Disclaimer: I don't own Friends.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've hit writer's block in terms of this story, since I had mapped everything out,but I'm at the end of the notebook I'd jotted my storyline down in, uncompleted. I need time to consider how to continue on from here, how long I want the story to last (I'd rather not prolong it so it becomes really boring, but I don't want to end it just yet because I'm really liking this 'what if'), etc. Also, my real life is taking nearly all of my attention, so I don't know when my next update will be. Not for awhile, I'm sad to admit.
These reviews keep me smiling and motivate me to write a little more every time I see them.
XXX
Rachel opened her eyes sluggishly as sunlight filtered through the window and into the room.
A new day.
Slowly, she collected her thoughts. Memories of the previous night came back to her.
Which made her remember where she was.
And made her realize she'd broken one of the first rules on her 'dating do's and don'ts' list: never sleep with a guy on the first date.
Of course, there hadn't even been a date, unless you count hanging out at a coffee shop with four other people as a date. Which she didn't.
Damn.
Ross was beside her, sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. One of his arms was swung over her stomach.
She had meant to stop at that incredible second kiss last night. Or, at least stop by the seventh or eighth.
She was so bad at sticking to a plan sometimes.
Rachel and Ross had somehow kept the kiss going for quite some time, and before she knew it, they were stumbling back into his bedroom, clothes were being strewn about, and, well, as they say, the rest is history.
Monica was going to grill her so much on the reason why she didn't return to the dorm last night.
Rachel didn't regret it. No, she'd decided when Ross kissed her for the second time that she was going to make sure she didn't regret anything she did when it came to him.
But right now, she was feeling pretty trampy.
She had flashbacks to high school. Sure, she'd only had sex for the first time at the beginning of her senior year (and with Chip, no less), but after that, she'd made the most of the rest of the year, and every time she and Chip were broken up, she'd easily get another guy.
It hadn't been that many, but it was still enough to make her feeling a little ashamed in the present day.
Ross stirred, and his eyes blinked open slowly. When he caught sight of who his bedmate was, he looked confused at first, but then smiled a little. "Morning."
"Morning," Rachel replied quietly, feeling like she had to whisper or otherwise someone would hear them.
He noticed her hesitation and propped his head up on his hand, resting his elbow against the bed. "So, uh… this was kind of crazy."
"Kind of," Rachel agreed.
"Are you sorry we did… that?"
Rachel shook her head. "No. I'm just sort of wishing we maybe could have gone on a date first."
Ross nodded, deep in thought. "Yeah."
Glancing about the room, Rachel pushed some stray hair out of her face. "Maybe I should get going."
"Alright," he agreed.
The two got up and retrieved their clothes. Rachel dressed quickly, embarrassed.
Ross walked her to the door and opened it for her. She stood in the doorframe. "So." After that word, she waited. For what, exactly, she wasn't too sure. A promise to see her later? An ask-out? Maybe a dinner invite? Telling her he'll call her? Anything.
"Have a good day," he said slowly.
Rachel sighed to herself, turned, and began down the hallway. Maybe he was thinking she wasn't worth the wait?
Last night had been… well, amazing, to put it simply. If she had known what she had been missing all these years, she would've jumped Ross sooner. Did he think she wasn't that good? She'd always prided herself for her talents at… the stuff.
"Rachel!" he called before she could turn the corner towards the stairs, startling her out of her thoughts, which were quickly becoming quite dirty.
"What?" she asked, turning towards him.
Ross took a noticeable breath, and then exclaimed, in a rush, "I want you to be my girlfriend!"
He really didn't need to yell it for the whole floor to hear, but he did anyways. And even though she should have reprimanded him for disturbing his neighbors at this early hour, all Rachel could do was run back to him and throw her arms around his neck.
He kissed her once, twice, three times before he got a word in. "So is that a yes?" he asked, breathless.
Rachel laughed. "No. I just love to kiss guys when I'm rejecting them," she joked.
