From Chapter 3:

"So Rach, are you coming inside or what?" Monica was holding the door open as Rachel brought herself back to reality. "Uh...yeah, sure." Rachel walked inside her friend's house and shut the door. And Monica silently wondered what Rachel's mind had been up to out there.

That Summer
 Chapter 4

Rachel began walking aimlessly around her friend's living room. "So, what's up, Rach?" Monica asked, snapping Rachel out of her fantasies. "I'm sorry, Mon, wh-what?" she said, shaking her head gently. "I asked you what's up, Rach, something's bothering you." 'Well, just the fact that I have a crush on your brother and I want to see him so badly, but I obviously can't because he's on a college trip! And for three weeks, that's like, forever!' she thought. "Oh, it's nothing Mon, don't worry." Rachel lied once again, sinking down into the couch. "Ok, then, I'm gonna go into the kitchen and get something to eat. You want anything?" Monica started to get up from her place beside Rachel on the couch. "No, thanks, I'm fine."

Once Monica was gone, Rach really dove into fantasies. She found herself plagued with thoughts about what kinds of moves she was going to put on Ross when she saw him again, which she figured would be Memorial Day weekend. And that was a long weekend, she'd have loads of time with him. The next thing she found herself thinking about was how he'd look when he got back. He'd looked absolutely adorable last year, Rachel didn't know why she hadn't noticed him earlier. 'I mean, you would picture a geeky science guy with red hair, big glasses and freaky pimples. But Ross, oh god...he's one absolute dream of a geek'... The things she most liked about Ross were his eyes. He had these warm chocolate brown eyes that she pictured vividly in her mind for a moment, and she completely melted. But before she could fantasize about anything else pertaining to her new object of affection.......

"Hey Rach, I'm back!" Monica sauntered into the living room, wearing a huge smile on her face. "What got you so excited?" Rachel almost laughed. "I just happen to have made myself the greatest sandwich!" Rachel smiled and giggled a little. Monica was so weird.

They were walking in the middle of a field of flowers, the only people within a mile of themselves.

"Isn't it beautiful out today?" Rachel turned her head sideways and looked at the man walking beside her, taking a deep contented breath. She was holding a bouquet of lilies, her favorite flower, which he had picked for her along the way.

"Not as beautiful as you, my love." He lifted her hand, fingers interlaced with his, and kissed the back of her palm.

"Oh Ross!" She giggled, entrancing him with a kiss that only grew more passionate with time.

"Oh, Ross!" Rachel jerked awake and sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes. She couldn't believe the dream she had just had about him. That meant.........

"How serious is this crush getting?" Rach wondered aloud. She looked at the beside clock, it's illuminating red the only source of light in the entire upstairs. 'It's 2:15 Rach, go back to sleep', her eyes seemed to tell her, they practically itched with tiredness. Her mind kept wanting to sit up and think, but her eyes eventually got what they wanted as she lay down and closed her eyes once more.

Rachel pulled on a pair of jean cutoffs and stumbled out of bed the next morning. Rubbing her eyes again, she glanced at the clock. 11:30, it read. 'Great', Rachel thought, 'I've slept through half the day!' She pulled on another one of her tank tops and staggered downstairs to greet the afternoon.

"Good morning, or should I say, afternoon Rach." Jill was in the living room watching TV, but switched it off as Rachel entered the room. "Morning, Jill." Rachel grunted. "Hey!" Jill said excitedly and nosily, "I heard you moan Ross's name last night!" She looked very giddy about it. "Yeah, well......" Rachel said distantly, trailing off. "So, you have a little crush on him, I knew it!" One of the things Jillian Green was always capable of: sticking her nose into other people's business. Rachel's eyes widened. "You heard that?" "Yeah, I heard it, you little lovebird. I wouldn't be surprised if Mom and Dad heard it too." Jill crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, god, mom and dad...." Rachel trailed again. "Yeah. Speaking of mom and dad, they're outside and they're gonna take me fishing on the be-autiful Rock Lake if you want to come." Jill kept her arms across her chest, waiting for her older sister to respond. "You know what, Jill, I'll pass." Rachel started to walk away to get some breakfast. "Oh, so you can be alone to fantasize about Ross some more?" Jill teased. Rachel rolled her eyes and walked away. She ignored her sister's remark, but knew that was exactly what she would be doing.

A little while later, after she had eaten breakfast and brushed her teeth, (you know, morning stuff), Rachel sat on the couch, trying to think of anything other than Ross. She thought of home and Illinois, but her thoughts trailed off to Rockford, where he lived. Then she thought about what lie ahead for her, but that only lead to thoughts about his college and the trip he had gone on.

So finally, she grabbed the TV remote that Jill had tossed aside earlier and turned on Music Choice. She flipped the channels to Hit List, because she thought some bumpin' hip-hop would let her get lost in the beat and stop thinking of him. She heard the annoyingly addicting stomp-clap of J-Kwon's "Tipsy" and decided this was definitely a very anti-thoughts-about-Ross-Geller channel. So she kept it on and all the sudden "Tipsy" faded and a new song came on. This one caught Rachel's attention. Not only because it was well, slower and not as hip-hop-y, but primarily because it was like someone wrote this and then put her in the scenario. It was exactly what last night had been for her.

