Hello again! Sadly this story is almost over, just around 2 chapters to finish :(

Anyway, enjoy! :)

What was supposed to have been a fun night had turned into a disaster for Ross and Monica. At first, Monica had enjoyed the attention of cute boys, who talked to her for real and not only to mock her. But after a while, Monica realized she didn't know what to say to them, and rapidly her attempts at flirting back turned into another cookie incident. She definitely would have to find Rachel to ask her for some advice.

So, that's what she did, remembering that earlier, her brother had been asking for her best friend too. Excusing herself from the company of yet another guy with who she was trying to flirt, Monica went to look out for Rachel. And as soon as she stepped near the stairs, the lights went out.

The blackout lasted less than a minute, but when the lights came back, Monica thought she had entered some parallel universe.

By the stairs, Rachel was sitting crying in a corner, and opposite Monica, Ross was holding a confused blonde-haired girl. More worried about her best friend, Monica immediately ran up to Rachel.

"What happened, honey?" She asked, worried. She had never seen Rachel crying like that except when she'd appeared at her front door after the breakup with Liam.

"Chip and I broke up," Rachel answered with a sob.

Monica didn't need to hear anymore. As fast as they could, both girls went to Rachel's house, where she told Monica everything that happened.

While hearing the story, Monica only felt increasingly angered. How could Chip and Heather be so stupid? Who dared to treat her best friend like that? Rachel had already defended Monica when she needed it. Now, Monica would find a way to stand up for Rachel too. The rest of the night was spent trying to comfort Rachel.

The next day, Monica still had some questions, not for Rachel but for her brother. She took the opportunity as soon as she saw him alone.

"Who was that girl you were with at the party? New girlfriend?" She asked.

Ross grimaced at her question as if he didn't want to discuss it.

"I don't know. I accidentally kissed that girl…"

"How do you kiss someone accidentally? Were you drunk? "Monica asked incredulously.

"Oh, no. Not like that. I thought the girl was Rachel," Ross said.

"You were going to kiss Rachel? Again, were you drunk?" Monica repeated her question, now very puzzled.

So, Ross explained everything. How he'd try to look for Rachel, heard her fight with Chip, and then wanted to kiss her.

"Are you going to tell Rachel you wanted to kiss her?" Monica asked her brother after hearing his story.

"I don't know, Mon. You think I should?"

Monica pondered her answer for a moment. After hearing her brother's and Rachel's stories, she had to think about what would be best for them. After her initial shock many months ago when Monica had found out her brother liked Rachel, Monica had secretly started to wonder if it would be such a bad scenario if they were together. She had seen them bonding over the past few months and knew they had already formed a true friendship. She also remembered a specific part of her conversation with Rachel the night before.

"And then, I saw Ross at the end of the stairs, and I think he knew what happened. But Mon, it was how he looked at me. It was like there wasn't anyone else in the room. I thought he would kiss me, and I would let him do it."

"No," Monica thought to herself. Rachel had been heartbroken when she'd said that. And from what Monica remembered from Rachel's breakup with Liam, it would take a while for Rachel to get herself together. If Rachel wanted to be with her brother, Monica would support her. But Monica knew she had to be sure Rachel would make that decision when she wasn't heartbroken. Because if it somehow went wrong, she knew she wouldn't be able to deal with Ross being broken-hearted.

"Maybe you shouldn't tell her for now. Let her heal from the breakup, and then talk to her about it if you still want to," Was Monica's advice for Ross.

Soon, the next day of school arrived, and the remaining group member was also aware of the weekend's events.

"Hey, Mon. Where's Ross?" Chandler asked out of nowhere when Monica was passing by the locker hallway.

"I don't know. I'm Ross's sister, not his Siamese twin."

"Oh. I wanted to ask Ross about his new girlfriend. Why didn't he tell me about it?"

"New girlfriend?" Monica inquired. "Ross doesn't have any new girlfriend," She added.

"No? But I just heard Carol talking about kissing Ross at Chip's party the other day. What was he doing there anyway?"

"Carol?"

"Ah, sorry. Carol is from our grade. I know her name because she's in my history class and heard the teacher saying her name once," Chandler explained.

"You don't seem surprised to hear about the story. Has Ross told you about it?" Chandler added, after not seeing a surprised reaction from Monica.

"Oh…Ross told me about it after the party. At first, I was confused when I saw them, but then, Ross explained everything…"

"Wait! Did you see them? You were too at the party?"

"Ah yes… Rachel invited me…" Monica explained, slightly embarrassed.

"Why I wasn't invited?" Chandler asked.

They had both been walking while talking and were now outside, near a tree next to the short concrete wall. Monica sighed and sat on it.

"Rachel invited me to make me feel better about my terrible date the other day and help me find a boyfriend," She explained.

"And how did it go?"

"Not good. I don't even know if I want a boyfriend anymore,"

"Why not?"

"I'm always awkward at flirting, you know? Rachel and I l had always talked about getting boyfriends in high school and how cool that would be, but now I'm not sure it's that great anymore. I mean… It would be great to have a boyfriend, but they are so hard to get! Rachel's a natural. She's always flirting, and all the boys want to be her boyfriend. But me… I was the fat girl. Guys didn't look at me twice. And now that I'm thinner and guys look, I don't know what to do…"

Chandler sat next to Monica and listed while she vented.

"If it serves as any consolation, and you know me, I'm terrible at the whole girls and flirting thing too..." Chandler tried to comfort Monica.

"But you have a girlfriend!"

"Yeah… I didn't do anything about that. Ellie just wanted to be my girlfriend after I kissed her. Remember?"

"Yeah. It looks like, after all, you two were in a relationship. You just hadn't discovered it by then," Monica laughed, remembering all the teasing her friend got from their group when he'd told them about the kiss.

"Alright, alright."

"But really," Monica added, "Maybe if I go and kiss some random guy, he will also want to be my boyfriend?" She said in a slightly mocking tone.

"It is slightly creepy. I wouldn't recommend it," Chandler added. And before they knew it, they were both laughing at each other.

"Thanks for cheering me up about something I didn't know I was upset about," Monica thanked her friend with a smile.

"You're welcome. Besides, don't worry too much about it. You're not as awkward as you say. A little overenthusiastic sometimes, yes… But someday, a guy will like you for that." Chandler answered.

"Are you sure you don't read your mother's books? Because that was a little bit sappy," Monica teased her friend, who glared at her.

"Just kidding. Thank you again."

"No problem. So…, about Carol and Ross?" Chandler returned to the original motive of the conversation.

"Ah, yes. I'd already forgotten about it," Monica said before explaining everything that happened during the weekend.

"Wow. That's a lot of information to take in. Lunchtime will be interesting," Chandler said after listening to the story.

Then, after a pause, Chandler smirked more to himself than Monica.

"You know what I just realized? I'm the only one in the group with a decent love life. It feels great and weird at the same time. Never thought it would happen."

Monica rolled her eyes at her friend. She was ready to get up and go inside before classes started when the pair they'd been talking about came into their vision. Monica and Chandler kept on their places, both inspecting the couple. They couldn't tell what Ross and Carol were discussing before they went their separate ways. Ross kept walking in their direction until he noticed Chandler and Monica sitting on the short wall.

"Hey, guys!" He greeted them.

"Hey, Ross!" Chandler greeted with a satisfactory smile, which seemed too suspicious in Monica's opinion, before pausing.

"How's your new girlfriend?"