Ross held her out a bit and scrutinized her. "I'm serious. I want you to be my girlfriend."
"How formal," she commented, then said, "Well, I want you to be my boyfriend, so this works out pretty well." She smiled. "You know, I was about to leave here mad at you."
"Yeah, I guess it took me awhile to build up the courage to ask," Ross replied shyly.
"I'm glad you did," Rachel confided, giddy. She checked her watch. "Okay, um, I should really go, because Monica's probably already calling every person we know, trying to find out where I am."
Ross nodded in understanding and let her out of his arms. However, he still bent over to peck her on the lips. "I like being able to do that."
Rachel giggled, still feeling on top of the world from moments before. She started down the hallway, but called back, "You know what the best thing about this is?"
"What?"
"Well, we don't have to worry about sex," she said with a wink, and then departed.
The coming day looked like it was going to be a good one.
XXX
"Where were you! God, Rach, you freaked me out! I thought Ross was just walking you home! What happened! Did you two make up! Were you mugged! Is Ross okay!"
Rachel blinked as she entered her dorm, Monica in a pouncing position, shooting questions a mile a minute.
"Mon, Mon!" she called over her friend's exclamations. "Calm down, geez." She plopped down on her bed, still dazed.
Monica sat down on her own bed, watching Rachel. "Well? Are you okay?"
"I'm perfect," Rachel said.
"So you two made up?"
"You could say that."
"What does that mean?"
"It means your brother asked me to be his girlfriend."
"Oh my God!"
Monica jumped up from her bed and rushed over to her best friend, who also stood, and the two women danced around the room together, squealing girlishly.
"This is great!" Monica decided loudly as they both collapsed, side-by-side, on Rachel's bed.
Rachel nodded. "This is very great. Mon, your brother is just… there are no words. And he isn't too bad at-"
"Okay, whoa, too much information!" Monica yelled, cutting Rachel off.
As Monica babbled on about something-or-other, Rachel took the moment to reflect. She'd spent the last three months in a miserable depression over Ross. And in less than twenty-four hours, all of that had been flipped around, and now she felt like the happiest person in the world. She'd never experienced anything like what she was feeling now before.
It was something she was looking forward to getting used to.
Wanting to spread her joy, she told her roommate, "We should ask Phoebe if she wants to go out to dinner sometime, so we can get to know each other."
"Good idea," Monica agreed with a nod.
It didn't matter to Rachel that she was just twenty-one, a senior in college without a job, still attempting to redeem herself for how she had acted for the first eighteen years of her life.
She had Ross. And now that it was official, she was never planning on letting him go.
That fact didn't scare her at all anymore.
XXX
Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe made a dinner-date for the following weekend. The guys had said they were going to have a "boy's night", whatever that meant. Contemplating her hair in the mirror, Rachel reflected on their new friends, who were already fitting right in to the previously-established group.
Phoebe was kind of spacey, out-there, and said many weird things, but she was still fun and amusing, and actually quite normal for a person who lived on the streets for a long time. Joey, Rachel had noticed from the first time she'd met him, was definitely a womanizer. He was good-looking, and could really turn up the charm if he wanted to. He wasn't too bright, but Rachel guessed that most of the women he was going after didn't really care about that. He was the kind of guy she would've dated high school.
It had only been one week (or seven days, or approximately 168 hours, or roughly 10080 minutes, or around 604800 seconds) since she and Ross had officially become a couple. September 2nd was now their anniversary.
Not that Rachel cared that much about dates. Except, she did care with Ross, because she was hoping they would be celebrating this date for years to come. Not that she was a hopeless romantic (she was).
They'd tried to make time for each other during the week, but it had been difficult, between her beginning classes and him working extra hours at the museum to make some more money. In the end, Rachel and Ross had only met up three times over the course of the last seven days.
Their first, real date was set for tomorrow, and Rachel couldn't be more nervous.
