Ch. 2 Choking Marcel
She felt two arms circling around her waist. "Good morning", Rachel's voice came out of the crook of her neck. Monica turned the pancake around in the pan and turned around in Rachel's arms. Putting her arms around her shoulders, she murmured a good morning too before their lips met in a soft kiss. Staying in the embrace, Monica turned her upper body around, bringing Rachel halfway with her, to put the pancake on the stack with the others and to turn the stove off. Turning her upper body back to Rachel, she was met with an amused expression. "It worked, didn't it?", Monica said as an explanation before kissing the smirk of Rachel's face.
"So, excited for Paulo coming back?", Monica asked, her face close to Rachel's, their bodies still against each other. It was the morning of New Year's Eve. Their no dates pact with the six of them hadn't really worked out.
"Yeah, I'm really happy he's going to be here. I mean, I don't know yet where this is going with him, but he just has this quality, I don't know what it is, but it pulls me to him. And, you know, obviously he is handsome. It's starting to get a bit annoying though that we can't really have a conversation", Rachel said with a shrug.
Chuckling, Monica answered, "That would be practical, indeed. If it starts to get more serious and you want to stop us, you will let me know though, right? "
"Are you crazy? I don't want this to stop?"
"Me neither, me neither", Monica said quickly, "But there will be a point where one of us will get in a serious relationship and, I mean, wouldn't it be cheating then?"
"But were friends? Very affectionate and very close ones, but we're not in a relationship, right? So, technically, this can't be seen as cheating, right?"
Monica smiled. "Right. Alright then."
The front door rattled. A loud nocking noise followed. "Hey, Mon, Rach, can you guys open the door?"
Getting out of their embrace, Rachel went to the door while Monica set the pancakes on the table and got the milk and juice out of the fridge.
"Whoa, it smells like –", Joey saw the stack of pancakes in the middle of his sentence, "Pancakes! Great!"
"That thing is not getting in here!"
"That thing? This is how you greet guests at a party?", Ross shot back. "I mean, let me ask you something. If I showed up here with my new girlfriend, she wouldn't be welcome in your home?"
"I'm thinking your new girlfriend wouldn't urinate on my coffee table", Monica said.
"Okay. He was more embarrassed about that than anyone. Okay? And for him to have the courage to walk back in here like nothing happened..."
"Alright. Just keep him away from me."
"Thank you", Ross said. Monica, mentally shaking her head, walked towards her table to check if the guests still had enough dips to eat from or if there were refills needed. The door opening, made her turn around. Walking to the door, she saw the dishevelled and bruised state Rachel was in. Instantly worried, she exclaimed: "Oh my gosh! Rachel, honey.. are you okay? Where-where's Paolo?"
" Rome. Jerk missed his flight", Rachel said with venom in her voice while linping towards the chair Monica guided her to.
" And then your face exploded?", Phoebe asked helpfully.
"No. Okay. I was at the airport, getting into a cab, when this woman- this blonde planet with a pocketbook- starts yelling at me. Something about how it was her cab first. And then the next thing I know she just starts- starts pulling me out by my hair! So I'm blowing my attack whistle thingy and three more cabs show up, and as I'm going to get into a cab she tackles me. And I hit my head on the curb and cut my lip on my whistle", Rachel looked up at all the staring faces around her, "oh...everybody having fun at the party?"
Leaning in to Monica she attempted – although not a very good attempt – to whisper: "Are people eating my dip?"
A smile starting to form on her face, Monica nodded. God, she can be so cute sometimes. "Come on, let's get you freshened up a bit", Monica said, grabbing Rachel's hand and starting to go in the direction of Rachel's room. "Why don't you go ahead already? I'm just going to grab some water and disinfectant for your bruises."
Rachel nodded and continued to her room. Looking in the mirror for the first time, she was shocked to see her own reflection. She looked horrible. She gently touched her lip, but immediately winced. She looked to her door when Monica came in. "Okay, sit down, Rach, let me take care of you."
Monica gently dabbed with a bit of water on Rachel's face and around her cut lip. Making sure not to apply too much pressure, she cleaned the cut. Rachel winced, but didn't cry out, but to make sure, Monica asked: "Am I hurting you?"
"No, it's okay. Thanks, Mon, for doing this."
"Of course, honey, you're hurt. It's only logical that I help you out."
Having taken care of her face, Monica put the water on the side. "Alright, let's get you out of these clothes."
"Are you sure? I mean, you can't make too much noise then, there are people in the next room", Rachel smirked.
Monica playfully swatted her arm and smirked back at her. "You know what I mean."
Rachel stood up and, together, they got her out of her dirty clothes and put on new, festive ones. Monica helped Rachel with putting up het make-up to try to make the cut look less bad. Guided by Monica's hand on the small of her back, Rachel exited her room, ready to mingle a bit and to forget about Paulo.
"One more minute to midnight!", some guy in the apartment yelled.
So far, their party was less than successful. At least for the six of them. Phoebe just broke up, Monica had a mourning date, Joey's date had brought her children and on top of that was also making out with other people, Ross was still dateless, Chandler had another blunder with Janice and Rachel's body hurt from the cab-woman incident. Standing against the counter, they looked at the other people. Excitedly counting down, looking forward to yet another year.
