[You guys, I'm sooooo sorry for the delay!!!!!! I was really busy for the last couple weeks! So without further delay.....]

That Summer-Chapter 5

(Skip ahead 3 weeks)

Rachel sat on her living room couch, anxiously waiting for the phone to ring. It was Wednesday, May 26th, and she was officially on summer vacation, and also she officially had seniority over all of Larkin High. That Monday and Tuesday she had taken her final exams, and that morning she had gone to school for a half an hour to get her locker cleaned out and say goodbye to her school friends. Now Rach was sitting at home, alone, because Jill's middle school went until Friday afternoon. And also both her parents worked. So she had free reign over the Green house until her little sister got off the bus at 3:30. Rachel couldn't be more excited.

All of the sudden the phone rang. Rachel excitedly scrambled to pick it up, because she knew who it was. "Hello?" she said calmly. "Hey Rach!" her best friend's voice sounded on the other end. "Mon! How are you?" Monica was in the same school predicament as Rachel was. Guilford (the Rockford school I have Mon going to) got out that morning as well. Rachel got all excited again. "Great!" Monica sounded as excited as Rachel felt. "I should ask the same to you Rach! Why are you all excited?" "Well, the fact that I'm on summer vacation, my little annoying sister gets off the bus at 3:30, my parents are both at work, I have the house to myself, and I'm officially a SENIOR!! Oh yeah!!" Rachel exclaimed. "How do you feel Mon? Senioritis kickin' in yet?" "Hell yeah you know it girl!" Monica also exclaimed. The two girls basked in their excitement for another moment, then the conversation changed topics.

"So Rach, got some good news for ya." Monica said once they had let out all their excitement. "Yeah?" Rachel asked, calming herself down. "Ross is back." She giggled a little, anticipating her friend's reaction. "Really?! Oh my god!!" Rachel's voice got all high and squeaky, and she could hear Monica softly laughing on the other end. "Yeah, I figured you would react that way. He got back to UW (University of Wisconsin- Whitewater) this morning and he just got back home." she explained. Rachel could feel her heart start to flutter. Ross was back. She was beyond excited. Then, jokingly, Mon asked, "You want to talk to him? I can go get him for ya." Rachel laughed, partly because of Mon's humor and partly because of her giddiness. "No way!! I don't even know what I'm gonna say when I see him up at the Lake yet!"

Monica loved how happy her friend felt, what with all Rachel's teenage flirty giggles on the other line and everything, but all the while she kept thinking to herself how she was going to break the news to her. "Rach?" Mon asked nervously, afraid of possibly breaking a little of her friend's heart. Rachel was so into Ross, and Monica felt bad about what she was having to tell her. "Yeah?" Rachel giggled. "Ross, he......." Mon went ahead and just said it, not sure of Rach's reaction. "What? Ross he what?" Rachel could feel herself getting a little nervous. "He....came back with a girlfriend Rachel, I'm so sorry!" Monica felt sad for letting her down like that.

"Wh...what?" Rachel could feel her heart starting to plummet. So the guy she was starting to fall in love with had a girlfriend. "Great!' Rachel thought, depressed.

"How.....I mean when? How long have they been going out?" Rachel stuttered. Monica could hear Rachel's voice going from giddy to all sad and shaky, she felt awful. "About a week and a half, that's what he told me....Rachel, again, I'm so sorry. I wish I could break them up somehow, I really do." Mon apologized again. She felt so bad for her best friend, who was now on the verge of tears on the other end, she could hear it. "Wh...what's her name?" Rachel said between small sobs. "Oh my god sweetie, don't cry." Monica coaxed, but knew Rachel would just keep on crying. After all, the girl couldn't stop talking about him during the three weeks he was away. Her crush on him seemed pretty serious. What she didn't know was that Rachel was secretly in love with him.

"Her name's Carol, Rach." Mon answered. "Ugh, Carol. I hate that name. Besides, the girl behind that name stole my man. I was planning moves to put on him this weekend too, now I won't get to use them!" Rachel half groaned, half whined. "Well, if it's any consolation, you're a whole heck of a lot prettier than she is Rach" Rachel was touched by her friend's effort to console her, but she kept on sobbing. "Yeah, I was going to walk up to him, slide my hand through his sexy hair........." "Okay Rach, I know you're depressed, but I don't need details!" "Depressed Mon, try devastated!"

Monica's eyes widened at a sudden realization. The way Rachel had been acting, how sad she had gotten, the way she used devastated to describe how she felt...... "Rachel?" she asked. "Yeah?" Rachel responded through yet more sobbing. "Are...are you in love with Ross?" "Well, sort of." Rachel felt that if she didn't get off the phone and have a good cry in her room soon, she would burst. She had gone from excited, to happy, to giddy, to sad, to depressed, to devastated all with one phone call. "Oh my god Rach, why didn't you tell me? You're in love with my brother?" Rachel started full out crying and nodded her head yes on the other end.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall through her clouds of tears. '2:15. Yes, I still have an hour and 15 minutes until Jill gets home.' Rachel thought.

"Oh, Rachel, now I'm beyond sorry!" Monica coaxed again. She could hear Rachel full out crying on the other line. "Rachel, I'm gonna let you go, I don't think you should talk anymore. You're crushed." "Thanks, Mon." Rachel said gratefully. That's exactly what she wanted to do, have a good cry in her room. That's exactly what she needed to do. The two girls shared their goodbyes and Rachel hung up the phone angrily. "I hate you, Carol!!!" she screamed as she ran in her room, tears soaking her face.

Rachel laid on her bed, her tears soaking her pillow, as she listened to the front door slam. 'Uh-oh' She thought. 'Jill must've had a bad day.' She listened to her sister go in her room and pound her books down on her dresser. 'That's not good.' She thought again. She laid her head back down on the tear-stained pillow to wallow some more in her bad news.

'So, Ross has a girlfriend' Rachel started to cry again. 'And she's not me, man I want her to be me!' she thought, sobs escaping her once more. Out of a moment of desperation, she grabbed her magic 8 ball. She knew those things hardly were ever true, but she needed to at least get an answer from something: did she even have a chance with Ross Geller? So she asked the little black ball the question, closed her eyes and turned it over, hoping for a 'yes' answer of any kind. 'Will Ross and I be together at all in the future? Do I have a chance with him sometime?' she asked.

Upon turning it over, she saw most likely in the window, and her mind, as well as her heart, jumped at the answer.

She had a moment of excitement, but then realized those things hardly ever came true, it was just a ball's opinion, and tossed it aside. 'It's hopeless, Rach, just give it up. You and Ross will never be a couple." She threw the 8 ball away, sobbing quietly on her bed, grieving for the lover she never had.

But, little did Rachel Green know, fate said that her and Ross did have a chance. And that 'chance' would come sooner than she thought.

[So, I hope that was somewhat good and not too angsty. I just wanted to get the point across as to how strong Rachel's feelings for Ross are before I get into the main storyline, (which is a cookin' in my mind, I won't leave ya hangin!) And someone commented on how the story seems to be moving slow, just hang on. I'm sure more of you guys have thought that too. So thanks for hangin' in there with me and I think next chapter should start the storyline then. The next chappie is probably gonna be a montage-type thing of the weekends leading up to, and then it starts getting into.......4TH OF JULY WEEKEND!!!! (When I'm gettin the lobsters together, FINALLY!! I'll make the union extra juicy to reward you for staying with this) Plus, I'm still in the Fourth mode, so it should be fun to write. NEwayz.....Read and review please!! Yeah, so I think I'll stop this babbling and....I don't know.]

As always, Erin Geller :)