She put that behind her as Monica finished applying lip gloss and threw it into her purse. "Let's go," she said to Rachel, who nodded, grabbed her own handbag, and shut the door behind them.
They'd decided to meet outside of the small restaurant they were planning to eat in, located only a few blocks away from the dorm.
"So, did Chandler say what they were going to do tonight?" Rachel questioned as she and Monica headed down the darkening street. Fallen leaves crinkled under their feet.
"Not really. Just that they were going to hang out at the apartment, order pizza or something," Monica replied. She glanced towards her best friend. "Hey, tomorrow's the night, huh?"
"Yeah," Rachel nodded, grinning just at the thought.
"So should I, uh, be expecting you to come back to the dorm?" Monica asked, trying to sound cool and casual and instead coming off as eager and not-so-subtle.
Rachel sighed. "Yes."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I decided over the week that I want to take things slow with Ross."
"But you two slept together already."
Sending a glare towards Monica, Rachel shook her head. "I know. I just mean… that happened so fast, you know? I want things to go slower now. I don't want to feel rushed."
"Good," Monica decided as they came upon the restaurant. Phoebe was waiting outside, playing the guitar, her case sitting open in front of her.
"Oh, hey guys!" she called when she finished her odd song and saw the two other women. "Oh, thanks," she said to a man that passed by and threw some change into her guitar case.
"Uh… watcha doin' there, Phoebe?" Monica asked slowly.
Phoebe cocked her head to the side. "I'm playing my guitar. Is it hard to tell?" The question was posed so honestly that Rachel didn't have the heart to retort something back.
"No, never mind," Rachel waved off, as Monica blinked.
"Okay, let me just pack up, and then we'll be set," Phoebe told them, and after she emptied the case of the money and placed the guitar inside, said, "Alright."
Once settled at their table, with Phoebe's guitar case set down against the wall they were next to, Rachel asked the question she and Monica had been dying to know all week.
"So, Phoebe, did you and Joey ever…" she trailed off, but raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Phoebe smiled a little and shrugged. "I don't usually kiss and tell…"
"Oh! You guys so hooked up!" Monica declared triumphantly.
"Oh, no," Phoebe said. "I mean, once we kissed, but it was a friendly thing. I could never do that with Joey. I'm just not attracted to him in that way."
Rachel lifted an eyebrow as she perused the menu. "Oh, really? Well, what's your type?"
Phoebe considered. "Eh, it depends on their aura. As I always say, you should never date a guy with a murky aura."
Monica nodded. "Oh." The three sat in companionable silence for a moment, before Monica said, "This is nice. Just us girls. Usually it's just me and Rachel, but it's good to have a third person."
"Wow, do you guys not have any other friends?" Phoebe asked, completely serious.
The waiter came at that moment, and each put in their order.
"So tell us a little about yourself, Pheebs," Rachel said as their server was leaving the table. "We haven't gotten to ever really talk."
Phoebe grinned. "Okay! Well, um, my name's Phoebe Buffay, and I'm from New York-"
"How 'bout the smaller details?" Monica asked.
"Oh, well, okay," Phoebe agreed. "Uh, my mother killed herself when I was fourteen and left me and my twin sister to fend for ourselves."
"Oh, that's horrible," Rachel interjected, surprised.
"Yeah, it was sad. But also good, in a way! Like, uh, so, y'know, after she died, my step-dad was still in prison and my father walked out on us when we were little, so me and Ursula kind of went our separate ways, and I came into the city, and really learned some valuable things while I was living on the streets. I met some nice people, learned a little bit of French, and now I can really appreciate life much more!"
Monica touched Phoebe's arm. "That's all… incredible. How'd you end up living with your grandmother?"
"Oh, she had been living in Florida and didn't realize me and Ursula were on our own, so eventually she figured it out and moved to the city and let us live with her. Ursula moved out pretty quick after that, but I'm still with her! And, well, I met Joey, and now I'm working at a massage place a few blocks from my apartment."
