It was a Saturday morning. The morning sun shone brightly through the window, landing on the sleeping figure who slept soundly,crawled up against the comfortable and cozy mattress. The alarm rang twice before a hand arised from the snuggled up blanket and slammed it off.
Rachel fluttered her eyes open. She slowly took away the blanket which covered her face and tucked few strands of the hair which had come on to her face, behind her ears as she groaned. She was never a morning person. In some strange way, mornings seemed cooler,comfortable and cozier which always downed her more towards the sleep. She stretched her arms up and rubbed her eyes before she leaned against the headboard, taking in the aroma of freshly preparing pancakes. She heard the noise of plates clattering from the kitchen.
"Ross should've been at the kitchen" she thought to herself as a small smile crept to her face. She sighed happily at the thought of him sitting at the kitchen,waiting up for her like he did every morning. The small chatter of them before stepping into the hustle of work was the only thing which made her happier in the mornings. As it is a Saturday, there is no work and they could hang out as much as they want. They could talk, laugh and enjoy as much as they want.
She got up and dashed towards the bathroom, cleared up her face and tied her hair up to a pony tail before she made her way towards the kitchen. She glanced over to the corner of the kitchen counter to see Ross pouring a spoon full of syrup on the top of the pancakes. Rachel beamed happily at him before settling against the chair beside the counter.
"Good lord"! Rachel saw him widen his eyes. "It's 10 am on a Saturday Morning and Rachel Green waked herself up before ,the auspicious ritual which keeps on happening every morning, me shouting my lungs out. I cant believe it" Ross clutched his chest dramatically as Rachel rolled her eyes at him.
"Haha, very funny" She reached out and slapped him lightly at his arms as he left out a chuckle.
"Why didn't you wake me up before" Rachel asked, taking the steaming coffee in her hand which Ross offered her. She blew it slowly as she sipped the beverage carefully.
"Well..I had thought of waking you up. But we got a whole day of cleaning and I am no way starting without you Green" Ross smiled sheepishly as Rachel groaned. "So I thought you need some sleep before the work".
"You know what..I have a lot of work to do". Rachel slowly stood up from the chair with her coffee mug and proceeded to go towards her room. "The fashion concert..paper works. So let me just.."
"Oh you are not escaping that easier" Ross took her arm and pulled her against the chair. "I had helped you to clean up your mess right? Three boxes worth clothes 2 boxes worth accessories, and 8 shoes? Why do you have 8 shoes by the way"?
"It's 10" Rachel mumbled. "I work in fashion Ross. Dont act so suprised".
Ross rolled his eyes.
"The point is..why can't you help me Rach? It's only fair". Said Ross crossing his arms against his chest.
Rachel pouted and fiddled with her hands. He looked at her. She really resembled a 3 year old. Ross grinned a little as he started.
"I've a wedding party a day after,and I could bring guest if I wanted". He saw Rachel looking up to him with the corner of his eyes. He watched as her eyes brightened up.
"So if you help me with my mess,we could enjoy a party happily Or we could still go to the party by ignoring the cleaning part and wait for Monica to come up and rip my heart out".
Rachel laughed at his remark. Ross and Monica had gone to their parents at Longisland. Their house were getting renovated as they both stuffed their childhood stuffs into boxes and returned with them. Monica being the uptight one had cleared her stuffs and neatly arranged them in her room and had framed old photographs in their living room. Monica had freaked the hell out at the sight of Ross's boxes remaining untouched under his cot.
"Okay..I would help you. And it's not because of the..the mentioned party". She whimpered as he raised his eyebrows and stifled a laughter.
"I am a good friend..and just so you know..I could come to the party. But it's only because you insisted".
"Ofcourse. Thank you sweety". She blushed when she heard him calling her sweetie and tried to hide it from him. He planted a soft kiss on her forhead. She turned a shade of pink at that but smiled lovingly towards him when she felt his lips on her forehead. A warm sensation took over her gut from his touch.
"I'll prepare some more" Said Ross as he gave her a plate with some pancakes topped with maple syrup. Her smile never left her face as she gazed at him. Lately she've been seeing him in a complete different light and she didn't knew what it was. She saw him winking at her as he prepared more pancakes.
The bedroom door creaked open as Rachel entered and closed it behind her to see Ross already unboxing his stalls of boxes,which remained piled up,on one after the other.She took a moment and carefully examined his half opened carboad boxes. There were old toys,piles of old scientific books and many more.