A kiss between Chandler and Joey, a lot of drinks and even more 'Bye, and happy new year!' 's later, Monica started to clean up the worst of the mess. It was three in the morning, so she wasn't going to be able to do everything, but she won't be able to sleep if she didn't at least clean up the worst garbage. Phoebe came out of the bathroom. She was the last guest of the party that was still in the apartment. Grabbing two garbage bags from next to the door, she said her goodbye's to Monica and Rachel and went home too.
"Alright, I'm going to bed, because otherwise I'm going to fall asleep right here", Rachel said, standing up from the couch.
"Wait, wait", Monica said, putting her broom against the fridge and walking towards her. Stepping in Rachel's personal space. Softly grabbing her waist, she whispered: "Happy new year, Rach." She leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her left cheek as to not hurt her lip that was cut.
"Happy new year, Mon", she whispered back, nuzzling her nose against Monica's.
"Okay, in case of emergency call?"
"You"
"Really?", Monica looked at Rachel, smiling.
"Yeah", Rachel said, a shy smile playing on her lips.
"That's so sweet", Monica put a hand on her chest. It was the end of February and Rachel had finally decided to put the Christmas lights down, but she fell and they found themselves in the hospital now, filling in a registration form. "Oh, gosh, I love you", Monica said, kissing her cheek, "Okay, insurance?"
"Oh, yeah, check it, definitely gonna want some of that", Rachel said.
"You don't have insurance?"
"Why? How much is this gonna cost?"
" I have no idea, but X-rays alone could be a couple hundred dollars."
"Wel-wel-well what are we gonna do?"
"Well there's not much we can do."
"Um... unless", Rachel began, "Unless I use yours."
"Hah, no no no no no no no no no no."
"Well, now, wait a second, who did I just put as my "In case of emergency" person?"
"That's insurance fraud."
"Well, alright, then, forget it", Rachel starts to get up, "Might as well just go home", she attempts to walk, but quickly feels the pain shooting through her foot, crying out.
Monica, jumping up to make Rachel sit down again, relented. "Okay, okay. I hate this."
"Thank you. Thank you. I love you", Rachel said.
Monica went to take a new registration form and when they had it filled in, they could go to the doctor's room. Having Rachel's painful foot resting on her lap, Monica softly caressed her lower leg. Not much later, two doctors came in. Two fairly cute ones, she must admit.
The examination went quickly and they were outside half an hour later, two dates richer. "Are you sure this is a good idea? They don't even know our real names", Monica asked. They were heading in the direction of their car that was three blocks further due to lack of parking space.
"What do you mean? They know our real names. Maybe they use it for the wrong person, but it's not like we made up names", Rachel said, waving away Monica's worry.
"Alright, but if it blows, it's your fault", Monica said with an accusing finger.
"Fine", Rachel took her hand that still had the finger pointing at her and took it in hers. They walked – or limped in Rachel's case – to the car in a pleasant silence. At ease holding hands.
Having filled in the forms for the third time now, they sat in the waiting room of the hospital waiting for news from Marcel, who had swallowed a K from Scrabble. He wasn't particularly Monica's biggest friend, but Ross was really distressed about it, so she prayed Marcel would be okay. Ross and Chandler went to search the cafeteria since it was dinnertime and none of them had any food with them. Rachel and Monica had found a quite comfortable couch, at least for it being in the hospital waiting rooms, and had settled themselves there.
"Our dates kinda sucked, huh", Rachel began softly.
"Yeah, they kinda did", Monica said, glancing sideways at her.
"I'm sorry. You were right, about it being complicated and all that."
"I'm sorry too. I mean, I was right, but that doesn't justify the things I said."
"Yeah, I said some pretty shitty stuff too. Sorry."
They sat in silence next to each other on the couch. Shoulders barely touching, both in their own thoughts.
"Am I really like my mother?", Monica broke the silence, talking barely audible. Rachel managed to hear it though and immediately she felt a pinch of guilt coursing through her body. She knew that of all the things she had said today, that one was the worst one. She shook her head.
"No, honey, I know I said that, but it was a horrible insult", she gently put the strands of hair that had fallen in front Monica's face back behind her ear, "It's logical to have some of your mother's traits, because she is still your mother, but you only have the good traits of her. You're a wonderful human being."
Monica looked sideways at Rachel, "Really?"
Rachel nodded: "Really", she snuggled closer to Monica and gave her a sideways hug. Monica rested her head on Rachel's shoulder. Softly, Rachel planted a kiss on Monica's head and turned to rest her cheek on top of Monica's soft hair.
"There you are! Marcel is out of surgery! Hurry up!", Chandler yelled, already turning back around to return to Ross, quickly followed by Rachel and Monica.
Not much after they got to the room, Phoebe and Joey also came in. Rachel stood closely behind Monica. I don't know what it is, but something about her makes me want to stay close to her all the time. Monica felt Rachel's body close to hers and loved the feeling it gave her. But we're just friends, so this is just the feeling of being close to my best friend. When she felt Rachel's arm circling around hers, she leaned back a bit and connected their two bodies. They watched Marcel waking up in their embrace.
S1E10 and S1E17
Currently sitting in the shade, hiding from the 40° sun. You?