I woke up last night, with that feelin' again,

It's a feelin' I get in the pit of my stomach, every now and then,

I sat there for a while thinkin' 'bout what could cause me to

keep on feelin' this way, yet all I could think about was you.

Why do you make me feel this way

(when I'm around you everything is OK)

You must have come from somewhere up above, I might be wrong but

I think I'm in love.........

And so the song played on, and Rachel's decision was proven otherwise. This was definitely not an anti-thoughts-about-Ross-Geller channel anymore, so she turned off the TV. Whatever she did, she couldn't get that brown-haired, brown-eyed hunk out of her mind. She loved it too, for some reason.

Interrupted from her thoughts, she heard the back door open and Jill come inside, followed by Sandra, then Leonard. "Mom, Dad, I caught the biggest fish! I'm so excited!" Jill ran toward the living room and practically screamed her news to Rachel. "Yeah, Jill, I heard you the first time you yelled." Rachel lifted herself off the couch. "I'm going down to Monica's ok guys?" No one was listening anyway, they were all caught up in the fishing conversation. So Rachel just opened the front door and left.

Rachel walked down the quiet street and looked around. There were usually kids left and right on this road, but yet somehow the silence that had settled over Elm Point pierced the air like a dart. That gave her more time to think. She stumbled over some words in her mind, trying to put together the perfect way to tell Ross about her current feelings for him. Nothing sounded exactly right to her. 'Oh well, I've got plenty of time to think about that. I'm not gonna see the guy for three weeks.' she told herself, but still felt sad when she thought about him being gone for that long. As she walked up to the Gellers' front door, she heard a police siren coming from across the lake. She disregarded it and opened the door.

"Rachel!" Judy Geller enveloped her in a hug as she stepped inside. "I haven't seen you yet, how are you darling?" "Pretty good." was all Rachel could say. "Is Monica home?" "Yeah she is, she's in her room." "Ok, thanks Mrs. Geller." Rachel went down a hallway and knocked on Monica's door.

"Rachel?" Monica guessed. "Yeah?" She answered. "Come in." Rachel walked in at Monica's invite, closed the door behind her and sat down on the bed. "What are you in here for?" Rachel wondered, looking around Monica's room. "I gotta finish some homework but I don't feel like it. I came in here, opened up my history book, but then closed it again. I'll do it when I get home." She explained.

"Ok, so let's talk. What's up?" Rachel prompted, laying down. "Not much. What's up with you? You never told me what you were so spaced out about last night." Rachel got all nervous, like maybe Monica suspected something, but blew it off and answered her. "You know what, it was nothing Mon, let's just drop it." "Yes it was, I asked you if you wanted in the house like four times and you were off in la-la land. Don't tell me it was nothing." "Let's just...." "No, come on, what was it?" Monica and Rachel battled the question for 10 minutes before Monica finally gave in to the fact that Rachel wasn't gonna tell her. Rachel felt relieved. She really wanted to tell Mon on her own time.

But all the sudden something caught her eye on Monica's dresser. It was a picture of her and Ross. It seemed like a pretty recent one, probably their Christmas picture together from last year. Her eyes fixated on the tall, brunette man on the right. 'Man, he is so HOT!" Rachel thought, and she couldn't stop staring at Ross. His bangs were flipped up and his hair was shorter.

"Oh my god Rachel Green!" Monica was almost laughing. "What?" Rach broke her eyes away from Ross's picture and turned to face her friend. "I know what you were spaced out about!" 'Oh no, here it comes.' she thought, preparing herself for the inevitable. "You have the hots for my brother, don't you?" Monica poked Rachel in the ribs. "Don't you?" "Not the hots, just a little crush." Rachel lied once more, knowing just how serious it was by the dream she had the night before. "Man, why didn't I guess?" Mon asked herself as she let out another small laugh. "Wow, you and Ross! Never saw this one, that I can assure you." "Ok, now you know. But please, don't let him, I want to tell him when I'm ready." "Rachel, don't worry, I won't tell." Mon assured her. Now I gotta pack."

Rachel looked at her questioningly. "Pack? Why?" she wondered. "Cause my mom and dad decided we're leaving tonight." Rachel let out a sigh. "Tonight, why?" "We have yardwork to do at home and my dad wants to start tonight." "Man, that sucks!" Rachel started to get up from the bed so Monica could be left alone to pack. She went up and hugged Mon. "Well, ok Mon, bye. It was nice to see you again." "Nice to see you too Rach." Monica said as she returned the embrace. "And try not to think about my geek brother too much ok?" Rachel laughed and nodded her head, but knew she would anyway.

Rachel stepped off the Gellers' porch after her long goodbye with Monica. She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she walked home, thinking about nothing in particular, and wondering what she was going to do for the rest of the weekend.

[So, there's the next chapter! (I didn't want to leave ya hangin' TOO long!!!) I hope you guys liked it. It was a bit longer than the other chapters, I know, like I said it was 4 pages on Microsoft Word. And the song lyrics I used in this chapter are from a song I wrote called "In Love". And once again, a big THANK YOU to the people who keep on reviewing this, like FriendsHolic. You guys are great, and thank you for making my first impression on this site a good one.]

:) Erin :)