She glanced over at the side of the pile of books to see the remains of the model of the solar system. Which she remembered , used to hang on his old room. Her mouth curved into a smile.
"Hey..was that the solar system model you did for your school project and bagged an A"? Asked Rachel,sitting beside Ross on the rug,by stretching her legs.
"You remember that "? Amazement evident in his voice.
Rachel took the ring of Jupiter,which now looked fragile, in her hand,and carefully blew the dust away.
"Ofcourse I remember. At one point Monica and I came to help you with it and it really went well until you guys started bickering over a freaking bubble wrap". Ross chuckled at the memory as Rachel joined in.
"That was a long time ago right? We were kids back then".
Rachel looked at Ross and saw him staring aimlessly,but with a smile in his face. That smile! That damn smile,which made him look like a cute kid.
"Well..that was all about reminiscing the past. Now..help me clean it Green! You just came in and did nothing other than distracting me" Said Ross which earned him a smack on his arm.
Rachel started to unpack the boxes one by one. Ross had already made space in his drawers so that they could fit the stuffs all easily and stack the others in their store room. Ross left the room and went to grab couple of sodas as Rachel cut the tape on one box, pulling it open. The number of trophies and medals he had amazed her. She was never a studious person and cared nothing about the recognition related to studies. But now..seeing all this made her look at Ross's small achievements in awe.
Multiple trophies and certificates were stacked inside the box as she carefully took it one by one and dusted the spider web away from it and moved it into a relatively large box assortedly as they could move it into the store room. She scanned the number of books stacked across the ground until she noticed an old piece of paper sticking out between them. Pulling it out revealed an old photograph of her, Ross and Monica. She scanned the photo carefully. She hadn't seen it before. It seemed like, jack Geller took the photograph of them with the old camera case which he used to hang it around his neck for a long time. She wondered why he did that. He was so fond of photographs at that time,that constantly took the photos of each and every trivial things. She smiled at the vague memory of young Jack Geller making them three pose for photos out of nowhere. But this one was certainly a candid and a great one too. She looked at the photo. It seemed like they were all playing hide and seek. She saw Monica counting the numbers while she and Ross hid behind an old tree stifling their laughter with both their hands. She smiled at the cute photo.
Ross entered the room with a soda in his hands.
"Whats up"? He noticed the photograph Rachel's been staring at and peeked a look at it as he sat beside her. Rachel saw a smile slowly plastering in his face as he took the photograph in his hands.
"Wow! I thought I lost it" His voice was bearly audible.
"Some relative of us brought dad this camera and from that moment he was obsessed with photographs. He always used to hang that thing around his neck" Ross explained. Rachel nodded along. So that was the reason.
"Hey look at us! All cute and little". Pointed Ross towards the photograph.
"Yeah..look at that cute little afro" Said Rachel grinning to herself as Ross rolled his eyes.
"I know it's bad Rach. Can we just move on" Said Ross by scruncing his nose. He paused for a moment and bellowed.
"God! That was so weird even when i was a kid! Why didn't I see it"?
Rachel laughed at his remark.
She noticed as he simply circled his fingers over the face of Rachel in the picture. she suddenly felt her heart beat faster. She didn't knew why. But she did feel happier. Does Ross have the same change of feelings towards her like she have for him? The confused,different but pleasantly amazing feeling?
"What are you thinking" Asked Rachel as she found herself shifting more towards him now that their fingers brushed.
"Look at you! Just like a cute angel" Said Ross as she found herself turning red. She found him gazing at the photograph with outmost admiration. Rachel gazed at him lovingly. They looked at each other's eyes. A comfortable silence fell between them. It didn't feel weird at all.
The way he appreciated and adored her was something new to her. No one. Literally no guys have cared a lot about the way she felt. They always poured her with sugar-coated words only to get into her pants. The meaningless words! For a pleasure which lasts for few moment. But he was different. He was not even her boyfriend. But still..he adored and respected her with all his might.
"You know something Ross, I know that we drifted apart a lot earlier because of different reasons". She saw him nod as he listened to her keenly. She took his hand in hers and massaged his knuckles.
"But I am really glad that I met you again. I am sorry I didn't see you as nothing more than my bestfriends geeky older brother". Rachel paused for a moment as she felt he grip her hand with his. "I only cared about popularity and..I kinda ignored you back then. But you are undeniably one of the most amazing person I've ever met". Ross grinned at her words. He didnt say anything. He didnt had to. His smile said it all. He playfully pulled her cheeks before he stood and picked up the box to the store room.
