feeling guilty. Monica knew Carol had always felt slightly jealous of Ross's relationship with Rachel, even though the two had only really become friends right before Ross had started dating Carol. Of course, that might have been the problem.
Pouring the lemonade into a glass, Monica turned back around and handed the beverage to her brother's girlfriend. The two stood in uneasy silence.
The door opened across the house. "Honey, I'm home!" Chandler called.
Monica hid the smile he brought to her face. "In the kitchen!"
"Hey, there's this car outside, and it looks a lot like-" Chandler halted in the doorway, spotting the other person standing in the kitchen. "Well look! It's Ross's girlfriend, Carol!" He shot a confused look to his best friend's sister.
"Yeah, she came to spend the weekend with Ross!" Monica informed him, and she knew he was thinking the same exact thing: where were Ross and Rachel?
"Hey, Chandler," Carol said with a small wave. She looked back at Monica. "I'm uh, gonna go put my stuff in Ross's room."
Monica nodded, and Carol quit the room. Chandler shot her a smile, but once she was gone, looked back at his friend. "Spend the weekend? Did we know about this?"
"No," Monica replied, putting the lemonade pitcher in the fridge. "She just showed up half an hour ago. Oh, it was so awkward! And you know how I hate awkwardness!"
"Well, sure, I mean the awkwardness is always just so darn awkward!" Chandler quipped. He became mock-serious. "Does this mean we're not having a fun weekend? Because I used this as an excuse to get out of visiting my father and his newest male lover!"
Monica waved him off. "No, we'll just… include Carol."
Chandler sighed. "I haven't hung out with Carol since the Christmas party last year, and let me tell you, we did not have fun! I almost ate her hand!" At Monica's confused looked, Chandler shrugged. "It's a long and painful story."
"Suck it up," Monica said as she passed him to enter the living room. "And shave off that thing growing on your face, while you're at it!" She may have liked him, but she didn't need to like his goatee.
XXX
Ross opened the door to his bedroom slowly. It was almost six-thirty; he and Rachel had lost track of time when they went for a drive, and she had insisted that he stop so she could check one or two stores for a specific shirt she was looking for. They had ended up going into eleven stores.
Monica and Chandler had ambushed him when he'd walked in the door, telling him that Carol was there. So now here he was.
"Hey," he said when he spotted her examining a science fair trophy he'd received in junior high.
She looked up. "Hey, Ross." She looked back down at the trophy, not sounding pleased. "You have fun with Rachel?"
He approached slowly. "Well, uh, her parents have been fighting a lot lately, so I suggested we take a drive to clear her head. I didn't realize what time it was."
Carol turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ross, what are we doing?"
Ross tried to play dumb. "We're… standing in my bedroom. Alone," he added, trying to ease the tension with some seduction.
She shook her head. "You know what?" Pausing, Carol glanced at him, then averted her eyes. "Never mind."
"Uh… okay," Ross said, confused. "You wanna go downstairs? We're ordering pizza." He extended his hand for hers.
Carol was quiet for a short time, obviously weighing something in her mind. Finally, she took his outstretched hand and followed him downstairs.
"Ah, you've come to join us!" Chandler said as Ross and Carol entered the living room. "We were debating whether you were upstairs doing it or not."
Monica smacked his arm. "No, we weren't, and ew! That's my brother!"
Rachel smiled at Carol, oblivious to what the other woman was feeling towards her at that moment: jealousy. "We're getting cheese, pepperoni, and some Hawaiian thing Mon wants to try."
"It's the closest I'm going to get to the island," Monica defended.
XXX
Ross had gotten Carol to sneak back up to his room with him when the other three had drifted off in the living room. They had spent some quality "alone time" together, and now Ross lay beside his girlfriend in his bed in his childhood room. He turned slightly to watch her sleep, since that's what happened in most movies and on TV after people had had sex.
Instead of making up a poem in his head about how beautiful she was when she slept, however, Ross's thoughts drifted to the people downstairs. Well, one person, really.
He'd never watched Rachel sleep before, either (not that he'd ever had the chance), and he wondered if she cuddled up close or stuck to her side, like Carol. He wondered if she sighed a little in her sleep sometimes, or if she dreamed peacefully. He wondered if she hogged the blankets, or was more of a covers-sharing type of girl.
And with those thoughts he knew. He needed to take a chance; leave the safety zone he had been waiting in for over a year. Next to him was the house, but downstairs in the living room was the home.
Rolling over so he was once again facing the ceiling, Ross breathed deeply.
He wished he wasn't such a coward.
XXX