lacuna ➳ tribbiani.

6.3

"Hey!", they greet back.

"Rach, you're still looking for a place?", Ross asked almost inmediately.

"Yeah, why?".

"There's this guy, Warren. He's fromt he museum, and he's going on a dig for like two years. He's got this great place that he needs to sublet. So...you're interested?".

"That's great! I'd love to live at Warren's. I love Warren! Thank you", Rachel quickly said, excited to have a place to stay.

"Ah, thank the volcano that errupted thousands of years ago, killing but perfectly preserving an entire civilization".

"Nerd alert!", Alycia cuts him off.

"Here's his number", Ross quickly said, deciding not to talk about the volcano anymore.

"Thank you! I'm calling him right now".

Rachel stood up to hug Ross. Alycia noticed Phoebe gave Ross a look before he pushed Rachel away from him, allowing her to go call Warren so she could have the apartment.

"I saw it", Phoebe said when Rachel walked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about".

"I'm talking about that, which you already know but you won't admit", Phoebe replied. "You know, that you love her again. You re-love her!".

"What?", Alycia turned around to look at Ross, surprised. "I mean, it was kinda obvious but I didn't know if it was just me who thought that way".

"No! I do not re-love her", Ross quickly said. "Why does everyone think that?".

"Really?", Alycia scoffed. "Oh! That's why you are all shaky before we entered! Everything makes sense now".

"Hey, just promise you won't do something stupid", Phoebe added.

"Please, why would I do anything stupid?", Ross asked, offended to think his friend thought he could try something on Rachel. "We're just friends".

"The place is already subletted", Rachel groawls when she's back with her friends. "I'm never going to find anything!".

"You can live with me", Ross said.

"What?", the three girls asked. This is exactly what Phoebe was talking about.

"What?", he asked back.

"Oh my god, are you serious?", Rachel asked, relieved. "I'd love to live with you, Ross. Thank you".

"I'm just glad I can, you know, help you out", Ross replied awkwardly.

Alycia gave him a fake smile, repeating the shaky dance from before without Rachel noticing. Ross gave her a look, but she couldn't care any less, doing the dance again just to piss him off even more.

"So happy for you guys", Phoebe started. "This is so not stupid".

"You have no idea how much this means to me, Ross", Rachel insisted. "You saved me! You're my hero".

"Hero. I- I don't know", Ross chuckles. "Well, alright", he quickly added.

Alycia fakes a laugh. "This is so great!".

"I'm going to tell Monica what a wonderful brother she has!", Rachel smiled, walking over Ross to kiss his cheek before walking out of the coffee house.

"Oh, please", Ross mutters, moving his hand up to his cheek where Rachel has kissed him.

"Ugh. I really want to throw something at you", Alycia commented once Rachel is gone. "Deep down in that big, beautiful, nerdy heart of yours you know what you did is stupid".

☀️

"I found you in my bed, how'd you wind up there? You are a mistery, little black curly hair", Phoebe sang. "Little black curly hair. Little black, little black, little black, little black, little black curly hair", she finished, everyone clapping. "If you want to receive e-mails about upcoming shows, please give me money so I can buy a computer".

Alycia kept clapping and cheering for her friend even when she was done singing. Phoebe gave her smile before putting her guitar away and starting to pack her stuff.

"I'm going with Phoebe for a sec", Alycia announced to Ross, Rachel and Joey. She gave the last one a quick kiss before going to talk to her other friend. "You were amazing, Pheebs!".

"Thanks! You liked the new songs?".

"Absoloutely. Especially the one about the spoiled milk at the back of the fridge. Very metaphoric and beautiful".

"I love that you're my best friend and my number one fan! You're just like Joey", Phoebe commented. "Hey, you mind helping me carry this stuff to the cab?".

"Sure, no problem".

While Alycia helped Phoebe, Rachel left the coffee house too to make a copy of Ross' keys, and Joey took the opportunity to talk to him about that whole situation.

"You really think moving in with Rachel is a good idea?".

"Did Alycia tell you to talk me out of it?".

"Not at all", he replied. "Look. She moves in, and before you know it, you're right where you don't want to be...back together!".

"I don't think so, she's already talking about dating other guys".

"Yeah, then's she's gonna come home all weepy and you'll be telling her that it's okay and that she'll find someone and then bam! She finds you", Joey insisted. "She's definately going to fall in love with you again. Is that what you want?".

Ross scoffed. "Is that what I want", he repested ironically.

"I'm going to make your life much easier", Joey mutters when he saw Rachel coming back to where they were.

"The place was closed so I'll just copy it later", Rachel gave Ross his keys back, sitting down on the couch with them.

"Or not", Joey replied. "Hey, I have a place where you can move to".

"Oh, whoa, Joey", Ross quickly tried to stop him.

"Where is it?", Rachel asked, actually interested. She still wasn't sure if moving in with Ross was the best idea giving the history they have. "Oh, please don't ask me to move in with you again. I'm not up for naked Tuesdays!", she quickly added, rolling her eyes.

"No, not my place", he replied. "You can move to Alycia's", Joey continued.

"But she has only one bedroom", Rachel said, confused. "I could only move in there if...oh! Wait a minute. Is this what I think it is?".

Ross forgot about him and Rachel completely, realizing what was going on. "Are you going to ask her to move in to your apartment?".

"After Chandler told me he was leaving, I knew I had to start looking for a roommate, but then I thought: why not asking her?", he shrugged. "She's like...the only girl I've dated for longer than a week, I really love her, and I think it can really work out".

"Oh my god, Joey!", Rachel exclaimed in excitment. "This is so great! I'm so happy for you".

"Whoa, man", Ross says as excited as Rachel. "This is great news!".

"You're the first people I've told about this so please try to keep it a secret", he quickly added. "I still haven't found the right time to ask her".

"I'm sure she'll be really happy", Ross replied.

"First Monica and Chandler and now you guys! This is so cute", Rachel insisted, feeling extremely happy for all of her friends. "And if I get Alycia's apartment it would be so much easier to move my stuff...and I get to live alone!".

"Ah, that", Ross replied, feeling extremely disappointed he might not be living with Rachel after all.

"Yeah, it's perfect", Joey agreed, giving Ross a pat on the shoulder, thinking he just saved him for a terrible mistake.

And maybe it was a terrible mistake, but Ross was really excited for that mistake to happen.