Rachel thought about her own words. Yeah! She meant everyword she said. He is the most loving,amazing and caring person she've ever met.
She sighed and started to arrange the old books assortedly. Ross came back and began to clear the drawer for some more space as he noticed Rachel over there. Ross stared at her with loving eyes. She was so beautiful. There was no getting around that. He liked the way a few thin strands of golden hair fell around her face from her loose bun. It made her seem real. Was the buried up feelings coming back? Rachel tucked the strands behind her ears as she noticed the look on his face. It made her blush a little.
"What.."? She asked feeling the warm sensation that's been filling her gut by his looks from those hazel brown eyes.
"You are so beautiful Rach!" He blurted out. She found her heart pound hard against her chest.
"I don't know if you knew this but back when we were kids, I had a huge crush on you".
His words caught Rachel off guard. Rachel knew that. The way he how stammered in front of her explained that. But why did he brought up this now? She secretly wished the silly highschool crush feeling was not exactly "that" silly. She stood up and walked towards him.
"I knew. You Gellars aren't that great at hiding feelings". Ross chuckled at her words.
"Was it that obvious"? He flinched.
"Very" she said by stifling her laughter.
"Well..you were my dream girl Rach.The thing I had for you was not some mere crush. It was way bigger. And it wasn't something which I had under my control. Because, I started to adore you when we were kids". He paused. "Or when you were a kid. Because you know..I was older".
He looked at her and found her smiling at him. He noticed how her cheeks went all red.
"But i was so afraid to say it". She saw as he sniggered to himself. But she didn't find the situation funny.
"You know you were that popular girl and who was I? A mere geek. It's even funny to imagine having a chance with you right? And you..you stopped talking to me after a while. Which is totally okay by the way". Said Ross as she looked like she was gonna apologise. "So when you stopped talking to me..i thought'Wow..its all over. I knew you were way of my leauge. But it kinda hurted when you went past me, obvlious to my presence,when we used to hang out a lot earlier. Chandler nudged me a lot to open up all these things because he apparently thought it would be great if i opened up all these things to you. For relishing memories or something like that. One of his colleagues wife is a counselor and it was her idea. That sounds ridiculous right"?He chuckled and rolled his magazine up in his hand and chucked it randomly on the bed.
"You know all those petty crushes and fantasies, when we were kids right? It's nothing meant to be serious. Just fantasies. It would never come true. Silly"!
He finished as he noticed a tiny piece of dirt in Rachel's nose from the cleaning.
"Hey there's something on your nose" Said Ross as he took a step further and rubbed the dirt away from her nose by his index finger. He blew the dust away that his hot breath hit her face so harder.
"You still have those feelings"?Her words not louder than a mere whisper.
"Huh"? Ross looked up. Their faces were centimeters away from each other. She looked at his eyes. The deepest darkest eyes she'd ever seen...Her breath literally left her lungs for a few seconds. With most gentle care,she leaned in and placed the slowest and provocative kiss against his lips,taking him by surprise. It lasted for only a few fleeting seconds and then she pulled away. She looked at him and found his mouth still slightly opened. His eyes reflected confusion. Did she ruined it? Did she ruined the most amazing friendship and lost him forever? She apologized and turned to go back when Ross grabbed her by the arm and kissed her again. He boldly circled her waist and pulled her against his body as their lips attached. She felt his lips wandering over hers.
She grabbed his sweater for support and it made him stumble as his back slammed against the door. Her arms went around his neck immediately as his wandered around her waist which then moved moved towards her hair gently caressing it. It was the most amazing and passionate kiss they ever had. Everything was magic. She felt him slowly pulling away. She found his eyes staring upon her,which made her blush furiously. They both placed their forheads against each other,still breathless.
"What was that"? Asked Ross his voice barely a whisper, still clutching her hard towards his body.
"I don't know". Rachel licked her lips. "But it felt right". She whispered into his mouth.
"I know" he replied.
"Maybe some fantasies might come true" Said Rachel as she caressed his chest with her long slender fingers.
He smiled at her.
"Maybe" Said Ross as he holder her tighter.
Thanks for the readers who read and voted for my story! Are you enjoying it so far? Please let me know!