Would it be ok if I asked you out?

The bus pulled to a stop at the corner of the street.

Ross stood up with several others, and climbed out of the vehicle.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, he turned his head to take in his surroundings. The weather was beautiful, not too warm and a nearly cloudless sky.

He had been the first person to get off the bus, and the rest of the students living in his neighborhood were filing off behind him.

A fluttering sensation suddenly came over him, and it was a few seconds before his brain caught up with it.

Rachel was his neighbor.

It was the first day of school and he knew she couldn't have driven home because both of her parents were working.

Although, now that he thought about it, he couldn't actually remember seeing her on the bus.

But she must've been there. He probably hadn't seen her because he'd been reading his book on the ride. But she had to be there.

Any second she'd walk off the bus, smiling happily after her first day of high school.

He stood patiently, watching each person get off.

At first, he was scared that she would find him waiting there creepy.

But then, a new thought arrived, one he'd never considered, even though he'd spent the whole day thinking of nothing but Rachel.

What if he just asked her out? Would she really say no? He was an upperclassman, which was impressive, right?

And she already knew him well enough. He certainly knew her.

With these thoughts sifting through his mind, he felt his confidence build up.

He didn't have to do anything major, he could just start by walking her home. Nothing serious, just a casual, simple walk down the street.

Who knows what it could turn into.

Still waiting for her to leave the bus, he worked on his facial expression. He certainly didn't want to be gawking at her, that wouldn't help him at all.

After trying a few, he settled on what he hoped was a casual smile, with his arms hanging loosely down at his sides.

After a few seconds, he was surprised to see that the flow of people getting off the bus had stopped. He stood there, confused, trying to figure out where she was.

'Maybe she's talking to someone and the bus driver's waiting for her to finish.' Yes, that was a reasonable explanation.

Forming his mouth back into the smile he'd carefully chosen, he waited for her.

However, a moment later, he was shocked to see the doors closing and the bus pulling away. Ross stared at it as it drove off.

His shoulders slumped. The smile evaporated, and he hoisted his backpack up onto his shoulders.

Beginning his walk back home, he thought sadly about the situation.

'It was stupid to assume she'd be there, there are a million reasons for her to not to have been on the bus. She could've stayed late at school, walked home, or taken a different bus home with her friends. It's probably better that she wasn't there anyway. I probably would've just been publicly humiliated. She wouldn't want to walk home with me. What could Rachel Greene possibly see in dorky ninth grader, Ross Geller?'

And with that thought, all of the confidence he'd had only a minute previously disappeared. It was immediately replaced with his regular feeling of embarrassment at his own awkward and seemingly meaningless existence.

Now all he wanted to do was get home. It was about a five minute walk from the bus stop to his house.

The Greene residence was across the street and two houses down from his. Ross approached it, staring at the exteriors of the large, impressive home.

The Greenes, being the richest family in the neighborhood, had spent thousands of dollars, although that wasn't a lot to them, decorating the 'almost-mansion'.

The regular concrete driveways of the surrounding houses paled in comparison to their beautiful stone one. And, of course, sitting on this was a brand new black Mercedes-Benz. This was only one of the three cars they owned. The other two were presumably with Mr. and Mrs. Greene at the moment.

They had a large wrap-around porch, surrounded all the way around by a huge garden, filled with perfectly arranged flowers of every kind.

All-in-all, the house was like a palace next to the average suburban ones all around.

One he'd drawn level with the house, he heard a loud noise behind him. Turning quickly to see what it was, he saw a car racing down the street, obviously past the speed limit, with loud music blaring through the speakers.

Moving over to the side of the road, so as not to be flattened by whatever stupid teenagers were driving the car, he continued walking.

Ross heard it getting closer and closer.

When he thought it would be passing him by, he lifted his head, waiting to see it appear in front of him. But it didn't.

In fact, a moment later, he heard the music stop abruptly, and the sound of the car doors opening.

Confused and wondering who it could be, Ross stopped walking and circled back around, now facing in the direction of the car.

His stomach plummeted at the sight in front of him. A junior he recognized as Jack Tyler was getting out of the car with her.

With Rachel.

Physically unable to tear his eyes away, Ross watched as the two walked towards her front door, Jack's arm around Rachel's waist. They were both laughing as they strolled up the path to the house.

Ross was speechless. He had certainly not expected that. He observed with horror as the couple entered the house and closed the door.

For the first time in his life, he felt the sharp stab of jealousy.

"What the hell is Rachel doing?" he asked himself. 'He's a freaking junior! That's a three year difference! Jack's probably just using her!'

Allowing his jealousy to turn into anger, Ross stamped down the path to his own home. Slamming the door behind him, he ran up to his room.

Falling onto the bed, his thoughts centered in on Rachel.

He tried being pissed at her. He wanted to be pissed at her. He wanted to think she was just another idiotic slut, going out with the asshole football player. But he couldn't.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't be angry with her.

'It's not her fault. She just fell into the trap. Her friends are probably pressuring her and she feels like she has to live up to their standards. It's not her fault,' he repeated over and over, as his room grew steadily darker around him. He never turned the light on, and after some time, he fell asleep, his thoughts turning into dreams.

And his dreams were about one person.

Rachel.