"That's quite a story." Rachel could hardly believe that this eccentric woman sitting across from her had gone through all those terrible things.
"Eh, it happens to everybody," Phoebe waved off. "So, what's going on with you and Ross?"
Rachel couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face at the mention of his name. "Actually, we just decided to date a week ago."
"Yeah, I know that, but I want the juicy details. Fill me in!" Phoebe demanded good-naturedly.
"Well, we've known each other for as long as I've known Monica, so that's… a long time." Rachel couldn't even keep track of the years anymore. "And so while we were growing up he had a major crush on me, but I was sort of…"
"A self-absorbed bitch," Monica put in helpfully.
Rachel glared at her for only a second before continuing. "Right. So anyways, I didn't really give him the time of day, and, well, my boyfriend didn't show up to go to our senior prom, so Ross offered to take me, and he did, and we just had fun. And I guess, ever since then, I'd kind of started developing feelings for him and, now, here we are."
Phoebe nodded. "Wow! Talk about a fairy-tale story! Except in this case, Ross is the heroine." She turned to Monica. "So, what about you and Chandler?"
"Yeah," Rachel chimed in. "You've never really told me the story of how you two got together."
Monica blushed and re-folded her napkin. "Uh, well, y'know, when I first met him I liked him, but he was a big jerk so I stopped liking him, but since he was Ross' best friend we kept bumping into each other. When we started college and you and Ross became better friends," Monica nodded to Rachel, "we all hung out together a lot more, and, well, pretty soon our arguing wasn't actually meant to be hurtful, and it turned into flirting, and I started liking him again, and then right before your dad died we were just hanging out and there was one of those moments… and then he kissed me, which was very un-Chandler of him to do. So after that we sort of… got together, but then your dad died and we didn't want to say anything… and then you found out," Monica finished.
Rachel was surprised at this new revelation. Ever since her father's death nearly a year ago, she'd been so wrapped up in her own little world that she'd never gotten around to wondering when, how, or why her two friends got together. And now that she'd heard this story, she was beginning to question how she'd been acting as a friend lately; if she hadn't put aside enough time for "girl time", just two best friends hanging out. Now that Phoebe had joined the group, Rachel knew her time with Monica would be even more limited, and all at once, it hit her how much their lives were changing so rapidly.
"So, Pheebs, no meat?" Monica asked, casually switching topics.
"Oh, yeah, I'm a vegetarian."
"Really?"
"Yeah! I mean, animals are so cute and furry! I could never eat one, especially because I'd just be picturing their sad little faces while I took a big bite out of a part of their grilled or broiled or chopped up dead corpse."
Rachel set down the iced tea she had been about to drink. "Wow. I'm so going to try to forget that whole statement while I eat my chicken."
The three fell into easy conversation, finding new things to talk about just as quickly as the last one had ended.
And though their lives were changing so quickly that Rachel almost felt like she couldn't keep up, she grinned as Monica and Phoebe bantered good-naturedly about music and looked forward to what was in store for them.
XXX
"So, you're with Rachel, huh?" Joey asked Ross as the three guys dug into their freshly-delivered pizza.
"Uh, yeah," Ross nodded through bites.
"Slept with her yet?" Joey questioned bluntly.
Ross blushed a little but shrugged. "Uh, yeah," he repeated.
"Cool."
"You, uh, seeing anyone?" Ross thought he was asking a normal question, and was surprised when Joey started laughing.
"Joey doesn't really "see" anyone, so much as sleep with them and then never call them," Chandler informed his best friend.
"Oh," Ross nodded.
Chandler cleared his throat. "So. Anyone up for some foosball?" He indicated the table they were using to eat on. The other two agreed.
And their male bonding was as simple as that.
XXX
A/N II: The last two scenes seem familiar? Ipurposely mirroredthem to the talks in TOW The List, with the girls getting into the details and the guys being... well, guys.