This story takes place about the time of the third season . It is after the one with the Morning After. These characters are the property of Bright Kaufmann and Crane Productions…..as always …
The apartment was filled with silence. There was a certain stench in the air, you couldn't quite put your finger on it, but it existed. The silence was deafening , it covered the normally jovial place. The guns had been fired and the war was over. All that remained were the casualties.
Her light brunette hair covered her face , it hid the eyes that were so exhausted from crying. These eyes were now tightly closed and her lids were still moist from the pain. Her body was curled up on the couch , like she was searching for some kind of security. Sleep was her only means of escape. As long as she was asleep, she could hide from the terrible truth. She was now alone.
Behind the bar was a mirror. It was a typical neighborhood bar, only a few patrons sat at the stools. He made sure of that, he didn't feel like facing anyone. As he stared in the mirror, he noticed his hazel eyes were lined , his hair was messed up , almost like it was standing straight up. He also noticed the five o clock shadow on his chin, she had often said that is what made him sexy. The memory of her brought a slight smile to his face.
"Another one ?" the bar tender said as he took the glass from the man.
"Until I say stop." He said as he poured the amber liquid down and slammed the glass on the bar. He was looking for escape. He would have taken a gun to his head right now. He did the one thing that he thought he would never do and that was hurt her. The bartender returned and smiled. "Might help to talk about it." He snatched the glass from his hand and poured the burning liquid down his throat. "Nope ." he simply said. "If I drink enough , maybe I can stop the pain."
The old bald man nodded and put his arms on the counter. "It's got to be a woman." The man just smiled and then looked in the bottom of the glass as if he was looking for an answer in there. "It's a woman alright. But not just a woman, the woman. The woman I have dreamed of being with since I was fifteen years old, and last night I cheated on her." He said dropping his head.
"Pat." The bartender smiled and put out his hand to shake the young man's.
"Ross." He said simply, eager to have someone who wanted to be his friend after what he did.
"On a break, what kind of crap is that?' Monica said as she stirred the pancake batter. Her two regulars were seated at the table as she mixed up a brunch menu. "Only men can find an excuse to cheat." She said as she put her aggression into the mixture in the bowl.
"That is typical of a woman." Chandler scoffed as he sat there sipping his coffee.Joey was eagerly chewing his cereal."We are always the ones to blame." He continued.
"And that is why I don't call women after I sleep with them." Joey said with a mouthful of cereal. "No ties , no body gets hurt." Monica looked at him with an evil glare. She wanted to take the bowl of pancake batter and pour it right over his head. Right now , she hated all men and the way they thought and the way they were led down the golden path by their lower extremities. She especially wanted to hurt one right now, and surprisingly enough , it was her own brother.
"I am not going to get into an argument with you guys, because Rachel is trying to sleep , and I want her to sleep as long as possible." Monica said. Phoebe came in waving one of her charms, "And can I ask just what in the hell you are doing?" Chandler said as he watched Phoebe move around the living room twirling and chanting.
"I am trying to rid this place of the bad aura it has." She continued her dance and then she accidentally bumped Rachel. "Huhh." Rachel 's eyes were barely opened.
Monica ran over to the couch in her stocking feet."Sweetie, how are you feeling?" she said as she knelt down to her face. Rachel wanted to say , How in the hell do you think I am feeling? Your dear brother has broke my heart and I love him so much. I want to crawl under these covers and die. Rachel bent over onto Monica's shoulder and began to let the tears flow again."I am fine." She said tearfully. Monica rubbed her shoulders and then Chandler and Joey got up to go over to the couch. Monica pushed them away. "The last thing she needs is a man right now." She said gruffily as Phoebe joined the girl hug. The three women hugged as if in a sisterly bond , where they would like to ban all men from the earth. Rachel backed away."Wait a minute, how do you guys know what happened?" Monica had a guilty look on her face.
"Well, Rachel we were in the bedroom, Phoebe and I were trying this new wax that I saw on television , it is called."
"Waxene, yeah , that stuff is supposed to be great." Rachel said wiping her eyes.
"Well it doesn't taste great." Joey added. Rachel looked over at him.
"Anyway , Joey and Chandler came in and we were talking and then we heard you guys yelling and …" Monica was lost for words.
Rachel put her hands to her mouth. "You know." Then she got up and walked over to Joey and Chandler."And what is the big idea telling him to hide it from me?" She smacked the both of them in their heads. "Could it have killed you to get him out of there when he was talking to that whore?"
"But what about Mark?" Chandler asked . "Ross said he was with you last night."
"He was just being a good friend. He knew that I was upset about this whole thing , and he and I just talked. He made me realize that I was still in love with Ross and that we needed to work things out.' Rachel said . "Of course, that was before." She said sitting down and beginning to cry again.
"Rachel , he still loves you. I just know it." Chandler said as he hugged her. "Thanks Chandler, it's just too late for us. I have been with one guy after another who has cheated on me. This was the one guy who I thought would never ever hurt me." Rachel said sadly.
Ross stumbled in the door. He had noticed that night had gone into morning and he immediately ran to the phone. He looked at his watch and he knew he was late for work. Dialing the number, he looked at his watch again. "Donald, it's me Ross, yeah there is some kind of family emergency that I have to take care of today, and I won't be in. " Ross got an idea as he stood looking out the window. "Say Donald , you wouldn't happen to know of any other museums that might be looking for someone?" He picked up the picture that sat on the table by the couch. There she was , and now he was the worst thing in the world to her. He kept staring at it. "No reason, I just want to shake things up a bit, I need a change.' He took down a pencil and wrote down the information. "Boston would be great." He smiled. "I will give them a call." Ross hung up the phone. He did need a change, he needed to get away from the woman he had hurt so much.