The Ones We Didn't See

Clay Pots and Cran-Grape Juice

2x15 TOW Ross and Rachel...You Know.

There are so many underrated moments between them in this episode. This one-shot unravels the stream of consciousness Rachel goes through about finally realizing she could cross that line between friends and lovers with Ross. Famously, the most well-known scene was the culmination of the episode at the planetarium. But the previous scenes were even better in my opinion - those are the ones I chose to focus more on. The point of this one wasn't just smut. There is obviously a little...but if that's all you wanted - sorry :)

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Rachel had always been a terrible waitress but today would definitely have to take the cake. Somehow, she managed to break two cups, drop a box of muffins on the floor, and give a hazelnut latte to a guy who is allergic to hazelnuts - all before 1:00pm. She was frazzled, hazy, erratic, completely unable to focus.

All she could think about was him.

The past few weeks, hell, the past 24 hours, had been a total roller coaster to say the least, but she'd do it all over again if it meant she finally got to be with him. Everything with them had been so up and down for so long. Her feelings had been stretched and twisted, heightened and knocked down. It started out by so painfully being the right thing at the wrong time - where all she could do was stand by and watch him with her. But then, somewhere in the middle of a whirlwind of cats and way too much wine, they found each other again, and shared an earth-shattering kiss. It was the type of kiss they write about in novels - the next-level kind of kiss that you have to run home, unplug the phone, and immediately tell your best friends about.

But then there was the 'unfortunate incident'. Just when she had allowed herself to give in to him, to take her walls down, to let him in - he shattered her trust, along with her self-esteem. So as a defense mechanism, she responded in the only way she knew how. She kept him at arm's length, protecting herself from feeling any more pain from the one person in the world she never thought would hurt her. She became content in leaving things the way they were, forcing herself to remain numb, because anything was better than exposing her heart to more pain.

And then last night happened - so perfectly unexpected. That afternoon she was blindly furious with the man, then before she knew it, she was walking across the apartment, right into his arms, and kissing his perfect lips. Maybe it was irresponsible, maybe it was insane. She certainly didn't expect to give herself away like this, to break down all of her defenses...but somehow she didn't resent it. She was compelled. She really had no other choice at that moment, after seeing that video and realizing what he was willing to do for her all those years ago. Never before had a man been so willing to put her happiness first, to make sacrifices for her. No man had ever displayed such raw and undeniable emotion - for her. Obviously it was impossible to get all of that from one video. But it opened her eyes again to who he was. Everything she had been looking for - everything she had left Long Island for - was potentially standing right in front of her all along, posing as her best friend. The truth was that it was too late to be just friends. In fact, they would probably be enemies before they'd be 'just friends'. She innately allowed herself to give in - to put aside her stubbornness and her pride. Any anger she had been feeling towards him just melted away, leaving in its place a very stark reality.

She didn't want to know what one more minute of her life felt like without him in it.

Call it irrational, but putting it all in the past was suddenly the only option. She knew that his unimpeded feelings for her overshadowed his mistake. They hadn't ever really talked about it though, because something between the two of them always seemed to provoke the need to avoid the serious topics. Instead, they could just look into each others' eyes and say everything that needed to be said, and that was enough for them. This phenomenon was either a blessing or a curse - only time would tell. She never knew there could be so much depth and meaning behind two eyes until now. But she did know that there was a specific pair of dark brown ones that got her every time, and if she looked too closely, she'd fall completely.